en-US Sat, 14 Jun 2025 20:52:15 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 220161319 The “masterful, inspiring, and full of heart� (Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author) Jackie Lau returns with a thoroughly unique love story about a woman reliving the same Friday over and over again—and the intriguing man who can’t quite remember her.

Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old lady at the stall said they’d give her what she needed most, and what Noelle desperately needed after another long workweek was food.

Except now she’s reliving the same Friday over and over. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45 no matter what, the Wordle answer is always “happy,� and she watches a silly squirrel video go viral day after day. And no matter how much she works on the same proposal, it’s always erased when she wakes up. It seems Monday will never come in this workaholic’s worst nightmare.

Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,� especially now that everything seems meaningless. Sure, three fancy meals in a row is a fun treat, but it’s getting repetitive. Noelle’s not sure what lesson the old lady was trying to impart. Even a trip to the dumpling stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it.

But then she meets a young woman who also ate the dumplings, and good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While he seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle will have to put work aside and live a little in order to make him notice her. As their flirtation progresses, Noelle begins to worry that if she ever gets to turn the calendar page, Cam won’t know who she is and her life may never return to what it was before that fateful Friday…]]> 339 Jackie Lau 1668030799 KB 5 3.77 2025
author: Jackie Lau
name: KB
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/13
date added: 2025/06/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 46188 336 Harville Hendrix 0743495926 KB 0 to-read 4.04 2005
author: Harville Hendrix
name: KB
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 9549746 A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption.]]> 341 Jennifer Egan 0307477479 KB 1 hated-it, over-rated
I hated this book. And I don’t use that word lightly. In fact, I wanted to like it—really, I did. I usually stick to positive reviews, but this one left such an unpleasant aftertaste that I need to purge it from my system.

I hate-read my way through the entire thing, grimacing and making dramatic proclamations about how I couldn't wait to burn it after reading. That’s coming from someone who loves the First Amendment and has never so much as thought about burning a book. As a staunch environmentalist, I'd rather put it in a Little Free Library, but... let’s just say it’s currently sitting out in the grill on the back deck, still awaiting its fate.

The first chapter gave me a glimmer of hope—it was decent and had enough intrigue to keep me going. But from there, it was a downward spiral. Eventually, I treated it like a collection of loosely connected short stories, which made it marginally less painful, though still not enjoyable.

Why did I subject myself to this? Maybe because I had reservations from the beginning—something about the hype, the name-dropping of aging music industry types and punk rock has-beens who seem to think they’re way cooler than they are (much like the book itself). But hey, it won the Pulitzer, right? More like the Poo-litzer, FFS.

In the interest of fairness, here are two things I didn’t hate:

The chapters I disliked the least (1, 11, 12) featured the character I disliked the least.

I bought my copy for cheap at a thrift store, so I won’t feel bad if it ends up in the bonfire.

And now for a nitpick I wouldn’t normally bother mentioning—except that this book supposedly won one of literature’s highest honors:

In Chapter 7, Part III (page 125 in my copy), a New York-based character throws away an "empty gallon box of Dreyer's Rocky Road ice cream." That’s a problem. Dreyer’s is the brand sold in the Western U.S. and Texas. In the East (including New York), it’s sold as Edy’s. Unless this guy was importing Rocky Road overnight across the country, this is a research oversight. Petty? Maybe. But if you're going to make me suffer through this, the least you can do is get the ice cream right.]]> 3.71 2010
author: Jennifer Egan
name: KB
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2010
rating: 1
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/06/09
shelves: hated-it, over-rated
review:
Pulitzer? More Like Poo-litzer.

I hated this book. And I don’t use that word lightly. In fact, I wanted to like it—really, I did. I usually stick to positive reviews, but this one left such an unpleasant aftertaste that I need to purge it from my system.

I hate-read my way through the entire thing, grimacing and making dramatic proclamations about how I couldn't wait to burn it after reading. That’s coming from someone who loves the First Amendment and has never so much as thought about burning a book. As a staunch environmentalist, I'd rather put it in a Little Free Library, but... let’s just say it’s currently sitting out in the grill on the back deck, still awaiting its fate.

The first chapter gave me a glimmer of hope—it was decent and had enough intrigue to keep me going. But from there, it was a downward spiral. Eventually, I treated it like a collection of loosely connected short stories, which made it marginally less painful, though still not enjoyable.

Why did I subject myself to this? Maybe because I had reservations from the beginning—something about the hype, the name-dropping of aging music industry types and punk rock has-beens who seem to think they’re way cooler than they are (much like the book itself). But hey, it won the Pulitzer, right? More like the Poo-litzer, FFS.

In the interest of fairness, here are two things I didn’t hate:

The chapters I disliked the least (1, 11, 12) featured the character I disliked the least.

I bought my copy for cheap at a thrift store, so I won’t feel bad if it ends up in the bonfire.

And now for a nitpick I wouldn’t normally bother mentioning—except that this book supposedly won one of literature’s highest honors:

In Chapter 7, Part III (page 125 in my copy), a New York-based character throws away an "empty gallon box of Dreyer's Rocky Road ice cream." That’s a problem. Dreyer’s is the brand sold in the Western U.S. and Texas. In the East (including New York), it’s sold as Edy’s. Unless this guy was importing Rocky Road overnight across the country, this is a research oversight. Petty? Maybe. But if you're going to make me suffer through this, the least you can do is get the ice cream right.
]]> 50144 Kitchen, the dazzling English-language debut that is still her best-loved book, is an enchantingly original and deeply affecting book about mothers, love, tragedy, and the power of the kitchen and home in the lives of a pair of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan. Mikage, the heroine of Kitchen, is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, she is taken in by her friend Yoichi and his mother (who was once his father), Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale that recalls early Marguerite Duras. Kitchen and its companion story, "Moonlight Shadow," are elegant tales whose seeming simplicity is the ruse of a writer whose voice echoes in the mind and the soul.]]> 160 Banana Yoshimoto 0802142443 KB 5 3.91 1988
author: Banana Yoshimoto
name: KB
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/19
date added: 2025/05/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 2711948 210 Dave Barry 0679404856 KB 0 3.58 1992
author: Dave Barry
name: KB
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/30
date added: 2025/05/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 1402991 162 H. Emilie Cady 0871591081 KB 0 to-read 4.41 1989
author: H. Emilie Cady
name: KB
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 211934924 A beloved Japanese modern classic that chronicles the author’s twenty-year bond with her cat, meditating on solitude, independence, and the writing life.

On a cool summer evening in 1977, Mayumi Inaba hears a forlorn cry carried by the breeze of Tokyo’s Tamagawa River. She follows the sound to find a newborn kitten, just the size of her palm, dangling from a fence, abandoned. Overcome by tender affection, she takes the cat back to the small apartment she shares with her husband and christens her Mii, and so begins an ineffable bond.

Over the next twenty years, we follow Inaba, a poet and novelist by moonlight, through a lifetime of choices and compromises made in pursuit of quiet, solitude, and a space to create. Through it all, her cat, a formidably independent creature in her own right, is her confidante and muse.

From the late Mayumi Inaba, the winner of the Kawabata Yasunari Prize and the Tanizaki Prize, Mornings Without Mii is more than a love letter to feline companionship—it is a probing, stirring meditation on the forces that enable us to connect, to create, and to build a life.]]> 192 Mayumi Inaba 0374614784 KB 0 to-read 3.69 1999
author: Mayumi Inaba
name: KB
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 209891170 A cat a day keeps the doctor away�.

Discover this utterly charming, vibrant celebration of the healing power of cats in the award-winning, bestselling Japanese novel that has become an international sensation.

Tucked away on the fifth floor of an old building at the end of a narrow alley in Kyoto, the Nakagyō Kokoro Clinic for the Soul can be found only by people who are struggling in their lives and who genuinely need help. The mysterious clinic offers a unique treatment to those who find their way there: it prescribes cats as medication. Patients are often puzzled by this unconventional prescription, but when they “take� their cat for the recommended duration, they witness profound transformations in their lives, guided by the playful, empathetic, and occasionally challenging yet endearing cats.

