myrrh's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:03:42 -0700 60 myrrh's bookshelf: all 144 41 https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Post-Office Girl 2376087
After a dizzying train ride, Christine finds herself at the top of the world, enjoying a life of privilege that she had never imagined. But Christine’s aunt drops her as abruptly as she picked her up, and soon the young woman is back at the provincial post office, consumed with disappointment and bitterness.

Then she meets Ferdinand, a wounded but eloquent war veteran who is able to give voice to the disaffection of his generation. Christine’s and Ferdinand’s lives spiral downward, before Ferdinand comes up with a plan which will be either their salvation or their doom.

Never before published in English, this extraordinary book is an unexpected and haunting foray into noir fiction by one of the masters of the psychological novel.]]> 257 Stefan Zweig 1590172620 myrrh 0 to-read 4.18 1982 The Post-Office Girl
author: Stefan Zweig
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1982
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/09/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World]]> 210955277 The Hidden Face of Eve, leading feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi provides a shocking account of the oppression of women in the Arab world.

Inspired by her experiences working as a doctor in rural Egypt and her life as an activist for women's rights, she charts the injustices and violence faced by women in the society she grew up in, from legal inequality to honour killings and sexual violence, including female genital mutilation. Examining the historical roots of this oppression, she tackles the controversial topic of women and Islam, arguing that customs such as veiling and polygamy are contradictory to the fundamental teachings of the Muslim faith or any other.

As necessary now as when it was first published, The Hidden Face of Eve is a classic of Arab feminist writing.]]> 435 Nawal El Saadawi 0755651545 myrrh 0 to-read 4.33 1977 The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World
author: Nawal El Saadawi
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/09/16
shelves: to-read
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]]> God Dies by the Nile 446408 138 Nawal El Saadawi 0862322952 myrrh 0 to-read 3.78 1974 God Dies by the Nile
author: Nawal El Saadawi
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1974
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/09/16
shelves: to-read
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]]> May We Feed the King 242252419
He is a reluctant ruler with no hunger for power, rushed to the throne after the untimely deaths of his older brothers. But it isn't long before whispers begin to fly around the court. And with the growing belief that the King is not fit for the throne comes the idea that another might rule in his stead.

May We Feed the King dances between the lives of a historical subject who risks the future of his kingdom and a woman who turns to the past to hide from her present. Laced with desire and longing, it is a playful, stirring meditation on history and storytelling: on what makes a King 'Great', and a life meaningful.]]> 263 Rebecca Perry 1803513888 myrrh 0 to-read 3.74 2026 May We Feed the King
author: Rebecca Perry
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2026
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/09/16
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Creative Writing: Tip dan Strategi Menulis Cerpen dan Novel - Edisi Revisi]]> 19523721
Edisi revisi Creative Writing ini menambahkan unsur lain dalam keterampilan menulis, yakni bagaimana membuat adegan yang menarik dan menulis dengan sudut penceritaan beragam. Selain itu, setiap pembahasan dalam buku ini juga dilengkapi dengan contoh di setiap bagiannya. Di dalamnya, terangkum 24 tip keterampilan menulis sebagai berikut.

Rahasia Kreativitas
Lima Indra
Konstruksi Cerita
Action!
Cerita dan Karakter
Paragraf Pembuka
Draf Pertama
Mengakrabi Karakter
Pacing
Menulis Cepat
Plot
Pemborosan Kalimat
Strategi Tiga Kata
Dialog
Metafora
Menulis dan Mengedit
Sudut Penceritaan
Disiplin
Show, Don’t Tell
Sudut Penceritaan Beragam
Bacalah!
Mengonkretkan Konsep Abstrak
Adegan
Buka Kamus

Creative Writing akan membantu mewujudkan ide-ide kita ke dalam tulisan dengan mudah dan menyenangkan!]]> 204 A.S. Laksana 9797806812 myrrh 0 to-read 4.23 2007 Creative Writing: Tip dan Strategi Menulis Cerpen dan Novel - Edisi Revisi
author: A.S. Laksana
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Being Various: New Irish Short Stories]]> 41435962 Kevin Barry, Eimear McBride, Belinda McKeon, Lisa McInerney, Danielle McLaughlin, Stuart Neville, Sally Rooney, Kit de Waal and many more.

Ireland is going through a golden age of writing: that has never been more apparent. I wanted to capture something of the energy of this explosion, in all its variousness...

Following her own acclaimed short-story collection, Multitudes, Lucy Caldwell guest-edits the sixth volume of Faber's long-running series of all new Irish short stories, continuing the work of the late David Marcus and subsequent guest editors, Joseph O'Connor, Kevin Barry and Deirdre Madden.]]> 354 Lucy Caldwell 0571342507 myrrh 0 to-read 3.73 2019 Being Various: New Irish Short Stories
author: Lucy Caldwell
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/07/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> Yesteryear 238226942
Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn't her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.

As darkly funny as it is shocking and gripping, Yesteryear is an electrifying examination of tradition, fame, faith and the grand performance of womanhood, from a thrilling new talent in fiction.]]> 400 Caro Claire Burke myrrh 0 currently-reading 3.84 2026 Yesteryear
author: Caro Claire Burke
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/07/29
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Island of Missing Trees 56587382 A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World.

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love.

Years later a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited -- her only connection to her family’s troubled history and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world.

A moving, beautifully written and delicately constructed story of love, division, transcendence, history and eco-consciousness, The Island of Missing Trees is Elif Shafak’s best work yet.]]> 354 Elif Shafak 0241434998 myrrh 0 currently-reading 4.12 2021 The Island of Missing Trees
author: Elif Shafak
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/07/29
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better]]> 240336791 How to do more with less and use limits to stimulate creativity, innovation, and collaboration, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Range

We live in a world that gives us seemingly infinite choices and values freedom above all else. We have an unprecedented number of options regarding what to do, who to be, and how to spend our time. All that choice is wonderful; it is also overwhelming. The irony is that total freedom can be paralyzing, and unlimited resources don’t necessarily lead to the biggest breakthroughs. In fact, overvaluing complete freedom can be disastrous for everything from starting a company to harnessing creativity to finding personal satisfaction.

David Epstein argues that all of us—individuals, businesses, institutions, even societies—can benefit from narrowing our options. He dives into the science and practice of constraints, exploring exactly when and how guardrails can be beneficial, whether we’re working with limited resources or using self-imposed boundaries to tap unexpected wells of focus and innovation.

Original, galvanizing, and deeply researched, Inside the Box tells absorbing stories of people and organizations that embraced constraints to transform themselves, and the world—as well as a few that struggled from a lack of limits. Epstein celebrates the surprising potential of hard deadlines, boring goals, and unexpected obstacles. He reveals how boundaries create breakthroughs, and how setting the right constraints can help you become the most creative, productive, and satisfied version of yourself.]]> 304 David Epstein 0593715713 myrrh 0 to-read 3.86 2026 Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better
author: David Epstein
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2026
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/07/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> Bestiary: Selected Stories 48724825 A collection of masterful short stories in Julio Cortazar's sophistocated, powerful and gripping style.

A grieving family home becomes the site of a terrifying invasion. A frustrated love triangle, brought together by a plundered Aztec idol, spills over into brutality. A lodger’s inability to stop vomiting bunny rabbits inspires a personal confession.

As dream melds into reality, and reality melts into nightmare, one constant remains throughout these thirty-five stories: the singular brilliance of Julio Cortazar’s imagination.

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY KEVIN BARRY ]]> 368 Julio Cortázar 1784875856 myrrh 0 to-read 4.06 Bestiary: Selected Stories
author: Julio Cortázar
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.06
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/07/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> S. 278232 S. reveals one of the most horrifying aspects of any war: the rape and torture of civilian women by occupying forces. S. is the story of a Bosnian woman in exile who has just given birth to an unwanted child—one without a country, a name, a father, or a language. Its birth only reminds her of an even more grueling experience: being repeatedly raped by Serbian soldiers in the "women's room" of a prison camp. Through a series of flashbacks, S. relives the unspeakable crimes she has endured, and in telling her story—timely, strangely compelling, and ultimately about survival—depicts the darkest side of human nature during wartime. "S. may very well be one of the strongest books about war you will ever read. . . .The writing is taut, precise, and masterful."]]> 220 Slavenka Drakulić 0140298444 myrrh 0 impending-tbr 4.26 1999 S.
author: Slavenka Drakulić
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/06/22
shelves: impending-tbr
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]]> Heart the Lover 228110489
She was in her senior year of college when star students Sam and Yash swept her into an intoxicating world of academic fervour, rapid-fire banter and raucous card games. Their lives became quickly intertwined - with friendship but also with unpredictable passions and the intimations of first love.

Decades later, she is a successful writer, living a comfortable life with her husband and children, when a surprise visit brings the past crashing into the present, forcing her to confront the decisions and deceptions of her youth.]]> 256 Lily King 0802165176 myrrh 0 impending-tbr 4.13 2025 Heart the Lover
author: Lily King
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/06/17
shelves: impending-tbr
review:

]]> The Correspondent 223001257 “Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle. . . . Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.

Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.

Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be “a very small thing,” but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read.]]> 285 Virginia Evans 0593798430 myrrh 0 impending-tbr 4.41 2025 The Correspondent
author: Virginia Evans
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/06/17
shelves: impending-tbr
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]]> Theo of Golden 242376245 One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…

His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers.

Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their “rightful owners.” With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered.

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another.]]> 400 Allen Levi 1668236516 myrrh 0 to-read 4.34 2023 Theo of Golden
author: Allen Levi
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/06/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> Our Lady of the Nile 20263229 244 Scholastique Mukasonga 0914671030 myrrh 0 to-read 3.78 2012 Our Lady of the Nile
author: Scholastique Mukasonga
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2026/06/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Lady Tan's Circle of Women 62919732
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.

From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus , they tell from adversity beauty can bloom.

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.

How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? A captivating story of women helping each other, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a triumphant reimagining of the life of one person who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.]]> 352 Lisa See 1982117087 myrrh 0 on-a-break 4.30 2023 Lady Tan's Circle of Women
author: Lisa See
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/05/11
shelves: on-a-break
review:

]]> How to Read a Book 74872758 A charming, deeply moving novel about second chances, unlikely friendships, and the life-changing power of sharing stories.

Our Reasons meet us in the morning and whisper to us at night. Mine is an innocent, unsuspecting, eternally sixty-one-year-old woman named Lorraine Daigle…

Violet Powell, a twenty-two-year-old from rural Abbott Falls, Maine, is being released from prison after serving twenty-two months for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club, is facing the unsettling prospect of an empty nest. Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, hasn’t yet come to grips with the complications of his marriage to the woman Violet killed.

When the three encounter each other one morning in a bookstore in Portland—Violet to buy the novel she was reading in the prison book club before her release, Harriet to choose the next title for the women who remain, and Frank to dispatch his duties as the store handyman—their lives begin to intersect in transformative ways.

How to Read a Book  is an unsparingly honest and profoundly hopeful story about letting go of guilt, seizing second chances, and the power of books to change our lives. With the heart, wit, grace, and depth of understanding that has characterized her work, Monica Wood illuminates the decisions that define a life and the kindnesses that make life worth living.  . ]]> 283 Monica Wood myrrh 0 on-a-break 4.41 2024 How to Read a Book
author: Monica Wood
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/05/11
shelves: on-a-break
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Naar de Republiek Indonesia: Menuju Republik Indonesia]]> 8857716 Tan Malaka myrrh 4 nonfiction 4.38 1925 Naar de Republiek Indonesia: Menuju Republik Indonesia
author: Tan Malaka
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1925
rating: 4
read at: 2026/05/09
date added: 2026/05/09
shelves: nonfiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This]]> 220257561 One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is an urgent and necessary reckoning about what it means to live in the West today. As an immigrant, Omar El Akkad believed the West offered freedom and justice for all. Over the past twenty years he reported on the various Wars on Terror, Ferguson, climate change, Black Lives Matter protests, and more. He won awards for his journalism and his fiction. But now, watching the unmitigated slaughter in Gaza, he comes to the conclusion that much of what the West promises is a lie.

This powerful book is a chronicle of Omar's painful realisation, a moral grappling with what it means – as a citizen, as a father – to carve out some sense of possibility during these devastating times. This is a book for those that have tired of moral emptiness. This is a book for everyone who wants something better.]]> 208 Omar El Akkad 1837264252 myrrh 0 to-read 4.56 2025 One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
author: Omar El Akkad
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/04/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> House of Leaves 24800
Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story—of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.]]> 709 Mark Z. Danielewski myrrh 0 to-read 4.11 2000 House of Leaves
author: Mark Z. Danielewski
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Stations 242483668
As the years pass, they grow up and apart. Despite Red's particular gift for disappearing, they remain tethered to one another, a fragile thread holding their once fierce friendship together. When Róisín arrives in London to spend Christmas with her estranged father, she finds herself swept up once more into Red's storm. Róisín longs for the closeness they once had, but Red continues to travel away from her – and as the past weighs on the present, Róisín wonders if she'll ever reach Red where he is.

Stations is a devastating story of love and friendship, and the choices we blithely make when we are young, unaware that the consequences will reverberate throughout our lives.]]> 304 Louise Kennedy 1526664305 myrrh 0 to-read 4.33 Stations
author: Louise Kennedy
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/04/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> Lost Lambs 231127175 Rippling with humor, warmth, and style, Lost Lambs is a new vision of the charms and pitfalls of family dysfunction.

The Flynn family is coming undone. Catherine and Bud's open marriage has reached its breaking point as their daughters spiral in their own chaotic: Abigail, the eldest, is dating a man in his twenties nicknamed War Crime Wes; Louise, the middle child, maintains a secret correspondence with an online terrorist; the brilliant youngest, Harper, is being sent to wilderness reform camp due to her insistence that someone—or something—is monitoring the town’s citizens.

Casting a shadow across their lives, and their small coastal town, is Paul Alabaster, a billionaire shipping magnate. Rumors of corruption circulate, but no one dares dig too deep. No one except Harper, whose obsession with a mysterious shipping container sends the family hurtling into a criminal conspiracy—one that may just bring them closer together.

Irreverent and addictive, pinging between the voices of the Flynn family and those of the panorama of characters around them, Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs is a debut novel of quick-witted observation and surprising tenderness. With Lost Lambs, Cash has crafted a family saga for the twenty-first century, all held together with crazy glue.]]> 323 Madeline Cash 0374619239 myrrh 0 to-read 3.80 2026 Lost Lambs
author: Madeline Cash
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/03/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> Big Summer 49078967
Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.

A sparkling novel about the complexities of female friendship, the pitfalls of living out loud and online, and the resilience of the human heart, Big Summer is a witty, moving story about family, friendship, and figuring out what matters most.]]> 364 Jennifer Weiner 1501133535 myrrh 0 did-not-finish 3.78 2020 Big Summer
author: Jennifer Weiner
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/03/10
shelves: did-not-finish
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]]> Counterfeit 59314709 The Reese's Book Club hardcover edition can be found here.

For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise--an incisive and glittering blend of fashion, crime, and friendship from the author of Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners.

Money can't buy happiness... but it can buy a decent fake.

Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home--she's built the perfect life. But beneath this façade, Ava's world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn't been used in years, and her toddler's tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point.

Enter Winnie Fang, Ava's enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business--someone who'd never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left to face the consequences.

Swift, surprising, and sharply comic, Counterfeit is a stylish and feminist caper with a strong point of view and an axe to grind. Peering behind the curtain of the upscale designer storefronts and the Chinese factories where luxury goods are produced, Kirstin Chen interrogates the myth of the model minority through two unforgettable women determined to demand more from life.]]> 288 Kirstin Chen myrrh 0 did-not-finish 3.43 2022 Counterfeit
author: Kirstin Chen
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/03/10
shelves: did-not-finish
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]]> <![CDATA[Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones]]> 40121378 Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Learn how to:
- Make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
- Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
- Design your environment to make success easier;
- Get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.]]> 319 James Clear myrrh 0 did-not-finish 4.31 2018 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
author: James Clear
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/03/10
shelves: did-not-finish
review:

]]> The Seven Year Slip 62926938
So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate… only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.]]> 336 Ashley Poston myrrh 0 currently-reading 4.14 2023 The Seven Year Slip
author: Ashley Poston
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/02/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Hamnet 48677123 A thrilling departure: A short, piercing, deeply moving new novel from the acclaimed author of I Am, I Am, I Am, about the death of Shakespeare's eleven-year-old son Hamnet--a name interchangeable with Hamlet in fifteenth-century Britain--and the years leading up to the production of his great play.

England, 1580. A young Latin tutor--penniless, bullied by a violent father--falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman: a wild creature who walks her family's estate with a falcon on her shoulder and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer. Agnes understands plants and potions better than she does people, but once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose gifts as a writer are just beginning to awaken when his beloved young son succumbs to bubonic plague.

A luminous portrait of a marriage, a shattering evocation of a family ravaged by grief and loss, and a hypnotic recreation of the story that inspired one of the greatest literary masterpieces of all time, Hamnet is mesmerizing and seductive, an impossible-to-put-down novel from one of our most gifted writers.]]> 310 Maggie O'Farrell 0525657606 myrrh 4 2026 4.16 2020 Hamnet
author: Maggie O'Farrell
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2026/02/21
date added: 2026/02/21
shelves: 2026
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Wrinkle in Time Trilogy (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1-3)]]> 13538830 A Wrinkle in Time and the wonderful and unforgettable characters Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe. Now their first three adventures are together in one volume. In the Newbery Award winner A Wrinkle in Time, the children learn that Mr. Murry has been captured by the Dark Thing, and they must time travel to Camazotz to save him. In A Wind in the Door, Meg, Calvin and Mr. Jenkins (their grade school principal) must travel inside C.W. and battle to save Charles’s life—as well as the balance of the universe. And in A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Meg’s brother Charles Wallace has twenty-four hours to stop the tragedy of nuclear war from occurring. Read the iconic novels that continue to inspire millions of fans around the world.
 ]]> 800 Madeleine L'Engle 1250003431 myrrh 0 to-read 3.98 1963 A Wrinkle in Time Trilogy (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1-3)
author: Madeleine L'Engle
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/11/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Intermezzo 208931300 An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.]]> 464 Sally Rooney 0374602638 myrrh 4 2025 3.77 2024 Intermezzo
author: Sally Rooney
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/23
date added: 2025/07/23
shelves: 2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A River Dies of Thirst: Journals]]> 6605134
This River is at once lyrical and philosophical, questioning and wise, full of irony, resistance, and play. Darwish’s musings on unrest and loss dwell on love and human- ity; myth and dream are inseparable from truth.

Throughout this personal collection, Darwish returns frequently to his ongoing and often lighthearted conversation with death. A River Dies of Thirst is a collection of quiet revelations, embracing poetry, life, death, love, and the human condition.]]> 153 Mahmoud Darwish 0981955711 myrrh 0 to-read 4.25 2008 A River Dies of Thirst: Journals
author: Mahmoud Darwish
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Elang Pulang ke Sarang 213303936
Secara kebetulan Simon bertemu dengan Regina, seorang gadis muda yang memberikan kenyamanan dan dukungan yang ia butuhkan. Siapakah Regina, dan bisakah ia membantu Simon menerima kehilangan teman masa kecilnya? Elang Pulang ke Sarang dari Aimée de Jongh adalah komik debut yang indah, sinematik, dan penuh emosi tentang bagaimana menghadapi masa lalu dan menata kembali kehidupan yang nyaris hancur.]]> 168 Aimée de Jongh 6239772437 myrrh 3 2025 4.00 2014 Elang Pulang ke Sarang
author: Aimée de Jongh
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/06/22
shelves: 2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 55145261 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 304 John Green 0525555218 myrrh 0 to-read 4.35 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Night Sky with Exit Wounds 30245389 Night Sky with Exit Wounds is a book of poetry unlike any other. Steeped in war and cultural upheaval and wielding a fresh new language, Vuong writes about the most profound subjects – love and loss, conflict, grief, memory and desire – and attends to them all with lines that feel newly-minted, graceful in their cadences, passionate and hungry in their tender, close attention: ‘…the chief of police/facedown in a pool of Coca-Cola./A palm-sized photo of his father soaking/beside his left ear.’ This is an unusual, important book: both gentle and visceral, vulnerable and assured, and its blend of humanity and power make it one of the best first collections of poetry to come out of America in years.

‘These are poems of exquisite beauty, unashamed of romance, and undaunted by looking directly into the horrors of war, the silences of history. One of the most important debut collections for a generation.’ Andrew McMillan]]> 93 Ocean Vuong myrrh 5 4.02 2016 Night Sky with Exit Wounds
author: Ocean Vuong
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/09
date added: 2024/10/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Indelicacy 46008430 A ghostly feminist fable, Amina Cain’s Indelicacy is the story of a woman navigating between gender and class roles to empower herself and fulfill her dreams.

In "a strangely ageless world somewhere between Emily Dickinson and David Lynch" (Blake Butler), a cleaning woman at a museum of art nurtures aspirations to do more than simply dust the paintings around her. She dreams of having the liberty to explore them in writing, and so must find a way to win herself the time and security to use her mind. She escapes her lot by marrying a rich man, but having gained a husband, a house, high society, and a maid, she finds that her new life of privilege is no less constrained. Not only has she taken up different forms of time-consuming labor—social and erotic—but she is now, however passively, forcing other women to clean up after her. Perhaps another and more drastic solution is necessary?

Reminiscent of a lost Victorian classic in miniature, yet taking equal inspiration from such modern authors as Jean Rhys, Octavia Butler, Clarice Lispector, and Jean Genet, Amina Cain's Indelicacy is at once a ghost story without a ghost, a fable without a moral, and a down-to-earth investigation of the barriers faced by women in both life and literature. It is a novel about seeing, class, desire, anxiety, pleasure, friendship, and the battle to find one’s true calling.]]> 176 Amina Cain 0374718733 myrrh 2 2022 3.49 2020 Indelicacy
author: Amina Cain
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2022/12/20
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: 2022
review:

]]> The Lost Daughter 59684725 The Lost Daughter is Elena Ferrante's most compelling and perceptive meditation on womanhood and motherhood yet. Leda, a middle-aged divorce, is alone for the first time in years when her daughters leave home to live with their father. Her initial, unexpected sense of liberty turns to ferocious introspection following a seemingly trivial occurrence. Ferrante's language is as finely tuned and intense as ever, and she treats her theme with a fierce, candid tenacity.]]> 140 Elena Ferrante 1787704181 myrrh 3 2023 3.72 2006 The Lost Daughter
author: Elena Ferrante
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/05
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1)]]> 48727813 Two-time British Fantasy Award Winner
Astounding Award Winner
Lambda Literary Award Finalist
Hugo Award Finalist
Locus Award Finalist
Otherwise Award Finalist

"Magnificent in every way."—Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree

"A dazzling new world of fate, war, love and betrayal."—Zen Cho, author of Black Water Sister

She Who Became the Sun reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor.

To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything

“I refuse to be nothing…”

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future her brother's abandoned greatness.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 416 Shelley Parker-Chan 1250621798 myrrh 0 to-read 3.85 2021 She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1)
author: Shelley Parker-Chan
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English]]> 60301567
A dark romance exposing the gaps in American identity politics, especially when exported overseas, If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English is at once ravishing and wry, scathing and tender. Told in alternating perspectives, Noor Naga’s experimental debut examines the ethics of fetishizing the homeland and punishing the beloved . . . and vice versa. In our globalized twenty-first-century world, what are the new faces (and races) of empire? When the revolution fails, how long can someone survive the disappointment? Who suffers and, more crucially, who gets to tell about it?]]> 210 Noor Naga 1644451719 myrrh 4 2024 3.87 2022 If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English
author: Noor Naga
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/07
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> Wake Up Sloth 48853105 104 Aulia Hanifa 6230008505 myrrh 3 2024 3.98 Wake Up Sloth
author: Aulia Hanifa
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/22
date added: 2024/03/21
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future]]> 63251764 An award-winning investigative journalist takes a deep dive into the global waste crisis, exposing the hidden world that enables our modern economy — and finds out the dirty truth behind a simple question: what really happens to what we throw away?

In Wasteland, journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis takes us on a shocking journey inside the waste industry—the secretive multi-billion dollar world that underpins the modern economy, quietly profiting from what we leave behind. In India, he meets the waste-pickers on the front line of the plastic crisis. In the UK, he journeys down sewers to confront our oldest—and newest—waste crisis, and comes face-to-face with nuclear waste. In Ghana, he follows the after-life of our technology and explores the global export network that results in goodwill donations clogging African landfills. From an incinerator to an Oklahoma ghost-town, Franklin-Wallis travels in search of the people and companies that really handle waste—and on the way, meets the innovators and campaigners pushing for a cleaner and less wasteful future.  
 
With this mesmerizing, thought-provoking, and occasionally terrifying investigation, Oliver Franklin-Wallis tells a new story of humanity based on what we leave behind, and along the way, he shares a blueprint for building a healthier, more sustainable world—before we’re all buried in trash.]]> 392 Oliver Franklin-Wallis 0306827115 myrrh 0 to-read 4.44 2023 Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future
author: Oliver Franklin-Wallis
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[If on a Winter's Night a Traveler]]> 374233 If on a Winter's Night a Traveler is a marvel of ingenuity, an experimental text that looks longingly back to the great age of narration—"when time no longer seemed stopped and did not yet seem to have exploded." Italo Calvino's novel is in one sense a comedy in which the two protagonists, the Reader and the Other Reader, ultimately end up married, having almost finished If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. In another, it is a tragedy, a reflection on the difficulties of writing and the solitary nature of reading. The Reader buys a fashionable new book, which opens with an exhortation: "Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade." Alas, after 30 or so pages, he discovers that his copy is corrupted, and consists of nothing but the first section, over and over. Returning to the bookshop, he discovers the volume, which he thought was by Calvino, is actually by the Polish writer Bazakbal. Given the choice between the two, he goes for the Pole, as does the Other Reader, Ludmilla. But this copy turns out to be by yet another writer, as does the next, and the next.

The real Calvino intersperses 10 different pastiches—stories of menace, spies, mystery, premonition—with explorations of how and why we choose to read, make meanings, and get our bearings or fail to. Meanwhile the Reader and Ludmilla try to reach, and read, each other. If on a Winter's Night is dazzling, vertiginous, and deeply romantic. "What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space."]]> 260 Italo Calvino myrrh 0 to-read 4.04 1979 If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
author: Italo Calvino
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Woman's Lore: 4,000 Years of Sirens, Serpents and Succubi]]> 75367019 The history of a demonic tradition that was stolen from women – and then won back again.

Demonic temptresses – from siren-mermaids to Lilith – are well known today, and their mythology focuses around the seductive danger they pose to men. But the root of these figures can be traced back 4,000 years and in their earliest incarnations they were in fact demons worshipped and feared by like Lamashtu, the horrific talon-footed, serpentine monster, who strangled infants and murdered pregnant women, or the Gello, the ghost of a girl who had died a virgin and so killed expectant mothers and their babies out of jealousy.

This history of a demonic tradition from ancient Mesopotamia to the present day – from Lamashtu and Gello, to Lamia and Lilith, and mermaids and vampires – shows how these demons were co-opted by a male-centred society, before being recast as symbols of women's liberation. We also learn what this evolution can tell us about the experience of women and the danger of childbirth, changing attitudes towards sexuality and the movement for women's rights.]]> 304 Sarah Clegg 1803280255 myrrh 0 to-read 3.97 Woman's Lore: 4,000 Years of Sirens, Serpents and Succubi
author: Sarah Clegg
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.97
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Teka-Teki Rumah Aneh (Strange Houses, #1)]]> 123850391
Masalah yang Diceritakan Seorang Kenalan Saat ini, aku berprofesi sebagai penulis lepas spesialis occult— hal-hal gaib. Tuntutan profesi membuatku kerap bersinggungan dengan cerita hantu maupun pengalaman mistis. Dan di antaranya, aku paling sering mendengar cerita supranatural yang terjadi di ”rumah”. ”Aku mendengar bunyi langkah di lantai dua, padahal di sana tidak ada orang.” ”Rasanya seperti ada yang memperhatikanku waktu aku berada di ruang tamu sendirian.” ”Terdengar suara orang bicara dari dalam lemari.” Tak terhitung banyaknya kisah-kisah mengenai bangunan yang dibayangi sejarah kelam. Namun, cerita tentang ”rumah” yang kudengar pada waktu itu agak berbeda dari cerita-cerita serupa lainnya.
Pada bulan September tahun 2019, seorang kenalan bernama Yanaoka-san menghubungiku karena ada masalah yang ingin dibahas. Yanaoka-san bekerja sebagai staf sales di sebuah agensi editorial. Kami berdua berteman dekat dan sesekali pergi makan bersama sejak berkenalan beberapa tahun lalu dalam urusan pekerjaan. Tidak lama lagi Yanaoka-san akan menyambut kelahiran anak pertamanya. Sehubungan dengan peristiwa itu, Yanaokasan pun memantapkan diri untuk membeli rumah pertamanya Setelah menghabiskan waktu setiap malam sampai larut melihat lihat informasi properti, Yanaoka­san akhirnya menemukan satu rumah yang ideal di kawasan Tokyo. Rumah dua lantai itu berada di daerah permukiman yang tenang. Banyak hutan di sekitarnya meskipun berlokasi di dekat stasiun, serta usia bangunannya sendiri terbilang baru meskipun berstatus rumah second. Ketika Yanaoka­san beserta istri datang melihat lihat rumah itu, mereka berdua langsung jatuh hati pada interiornya yang lega dan terang. Hanya saja, terdapat satu bagian pada tata letak ruangan di rumah itu yang menimbulkan tanda tanya besar bagi mereka.]]> 224 Uketsu 6020669963 myrrh 3 2024 4.06 2021 Teka-Teki Rumah Aneh (Strange Houses, #1)
author: Uketsu
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/27
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk 1334844
Semangat Dukuh Paruk kembali menggeliat sejak Srintil dinobatkan menjadi ronggeng baru, menggantikan ronggeng terakhir yang mati dua belas tahun yang lalu. Bagi pedukuhan yang kecil, miskin, terpencil dan bersahaja itu, ronggeng adalah perlambang. Tanpanya dukuh itu merasakah kehilangan jati diri.

Dengan segera Srintil menjadi tokoh yang amat terkenal dan digandrungi. Cantik dan menggoda. Semua ingin pernah bersama ronggeng itu. Dari kaula biasa hingga pekabat-pejabat desa maupun kabupaten.

Namun malapetaka politik tahun 1965 membuat dukuh tersebut hancur, baik secara fisik maupun mental. Karena kebodohannya, mereka terbawa arus dan divonis sebagai manusia-manusia yang telah mengguncangkan negara ini. Pedukuhan itu dibakar. Ronggeng berserta para penabuh calung ditahan.Hanya karena kecantikannya Srintil tidak diperlakukan semena-mena oleh para penguasa penjara itu.

Namun pengalaman pahit sebagai tahanan politikmembuat Srintil sadar akan harkatnya sebagai manusia. Karena itulah setelah bebas, ia berniat memperbaiki citra dirinya. Ia tak ingin lagi melayani lelaki manapun. Ia ingin menjadi wanita somahan. Dan ketika Bajus muncul dalam hidupnya sepercik harapan muncul, harapan yang semakin lama semakin besar.]]> 406 Ahmad Tohari myrrh 4 2024 4.33 1982 Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk
author: Ahmad Tohari
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/24
date added: 2024/02/23
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[People from My Neighborhood: Stories]]> 58619790
In Kawakami’s super short ‘palm of the hand’ stories the world is never quite as it should be: a small child lives under a sheet near his neighbour’s house for thirty years; an apartment block leaves its visitors with strange afflictions, from fast-growing beards to an ability to channel the voices of the dead; an old man has two shadows, one docile, the other rebellious; two girls named Yoko are locked in a bitter rivalry to the death.

Small but great, you’ll find great delight spending time with the people in this neighbourhood.]]> 176 Hiromi Kawakami 1593767129 myrrh 3 2024 3.53 2020 People from My Neighborhood: Stories
author: Hiromi Kawakami
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/21
date added: 2024/02/21
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Diary of a Murderer: And Other Stories]]> 43383210 Diary of a Murderer: And Other Stories is master short story writer Young-ha Kim’s first collection ever to be published in English. His work has been compared to the novels of Haruki Murakami, Raymond Chandler, and Albert Camus, and he has earned a reputation as the most talented and prolific Korean writer of his generation.

Diary of a Murderer is an electric collection that captivates and provokes in equal measure, exploring what it means to be on the edge—between life and death, good and evil. In the titular novella, a former serial killer suffering from memory loss sets his sights on a new, and final, target: a killer whose next victim is his daughter. In the following three stories we witness an affair between two childhood friends that questions the limits of loyalty and love; a family’s disintegration after a baby son is kidnapped and recovered years later; and a wild, erotic ride about pursuing creativity at the expense of everything else.

From “one of South Korea’s best and most worldly writers” (NPR), and translated by award-winning author Krys Lee, Diary of a Murderer is chilling and high-powered all the way through.]]> 208 Young-ha Kim myrrh 3 2024 3.52 2019 Diary of a Murderer: And Other Stories
author: Young-ha Kim
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/19
date added: 2024/02/19
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> A Man Called Otto 63911372 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.]]> 346 Fredrik Backman myrrh 4 2024 4.54 2012 A Man Called Otto
author: Fredrik Backman
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/17
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> The Guest List 52656911
The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 319 Lucy Foley myrrh 4 3.80 2020 The Guest List
author: Lucy Foley
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> The Dutch House 44569767 The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.

Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.

]]> 338 Ann Patchett 0062963694 myrrh 4
"There are a few times in life when you leap up and the past that you’d been standing on falls away behind you, and the future you mean to land on is not yet in place, and for a moment you’re suspended, knowing nothing and no one, not even yourself."


Started it off because I'm intrigued by its beautiful cover and was wondering half through it if there's anything that could connect the story to its cover, and winded up satisfied of what I've just read.

The story began within The Dutch House and how everything subsequently revolves around this grandiose and magnificent looking house in the suburb sort of area. The familial issues of The Dutch House were somehow familiar but at the same were too foreign for some people. Even how the story went was somewhat quite an anomaly, in which what often happens in a broken family. I was talking about the casual forgiveness the children, especially Maeve gave towards her mother. It was something different and I don't know whether I hate it or like it. It feels strange to me as I wouldn't go easily on my mother if she abandoned my just like that but at some point, the bad past shouldn't make you forget to moving on with life and be forgiving. And sometimes, what we think as strange and odd could have been affected others more than we know. Just like how Elna Conroy pursued her calling to help the poor even though she had to leave her own family.

I love how Ann Patchett ended the book also at The Dutch House as it was started within that house. The house and how its existence always lead people back to them. The house and its memories. The house and its full story of attraction, love, sorrow, misery, longing, lonesome, grief, and forgiveness. We could've been move several times in our life but the place always there, saving all those memories they've been through.

I like this and it got me so engrossed on the story but at some point the characters just felt flat and too detached when it was supposed to gave me thrills. It's 3.5/5 for me.]]> 4.26 2019 The Dutch House
author: Ann Patchett
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/11
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:
"There are a few times in life when you leap up and the past that you’d been standing on falls away behind you, and the future you mean to land on is not yet in place, and for a moment you’re suspended, knowing nothing and no one, not even yourself."


Started it off because I'm intrigued by its beautiful cover and was wondering half through it if there's anything that could connect the story to its cover, and winded up satisfied of what I've just read.

The story began within The Dutch House and how everything subsequently revolves around this grandiose and magnificent looking house in the suburb sort of area. The familial issues of The Dutch House were somehow familiar but at the same were too foreign for some people. Even how the story went was somewhat quite an anomaly, in which what often happens in a broken family. I was talking about the casual forgiveness the children, especially Maeve gave towards her mother. It was something different and I don't know whether I hate it or like it. It feels strange to me as I wouldn't go easily on my mother if she abandoned my just like that but at some point, the bad past shouldn't make you forget to moving on with life and be forgiving. And sometimes, what we think as strange and odd could have been affected others more than we know. Just like how Elna Conroy pursued her calling to help the poor even though she had to leave her own family.

I love how Ann Patchett ended the book also at The Dutch House as it was started within that house. The house and how its existence always lead people back to them. The house and its memories. The house and its full story of attraction, love, sorrow, misery, longing, lonesome, grief, and forgiveness. We could've been move several times in our life but the place always there, saving all those memories they've been through.

I like this and it got me so engrossed on the story but at some point the characters just felt flat and too detached when it was supposed to gave me thrills. It's 3.5/5 for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Andy Warhol (Little People, BIG DREAMS #60)]]> 58172155 In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Andy Warhol, the ground-breaking pop artist.

Little Andy was the tiniest and palest child of the Warholas, a humble couple from Slovakia who lived in Pittsburgh. Sketchbook glued to his hand, he loved every minute of drawing, but he was too shy to show his work to others, even to his family! As an adult he got a chance to publish his first illustration for a glamorous magazine. He turned his attention to the ordinary, like soup cans he ate from for lunch every day. He showed the world that the ordinary objects could POP, and founded a cultural movement. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the inspiring artist's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!]]> 34 Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara 0711257949 myrrh 2 3.95 2021 Andy Warhol (Little People, BIG DREAMS #60)
author: Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Greta Thunberg (Little People, Big Dreams #40)]]> 53780054 In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy bestselling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the inspiring true story of Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist. When young Greta learned of the climate crisis, she stopped talking. She couldn't understand why people in power were not doing anything to save our Earth. One day she started protesting outside the Swedish Parliament, creating the 'School Strike for Climate'. Soon, lots more young people joined her in a global movement that shook adults and politicians alike.She had found her voice and uses it to inspire humans to action with her powerful "No one is too small to make a difference." This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the climate activist's life.Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling biography series for kids that explores the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. This empowering series of books offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardback and paperback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. With rewritten text for older children, the treasuries each bring together a multitude of dreamers in a single volume. You can also collect a selection of the books by theme in boxed gift sets. Activity books and a journal provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!  ]]> 36 Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara 0711256446 myrrh 3 3.85 2020 Greta Thunberg (Little People, Big Dreams #40)
author: Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/21
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mahatma Gandhi (Little People, BIG DREAMS #31)]]> 46019561 New in the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Mohandas Gandhi, the father of India.

As a young teenager in India, Gandhi led a rebellious life and went against his parents' values. But as a young man, he started to form beliefs of his own that harked back to the Hindu principles of his childhood. Gandhi began to dream of unity for all peoples and religions. Inspired by this idea, he led peaceful protests to free India from British rule and unite the country – ending violence and unfair treatment. His bravery and free-thinking made him one of the most iconic people of peace in the world, known as Mahatma, meaning 'great soul'. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the activist's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. 
 
This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.
 
Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!]]> 36 Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara 1786037882 myrrh 3 4.28 2019 Mahatma Gandhi (Little People, BIG DREAMS #31)
author: Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/21
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[David Bowie (Little People, BIG DREAMS #30)]]> 46001565 New in the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of David Bowie, the starman who dazzled audiences with his music.

As a child, young David had a head full of songs and ideas. He was inspired by the pop and mod scenes in Britain to pick up the saxophone. After earning his stripes in some of the coolest bands in London, David splashed onto the solo scene. His songwriting talent and musical skill made him one of rock and roll's all-time greatest artists. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the musician's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. 
 
This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.
 
Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!]]> 36 Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara 0711241953 myrrh 3 4.20 2019 David Bowie (Little People, BIG DREAMS #30)
author: Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/21
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[L. M. Montgomery (Little People, BIG DREAMS Book 22)]]> 44154152 New in the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the famous Canadian author of Anne of Green Gables.

Born in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, Lucy Maud Montgomery lost her mother when she was very young. Left in the care of less-than-encouraging grandparents, she found comfort in reading, writing and her imagination. When Maud grew up, she wrote about the childhood she wished she had, creating one of the best-loved characters of all time: Anne of Green Gables. This moving book features stylish illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the author's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!]]> 35 Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara 178603963X myrrh 3 4.24 2018 L. M. Montgomery (Little People, BIG DREAMS Book 22)
author: Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/21
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> Ada Lovelace 39691675 Meet Ada Lovelace, the British mathematician and daughter of poet Lord Byron. Part of the beloved Little People, BIG DREAMS series, this inspiring and informative little biography follows the colorful life of Lord Byron's daughter, from her early love of logic, to her plans for the world's first computer program.

As a child, Ada had a big imagination and a talent for mathematics. She grew up in a noble household in England, where she dedicated herself to studying. Her work with the famous inventor, Charles Babbage, on a very early kind of computer made her the world's first computer programmer. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical images and a detailed profile of the mathematician's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!]]> 35 Isabel Sanchez Vegara 1786034166 myrrh 3 3.87 2017 Ada Lovelace
author: Isabel Sanchez Vegara
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/21
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> Jean-Michel Basquiat 52590464 ]]> 32 Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara 0711245800 myrrh 3 4.04 2020 Jean-Michel Basquiat
author: Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/22
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> Astrid Lindgren 51199083 32 Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara 0711252173 myrrh 3 4.09 2020 Astrid Lindgren
author: Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/22
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Agatha Christie (Little People, BIG DREAMS #5)]]> 56571080 In this book from the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Agatha Christie, the most famous crime writer of all time.

When Agatha was young, she read books every night, but always had her own idea for how they should end! As an adult, her crime novels, with their twists and turns and peculiar detectives, challenged the minds of millions of readers, making her the queen of mystery and the best-selling novelist of all time. This stirring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the author's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!]]> 35 Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara 1786032201 myrrh 3 3.94 2016 Agatha Christie (Little People, BIG DREAMS #5)
author: Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/02
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Martin Luther King, Jr. (Little People, BIG DREAMS #41)]]> 49367163 In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Martin Luther King Jr., the inspiring minister and civil rights activist.

Little Martin grew up in a family of his dad was a preacher, his uncle was a preacher, his grandfather was a preacher...so maybe he'd become a great preacher too. One day, a friend invited him to play at his house. Martin was shocked when his mother wouldn't let him in because he was black. That day he realized there was something terribly unfair going on. Martin believed that no one should remain silent and accept something if it's wrong. And he promised himself that--when he grew up--he'd fight injustice with the most powerful weapon of words. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the inspiring activist's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!]]> 36 Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara 0711251592 myrrh 3 4.37 2020 Martin Luther King, Jr. (Little People, BIG DREAMS #41)
author: Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/02
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> Progresnya Berapa Persen? 51896016
Seakan semuanya belum cukup, rasanya kepalanya mau pecah saat sebuah pertanyaan muncul ketika dia sedang mengerjakan tugas lain yang juga mendesak. Seringnya, pertanyaan itu meluncur dari seorang manajer teknik bernama Dewangga Bayuzena, laki-laki yang entah kenapa selalu bikin jantung para staf ketar-ketir dengan satu pertanyaan kebanggaannya ini;

"Progresnya berapa persen?”]]> 360 Soraya Nasution 6230003740 myrrh 3 2024 4.13 2019 Progresnya Berapa Persen?
author: Soraya Nasution
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/05
date added: 2024/02/05
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dua Belas Pasang Mata (Nijushi No Hitomi - Twenty Four Eyes)]]> 57777393 248 Sakae Tsuboi 602065172X myrrh 0 to-read 3.96 1952 Dua Belas Pasang Mata (Nijushi No Hitomi - Twenty Four Eyes)
author: Sakae Tsuboi
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1952
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Di Tanah Lada 27213435
Ditulis dengan alur yang penuh kejutan dan gaya bercerita yang unik, sudah selayaknya para juri sayembara memilih novel Di Tanah Lada sebagai salah satu juaranya.]]> 244 6020318966 myrrh 5 2024 4.23 2015 Di Tanah Lada
author: Ziggy Zezsyazeoviennazabrizkie
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/31
date added: 2024/01/30
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dragon Keeper (Dragon Keeper, #1)]]> 1162185 333 Carole Wilkinson 1423101715 myrrh 0 to-read 4.02 2003 Dragon Keeper (Dragon Keeper, #1)
author: Carole Wilkinson
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Syllabus: Notes From an Accidental Professor (Lynda Barry's Creativity Series)]]> 20613619
She showed me ways of using these simple things — our hands, a pen, and some paper — as both a navigation and expedition device, one that could reliably carry me into my past, deeper into my present, or farther into a place I have come to call "the image world" — a place we all know, even if we don't notice this knowing until someone reminds us of its ever-present existence.

I wasn't quite 20 years old when I started my first notebook. I had no idea that nearly 40 years later, I would not only still be using it as the most reliable route to the thing I've come to call my work, but I'd also be showing others how to use it too, as a place to practice a physical activity — in this case writing and drawing by hand — with a certain state of mind.

This practice can result in what I've come to consider a wonderful side effect: a visual or written image we can call 'a work of art,' although a work of art is not what I'm after when I'm practicing this activity.

What am I after? I'm after what Marilyn Frasca called "being present and seeing what's there."

This book is a collection of bits and pieces from the many notebooks I kept during my first three years of trying to figure out how to teach this practice to my students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison."]]> 200 Lynda Barry 1770461612 myrrh 0 impending-tbr 4.39 2014 Syllabus: Notes From an Accidental Professor (Lynda Barry's Creativity Series)
author: Lynda Barry
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/18
shelves: impending-tbr
review:

]]> What It Is 2086132 What It Is demonstrates a tried-and-true creative method that is playful, powerful, and accessible to anyone with an inquisitive wish to write or to remember. Composed of completely new material, each page of Barry’s first Drawn & Quarterly book is a full-color collage that is not only a gentle guide to this process but an invigorating example of exactly what it is: “The ordinary is extraordinary.”]]> 210 Lynda Barry 1897299354 myrrh 0 impending-tbr 4.21 2008 What It Is
author: Lynda Barry
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/18
shelves: impending-tbr
review:

]]> Notes of a Crocodile 31395589 Notes of a Crocodile depicts the coming-of-age of a group of queer misfits discovering love, friendship, and artistic affinity while hardly studying at Taiwan's most prestigious university. Told through the eyes of an anonymous lesbian narrator nicknamed Lazi, Qiu Miaojin's cult classic novel is a postmodern pastiche of diaries, vignettes, mash notes, aphorisms, exegesis, and satire by an incisive prose stylist and countercultural icon.

Afflicted by her fatalistic attraction to Shui Ling, an older woman, Lazi turns for support to a circle of friends that includes a rich kid turned criminal and his troubled, self-destructive gay lover, as well as a bored, mischievous overachiever and her alluring slacker artist girlfriend.

Illustrating a process of liberation from the strictures of gender through radical self-inquiry, Notes of a Crocodile is a poignant masterpiece of social defiance by a singular voice in contemporary Chinese literature.]]> 242 Qiu Miaojin 168137076X myrrh 0 to-read 3.82 1994 Notes of a Crocodile
author: Qiu Miaojin
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, #1)]]> 62047992 150 Satoshi Yagisawa 0063278677 myrrh 3 2024 3.64 2010 Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, #1)
author: Satoshi Yagisawa
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/13
date added: 2024/01/12
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> Schoolgirl 12483882 Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent social structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against "them" -- a theme that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally. This new translation preserves the playful language of the original and offers the reader a new window into the mind of one of the greatest Japanese authors of the 20th century.]]> 103 Osamu Dazai 1935548085 myrrh 0 to-read 3.98 1939 Schoolgirl
author: Osamu Dazai
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1939
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Setting Sun 194740
The story is told through the eyes of Kazuko, the unmarried daughter of a widowed aristocrat. Her search for self meaning in a society devoid of use for her forms the crux of Dazai’s novel. It is a sad story, and structurally is a novel very much within the confines of the Japanese take on the novel in a way reminiscent of authors such as Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata – the social interactions are peripheral and understated, nuances must be drawn, and for readers more used to Western novelistic forms this comes across as being rather wishy-washy.

Kazuko’s mother falls ill, and due to their financial circumstances they are forced to take a cottage in the countryside. Her brother, who became addicted to opium during the war is missing. When he returns, Kazuko attempts to form a liaison with the novelist Uehara. This romantic displacement only furthers to deepen her alienation from society.]]> 175 Osamu Dazai 0811200329 myrrh 0 to-read 3.98 1947 The Setting Sun
author: Osamu Dazai
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1947
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Woman Running in the Mountains]]> 1226281 275 Yūko Tsushima myrrh 0 to-read 3.84 1980 Woman Running in the Mountains
author: Yūko Tsushima
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Territory of Light 33871745 Territory of Light is the luminous story of a young woman, living alone in Tokyo with her three-year-old daughter. Its twelve, stand-alone fragments follow the first year of her separation from her husband. The novel is full of light, sometimes comforting and sometimes dangerous: sunlight streaming through windows, dappled light in the park, distant fireworks, dazzling floodwater, desaturated streetlamps and earth-shaking explosions. The seemingly artless prose is beautifully patterned: the cumulative effect is disarmingly powerful and images remain seared into your retina for a long time afterwards.]]> 122 Yūko Tsushima 0241312191 myrrh 0 to-read 3.59 1978 Territory of Light
author: Yūko Tsushima
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Have Always Lived in the Castle]]> 12820607
But one day a stranger arrives—cousin Charles, with his eye on the Blackwood fortune—and manages to penetrate into their carefully shielded lives. Unable to drive him away by either polite or occult means, Merricat adopts more desperate methods, resulting in crisis, tragedy, and the revelation of a terrible secret.

Listening Length: 5 hours and 32 minutes.]]> 6 Shirley Jackson myrrh 4 2024 3.66 1962 We Have Always Lived in the Castle
author: Shirley Jackson
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/02
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, #1)]]> 58416952 At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this new fantasy series by internationally bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington.

AUDI. VIDE. TACE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.]]> 640 James Islington 1982141190 myrrh 0 to-read 4.56 2023 The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, #1)
author: James Islington
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tom Lake 63241104 In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.]]> 320 Ann Patchett 006332752X myrrh 0 to-read 3.90 2023 Tom Lake
author: Ann Patchett
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bookshops & Bonedust (Legends & Lattes, #0)]]> 65213543 When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn't always what we seek.

In Bookshops & Bonedust, a prequel to Legends & Lattes, author Travis Baldree takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books.

Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going as planned.

Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it.

What's a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?

Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn't possibly imagine.

Still, adventure isn't all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.]]> 336 Travis Baldree 1250886104 myrrh 0 to-read 4.08 2023 Bookshops & Bonedust (Legends & Lattes, #0)
author: Travis Baldree
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> No Longer Human 17665637
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.]]> 177 Osamu Dazai 0811220079 myrrh 5 2022 3.90 1948 No Longer Human
author: Osamu Dazai
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1948
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/19
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: 2022
review:

]]> The Year of Magical Thinking 5496844
Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill with what seemed at first flu, then pneumonia, then complete septic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later – the night before New Year’s Eve – the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John Gregory Dunne suffered a massive and fatal coronary. In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of forty years was over. Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LAX, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Center to relieve a massive hematoma.

This powerful book is Didion’ s attempt to make sense of the “weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness . . . about marriage and children and memory . . . about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself.”]]> 242 Joan Didion myrrh 4 memoir, 2022 4.07 2005 The Year of Magical Thinking
author: Joan Didion
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2022/04/26
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: memoir, 2022
review:
The way Joan telling her journey of grieving reminds me that despite the loneliness and sorrow we, the people who grief have, we’re never been alone to suffer. Sometimes we lost but other times we just as wake as we used to be. There’s no due date of grief not it had specific way to come on us. Sometimes it’s the sudden feeling, sometimes it comes when we least expected it. Maybe my loss can’t be compared to someone else but reading this gives me lots of validations of what I’ve been feeling and I don’t regret it. The only thing that bother me is the pace and some of the context that I couldn’t really find myself connect with them because this is my first book of Joan. But despite the pace, I still love how she tells how she lives with grief ever since that day she lost her husband. It’s a solid 3 stars for me.
]]> Blue Floats Away 57505047 A little iceberg strikes out on a big journey in this new picture book that explores the wonders of the water cycle Little Blue lives at the North Pole with his parents until, one day, he floats away and strikes out on his own. Along the way, Blue encounters new things (sharks) and beautiful things (sailboats). He starts to wonder which way is home when something unexpected starts to happen. Little Blue is getting smaller and smaller until . . . he transforms! After mixing with the warm ocean water, Blue reappears as a cloud. He encounters new things (airplanes) and beautiful things (birds). He charts a course for home. As it gets colder and colder, Blue gets bigger and bigger until . . . hey, is that a snowflake? A story about the water cycle, Blue Floats Away explores the power of transformation and growing up.  ]]> 48 Travis Jonker 1647003083 myrrh 4 illustration-books, 2022 4.09 2021 Blue Floats Away
author: Travis Jonker
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/14
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: illustration-books, 2022
review:

]]> Cleopatra and Frankenstein 59142475
Each compulsively readable chapter explores the lives of Cleo, Frank, and an unforgettable cast of their closest friends and family as they grow up and grow older. Whether it's Cleo's best friend struggling to embrace his gender queerness in the wake of Cleo's marriage, or Frank's financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates to support herself after being cut off, or Cleo and Frank themselves as they discover the trials of marriage and mental illness, each character is as absorbing, and painfully relatable, as the last.

As hilarious as it is heartbreaking, entertaining as it is deeply moving, Cleopatra and Frankenstein marks the entry of a brilliant and bold new talent.]]> 378 Coco Mellors 1635576822 myrrh 4 2022, obsession "Love looks through spectacles that make copper look like gold, poverty like riches, and tears like pearls."

‘Cleopatra and Frankenstein’ is about Cleo and Frank, who got married on an impulse after six months of being together. Cleo was 25 and Frank was 44. They are surrounded by similar faces that they’ve known already but more to know of each other’s. A blasting typical of the life of New York adorned their journey to seek what’s they truly want. Followed by friends and families’ stories who are as much as important as their own. And how their marriage became the center of the unfolding truth of themselves that they never wanted to acknowledge.

This book is a lot more of self-discovery and reflections about someone’s mirror, love, trust and perseverance, grief and longing, selfishness, desire and lust. And Coco Mellors were really successful in encapsulating such heavy contortions of human nature and its dissonance with each other in such a beautiful way.

The characters are reckless, ignorance and vulnerable at the same time, leaving a gigantic hole within themselves. Some are so annoyingly pretentious, some are simply just vibing. You can’t find nobody as an almost perfect. They were all flawed, even to the point, they were all shattered to pieces, no longer had a hold of themselves. Glimpses of glamour lifestyle and its drawbacks that easily becoming an essence of destruction.

Mellors used symbolism of dress, paintings, and lights. The monthly basis of the story is a common way to tell the readers to feel the intensity of the journey. Which over the course you can tell by the chapter’s title. The sentimental of being alone literally and being alone but only with one’s mind is striking and even pointed out a few times. How your friends were not your friends at all and someone stranger may become your greatest assurance. And also, not forget to mention the familial issues that everyone in this book has. A reminder that no family is perfect, and that shouldn’t be a hindrance for you to live a normal life, like normal people.

The drawbacks for me is some of them are just too selfish and cold-hearted like a horde of empty shells. Some parts were happened too fast that probably would make you feel rushed and the inexplicit reasons for their actions were corroborate the loss you might feel. And maybe because it was unsettling me in some parts (which I should've known better to seek the warnings first). And that it's getting too predictable but, I enjoyed it nevertheless.

But if you like badass and yet flawed characters in glamour settings like in Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I can assure you would absolutely like this one too!

4,5/5⭐]]> 3.90 2022 Cleopatra and Frankenstein
author: Coco Mellors
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/13
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: 2022, obsession
review:
"Love looks through spectacles that make copper look like gold, poverty like riches, and tears like pearls."


‘Cleopatra and Frankenstein’ is about Cleo and Frank, who got married on an impulse after six months of being together. Cleo was 25 and Frank was 44. They are surrounded by similar faces that they’ve known already but more to know of each other’s. A blasting typical of the life of New York adorned their journey to seek what’s they truly want. Followed by friends and families’ stories who are as much as important as their own. And how their marriage became the center of the unfolding truth of themselves that they never wanted to acknowledge.

This book is a lot more of self-discovery and reflections about someone’s mirror, love, trust and perseverance, grief and longing, selfishness, desire and lust. And Coco Mellors were really successful in encapsulating such heavy contortions of human nature and its dissonance with each other in such a beautiful way.

The characters are reckless, ignorance and vulnerable at the same time, leaving a gigantic hole within themselves. Some are so annoyingly pretentious, some are simply just vibing. You can’t find nobody as an almost perfect. They were all flawed, even to the point, they were all shattered to pieces, no longer had a hold of themselves. Glimpses of glamour lifestyle and its drawbacks that easily becoming an essence of destruction.

Mellors used symbolism of dress, paintings, and lights. The monthly basis of the story is a common way to tell the readers to feel the intensity of the journey. Which over the course you can tell by the chapter’s title. The sentimental of being alone literally and being alone but only with one’s mind is striking and even pointed out a few times. How your friends were not your friends at all and someone stranger may become your greatest assurance. And also, not forget to mention the familial issues that everyone in this book has. A reminder that no family is perfect, and that shouldn’t be a hindrance for you to live a normal life, like normal people.

The drawbacks for me is some of them are just too selfish and cold-hearted like a horde of empty shells. Some parts were happened too fast that probably would make you feel rushed and the inexplicit reasons for their actions were corroborate the loss you might feel. And maybe because it was unsettling me in some parts (which I should've known better to seek the warnings first). And that it's getting too predictable but, I enjoyed it nevertheless.

But if you like badass and yet flawed characters in glamour settings like in Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I can assure you would absolutely like this one too!

4,5/5⭐
]]> <![CDATA[Cat Kid Comic Club: A Graphic Novel (Cat Kid Comic Club, #1)]]> 53518721 A pioneering new graphic novel series by Dav Pilkey, the author and illustrator of the internationally bestselling Dog Man and Captain Underpants series.

Naomi, Melvin, Pedro, and Poppy are just a few of the twenty-one rambunctious, funny, and talented baby frogs who share their stories in the Cat Kid Comic Club. Can Li'l Petey, Molly, and Flippy help the students express themselves through comics? The adventures in class and on paper unwind with mishaps and hilarity as the creative baby frogs experience the mistakes and progress that come with practice and persistence.

"Squid Kid and Katydid," "Baby Frog Squad," "Monster Cheese Sandwich," "Birds Flowers A Haiku Photo Comic," and other mini-comics are featured as stories-within-the-story, each done in a different style, utilizing humor and drama, prose and poetry, illustrated in different media including acrylics, pastels, colored pencils, felt-tip markers, clay, hand-made cardboard sculptures, photographs, pipe cleaners, construction paper collages, and cookies.

This heartfelt, humorous, and thoughtful graphic novel by award-winning author and artist Dav Pilkey will have readers of all ages laughing and motivated to unleash their own creativity.]]> 176 Dav Pilkey 1338712780 myrrh 4 2023, graphic-novels 4.63 2020 Cat Kid Comic Club: A Graphic Novel (Cat Kid Comic Club, #1)
author: Dav Pilkey
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/31
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: 2023, graphic-novels
review:

]]> Tokyo & Perayaan Kesedihan 52905249

Shira Hidajat Nagano melarikan diri ke Tokyo untuk menemukan penyelesaian paling terencana dalam hidupnya. Dia membayangkan terjebak di lautan hutan bersama berbagai penyesalan untuk selama-lamanya ditenggelamkan. Namun, di Tokyo yang menggigilkan hatinya, dia justru bertemu Joshua yang semarak dan mampu memvalidasi keputusasaannya. Untuk kali terakhir dalam hidupnya, bukan mengerjakan penyelesaian, Shira dihentikan sejenak oleh jawaban-jawaban yang tak pernah dia kira akan didapatkannya.]]> 192 Ruth Priscilia Angelina 6020640841 myrrh 4 2024 3.85 2020 Tokyo & Perayaan Kesedihan
author: Ruth Priscilia Angelina
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/02
date added: 2024/01/01
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heartstopper: Volume One (Heartstopper, #1)]]> 52560239
Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn't been too great, but at least he's not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He's heard a little about Charlie - the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months - but he's never had the opportunity to talk to him.
They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner...]]> 292 Alice Oseman 1338617451 myrrh 4 2022, graphic-novels 4.50 2018 Heartstopper: Volume One (Heartstopper, #1)
author: Alice Oseman
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/08
date added: 2024/01/01
shelves: 2022, graphic-novels
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels, #1)]]> 24477015 Baby-Sitters Club book, Raina Telgemeier captures all the drama of the original in warm, spunky illustrations. Witness Kristy's eureka moment, when she gets the idea for a "baby-sitters club" and enlists her best friends, shy Mary Anne and artistic Claudia, in an exciting new venture. But the baby-sitting business isn't the only thing absorbing their attention: Kristy is having a hard time accepting her stepdad-to-be, and the newest member of the gang, Stacey, seems to be hiding a secret.]]> 192 Raina Telgemeier 0545829089 myrrh 3 2022, graphic-novels 4.37 2006 Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels, #1)
author: Raina Telgemeier
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2022/10/08
date added: 2024/01/01
shelves: 2022, graphic-novels
review:

]]> Displacement 54686202 A teenager is pulled back in time to witness her grandmother's experiences in World War II-era Japanese internment camps.

Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II.

These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself "stuck" back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.]]> 288 Kiku Hughes 1250801621 myrrh 5 2023, graphic-novels 4.44 2020 Displacement
author: Kiku Hughes
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/31
date added: 2024/01/01
shelves: 2023, graphic-novels
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Perspectives (Cat Kid Comic Club #2)]]> 57386527 Cat Kid Comic Club is back in session in this groundbreaking graphic novel narrative by Dav Pilkey, the worldwide bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator of Dog Man.

Flippy, Molly, Li'l Petey, and twenty-one baby frogs each have something to say. Naomi and Melvin don't see eye to eye and Poppy perceives the world differently than her siblings. Will the baby frogs figure out how to work together and appreciate one another's point of view -- both inside and outside the classroom?

The shenanigans are nonstop and the baby frogs' minicomics are funny and full of heart. Creating stories within a story, author and illustrator Dav Pilkey uses a variety of techniques -- including acrylic paints, colored pencils, Japanese calligraphy, photography, collage, gouache, watercolors, and much more -- to portray each frog's perspective. The kaleidoscope of art styles, paired with Pilkey's trademark storytelling and humor, fosters creativity, collaboration, independence, and empathy. Readers of all ages will relish this joyful graphic novel adventure.]]> 224 Dav Pilkey 1338784854 myrrh 4 2024, graphic-novels 4.40 2021 Perspectives (Cat Kid Comic Club #2)
author: Dav Pilkey
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/01/01
shelves: 2024, graphic-novels
review:

]]> Dream Work 536668 96 Mary Oliver 0871130696 myrrh 4 2023, poetry 4.35 1986 Dream Work
author: Mary Oliver
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/31
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: 2023, poetry
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tilly and the Bookwanderers (Pages & Co., #1)]]> 32946432
Eleven year-old Tilly has lived above her grandparents' bookshop ever since her mother disappeared shortly after she was born. Like the rest of her family, Tilly loves nothing more than to escape into the pages of her favourite stories.

One day Tilly realises that classic children's characters are appearing in the shop through the magic of `book wandering' - crossing over from the page into real life.

With the help of Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland. Tilly is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago, so she bravely steps into the unknown, unsure of what adventure lies ahead and what dangers she may face.]]> 400 Anna James 0008229864 myrrh 0 to-read 4.14 2018 Tilly and the Bookwanderers (Pages & Co., #1)
author: Anna James
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Kafe Ajaib Yang Memasak Impian]]> 49359253 190 Suyoung Kim 6020629961 myrrh 0 to-read 4.37 Kafe Ajaib Yang Memasak Impian
author: Suyoung Kim
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Ice Palace 36200536 139 Tarjei Vesaas 0241321212 myrrh 0 to-read 3.77 1963 The Ice Palace
author: Tarjei Vesaas
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Dead Poets Society 67238 166 N.H. Kleinbaum 0553282980 myrrh 0 impending-tbr 4.19 1988 Dead Poets Society
author: N.H. Kleinbaum
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: impending-tbr
review:

]]> Serious Concerns 936208 96 Wendy Cope 0571167055 myrrh 0 impending-tbr 3.85 1992 Serious Concerns
author: Wendy Cope
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: impending-tbr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery]]> 56179372 Set in Colonial New England, Slewfoot is a tale of magic and mystery, of triumph and terror as only dark fantasist Brom can tell it.

A spirited young Englishwoman, Abitha, arrives at a Puritan colony betrothed to a stranger – only to become quickly widowed when her husband dies under mysterious circumstances. All alone in this pious and patriarchal society, Abitha fights for what little freedom she can grasp onto, while trying to stay true to herself and her past.

Enter Slewfoot, a powerful spirit of antiquity newly woken ... and trying to find his own role in the world. Healer or destroyer? Protector or predator? But as the shadows walk and villagers start dying, a new rumor is whispered: Witch.

Both Abitha and Slewfoot must swiftly decide who they are, and what they must do to survive in a world intent on hanging any who meddle in the dark arts.

Complete with 8 pages of Brom’s mesmerizing full-color artwork and chapter illustrations throughout, his latest book is sure to delight.]]> 305 Brom 125062200X myrrh 0 impending-tbr 4.19 2021 Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery
author: Brom
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: impending-tbr
review:

]]> Kitchen 36053646 
This is a previously-published edition of ISBN 9780571342723.

Kitchen juxtaposes two tales about mothers, transsexuality, bereavement, kitchens, love and tragedy in contemporary Japan. It is a startlingly original first work by Japan's brightest young literary star and is now a cult film.

When Kitchen was first published in Japan in 1987 it won two of Japan's most prestigious literary prizes, climbed its way to the top of the bestseller lists, then remained there for over a year and sold millions of copies. Banana Yoshimoto was hailed as a young writer of great talent and great passion whose work has quickly earned a place among the best of modern literature, and has been described as 'the voice of young Japan' by the Independent on Sunday.]]> 160 Banana Yoshimoto myrrh 0 to-read 3.90 1988 Kitchen
author: Banana Yoshimoto
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Prophet Song 158875813
Ireland is falling apart, caught in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny. As the life she knows and the ones she loves disappear before her eyes, Eilish must contend with the dystopian logic of her new, unraveling country. How far will she go to save her family? And what—or who—is she willing to leave behind?

The winner of the Booker Prize 2023 and a critically acclaimed national bestseller, Prophet Song presents a terrifying and shocking vision of a country sliding into authoritarianism and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together.]]> 259 Paul Lynch myrrh 0 to-read 4.00 2023 Prophet Song
author: Paul Lynch
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Lapar 18493141
Tokoh “Aku” adalah seorang penulis dalam Lapar, yang menggambarkan bagaimana seseorang bertekad mempertahankan nilai hidup yang diyakininya, meskipun ditempa oleh pahit getirnya kehidupan yang dialaminya. Semangatnya yang tinggi untuk tetap menulis, mengingatkan kita pada “Aku” Chairil Anwar, yang menyepak, menerjang membawa luka, dan bisa berlari, serta mau hidup seribu tahun lagi.

Membaca karya Knut Hamsun, Lapar, akan terkesan dengan gairah semangat hidupnya yang luar biasa, dan pembaca akan menyadari mengapa Hamsun memenangkan Hadiah Nobel Kesusastraan.]]> 284 Knut Hamsun 9794618500 myrrh 0 to-read 4.07 1890 Lapar
author: Knut Hamsun
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1890
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Candelaria 123650295
None of this concerns you of course, until a cataclysmic earthquake hits Boston. Now you must traverse the crumbling city to reach the Watertown Mall Old Country Buffet—for a reason you still cannot disclose—battling strange entities and your own strange past to save your granddaughters and possibly the world.

Author of Dreaming of You Melissa Lozada-Oliva delivers an unsettling, raucous debut novel written with tongue-in-cheek humor and sharp cultural criticism that unearths one troubled family’s legacy, feasting on diasporic identity politics and examining the limits of bodily autonomy and the dangers of wanting to belong at any cost.

A sweeping, mystical novel following three generations of women as they grapple with muddled pasts and predetermined futures, Candelaria is a story of love that eats us alive.]]> 304 Melissa Lozada-Oliva 1662601816 myrrh 0 to-read 3.81 2023 Candelaria
author: Melissa Lozada-Oliva
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Over the Ocean 26031169 36 Taro Gomi 1452145156 myrrh 4 2023, illustration-books 3.44 1979 Over the Ocean
author: Taro Gomi
name: myrrh
average rating: 3.44
book published: 1979
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/31
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves: 2023, illustration-books
review:

]]> The Odd Woman and the City 25515720 The Odd Woman and the City explores the rhythms, chance encounters, and ever-changing friendships of urban life that forge the sensibility of a fiercely independent woman who has lived out her conflicts, not her fantasies, in a city (New York) that has done the same. Running steadily through the book is Vivian Gornick's exchange of more than twenty years with Leonard, a gay man who is sophisticated about his own unhappiness, whose friendship has "shed more light on the mysterious nature of ordinary human relations than has any other intimacy" she has known. The exchange between Gornick and Leonard acts as a Greek chorus to the main action of the narrator's continual engagement on the street with grocers, derelicts, and doormen; people on the bus, cross-dressers on the corner, and acquaintances by the handful. In Leonard she sees herself reflected plain; out on the street she makes sense of what she sees.

Written as a narrative collage that includes meditative pieces on the making of a modern feminist, the role of the flaneur in urban literature, and the evolution of friendship over the past two centuries, The Odd Woman and the City beautifully bookends Gornick's acclaimed Fierce Attachments, in which we first encountered her rich relationship with the ultimate metropolis.]]> 194 Vivian Gornick myrrh 4 2023, memoir 4.00 2015 The Odd Woman and the City
author: Vivian Gornick
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/31
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves: 2023, memoir
review:

]]> Demon Copperhead 60194162
Vinnare av Women's Prize for Fiction 2023

Vinnare av James Tait Black Prize 2023

Demon Copperhead kommer till världen på ett badrumsgolv i en husvagn. Hans artonåriga mamma ligger utslagen av droger och är knappt vid medvetande. Så börjar Demon sitt liv, redan på förhand dömd till en tillvaro kantad av fosterhemsplaceringar, utsatthet och missbruk.

I Lee County, Virginia, i Appalachernas sydliga delar växer Demon upp. Här är fattigdomen lika självklar som luften man andas och här marknadsför läkemedelsindustrin skoningslöst sina opioider mot de redan utsatta. Missbruket växer till en epidemi som slår hårt mot hela samhället.

Utan några andra tillgångar än sitt kopparfärgade hår, sin krassa humor och sin starka överlevnadsinstinkt, tar sig Demon Copperhead igenom barndomen och ungdomsåren. Han bärs av drömmen som hållit honom uppe ända sedan han var liten: att en dag få se havet. Frågan är vad som krävs för att den ska bli sann.

Demon Copperhead är en storslagen och drabbande roman om kärlek, förlust och allt däremellan. Den är också en skoningslös blick på det samhälle som än i dag tillåter de allra svagaste att gå under.]]> 560 Barbara Kingsolver myrrh 0 to-read 4.44 2022 Demon Copperhead
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2022
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]]> Clytemnestra 61361681 For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, a stunning debut following Clytemnestra, the most notorious villainess of the ancient world and the events that forged her into the legendary queen.

As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best...

You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant. You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. Because this was not the first offence against you. This was not the life you ever deserved. And this will not be your undoing. Slowly, you plot.

But when your husband returns in triumph, you become a woman with a choice.

Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both. So, you bide your time and force the gods' hands in the game of retribution. For you understood something long ago that the others never did.

If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself.

A blazing novel set in the world of Ancient Greece for fans of Jennifer Saint and Natalie Haynes, this is a thrilling tale of power and prophecies, of hatred, love, and of an unforgettable Queen who fiercely dealt out death to those who wronged her.]]> 435 Costanza Casati 1728268230 myrrh 0 to-read 4.21 2023 Clytemnestra
author: Costanza Casati
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
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]]> Weyward 60654349
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.]]> 329 Emilia Hart 125028080X myrrh 0 to-read 4.02 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: myrrh
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
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date added: 2023/12/27
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