Eitanli/goodreads huggingface dataset:
Torn Together
by Emlyn Chand
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.13

Why does growing up have to be so difficult? Daly English is having a harder time than most. Her future as an artist is unclear, her relationship with her mother is damaged beyond repair, and—to top it all off—her long-term boyfriend is having an affair. When Daly befriends two unlikely individuals—first a pregnant teen, and then a light-hearted charmer from India—her cynicism begins to melt away. Meghann provides insight into Daly's life and an endless stream of good advice, comforting Daly despite her own less fortunate position. Kashi proves he cares too much about Daly to let her fade into the background of her own life. After a series of false starts, their quirky romance carries them to India, where Daly must win the approval of Kashi's family in order to seal their "forever."Will these friendships be enough to turn around Daly's directionless life? Will she move past the hurt and learn to trust again? Or will her mother, once again, ruin everything she's worked so hard to achieve? Torn Together, Emlyn Chand's first sojourn into Literary New Adult Fiction, weaves a tale of friendship, dreams, and a lingering loss, while illustrating how our similarities often drive us apart.
Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company
by Multatuli
Genres: Classics, Fiction, Dutch Literature, Literature, Historical Fiction, School, 19th Century
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.53

Max Havelaar - a Dutch civil servant in Java - burns with an insatiable desire to end the ill treatment and oppression inflicted on the native peoples by the colonial administration. Max is an inspirational figure, but he is also a flawed idealist whose vow to protect the Javanese from cruelty ends in his own downfall. In Max Havelaar, Multatuli (the pseudonym for Eduard Douwes Dekker) vividly recreated his own experiences in Java and tellingly depicts the hypocrisy of those who gained from the corrupt coffee trade. Sending shockwaves through the Dutch nation when it was published in 1860, this damning exposé of the terrible conditions in the colonies led to welfare reforms in Java and continues to inspire the fairtrade movement today.Roy Edwards's vibrant translation conveys the satirical and innovative style of Multatuli's autobiographical polemic. In his introduction, R. P. Meijer discusses the author's tempestuous life and career, the controversy the novel aroused and its unusual narrative structure.
Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
by Noam Chomsky
Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, History, Sociology, Psychology, Society
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.02

Noam Chomsky’s backpocket classic on wartime propaganda and opinion control begins by asserting two models of democracy—one in which the public actively participates, and one in which the public is manipulated and controlled. According to Chomsky, "propaganda is to democracy as the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state," and the mass media is the primary vehicle for delivering propaganda in the United States. From an examination of how Woodrow Wilson’s Creel Commission "succeeded, within six months, in turning a pacifist population into a hysterical, war-mongering population," to Bush Sr.'s war on Iraq, Chomsky examines how the mass media and public relations industries have been used as propaganda to generate public support for going to war. Chomsky further touches on how the modern public relations industry has been influenced by Walter Lippmann’s theory of "spectator democracy," in which the public is seen as a "bewildered herd" that needs to be directed, not empowered; and how the public relations industry in the United States focuses on "controlling the public mind," and not on informing it. Media Control is an invaluable primer on the secret workings of disinformation in democratic societies.From the Audiobook Download edition.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #2)
by Douglas Adams
Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Fantasy, Comedy, Classics, Science Fiction Fantasy
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.21

alternate edition for ISBN 0345418921/9780345418920Facing annihilation at the hands of the warlike Vogons is a curious time to have a cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his curious comrades in arms as they hurtle through space powered by pure improbability - and desperately in search of a place to eat. Among Arthur's motley shipmates are Ford Prefect, a long-time friend and contributor to the The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Zaphod Beeblebrox, the three-armed, two-headed ex-president of the galaxy; Tricia McMilan, a fellow Earth refuge who's gone native (her name is Trillian now); and Marvin, who suffers nothing and no one gladly.Source: douglasadams.com
The Maze of Cadiz
by Aly Monroe
Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Spain
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.49

Sent to Spain in 1944 to arrest a rogue spy, British agent Peter Cotton expects an easy first assignment. But he arrives to find his quarry dead and all of Cadiz awaiting his arrival. In a hotbed of scandal and murder, Cotton must navigate a labyrinth of international conspiracies, shifting political allegiances, and a mysterious local expatriate community to discover the truth. What he unearths could just tilt the emerging balance of post-war power and the course of history for ever.
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
by Martin Lings
Genres: Islam, Religion, History, Biography, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Theology
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.57

