Reading List

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey: Review guide
I'll be brutally honest with you – when I first picked up this book fifteen years ago, I was skeptical. Another self-help book promising to transform my life? I'd been down that road before, collecting motivational quotes like trophies while remaining fundamentally unchanged. But something was different about this one. Maybe it was the timing, or perhaps I was finally ready to confront some uncomfortable truths about myself.
By Soibifaa8 months ago in BookClub
Jane Austen Spinoffs & Sequels: "Sense & Sensibility" (1811)
Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope A modern retelling of the Jane Austen classic follows the Dashwood sisters--Elinor, Marianne and Margaret--as they, after the death of their father, must come to terms with the cruelties of life without the status of their country house, the protection of the family name or the comfort of an inheritance.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Jane Austen's Life: Spinoffs & Sequels
Gin Austen by Colleen Mullaney In six enduring novels, Jane Austen captured the fancies and foibles of Regency England, and every delightful page of this book celebrates the picnics, luncheons, dinner parties, and glamorous balls of Austen’s world. At these social engagements, gossip reigned, love flourished, and drinks flowed. Discover an exotic world of cobblers, crustas, flips, punches, shrubs, slings, sours, and toddies, with recipes that evoke the past but suit today’s tastes. Raise your glass to Sense and Sensibility with a Brandon Old-Fashioned, Elinorange Blossom, Hot Barton Rum, or Just a Dashwood. Toast Pride and Prejudice with a Cousin Collins, Fizzy Miss Lizzie, Gin & Bennet, or Salt & Pemberley. Brimming with enlightening quotes from the novels and Austen’s letters, beautiful photographs, and period design, this intoxicating volume is a must-have for any devoted Janeite.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Love Stories
Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center As the only female firefighter in her Texas firehouse, Cassie Hanswell is excellent at dealing with other people's tragedies. But she never anticipated that her estranged and ailing mother would ask her move to Boston. The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew, even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Only the infatuation-inspiring rookie doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. Her old captain gave her some advice: don't date firefighters. Will she jeopardize her place in a career where she's worked so hard to be taken seriously?
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Mindfulness & Meditation Books
Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn Here, the teacher, scientist, and clinician who first demonstrated the benefits of mindfulness within mainstream Western medicine offers a book that you can use in three unique ways; as a collection of reflections and practices to be opened and explored at random; as an illuminating and engaging start-to-finish read; or as an unfolding 'lesson-a-day' primer on mindfulness practice.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Mystery Novels: Suspense
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. The houseowners, Ruth and G. H., arrive in the middle of the night in a panic. They say a sudden blackout has swept the city: the TV and internet are down, and no cell phone service. Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Mystery Novels: Murder Mystery. Content Warning.
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Mystery Novels: Private Detective
The Sentinel by Lee Child & Andrew Child When Reacher ends up in a town near Pleasantville, Tennessee, there's nothing pleasant about the place. When he spots someone walking into an ambush, the odds are four against one-- until Reacher intervenes, with his own trademark brand of conflict resolution. The man he saves is Rusty Rutherford, an unassuming IT manager, recently fired after a cyberattack locked up the town's data, records, information... and secrets. Rutherford wants to stay put, look innocent, and clear his name. But the guys who jumped Rutherford are part of something deadly. Now Reacher is involved in conspiracy, a cover-up, and murder-- all centered on a mousy little guy in a coffee-stained shirt who has no idea what he's up against.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Mystery Novels: Psychological Thrillers. Content Warning.
A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell A debut psychological thriller--in the vein of GONE GIRL or GIRL ON A TRAIN--that focuses on a mommy blogger, her best friend who disappears suddenly, and the latter's husband--with betrayals and reversals, a dead body, and the ever-revolving question of who is duping whom.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Mystery Novels: Spy Thrillers
Transcription by Kate Atkinson In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever. Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
The Forgotten Child: How Families Unknowingly Break the Middle One
💔 Ways a Family Can Harm the Middle Child (Often Unintentionally) 1. Neglect or Lack of Attention Middle children are sometimes called the “forgotten” children because parents may focus more on:
By Tayyaba Khan8 months ago in BookClub
Mystery Novels: Police Procedurals
Walk the Wire by David Baldacci Amos Decker, the FBI consultant with a perfect memory, and Alex Jamison FBI return to solve a gruesome murder of a young woman named Irene Cramer. In a booming North Dakota oil fracking town, the promise of a second gold rush has attracted an onslaught of newcomers all hoping for a windfall, bringing with them problems, including drugs, property crimes, prostitution and now a gruesome murder.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub