sharon711
Ottawa Public Library
sharon711's Completed Shelf
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Demon CopperheadDemon Copperhead, BookA Novel
by Kingsolver, BarbaraBook - 2022 | First edition.Book, 2022. First edition.
sharon711's rating:
Added Mar 07, 2024
CirceCirce, Large Print
by Miller, MadelineLarge Print - 2018 | Large print edition.Large Print, 2018. Large print edition.
sharon711's rating:
Added Mar 07, 2024
Comment:
Beautiful language and an excellent study of human character and motivation. The mythology was fun to read, as I have never studied these classical stories before. In spite of the fantasy, the tale brought me to tears by the end, in a happy way.
sharon711's rating:
Added Mar 07, 2024
Comment:
This is a story about big pharma - how new drugs are developed, who finances the work, and who does the work. And of course besides the obvious health benefits (or lack of which) of the work, it is about what products will make the most money. A drug that can prolong youthfulness in women can obviously make a lot more money that a drug that can cure chronic health problems in the poverty-stricken countries of the third world. I didn't connect with the characters so gave the story just three stars.This is a story about big pharma - how new drugs are developed, who finances the work, and who does the work. And of course besides the obvious health benefits (or lack of which) of the work, it is about what products will make the most money. A…
The Windsor KnotThe Windsor Knot, BookA Novel
by Bennett, S. J.Book - 2021 | First edition.Book, 2021. First edition.
sharon711's rating:
Added Mar 07, 2024
UnravelingUnraveling, BookWhat I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World's Ugliest Sweater
by Orenstein, PeggyBook - 2023 | First edition.Book, 2023. First edition.
sharon711's rating:
Added Mar 07, 2024
Comment:
What would our lives be like if we all had to go back to basics! I loved how Peggy's process reconnected her with nature and took us, the readers, along for the ride, as well. I will never take a garment for granted again. Worth reading.
The Company We KeepThe Company We Keep, BookA Novel
by Itani, FrancesBook - 2020 | First edition.Book, 2020. First edition.
sharon711's rating:
Added Aug 29, 2022
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, Book
by Shafak, ElifBook - 2019Book, 2019
sharon711's rating:
Added Aug 29, 2022
sharon711's rating:
Added Aug 29, 2022
sharon711's rating:
Added Aug 29, 2022
The Rose CodeThe Rose Code, BookA Novel
by Quinn, KateBook - 2021 | First edition.Book, 2021. First edition.
sharon711's rating:
Added Jun 07, 2022
The Razor's EdgeThe Razor's Edge, Book
by Maugham, W. SomersetBook - 2003 | First Vintage International edition.Book, 2003. First Vintage International edition.
sharon711's rating:
Added Oct 03, 2021
The Secret KeeperThe Secret Keeper, Large Print
by Morton, KateLarge Print - 2012 | Center Point large print ed.Large Print, 2012. Center Point large print ed.
sharon711's rating:
Added Jan 23, 2021
sharon711's rating:
Added Sep 15, 2020
Village of the Small HousesVillage of the Small Houses, BookA Memoir of Sorts
by Ferguson, IanBook - 2003Book, 2003
sharon711's rating:
Added Sep 15, 2020
sharon711's rating:
Added Sep 15, 2020
ShrewedShrewed, eBookA Wry and Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girls : Essays
by Renzetti, ElizabetheBook - 2018eBook, 2018
sharon711's rating:
Added Sep 15, 2020
sharon711's rating:
Added Sep 09, 2020
Comment:
I loved this story and in my opinion it is a fine example of biographical fiction. All the known details of Turner's mysterious life are included, as the author weaves in his own imaginative details to make for riveting reading. Fiction indeed, but it is fiction derived by fleshing out the bones of the life of an amazing man and wonderful artist.I loved this story and in my opinion it is a fine example of biographical fiction. All the known details of Turner's mysterious life are included, as the author weaves in his own imaginative details to make for riveting reading. Fiction indeed, but…
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Luncheon of the Boating PartyLuncheon of the Boating Party, Book
by Vreeland, SusanBook - 2007Book, 2007
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely FineEleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Book
by Honeyman, GailBook - 2018Book, 2018
sharon711's rating:
Added Sep 01, 2020
sharon711's rating:
Added Feb 03, 2020
sharon711's rating:
Added Jan 29, 2020
The Spy and the TraitorThe Spy and the Traitor, BookThe Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
by Macintyre, BenBook - 2018 | Hardcover edition.Book, 2018. Hardcover edition.
sharon711's rating:
Added Jan 29, 2020
Everything in Its PlaceEverything in Its Place, BookFirst Loves and Last Tales
by Sacks, OliverBook - 2019 | First edition.Book, 2019. First edition.
sharon711's rating:
Added Nov 21, 2019
Comment:
Oliver Sacks engages us with his passion for science, and shows us all the ways in which science explains our natural world. He is especially concerned with the workings of the brain. Is the mind a place or a process? Sacks shows us how it’s both. Injury to specific places in the brain disrupts the very processes that make us who we are as humans.
