Anupriya's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 08 May 2025 15:46:35 -0700 60 Anupriya's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Risen (Alex Verus, #12) 56358066
Alex's girlfriend, the life mage Anne, has fallen fully under the control of the deadly djinn she made a bargain with, and it is preparing to create an army of mages subject to its every whim. Alex, the Council, and the Dark mage Richard Drakh agree to call a truce in their war, and plans are made for a joint attack. Alex knows that it's only a matter of time before Drakh and the Council turn on each other . . . and neither cares about keeping Anne alive. Can Alex figure out a way to stop Anne and to free her from possession before time runs out for the people he loves?]]>
334 Benedict Jacka Anupriya 0 to-read 4.44 2021 Risen (Alex Verus, #12)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Forged (Alex Verus, #11) 50740363
To protect his friends, Mage Alex Verus has had to change--and embrace his dark side. But the life mage Anne has changed too, and made a bond with a dangerous power. She's going after everyone she's got a grudge against--and it's a long list.

In the meantime, Alex has to deal with his arch-enemy, Levistus. The Council's death squads are hunting Alex as well as Anne, and the only way for Alex to stop them is to end his long war with Levistus and the Council, by whatever means necessary. It will take everything Alex has to stay a step ahead of the Council and stop Anne from letting the world burn.]]>
312 Benedict Jacka 0356511146 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.34 2020 Forged (Alex Verus, #11)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Fallen (Alex Verus, #10) 43670629 For Mage Alex Verus, everything is on the line in the tenth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Marked.

Once Alex Verus was a diviner trying to live quietly under the radar. Now he's a member of the Light Council who's found success, friends...and love. But it's come with a price--the Council is investigating him, and if they find out the truth, he'll lose everything.

Meanwhile, Alex's old master, Richard Drakh, is waging a war against the Council, and he's preparing a move that will bring Alex and the life mage, Anne, under his control. Caught between Richard and the Council, Alex's time is running out. To protect those he cares for, Alex will have to become something different. Something darker...]]>
296 Benedict Jacka 0440000580 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.37 2019 Fallen (Alex Verus, #10)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Marked (Alex Verus, #9) 36068567 Mage Alex Verus is hanging on by a thread in the ninth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Burned.

When Mage Alex Verus ends up with a position on the Light Council, no one is happy, least of all him. But Alex is starting to realize that if he wants to protect his friends, he'll need to become a power player himself. His first order of business is to track down dangerous magical items unleashed into the world by Dark Mages.

But when the Council decides they need his help in negotiating with the perpetrators, Alex will have to use all his cunning and magic to strike a deal--and stop the rising tension between the Council, the Dark Mages, and the adept community from turning into a bloodbath.]]>
354 Benedict Jacka 0356507211 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.22 2018 Marked (Alex Verus, #9)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Bound (Alex Verus, #8) 29865319 Mage Alex Verus is caught between a rock and a hard place in the eighth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Burned.

Right now I wasn’t seeing Richard as the teacher out of my nightmares, he was just another Dark mage, and I looked into the future to see what would happen if I turned that knife on him instead...

Alex Verus is still haunted by his time apprenticed to Richard Drakh. He's been free of him for many years, but now the only way to keep his friends from being harmed is to again work for Richard and his deadly ally. Even worse, he’s forced to bring the Light mage Anne into this servitude as well.

After weeks of being hunted and finally cornered into what he thought was his last stand, Alex never thought his life would be spared—and never anticipated at what price. This time, the diviner can see no way out...]]>
336 Benedict Jacka 1101988533 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.29 2017 Bound (Alex Verus, #8)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Burned (Alex Verus, #7) 23236743 Mage Alex Verus is back in the seventh in the “gorgeously realized�* urban fantasy series from the national bestselling author of Veiled.

I’m used to people wanting me dead. But, this time, I’m not the only one on the hit list—and time is running out...

Diviner Alex Verus finally made one too many enemies on the Council of Mages, and now one of them is angry enough to have him executed. Fighting for his life is nothing new, but this kill order also calls for the death of Alex’s dependents—and there’s no way that he’ll let Luna, Anne, and Vari take the heat.

With only a week before he’s history, Alex will have to figure out how to disassociate himself from his friends, scrounge up allies on the Council, and hopefully keep his head attached to his body.

But saving himself is going to bring him into direct opposition with his former master and the Dark mages surrounding him. And, this time, escaping with his life might mean losing his soul...]]>
326 Benedict Jacka 0425275760 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.27 2016 Burned (Alex Verus, #7)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Veiled (Alex Verus, #6) 23236738 National bestselling author Benedict Jacka returns to the world of Alex Verus...

I thought I’d escaped my past. But my old master is back and making a new play for power. And he’s not the only one targeting me�

Diviner Alex Verus and the Council that governs the magical community have never gotten along. But with his former teacher back in Britain, Alex is in desperate need of allies, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get them—even if it means accepting a job with the Keepers, enforcing magical law.

Alex forms an uneasy alliance with his new partner, Caldera, but his attempt at legitimacy quickly turns lethal when a mission puts him in possession of an item that factions both inside and outside of the Council would kill to get their hands on.

Once again caught in the middle of a deadly conflict, Alex will need all his abilities to figure out who his friends are—especially when enemies are hiding on all sides…]]>
296 Benedict Jacka 0698165071 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.18 2015 Veiled (Alex Verus, #6)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Chosen (Alex Verus, #4) 16072988
Alex Verus is a diviner who can see probable futures—a talent that’s gotten him out of many a tough scrape. But this time, he may be in over his head. Alex was once apprenticed to a Dark mage, and in his service he did a lot of things he isn’t proud of.

As rumors swirl that his old master is coming back, Alex comes face to face with his misdeeds in the form of a young adept whose only goal is to get revenge. Alex has changed his life for the better, but he’s afraid of what his friends—including his apprentice, Luna—will think of his past. But if they’re going to put themselves at risk, they need to know exactly what kind of man they’re fighting for...]]>
294 Benedict Jacka 0425264920 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.22 2013 Chosen (Alex Verus, #4)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Hidden (Alex Verus, #5) 18599601 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B00HP4HC2S

Alex Verus is a diviner who can see probable futures - a talent that's gotten him and his friends out of many a tough scrape. But what happens when someone doesn't want Alex's help?

Alex's friend, the life mage Anne, distanced herself from him when she found out about his past as a Dark apprentice. Now she's in serious trouble, but wants nothing to do with him. Alex has to start wondering if Anne's problem is really with him - or if there's a secret she's trying to hide.

On top of that, rumours are swirling around London that Alex's former master may be back in town. Alex has no idea what his agenda may be, or who it involves . . .]]>
336 Benedict Jacka Anupriya 0 to-read 4.19 2014 Hidden (Alex Verus, #5)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Cursed (Alex Verus, #2) 13274082 Benedict Jacka's acclaimed Alex Verus series continues with Cursed.

Since his second sight made him infamous for defeating powerful dark mages, Alex has been keeping his head down. But now he'sdiscovered the resurgence of a forbidden ritual. Someone is harvesting the life-force of magical creatures—destroying them in the process. And draining humans is next on the agenda. Hired to investigate, Alexrealizes thatnot everyone on the Council wants him delving any deeper. Struggling to distinguish ally from enemy, he finds himself the target of those who would risk their own sanity for power...]]>
293 Benedict Jacka 1937007596 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.08 2012 Cursed (Alex Verus, #2)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Taken (Alex Verus, #3) 13542616 313 Benedict Jacka 1937007723 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.12 2012 Taken (Alex Verus, #3)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
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Fated (Alex Verus, #1) 11737387
Alex is part of a world hidden in plain sight, running a magic shop in London that caters to clientele who can do much more than pull rabbits out of hats. And while Alex’s own powers aren’t as showy as some mages, he does have the advantage of foreseeing the possible future—allowing him to pull off operations that have a million to one chance of success.

But when Alex is approached by multiple factions seeking his skills to crack open a relic from a long-ago mage war, he knows that whatever’s inside must be beyond powerful. And thanks to his abilities, Alex can predict that by taking the job, his odds of survival are about to go from slim to none....]]>
295 Benedict Jacka 1937007294 Anupriya 0 currently-reading 3.90 2012 Fated (Alex Verus, #1)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/08
shelves: currently-reading
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<![CDATA[Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism]]> 223436601 An explosive memoir charting one woman’s career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.

From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.

Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction when he learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in.�

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in the past decade—told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.]]>
382 Sarah Wynn-Williams 1250391237 Anupriya 4 4.28 2025 Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
author: Sarah Wynn-Williams
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/07
date added: 2025/05/07
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Crooked House 16315
The Leonides are one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That is until the head of the household, Aristide, is murdered with a fatal barbiturate injection.

Suspicion naturally falls on the old man’s young widow, fifty years his junior. But the murderer has reckoned without the tenacity of Charles Hayward, fiancé of the late millionaire’s granddaughter.]]>
276 Agatha Christie 031298166X Anupriya 5 4.07 1949 Crooked House
author: Agatha Christie
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1949
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/05
date added: 2025/05/05
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<![CDATA[Lahore (The Partition Trilogy #1)]]> 59617445
Set in parallel threads across these two cities, Lahore is a behind-the-scenes look into the negotiations and the political skullduggery that gave India its freedom, the price for which was batwara. As the men make the decisions and wield the swords, the women bear the brunt of the carnage that tears through India in the sticky hot months of its cruellest summer ever.

Backed by astute research, The Partition Trilogy captures the frenzy of Indian
independence, the Partition and the accession of the states, and takes readers back to a time of great upheaval and churn.

‘Lahore is breathtaking in scope, painful yet gentle to the touch.�
� Taslima Nasreen, author of Lajja and Shameless

‘Vivid and atmospheric.� � Aanchal Malhotra, author of Remnants of a Separation

'Current, relevant and important. This is a voice which makes you question, rethink and reimagine the past as the future and the future as the past.'
� Sabyn Javeri, author of Hijabistan

'Deftly weaves the big strands of history with the finer threads
of human feeling.�
� Manu S. Pillai, author of The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore]]>
352 Manreet Sodhi Someshwar 9354890695 Anupriya 0 currently-reading 4.00 2021 Lahore (The Partition Trilogy #1)
author: Manreet Sodhi Someshwar
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: currently-reading
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<![CDATA[My Year of Rest and Relaxation]]> 44279110
Our narrator should be happy, shouldn’t she? She’s young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn’t just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.]]>
289 Ottessa Moshfegh 0525522131 Anupriya 0 to-read 3.62 2018 My Year of Rest and Relaxation
author: Ottessa Moshfegh
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
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Tress of the Emerald Sea 63068384 #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson brings us deeper into the Cosmere universe with a rollicking, riveting tale that will appeal to fans of The Princess Bride.

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?]]>
369 Brandon Sanderson 1250899656 Anupriya 3 4.27 2023 Tress of the Emerald Sea
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
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In the Lives of Puppets 60784549
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled “HAP,� he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio–a past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?

Inspired by Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, and like Swiss Family Robinson meets Wall-E, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful stand-alone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.]]>
432 T.J. Klune 125021744X Anupriya 0 currently-reading 3.90 2023 In the Lives of Puppets
author: T.J. Klune
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/30
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The Daughters of Madurai 61783327 The Daughters of Madurai is both a heartrending family story and a page-turning mystery about the secrets we must keep to protect those we love.
Madurai, 1992. A young mother in a poor family, Janani is told she is useless if she can’t produce a son—or worse, if she bears daughters. They let her keep her first baby girl, but the rest are taken away as soon as they are born and murdered. But Janani can’t forget the daughters she was never allowed to love.
Sydney, 2019. Nila has a secret; one she’s been keeping from her parents for too long. Before she can say anything, her grandfather in India falls ill and she agrees to join her parents on a trip to Madurai. Nila knows very little about where her family came from or who they left behind. What she’s about to learn will change her forever. While The Daughters of Madurai explores the harrowing issue of female infanticide, it’s also a universal story about the bond between mothers and daughters, the strength of women, and the power of love in overcoming all obstacles.

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336 Rajasree Variyar 1454948760 Anupriya 4 4.03 2023 The Daughters of Madurai
author: Rajasree Variyar
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
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<![CDATA[Iran Awakening: A memoir of revolution and hope]]> 18751943 In this remarkable book, Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights lawyer and activist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, tells her extraordinary life story.



Dr Ebadi is a tireless voice for reform in her native Iran, where she argues for a new interpretation of Sharia law in harmony with vital human rights such as democracy, equality before the law, religious freedom and freedom of speech. She is known for defending dissident figures, and for the establishment of a number of non-profit grassroots organisations dedicated to human rights. In 2003 she became the first Muslim woman, and the first Iranian, to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.



She chronicles her childhood and upbringing before the Iranian Revolution, her education and student years at the University of Tehran, her marriage and its challenges, her religious faith, and her life as a mother and as an advocate for the oppressed. As a human rights campaigner, in particular for women, children and political prisoners in Iran, her autobiography is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the life story and beliefs of a courageous and unusual woman, as well as those interested in current events (especially those of the Middle East), and those who want to know the truth about the position of women in a Muslim society.

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287 Shirin Ebadi Anupriya 3 4.34 2006 Iran Awakening: A memoir of revolution and hope
author: Shirin Ebadi
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
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<![CDATA[The Unknown Errors of Our Lives / Honeymoon / and Other Stories]]> 11628365 A widow in California, recently arrived from India, struggles to adapt to a world in which neighbors are strangers and her domestic skills are deemed superfluous in the award-winning “Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter.� In “The Intelligence of Wild Things,� a woman from Sacramento visits her brother in Vermont to inform him that back in Calcutta their mother is dying. And in the title story, a painter looks to ancient myth and the example of her grandmother for help in navigating her first real crisis of faith.
Knowing, compassionate and expertly rendered, the stories in The Unknown Errors of Our Lives depict the eternal struggle to find a balance between the pull of home and the allure of change.]]>
0 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Anupriya 3 3.76 2001 The Unknown Errors of Our Lives / Honeymoon / and Other Stories
author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
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<![CDATA[More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, #2)]]> 199295788 In this charming and emotionally resonant follow up to the internationally bestselling Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Satoshi Yagisawa paints a poignant and thoughtful portrait of life, love, and how much books and bookstores mean to the people who love them.

Set again in the beloved Japanese bookshop and nearby coffee shop in the Jimbocho neighborhood of Toyko, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop deepens the relationship between Takako, her uncle Satoru , and the people in their lives. A new cast of heartwarming regulars have appeared in the shop, including an old man who wears the same ragged mouse-colored sweater and another who collects books solely for the official stamps with the author’s personal seal.

Satoshi Yagisawa illuminates the everyday relationships between people that are forged and grown through a shared love of books. As time passes, Satoru, with Takako’s help, must choose whether to keep the bookshop open or shutter its doors forever. Making the decision will take uncle and niece on an emotional journey back to their family’s roots and remind them again what a bookstore can mean to an individual, a neighborhood, and a whole culture.]]>
176 Satoshi Yagisawa 0063278715 Anupriya 3 3.90 2011 More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, #2)
author: Satoshi Yagisawa
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
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<![CDATA[Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, #1)]]> 62047992 The moving international sensation about new beginnings, human connection, and the joy of reading.

Hidden in Jimbocho, Tokyo, is a booklover's paradise. On a quiet corner in an old wooden building lies a shop filled with hundreds of second-hand books.

Twenty-five-year-old Takako has never liked reading, although the Morisaki bookshop has been in her family for three generations. It is the pride and joy of her uncle Satoru, who has devoted his life to the bookshop since his wife Momoko left him five years earlier.

When Takako's boyfriend reveals he's marrying someone else, she reluctantly accepts her eccentric uncle's offer to live rent-free in the tiny room above the shop. Hoping to nurse her broken heart in peace, Takako is surprised to encounter new worlds within the stacks of books lining the Morisaki bookshop.

As summer fades to autumn, Satoru and Takako discover they have more in common than they first thought. The Morisaki bookshop has something to teach them both about life, love, and the healing power of books.]]>
150 Satoshi Yagisawa 0063278677 Anupriya 5 3.66 2010 Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, #1)
author: Satoshi Yagisawa
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
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<![CDATA[The House of Awadh: A Hidden Tragedy]]> 223351335
Were they true heirs to a lost kingdom, delusional outcasts, or cunning impostors? Drawing on cross-border reportage, archives and intimate interviews, Aletta Andre and Abhimanyu Kumar explore the family's audacious claims as they bring to life an ambitious woman and her sensitive children. They also present a new account of the tragedy of Awadh and its slow ruin, as well as that of India-Pakistan relations from Independence to the present. Gripping and compelling, The House of Awadh is an unputdownable blend of history and memory.]]>
391 Aletta André 9365697050 Anupriya 0 currently-reading 4.00 The House of Awadh: A Hidden Tragedy
author: Aletta André
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/25
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<![CDATA[The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (The Library Trilogy, #1)]]> 61612864
A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes.

The world has never even noticed them. That's about to change.

Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.]]>
559 Mark Lawrence 0593437918 Anupriya 0 currently-reading 3.93 2023 The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (The Library Trilogy, #1)
author: Mark Lawrence
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: currently-reading
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The Berry Pickers 123036004 A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.]]>
307 Amanda Peters 1646221958 Anupriya 3 4.04 2023 The Berry Pickers
author: Amanda Peters
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
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<![CDATA[The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness]]> 171681821
A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.� —Shannon Carlin, ,i>TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood� began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood� in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood� has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems� that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.]]>
400 Jonathan Haidt 0593655036 Anupriya 5 4.35 2024 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 5
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Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) 209439446
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]>
527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 Anupriya 4 4.17 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/29
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<![CDATA[As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow]]> 57390604
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe.

But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.

Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.]]>
417 Zoulfa Katouh 0316351377 Anupriya 4 4.48 2022 As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
author: Zoulfa Katouh
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/23
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The Keeper of Hidden Books 62054146 A heartwarming story about the power of books to bring us together, inspired by the true story of the underground library in WWII Warsaw, by the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London.

All her life, Zofia has found comfort in two things during times of hardship: books and her best friend, Janina. But no one could have imagined the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw. As the bombs rain down and Hitler’s forces loot and destroy the city, Zofia finds that now books are also in need of saving.

With the death count rising and persecution intensifying, Zofia jumps to action to save her friend and salvage whatever books she can from the wreckage, hiding them away, and even starting a clandestine book club. She and her dearest friend never surrender their love of reading, even when Janina is forced into the newly formed ghetto.

But the closer Warsaw creeps toward liberation, the more dangerous life becomes for the women and their families—and escape may not be possible for everyone. As the destruction rages around them, Zofia must fight to save her friend and preserve her culture and community using the only weapon they have left—literature.]]>
416 Madeline Martin 1335455027 Anupriya 4 4.07 2023 The Keeper of Hidden Books
author: Madeline Martin
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/19
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<![CDATA[A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping]]> 123029113 A whimsical and heartwarming novel about a witch who has a second chance to get her magical powers—and her life—back on track, from the national bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches.

Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her Guild. Now she (slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps her aunt run an enchanted inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep said talking fox in check, and longs for the future that seems lost to her. But then she finds out about an old spell that could hold the key to restoring her power�

Enter Luke Larsen, handsome and icy magical historian, who arrives on a dark winter evening and might just know how to unlock the spell’s secrets. Luke has absolutely no interest in getting involved in the madcap goings-on of the inn and is definitely not about to let a certain bewitching innkeeper past his walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he agrees to help Sera with her spell. Worse, he might actually be thawing.

Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera Swan is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone...and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all.]]>
336 Sangu Mandanna Anupriya 0 to-read 4.37 2025 A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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Weyward 127280850
2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]>
392 Emilia Hart 1250842727 Anupriya 3 4.02 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/05
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Pretty Girls 25574782
Now another girl has disappeared, with chilling echoes of the past. And it seems that she might not be the only one.

Claire is convinced Julia's disappearance is linked.

But when she begins to learn the truth about her sister, she is confronted with a shocking discovery, and nothing will ever be the same...]]>
432 Karin Slaughter 0062430874 Anupriya 0 to-read 3.99 2015 Pretty Girls
author: Karin Slaughter
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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Hello Beautiful 61771675
But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters� unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?]]>
416 Ann Napolitano Anupriya 0 to-read 4.14 2023 Hello Beautiful
author: Ann Napolitano
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Lotus Empire (The Burning Kingdoms, #3)]]> 59558627 The Lotus Empire brings Tasha Suri’s acclaimed Burning Kingdoms trilogy to a heart–stopping close. As an ancient magic returns to Ahiranya and threatens its very foundations, Empress Malini and priestess Priya will stop at nothing to save their kingdoms—even if it means they must destroy each other.

Malini has claimed her rightful throne as the empress of Parijatdvipa, just as the nameless gods prophesied. Now, in order to gain the support of the priesthood who remain loyal to the fallen emperor, she must consider a terrible Claim her throne and burn in order to seal her legacy—or find another willing to take her place on the pyre.

Priya has survived the deathless waters and now their magic runs in her veins. But a mysterious yaksa with flowering eyes and a mouth of thorns lies beneath the waters. The yaksa promises protection for Ahiranya. But in exchange, she needs a sacrifice. And she's chosen Priya as the one to offer it.

Two women once entwined by fate now stand against each other. But when an ancient enemy rises to threaten their world, Priya and Malini will find themselves fighting together once more � to prevent their kingdoms, and their futures, from burning to ash.


Praise for the Burning Kingdoms Trilogy

“Will undoubtedly reshape the landscape of epic fantasy for years to come.� �Booklist, starred review

“Alluring, action-packed, and gut-wrenching.� �Publishers Weekly, starred review

“More than lives up to the hype with its rich and expansive world, compelling characters, cool magic system and Suri’s excellent writing.� �BookPage, starred review]]>
528 Tasha Suri 0356515672 Anupriya 2 4.39 2024 The Lotus Empire (The Burning Kingdoms, #3)
author: Tasha Suri
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2024
rating: 2
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<![CDATA[Shah Rukh Khan: Legend, Icon, Star]]> 220691074

AS A SUPERSTAR WHO LIVES HIS LIFE in the glare of cameras and headlines, much has been written about Shah Rukh Khan-his passion, his craft, his humility and the love he spreads around. But beyond the films, the news and the star persona is a man who has come to mean many different things to his ever-growing legion of fans.

Whether as Rahul Raichand or Raj Malhotra, Mohan Bhargava or Rizwan Khan, Aman Mathur or Kabir Khan, the many roles that 'King Khan' has embraced for his films have become forever etched in the minds of countless moviegoers. This book presents portraits of the star's inspirational life and unearths what he means to people in every corner of the world-be it a taxi driver in Paris, an Irishwoman in London, three generations of women in a family in Pakistan or screaming fans across Europe, Asia, the US, the Middle East and, of course, India.

As much a paean to Shah Rukh's career as a tribute to the actor himself, this book is a dream compendium of intimate stories, fan accounts and never-before-seen photographs of the man who rules the hearts of more than half the world's people-the star, the icon, the legend, SHAH RUKH KHAN.]]>
392 Mohar Basu 9365690331 Anupriya 3 3.84 Shah Rukh Khan: Legend, Icon, Star
author: Mohar Basu
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.84
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<![CDATA[King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema]]> 422464
"A bounty for cinema lovers everywhere." -- Mira Nair, Director, The Namesake and Monsoon Wedding

"King of Bollywood is the all-singing, all-dancing back stage pass to Bollywood. Anupama Chopra chronicles the political and cultural story of India with finesse and insight, through fly-on-wall access to one of its biggest, most charming and charismatic stars." -- Gurinder Chadha, director of Bend it Like Beckham

"The "Easy Rider Raging Bull" of the Bollywood industry and essential reading for any Shah Rukh Khan fan." --Emma Thompson, actress

"Anu Chopra infuses the pivotal moments of Shah Rukh Khan's life with an edge-of-your-seat tension worthy of the best Bollywood blockbusters." -- Kirkus]]>
272 Anupama Chopra 0446578584 Anupriya 0 to-read 3.79 2007 King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema
author: Anupama Chopra
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Oleander Sword (The Burning Kingdoms, #2)]]> 53446712 "Alluring, action-packed, and gut-wrenching," (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Oleander Sword continues Tasha Suri's acclaimed Burning Kingdoms trilogy,in which a powerful priestess and a vengeful princess will change the fate of an empire. **

The prophecy of the nameless god—the words that declared Malini the rightful empress of Parijatdvipa—has proven a blessing and curse. She is determined to claim the throne that fate offered her. But even with the strength of the rage in her heart and the army of loyal men by her side, deposing her brother is going to be a brutal and bloody fight.

The power of the deathless waters flows through Priya’s blood. Thrice born priestess, Elder of Ahiranya, Priya’s dream is to see her country rid of the rot that plagues both Parijatdvipa's poisonous rule, and the blooming sickness that is slowly spreading through all living things. But she doesn’t yet understand the truth of the magic she carries.

Their chosen paths once pulled them apart. But Malini and Priya's souls remain as entwined as their destinies. And they soon realize that coming together is the only way to save their kingdom from those who would rather see it burn—even if it will cost them.

Praise for the Burning Kingdoms

"Will undoubtedly reshape the landscape of epic fantasy for years to come."Booklist (starred review)

"Lush and stunning…this sapphic fantasy will rip your heart out."BuzzFeed News

"Raises the bar for what epic fantasy should be." —Chloe Gong, author of These Violent Delights

"This cutthroat and sapphic novel will grip you until the very end."Vulture (Best of the Year)

"It left me breathless." —Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter

"I loved it." —Alix E. Harrow, Hugo award-winning author of The Once and Future Witches

"Suri's incandescent feminist masterpiece hits like a steel fist inside a velvet glove." —Shelley Parker-Chan, author of She Who Became the Sun]]>
513 Tasha Suri 0316538531 Anupriya 3 4.35 2022 The Oleander Sword (The Burning Kingdoms, #2)
author: Tasha Suri
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 3
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Federer (édition Classic) 217214499 336 Doris Henkel Anupriya 0 to-read 4.67 Federer (édition Classic)
author: Doris Henkel
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.67
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<![CDATA[An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s]]> 196585876 An Unfinished Love A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin, one of America’s most beloved historians, artfully weaves together biography, memoir, and history. She takes you along on the emotional journey she and her husband, Richard (Dick) Goodwin embarked upon in the last years of his life.

Dick and Doris Goodwin were married for forty-two years and married to American history even longer. In his twenties, Dick was one of the brilliant young men of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier. In his thirties he both named and helped design Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and was a speechwriter and close advisor to Robert Kennedy. Doris Kearns was a twenty-four-year-old graduate student when selected as a White House Fellow. She worked directly for Lyndon Johnson and later assisted on his memoir.

Over the years, with humor, anger, frustration, and in the end, a growing understanding, Dick and Doris had argued over the achievements and failings of the leaders they served and observed, debating the progress and unfinished promises of the country they both loved.

The Goodwins� last great adventure involved finally opening the more than three hundred boxes of letters, diaries, documents, and memorabilia that Dick had saved for more than fifty years. They soon realized they had before them an unparalleled personal time capsule of the 1960s, illuminating public and private moments of a decade when individuals were powered by the conviction they could make a difference; a time, like today, marked by struggles for racial and economic justice, a time when lines were drawn and loyalties tested.

Their expedition gave Dick’s last years renewed purpose and determination. It gave Doris the opportunity to connect and reconnect with participants and witnesses of pivotal moments of the 1960s. And it gave them both an opportunity to make fresh assessments of the central figures of the time—John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, and especially Lyndon Johnson, who greatly impacted both their lives. The voyage of remembrance brought unexpected discoveries, forgiveness, and the renewal of old dreams, reviving the hope that the youth of today will carry forward this unfinished love story with America.]]>
480 Doris Kearns Goodwin 1982108665 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.53 2024 An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s
author: Doris Kearns Goodwin
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)]]> 50523477 Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters � but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.]]>
533 Tasha Suri 0356515648 Anupriya 4 4.12 2021 The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)
author: Tasha Suri
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
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The Book of Longings 48903710 'I am Ana. I was the wife of Jesus.'

In her mesmerizing fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman called Ana.

Ana is a rebellious young woman, a gifted writer with a curious, brilliant mind, who writes secret narratives about the neglected and silenced women around her. Raised in a wealthy family in Galilee, she is sheltered from the brutality of Rome's occupation of Israel. Ana is expected to marry an elderly widower to further her father's ambitions, a prospect that horrifies her. A chance encounter with the eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything: his ideas and his passion are intoxicating.

Taking Ana on a journey she could never have imagined, The Book of Longings is a glorious evocation of a time and a place where astounding events unfolded, and of one woman's fate when she fights to make her voice heard.

Over 10 million readers have devoured Sue Monk Kidd's novels.

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433 Sue Monk Kidd 1472232526 Anupriya 3 4.37 2020 The Book of Longings
author: Sue Monk Kidd
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/07
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<![CDATA[A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II]]> 40595446 The never-before-told story of one woman's heroism that changed the course of the Second World War

In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her."

This spy was Virginia Hall, a young American woman--rejected from the foreign service because of her gender and her prosthetic leg--who talked her way into the spy organization deemed Churchill's "ministry of ungentlemanly warfare," and, before the United States had even entered the war, became the first woman to deploy to occupied France.

Virginia Hall was one of the greatest spies in American history, yet her story remains untold. Just as she did in Clementine, Sonia Purnell uncovers the captivating story of a powerful, influential, yet shockingly overlooked heroine of the Second World War. At a time when sending female secret agents into enemy territory was still strictly forbidden, Virginia Hall came to be known as the "Madonna of the Resistance," coordinating a network of spies to blow up bridges, report on German troop movements, arrange equipment drops for Resistance agents, and recruit and train guerilla fighters. Even as her face covered WANTED posters throughout Europe, Virginia refused order after order to evacuate. She finally escaped with her life in a grueling hike over the Pyrenees into Spain, her cover blown, and her associates all imprisoned or executed. But, adamant that she had "more lives to save," she dove back in as soon as she could, organizing forces to sabotage enemy lines and back up Allied forces landing on Normandy beaches. Told with Purnell's signature insight and novelistic flare, A Woman of No Importance is the breathtaking story of how one woman's fierce persistence helped win the war.]]>
352 Sonia Purnell 073522529X Anupriya 0 4.08 2019 A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
author: Sonia Purnell
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/27
date added: 2024/10/26
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<![CDATA[Missing Persons (DCI Morton, #5)]]> 34856023
When a troubled girl from Rafferty’s past calls asking for help to find her missing boyfriend, Rafferty can’t stop herself rushing to the rescue. She has to find him, get him home safe, and do it before Morton loses patience.

It wasn’t the first time Rafferty went out of her way to help somebody.

But it would be the last.

Missing Persons is a standalone novel in the DCI Morton series.]]>
296 Daniel Campbell Anupriya 3 4.05 Missing Persons (DCI Morton, #5)
author: Daniel Campbell
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.05
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rating: 3
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The Storyteller's Secret 36038788 From the bestselling author of Trail of Broken Wings comes an epic story of the unrelenting force of love, the power of healing, and the invincible desire to dream.

Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past.

Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation. Through her courageous grandmother’s arrestingly romantic and heart-wrenching story, Jaya discovers the legacy bequeathed to her and a strength that, until now, she never knew was possible.

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401 Sejal Badani 1542097274 Anupriya 5 4.47 2018 The Storyteller's Secret
author: Sejal Badani
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/13
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<![CDATA[Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)]]> 199499712 This is the hugely-anticipated sequel to TJ Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best loved fantasy novels of the past decade. It’s also a New York Times and Washington Post bestseller.A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one. He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there's the island's sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve. And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home � one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from � Arthur knows they’re at a breaking their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.Praise for The House in the Cerulean ‘I loved it. It is like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket. Simply perfect� - V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue‘It will renew your faith in humanity� - Terry Brooks, author of the Shannara series‘A witty, wholesome fantasy that’s likely to cause heart-swelling� - The Washington Post]]> 448 T.J. Klune 1035009404 Anupriya 5 4.28 2024 Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/07
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<![CDATA[Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships]]> 60433715 Celebrated NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg delivers an extraordinary memoir of her personal successes, struggles, and life-affirming relationships, including her beautiful friendship of nearly fifty years with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Four years before Nina Totenberg was hired at NPR, where she cemented her legacy as a prizewinning reporter, and nearly twenty-two years before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court, Nina called Ruth. A reporter for The National Observer, Nina was curious about Ruth’s legal brief, asking the Supreme Court to do something declare a law that discriminated “on the basis of sex� to be unconstitutional. In a time when women were fired for becoming pregnant, often could not apply for credit cards, or get a mortgage in their own names, Ruth patiently explained her argument. That call launched a remarkable, nearly fifty-year friendship.

Dinners with Ruth is an extraordinary account of two women who paved the way for future generations by tearing down professional and legal barriers. It is also an intimate memoir of the power of friendships as women began to pry open career doors and transform the workplace. At the story’s heart is one, special Ruth and Nina saw each other not only through personal joys, but also illness, loss, and widowhood. During the devastating illness and eventual death of Nina’s first husband, Ruth drew her out of grief; twelve years later, Nina would reciprocate when Ruth’s beloved husband died. They shared not only a love of opera, but also of shopping, as they instinctively understood that clothes were armor for women who wanted to be taken seriously in a workplace dominated by men. During Ruth’s last year, they shared so many small dinners that Saturdays were “reserved for Ruth� in Nina’s house.

Dinners with Ruth also weaves together compelling, personal portraits of other fascinating women and men from Nina’s life, including her cherished NPR colleagues Cokie Roberts and Linda Wertheimer; her beloved husbands; her friendships with multiple Supreme Court Justices, including Lewis Powell, William Brennan, and Antonin Scalia, and Nina’s own family—her father, the legendary violinist Roman Totenberg, and her “best friends,� her sisters. Inspiring and revelatory, Dinners with Ruth is a moving story of the joy and true meaning of friendship.]]>
314 Nina Totenberg 1982188103 Anupriya 4 4.37 2022 Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships
author: Nina Totenberg
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/25
date added: 2024/09/24
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Kashmir: A Case of Freedom 13372892 140 Tariq Ali 1844678261 Anupriya 2
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Its extremely well written & why not - it is penned down by very good authors & journalists. But honestly, I couldn’t see the point of this book at all!]]>
3.90 2011 Kashmir: A Case of Freedom
author: Tariq Ali
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2020/11/30
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:
Its extremely well written & why not - it is penned down by very good authors & journalists. But honestly, I couldn’t see the point of this book at all!

Merged review:

Its extremely well written & why not - it is penned down by very good authors & journalists. But honestly, I couldn’t see the point of this book at all!
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Daughters of Shandong 195888874
A propulsive, extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters� harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China, by debut author Eve J. Chung, based on her family story

Daughters are the Ang family’s curse.

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

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

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

Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.]]>
400 Eve J. Chung 0593640535 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.46 2024 Daughters of Shandong
author: Eve J. Chung
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/17
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The Familiar 133286777 From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.]]>
387 Leigh Bardugo 125088425X Anupriya 0 to-read 3.74 2024 The Familiar
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss]]> 200634629
In 1850, Fredericka Mandelbaum traveled to New York in steerage and worked as a peddler on the streets of Lower Manhattan. By the 1870s she was a widow with four children, a fixture of high society, and an admired philanthropist. What had enabled a woman on the margins of American life to ascend from tenement poverty to immense wealth?

In the intervening years, “Marm� Mandelbaum, as she was known, had become the country’s most notorious “fence”—a receiver of stolen goods—and a successful criminal mastermind. By the mid-1880s as much as $10 million worth of purloined luxury goods (the equivalent of nearly $300 million in today’s money) had passed through her modest haberdashery shop on the Lower East Side. Called “the nucleus and center of the whole organization of crime in New York City� by the New York Times , she planned, financed, and profited from robberies of cash, gold, diamonds, and silk throughout the city and across the United States.

But Fredericka Mandelbaum wasn’t just a successful She was a business visionary—one of the first entrepreneurs in America to systemize the formerly scattershot enterprise of property crime. Handpicking a cadre of New York's foremost bank robbers, housebreakers, and shoplifters, and neatly bribing anyone who stood in her way, she handled logistics and organized supply chains—turning theft into a viable, scalable business .

The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum paints a vivid image of Gilded Age New York—a city teeming with delightful rogues, capitalist power brokers, and Tammany Hall bigwigs, all of whom straddled the line between underworld enterprise and the realm of “legitimate� commerce. Combining deep historical research with the narrative flair for which she is celebrated, Margalit Fox tells the unforgettable story of a once-famous, now-forgotten heroine, a tale that exemplifies the cherished rags-to-riches narrative of Victorian America while simultaneously upending it altogether.]]>
301 Margalit Fox 0593243854 Anupriya 0 to-read 3.42 2024 The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss
author: Margalit Fox
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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Delhi 109198
Thus begins Khushwant Singh's vast, erotic, irrelevant magnum opus on the city of Delhi. The principal narrator of the saga, which extends over six hundred years, is a bawdy, ageing reprobate who loves Delhi as much as he does the hijra whore Bhagmati - half man, half woman with sexual inventiveness and energy of both the sexes. Travelling through time, space and history to 'discover' his beloved city, the narrator meets a myriad of people-poets and princes, saints and sultans, temptresses and traitors, emperors and eunuchs - who have shaped and endowed Delhi with its very special mystique And as we accompany the narrator on his epic journey we find the city of emperors transformed and immortalized in our minds for ever.]]>
391 Khushwant Singh 0140126198 Anupriya 0 3.81 1990 Delhi
author: Khushwant Singh
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)]]> 214104737
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.]]>
464 N.K. Jemisin Anupriya 0 to-read 4.21 2015 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Heat of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #3)]]> 124936017
After her disastrous coronation, Diem finds herself at the center of the conflict between the Descended and the Guardians. With her newfound friends and the man she’s falling for on one side, and the mortals she has vowed to protect on the other, Diem must walk a careful line to save the people she loves� even from each other.

The mystery of her unusual heritage begins to unravel, sending Diem and Luther on an unexpected journey across the realms. The answers may hold the key to winning the war, but finding them will require her to face painful truths about her mother, her bloodline, and her fate.

Meanwhile, the Crowns have set Diem in their sights. Some could be her greatest allies—while others want her dead. To end their oppressive reign, Diem must sort friend from foe and risk it all to build an army of her own.

But a powerful figure in the north has plans that could change everything...

Heat of the Everflame is the third book in The Kindred's Curse Saga, a four-book epic fantasy romance series that follows our fiesty, bad*ss heroine Diem Bellator in her fight against injustice, her struggle to survive in a royal palace full of betrayal and intrigue, and her journey of self-discovery and finding true love. This slow burn, enemies-to-lovers series is perfect for fans of unique magic systems, dragons and other mythical creatures, angst and romantic tension, and hilarious banter. This book will appeal to fans of plot-heavy, character-driven romantasy such as A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, From Blood and Ash, Gild, Shadow & Bone, and The Serpent & the Wings of Night.]]>
1026 Penn Cole Anupriya 4 4.27 2023 Heat of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #3)
author: Penn Cole
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/09/17
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<![CDATA[Glow of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #2)]]> 124935969
The threat of war has arrived at Diem’s doorstep, along with a new discovery that could save her people. To use it, she must survive the next thirty days by forming a devil’s bargain with the people she hates most: the royal family of House Corbois.

But as she dives into the world of the Descended elite, Diem quickly realizes good and evil aren’t as simple as they seem. Old prejudices are challenged, and new loyalties blur the line between friend and foe.

Meanwhile, her mother is still missing, and the secrets she left behind can no longer be ignored—and neither can the Guardians and their demands. Caught between an old flame and a sizzling new spark, Diem must confront the truth about who she is and what she wants before time runs out.

War is coming, and dangerous enemies wait on all sides.. but the most deadly battle Diem faces may be the one for her heart.

Glow of the Everflame is the second book in The Kindred's Curse Saga, a four-book fantasy romance series. This book will appeal to fans of plot-heavy, character-driven romantasy such as A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, From Blood and Ash, Gild, Shadow & Bone, and The Serpent & the Wings of Night.]]>
637 Penn Cole Anupriya 4 4.36 2023 Glow of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #2)
author: Penn Cole
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/13
date added: 2024/09/13
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<![CDATA[Spark of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #1)]]> 123471760 When old secrets catch fire, everything will burn.

In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by the Descended, their cruel offspring, Diem Bellator yearns to escape the insular life of her poor village.

Her mother’s sudden disappearance—and the discovery of a dangerous secret about her past—offer Diem an unexpected opportunity to enter the dark world of Descended royalty and unlock the web of mysteries her mother left behind.

With the dying King’s handsome, mysterious heir watching her every move, and a ruthless mortal alliance recruiting her to join the growing civil war, Diem will have to navigate the unwritten rules of love, power, and politics in order to save her family—and all of mortalkind.

Spark of the Everflame is the first book in The Kindred's Curse Saga, a four-book fantasy romance series. This slow burn, enemies-to-lovers epic is perfect for lovers of magic, dragons, angst, and banter and will appeal to fans of books like A Court of Thorns and Roses, From Blood and Ash, Gild, and The Serpent & the Wings of Night.]]>
438 Penn Cole Anupriya 4 4.20 2023 Spark of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #1)
author: Penn Cole
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/10
date added: 2024/09/10
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<![CDATA[The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)]]> 195512668
In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible.

Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana’s brilliance. Din is at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior—but as the case unfolds and he watches Ana’s mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

By an “endlessly inventive� (Vulture) author with a “wicked sense of humor� (NPR), The Tainted Cup mixes the charms of detective fiction with brilliant world-building to deliver a fiendishly clever mystery that’s at once instantly recognizable and thrillingly new.]]>
432 Robert Jackson Bennett 1399725378 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.47 2024 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
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Novelist as a Vocation 60387307 A charmingly idiosyncratic look at writing, creativity, and the author’s own novels.

Haruki Murakami’s myriad fans will be delighted by this unique look into the mind of a master storyteller. In this engaging book, the internationally best-selling author and famously reclusive writer shares with readers what he thinks about being a novelist; his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians. Readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this highly personal look at the craft of writing.]]>
224 Haruki Murakami 0451494644 Anupriya 0 to-read 3.90 2015 Novelist as a Vocation
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
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The Alice Network 32051912
1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, code name Alice, the "queen of spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth...no matter where it leads.]]>
503 Kate Quinn 0062654195 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.30 2017 The Alice Network
author: Kate Quinn
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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Poor 123272110 'We love a rags-to-riches story, and we love to see someone triumph through sheer determination. But the story is rarely that simple. My story isn't, anyway.'

As the middle of five kids growing up in dire poverty, the odds were low on Katriona O'Sullivan making anything of her life. When she became a mother at 15 and ended up homeless, what followed were five years of barely coping.

This is the extraordinary story - moving, funny, brave, and sometimes startling - of how Katriona turned her life around. How the seeds of self-belief planted by teachers in childhood stayed with her. How she found mentors whose encouragement revived those seeds in adulthood.

Katriona is now an award-winning lecturer whose work challenges barriers to education. Poor is her stirring argument for the importance of looking out for our kids' futures. Of giving them hope, practical support and meaningful opportunities.]]>
288 Katriona O'Sullivan 1844886220 Anupriya 4 4.58 Poor
author: Katriona O'Sullivan
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.58
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/08/30
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<![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 61223213 This is not a romance, but it is about love

Two kids meet in a hospital gaming room in 1987. One is visiting her sister, the other is recovering from a car crash. The days and months are long there. Their love of video games becomes a shared world -- of joy, escape and fierce competition. But all too soon that time is over, fades from view.

When the pair spot each other eight years later in a crowded train station, they are catapulted back to that moment. The spark is immediate, and together they get to work on what they love - making games to delight, challenge and immerse players, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives. Their collaborations make them superstars.

This is the story of the perfect worlds Sadie and Sam build, the imperfect world they live in, and of everything that comes after success: Money. Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow takes us on a dazzling imaginative quest as it examines the nature of identity, creativity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play and, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.]]>
383 Gabrielle Zevin Anupriya 5
“She had once read in a book about consciousness that over the years, the human brain makes an AI version of your loved ones. The brain collects data, and within your brain, you host a virtual version of that person. Upon the person’s death, your brain still believes the virtual person exists, because, in a sense, the person still does. After a while, though, the memory fades, and each year, you are left with an increasingly diminished version of the AI you had made when the person was alive.� ]]>
4.22 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/19
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves:
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It is such a brilliant read! I am happy, sad, stoked & intrigued all at the same time. Its not an unbelievable or unusual story; its just a brilliantly written narrative that makes it extraordinary. It has managed to make a non gamer look at video games as pieces of art & their creators as crazily brilliant artists. For a change, I don’t relate to any of the characters but all the drama feels real & personal to me. I am just sooooo much in love with this book. Highly highly recommend.

“She had once read in a book about consciousness that over the years, the human brain makes an AI version of your loved ones. The brain collects data, and within your brain, you host a virtual version of that person. Upon the person’s death, your brain still believes the virtual person exists, because, in a sense, the person still does. After a while, though, the memory fades, and each year, you are left with an increasingly diminished version of the AI you had made when the person was alive.�
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The Frozen River 112975658 A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.]]>
432 Ariel Lawhon 0385546874 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.37 2023 The Frozen River
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/15
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The Lion Women of Tehran 199798217 A heartfelt novel of friendship, betrayal, and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran.

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.�

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls� high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.]]>
327 Marjan Kamali 1668036584 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.47 2024 The Lion Women of Tehran
author: Marjan Kamali
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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The God of the Woods 199698485 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]>
490 Liz Moore Anupriya 0 to-read 4.15 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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The Husbands 195037209 You wait ages for The One, then 203 come along at once...

One night Lauren finds a strange man in her flat who claims to be her husband. All the evidence � from photos to electricity bills � suggests he’s right.

Lauren’s attic, she slowly realises, is creating an endless supply of husbands for her.

There’s the one who pretends to play music on her toes
The one who’s too hot (there must be a catch)
The one who makes a great breakfast sandwich
The one who turns everything into double entendres (‘I’ll weed your garden�)
And the one who can calm her unruly thoughts with a single touch


But when you can change husbands as easily as a lightbulb, how do you know whether the one you have now is the good enough one, or the wrong one, or the best one? And how long should you keep trying to find out?]]>
356 Holly Gramazio 1529920361 Anupriya 2 3.83 2024 The Husbands
author: Holly Gramazio
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/14
date added: 2024/08/14
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<![CDATA[Daughter of Damascus: Her Secret Life Will Shock the World]]> 198137531
In the weeks that follow, Ahmad, Hadiya's brother, troubled by the circumstances of his sister's passing and the puzzling hardship faced by her children despite her husband's prosperous career in Dubai, seeks solace and answers from the curious "unofficial private detective" Mullah Abdullah Al-Allab. Embarking on the investigation, Mullah Abdullah ventures to Dubai, where he encounters Hadiya's elusive and wealthy widower, Mazen Mis'ed. Although the mullah's visit yields meager information, his return to Syria holds unexpected horrors as he finds himself detained, tortured, and enmeshed in baffling enigmas.