Martin Lings’ biography of Muhammad is an internationally acclaimed, comprehensive, and authoritative account of the life of the prophet. Based on the sira, the eighth- and ninth-century Arabic biographies that recount numerous events in the prophet’s life, it contains original English translations of many important passages that reveal the words of men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life.Scrupulous and exhaustive in its fidelity to its sources, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources is presented in a narrative style that is easily comprehensible, yet authentic and inspiring in its use of language, reflecting both the simplicity and grandeur of the story it tells. This revised edition includes new sections detailing the prophet’s expanding influence and his spreading of the message of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states. It represents the final updates made to the text before the author’s death in 2005. The book has been published in 12 languages and has received numerous awards, including acknowledgment as best biography of the prophet in English at the National Seerate Conference in Islamabad.
13 Little Blue Envelopes (Little Blue Envelope, #1)
by Maureen Johnson
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Fiction, Travel, Chick Lit, Realistic Fiction
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.63

Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket.In envelope 2 are directions to a specific London flat.The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: Find a starving artist.Because of envelope 4, Ginny and a playwright/thief/ bloke about town called Keith go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous though utterly romantic results. But will she ever see him again?Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it's all because of the 13 little blue envelopes.Ages 12+"
And Then it Rained: Lessons for Life
by Megan Morrison
Genres: Memoir
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.43

"Would you do it again… would you give Maya the letter?"Some who know what happened have asked that question, as if I could actually turn back time. Would I give her the letter, knowing it would push away the person who’d been my comfort through my dad’s alcoholism and parents’ divorce? Knowing that it would destroy a friendship I’d worked years to build, and that I’d have to endure lies and unkindness from someone I believed in more than any other?…knowing that the fallout would inspire me to attend my dream college; knowing I'd conquer homesickness and so many other fears there; knowing I'd make friends who'd become like family; knowing I'd find rewards I could have never imagined?"And Then it Rained: Lessons for Life" is the story of how I lost my most trusted confidant… and found myself.
Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast
by Nigella Lawson
Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, Foodie, Food and Drink
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.95

This is the first time that we've ever launched a cookbook alongside a brand new show. Nigella's ratings are through the roof, and she was recently featured in In Style. The cookbook is all of the delicious foods Nigella is known for but the emphasis is on fast, really fast! This is for everyone who loves good food, but just doesn't have time or patience at the end of the day for a long, drawn-out cooking session. More than 130 recipes!
The Story About Ping
by Marjorie Flack
Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Animals, Classics, China, Asia
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.15

Ping was an adventurous duck who lived on a beautiful wise-eyed boat on the Yangtze River. He liked his life on the riverboat just and liked his large family and his kind master. He didn't like to be the last in line to board the boat at night, for that unlucky duck got a loud spank. So what did Ping do when it seemed that he would be the last on line? What else but set out on his own to explore the fascinating world of life on the Yangtze River.The Story about Ping is one of the best-loved and enduring children's books, both for its spirited and irrepressible hero and for its beautiful evocation of a distant land and way of life. Every child can sympathize with a dawdling duck who wants to avoid a spanking, and share his excitement and wonder as he sails down the river.
English Passengers
by Matthew Kneale
Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Australia, Historical, Travel, Adventure, Tasmania
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.06

In 1857 when Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley and his band of rum smugglers from the Isle of Man have most of their contraband confiscated by British Customs, they are forced to put their ship up for charter. The only takers are two eccentric Englishmen who want to embark for the other side of the globe. The Reverend Geoffrey Wilson believes the Garden of Eden was on the island of Tasmania. His traveling partner, Dr. Thomas Potter, unbeknownst to Wilson, is developing a sinister thesis about the races of men.Meanwhile, an aboriginal in Tasmania named Peevay recounts his people’s struggles against the invading British, a story that begins in 1824, moves into the present with approach of the English passengers in 1857, and extends into the future in 1870. These characters and many others come together in a storm of voices that vividly bring a past age to life.
The Farthest Shore (Earthsea Cycle, #3)
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult, Classics, Science Fiction Fantasy, High Fantasy, Magic
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.12

Book Three of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea CycleDarkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: the world and its wizards are losing their magic. Despite being wearied with age, Ged Sparrowhawk -- Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord -- embarks on a daring, treacherous journey, accompanied by Enlad's young Prince Arren, to discover the reasons behind this devastating pattern of loss. Together they will sail to the farthest reaches of their world -- even beyond the realm of death -- as they seek to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.With millions of copies sold worldwide, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere, alongside the works of such beloved authors as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.
The Female of the Species
by Mindy McGinnis
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Feminism, Audiobook
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.16

A contemporary YA novel that examines rape culture through alternating perspectives. Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.
In the Meantime: Finding Yourself and the Love You Want
by Iyanla Vanzant
Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Relationships, Spirituality, Psychology, Personal Development, Inspirational
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.12

“The most powerful spiritual healer, fixer, teacher on the planet.” —Oprah WinfreyThe #1 national bestseller from the host of the show Iyanla: Fix My Life on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) that answers the question: What’s love got to do with it in the meantime?You know where you want to be, but you have no clue how to get there. You know exactly what you want in life, but what you want is nowhere in sight. Perhaps your vision is unclear, your purpose still undefined. On top of it all, your relationships, particularly your romantic relationships, are failing. If these scenarios feel familiar way down in the deepest part of your gut—then you, my dear, are smack dab in the middle of the meantime.Every living being wants to experience the light of love. The problem is that our windows are dirty! The windows of our hearts and minds are streaked with past pains and hurts, past memories and disappointments. In this book, Iyanla Vanzant teaches us how to do our mental housekeeping so that we can clean the windows, floors, walls, closets, and corners of our minds. If we do a good job, our spirits will shine bringing in the light of true love and happiness.
F*ck Feelings: One Shrink's Practical Advice for Managing All Life's Impossible Problems
by Michael I. Bennett
Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Mental Health, Humor, Personal Development, Health
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.45

New York Times BestsellerThe only self-help book you’ll ever need, from a psychiatrist and his comedy writer daughter, who will help you put aside your unrealistic wishes, stop trying to change things you can’t change, and do the best with what you can control—the first steps to managing all of life’s impossible problems.Here is the cut-to-the-chase therapy session you’ve been looking for!Need to stop screwing up? Want to become a more positive person?Do you work with an ass? Think you can rescue an addicted person?Looking for closure after abuse? Have you realized that your parent is an asshole?Feel compelled to clear your name? Hope to salvage a lost love?Want to get a lover to commit? Plagued by a bully?Afraid of ruining your kid? Ready to vent your anger?In this brilliantly sensible and funny book, a Harvard-educated shrink and his comedy-writing daughter reveal that the real f-words in life are “feelings” and “fairness.” While most self-help books are about your feelings and fulfilling your wildest dreams, F*ck Feelings will show you how to find a new kind of freedom by getting your head out of your ass and yourself onto the right path toward realistic goals and feasible results. F*ck Feelings is the last self-help book you will ever need!
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Psychology, Business, Economics, Finance, Science
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.79

The Bed of Procrustes  is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. The other books in the series are  Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, Antifragile,  and  Skin in the Game.By the author of the modern classic The Black Swan , this collection of aphorisms and meditations expresses his major ideas in ways you least expect.The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristic side effects—modifying humans to satisfy technology, blaming reality for not fitting economic models, inventing diseases to sell drugs, defining intelligence as what can be tested in a classroom, and convincing people that employment is not slavery.Playful and irreverent, these aphorisms will surprise you by exposing self-delusions you have been living with but never recognized.With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom, Taleb plows through human illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance, and erudition against the modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phoniness.“Taleb’s crystalline nuggets of thought stand alone like esoteric poems.”— Financial Times
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
by Charles Mackay
Genres: History, Nonfiction, Psychology, Economics, Finance, Business, Sociology
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.84

First published in 1841, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is often cited as the best book ever written about market psychology. This Harriman House edition includes Charles Mackay's account of the three infamous financial manias - John Law's Mississipi Scheme, the South Sea Bubble, and Tulipomania.Between the three of them, these historic episodes confirm that greed and fear have always been the driving forces of financial markets, and, furthermore, that being sensible and clever is no defence against the mesmeric allure of a popular craze with the wind behind it.In writing the history of the great financial manias, Charles Mackay proved himself a master chronicler of social as well as financial history. Blessed with a cast of characters that covered all the vices, gifted a passage of events which was inevitably heading for disaster, and with the benefit of hindsight, he produced a record that is at once a riveting thriller and absorbing historical document. A century and a half later, it is as vibrant and lurid as the day it was written.For modern-day investors, still reeling from the dotcom crash, the moral of the popular manias scarcely needs spelling out. When the next stock market bubble comes along, as it surely will, you are advised to recall the plight of some of the unfortunates on these pages, and avoid getting dragged under the wheels of the careering bandwagon yourself.
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (Miss Marple, #9)
by Agatha Christie
Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Classics, Mystery Thriller, Detective, British Literature
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.95

One minute, silly Heather Badcock had been gabbing on to her movie idol, the glamorous Marina Gregg. The next, Heather suffered a massive seizure. It turned out to be a deadly poison. But for whom was it really intended?Marina’s frozen expression suggested she had witnessed something horrific. While others searched for material evidence, Jane Marple conducted a very different investigation – into human nature.Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Goodreads. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Goodreads for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma (The Mysterious Benedict Society, #3)
by Trenton Lee Stewart
Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adventure, Childrens, Fantasy
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.29

IF YOU FAIL,ALL IS LOST.Join the Mysterious Benedict Society as Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance embark on a daring new adventure that threatens to force them apart from their families, friends, and even each other. When an unexplained blackout engulfs Stonetown, the foursome must unravel clues relating to a nefarious new plot, while their search for answers brings them closer to danger than ever before.
Double Indemnity
by James M. Cain
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Noir, Classics, Crime, Thriller, Mystery Thriller
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.06

Tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful, Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1935, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.Walter Huff was an insurance salesman with an unfailing instinct for clients who might be in trouble, and his instinct led him to Phyllis Nirdlinger. Phyllis wanted to buy an accident policy on her husband. Then she wanted her husband to have an accident. Walter wanted Phyllis. To get her, he would arrange the perfect murder and betray everything he had ever lived for.
The Law of Attraction (Lawyers in Love, #1)
by N.M. Silber
Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Humor, Chick Lit, Adult, New Adult
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.76

Once upon a time, two lawyers fell in love …Gabrielle Ginsberg was a public defender with plenty of nerve and Braden Pierce was an assistant district attorney with a whole lot of swagger. Gabrielle wanted Braden and Braden wanted Gabrielle.And Cameron wanted Gabrielle.And Marla wanted Braden.And Cole wanted Gabrielle. And Mrs. Mason wanted Braden.And an anonymous letter writer wanted to keep Gabrielle and Braden apart. Together Gabrielle and Braden discovered many important things, like which doors at the courthouse actually locked, and that desks could be useful for more than writing. They also found out that the path of love was not always smooth, and it was sometimes trod upon by some really wacky people, like a confused fanny grabber, an eighty-two year old pothead and a gentleman who threw a wine and cheese party in his pants. Could true love overcome a lack of privacy, interference by jealous rivals and the insanity of the criminal court system? NOTICE: This book contains explicit descriptions of sexual situations and mature language. It is intended for readers over the age of eighteen.
I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity
by Izzeldin Abuelaish
Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, History, War, Politics, Autobiography
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.27

By turns inspiring and heart-breaking, hopeful and horrifying, I Shall Not Hate is Izzeldin Abuelaish's account of an extraordinary life. A Harvard-trained Palestinian doctor who was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and "who has devoted his life to medicine and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians" (New York Times), Abuelaish has been crossing the lines in the sand that divide Israelis and Palestinians for most of his life - as a physician who treats patients on both sides of the line, as a humanitarian who sees the need for improved health and education for women as the way forward in the Middle East. And, most recently, as the father whose daughters were killed by Israeli soldiers on January 16, 2009, during Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip. His response to this tragedy made news and won him humanitarian awards around the world. Instead of seeking revenge or sinking into hatred, Abuelaish called for the people in the region to start talking to each other. His deepest hope is that his daughters will be "the last sacrifice on the road to peace between Palestinians and Israelis."