Eitanli/goodreads huggingface dataset:
Winter Tales
by Angelika Meyer
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.32

*A Christmas with the Prince* by T.M. Mendes Prince Zach has been married to the beautiful Anna for years. Not only do they have a little prince, but they also have a little princess on the way... and just in time for Christmas, too! Find out what happened to the prince and his beautiful bride—and what crazy antics Princess Anna has found herself in this time—in this hilarious holiday tale of the prince and his girl.   *Candy Caine* by M.J. Thompson It’s the countdown to Christmas and your favourite characters from Handcuffs, Kisses and Awkward Situations are preparing for the holiday season. Ryder and Nora have completed their first year of university, but is their relationship still standing strong? Baby Hamish is just over a year old now. So is his mother, Eve, still dressing him up as miniature foods? How is Mel doing with her studies? And who was that mysterious girl Caine started dating at the end of the story? Find out all about it and more in this short Christmas-themed novella!   *Dragon Bloom* by Angelika Meyer After defeating the evil rider Haiden and his ruthless black dragon, Akira and Redemption are then off to their next quest—finding the legendary red and black flower that grows once every winter, when the moon is high and the stars are bright. Will they actually find the priceless blossom? Or will Redemption land them both into yet another scrape? Find out in this delightful winter-themed tale of the Dragon of Legend and his Rider!   *Hope and Nate's First Christmas* Olivia Harvard Several months after they finally got together, Hope and Nate are spending their first Christmas together with their families. Will they survive the holidays more in love than ever? Or will hyperactive children, long-standing family issues, and meddling relatives get in the way of their holiday celebration?   *Almost Meeting Mr. Mogul* by Mel Ryle In this short Christmas special, find out how Andy's and William's path crossed—or almost crossed—years before the events of Meeting Mr. Mogul.
രണ്ടാമൂഴം | Randamoozham
by M.T. Vasudevan Nair
Genres: Fiction, Mythology, Novels, Classics, India, Indian Literature, Fantasy
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.28

Randamoozham is the masterpiece of Jnanpith winning writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair. It was translated into English as Second Turn in 1997. M. T. Vasudevan Nair won Vayalar Award, given for the best literary work in Malayalam, for the novel in 1985. Later, in the year 1995, Mr. Nair was awarded the highest literary award in India, Jnanpith Award, for his overall contribution to Malayalam literature.The novel is set as a retelling of the Indian epic Mahabharata, from the view of Bhima, the second Pandava.
Fear the Heart (Werelock Evolution Book 2)
by Hettie Ivers
Genres: Paranormal, Shapeshifters, Romance, Fantasy, Erotica, Adult, Supernatural
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.09

I know what you’re thinking: Being bound to one of the most attractive, powerful werelocks on the planet can’t be all bad, can it?Actually, yes, it can when you’re mated to an asshat narcissist.But the fact that I’m turning into a dog and destined to spend an eternity with my brother’s archenemy isn’t the worst of my problems. An ill-fated blood curse bent on revenge is blossoming to life within me—threatening to unlock a reign of darkness on the world with the potential to destroy everyone.Oh, yeah—and I’m about to enter my first heat cycle...CONTENT: This full-length novel is book 2 in a series and is not a standalone. Please read after Slip of Fate. Please note this book has a CLIFFHANGER ENDING. The final book in the trilogy, Revenge of the Wronged, is complete and available for purchase.
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
by Steven Pinker
Genres: Psychology, Science, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Sociology, Biology, Politics
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.09

In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. He shows how many intellectuals have denied the existence of human nature by embracing three linked dogmas: the Blank Slate (the mind has no innate traits), the Noble Savage (people are born good and corrupted by society), and the Ghost in the Machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from biology). Each dogma carries a moral burden, so their defenders have engaged in desperate tactics to discredit the scientists who are now challenging them.Pinker injects calm and rationality into these debates by showing that equality, progress, responsibility, and purpose have nothing to fear from discoveries about a rich human nature. He disarms even the most menacing threats with clear thinking, common sense, and pertinent facts from science and history.Despite its popularity among intellectuals during much of the twentieth century, he argues, the doctrine of the Blank Slate may have done more harm than good. It denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces hardheaded analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of government, violence, parenting, and the arts.Pinker shows that an acknowledgement of human nature that is grounded in science and common sense, far from being dangerous, can complement insights about the human condition made by millennia of artists and philosophers. All this is done in the style that earned his previous books many prizes and worldwide acclaim: wit, lucidity, and insight into matters great and small.
Stories of Music, Volume 1
by Holly E. Tripp
Genres: Music
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.69

Stories of Music explores the incredible ways in which music has impacted people's lives, from its role in healing, community, and family relationships to musicianship, travel, and much more. Bringing together the works of more than 40 authors and artists from 11 countries, the book features poetry, nonfiction, photography, audio, and video (the print book includes URLs and QR codes that direct readers to a free companion web edition for accessing audio and video components). Readers will learn how rock and blues music helped to heal the war-torn country of Bosnia, about the tradition of candombe drumming in Uruguay, and about the history of musicians who travelled on foot—from the balladeers of Victorian England and the Delta bluesmen of the early 20th century to present day musicians who participate in the Massachusetts Walking Tour. Along with these and other stories, the book includes photography from around the world, poetry readings, and original music, including a song that was performed to honor first responders at Ground Zero.The book was compiled and edited by Holly E. Tripp, and also includes a foreword by Dan Cohen, MSW, Founder and Executive Director of MUSIC & MEMORY℠. Ten percent of book proceeds will be donated to Hungry for Music and Music & Memory. Learn more about their work at www.hungryformusic.org and www.musicandmemory.org.
Devil at My Heels
by Louis Zamperini
Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Memoir, War, World War II, Military Fiction
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.36

The inspirational and extraordinarymemoir of one of the most courageous of the greatest generation, Louis Zamperini: Olympian, WWII Japanese POW and survivor.A juvenile delinquent, a world class NCAA miler, a 1936 Olympian, a WWII bombardier: Louis Zamperini had a fuller than most, when it changed in an instant. On May 27, 1943, his B–24 crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Louis and two other survivors found a raft amid the flaming wreckage and waited for rescue. Instead, they drifted two thousand miles for forty–seven days. Their only food: two shark livers and three raw albatross. Their only water: sporadic rainfall. Their only companions: hope and faith–and the ever–present sharks. On the forty–seventh day, mere skeletons close to death, Zamperini and pilot Russell Phillips spotted land–and were captured by the Japanese. Thus began more than two years of torture and humiliation as a prisoner of war.Zamperini was threatened with beheading, subject to medical experiments, routinely beaten, hidden in a secret interrogation facility, starved and forced into slave labour, and was the constant victim of a brutal prison guard nicknamed the Bird–a man so vicious that the other guards feared him and called him a psychopath. Meanwhile, the Army Air Corps declared Zamperini dead and President Roosevelt sends official condolences to his family, who never gave up hope that he was alive.Somehow, Zamperini survived and he returned home a hero. The celebration was short–lived. He plunged into drinking and brawling and the depths of rage and despair. Nightly, the Bird's face leered at him in his dreams. It would take years, but with the love of his wife and the power of faith, he was able to stop the nightmares and the drinking.A stirring memoir from one of the greatest of the "Greatest Generation," DEVIL AT MY HEELS is a living document about the brutality of war, the tenacity of the human spirit, and the power of forgiveness.
The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels
by Ágota Kristóf
Genres: Fiction, Hungary, Historical Fiction, War, Literature, Classics, Contemporary
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.41

These three internationally acclaimed novels have confirmed Agota Kristof's reputation as one of the most provocative exponents of new-wave European fiction. With all the stark simplicity of a fractured fairy tale, the trilogy tells the story of twin brothers, Claus and Lucas, locked in an agonizing bond that becomes a gripping allegory of the forces that have divided "brothers" in much of Europe since World War II. Kristof's postmodern saga begins with The Notebook, in which the brothers are children, lost in a country torn apart by conflict, who must learn every trick of evil and cruelty merely to survive. In The Proof, Lucas is challenging to prove his own identity and the existence of his missing brother, a defector to the "other side." The Third Lie, which closes the trilogy, is a biting parable of Eastern and Western Europe today and a deep exploration into the nature of identity, storytelling, and the truths and untruths that lie at the heart of them all. "Stark and haunting." - The San Francisco Chronicle; "A vision of considerable depth and complexity, a powerful portrait of the nobility and perversity of the human heart." - The Christian Science Monitor.
The Art of Dreaming
by Carlos Castaneda
Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Psychology, New Age, Occult, Metaphysics
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.01

After six years of study and meditation, the author presents a book which takes the reader on a journey of the soul via the teachings of the great sorcerer, Don Juan. Like layers of an onion, the author reveals that there are worlds existing within our own that can be visited through dreams.
Meadowbank (The Shael Chronicles, #2)
by Jonathan  Kent
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.47

Meadowbank: A dark fantasy thrillerMeadowbank is the chilling second volume of the Shael chronicles from author Jonathan Kent. Following on from the events in 'Homecoming', an idyllic North Dorset village awakens to discover two women have mysteriously been taken during the night. As a small group of villagers rally round to unravel the mystery, all evidence begins to point to the dilapidated mansion at the end of the lane: 'Meadowbank Hall'.Uninhabited for decades and filled with an unknown host of secrets, our four protagonist's must search the deepest bowels of the house where they learn of the final days of its previous inhabitants. Then begins a desperate race against time as they are thrown into the strange alternate reality of Shael and the real truth behind the women's disappearance.Shael, the world that really doesn't want to be foundCheck out the official Jonathan Kent website:
Seize the Night (Moonlight Bay, #2)
by Dean Koontz
Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Science Fiction, Mystery Thriller
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.09

One by one, the children of Moonlight Bay are disappearing. No one knows if they are dead or alive. Christopher Snow, suffering from the rare disorder xeroderma pigmentosum, has glimpsed the dark and torrid secrets of the small-town community where he has spent his entire life. And only he has the key to the truth - a truth that could only exist in the genetic chaos of Moonlight Bay."Seize the Night" is the brilliant new thriller in the Moonlight Bay trilogy, following the acclaimed bestseller "Fear Nothing."
These Things Hidden
by Heather Gudenkauf
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Young Adult, Contemporary
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.87

When teenager Allison Glenn is sent to prison for a heinous crime, she leaves behind her reputation as Linden Falls' golden girl forever. Her parents deny the existence of their once-perfect child. Her former friends exult her downfall. Her sister, Brynn, faces whispered rumors every day in the hallways of their small Iowa high school. It's Brynn--shy, quiet Brynn--who carries the burden of what really happened that night. All she wants is to forget Allison and the past that haunts her. But then Allison is released to a halfway house, and is more determined than ever to speak with her estranged sister. Now their legacy of secrets is focused on one little boy. And if the truth is revealed, the consequences will be unimaginable for the adoptive mother who loves him, the girl who tried to protect him and the two sisters who hold the key to all that is hidden
Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)
by Ernest Cline
Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopia, Audiobook, Adventure
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.23

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
A Thousand Boy Kisses
by Tillie Cole
Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Contemporary Romance, High School, Audiobook
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.14

One kiss lasts a moment. But a thousand kisses can last a lifetime. One boy. One girl. A bond that is forged in an instant and cherished for a decade. A bond that neither time nor distance can break. A bond that will last forever. Or so they believe. When seventeen-year-old Rune Kristiansen returns from his native Norway to the sleepy town of Blossom Grove, Georgia, where he befriended Poppy Litchfield as a child, he has just one thing on his mind. Why did the girl who was one half of his soul, who promised to wait faithfully for his return, cut him off without a word of explanation? Rune's heart was broken two years ago when Poppy fell silent. When he discovers the truth, he finds that the greatest heartache is yet to come. A stand-alone young adult tearjerker romance, recommended for ages fourteen and up.
Burnt Tongues
by Chuck Palahniuk
Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Horror, Anthologies, Collections, Dark, Adult
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.79