Upon regaining his freedom, Mullah Abdullah learns that Salah Almawazly, his favorite student at the mosque, has disappeared without a trace. Unbeknownst to him, Salah's involvement with a secretive religious organization dedicated to restoring an Islamic caliphate has deepened, and he has recruited Hadiya's disabled son, Khaled, who suffers from a congenital bone disorder, into their ranks. Now, the mullah, renowned for his penchant for amateur sleuthing, must assume the role of a genuine investigator to unravel the true destinies of Hadiya and Salah, and uncover the elusive secret that binds them together.]]>
399 Hussin Alkheder Anupriya 1 4.17 Daughter of Damascus: Her Secret Life Will Shock the World
author: Hussin Alkheder
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.17
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My Sister’s Keeper 10917 New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness.

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age 13 she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate—a life and a role that she has never challenged ... until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.]]>
423 Jodi Picoult 0743454537 Anupriya 5 Just fabulous!!!!! <br /> 4.10 2004 My Sister’s Keeper
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/24
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Just fabulous!!!!!

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We 146506243 The novel is set in the future. D-503, a spacecraft engineer, lives in the One State which assists mass surveillance. Here life is scientifically managed. There is no way of referring to people except by their given numbers. The society is run strictly by reason as the primary justification for the construct of the society. By way of formulae and equations outlined by the One State, the individual's behaviour is based on logic.]]> 135 Yevgeny Zamyatin Anupriya 3 3.50 1924 We
author: Yevgeny Zamyatin
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1924
rating: 3
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<![CDATA[The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2)]]> 61077633 Five are now members of the Society.
And two paths lie before them.

In this thrilling next instalment, the secret society of Alexandrians is unmasked. Its newest recruits realize the institute is capable of raw, world-changing power. It’s also headed by a man with plans to change life as we know it � and these are already under way. But the cost of this knowledge is as high as the price of power, and each initiate must choose which faction to follow. Yet as events gather momentum and dangers multiply, which of their alliances will hold? Can friendships hold true and are enemies quite what they seem?]]>
543 Olivie Blake 1529095336 Anupriya 2 3.66 2022 The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2)
author: Olivie Blake
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/18
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<![CDATA[The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World]]> 201608148 legendary historian William Dalrymple highlights India's oft-forgotten position as a crucial economic and civilisational hub at the heart of the ancient and early medieval history of Eurasia. From Angkor to Ayutthaya, The Golden Road traces the cultural flow of Indian religions, languages, artistic and architectural forms and mathematics throughout the world. In this groundbreaking tome, Dalrymple draws from a lifetime of scholarship to reinstate India as the great intellectual and philosophical superpower of ancient Asia.]]> 432 William Dalrymple 1639734147 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.15 2024 The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World
author: William Dalrymple
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
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The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1) 59443350 The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake is the runaway TikTok must-read fantasy novel of the year. If you loved Ninth House and A Deadly Education, you’ll love this.

Originally a self-published sensation, this edition has been fully edited and revised, including gorgeous new illustrations.

Secrets. Betrayal. Seduction.
Welcome to the Alexandrian Society.


When the world’s best magicians are offered an extraordinary opportunity, saying yes is easy. Each could join the secretive Alexandrian Society, whose custodians guard lost knowledge from ancient civilizations. Their members enjoy a lifetime of power and prestige. Yet each decade, only six practitioners are invited � to fill five places.

Contenders Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona are inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds. Parisa Kamali is a telepath, who sees the mind’s deepest secrets. Reina Mori is a naturalist who can perceive and understand the flow of life itself. And Callum Nova is an empath, who can manipulate the desires of others. Finally there’s Tristan Caine, whose powers mystify even himself.

Following recruitment by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they travel to the Society’s London headquarters. Here, each must study and innovate within esoteric subject areas. And if they can prove themselves, over the course of a year, they’ll survive. Most of them.]]>
479 Olivie Blake 1529095263 Anupriya 4 3.55 2020 The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)
author: Olivie Blake
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2020
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree: How One Girl Fought to Save Herself, Her Sister and Thousands of Girls Worldwide]]> 59132119 The "incredibly powerful" (Kirkus Reviews) story of the human rights activist who changed the minds of her elders, reformed traditions from the inside, and is creating a better future for girls and women throughout Africa.

Nice Leng`ete was raised in a Maasai village in Kenya. In 1998, when Nice was six, her parents fell sick and died, and Nice and her sister Soila were taken in by their father’s brother, who had little interest in the girls beyond what their dowries might fetch. Fearing “the cut� (female genital mutilation, a painful and sometimes deadly ritualistic surgery), which was the fate of all Maasai women, Nice and Soila climbed a tree to hide.

Nice hoped to find a way to avoid the cut forever, but Soila understood it would be impossible. But maybe if one of the sisters submitted, the other would be spared. After Soila chose to undergo the surgery, sacrificing herself to save Nice, their lives diverged. Soila married, dropped out of school, and had children–all in her teenage years–while Nice postponed receiving the cut, continued her education, and became the first in her family to attend college.

Supported by Amref, Nice used visits home to set an example for what an uncut Maasai woman can achieve. Other women listened, and the elders finally saw the value of intact, educated girls as the way of the future. The village has since ended FGM entirely, and Nice continues the fight to end FGM throughout Africa, and the world.

Nice’s journey from “heartbroken child and community outcast, to leader of the Maasai� is an inspiration and a reminder that one person can change the world–and every girl is worth saving.]]>
236 Nice Leng'ete 1472275829 Anupriya 5
“One day a Maasai girl saw a beautiful warrior among the hunters and fell in love with him. She did not care that his people stole from hers. She did not care that he was fighting her father and brothers. All she cared about was her lust, and she slept with the warrior. When her people discovered what she had done, they wanted to make sure lust never motivated her again. They cut off her clitoris. After that, the girl stayed loyal to her people. The Maasai were so moved by her change in behavior that all Maasai women received the cut.� ]]>
4.65 2021 The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree: How One Girl Fought to Save Herself, Her Sister and Thousands of Girls Worldwide
author: Nice Leng'ete
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/19
date added: 2024/06/20
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Its a story of courage, determination & change. Yet again its a story of education as the only form of escape from the extreme headwinds some societies & cultures can deal their people. Educated was yet another example & there are many more. It pains me to even think about FGM & how insanely barbaric it is. Here’s to more & more people changing the world one community at a time. Its quite a beautiful read.

“One day a Maasai girl saw a beautiful warrior among the hunters and fell in love with him. She did not care that his people stole from hers. She did not care that he was fighting her father and brothers. All she cared about was her lust, and she slept with the warrior. When her people discovered what she had done, they wanted to make sure lust never motivated her again. They cut off her clitoris. After that, the girl stayed loyal to her people. The Maasai were so moved by her change in behavior that all Maasai women received the cut.�
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The Women 146515957
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm's way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]>
480 Kristin Hannah Anupriya 5
“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there.”]]>
4.59 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/13
date added: 2024/06/13
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A MUST READ!!!!

“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there.�
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<![CDATA[A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them]]> 61423989
The Roaring Twenties--the Jazz Age--has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson.

Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. Within two years of his arrival in Indiana, he’d become the Grand Dragon of the state and the architect of the strategy that brought the group out of the shadows � their message endorsed from the pulpits of local churches, spread at family picnics and town celebrations. Judges, prosecutors, ministers, governors and senators across the country all proudly proclaimed their membership. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman � Madge Oberholtzer � who would reveal his secret cruelties, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees.

A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND marries a propulsive drama to a powerful and page-turning reckoning with one of the darkest threads in American history.]]>
432 Timothy Egan 0735225265 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.33 2023 A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
author: Timothy Egan
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
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Table for Two 195474144 From the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility, a richly detailed and sharply drawn collection of stories set in New York and Los Angeles. The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter six stories set in New York City and a novella in Los Angeles. The New York stories, most of which are set around the turn of the millennium, take up everything from the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, to the fateful consequences of brief encounters, and the delicate mechanics of compromise which operate at the heart of modern marriages. In Towles’s novel, Rules of Civility, the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September, 1938, with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles. Told from seven points of view, “Eve in Hollywood� describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself—and others—in the midst of Hollywood’s golden age. Throughout the stories, two characters often find themselves sitting across a table for two where the direction of their futures may hinge upon what they say to each other next. Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles’s canon of stylish and transporting historical fiction.]]> 451 Amor Towles 0593296370 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.15 2024 Table for Two
author: Amor Towles
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.15
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Martyr! 139400713 A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Electrifying, funny, and wholly original, Martyr! heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction.

Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others.]]>
331 Kaveh Akbar 0593537610 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.22 2024 Martyr!
author: Kaveh Akbar
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.22
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<![CDATA[The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler]]> 199576 188 William L. Shirer 0394862708 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.07 1961 The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler
author: William L. Shirer
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1961
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[A Necessary Evil (Sam Wyndham, #2)]]> 33303269 India, 1920. Captain Wyndham and Sergeant Banerjee of the Calcutta Police Force investigate the dramatic assassination of a Maharajah's son.

The fabulously wealthy kingdom of Sambalpore is home to tigers, elephants, diamond mines and the beautiful Palace of the Sun. But when the heir to the throne is assassinated in the presence of Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant 'Surrender-Not' Banerjee, they discover a kingdom riven with suppressed conflict. Prince Adhir was a moderniser whose attitudes - and romantic relationship - may have upset the more religious elements of his country, while his brother � now in line to the throne � appears to be a feckless playboy.

As Wyndham and Banerjee desperately try to unravel the mystery behind the assassination, they become entangled in a dangerous world where those in power live by their own rules and those who cross their paths pay with their lives. They must find a murderer, before the murderer finds them�

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380 Abir Mukherjee Anupriya 4 4.24 2017 A Necessary Evil (Sam Wyndham, #2)
author: Abir Mukherjee
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/04
date added: 2024/06/04
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The Folk of the Air Trilogy 55596859 Discover Holly Black's blood thirsty bestselling The Folk of the Air series in this gorgeous hardcover gift set including: The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, and The Queen of Nothing.

Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him--and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black comes the stunning The Folk of the Air trilogy filled with twists and enchantment, as one girl learns the meaning of true power when she finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 13.0px Times; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}]]>
1120 Holly Black 1471410404 Anupriya 5 4.49 2019 The Folk of the Air Trilogy
author: Holly Black
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2019
rating: 5
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<![CDATA[The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2)]]> 26032887 The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.


After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.]]>
336 Holly Black 0316310336 Anupriya 5 4.27 2019 The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2)
author: Holly Black
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/25
date added: 2024/05/25
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<![CDATA[The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)]]> 26032825 Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.]]>
370 Holly Black 0316310271 Anupriya 4 4.01 2018 The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)
author: Holly Black
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/25
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<![CDATA[A Rising Man (Sam Wyndham, #1)]]> 25686321 B019CGXRZM

The winner of the Harvill Secker/Daily Telegraph crime writing competition

Captain Sam Wyndham, former Scotland Yard detective, is a new arrival to Calcutta. Desperately seeking a fresh start after his experiences during the Great War, Wyndham has been recruited to head up a new post in the police force. But with barely a moment to acclimatise to his new life or to deal with the ghosts which still haunt him, Wyndham is caught up in a murder investigation that will take him into the dark underbelly of the British Raj.

A senior British official has been murdered, and a note left in his mouth warns the British to quit India: or else. With rising political dissent and the stability of the Raj under threat, Wyndham and his two new colleagues–arrogant Inspector Digby, who can barely conceal his contempt for the natives and British-educated, but Indian-born Sargeant Banerjee, one of the few Indians to be recruited into the new CID–embark on an investigation that will take them from the luxurious parlours of wealthy British traders to the seedy opium dens of the city.

The start of an atmospheric and enticing new historical crime series.]]>
400 Abir Mukherjee Anupriya 3 3.87 2016 A Rising Man (Sam Wyndham, #1)
author: Abir Mukherjee
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/22
date added: 2024/05/22
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<![CDATA[Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us]]> 59808605 Strangers to Ourselves, a powerful and gripping debut, Rachel Aviv raises fundamental questions about how we understand ourselves in periods of crisis and distress. Drawing on deep, original reporting as well as unpublished journals and memoirs, Aviv writes about people who have come up against the limits of psychiatric explanations for who they are. She follows an Indian woman, celebrated as a saint, who lives in healing temples in Kerala; an incarcerated mother vying for her children’s forgiveness after recovering from psychosis; a man who devotes his life to seeking revenge upon his psychoanalysts; and an affluent young woman who, after a decade of defining herself through her diagnosis, decides to go off her meds because she doesn’t know who she is without them. Animated by a profound sense of empathy, Aviv’s exploration is refracted through her own account of living in a hospital ward at the age of six and meeting a fellow patient with whom her life runs parallel―until it no longer does.

Aviv asks how the stories we tell about mental disorders shape their course in our lives. Challenging the way we understand and talk about illness, her account is a testament to the porousness and resilience of the mind.]]>
288 Rachel Aviv 0374600848 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.10 2022 Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us
author: Rachel Aviv
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs]]> 201319612 The bestselling author of Lost Connections and Stolen Focus offers a revelatory look at the drugs upending weight loss as we knew it—from his personal experience on Ozempic to what these drugs mean for our society’s deeply dysfunctional relationship with food, weight, and our bodiesIn January 2023, bestselling author Johann Hari started to inject himself once a week with Ozempic, the diabetes drug that produces significant weight loss. Hewasn’t alone—credible predictions suggest that in two years, a quarter of the U.S. population will be taking this class of drug. Proponents say that this is a biological solution to a biological problem. While 95 percent of diets fail, the average person taking one of the new drugs will lose a quarter of their body weight in six months, and keep it off for as long as they take it. Here is a moment of liberation from an illness that massively increases your chances of diabetes, dementia, and cancer, and causes 10 percent of all deaths.Still, Hari was wildly conflicted. The massive rise in obesity rates around the world in the last half century didn’t happen because something went wrong with human biology. It happened because something went disastrously wrong with our We began to eat food designed to be maximally addictive. We built cities that are impossible to walk or bike around. We became much more stressed, making us seek out more comfort snacks. From this perspective, the new weight loss drugs arrive at a moment of madness. We built a food system that poisons us, then decided en masse to inject ourselves with a different potential poison that puts us off all food.A personal journey through weight loss combined with scientific evidence from experts, Magic Pill explores, as only Hari can, questions How did we get to this point? What does it reveal about our society that we couldn’t solve this problem socially, and instead turned to potentially risky pharmaceutical solutions? And will this free us from social pressure to conform to an ideal body type—or make that pressure even more dangerously intense?]]> 320 Johann Hari 0593728637 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.26 2024 Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs
author: Johann Hari
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.26
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<![CDATA[The Kindness Method: The Highly Effective (and extremely enjoyable) Way to Change Your Habits]]> 40409846 'A powerful way to break even the most stubborn bad habit so you can live the life you deserve' � Steven Bartlett, The Diary of a CEOMap your habits, set your own goals and treat yourself with the kindness you truly deserve.Shahroo Izadi has a revolutionary treating yourself kindly is the only way to make changes that last. She is living proof that her method works � after years of yo-yo dieting she shed over eight stone (and has kept it off ever since). Professional training coupled with personal experience led her to develop The Kindness Method, a totally non-judgemental approach which turns strict regimes upside down to leave you feeling empowered, positive and ready to embrace change.In The Kindness Method, Behavioural Change Specialist Shahroo invites you first, to give yourself a break - life can be stressful - and then learn how to strengthen your willpower like a muscle so you can sustain motivation for the long haul. These techniques may seem gentle, but the results are life-changing because the plan is tailored to you, and they can work for everything from alcohol addiction to procrastination to weight loss. By using the same techniques that she has used to help substance addicts recover from dependence, you too will find that you have the power to change � for good.'A game-changing book' � Evening Standard]]> 223 Shahroo Izadi 1509881840 Anupriya 2 3.92 2018 The Kindness Method: The Highly Effective (and extremely enjoyable) Way to Change Your Habits
author: Shahroo Izadi
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/21
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<![CDATA[Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger]]> 157686100 From the legendary vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, lessons in investment strategy, philanthropy, and living a rational and ethical life.“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up,� Charles T. Munger advises in Poor Charlie’s Almanack. Originally published in 2005, this compendium of eleven talks delivered by the legendary Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman between 1986 and 2007 has become a touchstone for a generation of investors and entrepreneurs seeking to absorb the enduring wit and wisdom of one of the great minds of the 20th and 21st centuries.Edited by Peter D. Kaufman, chairman and CEO of Glenair and longtime friend of Charlie Munger—whom he calls “this generation’s answer to Benjamin Franklin”—this abridged Stripe Press edition of Poor Charlie’s Almanack features a brand-new foreword by Stripe cofounder John Collison. Poor Charlie’s Almanack draws on Munger’s encyclopedic knowledge of business, finance, history, philosophy, physics, and ethics—and more besides—to introduce the latticework of mental models that underpin his rational and rigorous approach to life, learning, and decision-making. Delivered with Munger’s characteristic sharp wit and rhetorical flair, it is an essential volume for any reader seeking to go to bed a little wiser than when they woke up.]]> 433 Charles T. Munger 1953953247 Anupriya 5 4.43 2005 Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
author: Charles T. Munger
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/17
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The Guilty Couple 59780535
What would you do if your husband framed you for murder?Five years ago, Olivia Sutherland was convicted of plotting to murder her husband.

Now she’s finally free, Olivia has three goals. Repair her relationship with her daughter. Clear her name. And bring down her husband � the man who framed her.

Just how far is she willing to go to get what she wants? And how far will her husband go to stop her?

Because his lies run deeper than Olivia could ever have imagined � and this time it’s not her freedom that’s in jeopardy, but her life�

Your favourite authors LOVE The Guilty Couple!‘Shot through with a propulsive sense of gritty threat and high-stakes tension, this is bold, memorable, top-tier thriller writing.� � bestselling author B P Walter

‘The Guilty Couple is a one-breath rollercoaster ride, with twists, turns, ups and downs� then just when you think it’s over, there’s another loop ahead! A proper, classy thriller.� � Janice Hallett, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Appeal

‘CL Taylor has done it again. A fast paced, thrilling read that I couldn’t put down. I loved it!� � bestselling author Heidi Perks

‘I loved The Guilty Couple so much. Twisty, compelling, tense and fast-paced and thoroughly unputdownable.� � multimillion-copy bestselling author Angela Marsons

'Wow, The Guilty Couple doesn’t let up for a moment � you’re in for ride!' � bestselling author Sarah Pinborough

‘Twisty, taut, unbearably tense. Brava, C.L. Taylor, you’ve done it again!� � bestselling author Emma Stonex

And readers love The Guilty Couple, too!‘A hugely entertaining, tense and twisting read.� ⭐⭐⭐⭐�

‘Pulse-pounding� ⭐⭐⭐⭐�

‘Thrilling and exciting…the ending was brilliant.� ⭐⭐⭐⭐�

‘My heart was in my throat throughout the entire book.� ⭐⭐⭐⭐�

‘This is the best book I have read in a long time.� ⭐⭐⭐⭐�

‘Wow!� ⭐⭐⭐⭐�

C.L. Taylor's book 'The Guilty Couple' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2023-05-01.]]>
337 C.L. Taylor 0008379270 Anupriya 3 4.05 2022 The Guilty Couple
author: C.L. Taylor
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/17
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<![CDATA[The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King (Crowns of Nyaxia, #2)]]> 62335396 Love is a sacrifice at the altar of power.

In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.

The House of Night, too, is surrounded by enemies. Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.

When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingdom–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.

But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power � and the devastating love that could be her downfall.]]>
626 Carissa Broadbent Anupriya 5 4.10 2023 The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King (Crowns of Nyaxia, #2)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/11
date added: 2024/05/11
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<![CDATA[The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1)]]> 60714999 Human or vampire, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always � always � guard your heart.

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown� and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone � but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night is the first book in a new series of heart-wrenching romance, dark magic, and bloodthirsty intrigue, perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.]]>
504 Carissa Broadbent Anupriya 4 4.29 2022 The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/09
date added: 2024/05/09
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Roman Stories 199145172
And in 'The Steps', on a public staircase that connects two neighbourhoods and the residents who climb up and down it, we see Italy's capital in all of its social and cultural variegations, filled with the tensions of a changing city: visibility and invisibility, random acts of aggression, the challenge of straddling worlds and cultures, and the meaning of home.

These are splendid, searching stories, written in Jhumpa Lahiri's adopted language of Italian and seamlessly translated by the author and by Knopf editor Todd Portnowitz.]]>
224 Jhumpa Lahiri 0670097241 Anupriya 0 to-read 3.56 2023 Roman Stories
author: Jhumpa Lahiri
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/04
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<![CDATA[Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster]]> 40538681
Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers not only its own citizens, but all of humanity. It is a story that has long remained in dispute, clouded from the beginning in secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation.

Midnight In Chernobyl is an indelible portrait of history's worst nuclear disaster, of human resilience and ingenuity and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will - lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats - remain not just vital but necessary.

Now, Higginbotham brings us closer to the truth behind this colossal tragedy.]]>
538 Adam Higginbotham 1501134612 Anupriya 0 to-read 4.35 2019 Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
author: Adam Higginbotham
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/02
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<![CDATA[Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder]]> 199344846
On the morning of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black—black clothes, black mask—rushed down the aisle toward him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey toward physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

Knife is Rushdie at the peak of his powers, writing with urgency, with gravity, with unflinching honesty. It is also a deeply moving reminder of literature’s capacity to make sense of the unthinkable, an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art—and finding the strength to stand up again.]]>
209 Salman Rushdie 0593730240 Anupriya 0 to-read 3.99 2024 Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
author: Salman Rushdie
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/02
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Tipping Point: The Crossing 209183676
First though, they must cross the Taiwanese Strait. Past the twelve-mile limit of China’s territorial boundaries, American submarines and bombers are waiting to pounce. Attempting to vie for supremacy with the United States, China rapidly built up its blue water fleet. Will these modernized destroyers and frigates be able to fend off the American threat? Or will America’s years-old dominance prevail?]]>
314 John O'Brien Anupriya 0 to-read 4.21 Tipping Point: The Crossing
author: John O'Brien
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.21
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<![CDATA[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Anupriya 0 4.33 2011 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future]]> 60140095 * THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * 'Another masterpiece from one of my favorite authors . . . If you want a brief but thorough education in numeric thinking about many of the fundamental forces that shape human life, this is the book to read. It's a tour de force' BILL GATES __________ We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don't know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check - because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts. In this ambitious and thought-provoking book we see, for example, that globalization isn't inevitable and that our societies have been steadily increasing their dependence on fossil fuels, making their complete and rapid elimination unlikely. Drawing on the latest science and tackling sources of misinformation head on - from Yuval Noah Harari to Noam Chomsky - ultimately Smil answers the most profound question of our are we irrevocably doomed or is a brighter utopia ahead? __________ 'Very informative and eye-opening in many ways' HA-JOON CHANG, author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism 'If you are anxious about the future, and infuriated that we aren't doing enough about it, please read this book' PAUL COLLIER, author of The Future of Capitalism]]> 325 Vaclav Smil 024198968X Anupriya 0 to-read 4.23 2022 How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future
author: Vaclav Smil
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[How to Make a Few Billion Dollars]]> 203357708 Do you have a burning passion to make a lot of money in business? Are you ready to turbocharge your chances of professional and personal success?



During his more than four decades as a CEO and serial entrepreneur, Brad Jacobs has created seven flagship companies across different industries, delivering tens of billions of dollars of value to shareholders. In How to Make a Few Billion Dollars, Jacobs defines the mindset that drives his remarkable success in corporate America—and distills a lifetime of business brilliance into a tactical road map.

From provocative recommendations for “rearranging your brain”—an essential prerequisite to accomplishing enormous goals—to practical advice for dealing with colleagues, Jacobs will have you rethinking what it means to win big. He explains why it’s critical to spot key trends and capitalize on them, including the biggest trend of all—the rapid evolution of technology relative to human development. And, he shares his techniques for

� turning a healthy fear of failure to your advantage,

� achieving lots of high-quality M&A without imploding,

� building an outrageously talented team,

� catalyzing electric meetings, and

� transforming a company into a superorganism that kills the competition.

How to Make a Few Billion Dollars is an inside look at how this entrepreneurial titan leads with humility, compassion, and accountability, while running hard toward the American Dream. If your personal dream is to create wealth through free markets or to triumph in sports, the arts, politics, philanthropy, or any other part of your life, this book will help you make that a reality.]]>
206 Brad Jacobs Anupriya 0 to-read 4.18 How to Make a Few Billion Dollars
author: Brad Jacobs
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/02
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<![CDATA[Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu]]> 122574
Getting Stoned with Savages tells the hilarious story of Troost’s time on Vanuatu—a rugged cluster of islands where the natives gorge themselves on kava and are still known to “eat the man.� Falling into one amusing misadventure after another, Troost struggles against typhoons, earthquakes, and giant centipedes and soon finds himself swept up in the laid-back, clothing-optional lifestyle of the islanders. When Sylvia gets pregnant, they decamp for slightly-more-civilized Fiji, a fallen paradise where the local chiefs can be found watching rugby in the house next door. And as they contend with new parenthood in a country rife with prostitutes and government coups, their son begins to take quite naturally to island living—in complete contrast to his dad.]]>
239 J. Maarten Troost 0767921992 Anupriya 0 to-read 3.86 2006 Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu
author: J. Maarten Troost
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/02
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<![CDATA[The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading]]> 65215109
Reading and eating, like Krazy and Ignatz, Sturm und Drang, prosciutto and melon, Simon and Schuster, and radishes and butter, have always, for me, simply gone together. The book you’re holding is a product of these combined gluttonies.

Dwight Garner, the beloved New York Times critic and the author of Garner’s Quotations , serves up the intertwined pleasures of books and food. The product of a lifetime of obsessively reading, eating, and every combination therein, The Upstairs On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading is a charming, emotional memoir, one that only Garner could write. In it, he records the voices of great writers and the stories from his life that fill his mind as he moves through the sections of the day and of this breakfast, lunch, shopping, the occasional nap, drinking, and dinner.

Through his lifelong infatuation with these twin joys, we meet the man behind the pages and the plates, and a portrait of Garner, eager and insatiable, emerges. He writes with tenderness and humor about his mayonnaise-laden childhood in West Virginia and Naples, Florida (and about his father’s famous peanut butter and pickle sandwich), his mind-opening marriage to a chef from a foodie family (“Cree grew up taking leftover frog legs to school in her lunch box�), and the words and dishes closest to his heart. This is a book to be savored, though it may just whet your appetite for more.]]>
256 Dwight Garner 0374603421 Anupriya 0 to-read 3.82 2023 The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading
author: Dwight Garner
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/02
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Naoko 201271 Naoko, a major bestseller and film in Japan, is a poignant and wily take on gender relations from a master of the detective story. Expertly and seamlessly interweaving the real and the unreal, Naoko involves a regular guy whose world is rocked when his wife dies in a bus accident. His young daughter survives, but seems to be inhabited by her mother’s personality.]]> 288 Keigo Higashino 1932234071 Anupriya 0 to-read 3.86 1998 Naoko
author: Keigo Higashino
name: Anupriya
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/02
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<![CDATA[Restless Stars (Zodiac Academy, #9)]]> 198954263 Orphans. Changelings. Princesses. Queens.
We are all and nothing now, our fate weighed on the scales of the stars and counterbalanced by the forces that oppose us. The shadow of the false king spreads as thick as oil across the kingdom we were born to rule, and none remain untouched by its darkness. Our crowns lay within reach if only we can claim them. All souls are at risk now and when the final battle dawns, a new regime will rise. The time for the true reckoning is upon us and we have proven ourselves as savage as our father, as brutal as our mother, and as wild as the Elements which roar through our veins. We can only hope it is enough. When the last sword strikes the final death in this game of fate and fortune, only one side will be victorious. The Starfall Legion charges at first light. And our destiny rides upon our shoulders as we rush into the end. All hail the True Queens. May our rule last longer than this night.

***This is a dark fantasy romance � don’t go expecting a sweet school for magic with friends around every corner. Fae fight for everything they own and Zodiac Academy is a cutthroat school for students aged 18+ where only the strongest prevail. There’s no Dumbledore here to save anyone’s ass and Lionel Acrux will give Voldemort a run for his money in the evil dictator category. So hold onto your stardust (broomsticks not required) and get ready for a bumpy ride***]]>
1153 Caroline Peckham Anupriya 4 4.28 2024 Restless Stars (Zodiac Academy, #9)
author: Caroline Peckham
name: Anupriya
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/02
date added: 2024/05/02
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