reading list ⊹ ࣪ ˖₊˚⊹⋆

The Price of Salt

Patricia Highsmith · 2015

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)

George R. R. Martin · 2003

NOW THE ACCLAIMED HBO SERIES GAME OF THRONES <br/> <br/>Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read <br/> <br/>From a master of contemporary fantasy comes the first novel of a landmark series unlike any you’ve ever read before. With A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has launched a genuine masterpiece, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill the pages of this magnificent saga, the first volume in an epic series sure to delight fantasy fans everywhere. <br/> <br/>A GAME OF THRONES <br/>A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK ONE <br/> <br/>Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. To the south, the king’s powers are failing—his most trusted adviser dead under mysterious circumstances and his enemies emerging from the shadows of the throne. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the frozen land they were born to. Now Lord Eddard Stark is reluctantly summoned to serve as the king’s new Hand, an appointment that threatens to sunder not only his family but the kingdom itself. <br/> <br/>Sweeping from a harsh land of cold to a summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, A Game of Thrones tells a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; a child is lost in the twilight between life and death; and a determined woman undertakes a treacherous journey to protect all she holds dear. Amid plots and counter-plots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, allies and enemies, the fate of the Starks hangs perilously in the balance, as each side endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones. <br/> <br/>Unparalleled in scope and execution, A Game of Thrones is one of those rare reading experiences that catch you up from the opening pages, won’t let you go until the end, and leave you yearning for more. <br/> <br/>Source: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/108336/a-game-of-thrones-hbo-tie-in-edition-by-george-r-r-martin/9780553897845/

The Secret Garden (HarperClassics)

Frances Hodgson Burnett · 2010

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen · 1980

Outlander: A Novel (Outlander, Book 1)

Diana Gabaldon · 2004

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

George R. R. Martin · 2015

<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER • Taking place nearly a century before the events of <i>A Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms </i>compiles the first three official prequel novellas to George R. R. Martin’s ongoing masterwork, A Song of Ice and Fire.</b><br><b> </b><br><b>NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY <i>LOS ANGELES TIMES</i> AND <i>BUZZFEED</i></b><br><b><i> </i></b><br>These never-before-collected adventures recount an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living consciousness. Before Tyrion Lannister and Podrick Payne, there was Dunk and Egg. A young, naïve but ultimately courageous hedge knight, Ser Duncan the Tall towers above his rivals—in stature if not experience. Tagging along is his diminutive squire, a boy called Egg—whose true name is hidden from all he and Dunk encounter. Though more improbable heroes may not be found in all of Westeros, great destinies lay ahead for these two . . . as do powerful foes, royal intrigue, and outrageous exploits.<br> <br>Featuring more than 160 all-new illustrations by Gary Gianni, <i>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms</i> is a must-have collection that proves chivalry isn’t dead—yet.<br><br><b>Praise for <i>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms</i></b><br><br> “Readers who already love Martin and his ability to bring visceral human drama out of any story will be thrilled to find this trilogy brought together and injected with extra life.”<b>—<i>Booklist</i></b><br><br> “The real reason to check out this collection is that it’s simply great storytelling. Martin crafts a living, breathing world in a way few authors can. . . . [Gianni’s illustrations] really bring the events of the novellas to life in beautiful fashion.”<b>—<i>Tech Times<br><br></i></b>“Stirring . . . As Tolkien has his <i>Silmarillion, </i>so [George R. R.] Martin has this trilogy of foundational tales. They succeed on their own, but in addition, they succeed in making fans want more.”<b>—<i>Kirkus Reviews</i> (starred review)</b><br><br> “Pure fantasy adventure, with two of the most likable protagonists George R. R. Martin has ever penned.”<b>—<i>Bustle</i></b><br><br> “A must-read for Martin’s legion of fans . . . a rousing prelude to [his] bestselling Song of Ice and Fire saga . . . rich in human drama and the colorful worldbuilding that distinguishes other books in the series.”<b>—<i>Publishers Weekly</i></b>

The Twilight Saga Complete Collection

Stephenie Meyer · 2022

THE THORN OF LION CITY : A Memoir

Lucy Lum · 2007

Chinese Cinderella IV

Yen Mah Adeline · 2006

The Metamorphosis

"The Metamorphosis" (original German title: "Die Verwandlung") is a short novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into an insect.

Raging Quiet

Sherryl Jordan · 2000

The Great Gatsby: The Original 1925 Edition (A F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic Novel)

F. Scott Fitzgerald · 2021

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby<br/>The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, the novel depicts narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.<br/>A youthful romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922 inspired the novel. Following a move to the French Riviera, he completed a rough draft in 1924. He submitted the draft to editor Maxwell Perkins, who persuaded Fitzgerald to revise the work over the following winter. After his revisions, Fitzgerald was satisfied with the text, but remained ambivalent about the book's title and considered several alternatives. The final title he desired was Under the Red, White, and Blue. Painter Francis Cugat's final cover design impressed Fitzgerald who incorporated a visual element from the art into the novel.<br/>Gatsby continues to attract popular and scholarly attention. The novel was most recently adapted to film in 2013 by director Baz Luhrmann, while contemporary scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of social class, inherited wealth compared to those who are self-made, race, environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American dream. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterpiece and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel.<br/>A True Classic that Belongs on Every Bookshelf!

The Handmaids Tale

Margaret Atwood · 2017

Brideshead Revisited

Evelyn Waugh · 2012

Selected by Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the century and called "Evelyn Waugh's finest achievement" by the New York Times, Brideshead Revisited is a stunning exploration of desire, duty, and memory.<br/><br/>The wellsprings of desire and the impediments to love come brilliantly into focus in Evelyn Waugh's masterpiece -- a novel that immerses us in the glittering and seductive world of English aristocracy in the waning days of the empire.<br/><br/>Through the story of Charles Ryder's entanglement with the Flytes, a great Catholic family, Evelyn Waugh charts the passing of the privileged world he knew in his own youth and vividly recalls the sensuous pleasures denied him by wartime austerities. At once romantic, sensuous, comic, and somber, Brideshead Revisited transcends Waugh's early satiric explorations and reveals him to be an elegiac, lyrical novelist of the utmost feeling and lucidity.<br/><br/>"A genuine literary masterpiece." --Time<br/><br/>"Heartbreakingly beautiful...The twentieth century's finest English novel." --Los Angeles Times

The Song of Achilles: A Novel

Madeline Miller · 2012

A New York Times Bestseller<br/>“At once a scholar’s homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art….A book I could not put down.” —Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House<br/>A thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War from the bestselling author of Circe<br/>A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.<br/>“A captivating retelling of The Iliad and events leading up to it through the point of view of Patroclus: it’s a hard book to put down, and any classicist will be enthralled by her characterisation of the goddess Thetis, which carries the true savagery and chill of antiquity.” — Donna Tartt, The Times

Circe

Madeline Miller · 2018

The Silent Patient

Alex Michaelides · 2021

<p><b>**THE INSTANT #1 <i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER**</b><br><br>"An unforgettable—and Hollywood-bound—new thriller... A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy."<br><b>—<i>Entertainment Weekly</i></b><br><br><b><i>The Silent Patient</i> is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.</b><br><br>Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.<br><br>Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.<br><br>Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....</p>

The Picture of Dorian Grey

Oscar Wilde · 2012

Heidi

Johanna Spyri · 2024

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo A Novel

Taylor Jenkins Reid · 2018

<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES</i></b><b> BESTSELLER</b><br> <br><b>“If you</b>’<b>re looking for a book to take on holiday this summer, <i>The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo</i> has got all the glitz and glamour to make it a perfect beach read.” —<i>Bustle</i></b><br> <br><b>From the <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Daisy Jones & the Six</i>—an entrancing and “wildly addictive journey of a reclusive Hollywood starlet” (<i>PopSugar</i>) as she reflects on her relentless rise to the top and the risks she took, the loves she lost, and the long-held secrets the public could never imagine.</b><br><br>Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?<br> <br>Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.<br> <br>Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.<br> <br>“Heartbreaking, yet beautiful” (Jamie Blynn, <i>Us Weekly</i>), <i>The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo </i>is “Tinseltown drama at its finest” (<i>Redbook</i>): a mesmerizing journey through the splendor of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means—and what it costs—to face the truth.

Franny and Zooey

J. D. Salinger · 1991

His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (Book 1)

Philip Pullman · 2001

The modern fantasy classic that Entertainment Weekly named an “All-Time Greatest Novel” and Newsweek hailed as a “Top 100 Book of All Time.” Philip Pullman takes readers to a world where humans have animal familiars and where parallel universes are within reach. Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal—including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world. Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want. But what Lyra doesn't know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other... A masterwork of storytelling and suspense, Philip Pullman's award-winning The Golden Compass is the first in the His Dark Materials series, which continues with The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. A #1 New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Guardian Prize for Children's Fiction Published in 40 Countries "Arguably the best juvenile fantasy novel of the past twenty years." —The Washington Post "Very grand indeed." —The New York Times "Pullman is quite possibly a genius." —Newsweek Don't miss Philip Pullman's epic new trilogy set in the world of His Dark Materials! ** THE BOOK OF DUST ** La Belle Sauvage The Secret Commonwealth

One Italian Summer: A Novel

Rebecca Serle · 2023

Little Women (Puffin in Bloom)

Louisa May Alcott · 2014

<b>Louisa May Alcott's classic tale of four sisters in a deluxe hardcover edition, with beautiful cover illustrations by Anna Bond, the artist behind world-renowned stationery brand Rifle Paper Co.<br></b><br>Grown-up Meg, tomboyish Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. The four March sisters couldn't be more different. But with their father away at war, and their mother working to support the family, they have to rely on one another. Whether they're putting on a play, forming a secret society, or celebrating Christmas, there's one thing they can't help wondering: Will Father return home safely?

Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen · 1992

Winnie-the-Pooh: Classic Gift Edition

A. A. Milne · 2017

Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë · 2003

Lorna Doone

R. D. Blackmore · 2024

The Secret Garden 2006

Frances Hodgson Burnett · 2005