Transgressive fiction authors write stories some are afraid to tell. Stories with taboo subjects, unique voices, shocking images—nothing safe or dry.Burnt Tongues is a collection of transgressive stories selected by a rigorous nomination and vetting process and hand-selected by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, as the best of The Cult workshop, his official fan website.These stories run the gamut from horrific and fantastic to humorous and touching, but each leaves a lasting impression. Some may say even a scar.Also includes: The Power of Persisting: An Introduction by Chuck Palahniuk, and from the Editors: The Genesis of Burnt Tongues by Dennis Widmyer and Richard Thomas.Table of Contents:Live This Down by Neil KrolickiCharlie by Chris Lewis CarterPaper by Gayle TowellMating Calls by Tony LiebhardMelody by Michael De Vito, Jr.F for Fake by Tyler JonesMind and Soldier by Phil JourdanIngredients by Richard LemmerThe Line Forms on the Right by Amanda GowinA Vodka Kind of Girl by Matt EganGasoline by Fred VenturiniDietary by Brandon TietzInvisible Graffiti by Adam SkorupskasBike by Bryan HowieHeavier Petting by Brien PiechosEngines, O-Rings, and Astronauts by Jason M. FylanLemming by Terence James EelesThe Routine by Keith BuieSurvived by Gus MorenoZombie Whorehouse by Daniel W. Broallt
Permanent Record
by Edward Snowden
Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Politics, Memoir, History, Audiobook, Technology
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.31

Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down.In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it.Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online—a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.
M. Butterfly
by David Henry Hwang
Genres: Plays, Drama, Fiction, Classics, School, Theatre, Historical Fiction
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.92

Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and soon to be back on Broadway in a revival directed by the Lion King's Julie Taymor, starring Clive Owen "A brilliant play of ideas... a visionary work that bridges the history and culture of two worlds."--Frank Rich, New York TimesBased on a true story that stunned the world, and inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly, M. Butterfly was an immediate sensation when it premiered in 1988. It opens in the cramped prison cell where diplomat Rene Gallimard is being held captive by the French government--and by his own illusions. He recalls a time when Song Liling, the beautiful Chinese diva, touched him with a love as vivid, as seductive--and as elusive--as a butterfly.How could he have known that his true love was, in fact, a spy for the Chinese government--and a man disguised as a woman? The diplomat relives the twenty-year affair from the temptation to the seduction, from its consummation to the scandal that ultimately consumed them both.M. Butterfly is one of the most compelling, explosive, and slyly humorous dramas ever to light the Broadway stage, a work of unrivaled brilliance, illuminating the conflict between men and women, the differences between East and West, racial stereotypes--and the shadows we cast around our most cherished illusions.The original cast included John Lithgow as Gallimard and BD Wong as Song Liling. During the show's 777-performance run, David Dukes, Anthony Hopkins, Tony Randall, and John Rubinstein were also cast as Gallimard. Hwang adapted the play for a 1993 film directed by David Cronenberg, starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone.TEXT OF THE BROADWAY REVIVAL
Galileo
by Bertolt Brecht
Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, Fiction, German Literature, School, Theatre
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.68

Considered by many to be one of Brecht's masterpieces, Galileo explores the question of a scientist's social and ethical responsibility, as the brilliant Galileo must choose between his life and his life's work when confronted with the demands of the Inquisition. Through the dramatic characterization of the famous physicist, Brecht examines the issues of scientific morality and the difficult relationship between the intellectual and authority. This version of the play is the famous one that was brought to completion by Brecht himself, working with Charles Laughton, who played Galileo in the first two American productions (Hollywood and New York, 1947). Since then the play has become a classic in the world repertoire. "The play which most strongly stamped on my mind a sense of Brecht's great stature as an artist of the modern theatre was Galileo." - Harold Clurman; "Thoughtful and profoundly sensitive." - Newsweek.
The Last Mile (Amos Decker, #2)
by David Baldacci
Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Suspense
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.23

Convicted murderer Melvin Mars is counting down the last hours before his execution--for the violent killing of his parents twenty years earlier--when he's granted an unexpected reprieve. Another man has confessed to the crime.Amos Decker, newly hired on an FBI special task force, takes an interest in Mars's case after discovering the striking similarities to his own life: Both men were talented football players with promising careers cut short by tragedy. Both men's families were brutally murdered. And in both cases, another suspect came forward, years after the killing, to confess to the crime. A suspect who may or may not have been telling the truth.The confession has the potential to make Melvin Mars--guilty or not--a free man. Who wants Mars out of prison? And why now?But when a member of Decker's team disappears, it becomes clear that something much larger--and more sinister--than just one convicted criminal's life hangs in the balance. Decker will need all of his extraordinary brainpower to stop an innocent man from being executed.