Eitanli/goodreads huggingface dataset:
Betrayal of Justice (Zachary Blake Betrayal, #2)
by Mark M. Bello
Genres: Fiction, Thriller
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.26

This very topical, controversial, and prophetic novel is set in Washington D.C. and Dearborn, Michigan. In Washington D.C., a newly-elected president promises, in his inaugural speech, to “make America pure again.” In Dearborn, Michigan, a young Muslim woman, Arya Khan, watches President John’s acceptance speech in horror while a a few miles away, a white supremacist, Keith Blackwell, watches the same speech with pure joy. Inspired by the new president's rhetoric, Blackwell fire bombs a local mosque. The Dearborn Police promise to investigate, but Arya fears that these cops are indifferent to the Muslim community and will not vigorously investigate. She takes matters into her own hands and conducts her own 'private investigation'. Arya identifies a suspect, follows him, and witnesses his brutal murder. She calls 9-1-1 and rushes to render aid, but when the police arrive, all evidence points to Arya as the murderer; she’s arrested, jailed and formally charged.When the news story reaches the president, he seeks to deport Arya's immigrant parents. Zachary Blake (the central character of Bello’s debut legal thriller, Betrayal of Faith) returns as the trial lawyer for the family and drama plays out in both criminal and immigration courtrooms. But as the Dearborn Police seek to complete their investigation, an organization of white supremacists tries to thwart any attempt to tie their group to the murder and mayhem. Can Zachary Blake and his crack private investigator, Micah Love, save Aria from a murder charge and her parents from deportation? Can this innocent family expect justice in this new, "pure" America, an America that has lost its way?Betrayal of Justice is the second installment of the Zachary Blake Betrayal Legal Thriller Series by attorney/author Mark M. Bello. Fans of John Grisham and Scott Turow will enjoy comparisons to current events, as well as Bello's ability to captivate readers in an intriguing courtroom drama. This is a legal and political thriller with intriguing characters, nonstop action and a plot that is anything but predictable.
Betrayal In Blue (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #3)
by Mark M. Bello
Genres: Contemporary, Epic, Thriller
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.33

“Cut off the head of the snake and another will grow in its place.”  Part crime drama, part legal thriller, Betrayal in Blue follows the return of Zachary Blake and Jack Dylan as they fight law enforcement itself in picturesque Manistee, Michigan.  Following its triumph over white supremacists in the field and in the courtroom, law enforcement in the city of Dearborn, Michigan has enjoyed relative tranquility. Unfortunately, not for long, as a second (and more dangerous) syndicate and its leader plot revenge for their fallen brothers. Their scheme? To steal and release deadly Sarin gas in the city.  Police Captain Jack Dylan and his team are dedicated to thwarting the plot and bringing the culprits to justice. However, with a terrorist threat in play, the FBI usurps the investigation. However, Jack Dylan never backs away from a case or a fight. When the white supremacy leader evades the FBI's dragnet, Jack goes rogue and hunts him down in Manistee.  The inevitable standoff finds Dylan alone with his nemesis in an unfamiliar city with no FBI or local law enforcement to support him. His plans go awry, and Jack finds himself arrested by local authorities and placed on trial for his actions.  Attorney Zachary Blake comes to his defense in the biggest trial this quiet community has ever seen. The local cops and the FBI think they have a winner, but Zack and his lead investigator, Micah Love, believe there’s more to the story than meets the eye.  This exciting legal thriller concludes with a dramatic showdown that has become the trademark of award-winning author Mark M. Bello who is, once again, at the top of his game.
The City of Dreaming Books (Zamonia, #4)
by Walter Moers
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Books About Books, German Literature, Humor, Young Adult, Adventure
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.38