Throughout these pages, the power of the human-animal bond is revealed as a disheartened businessman finds unexpected joy in physical labor, a middle-aged man struggles to stay relevant at work and home, a young girl navigates the complexities of elementary school cliques, a hardened handbag designer seeks emotional balance, and a geisha learns to move on from the memory of her lost cat. As the clinic’s patients grapple with their inner turmoil and seek resolution, their feline companions lead them toward healing, self-discovery, and newfound hope.]]> 297 Syou Ishida 0593818741 KB 0 to-read 3.77 2023
author: Syou Ishida
name: KB
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199793675
Equal parts magical and humorous, Invisible Kitties tells the story of a young couple that one day accidentally comes into possession of a delightful, playful kitten. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, this new companion, aptly named Cat, upturns the routine of the narrator and her husband in their cramped apartment, and soon they find their existence forever altered as they gradually gain insight into the fantastical world of cats.

Every cat contains multitudes... Charting the couple’s ever-evolving relationship with cats –some they live with, others who exist solely in their imagination� Invisible Kitties introduces us to a coterie of extraordinary, physics-defying, death-defying cats. They drop from the sky, they grow from the soil, they transmute. They fly, flow, and evaporate. The young couple’s everyday life, often eclipsed by the drama of cats, offers a gentle glimpse of how joy can suddenly sneak into our lives.

Composed of sixty chapters written in Yu Yoyo’s elegant and witty style and complemented by the author’s own illustrations� Invisible Kitties is a celebration of ordinary life and the felines we love, deftly playing with the invisible boundaries between reality and imagination.

Translated from the Chinese by Jeremy Tiang]]> 256 Yu Yoyo 0063336227 KB 0 to-read 3.32
author: Yu Yoyo
name: KB
average rating: 3.32
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 212807260 Your table awaits at the Chibineko Kitchen, where a soul-nourishing meal in the company of the resident kitten will transport you back in time to reunite with departed loved ones—for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and The Midnight Library.

In a remote seaside town outside of Tokyo, Kotoko makes her way along a seashell path, lured by whispers of an enigmatic restaurant whose kagezen, or traditional meals offered in remembrance of loved ones, promise a reunion with the departed. When a gust of wind lifts off her hat, she sees running after it a young man who looks like her recently deceased brother. But it’s not her brother; it’s Kai, the restaurant’s young chef, who returns her hat and brings her to the tiny establishment, where he introduces her to Chibi, the resident kitten, and serves her steaming bowls of simmered fish, rice, and miso soup—the exact meal her brother used to cook for her. As she takes her first delicious bite, the gulls outside fall silent, the air grows hazy, and Kotoko begins a magical journey of last chances and new beginnings.]]> 192 Yuta Takahashi 0143138618 KB 0 to-read 4.02 2020
author: Yuta Takahashi
name: KB
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 213870117 Seven struggling customers are given the unique opportunity to take home a “blanket cat� . . . but only for three days, the time it’ll take to change their lives.

A peculiar pet shop in Tokyo has been known to offer customers the unique opportunity to take home one of seven special cats, whose “magic� is never promised, but always received. But there are rules: these cats must be returned after three days. They must eat only the food supplied by the owner, and they must travel to their new homes with a distinctive blanket.

In The Blanket Cats, we meet seven customers, each of whom is hoping a temporary feline companion will help them escape a certain reality, including a couple struggling with infertility, a middle-aged woman on the run from the police, and two families in very different circumstances simply seeking joy.

But like all their kind, the “blanket cats� are mysterious creatures with unknowable agendas, who delight in confounding expectations. And perhaps what their hosts are looking for isn’t really what they need. Three days may not be enough to change a life. But it might just change how you see it.]]> 272 Kiyoshi Shigematsu 0593852699 KB 0 to-read 3.42 2008
author: Kiyoshi Shigematsu
name: KB
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 36373728
Let's face we all have a motivating drive to become "better." What we have and who we are never seem to be good enough. This feeling that something is wrong or needs to be fixed causes us to continuously run around, chasing after what we feel will finally fulfill us. But what if these very conditions that we are constantly trying to escape from could be used as a way to awaken ourselves—to connect with the peace already within us?

A Fool’s Guide to Actual Happiness offers a realistic roadmap for working towards inner peace without needing to be someone you’re not. With humor and refreshing simplicity, Van Buren shows how everything life throws at you, good or bad, can be used as a means to cultivate compassion, wisdom, and loving-kindness. This book allows you to explore who you are—warts and all—and gives you tools to love and accept what you find.]]> 244 Mark Van Buren 1614294488 KB 0 to-read 3.90
author: Mark Van Buren
name: KB
average rating: 3.90
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 30139695 Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us to discover what matters most in life.

Life and death are a package deal. They cannot be pulled apart and we cannot truly live unless we are aware of death. The Five Invitations is an exhilarating meditation on the meaning of life and how maintaining and ever-present consciousness of death can bring us closer to our truest selves. As a renowned teacher of compassionate care-giving and the cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project, Frank Ostaseski has sat on the precipice of death with more than a thousand people. In The Five Invitations, he distills the lessons gleaned over the course of his career, offering an evocative and stirring guide that points a radical path to transformation.

The Five Invitations:
-Don’t Wait
-Welcome Everything, Push Away Nothing
-Bring Your Whole Self to the Experience
-Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things
-Cultivate Don’t Know Mind

These invitations show us how to wake up fully to our lives. They can be understood as best practices for anyone coping with death or navigating any sort of transition or crisis; they guide us toward appreciating life’s preciousness. Death can be a valuable companion on the road to living well, forging a rich and meaningful life, and letting go of regret. The Five Invitations is a powerful and inspiring exploration of the essential wisdom dying has to impart to all of us.]]> 304 Frank Ostaseski 1250074657 KB 0 to-read 4.44 2017
author: Frank Ostaseski
name: KB
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 13177332
Start a Revolution, Incite Happiness!

Delivered with fearless candor and disarming humor, Lama Marut introduces a simple set of exercises that offers a revolutionary yet wholly practical approach to creating and sustaining happiness in a complex modern age.

Integrating the ancient teachings of Tibetan Buddhism into the everyday grind, A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life presents a fresh take on our quest for a joyful existence. Each chapter includes an action plan designed to elicit true happiness and forge a clear path toward fulfillment. You’ll learn how

� transform problems into opportunities;

� set yourself free from fear and anxiety;

� unburden yourself of past resentment;

� create an action plan for true happiness.

Further explore the concepts of a spiritual renegade lifestyle through Microsoft Tags within this book, which link to online videos of Lama Marut discussing each of his concepts firsthand. This book is bound to disrupt your suffering, disturb your dissatisfaction, and elicit a deep-seated contentment. Happiness is in your hands.]]> 320 Lama Marut 1582703736 KB 0 to-read 4.07 2012
author: Lama Marut
name: KB
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 653396 240 Susan Jeffers 0449902927 KB 0 to-read 4.01
author: Susan Jeffers
name: KB
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 7570930 272 Peter Birkenhead 1416598839 KB 0 to-read 3.32 2010
author: Peter Birkenhead
name: KB
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 229004506 #1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham is the acclaimed master of the legal thriller. Now, he’s back with his first-ever whodunit, even more suspenseful than his courtroom dramas, as a small-time lawyer accused of murder races to find the real killer to clear his name.

Simon Latch is a lawyer in rural Virginia, making just enough to pay his bills while his marriage slowly falls apart. Then into his office walks Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow in need of a new will. Apparently, her husband left her a small fortune, and no one knows about it.

Once he hooks the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar. But soon her story begins to crack. When she is hospitalized after a car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems, and he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn’t murder.

Simon knows he’s innocent. But he also knows the circumstantial evidence is against him, and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. To save himself, he must find the real killer�.]]> 416 John Grisham 0385548982 KB 0 to-read 4.56 2025
author: John Grisham
name: KB
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 3153910
Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through.

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life ... as only a dog could tell it.]]> 336 Garth Stein 1554681723 KB 0 to-read 4.22 2008
author: Garth Stein
name: KB
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 9822
Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service.]]> 240 Robert C. O'Brien 0689862202 KB 0 to-read 4.16 1971
author: Robert C. O'Brien
name: KB
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1971
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 22822858
Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.]]> 720 Hanya Yanagihara 0385539258 KB 0 to-read 4.27 2015
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: KB
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51152434
A woman describes a series of encounters she has with various people in the ordinary course of her life: an ex she runs into by chance at a public forum, an Airbnb owner unsure how to interact with her guests, a stranger who seeks help comforting his elderly mother, a friend of her youth now hospitalized with terminal cancer. In each of these people the woman finds a common need: the urge to talk about themselves and to have an audience to their experiences. The narrator orchestrates this chorus of voices for the most part as a passive listener, until one of them makes an extraordinary request, drawing her into an intense and transformative experience of her own.

In What Are You Going Through, Nunez brings wisdom, humor, and insight to a novel about human connection and the changing nature of relationships in our times. A surprising story about empathy and the unusual ways one person can help another through hardship, her book offers a moving and provocative portrait of the way we live now.]]> 210 Sigrid Nunez 0593191412 KB 0 to-read 3.73 2020
author: Sigrid Nunez
name: KB
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 8712290 310 Blake Nelson 0545107296 KB 0 ya-fiction 3.78 2011
author: Blake Nelson
name: KB
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: ya-fiction
review:

]]> 203956674 America’s favorite government teacher offers thrilling, heartfelt stories of ordinary American heroes.Most pundits and historians sell a dangerously naïve version of the American story—either praising its most consequential figures uncritically or criticizing them unfairly. Sharon McMahon believes the truth is more human. In her debut book The Small and the Mighty, she tells the inpiring stories of twelve Americans--regular people with human foibles--whose extraordinary heroism in the face of mounting trials created the character of our country. With the same clarity and candor that's earned her millions of fans, McMahon follows the daughter of formerly enslaved parents who sparked a reformation in Black education, a Japanese immigrant who nearly died in combat and became a consequential Senator, and even the electrician who saved her husband’s life. Her unforgettable prose and meticulous research tell the story of America from the perspective of the unsung heroes whose devotion to their country will restore your faith in the American dream.The portraits of our nation’s most improbable champions, innovators, and rebels in this book celebrate the United States and reveal our common humanity. The Small and the Mighty is the encouragement we all need in an age of doomscrolling and division.]]> 320 Sharon McMahon 0593541677 KB 0 to-read 4.42 2024
author: Sharon McMahon
name: KB
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 322351
Good news for Billy—once he gets going, he finds himself actually getting hooked on those juicy worms.

Bad news for Billy—Alan is busy cooking up schemes to make Billy worm out of the bet. Will Billy keep up his wormy work for fifteen days?

No cheating! Keep eating! Worm by worm by worm...
--back cover]]> 118 Thomas Rockwell 0440421853 KB 0 children, ya-fiction, humor 3.76 1973
author: Thomas Rockwell
name: KB
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1973
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: children, ya-fiction, humor
review:

]]> 23341
Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs found himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctor’s bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull an electroshock- therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing and bestselling account of an ordinary boy’s survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.]]> 315 Augusten Burroughs 0312425414 KB 0 3.46 2002
author: Augusten Burroughs
name: KB
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 6261477
The last thing Gwen Cooper wanted was another cat. She already had two, not to mention a phenomenally underpaying job and a recently broken heart. Then Gwen’s veterinarian called with a story about a three-week-old eyeless kitten who’d been abandoned. It was love at first sight.

Everyone warned that Homer would always be an "underachiever," never as playful or independent as other cats. But the kitten nobody believed in quickly grew into a three-pound dynamo, a tiny daredevil with a giant heart who eagerly made friends with every human who crossed his path. Homer scaled seven-foot bookcases with ease and leapt five feet into the air to catch flies in mid-buzz. He survived being trapped alone for days after 9/11 in an apartment near the World Trade Center, and even saved Gwen’s life when he chased off an intruder who broke into their home in the middle of the night.

But it was Homer’s unswerving loyalty, his infinite capacity for love, and his joy in the face of all obstacles that inspired Gwen daily and transformed her life. And by the time she met the man she would marry, she realized Homer had taught her the most important lesson of all: Love isn’t something you see with your eyes.

Homer’s Odyssey is the once-in-a-lifetime story of an extraordinary cat and his human companion. It celebrates the refusal to accept limits—on love, ability, or hope against overwhelming odds. By turns jubilant and moving, it’s a memoir for anybody who’s ever fallen completely and helplessly in love with a pet.]]> 287 Gwen Cooper 038534385X KB 0 to-read 4.18 2009
author: Gwen Cooper
name: KB
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55884198
Blockbuster author James Patterson delivers a genuinely hilarious-and surprisingly poignant-story of a wildly imaginative, one-of-kind kid that you won't soon forget.]]> 281 James Patterson 1338135368 KB 2 2.00 2011
author: James Patterson
name: KB
average rating: 2.00
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 145625059
Conflict is the top reason couples seek help—but it's also an opportunity for greater intimacy, deeper connection, and lasting love according to this essential guide from the world's leading relationship scientists and bestselling authors of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work and Eight Dates.

How we fight predicts the future of our relationships. Most of us blunder into conflict without knowing what we are really fighting about and then quickly become overwhelmed by physiological responses we can’t control and emotions we don’t anticipate. The truth is the happiest and most successful couples fight—all the time. Conflict is human, and necessary.

Through decades of research, Drs. John and Julie Gottman, founders of the world-famous Love Lab, have identified the five common mistakes we make when we are at odds. In Fight Right , we learn the five secrets that help us to get back on track and harness conflict to build stronger, healthier relationships. With kindness, clarity, and a deep understanding of the struggles couples are going through, the Gottmans show us that we each have a unique conflict culture, borne of how we were raised and how we experienced past relationships, and they take us through all the possible combinations, from Avoiders, to Validators, to Volatiles, and how they can best work together.

Fight Right is an essential resource that will help couples escape the win-or-lose mentality in favor of a collaborative calming down, staying connected, and really understanding, so that our fights can bring us closer.]]> 352 Julie Schwartz Gottman 0593579658 KB 0 to-read 4.54 2024
author: Julie Schwartz Gottman
name: KB
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 24237711 213 Fred Davis KB 0 to-read 3.70 2012
author: Fred Davis
name: KB
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 29403924 122 Fred Davis KB 0 to-read 4.56
author: Fred Davis
name: KB
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 44442944 192 Chris Niebauer 1938289978 KB 0 to-read 4.15 2019
author: Chris Niebauer
name: KB
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 19004941 107 Fred Davis KB 0 to-read 4.22 2013
author: Fred Davis
name: KB
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6806426
This riveting collection of short stories features an unforgettable cast of Wheelchair-bound Inez Graney and her two older sons embark on a bizarre road trip through the Mississippi Delta to visit Inez’s youngest son, Raymond—on death row. A hard-drinking, low-grossing divorce lawyer fed up with his wife, his life, and the law plans a drastic escape after an unexpected phone call. A quiet, unassuming data collector sets out to bring down a flashy casino owner with his skill at blackjack—as payback for the theft of his wife. A stalker hunts victims in a retirement home, a lawyer confronts a vengeful adversary from the past, and a young man from a prominent family is driven off by scandal and fear—but finds unexpected redemption on the wrong side of the tracks.

Often hilarious, frequently moving, and always entertaining, this collection makes it abundantly clear why John Grisham is our most popular storyteller.

Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE AFTER THE FIRM, coming soon!]]> 356 John Grisham 0440246210 KB 4 short-stories 3.67 2008
author: John Grisham
name: KB
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: short-stories
review:

]]> 62039120
Why do we meditate? The main reason most modern people start meditating is because it helps us feel better―reducing anxiety, improving sleep, decluttering the mind, and so forth. “But where does your meditation go when things go bad?� asks Andrew Holecek. “Where is your spirituality when �rock meets bone,� as they say in Tibet―when the crap hits the fan?�

Reverse Meditation is for anyone who wants to bring the challenges of life onto the path of awakening. When things get hard, it’s time to turn your practice on its head―and throw out any assumption that meditation exists to insulate you from the confusion, difficulties, and uncertainty of life. “By putting your meditation into reverse,� Holecek teaches, “you’ll actually find yourself going forward. Step into your pain and you can step up your evolution.�

With his signature blend of depth and accessibility, Holecek invites you to

� Three core forms of meditation―mindfulness, open awareness, and the boundary-smashing reverse meditations
� How to know when you’re ready to engage with reverse meditation
� On-the-spot practices for snapping into a meditative mindset in difficult situations
� Contraction and expansion―how to dismantle habits of avoidance to become more open, resilient, and fully alive
� How reverse meditation opens you to a direct experience of the fundamental perfection of reality―just as it is

“These unique meditations are designed to reverse our relationship to unwanted experiences, which means going directly into them instead of avoiding them,� says Andrew Holecek. “It’s not an easy journey―yet this path leads to the discovery of unconditional happiness, basic goodness, and true freedom in the most turbulent situations.”]]> 240 Andrew Holecek 1649631057 KB 0 to-read 4.13
author: Andrew Holecek
name: KB
average rating: 4.13
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 38719664 -Theresa Kintz Interview
-When Non-Violence Is Suicide
-The Littering Ape
-John Jay Sentinel Interview
-Letter to the Saturday Evening Review
-The Communiques Of Freedom Club [FC]
-Comments on Timothy McVeight
-Ted on Individualists Tendeng Toward Savagery [ITS]
-Progress Versus Liberty
-Ship Of Fools
-Letter to Turkish Anarchist
-Marco Loves Determination
-How I Blew Up Harold Snilly]]> Theodore John Kaczynski KB 0 to-read 4.20
author: Theodore John Kaczynski
name: KB
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 45035203 Technological Slavery radically reinvigorates and reforms the intellectual foundations of an age-old and resurgent world-view: "Progress" is a myth. Wild nature and humanity are fundamentally incompatible with technological growth.

±ő˛ÔĚýTechnological Slavery, Kaczynski argues that: (i) the unfolding human and environmental crises are the direct, inevitable result of technology itself; (ii) many of the stresses endured in contemporary life are not normal to the human condition, but unique to technological conditions; (iii) wilderness and human life close to nature are realistic and supreme ideals; and, (iv) a revolution to eliminate modern technology and attain these ideals is necessary and far more achievable than would first appear.

Drawing on a broad range of disciplines, Kaczynski weaves together a set of visionary social theories to form a revolutionary perspective on the dynamics of history and the evolution of societies. The result is a comprehensive challenge to the fundamental values and assumptions of the modern technology-driven world, pinning the cause of the rapidly unfolding catastrophe on technology itself, while offering a realistic hope for ultimate recovery.

Note: Theodore John Kaczynski does not receive any remuneration for this book.]]> 355 Theodore John Kaczynski 1944228012 KB 0 to-read 4.24 2010
author: Theodore John Kaczynski
name: KB
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 225468 149 Theodore John Kaczynski KB 0 to-read 3.88 1995
author: Theodore John Kaczynski
name: KB
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 4653568 190 Eric Butterworth 0871591804 KB 0 currently-reading, skim-read 3.67 1984
author: Eric Butterworth
name: KB
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: currently-reading, skim-read
review:

]]> 206305528
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride�) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.]]> 404 Bonnie Garmus KB 0 to-read 4.24 2022
author: Bonnie Garmus
name: KB
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214064084 181 Robert Louis Stevenson KB 0 0.0 1882
author: Robert Louis Stevenson
name: KB
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1882
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/09
date added: 2024/11/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 54016275 158 Fenwicke Lindsay Holmes KB 0 currently-reading 5.00 1989
author: Fenwicke Lindsay Holmes
name: KB
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 18143977
In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

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

An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here]]> 544 Anthony Doerr 1476746583 KB 0 to-read 4.31 2014
author: Anthony Doerr
name: KB
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56578056
Which raises the ultimate question: with infinite choices, what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 1786892731 KB 5 favorites 3.88 2020
author: Matt Haig
name: KB
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/10/12
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> 10211494 320 Rob Lowe 080509329X KB 3 memoir 3.85 2011
author: Rob Lowe
name: KB
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/03
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: memoir
review:

]]> 2853628 32 Leo Lionni 0590482793 KB 5 children, multiple-readings 4.15 1975
author: Leo Lionni
name: KB
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1975
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/21
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: children, multiple-readings
review:

]]> 9789 Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes—and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings.
For a start there's the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a buddy from Iowa along for the walk. Despite Katz's overwhelming desire to find cozy restaurants, he and Bryson eventually settle into their stride, and while on the trail they meet a bizarre assortment of hilarious characters. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson's acute eye is a wise witness to this beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America's last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods has become a modern classic of travel literature.

]]> 276 Bill Bryson 0767902521 KB 5 funny, memoir 4.02 1998
author: Bill Bryson
name: KB
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/15
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: funny, memoir
review:

]]> 58214328 A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life.

"Every cell in my body is filled with the code of generations of trauma, of death, of birth, of migration, of history that I cannot understand. . . . I want to have words for what my bones know."

By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD—a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.

Both of Foo's parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she'd moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD.

In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don't move on from trauma—but you can learn to move with it.

Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body—and examines one woman's ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.]]> 352 Stephanie Foo 0593238109 KB 5 memoir, multiple-readings 4.50 2022
author: Stephanie Foo
name: KB
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/11
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: memoir, multiple-readings
review:

]]> 441602 239 Laura Ingalls Wilder 0060264306 KB 4 4.24 1932
author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
name: KB
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1932
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/28
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: multiple-readings, memoir, classics, children
review:
Re-read this classic from childhood - a nice choice to revisit over a cozy Christmas week. I had read the first 4 or 5 in the series of "Little House" books when I was very young and now that I'm grown, I hope to read the entire series.
]]> 7612 “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.�

They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.

While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.

A unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.]]> 118 John Steinbeck 0553131001 KB 0 classics, multiple-readings 3.87 1937
author: John Steinbeck
name: KB
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1937
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: classics, multiple-readings
review:

]]> 51323365
Solutions and Other Problems includes humorous stories from Allie Brosh’s childhood; the adventures of her very bad animals; merciless dissection of her own character flaws; incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness; as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life.

This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features all-new material with more than 1,600 pieces of art.]]> 519 Allie Brosh 1982156945 KB 5 funny, memoir 4.21 2020
author: Allie Brosh
name: KB
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/30
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: funny, memoir
review:

]]> 17365177 Jake must confront his doubts early on when he meets Emma Grainger, a single woman and a veterinarian who dismisses all Christians as "those people." Then, Tassy, a young runaway with a secret, arrives at the door of the church looking for a place of refuge. How does Jake deal with this runaway and his interest in Dr. Grainger? More importantly, can Jake rekindle his faith? Petey does his best to lead all people to the truth, in a most subtle and feline way.]]> 336 Jim Kraus 1426765614 KB 0 feline It could have been 5 stars until the author brought in abortion - he had done a beautiful job of not preaching but suddenly swooped in with a heavy handed agenda.
The rest of the book was delightful. I absolutely adored Petey, and the concept of the cat being a minister of God's will made it interesting and unique. Seemed like a perfect setup for a series, if it weren't for the last 1/3rd of the book. My hope is that he's become more sensitive & compassionate since 2013 as he seems to be likeable person & decent writer.]]> 4.16 2013
author: Jim Kraus
name: KB
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/07
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: feline
review:
The reviews from Tejas Janet and Lili are spot on for me!
It could have been 5 stars until the author brought in abortion - he had done a beautiful job of not preaching but suddenly swooped in with a heavy handed agenda.
The rest of the book was delightful. I absolutely adored Petey, and the concept of the cat being a minister of God's will made it interesting and unique. Seemed like a perfect setup for a series, if it weren't for the last 1/3rd of the book. My hope is that he's become more sensitive & compassionate since 2013 as he seems to be likeable person & decent writer.
]]> 41154258 #1 New York Times bestseller! Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ Choice Award for the best young adult novel of the year!

In this sequel to the acclaimed Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—now a major motion picture, Love, Simon—we follow Simon’s BFF Leah as she grapples with changing friendships, first love, and senior year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic.

She’s an anomaly in her friend group: the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high.

It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

Plus don't miss Yes No Maybe So, Becky Albertalli's and Aisha Saeed's heartwarming and hilarious new novel, coming in 2020! ]]> 343 Becky Albertalli 0062643819 KB 3 ya-fiction 3.84 2018
author: Becky Albertalli
name: KB
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/02
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: ya-fiction
review:
I did like this book and it was compelling enough to be a page turner, so why only 3.5 stars - especially when I gave the first Simon-verse book 5 stars? I think maybe I just liked the characters focused on in the first book more. Or maybe because the first book had more of the low-key mystery suspense element? Maybe I relate too much to what Leah's mom says on page 128 and it bothers me by hitting too close to home? Maybe the characters and plot are to "messy" for me (said "messiness" is probably more realistic, but maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind for it?) Regardless, I did still enjoy getting updates on all of the characters in this sequel and will continue looking forward to more in the future!
]]> 20663754 111 May Sarton 039334990X KB 5 feline, memoir 4.24 1957
author: May Sarton
name: KB
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1957
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/20
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: feline, memoir
review:
Love this account from the cat's perspective. It took me on a little emotional ride - not an extreme roller coaster, but a nicely meandering and mellow journey. This is the first book I have read by May Sarton, but I look forward to more by her. Thanks to my friend who recommended and lent a copy to me.
]]> 3257136
Dewey's story starts in the worst possible way. Only a few weeks old, on the coldest night of the year, he was stuffed into the returned book slot at the Spencer Public Library. He was found the next working by library director Vicki Myron, a single mother who had survived the loss of her family farm, a breast cancer scare, and an alcoholic husband. Dewey won her heart, and the hearts of the staff, by pulling himself up and hobbling on frostbitten feet to nudge each of hem in a gesture of thanks and love. For the next nineteen years, he never stopped charming the people of Spencer with this enthusiasm, warmth, humility (for a cat), and, above all, his sixth sense about who needed him most.

As his fame grew from town to town, then state to state, and finally, amazingly, worldwide, Dewey became more than just a friend; he became a source of pride for an extraordinary Heartland farming town pulling its way slowly back from the greatest crisis in its long history.]]> 277 Vicki Myron 0446407410 KB 0 feline, memoir 3.86 2008
author: Vicki Myron
name: KB
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/21
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: feline, memoir
review:

]]> 543232 248 May Sarton 039331717X KB 0 to-read 4.07 1980
author: May Sarton
name: KB
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 5941079
After her boss in a high-powered Washington public relations firm is caught in a political scandal, fledgling lobbyist Dempsey Jo Killebrew is left almost broke, unemployed, and homeless. Out of options, she reluctantly accepts her father’s offer to help refurbish Birdsong, the old family place he recently inherited in Guthrie, Georgia. All it will take, he tells her, is a little paint and some TLC to turn the fading Victorian mansion into a real-estate cash cow.

But, oh, is Dempsey in for a surprise when she arrives in Guthrie. “Bird Droppings� would more aptly describe the moldering Pepto Bismol–pink dump with duct-taped windows and a driveway full of junk. There’s also a murderously grumpy old lady, one of Dempsey’s distant relations, who has claimed squatter’s rights and isn’t moving out. Ever.

Furthermore, everyone in Guthrie seems to know Dempsey’s business, from a smooth-talking real-estate agent to a cute lawyer who owns the local newspaper. It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the pesky FBI agents who show up on Dempsey’s doorstep, hoping to pry information about her ex-boss from her.

All Dempsey can do is roll up her sleeves and get to work. And before long, what started as a job of necessity somehow becomes a labor of love and, ultimately, a journey that takes her to a place she never expected—back home again.]]> 422 Mary Kay Andrews 0060837381 KB 4 3.88 2009
author: Mary Kay Andrews
name: KB
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 3636 208 Lois Lowry 0385732554 KB 0 to-read 4.12 1993
author: Lois Lowry
name: KB
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 34930873 Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. Each is unprepared for the consequences of their attraction when, during the restless summer weeks, unrelenting currents of obsession, fascination, and desire intensify their passion and test the charged ground between them. Recklessly, the two verge toward the one thing both fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy.]]> 248 André Aciman 1250169445 KB 0 to-read 4.17 2007
author: André Aciman
name: KB
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 197874
Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman is a therapist, consultant, and trainer. She is known for her work with dysfunctional families, particularly with survivors of incest. Robert M. Pressman is the editor-in-chief and president of the Joint Commission for the Development of the Treatment and Statistical Manual for Behavioral and Mental Disorders.]]> 192 Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman 0787908703 KB 0 to-read 4.35 1994
author: Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman
name: KB
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 150245732
It’s not always easy to tell when you’re dealing with a narcissist. One day they draw you in with their confidence and charisma, the next they gaslight you, wreck your self-confidence, and leave you wondering, What could I have done differently?

As Dr. Ramani Durvasula reveals in It's Not You , the answer absolutely nothing. Just as a tiger can’t change its stripes, a narcissist won’t stop manipulating and invalidating you. To heal in the aftermath of their abuse and protect yourself from future harm, you first have to accept that you are not to blame. 

Deeply compassionate and revelatory, It’s Not You examines how narcissists hijack our wellbeing and offers a healing path forward. Drawing on more than 20 years of studying, teaching, and helping clients navigate the landscape of narcissism, Dr. Durvasula unpacks the oft-misunderstood personality, showing how to identify the telltale signs that you may be dealing with a narcissist and protect yourself from their toxic influence. Along the way, you’ll learn how to become gaslight resistant, chip away at the trauma bonds that keep us stuck in these cycles, grieve the losses, create realistic boundaries, learn the fine art of discernment, and recover your sense of self after years of invalidation.

Healing and thriving after or even during a narcissistic relationship can be challenging, but it is possible. It's Not You shows that the first step is to stop trying to change the narcissistic person, stop blaming yourself, and start giving yourself permission to foster your autonomy and sense of self outside of this relationship.]]> 362 Ramani Durvasula 0593492633 KB 0 to-read 4.54 2024
author: Ramani Durvasula
name: KB
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40088128
In Unlocking Frozen Shoulder, physiotherapist and healer Lynn Varcin considers a new paradigm of treatment, including self-healing the emotional links to minimize certain hormone levels. Lynn takes on the science, and challenges current practice with a simple system that shows us how best to assist ourselves from within. Lynn proposes that being rejected or hiding a severe emotional situation will contribute to the altered hormonal states underlying primary frozen shoulder. New exercises and self-healing strategies based on stabilizing hormonal balances are explained.]]> 122 Lunn Varcin KB 0 to-read 4.75 2013
author: Lunn Varcin
name: KB
average rating: 4.75
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 21381208 The amazing story of what Inc. magazine called “the coolest little startup in America.�  Tom Szaky dropped out of Princeton a decade ago to found TerraCycle, a company that makes the nonrecyclable recyclable. TerraCycle is now at the forefront of the eco-capitalist movement, partnering with more than 35 million people in twenty countries in the collection of waste and transforming that waste into useful products. Creating trash cans from chip bags and plastic benches from cigarette butts, TerraCycle has redefined recycling. Revolution in a Bottle is a rollicking tale of entrepreneurial adventure and an essential guide to creating a company that’s good for people, good for profits, and good for the planet. Since Revolution in a Bottle was first published in 2009, TerraCycle has grown dramatically from a small company offering worm poop in a soda bottle to a pioneer of recycling worldwide. This completely revised and expanded edition continues the story of this incredible company.]]> 224 Tom Szaky 1101614013 KB 0 to-read 4.33 2009
author: Tom Szaky
name: KB
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40728586 72 Kiri Valtchev 1976277051 KB 0 to-read 5.00
author: Kiri Valtchev
name: KB
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 43306206
The Courage to Be Disliked shows you how to unlock the power within yourself to become your best and truest self, change your future and find lasting happiness. Using the theories of Alfred Adler, one of the three giants of 19th-century psychology alongside Freud and Jung, the authors explain how we are all free to determine our own future free of the shackles of past experiences, doubts and the expectations of others. It’s a philosophy that’s profoundly liberating, allowing us to develop the courage to change, and to ignore the limitations that we and those around us can place on ourselves.

The result is a book that is both highly accessible and profound in its importance. Millions have already read and benefited from its wisdom. Now that The Courage to Be Disliked has been published for the first time in English, so can you.]]> 288 Ichiro Kishimi KB 0 to-read 3.89 2013
author: Ichiro Kishimi
name: KB
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 5455
Loretta gives you dozens of proven techniques for recognizing the ten simple truths that will lead you to an intense, happy, successful resilience, living in the moment, optimism, acceptance, humor, creativity, moderation, responsibility, meaning, and connection. Loretta’s wisdom evolved from her own life—one filled with the demands of being a single mother of three; of starting her own business when she was broke; and of the wacky invasiveness of her Italian family. She’s like all of real, flawed, stressed out, and on edge. Her magic comes from an ability to not take herself too seriously, and to always shift her focus away from the self-destructive and toward the truly important things in life.

In her work, Loretta has seen tens of thousands of people who live their lives as if they’re sitting in a waiting room, hoping that their turn comes up next. This book will show you that life is not something to be endured, but is something to be truly appreciated. We need to remember how to access our inner abundance, which allows us to be heart-centered, joy-filled human beings. As Loretta "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift—that’s why they call it the present."]]> 224 Loretta LaRoche 1401901492 KB 0 skim-read, to-read 3.69 2003
author: Loretta LaRoche
name: KB
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/03
shelves: skim-read, to-read
review:

]]> 2995495 472 John-Roger 093158096X KB 0 4.08 1991
author: John-Roger
name: KB
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/07/29
shelves:
review:
I skim-read this book and have mixed feelings about it - to be fair, it has been out for over 30 years, so it is a bit dated at this point. It has some good nuggets, especially about the value of time and the upside of discomfort. My overall takeaway is that the material may be better motivation if I am skewing toward a depressed state than if I am skewing toward an anxious state. I personally tend to equate "productivity" with self-worth, due to conditioning from family pressures, society "norms", cultural factors, and possibly even the Gen-X era when I grew up. So sometimes I just wanna be accepted (maybe even loved?!) simply for "being" without the onus of needing some grand purpose, lofty ambitions, or great accomplishments. I will probably pick it up and skim through it again at different times to see if it sparks motivation whenever I need it again.
]]> 2011089 222 Brian Tracy 0814471293 KB 0 dnf, skim-read, no-thank-you 4.11 2001
author: Brian Tracy
name: KB
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: dnf, skim-read, no-thank-you
review:

]]> 2585752 208 Barry J. Farber 042517042X KB 0 skim-read, dnf 3.00 1999
author: Barry J. Farber
name: KB
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: skim-read, dnf
review:

]]> 27161156 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062300546.

Hillbilly Elegy recounts J.D. Vance's powerful origin story...

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate now serving as a U.S. Senator from Ohio and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate for the 2024 election, an incisive account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America's white working class.

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for more than forty years, has been reported with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.

The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.'s grandparents were "dirt poor and in love," and moved north from Kentucky's Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually one of their grandchildren would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of success in achieving generational upward mobility. But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that J.D.'s grandparents, aunt, uncle, and, most of all, his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, never fully escaping the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. With piercing honesty, Vance shows how he himself still carries around the demons of his chaotic family history.

A deeply moving memoir, with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.]]> 264 J.D. Vance KB 0 to-read 3.80 2016
author: J.D. Vance
name: KB
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 155902169 How a kid with a broken radio became one of the world's finest minds.
Richard Feynman started by fixing broken radios, and ended up being most known for helping invent the atomic bomb. He is the epitome of training your brain to peak performance.

Become an alternative thinker that can solve any problem and learn any technique.
Richard Feynman's Mental Models is a book about the various tools Feynman used to excel academically, professionally, scientifically, and later as a professor. Learn about this goldmine of innovation and understand how to become a lifelong learner and thinker yourself.

This is a book like no other - together, we will analyze the roots of Feynman's upbringing, the genesis of his most well-known mental models, and exactly how to apply them in all areas of your life. After all, he wasn't just a physicist, he was an artist, drummer, and lock-picker as well!

This book is exactly how to become a polymath with insatiable curiosity.
Peter Hollins has studied psychology and peak human performance for over a dozen years. This book represents the scientifically proven methods he has used to become an expert in multiple domains.

Build your intellectual horsepower - yes, it is possible!
- Feynman's 12 favorite problems framework and how to solve any area of your life
- the Feynman Technique and how to comprehend extremely complex concepts
- the virtues of play and imagination in solving problems
- intellectual humility and getting from Point A to Point B
-how to spark curiosity in all of your endeavors

The scientific mindset is the key to the next level of your life.]]> 206 Peter Hollins KB 0 to-read 4.12
author: Peter Hollins
name: KB
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/03
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]]> 35167718 Among the book's many tales we meet Feynman's first wife, Arlene, who taught him of love's irreducible mystery as she lay dying in a hospital bed while he worked nearby on the atomic bomb at Los Alamos. We are also given a fascinating narrative of the investigation of the space shuttle Challenger's explosion in 1986, and we relive the moment when Feynman revealed the disaster's cause by an elegant experiment: dropping a ring of rubber into a glass of cold water and pulling it out, misshapen.]]> 288 Richard P. Feynman 0393355640 KB 0 to-read 4.10 1988
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: KB
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1988
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/03
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]]> 5546 Tips on Physics—the four previously unpublished lectures that Feynman gave to students preparing for exams at the end of his course. Thus, this 4-volume set is the complete and definitive edition of The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Packaged in a specially designed slipcase, this 4-volume set provides the ultimate legacy of Feynman's extraordinary contribution to students, teachers, researches, and lay readers around the world.]]> 1552 Richard P. Feynman 0805390456 KB 0 to-read 4.61 1964
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: KB
average rating: 4.61
book published: 1964
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> 5553 138 Richard P. Feynman 0465023924 KB 0 to-read 4.22 1994
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: KB
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/03
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]]> 5550
Published in the UK as Don't You Have Time to Think?]]> 486 Richard P. Feynman 0738206369 KB 0 to-read 4.26 2004
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: KB
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> 6996
No Ordinary Genius traces Feynman's remarkable adventures inside and outside science, in words and more than one-hundred photographs, many of them supplied by his family and close friends. The words are often his own and those of family, friends, and colleagues such as his sister, Joan Feynman; his children, Carl and Michelle; Freeman Dyson; Hans Bethe; Daniel Hillis; Marvin Minsky; and John Archibald Wheeler. The book gives vivid insight into the mind of a great creative scientist at work and at play, and it challenges the popular myth of the scientist as a cold reductionist dedicated to stripping romance and mystery from the natural world. Feynman's wonderfully infectious enthusiasm shines through in his photographs and in his tales.
]]> 274 Christopher Sykes 039331393X KB 0 to-read 4.32 1965
author: Christopher Sykes
name: KB
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1965
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> 10260
El placer de descubrir permite acceder al mundo personal, social y cientíco de Richard Feynman, por ejemplo, a sus aventuras mientras participó en el Proyecto Manhattan, cuando se divertía —y escandalizaba� descifrando las claves de cajas fuertes, o a cómo se inició, siendo un niño, en el estudio de la naturaleza (en el «placer de descubrir»), que terminaría ocupando toda su vida. Podemos, asimismo, conocer sus pioneras ideas sobre las computadoras del futuro, su opinión acerca del valor de la ciencia o la explicación, tan sencilla como profunda, que dio al desastre de la lanzadera espacial Challenger. Es este, sin duda, un libro tan fascinante como su autor.]]> 270 Richard P. Feynman KB 0 to-read 4.26 1999
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: KB
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> 17316511
Everything you could possibly want from Nora Ephron is here—from her writings on journalism, feminism, and being a woman (the notorious piece on being flat-chested, the clarion call of her commencement address at Wellesley) to her best-selling novel, Heartburn, written in the wake of her devastating divorce from Carl Bernstein; from her hilarious and touching screenplay for the movie When Harry Met Sally . . . (“I’ll have what she’s having�) to her recent play Lucky Guy (published here for the first time); from her ongoing love affair with food, recipes and all, to her extended takes on such controversial women as Lillian Hellman and Helen Gurley Brown; from her pithy blogs on politics to her moving meditations on aging (“I Feel Bad About My Neck�) and dying.

Her superb writing, her unforgettable movies, her honesty and fearlessness, her nonpareil humor have made Nora Ephron an icon for America’s women—and not a few of its men.
]]> 557 Nora Ephron 038535083X KB 0 to-read 4.27 2013
author: Nora Ephron
name: KB
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> 23977 216 Nora Ephron 0380712539 KB 0 to-read 4.02 1991
author: Nora Ephron
name: KB
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/14
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]]> 15841852
This edition brings together some of Ephron’s most famous writing on a generation of women (and men) who helped shape the way we live now, and on events ranging from the Watergate scandal to the Pillsbury Bake-Off. In these sharp, hilariously entertaining, and vividly observed pieces, Ephron illuminates an era with wicked honesty and insight. From the famous “A Few Words About Breasts� to important pieces on her time working for the New York Post and Gourmet Magazine , these essays show Ephron at her very best.]]> 448 Nora Ephron 0345804740 KB 0 to-read 3.51 1978
author: Nora Ephron
name: KB
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1978
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 39025791 The posthumous sequel to Who Moved My Cheese?, the classic parable that became a worldwide sensation.

Who Moved My Cheese? offered millions of readers relief for an evergreen problem: unanticipated and unwelcome change. Now its long-awaited sequel digs deeper, to show how readers can adapt their beliefs and achieve better results in any field.

Johnson's theme is that all of our accomplishments are due to our beliefs: whether we're confident or insecure, cynical or positive, open-minded or inflexible. But it's difficult to change your beliefs--and with them, your outcomes. Find out how Hem, Haw, and the other characters from Who Moved My Cheese? deal with this challenge.]]> 96 Spencer Johnson 0525537295 KB 0 to-read 4.07 2018
author: Spencer Johnson
name: KB
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> 4894
Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are "Littlepeople" � beings the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw.

"Cheese" is a metaphor for what you want to have in life � whether it's a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, health, or spiritual peace of mind.

And the "Maze" is where you look for what you want � the organisation you work in or the family or community you live in.

In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the Maze walls.

When you come to see "The Handwriting on the Wall," you can discover for yourself how to deal with change, so that you can enjoy less stress and more success (however you define it) in your work and in your life.

Written for all ages, the story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last for a lifetime.]]> 98 Spencer Johnson 0091883768 KB 0 3.88 1999
author: Spencer Johnson
name: KB
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/10
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 1726466 111 Kenneth H. Blanchard 0425062651 KB 0 3.78 1981
author: Kenneth H. Blanchard
name: KB
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/06
date added: 2024/06/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 175968363 What has self-doubt already cost you in your life?

Imagine what you’d do if you FULLY believed in YOU! When you stop doubting your greatness, build unshakable self-worth and embrace who you are, you transform your entire life! WORTHY teaches you how, with simple steps that lead to life-changing results!

“In life, you don’t soar to the level of your hopes and dreams, you stay stuck at the level of your self-worth. In your business, leadership, relationships, friendships and ambitions, you don’t rise to what you believe is possible, you fall to what you believe you’re worthy of. When you build your self-worth, you change your entire life. WORTHY teaches you how. I wrote WORTHY for YOU if you have some self-doubt to destroy and a destiny to fulfill!� � Jamie Kern Lima

Author Jamie Kern Lima’s first, instant New York Times bestselling book, Believe It, captured her journey of going from Denny’s waitress to billion-dollar entrepreneur by learning to believe in herself. And now her second, much anticipated, upcoming book WORTHY , is the playbook for how YOU can believe in YOU!

If you’ve ever struggled with self-doubt, felt like you don’t have what it takes…or that who you truly are isn’t enough, even if you’re really good at hiding it from the world, WORTHY is for you. If you’ve been underestimating your talent and gifts, or battle imposter syndrome, WORTHY is for you. If you’ve been letting fear of failure and rejection hold you back, WORTHY is for you. If you’ve learned to please others so much that you end up betraying yourself, WORTHY is for you. If you’re sick and tired of what self-doubt has already cost you in your life, in your goals, in your relationships, and in your hopes and dreams, WORTHY is for you! If you’re ready to expand your self-love, ignite your self-confidence and wakeup your self-worth, WORTHY is for you!!

When you change what you believe you’re worthy of, you change your entire life.

This book is about how to do that.

IN WORTHY YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO�
Get Unstuck from the Things Holding You Back Build Unshakable Self-LoveUnlearn the Lies the Lead to Self-DoubtEmbrace The Truths That Wakeup WorthinessStop Dimming Your Light and Doubting Your GreatnessLet Go of Past Mistakes and Restore Self-ConfidenceOvercome Limiting Beliefs and Embody Empowering OnesEliminate Your Fear of Rejection and FailureLearn to Believe You’re Enough Exactly as You AreTransform the Meaning You Give to Your Own Story and IdentityFollow the Roadmap for Achieving True Fulfillment in LifeAchieve Your Hopes and Dreams by Believing You Are Worthy of ThemEmbrace Who You Truly AreAnd much more...

Are you ready to unleash your greatness and believe in the power that is YOU? Are you ready to finally stop believing the lies that you’re unlovable, unqualified or not]]> 322 Jamie Kern Lima 1401977618 KB 0 to-read 3.99 2024
author: Jamie Kern Lima
name: KB
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> 837393 This is vintage de Brunhoff--a must for Babar fans and a story sure to charm and engage young readers.]]> 56 Jean de Brunhoff 0394805763 KB 0 children, multiple-readings 4.07 1932
author: Jean de Brunhoff
name: KB
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1932
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/03
shelves: children, multiple-readings
review:

]]> 4748576 Vintage children's book 0 Michael Brown 0448042134 KB 0 multiple-readings, children 4.05 1966
author: Michael Brown
name: KB
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/03
shelves: multiple-readings, children
review:

]]> 144392734 0 Beatrix Potter KB 0 multiple-readings 0.0
author: Beatrix Potter
name: KB
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/03
shelves: multiple-readings
review:

]]> 198281740
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…�

When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.]]> 324 Matt Haig 0593489276 KB 0 to-read 3.45 2024
author: Matt Haig
name: KB
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 198209495
Stella reached for an oyster, tipped her head and tossed it back. It was cool and slippery, the flavor so briny it was like diving into the ocean... Oysters, she thought, where have they been all my life?

When her estranged mother dies, Stella is left with an unusual a one-way plane ticket and a note reading Go to Paris . But Stella is hardly cut out for adventure; a childhood trauma has kept her confined to the strict routines of her comfort zone. When her boss encourages her to take time off, Stella resigns herself to honoring her mother’s last wishes.

Alone in a foreign city, Stella falls into old habits, living cautiously and frugally. Then she stumbles across a vintage store where she tries on a fabulous Dior dress. The shopkeeper insists that this dress was meant for Stella and, for the first time in her life, Stella does something impulsive. She buys the dress and together they embark on an adventure.

Her first iconic brasserie Les Deux Magots, where Stella tastes her first oysters, and then meets an octogenarian art collector who decides to take her under his wing. As Jules introduces her to a veritable who’s who of the 1980s Paris literary, art, and culinary worlds, Stella begins to understand what it might mean to live a larger life.

As weeks—and many decadent meals—go by, Stella ends up living as a “tumbleweed� at famed bookstore Shakespeare & Company, uncovers a hundred-year-old mystery in a Manet painting, and discovers a passion for food that may be connected to her past. A feast for the senses, this novel is a testament to living deliciously, taking chances, and finding your true home.]]> 288 Ruth Reichl 0525613005 KB 0 to-read 3.74 2024
author: Ruth Reichl
name: KB
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> 81107 The Energy Bus, an international best seller by Jon Gordon, takes readers on an enlightening and inspiring ride that reveals 10 secrets for approaching life and work with the kind of positive, forward thinking that leads to true accomplishment - at work and at home. Jon infuses this engaging story with keen insights as he provides a powerful roadmap to overcome adversity and bring out the best in yourself and your team. When you get on The Energy Bus you'll enjoy the ride of your life!]]> 192 Jon Gordon 0470100281 KB 4 3.81 2007
author: Jon Gordon
name: KB
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/30
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 195888459 In the wake of tragedy, a group of friends make a pact that will cause them to reunite a decade later and embark upon a life-changing adventure together—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Meant to Be.