His love of nature shows itself throughout the many short essays he treats us with here. Whether he is discussing his awe over the periodic table; his hero, the father of chemistry Humphry Davy; his immediate connection to a mama orangutang he met in a zoo; or his fascination with the dizzying variety of prehistoric plants known as ferns, his infatuation with the natural world is infectious.
Layered on top of that is his life-long study of the illnesses associated with the human brain, carried out through his work as a neurosurgeon. His analysis of the many kinds of mental illness he encountered and his sympathy for those who suffered from them come through clearly in these writings. For science at its easiest to read and understand, I recommend this book.Oliver Sacks engages us with his passion for science, and shows us all the ways in which science explains our natural world. He is especially concerned with the workings of the brain. Is the mind a place or a process? Sacks shows us how it’s both.…
WarlightWarlight, Book
by Ondaatje, MichaelBook - 2018 | Hardcover edition.Book, 2018. Hardcover edition.
sharon711's rating:
Added Nov 02, 2019
Comment:
Ondaatje gives us a nostalgic story lyrically told, about reinterpreting our archived childhood memories from the vantage point of adulthood. It helps when those memories plunk us in the middle of wartime espionage and disrupt our sense of safety and justice.
The story starts gently enough, carefully laying the ground work with a table full of intriguing strangers. In fact, you might wonder where Ondaatje is going with all of this delightful but rambling character description, colored with just a hint of skulduggery. But pay attention. For then we are violently thrust into Part 2, left with scraps of unfinished story and many questions.
Now our story teller, Nathaniel/Stitch Williams, deserted as a child by his parents, finds himself in his late 20s working for the British Intelligence in a minor role. But it is enough. His childhood experiences have left him with the skills he needs to ferret out information from secret archives. Slowly he fills in answers to the mysteries of his childhood. We see with heartbreaking clarity how two world wars sucked people in and destroyed families through three generations in Britain.
Beautifully written and replete with wisdom, this story is as highly recommended as Ondaatje’s earlier tales.Ondaatje gives us a nostalgic story lyrically told, about reinterpreting our archived childhood memories from the vantage point of adulthood. It helps when those memories plunk us in the middle of wartime espionage and disrupt our sense of safety…
Next Year in HavanaNext Year in Havana, Book
by Cleeton, ChanelBook - 2018 | First edition: February 2018.Book, 2018. First edition: February 2018.
sharon711's rating:
Added Oct 06, 2019
Comment:
Freedom is fragile. It can be stolen in a moment.
Cleeton's somewhat soap-operatic approach to serious topics grabbed me by surprise. Just as I decided it was simply a bunch of fluff, I was caught up in the emotion of the story. It struck a bell. The situation that the Cuban people found themselves in should sound a warning to folks in the US under Trump - and possibly even in the UK under Boris. Or Canada - under Ford?
“There are thousands of ways to betray your country - broken promises, failed policies, the sound of a firing squad pumping bullets into flesh. And then there’s the silent betrayal - the most insidious one of all. We thought we were being smart by merely enduring Batista. We thought we were playing the long game, cozying up to power so we could keep our grand homes, and our yacht club membership, and our champagne filled parties. We thought the indignities of his regime couldn’t touch us.
And the whole time we were pretending our way of life was fine, the paradise we created was really a fragile deal with the devil. When the ground beneath us cracked, it destroyed the world as we knew it.”
Stand on guard or lose your long and hard-fought-for freedoms.Freedom is fragile. It can be stolen in a moment.
Cleeton's somewhat soap-operatic approach to serious topics grabbed me by surprise. Just as I decided it was simply a bunch of fluff, I was caught up in the emotion of the story. It struck a…
sharon711's rating:
Added Sep 27, 2019
Comment:
Two tales for the price of one! Horowitz offers an ingenious weaving of fact and fiction as a homage to the classic whodunit. We are first treated to a clever puzzle reasoned out by a sympathetic detective in a small English village with a host of interesting inhabitants, all of whom have good reason to kill one or the other of the two murder victims.
Then we are taken to the office of the story’s publishing house and into the lives of the book’s editor and its author. This gives Horowitz, author himself of a myriad of murder stories (Midsommers Murders, Foyle’s war etc), a chance to parse the whodunit for us.
During the course of the two stories, the reader gets insight into how a good murder mystery is written. Like some of my favorite novels, the book demystifies the craft of writing. Horowitz is an arresting story teller, who keeps you reading for answers until the very end.
I enjoyed both halves of the book equally, and although I successfully guessed the murderer in the last half of the book, I had no idea what the motive was. And I hadn’t a clue who done the dirty deed in the first half until the very last pages of the book, when the clever detective clarified everything for me. Lots of fun!Two tales for the price of one! Horowitz offers an ingenious weaving of fact and fiction as a homage to the classic whodunit. We are first treated to a clever puzzle reasoned out by a sympathetic detective in a small English village with a host of…
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