The author of 13 1⁄2 Lives of Captain Bluebear transports us to a magical world. Optimus Yarnspinner finds himself marooned in the subterranean world of Bookholm, the City of Dreaming Books, where reading can be dangerous, where ruthless Bookhunters fight to the death.Optimus Yarnspinner, a young writer, inherits from his beloved godfather an unpublished short story by an unknown author. His search for the author's identity takes him to Bookholm--the so-called City of Dreaming Books. On entering its streets, our hero feels as if he has opened the door of a gigantic second-hand bookshop. His nostrils are assailed by clouds of book dust, the stimulating scent of ancient leather, and the tang of printer's ink.Soon, though, Yarnspinner falls into the clutches of the city's evil genius, Pfistomel Smyke, who treacherously maroons him in the labyrinthine catacombs underneath the city, where reading books can be genuinely dangerous...
Bad Feminist
by Roxane Gay
Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Essays, Memoir, Audiobook, Womens, Race
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.94

Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue.In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman of color while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years and commenting on the state of feminism today. The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better.Feel me, see me, hear me, reach me --Peculiar benefits --Typical first year professor --To scratch, claw or grope clumsily or frantically --How to be friends with another woman --Girls, girls, girls --I once was Miss America --Garish, glorious spectacles --Not here to make friends --How we all lose --Reaching for catharsis : getting fat right (or wrong) and Diana Spechler's Skinny --The smooth surfaces of idyll --The careless language of sexual violence --What we hunger for --The illusion of safety/the safety of illusion --The spectacle of broken men --A tale of three coming out stories --Beyond the measure of men --Some jokes are funnier than others --Dear young ladies who love Chris Brown --So much they would let him beat them --Blurred lines, indeed --The trouble with Prince Charming, or, He who trespassed against us --The solace of preparing fried foods and other quaint remembrances from 1960s Mississippi : thoughts on The help --Surviving Django --Beyond the struggle narrative --The morality of Tyler Perry --The last day of a young black man --When less is more --The politics of respectability --When Twitter does what journalism cannot --The alienable rights of women --Holding out for a hero --A tale of two profiles --The racism we all carry --Tragedy, call, compassion, response --Bad feminist : take one --Bad feminist : take two
Earth Abides
by George R. Stewart
Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Classics, Science Fiction Fantasy
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.95

A disease of unparalleled destructive force has sprung up almost simultaneously in every corner of the globe, all but destroying the human race. One survivor, strangely immune to the effects of the epidemic, ventures forward to experience a world without man. What he ultimately discovers will prove far more astonishing than anything he'd either dreaded or hoped for.
Sphere
by Michael Crichton
Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Horror, Mystery, Suspense, Science Fiction Fantasy
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.82

In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface of the water, a huge vessel is discovered resting on the ocean floor. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old.
Life After Life (Todd Family, #1)
by Kate Atkinson
Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Time Travel, Audiobook, Literary Fiction
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.77

What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war. Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can - will she?
A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander, #6)
by Diana Gabaldon
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction, Time Travel, Historical, Historical Romance
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.43

A Breath of Snow and Ashes continues the extraordinary story of 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his 20th-century wife, Claire.The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution, the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Men lie dead in the streets of Boston, and in the backwoods of North Carolina, isolated cabins burn in the forest.With chaos brewing, the governor calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony for King and Crown. But from his wife Jamie knows that three years hence the shot heard round the world will be fired, and the result will be independence — with those loyal to the King either dead or in exile. And there is also the matter of a tiny clipping from The Wilmington Gazette, dated 1776, which reports Jamie’s death, along with his kin. For once, he hopes, his time-traveling family may be wrong about the future.
The Right Stuff
by Tom Wolfe
Genres: Nonfiction, History, Space, Science, Biography, American History, Classics
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.22