Four freshmen arrive at college from completely different worlds: Lainey, a California party girl with a flair for drama; Tyson, a brilliant scholar and law school hopeful from D.C.; Summer, a recruited athlete and perfectionist from the Midwest; and Hannah, a mild-mannered southerner who is content to quietly round out the circle of big personalities. Soon after moving into their shared dorm, they strike up a conversation in a study lounge, and the seeds of friendship are planted.

As their college years fly by, their bond intensifies and the four become inseparable. But as graduation nears, their lives are forever changed after a desperate act leads to tragic consequences. Stunned and heartbroken, a pact is made to be there for each other in their time of need, no matter how separated they are by circumstances or distance.

Ten years later, Hannah is anticipating what should be one of the happiest moments of her life when everything is suddenly turned upside down. Calling on her closest friends, it soon becomes clear that they are facing their own crossroads. True to their promise, they agree to take a time out from lives headed in wrong directions and embark on a journey of self-discovery, forgiveness, and acceptance.

In this tender portrayal of grief, love, and hope, Emily Giffin asks: When things fall apart, who will be at our sides to help pick up the pieces?]]> 352 Emily Giffin 0593600290 KB 0 to-read 3.27 2024
author: Emily Giffin
name: KB
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/14
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]]> 58935768
No one ever expected anything of Cate, on the other hand. She, too, grew up in a single-parent household—just her and her mom scraping by in their small apartment. As a teenager, though, Cate is discovered for her looks. Modeling may be her only ticket out of the cycle of disappointment that her mother has always inhabited. Before too long, her face is everywhere, though she is always aware that she’d be a pariah in her social circles if anyone knew her true story.

When Joe and Cate’s paths cross, their connection is instant. What remains to be seen is whether their relationship will survive the glare of the spotlight that follows Joe everywhere. And just as they find themselves in the make-or-break moment, the tragedy that seems to run in Joe’s family right alongside all that privilege will repeat itself.

In a beautifully written novel that recaptures a gilded moment in American history, Emily Giffin tells a story of a love that may or may not have the power to transcend circumstances that seem arrayed against it... and the difficulty of finding your way to the place you belong.]]> 368 Emily Giffin 0425286649 KB 0 to-read 3.87 2022
author: Emily Giffin
name: KB
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> 38532131 She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Who still has secrets to hide?]]> 384 Lisa Jewell 1501154656 KB 4 4.11 2017
author: Lisa Jewell
name: KB
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/06
date added: 2024/05/11
shelves:
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]]> 63291799 160 Heidi Richards 0965679764 KB 0 multiple-readings 0.0
author: Heidi Richards
name: KB
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/08
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves: multiple-readings
review:

]]> 3563507 486 Michael Landes 0898159547 KB 0 skim-read 4.00 1997
author: Michael Landes
name: KB
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves: skim-read
review:

]]> 6422
Stephanie’s mentor and tormentor, Ranger, needs her. Vice cop Joe Morelli has invited her to move in� temporarily. And Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur, sidekick, Lula, and a six-foot-tall transvestite rock musician want to take Stephanie to Atlantic City. One thing is for certain, no good can come from any of it.]]> 313 Janet Evanovich 0312966970 KB 0 4.17 1998
author: Janet Evanovich
name: KB
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/07
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]]> 685377 Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1 - ACE #2 - ACE #3

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum debuted in Janet Evanovich's award-winning "One for the Money".
Now she's back, packing a whole lot of attitude -- not to mention stun guns, defense sprays, killer
flashlights and a .38 Smith &; Wesson -- on the trail of Kenny Mancuso, a boy from the working class
burg of Trenton, who's just shot his best friend. Mancuso's fresh out of the army and suspiciously
wealthy. He's also distantly related to Joe Morelli, a vice cop with ethics that lean toward the gray
zone, a libido in permanent overdrive, and a habit of horning in on Stephanie's investigations.
Aided by her tough bounty hunter pal, Ranger, and her funeral-happy Grandma Mazur, Stephanie's
soon staggering knee-deep in corpses and caskets, trying to shake Morelli ... and stirring up a
very nasty enemy ...
"[Stephanie Plum is] a Jersey girl with Bette Midler's mouth and Cher's fashion
sense...Who could resist this doll?" - "The New York Times Book Review"

~]]> 312 Janet Evanovich 0671001795 KB 0 3.92 1996
author: Janet Evanovich
name: KB
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/07
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]]> 6854
And to make matters worse, she's got Lula, a former hooker turned file clerk -- now a wannabe bounty hunter -- at her side, sticking like glue. Lula's big and blonde and black and itching to get the chance to lock up a crook in the trunk of her car.

Morelli, the New Jersey vice cop with the slow-burning smile that undermines a girl's strongest resolve is being polite. So what does this mean? Has he found a new love? Or is he manipulating Steph, using her in his police investigation, counting on her unmanageable curiosity and competitive Jersey attitude?

Once again, the entire One for the Money crew is in action, including Ranger and Grandma Mazur, searching for Mo, tripping down a trail littered with dead drug dealers, leading Stephanie to suspect Mo has traded his ice-cream scoop for a vigilante gun.

Cursed with a disastrous new hair color and an increasing sense that it's really time to get a new job, Stephanie spirals and tumbles through Three to Get Deadly with all the wisecracks and pace her fans have come to expect.]]> 321 Janet Evanovich 0312966091 KB 0 4.15 1997
author: Janet Evanovich
name: KB
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/07
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]]> 6461352 176 Jon Gordon 0470462086 KB 0 skim-read 4.11 2009
author: Jon Gordon
name: KB
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/07
date added: 2024/05/07
shelves: skim-read
review:

]]> 173666 For many of us, feelings of deficiency are right around the corner. It doesn’t take much--just hearing of someone else’s accomplishments, being criticized, getting into an argument, making a mistake at work--to make us feel that we are not okay. Beginning to understand how our lives have become ensnared in this trance of unworthiness is our first step toward reconnecting with who we really are and what it means to live fully.
--from Radical Acceptance

Radical Acceptance

“Believing that something is wrong with us is a deep and tenacious suffering,� says Tara Brach at the start of this illuminating book. This suffering emerges in crippling self-judgments and conflicts in our relationships, in addictions and perfectionism, in loneliness and overwork--all the forces that keep our lives constricted and unfulfilled. Radical Acceptance offers a path to freedom, including the day-to-day practical guidance developed over Dr. Brach’s twenty years of work with therapy clients and Buddhist students.

Writing with great warmth and clarity, Tara Brach brings her teachings alive through personal stories and case histories, fresh interpretations of Buddhist tales, and guided meditations. Step by step, she leads us to trust our innate goodness, showing how we can develop the balance of clear-sightedness and compassion that is the essence of Radical Acceptance. Radical Acceptance does not mean self-indulgence or passivity. Instead it empowers genuine change: healing fear and shame and helping to build loving, authentic relationships. When we stop being at war with ourselves, we are free to live fully every precious moment of our lives.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 333 Tara Brach KB 0 to-read 4.15 2000
author: Tara Brach
name: KB
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> 20342617
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit law office in Montgomery, Alabama, dedicated to defending the poor, the incarcerated, and the wrongly condemned.

Just Mercy tells the story of EJI, from the early days with a small staff facing the nation’s highest death sentencing and execution rates, through a successful campaign to challenge the cruel practice of sentencing children to die in prison, to revolutionary projects designed to confront Americans with our history of racial injustice.

One of EJI’s first clients was Walter McMillian, a young Black man who was sentenced to die for the murder of a young white woman that he didn’t commit. The case exemplifies how the death penalty in America is a direct descendant of lynching � a system that treats the rich and guilty better than the poor and innocent.]]> 336 Bryan Stevenson KB 0 to-read 4.62 2014
author: Bryan Stevenson
name: KB
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/25
shelves: to-read
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