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Greta Gerwig recommended Americanah in Books (curated)

 
Americanah
Americanah
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"In this book, Ms. Adichie has constructed a full on romance that has the addictive power of a Jane Austen novel but with the specifics of life in Nigeria, as well as life in the United States as an immigrant. I fell in love with Ifemelu and Obinze in a way that I haven’t felt since I was a child reading novels for the first time."

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Greta Gerwig recommended Middlemarch in Books (curated)

 
Middlemarch
Middlemarch
Rosemary Ashton, George Eliot | 2003 | Fiction & Poetry
6.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"Glorious, sprawling, generous. It makes you wish you had not judged characters so quickly and that you could grow old with all of them. I read somewhere that it is a novel for adults, and it is, truly. It is a book I hope to read at every decade of my life, because I think each time it will have something new to teach me."

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The White City
The White City
Grace Hitchcock | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Religion, Romance
10
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I had never before read a book by Grace Hitchcock, and I am please to say this will not be the last one I read by her. This book set in the Chicago Worlds Fair is a great historical detective novel, with a quirky main character that really pulls you in from the start. 
I can not wait to read more from this author. 
  
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Ev Williams recommended The Martian in Books (curated)

 
The Martian
The Martian
Andy Weir | 2014 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8.9 (50 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"If I was really stranded on a desert island, this novel would be good to have. The movie is also good, but the book would help to pass more time. Both make surviving on a desert island seem like a walk in the park. What’s great about this adventure—which I find rare in pop culture—is the celebration of the mind, invention, and science."

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Salman Rushdie recommended Pedro Paramo in Books (curated)

 
Pedro Paramo
Pedro Paramo
Juan Rulfo | 2014 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
(0 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"Jorge Luis Borges thought this short, hypnotic novel to be one of the best ever written, and Gabriel García Márquez said it freed him to imagine the world of One Hundred Years of Solitude. A man is told by his dying mother to go find his father. He embarks on the journey and falls into a nightmarish world that may be populated entirely by ghosts."

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Where the Weaver Birds Fly
Where the Weaver Birds Fly
John Ellwood Nicholson | 2011 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
2
2.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Crass, crude and clumsy. I couldn't wait to finish this book. I found the storyline ridiculous and was patched together with lots of lectures about the plight of Africa. Whilst I think that enlightening us all about the corruption and aid problems is a noble cause, the way it was shoehorned in around this ludicrous poorly written story was a shameful insult for a novel.
  
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Nancy Bilyeau recommended The Concubine in Books (curated)

 
The Concubine
The Concubine
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"A novel set in Tudor England that continues to move me on each reading—a beautifully written and emotionally complex book about Anne Boleyn that is courageous enough to resist easy explanations of the English queen’s appeal and creates a woman who could change the course of history with intelligence, style, and nerve tinged with recklessness, and driven by a dark ambition that eventually devoured her."

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Roxane Gay recommended Tampa in Books (curated)

 
Tampa
Tampa
Alissa Nutting | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
6.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"There is a scene in “Tampa” where Celeste marks her territory, if you will, with her own vaginal moisture. That, in many ways, tells you everything you need to know about “Tampa” and Alissa Nutting's immense talents. This novel is disturbing, uncomfortable, irreverent, and compelling. Nutting makes us complicit in Celeste's crimes and still, she leaves room for empathy where most writers would not."

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Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance
Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M. Pirsig | 2014 | Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"One of the few novels I’ve ever read twice (though it’s been about 20 years, so it might be time for a re-read). A philosophy book in the form of a novel that has very little to do with motorcycle maintenance. Instead, it has a lot to do with the elusive aspects of “quality,” and the importance of attitude in your approach to life."

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The Code of the Woosters (Jeeves, #7)
The Code of the Woosters (Jeeves, #7)
P.G. Wodehouse | 2000 | Fiction & Poetry
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"PG Wodehouse is not a writer for those who want to read about the rah-rah world of aristocratic fops, he’s a writer for those who love reading sentences that shimmer with brilliance and wit. He is the preeminent English stylist, and I find it impossible to read him without purring with pleasure and hooting with laughter. This particular Jeeves and Wooster novel is a real corker."

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