Tom Wolfe began The Right Stuff at a time when it was unfashionable to contemplate American heroism. Nixon had left the White House in disgrace, the nation was reeling from the catastrophe of Vietnam, and in 1979--the year the book appeared--Americans were being held hostage by Iranian militants. Yet it was exactly the anachronistic courage of his subjects that captivated Wolfe. In his foreword, he notes that as late as 1970, almost one in four career Navy pilots died in accidents. "The Right Stuff," he explains, "became a story of why men were willing--willing?--delighted!--to take on such odds in this, an era literary people had long since characterized as the age of the anti-hero."  Wolfe's roots in New Journalism were intertwined with the nonfiction novel that Truman Capote had pioneered with In Cold Blood. As Capote did, Wolfe tells his story from a limited omniscient perspective, dropping into the lives of his "characters" as each in turn becomes a major player in the space program. After an opening chapter on the terror of being a test pilot's wife, the story cuts back to the late 1940s, when Americans were first attempting to break the sound barrier. Test pilots, we discover, are people who live fast lives with dangerous machines, not all of them airborne. Chuck Yeager was certainly among the fastest, and his determination to push through Mach 1--a feat that some had predicted would cause the destruction of any aircraft--makes him the book's guiding spirit. Yet soon the focus shifts to the seven initial astronauts. Wolfe traces Alan Shepard's suborbital flight and Gus Grissom's embarrassing panic on the high seas (making the controversial claim that Grissom flooded his Liberty capsule by blowing the escape hatch too soon). The author also produces an admiring portrait of John Glenn's apple-pie heroism and selfless dedication. By the time Wolfe concludes with a return to Yeager and his late-career exploits, the narrative's epic proportions and literary merits are secure. Certainly The Right Stuff is the best, the funniest, and the most vivid book ever written about America's manned space program. --Patrick O'Kelley
The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy, #1)
by Amish Tripathi
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Mythology, Indian Literature, Historical Fiction, India, Amish
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.12

1900 BC. In what modern Indians mistakenly call the Indus Valley Civilisation. The inhabitants of that period called it the land of Meluha a near perfect empire created many centuries earlier by Lord Ram, one of the greatest monarchs that ever lived. This once proud empire and its Suryavanshi rulers face severe perils as its primary river, the revered Saraswati, is slowly drying to extinction. They also face devastating terrorist attacks from the east, the land of the Chandravanshis. To make matters worse, the Chandravanshis appear to have allied with the Nagas, an ostracised and sinister race of deformed humans with astonishing martial skills!The only hope for the Suryavanshis is an ancient legend: When evil reaches epic proportions, when all seems lost, when it appears that your enemies have triumphed, a hero will emerge.Is the rough-hewn Tibetan immigrant Shiva, really that hero? And does he want to be that hero at all? Drawn suddenly to his destiny, by duty as well as by love, will Shiva lead the Suryavanshi vengeance and destroy evil?
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
by David Sedaris
Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir, Audiobook, Short Stories, Comedy
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.84

A guy walks into a bar car and...From here the story could take many turns. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humor and intelligence and leave you deeply moved. Sedaris remembers his father's dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy. With Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris shows once again why his work has been called "hilarious, elegant, and surprisingly moving" (Washington Post).Machine generated contents note: Dentists Without BordersAttaboyThink DifferenterMemory LapsA Friend in the GhettoLoggerheadsIf I Ruled the WorldEasy, TigerLaugh, KookaburraStanding StillJust a Quick E-mailA Guy Walks into a Bar CarAuthor, AuthorObama!!!!!Standing ByI Break for Traditional MarriageUnderstanding Understanding Owls#2 to GoHealth-Care Freedoms and Why I Want My Country BackNow Hiring Friendly PeopleRubbishDay In, Day OutMind the GapA Cold CaseThe Happy Place
Why We Never Repeat Jokes?
by Ramzy Sweis
Genres: Humor, Young Adult, Contemporary, Novels, New Adult, Cultural, Adult
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.23

Sit-down comedy? A phenom that should never be a phenomenon. Late great comedians Robin Williams, Charlie Murphy, Joan Rivers, Greg Giraldo, Don Rickles are turning over in their graves with a thorn in their side. Take my word: Share & salvage the little wit being reserved by the only true /real comedian to have ever graced the stage. Otherwise you ought'a be ashamed of yourselves!
Stage Fright
by Diane L. Kowalyshyn
Genres: Fiction, Epic, Drama
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.42

Broadway actress Skye Andrews inherits a journal from her soothsaying aunt, and sets her career aside to fulfil her aunt’s final wishes to be buried in the family plot in Kilmarnock, Scotland. Captain Jet Dalry, a recuperating war veteran, helps Skye slice through the cemetery’s red tape. Despite their mutual attraction and her persistence, Jet is a tormented man who repeatedly pushes her away.  Skye discovers the journal is enchanted. It reveals how Skye and her aunt lived parallel lives. Under its magical lens, Skye discovers a jealous psychopath is stalking her. Will the mystical unveiling be enough to save the man she loves from certain death?
Raintree County
by Ross Lockridge Jr.
Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, Novels, Civil War, Romance, War
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.95

Throughout a single day in 1892, John Shawnessy recalls the great moments of his lifefrom the love affairs of his youth in Indiana, to the battles of the Civil War, to the politics of the Gilded Age, to his homecoming as schoolteacher, husband, and father. Shawnessy is the epitome of the place and period in which he lives, a rural land of springlike women, shady gamblers, wandering vagabonds, and soapbox orators. Yet here on the banks of the Shawmucky River, which weaves its primitive course through Raintree County, Indiana, he also feels and obeys ancient rhythms. A number-one bestseller when it was first published in 1948, this powerful novel is a compelling vision of 19th-century America with timeless resonance.
The Sea of Tranquility
by Katja Millay
Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, New Adult, Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Abuse
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.29

I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space. Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.
18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done
by Peter Bregman
Genres: Self Help, Business, Nonfiction, Productivity, Personal Development, Psychology, Leadership
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.80

Based upon his weekly Harvard Business Review columns (which is one of the most popular columns on HBR.com, receiving hundreds of thousands of unique page views a month), 18 MINUTES clearly shows how busy people can cut through all the daily clutter and distractions and find a way to focus on those key items which are truly the top priorities in our lives.Bregman works from the premise that the best way to combat constant and distracting interruptions is to create productive distractions of one's own. Based upon a series of short bite-sized chapters, his approach allows us to safely navigate through the constant chatter of emails, text messages, phone calls, and endless meetings that prevent us from focusing our time on those things that are truly important to us.Mixing first-person insights along with unique case studies, Bregman sprinkles his charming book with pathways which help guide us -- pathways that can get us on the right trail in 18 minutes or less.
The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)
by Lev Grossman
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Adult, Audiobook
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.53

A thrilling and original coming-of-age novel for adults about a young man practicing magic in the real world.Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery. He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart. At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.
Intensity
by Dean Koontz
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Crime
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.04

Past midnight, Chyna Shepard, twenty-six, gazes out a moonlit window, unable to sleep on her first night in the Napa Valley home of her best friend's family. Instinct proves reliable. A murderous sociopath, Edgler Foreman Vess, has entered the house, intent on killing everyone inside. A self-proclaimed "homicidal adventurer," Vess lives only to satisfy all appetites as they arise, to immerse himself in sensation, to live without fear, remorse or limits, to live with "intensity." Chyna is trapped in his deadly orbit. Chyna is a survivor, toughened by a lifelong struggle for safety and self-respect. Now she will be tested as never before. At first, her sole aim is to get out alive - until, by chance, she learns the identity of Vess's next intended victim, a faraway innocent only she can save. Driven by a newly discovered thirst for meaning beyond mere self-preservation, Chyna musters every inner resource she has to save an endangered girl... as moment by moment, the terrifying threat of Edgler Foreman Vess intensifies.
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
by Erik Larson
Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Biography, American History, Historical, Audiobook
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.04

September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Even Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau failed to grasp the true meaning of the strange deep-sea swells and peculiar winds that greeted the city that morning. Mere hours later, Galveston found itself submerged in a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over six thousand people in what remains the greatest natural disaster in American history--and Isaac Cline found himself the victim of a devastating personal tragedy.Using Cline's own telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude. Riveting, powerful, and unbearably suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature.