Koncocoo

Best Whispersync for Voice

Beneath a Scarlet Sky: A Novel
Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share. “Sprawling, stirring, like the richest of stories, and played out on a canvas of heroism and tragedy, Beneath a Scarlet Sky is like one of those iconic World War II black and white photos: a face of hope and tears, the story of a small life that ended up mattering in a big way.” —Andrew Gross, New York Times bestselling author of The One Man. “Action, adventure, love, war, and an epic hero—all set against the backdrop of one of history's darkest moments—Mark Sullivan's Beneath a Scarlet Sky has everything one can ask for in an exceptional World War II novel.” —Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of Playing with Fire. Mark has received numerous awards for his writing, including the WHSmith Fresh Talent Award, and his works have been named a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year.
Reviews
"It is a gripping story of resilience, the indomitable spirit of a young man that knew no boundaries and courage that sustained him during dark hours. The action intensified throughout the remainder of the book, and one is allowed a rare glimpse into the mind of Il Duce - Benito Mussolini - plus the inner workings of the German High Command. Pino Lello witnesses atrocities he wishes he could forget but keeps soldiering on...wisely... Just a gripping and harrowing Kindle First selection which I feel is the best one I have read."
"He takes us deep inside the love story of his discovery, the unknown hero, Pino Lella, and he crafts an epic tale set against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Milan and the Italian Alps during World War II that is as intimate and tragic as it is thought-provoking and triumphant."
"I cannot add more to the excellent reviews previously posted other than to say I read this book in one sitting not being able to put it down until 4:00 AM!"
"An amazing epic story of Pino Lella, a true war hero whose story was forgotten and marginalized by history."
"thankdfully, the novel does not leave us in despair and misery, but through the main character Pino Lella, we witness the good still left in people and the human ability to survive and thrive out of the worst conditions."
"Amazing book with a plot line made only better because it is based on a true story during events that changed the world."
"This is compelling story that is beautifully written."
"There was so much substance to the character, that his life became very dear to me: his adventures, his loves, his losses made me grateful for the box of tissue close by!"
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Milk and Honey
The book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. (USA Today). “Rupi Kaur has vision beyond her years … Her work is simply but powerfully expressed, and viscerally captures both universal human experience and the particular struggles of a young woman today." Rupi Kaur's first book, Milk and Honey is the poetry collection every woman needs on her nightstand or coffee table. Rupi Kaur’s writing echoes of artistry and wisdom which is seen in the work of those that have been writing for years. rupi kaur is a bestselling author and illustrator of two collections of poetry. while studying at the university of waterloo rupi self-published her first collection milk and honey in 2014. milk and honey became an international phenomenon that's been translated into over 30 languages and sold over 2.5 million copies. through her poetry rupi explores a variety of themes ranging from love.
Reviews
"With that been said i do think this book leaves a lot to want if meaning and depth are what you are looking for in poetry."
"I purchased one for myself and one as a gift after reading a couple poems in a friend's copy."
"You see her quotes everywhere on social media but actually reading her book from start to finish is a different experience all together."
"I found Rupi Kaur (after hearing her name drifting about) when I saw a breathtaking piece by her (starting with "let me tell you about a selfish person..."). I love poetry. I love traditional poetry, struxtured poetry, unstructured poetry, modern poetry, stand up poetry, you name it. My shelves are lined with just as much edgy, modern, is-this-even-poetry books from up-and-coming poets as they are lined with TS Elliot and Tennyson."
"I would've maybe given it two stars if I checked it out at the local library for free, but I'm annoyed I invested my hard earned American dollars into this book. I seriously don't understand if everyone is just reading into the completely non-thought provoking "poems" in this book and making up their own deep meaning or if I'm just totally missing the boat on this one. If you told me my 9-year-old nephew and 6-month-old niece collabed on this book, with him covering the poetry while she handled the artwork, I would fully believe you. If you're a 10th grader who just got dumped by Jimmy from home room and you wanna post a snapchat of one of these heart wrenching break up poems to express how angsty you are, you'll love it."
"I have been seeing this at all of the bookstores and decided to give it a read based on the brilliant cover design and book description. It has been a while since I have read a book of poetry, but I have to say I don't feel like I just read one."
"I had so much hope for this book since it had become so popular so I was of course eager to read it."
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 1)
As Greg says in his diary, “Just don’t expect me to be all ‘Dear Diary’ this and ‘Dear Diary’ that.” Luckily for us, what Greg Heffley says he won’t do and what he actually does are two very different things. Since its launch in May 2004 on Funbrain.com, the Web version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been viewed by 20 million unique online readers. Amazon Exclusive: A Q&A with Jeff Kinney Question: Given all the jobs that you have--game designer, fatherhood, Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie work, etc.,--do you have a certain time that you set aside to write? Kinney: I never any real desire to appear in the Wimpy Kid films, but one day my wife encouraged me to be an extra in one of the crowd scenes. I eventually reached a voicemail of a reporter who said they worked for Time , and at that point I thought it was just a well-planned practical joke. Q: Would you ever consider making Wimpy Kid into a newspaper comic strip or creating another one? Kinney's popular Web comic, which began in 2004, makes its way to print as a laugh-out-loud "novel in cartoons," adapted from the series. Middle school student Greg Heffley takes readers through an academic year's worth of drama. Greg's mother forces him to keep a diary ("I know what it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I specifically told her to get one that didn't say 'diary' on it"), and in it he loosely recounts each day's events, interspersed with his comic illustrations. Greg's journal entry reads, "I do feel a little bad, because it looked like it was gonna take a long time to clean up. Kinney ably skewers familiar aspects of junior high life, from dealing with the mysteries of what makes someone popular to the trauma of a "wrestling unit" in gym class.
Reviews
"granddaughter loved this book."
"Great book for the students."
"With this book there's not a lot of actual "reading," but he had his nose in a book for awhile!"
"It is very funny how the cheese touch became something to scare you about in Greg's middle school."
"Another addition to my collection."
"I bought these for my 9 year old granddaughter and she loves them!"
"This book seemed too young for me but my little nephews loved it."
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Best Add Narration for $3.99 or Less

Everything We Keep: A Novel (The Everything Series Book 1)
A luminous debut with unexpected twists, Everything We Keep explores the devastation of loss, the euphoria of finding love again, and the pulse-racing repercussions of discovering the truth about the ones we hold dear and the lengths they will go to protect us. “You’ll need an ample supply of tissues and emotional strength for this one...From Northern California author Kerry Lonsdale comes a heart-wrenching story about fate sweeping away life in an instant.” — Sunset Magazine. Depicting grief and loss, but also healing and hope in their rawest forms, this novel will capture hearts and minds, keeping readers up all night, desperate to learn the truth.” — RT Book Reviews. “Heartfelt and suspenseful, Everything We Keep beautifully navigates the deep waters of grief, and one woman’s search to reconcile a past she can’t release, and a future she wants to embrace. With a good dose of drama, a heart-wrenching love story, and the suspense of unanswered questions, Lonsdale’s layered and engrossing debut is a captivating read.” —Karma Brown, bestselling author of Come Away With Me. She graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is a founder of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, an online community of authors located across the globe.
Reviews
"This results in an usually fast-paced story (at least for women's fiction) of a woman struggling to overcome the grief of losing her childhood sweetheart - who was meant to be her husband - and figure out who she is in the wake of such terrible tragedy. Speaking of characters, Kerry's cast is incredibly well-developed and they feel like real people with virtues, weaknesses and plausible back story. I also want to say something about the epilogue because so many people have cited it as a reason for giving the book a low rating."
"This review is written by Bob Boze on behalf of Truth About Books. I’m always pleased to give a good review: Especially when it comes on the heels of two, not so good, reviews. So, two years after his purported death, Ian joins her, as she travels to Mexico to find her fiancée, who she is now certain is not dead. As she and Ian search for James, and the truth; secrets from their past and James’ family surface, along with her feelings for Ian and realization of what her life with James was really like. Everything We Keep not only has a unique plot, it is full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing, especially toward the end as she and Ian seek the truth in Mexico."
"I give it 4 stars out of 5 because the women are potty-mouths and the number of f-bombs increased as the story moved forward."
"It can't possibly be because everyone loves cliched writing (tell me again about her Caribbean-blue eyes), super boring lead characters who make really weird life choices, or terrible plot resolutions that make zero sense. What I want to focus on, though, is the fact that Aimee is RAPED by her boyfriends cousin/brother, and then said boyfriend is baskcally like "here, let me fix your makeup because you have to forget how he just raped you in order to help me set things straight with my family business.""
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Best Arts & Photography

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love. Born a Crime is not just an unnerving account of growing up in South Africa under apartheid, but a love letter to the author’s remarkable mother.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times. “[An] unforgettable memoir.” — Parade “What makes Born a Crime such a soul-nourishing pleasure, even with all its darker edges and perilous turns, is reading Noah recount in brisk, warmly conversational prose how he learned to negotiate his way through the bullying and ostracism. In the end, Born a Crime is not just an unnerving account of growing up in South Africa under apartheid, but a love letter to the author’s remarkable mother.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “[An] unforgettable memoir.” — Parade. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a comic’s origin story better than the one Trevor Noah serves up in Born a Crime . [He] developed his aptitude for witty truth telling [and]…every hardscrabble memory of helping his mother scrape together money for food, gas, school fees, and rent, or barely surviving the temper of his stepfather, Abel, reveals the anxious wellsprings of the comedian’s ambition and success. If there is harvest in spite of blight, the saying goes, one does not credit the blight-but Noah does manage to wring brilliant comedy from it.” — O: The OprahMagazine “What makes Born a Crime such a soul-nourishing pleasure, even with all its darker edges and perilous turns, is reading Noah recount in brisk, warmly conversational prose how he learned to negotiate his way through the bullying and ostracism. “This isn't your average comic-writes-a-memoir: It’s a unique look at a man who is a product of his culture—and a nuanced look at a part of the world whose people have known dark times easily pushed aside.” —Refinery29. told through stories and vignettes that are sharply observed, deftly conveyed and consistently candid. Growing organically from them is an affecting investigation of identity, ethnicity, language, masculinity, nationality and, most of all, humanity—all issues that the election of Donald Trump in the United States shows are foremost in minds and hearts everywhere. What the reader gleans are the insights that made Noah the thoughtful, observant, empathic man who wrote Born a Crime . Here is a level-headed man, forged by remarkable and shocking life incidents, who is quietly determined and who knows where home and the heart lie. “A gifted storyteller, able to deftly lace his poignant tales with amusing irony.” — Entertainment Weekly. Among the many virtues of Born a Crime is a frank and telling portrait of life in South Africa during the 1980s and ’90s. Born a Crime offers Americans a second introduction to Trevor Noah, and he makes a real impression.” — Newsday. Noah is quick with a disarming joke, and he skillfully integrates the parallel narratives via interstitial asides between chapters. Perhaps the most harrowing tales are those of his abusive stepfather, which form the book’s final act (and which Noah cleverly foreshadows throughout earlier chapters), but equally prominent are the laugh-out-loud yarns about going to the prom, and the differences between ‘White Church’ and ‘Black Church.’” — Publishers Weekly (starred review). Incisive, funny, and vivid, these true tales are anchored to his portrait of his courageous, rebellious, and religious mother who defied racially restrictive laws to secure an education and a career for herself—and to have a child with a white Swiss/German even though sex between whites and blacks was illegal. and his candid and compassionate essays deepen our perception of the complexities of race, gender, and class.” — Booklist (starred review). Trevor Noah is the most successful comedian in Africa and is the host of the Emmy and Peabody Award–winning The Daily Show on Comedy Central.
Reviews
"Trevor Noah is a superb storyteller, and this memoir is his eloquent and touching account of growing up as the mixed race child of a single mother, living in poverty in deeply racist and sexist South Africa. Reminiscent of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, it is a superbly written story of a perceptive and resilient child thriving in very difficult circumstances, and it beautifully captures these circumstances seen through the eyes of a child."
"I have to love a guy who finds comedy in tragedy and who gleefully spins yarns about experiences that would keep most of us in therapy for a lifetime. The heroine of the book is Noah's mother, a feisty lady with a solid rock faith, a gal who snubs her nose at things that don't make sense. He learned to navigate Apartheid society's complex system that divided people in to three groups: black, white, and colored. Noah was 'colored' with a 'black' Xhosa African mother and a 'white' Swiss father, his very existence implicating his parent's crime. He spoke multiple languages, Xhosa and Zulu and Afrikaans, and English, could fit into most groups, but felt affiliated to black culture."
"As a long time viewer of the Daily Show, I started watching as Trevor took over from Jon Stewart and while I've always thought he does a good job, I had no idea the depth of character and experiences that were below the surface of those cute dimples! He is a wonderful story teller, finding the right balance between relaying his experiences, weaving in the social atmosphere around it and doing it in such a way that even as an American reader, I was able to visualize the communities he was describing in rich detail."
"She reminds me so much of my own dear Mama, who was strong, beautiful, soulful, and with a love of life and family that is infinite."
"What an great book."
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Best Biographies & Memoirs

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. ''[A] compassionate, discerning sociological analysis...Combining thoughtful inquiry with firsthand experience, Mr. Vance has inadvertently provided a civilized reference guide for an uncivilized election, and he's done so in a vocabulary intelligible to both Democrats and Republicans. ( Jennifer Senior, New York Times ). ''[ Hillbilly Elegy ] is a beautiful memoir but it is equally a work of cultural criticism about white working-class America....[Vance] offers a compelling explanation for why it's so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to make it...a riveting book.''. ''[An] understated, engaging debut...An unusually timely and deeply affecting view of a social class whose health and economic problems are making headlines in this election year.''. ''Vance compellingly describes the terrible toll that alcoholism, drug abuse, and an unrelenting code of honor took on his family, neither excusing the behavior nor condemning it...The portrait that emerges is a complex one...Unerringly forthright, remarkably insightful, and refreshingly focused, Hillbilly Elegy is the cry of a community in crisis.''. ''A beautifully and powerfully written memoir about the author's journey from a troubled, addiction-torn Appalachian family to Yale Law School, Hillbilly Elegy is shocking, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and hysterically funny. It's also a profoundly important book, one that opens a window on a part of America usually hidden from view and offers genuine hope in the form of hard-hitting honesty. From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class through the author’s own story of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for over forty years, has been reported with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J.D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually one of their grandchildren would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of success in achieving generational upward mobility. But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that J.D.’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, never fully escaping the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. A deeply moving memoir, with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels.
Reviews
"Drugs, crime, jail time, abusive interactions without any knowledge of other forms of interaction, children growing up in a wild mix of stoned mother care, foster care, and care by temporary "boyfriends," and in general, an image of life on the edge of survival where even the heroes are distinctly flawed for lack of knowledge and experience of any other way of living. Second, the author's growing realization, fully present by the end of the work, that while individuals do not have total control over the shapes of their lives, their choices do in fact matter—that even if one can't direct one's life like a film, one does always have the at least the input into life that comes from being free to make choices, every day, and in every situation. I hate to fall into self-analysis and virtue-signaling behavior in a public review, but in this case I feel compelled to say that the author really did leave with me a renewed motivation to make more of my life every day, to respect and consider the choices that confront me much more carefully, and to seize moments of opportunity with aplomb when they present themselves."
"I never heard of the author until I saw him on Morning Joe a few days ago but I looked him up and read several articles he wrote for various publications so I bought his book. He suggests that tribalism, mistrust of outsiders and "elites," violence and irresponsibility among family members, parents without ethics and a sense of responsibility, terrible work ethics, and an us-against-them mentality is dooming the people who live that way to becoming poorer, more addicted, and more marginalized."
"I grew up without running water in Boone County, WV, and wound up with a degree from Harvard Law School."
"I escaped inner city Baltimore (see The Wire) due to luck, the ability to do well in school and a few good teachers.Instead of trying to describe my early life to my family and friends, I will give them this book."
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Best Children's eBooks

Wonder
Over 6 million people have read the #1 New York Times bestseller WONDER and have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. "Wonder is the best kids' book of the year," said Emily Bazelon, senior editor at Slate.com and author of Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy . Homeschooled all his life, August heads to public school for fifth grade and he is not the only one changed by the experience--something we learn about first-hand through the narratives of those who orbit his world. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” From The Little Prince and R.J. Palacio’s remarkable novel, Wonder .-- Seira Wilson August, nicknamed Auggie, is a 10-year-old with a facial deformity that causes others to avoid and even shun him.
Reviews
"I'm a 54 year old grandfather who served in the Marine Corps (just for a little context). Palacio...I can't believe how she so accurately and consistently pegs human nature."
"The most emotional moment for me came toward the end of the book when Auggie's father tells him that he loves the way Auggie looks, because that it exactly how my husband and I feel about our son."
"Author R.J. Palacio writes the book in multiple voices -- Auggie's, some of his friends', his sister's -- and the different points of view are mostly very well-realized and show the inner feelings of the different characters."
"I would recommend all young children to read this book and I would certainly recommend adults to read it because it will certainly change that "judgement of others" into "an acceptance of others.""
"Friends said to read the book before seeing the movie."
"I have told everyone I know that this is a must read."
"The story was heartwarming and showed positive ways to deal with disabilities."
"I could think of a lot more substance for a book to show this story."
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Best Computers & Technology

Steve Jobs
Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. Amazon Best Books of the Month, November 2011 : It is difficult to read the opening pages of Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs without feeling melancholic. Now, just weeks after his death, you can open the book that bears his name and read about his youth, his promise, and his relentless press to succeed. Few in history have transformed their time like Steve Jobs, and one could argue that he stands with the Fords, Edisons, and Gutenbergs of the world. This is a timely and complete portrait that pulls no punches and gives insight into a man whose contradictions were in many ways his greatest strength. Isaacson: Andy Hertzfeld, who worked with Steve on the original Macintosh team, said that even if you were aware of his Reality Distortion Field, you still got caught up in it. Fortunately, as people read the whole book, they saw the theme of the narrative: He could be petulant and rough, but this was driven by his passion and pursuit of perfection. Isaacson: He was a genius at connecting art to technology, of making leaps based on intuition and imagination. “A frank, smart and wholly unsentimental biography…a remarkably sharp, hi-res portrait… Steve Jobs is more than a good book; it’s an urgently necessary one.” — Time. “If you haven’t read the bestselling, superb biography and inspiring business book, Steve Jobs , by Walter Isaacson, do so. “For the generation that's grown up in a world where computers are the norm, smartphones feel like fifth limbs and music comes from the Internet rather than record and CD stores, Steve Jobs is must-read history…The intimate chapters, where Jobs' personal side shines through, with all his faults and craziness, leave a deep impression. It is on the one hand a history of the most exciting time in the age of computers, when the machines first became personal and later, fashionable accessories. And it is a gadget lover’s dream, with fabulous, inside accounts of how the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad came into being. What makes the book come alive, though, is Isaacson’s ability to shape the story as a kind of archetypal fantasy: the flawed hero, the noble quest, the holy grail, the death of the king.”— Booklist. “A nuanced, balanced portrait that is sure to become mandatory reading for anyone with an interest in big business and popular culture…Isaacson is to be commended for explaining the genius of Jobs in fascinating fashion, launching a discussion that could reach infinity and beyond.”— Christian Science Monitor. “Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs comes as a breath of fresh air…a reliable and captivating guide to a man who reshaped the computing industry and more.” — CNET.com. “It's a testament to Isaacson's skill as a biographer that readers can at last obtain the picture of Steve Jobs as a human being rather than a legend…anyone who's ever wondered how so very much about the technology landscape has changed so fundamentally in just 35 years, owes it to themselves to read this book.”— TUAW.com. “Isaacson's biography lives up to the hype, showing readers the private turbulence that spurred Jobs to public greatness”— ShelfAwareness.com (- ).
Reviews
"Always knew that Jobs was an ego-maniac, but never realized the extent to which he disrespected certain industry peers, company employees and large numbers of people he crossed paths with."
"I would have to say in preface I feel the reader needs to have had some history with the Apple products as the book, while describing the personality of Steve Jobs, also goes into a chronological explanation of the development of both the hardware and software."
"Steve Jobs has given to the tech industry what no other individual could ever, or has ever, give it."
"I read the book on my Kindle and wished it was on my iPad. I now appreciate Jobs for that."
"if you saw the truly awful movie that purports to be based on this book, you must read the book."
"He had poor leadership qualities and he was smart enough to have learned how to improve himself without sacrificing his work."
"Walter Isaacson did not interview the one living person, adopted sister Patty Jobs, who could enlighten him more about interactions in the Jobs household that helped form Steve Jobs. Research shows that she is still living and works at De Anza College in the payroll department, a position similar to that of her late mother."
"I actually almost wish it was longer, but at the same time can see how that might lower the quality and make it too long for a lot of people. I have a huge interest in Steve Jobs and Apple and have been a long time fan of Sorkin so I had high expectations and I was not let down."
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Best Education & Reference

Wonder
Over 6 million people have read the #1 New York Times bestseller WONDER and have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. "Wonder is the best kids' book of the year," said Emily Bazelon, senior editor at Slate.com and author of Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy . Homeschooled all his life, August heads to public school for fifth grade and he is not the only one changed by the experience--something we learn about first-hand through the narratives of those who orbit his world. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” From The Little Prince and R.J. Palacio’s remarkable novel, Wonder .-- Seira Wilson August, nicknamed Auggie, is a 10-year-old with a facial deformity that causes others to avoid and even shun him.
Reviews
"I'm a 54 year old grandfather who served in the Marine Corps (just for a little context). Palacio...I can't believe how she so accurately and consistently pegs human nature."
"The most emotional moment for me came toward the end of the book when Auggie's father tells him that he loves the way Auggie looks, because that it exactly how my husband and I feel about our son."
"Author R.J. Palacio writes the book in multiple voices -- Auggie's, some of his friends', his sister's -- and the different points of view are mostly very well-realized and show the inner feelings of the different characters."
"I would also highly recommending reading (or listening to the audiobook) of the "Julian Chapters" as his perspective was the only thing I wish it included, and this additional reading material made an amazing story even better."
"I believe people who are beautiful on the inside, people will eventually see only the beauty; people who are ugly on the inside, that is what people will ultimately see."
"I had not planned to purchase this, as I was reading the book aloud to my 4th graders."
"I have never met or seen anyone with this issue."
"This was such a great, well written book full of well defined and diverse characters."
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Best Gay & Lesbian

Call Me by Your Name: A Novel
An Instant Classic and One of the Great Love Stories of Our Time. Elio—17, extremely well-read, sensitive and the son of a prominent expatriate professor—finds himself troublingly attracted to this year's visiting resident scholar, recruited by his father from an American university. Their shared literary interests and Jewishness help impart a sense of intimacy, and when they do consummate their passion in Oliver's room, they call each other by the other's name. What begins as a casual friendship develops into a passionate yet clandestine affair, and the last chapters fast-forward through Elio's life to a reunion with Oliver decades later.
Reviews
"Set in 1988 and on the Italian Riviera, which adds to the charm and appeal of the novel, Call Me By Your Name is narrated by and tells the story of a seventeen-year-old American-Italian-Jewish youth, Elio Perlman, and his six-week, summer love affair with Oliver Ulliva, a university professor who is seven years older than Elio and who has been selected to live in Elio’s parents’ home as a guest “resident” while finishing a manuscript for publication as part of the parents’ way of aiding budding writers. Much of the first half of Call Me By Your Name has a “stream of consciousness” feeling to it as Elio, a very precocious and intelligent but shy young man, defies his better intuitions and finds himself more and more attracted to Oliver. By time both Elio and the reader are aware of Oliver’s true feelings toward the younger man, a new sense of urgency, an even greater feeling of sensuality and eroticism, and a more intense atmosphere of anxiety and impending doom enters the story—all of it exquisitely captured by Aciman’s exquisitely accomplished writing."
"An Achingly Beautiful Prose of Art. Winner of the 20th Lambda Literary Award. Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman. Is an Ethereal Masterpiece; A Mythical Gem of Queerdom. The Novel exudes the Transformative Power of Words, Language, and Imagery. with Disarming Clarity & Volatile Poignancy. The After Effects of this book is perfectly encapsulated. By the Immortal Words of Elio to Oliver. "All That Remains is Dreammaking and Strange Remembrance" pg199. The Audiobook narration by Armie Hammer is Eargasm Heaven!!"
"You felt like you were 17 again and feeling all those emotions of someone being the most important thing in the world to you."
"Looking forward to the movie."
"A bit slow at parts."
"I wanted to read the book before watching the movie, but somehow it never happened."
"Such a sweet and rewarding story about true love and friendship."
"Easy read!"
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Best History

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas. Tackling evolutionary concepts from a historian’s perspective, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind , describes human development through a framework of three not-necessarily-orthodox “Revolutions”: the Cognitive, the Agricultural, and the Scientific. His ideas are interesting and often amusing: Why have humans managed to build astonishingly large populations when other primate groups top out at 150 individuals? Because our talent for gossip allows us to build networks in societies too large for personal relationships between everyone, and our universally accepted “imagined realities”--such as money, religion, and Limited Liability Corporations—keep us in line. Though the concepts are unusual and sometimes heavy (as is the book, literally) Harari’s deft prose and wry, subversive humor make quick work of material prone to academic tedium. He’s written a book of popular nonfiction (it was a bestseller overseas, no doubt in part because his conclusions draw controversy) landing somewhere in the middle of a Venn diagram of genetics, sociology, and history. An engrossing read.” (Dan Ariely, New York Times Bestselling author of Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality , and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty ). “Yuval Noah Harari’s celebrated Sapiens does for human evolution what Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time did for physics.… He does a superb job of outlining our slow emergence and eventual domination of the planet.” ( Forbes ). “Writing with wit and verve, Harari…attempts to explain how Homo sapiens came to be the dominant species on Earth as well as the sole representative of the human genus.… Provocative and entertaining.” ( Publishers Weekly ). “In this sweeping look at the history of humans, Harari offers readers the chance to reconsider, well, everything, from a look at why Homo sapiens endured to a compelling discussion of how society organizes itself through fictions.” ( Booklist Best Books of the Year).
Reviews
"Parts of it were downright fascinating such as "imagination" being a keystone to human activity, e.g. corporations, money, and religion. Finally he keeps touching on the fact that animals have paid a terrible price for the rise of sapiens. Incidentally our family has a farm background and I eat no chicken, turkey, pork, or beef. Now I didn't give the book five stars because he makes positive references to the misguided but widely read Jared Diamond. Let me emphasize that on this snowy March day the cat and I are both glad we don't need to go out and scavenge something off the frozen earth."
"A standard history of the human race begins with Paleolithic proto-humans, traces the development of modern man or homo sapiens sapiens, then chronicles the beginnings and expansions of human civilization from agriculture to the present. He asks how "An Animal of No Significance" managed to become the dominant life form, and whether that animal's learning to produce his own food and then to further harness the natural world to his will through science were boons or setbacks, both for that animal and for the rest of the biosphere."
"The very meaningful moment to look back my ancestors life style as well as my life style through this book is my most appreciation to the author, therefore."
"An amazing book which gives great insight into the history of human beings for our entire 200,000 years of existence from a 30,000 feet level."
"A fascinating read that clarified many ideas I had on how our species has come to dominate and systematically destroy much of this wonderful planet."
"Every chapter had mind-bending insights into our history."
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Best Humor & Entertainment

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love. Born a Crime is not just an unnerving account of growing up in South Africa under apartheid, but a love letter to the author’s remarkable mother.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times. “[An] unforgettable memoir.” — Parade “What makes Born a Crime such a soul-nourishing pleasure, even with all its darker edges and perilous turns, is reading Noah recount in brisk, warmly conversational prose how he learned to negotiate his way through the bullying and ostracism. In the end, Born a Crime is not just an unnerving account of growing up in South Africa under apartheid, but a love letter to the author’s remarkable mother.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “[An] unforgettable memoir.” — Parade. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a comic’s origin story better than the one Trevor Noah serves up in Born a Crime . [He] developed his aptitude for witty truth telling [and]…every hardscrabble memory of helping his mother scrape together money for food, gas, school fees, and rent, or barely surviving the temper of his stepfather, Abel, reveals the anxious wellsprings of the comedian’s ambition and success. If there is harvest in spite of blight, the saying goes, one does not credit the blight-but Noah does manage to wring brilliant comedy from it.” — O: The OprahMagazine “What makes Born a Crime such a soul-nourishing pleasure, even with all its darker edges and perilous turns, is reading Noah recount in brisk, warmly conversational prose how he learned to negotiate his way through the bullying and ostracism. “This isn't your average comic-writes-a-memoir: It’s a unique look at a man who is a product of his culture—and a nuanced look at a part of the world whose people have known dark times easily pushed aside.” —Refinery29. told through stories and vignettes that are sharply observed, deftly conveyed and consistently candid. Growing organically from them is an affecting investigation of identity, ethnicity, language, masculinity, nationality and, most of all, humanity—all issues that the election of Donald Trump in the United States shows are foremost in minds and hearts everywhere. What the reader gleans are the insights that made Noah the thoughtful, observant, empathic man who wrote Born a Crime . Here is a level-headed man, forged by remarkable and shocking life incidents, who is quietly determined and who knows where home and the heart lie. “A gifted storyteller, able to deftly lace his poignant tales with amusing irony.” — Entertainment Weekly. Among the many virtues of Born a Crime is a frank and telling portrait of life in South Africa during the 1980s and ’90s. Born a Crime offers Americans a second introduction to Trevor Noah, and he makes a real impression.” — Newsday. Noah is quick with a disarming joke, and he skillfully integrates the parallel narratives via interstitial asides between chapters. Perhaps the most harrowing tales are those of his abusive stepfather, which form the book’s final act (and which Noah cleverly foreshadows throughout earlier chapters), but equally prominent are the laugh-out-loud yarns about going to the prom, and the differences between ‘White Church’ and ‘Black Church.’” — Publishers Weekly (starred review). Incisive, funny, and vivid, these true tales are anchored to his portrait of his courageous, rebellious, and religious mother who defied racially restrictive laws to secure an education and a career for herself—and to have a child with a white Swiss/German even though sex between whites and blacks was illegal. and his candid and compassionate essays deepen our perception of the complexities of race, gender, and class.” — Booklist (starred review). Trevor Noah is the most successful comedian in Africa and is the host of the Emmy and Peabody Award–winning The Daily Show on Comedy Central.
Reviews
"Trevor Noah is a superb storyteller, and this memoir is his eloquent and touching account of growing up as the mixed race child of a single mother, living in poverty in deeply racist and sexist South Africa. Reminiscent of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, it is a superbly written story of a perceptive and resilient child thriving in very difficult circumstances, and it beautifully captures these circumstances seen through the eyes of a child."
"I have to love a guy who finds comedy in tragedy and who gleefully spins yarns about experiences that would keep most of us in therapy for a lifetime. The heroine of the book is Noah's mother, a feisty lady with a solid rock faith, a gal who snubs her nose at things that don't make sense. He learned to navigate Apartheid society's complex system that divided people in to three groups: black, white, and colored. Noah was 'colored' with a 'black' Xhosa African mother and a 'white' Swiss father, his very existence implicating his parent's crime. He spoke multiple languages, Xhosa and Zulu and Afrikaans, and English, could fit into most groups, but felt affiliated to black culture."
"As a long time viewer of the Daily Show, I started watching as Trevor took over from Jon Stewart and while I've always thought he does a good job, I had no idea the depth of character and experiences that were below the surface of those cute dimples! He is a wonderful story teller, finding the right balance between relaying his experiences, weaving in the social atmosphere around it and doing it in such a way that even as an American reader, I was able to visualize the communities he was describing in rich detail."
"The Trevor tome is written without anger at the system but the love and devotion of his mother."
"What this book does do is describe life growing up during Apartheid in ways that probably most readers are not familiar with."
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Best Parenting & Relationships

The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts
Whether your relationship is flourishing or failing, Dr. Gary Chapman’s proven approach to showing and receiving love will help you experience deeper and richer levels of intimacy with your partner—starting today. Updated to reflect the complexities of relationships today, this new edition reveals intrinsic truths and applies relevant, actionable wisdom in ways that work. While working as a marriage counselor for more than 30 years, he identified five love languages: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. Gifts are highly important to one spouse, while another sees fixing a leaky faucet, ironing a shirt, or cooking a meal as filling their "love tank." "In this unabridged recording of material the author has been perfecting for years, he says that people experience love most strongly through one of five love languages--quality time, words of encouragement, gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. Without making light of the work a marriage requires, he'll convince most listeners that with just a little planning and effort they can make a good marriage great and a broken partnership truly satisfying again."
Reviews
"My wife and I have 2 small children and our house is hard to stay clean because every room feels like a mess. A big part of improving your relationship with your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend is to sticking with a date night to make sure you have quality time together. My wife and I have been together for 10 years and got stuck in the rut of an endless routine of doing everything we could for our kids, followed by daily chores and left little time for ourselves. Committing to 1 date night a week has really helped our relationship and improved our communication."
"I was once asked to read this book by the only person in the world I love.....I refused. It's not a good feeling as a man to agree to read a book on relationships because you feel like you're putting everything into the authors hands.....and what if he "doesn't understand" or what if the advice doesn't apply to us.....what if it makes things worse between us because he advises things we don't believe in.....no....I'm not reading that I told her. I thought no matter what we would always figure each other out and we would be ok......I didn't see being asked to read this book , was a cry out from the woman I love hitting a boiling point and her attempt to communicate to me in a different way......the same things she's been trying to for a long time..... Instead of being some guys opinions or......typical shrink talk that in no way could apply to each specific relationship.......I found it to be a book that opens up the mind to the understanding of love.....and how it is not this one universal "language" we all feel we should be the same with.....I once told her...."nobody taught me how to love, I'm growing....learning".....I pleased with her to understand I love her.......we simply didn't have an understanding of how and why we didnt approach love the exact same way as each other.....only makes sense that it should be the same right? I will just end it like this..... last night I took a stretch that I have been doing for over 2 years and I changed it in a slightly different way....... a lot of the pain I normally get daily is gone....... just to put a spotlight on that sentence .....I'm saying that what I had been doing for so long..... trying to cure one of the biggest problems in my life that hadnt been working............that I continued doing........ believing in and depending on.... to be my much needed answer.......It wasn't until I allowed the idea of the same stretch applied in a different way, that I ALLOWED life to be better for me. You have to go into the book with an open mind because if you do it with the mindset of wanting it to say what it is that you want to hear.....then you can never let the life-changing words happen.......you're learning a language as you read...not what's right and wrong but what was being lost in life. Keep in mind this is a book about the language of love so if you think about when you go to school to learn a different language...you are taking the difficult step of taking time there in order to understand.....be able to take what you understand and apply it.....and be able to communicate in a NEEDED way once you learn....AND THEN USE......communicate and UNDERSTAND eachother."
"Great book, I read a friends book and decided to purchase it for myself."
"My husband and I read it and I bought a copy to give my parents (they could really use it to understand each other better!)."
"This book will really make you think about things when you read it, especially if you have had relationship problems..."
"contains helpful information and I enjoyed reading through people's testimonies and experiences."
"Really comes to show you why people are the way they are."
"This is an excellent book."
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Best Politics & Social Sciences

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. ''[A] compassionate, discerning sociological analysis...Combining thoughtful inquiry with firsthand experience, Mr. Vance has inadvertently provided a civilized reference guide for an uncivilized election, and he's done so in a vocabulary intelligible to both Democrats and Republicans. ( Jennifer Senior, New York Times ). ''[ Hillbilly Elegy ] is a beautiful memoir but it is equally a work of cultural criticism about white working-class America....[Vance] offers a compelling explanation for why it's so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to make it...a riveting book.''. ''[An] understated, engaging debut...An unusually timely and deeply affecting view of a social class whose health and economic problems are making headlines in this election year.''. ''Vance compellingly describes the terrible toll that alcoholism, drug abuse, and an unrelenting code of honor took on his family, neither excusing the behavior nor condemning it...The portrait that emerges is a complex one...Unerringly forthright, remarkably insightful, and refreshingly focused, Hillbilly Elegy is the cry of a community in crisis.''. ''A beautifully and powerfully written memoir about the author's journey from a troubled, addiction-torn Appalachian family to Yale Law School, Hillbilly Elegy is shocking, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and hysterically funny. It's also a profoundly important book, one that opens a window on a part of America usually hidden from view and offers genuine hope in the form of hard-hitting honesty. From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class through the author’s own story of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for over forty years, has been reported with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J.D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually one of their grandchildren would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of success in achieving generational upward mobility. But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that J.D.’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, never fully escaping the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. A deeply moving memoir, with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels.
Reviews
"Drugs, crime, jail time, abusive interactions without any knowledge of other forms of interaction, children growing up in a wild mix of stoned mother care, foster care, and care by temporary "boyfriends," and in general, an image of life on the edge of survival where even the heroes are distinctly flawed for lack of knowledge and experience of any other way of living. Second, the author's growing realization, fully present by the end of the work, that while individuals do not have total control over the shapes of their lives, their choices do in fact matter—that even if one can't direct one's life like a film, one does always have the at least the input into life that comes from being free to make choices, every day, and in every situation. I hate to fall into self-analysis and virtue-signaling behavior in a public review, but in this case I feel compelled to say that the author really did leave with me a renewed motivation to make more of my life every day, to respect and consider the choices that confront me much more carefully, and to seize moments of opportunity with aplomb when they present themselves."
"I never heard of the author until I saw him on Morning Joe a few days ago but I looked him up and read several articles he wrote for various publications so I bought his book. He suggests that tribalism, mistrust of outsiders and "elites," violence and irresponsibility among family members, parents without ethics and a sense of responsibility, terrible work ethics, and an us-against-them mentality is dooming the people who live that way to becoming poorer, more addicted, and more marginalized."
"I grew up without running water in Boone County, WV, and wound up with a degree from Harvard Law School."
"I escaped inner city Baltimore (see The Wire) due to luck, the ability to do well in school and a few good teachers.Instead of trying to describe my early life to my family and friends, I will give them this book."
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Best Professional & Technical

When Breath Becomes Air
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both. And part comes from the way he conveys what happened to him—passionately working and striving, deferring gratification, waiting to live, learning to die—so well.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times. The book brims with insightful reflections on mortality that are especially poignant coming from a trained physician familiar with what lies ahead.” — The Boston Globe. When Paul Kalanithi is given his diagnosis he is forced to see this disease, and the process of being sick, as a patient rather than a doctor--the result of his experience is not just a look at what living is and how it works from a scientific perspective, but the ins and outs of what makes life matter. As he wrote to a friend: ‘It’s just tragic enough and just imaginable enough.’ And just important enough to be unmissable.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times “Paul Kalanithi’s memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, written as he faced a terminal cancer diagnosis, is inherently sad. It is, despite its grim undertone, accidentally inspiring.” — The Washington Post “Paul Kalanithi’s posthumous memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, possesses the gravity and wisdom of an ancient Greek tragedy. [Kalanithi] is so likeable, so relatable, and so humble, that you become immersed in his world and forget where it’s all heading.” — USA Today “It’s [Kalanithi’s] unsentimental approach that makes When Breath Becomes Air so original—and so devastating. Its only fault is that the book, like his life, ends much too early.” — Entertainment Weekly “[ When Breath Becomes Air ] split my head open with its beauty.” —Cheryl Strayed. “Rattling, heartbreaking, and ultimately beautiful, the too-young Dr. Kalanithi’s memoir is proof that the dying are the ones who have the most to teach us about life.” —Atul Gawande “Thanks to When Breath Becomes Air, those of us who never met Paul Kalanithi will both mourn his death and benefit from his life. Kalanithi strives to define his dual role as physician and patient, and he weighs in on such topics as what makes life meaningful and how one determines what is most important when little time is left. This deeply moving memoir reveals how much can be achieved through service and gratitude when a life is courageously and resiliently lived.” — Publishers Weekly “A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity . Every doctor should read this book—written by a member of our own tribe, it helps us understand and overcome the barriers we all erect between ourselves and our patients as soon as we are out of medical school.” —Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery “A tremendous book, crackling with life, animated by wonder and by the question of how we should live.
Reviews
"Ultimately there's not much triumph in it in the traditional sense but there is a dogged, quiet resilience and a frank earthiness that endures long after the last word appears. Dr. Kalanithi talks about his upbringing as the child of hardworking Indian immigrant parents and his tenacious and passionate espousal of medicine and literature. He speaks lovingly of his relationship with his remarkable wife - also a doctor - who he met in medical school and who played an outsized role in supporting him through everything he went through. He had a stunning and multifaceted career, studying biology and literature at Stanford, then history and philosophy of medicine at Cambridge, and finally neurosurgery at Yale. The mark of a man of letters is evident everywhere in the book, and quotes from Eliot, Beckett, Pope and Shakespeare make frequent appearances. Metaphors abound and the prose often soars: When describing how important it is to develop good surgical technique, he tells us that "Technical excellence was a moral requirement"; meanwhile, the overwhelming stress of late night shifts, hundred hour weeks and patients with acute trauma made him occasionally feel like he was "trapped in an endless jungle summer, wet with sweat, the rain of tears of the dying pouring down". The painful uncertainty which he documents - in particular the tyranny of statistics which makes it impossible to predict how a specific individual will react to cancer therapy - must sadly be familiar to anyone who has had experience with the disease. There are heartbreaking descriptions of how at one point the cancer seemed to have almost disappeared and how, after Dr. Kalanithi had again cautiously made plans for a hopeful future with his wife, it returned with a vengeance and he had to finally stop working."
"He says this, “The secret is to know that the deck is stacked, that you will lose, that your hands or judgment will slip, and yet still struggle to win …You can’t ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which are ceaselessly striving. In the foreword by fellow doctor and writer Abraham Verghese, that doctor writes, “He (Paul) wasn’t writing about anything—he was writing about time and what it meant to him now, in the context of his illness.” And in the afterword by his wife Lucy, the meaning of that time becomes even clearer."
"The beautifully written epilogue, which was written by his wife Lucy, will break your heart, and give you hope at the same time. It never occurred to me that you could love someone the same way after he was gone, that I would continue to feel such love and gratitude alongside the terrible sorrow, the grief so heavy that at times I shiver and moan under the weight of it.""
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Best Read & Listen for Less

The Alchemist
A special 25th anniversary edition of the extraordinary international bestseller, including a new Foreword by Paulo Coelho. "My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night. "And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity." The charming tale of Santiago, a shepherd boy, who dreams of seeing the world, is compelling in its own right, but gains resonance through the many lessons Santiago learns during his adventures.
Reviews
"After deciding to travel to a Romani fortune-teller in a nearby town to discover its meaning, a gypsy woman tells him that there is a treasure in the Pyramids in Egypt. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is.”. The Alchemist Physical CoverAlong the journey, Santiago meets an Englishman who is in search of an Alchemist and together they continue their search for treasure. The essential message is that treasure is more worthy than gold."
"I purchased and began reading this book 2 years ago and, for whatever reason, I couldn't get into it."
"I knew I would love this book."
"Sometimes - I ask myself whether the "magical" moments in the book were symbolic or literal --- I would venture out to say that Paulo intended for those moments to be perceived and interpreted by his readers as both symbolic and real."
"The boy makes connections with various people and nature and the ebb and flow of life learning to listen to omens or signs as well as his heart."
"Perhaps I am dense but I did not see such profound things there."
"Reading this a couple weeks after I moved to a new state for the first time really opened my eyes."
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Best Romance

Milk and Honey
The book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. (USA Today). “Rupi Kaur has vision beyond her years … Her work is simply but powerfully expressed, and viscerally captures both universal human experience and the particular struggles of a young woman today." Rupi Kaur's first book, Milk and Honey is the poetry collection every woman needs on her nightstand or coffee table. Rupi Kaur’s writing echoes of artistry and wisdom which is seen in the work of those that have been writing for years. rupi kaur is a bestselling author and illustrator of two collections of poetry. while studying at the university of waterloo rupi self-published her first collection milk and honey in 2014. milk and honey became an international phenomenon that's been translated into over 30 languages and sold over 2.5 million copies. through her poetry rupi explores a variety of themes ranging from love.
Reviews
"I would've maybe given it two stars if I checked it out at the local library for free, but I'm annoyed I invested my hard earned American dollars into this book. I seriously don't understand if everyone is just reading into the completely non-thought provoking "poems" in this book and making up their own deep meaning or if I'm just totally missing the boat on this one. If you told me my 9-year-old nephew and 6-month-old niece collabed on this book, with him covering the poetry while she handled the artwork, I would fully believe you. If you're a 10th grader who just got dumped by Jimmy from home room and you wanna post a snapchat of one of these heart wrenching break up poems to express how angsty you are, you'll love it."
"I found Rupi Kaur (after hearing her name drifting about) when I saw a breathtaking piece by her (starting with "let me tell you about a selfish person..."). I love poetry. I love traditional poetry, struxtured poetry, unstructured poetry, modern poetry, stand up poetry, you name it. My shelves are lined with just as much edgy, modern, is-this-even-poetry books from up-and-coming poets as they are lined with TS Elliot and Tennyson."
"I have been seeing this at all of the bookstores and decided to give it a read based on the brilliant cover design and book description. It has been a while since I have read a book of poetry, but I have to say I don't feel like I just read one."
"This is some of the most trite poetry I have ever read, and exemplifies zero skill of poetic craft."
"I had so much hope for this book since it had become so popular so I was of course eager to read it."
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Best Self-Help

How To Win Friends and Influence People
-Six ways to make people like you. -Twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking. -Nine ways to change people without arousing resentment. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people." You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment.
Reviews
"The realization that my marriage was being effected by my nearly empty toolbox of social skills promoted me to take personal responsibility and shoulder the blame myself for once instead of blaming everyone around me for everything. I grew up with a hypercritical Mother so I think I had promised myself that I would never be criticized again, even if that meant writing people off the instant I felt like I had made myself vulnerable enough to be hurt by them. The strategies are applicable to and helpful in all aspects of my life so far, from my marriage to my job, and even to the way I interact with clerks in gas stations."
"I did think several of the principles explained in the book are common sense, but I found that it could be easy for a person to react quickly to conflicts. The first principle emphasizes the importance of avoiding criticism and he describes working with people as: working with people of logic. With this principle, he describes the importance of self-expression and connects it to the importance of thinking in terms of the other person, so that they come up with your ideas on their own, which they will like more. Dale then describes the importance to recall a person's name in the third principle. He further explains this point in principle five: Talk in terms of the other person's interests. Dale describes in the third part of the book the steps to have a person think in terms of your own thoughts. He then explains the importance of agreement and having the person say "yes," at least twice. If all else fails, he explains the importance of competition and how it drives people to feel important and empowered to work efficiently and effectively. He then explains the importance of asking questions that direct the person you’re speaking to, to obtain your idea on their own. He emphasizes the importance of having the person be saved from embarrassment, and then explains the importance of praise again, even if it is small."
"This book is a MUST read for anyone, but particularly if you are in management or sales."
"If anything it is even more applicable today as society becomes more technology focused and less human interaction focused."
"Such a great book that everyone should read!!"
"By reading this book, you will learn to 'handle" people."
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