Eitanli/goodreads huggingface dataset:
Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
by Tom Robbins
Genres: Fiction, Humor, Novels, Literature, Contemporary, Comedy, Modern
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.03

“As clever and witty a novel as anyone has written in a long time . . . Robbins takes readers on a wild, delightful ride. . . . A delight from beginning to end.”— Buffalo NewsSwitters is a contradiction for all seasons: an anarchist who works for the government; a pacifist who carries a gun; a vegetarian who sops up ham gravy; a cyberwhiz who hates computers; a man who, though obsessed with the preservation of innocence, is aching to deflower his high-school-age stepsister (only to become equally enamored of a nun ten years his senior). Yet there is nothing remotely wishy-washy about Switters. He doesn’t merely pack a pistol. He is a pistol. And as we dog Switters’s strangely elevated heels across four continents, in and out of love and danger, discovering in the process the “true” Third Secret of Fatima, we experience Tom Robbins—that fearless storyteller, spiritual renegade, and verbal break dancer—at the top of his game. On one level this is a fast-paced CIA adventure story with comic overtones; on another it’s a serious novel of ideas that brings the Big Picture into unexpected focus; but perhaps more than anything else, Fierce Invalids is a sexy celebration of language and life.Praise for Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates“Superb.” — New York Post “Dangerous? Wicked? Forbidden? You bet. . . . Pour yourself a bowl of chips and dig in.” — Daily News , New York “Robbins is a great writer . . . and definitely a provocative rascal.” — The Tennessean“Whoever said truth is stranger than fiction never read a Tom Robbins novel. . . Clever, creative, and witty, Robbins tosses off impassioned observations like handfuls of flower petals.” — San Diego Union-Tribune
Wintergirls
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Mental Health, Realistic Fiction, Mental Illness, Teen
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.96

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in fragile bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the thinnest. But then Cassie suffers the ultimate loss—her life—and Lia is left behind, haunted by her friend's memory, and feeling guilty for not being able to help save her.In her most powerfully moving novel since Speak, award-winning author, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia's struggle, her painful path to recovery, and her desperate attempts to hold on to the most important thing of all—hope.
Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't
by Stephen Prothero
Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History, Theology, Spirituality, Education, Philosophy
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.63

The United States is one of the most religious places on earth, but it is also a nation of shocking religious illiteracy. Despite this lack of basic knowledge, politicians and pundits continue to root public policy arguments in religious rhetoric whose meanings are missed—or misinterpreted—by the vast majority of Americans. "We have a major civic problem on our hands," says religion scholar Stephen Prothero. He makes the provocative case that to remedy this problem, we should return to teaching religion in the public schools. Alongside "reading, writing, and arithmetic," religion ought to become the "Fourth R" of American education. Many believe that America's descent into religious illiteracy was the doing of activist judges and secularists hell-bent on banishing religion from the public square. Prothero reveals that this is a profound misunderstanding. "In one of the great ironies of American religious history," Prothero writes, "it was the nation's most fervent people of faith who steered us down the road to religious illiteracy. Just how that happened is one of the stories this book has to tell." Prothero avoids the trap of religious relativism by addressing both the core tenets of the world's major religions and the real differences among them. Complete with a dictionary of the key beliefs, characters, and stories of Christianity, Islam, and other religions, Religious Literacy reveals what every American needs to know in order to confront the domestic and foreign challenges facing this country today.
Black Boy
by Richard Wright
Genres: Classics, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, African American, Race, Autobiography
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.08

Black Boy is a classic of American autobiography, a subtly crafted narrative of Richard Wright's journey from innocence to experience in the Jim Crow South. An enduring story of one young man's coming of age during a particular time and place, Black Boy remains a seminal text in our history about what it means to be a man, black, and Southern in America.
Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #2)
by Ransom Riggs
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Paranormal, Historical Fiction, Horror, Time Travel
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.06

September 3, 1940. Ten peculiar children flee an army of deadly monsters. And only one person can help them - but she's trapped in the body of a bird. The extraordinary journey that began in "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" continues as Jacob Portman and his newfound friends journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. There, they hope to find a cure for their beloved headmistress, Miss Peregrine.But in this war-torn city, hideous surprises lurk around every corner. And before Jacob can deliver the peculiar children to safety, he must make an important decision about his love for Emma Bloom.
The Call to Serve (The Serve, #1)
by Cece Whittaker
Genres: Fiction, Novels, Historical Fiction, Historical, Young Adult, New Adult, Adult
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.23

It was 1943 and things were heating up.Hearts broke everywhere as they prayed for the safety of their country. Friends Helen, Annie, Bernice & Joan struggled to hold onto devotion and service in a changing world. Would their loved ones survive the dark and destructive dangers of the War?When Helen’s husband Harry and Annie's Sylvester go MIA at the same time, Joan and Bernice are determined to keep their dear friends from losing faith. As Christmas approaches, they are all possessed of a very special kind of hope. But will their prayers be answered?
Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions
by Brian Christian
Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Psychology, Computer Science, Technology, Self Help, Business
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.13

A fascinating exploration of how insights from computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mindAll our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of new activities and familiar favorites is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not: computers, too, face the same constraints, so computer scientists have been grappling with their version of such issues for decades. And the solutions they've found have much to teach us.In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths show how the algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.
All Dreamers Go to America
by Ana Ingham
Genres: Drama, Novels, Fiction, Contemporary
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.24

Ana Ingham's delightful novel, All Dreamers Go to America, is a wonderful tale about a young man who has a dream, and embarks on a long and eventful road to capture it. Niko Salazar, a carpenter from Malta, is frustrated with his life. He makes an impetuous and life-changing decision-travel to America to find the love of his life, Ms. Parker, an American psychologist who recently visited his village. But Niko's wanderlust and heart-lust take him on a serendipitous and hilarious journey. This Mediterranean dreamer finds Saratoga, New York, Ms. Parker's hometown, a snow-ridden wonderland. Not to mention the fact that Ms. Parker is not returning any of his phone calls. Niko will go through some extraordinary experiences and meet a collection of charismatic characters while searching for his love-a Iroquois woman, a retired Vietnam vet, and an idealistic filmmaker-all dreamers searching for their own destiny. Will Niko find his Ms. Parker or will his dream of love and America be transformed into an unimaginable possibility? Ingham's novel is a delicious and mischievous romp with characters that come to life. Her sharp, observant voice makes a subtle, social and amusing commentary on the complexities of life, love, and the never-ending pursuit of happiness.
Empire of the Senseless
by Kathy Acker
Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Novels, Feminism, Literature, Queer, LGBT
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.67

Set in the near future, in a Paris devastated by revolution and disease, Empire of the Senseless is narrated by two terrorists and occasional lovers, Thivai, a pirate, and Abhor, part-robot part-human. Together and apart, the two undertake an odyssey of carnage, a holocaust of erotic. "An elegy for the world of our fathers," as Kathy Acker calls it, where the terrorists and the wretched of the earth are in command, marching down a road charted by Genet to a Marseillaise composed by Sade.
The Cherry Orchard
by Anton Chekhov
Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, Russia, Fiction, Russian Literature, Theatre
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.69

Published to tie in with the world premiere at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.In Chekhov's tragi-comedy - perhaps his most popular play - the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces, forces rooted deep in history, and in the society around them. Their estate is hopelessly in debt: urged to cut down their beautiful cherry orchard and sell the land for holiday cottages, they struggle to act decisively. Tom Murphy's fine vernacular version allows us to re-imagine the events of the play in the last days of Anglo-Irish colonialism. It gives this great play vivid new life within our own history and social consciousness.
The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way
by Bill Bryson
Genres: Nonfiction, History, Language, Linguistics, Humor, Audiobook, Writing
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.91

Only Bill Bryson could make a book about the English language so entertaining. With his boundless enthusiasm and restless eye for the absurd, this is his astonishing tour of English.From its mongrel origins to its status as the world's most-spoken tongue; its apparent simplicity to its deceptive complexity; its vibrant swearing to its uncertain spelling and pronunciation; Bryson covers all this as well as the many curious eccentricities that make it as maddening to learn as it is flexible to use.Bill Bryson's classic Mother Tongue is a highly readable and hilarious tale of how English came to be the world's language.
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
by Stephen Brusatte
Genres: Nonfiction, Science, History, Dinosaurs, Nature, Animals, Audiobook
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.19

The dinosaurs. Sixty-six million years ago, the Earth’s most fearsome creatures vanished. Today they remain one of our planet’s great mysteries. Now The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs reveals their extraordinary, 200-million-year-long story as never before.In this captivating narrative (enlivened with more than seventy original illustrations and photographs), Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost stars of the field—naming fifteen new species and leading groundbreaking scientific studies and fieldwork—masterfully tells the complete, surprising, and new history of the dinosaurs, drawing on cutting-edge science to dramatically bring to life their lost world and illuminate their enigmatic origins, spectacular flourishing, astonishing diversity, cataclysmic extinction, and startling living legacy. Captivating and revelatory, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a book for the ages.Brusatte traces the evolution of dinosaurs from their inauspicious start as small shadow dwellers—themselves the beneficiaries of a mass extinction caused by volcanic eruptions at the beginning of the Triassic period—into the dominant array of species every wide-eyed child memorizes today, T. rex, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, and more. This gifted scientist and writer re-creates the dinosaurs’ peak during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, when thousands of species thrived, and winged and feathered dinosaurs, the prehistoric ancestors of modern birds, emerged. The story continues to the end of the Cretaceous period, when a giant asteroid or comet struck the planet and nearly every dinosaur species (but not all) died out, in the most extraordinary extinction event in earth’s history, one full of lessons for today as we confront a “sixth extinction.”Brusatte also recalls compelling stories from his globe-trotting expeditions during one of the most exciting eras in dinosaur research—which he calls “a new golden age of discovery”—and offers thrilling accounts of some of the remarkable findings he and his colleagues have made, including primitive human-sized tyrannosaurs; monstrous carnivores even larger than T. rex; and paradigm-shifting feathered raptors from China.An electrifying scientific history that unearths the dinosaurs’ epic saga, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs will be a definitive and treasured account for decades to come.
Flight Behavior
by Barbara Kingsolver
Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Environment, Contemporary, Climate Change, Nature, Book Club
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.80

Flight Behavior takes on one of the most contentious subjects of our time: climate change. With a deft and versatile empathy Kingsolver dissects the motives that drive denial and belief in a precarious world.Flight Behavior transfixes from its opening scene, when a young woman's narrow experience of life is thrown wide with the force of a raging fire. In the lyrical language of her native Appalachia, Barbara Kingsolver bares the rich, tarnished humanity of her novel's inhabitants and unearths the modern complexities of rural existence. Characters and reader alike are quickly carried beyond familiar territory here, into the unsettled ground of science, faith, and everyday truces between reason and conviction. Dellarobia Turnbow is a restless farm wife who gave up her own plans when she accidentally became pregnant at seventeen. Now, after a decade of domestic disharmony on a failing farm, she has settled for permanent disappointment but seeks momentary escape through an obsessive flirtation with a younger man. As she hikes up a mountain road behind her house to a secret tryst, she encounters a shocking sight: a silent, forested valley filled with what looks like a lake of fire. She can only understand it as a cautionary miracle, but it sparks a raft of other explanations from scientists, religious leaders, and the media. The bewildering emergency draws rural farmers into unexpected acquaintance with urbane journalists, opportunists, sightseers, and a striking biologist with his own stake in the outcome. As the community lines up to judge the woman and her miracle, Dellarobia confronts her family, her church, her town, and a larger world, in a flight toward truth that could undo all she has ever believed. Flight Behavior takes on one of the most contentious subjects of our time: climate change. With a deft and versatile empathy Kingsolver dissects the motives that drive denial and belief in a precarious world.
Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, #5)
by Stephen King
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Westerns, Adventure, Audiobook
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.19

Roland and his tet have just returned to the path of the Beam when they discover that they are being followed by a group of inexperienced trackers. The trackers are from the town of Calla Bryn Sturgis, and they desperately need the help of gunslingers. Once every generation, a band of masked riders known as the Wolves gallop out of the dark land of Thunderclap to steal one half of all the twins born in the Callas. When the children are returned, they are roont, or mentally and physically ruined. In less than a month, the Wolves will raid again. In exchange for Roland’s aid, Father Callahan—a priest originally from our world—offers to give Roland a powerful but evil seeing sphere, a sinister globe called Black Thirteen which he has hidden below the floorboards of his church. Not only must Roland and his tet discover a way to defeat the invincible Wolves, but they must also return to New York so that they can save our world’s incarnation of the Dark Tower from the machinations of the evil Sombra Corporation.
The Absolute Sandman, Volume 1
by Neil Gaiman
Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.64

One of the most popular and critically acclaimed comic book titles of all time, 
New York Times
 best-selling author Neil Gaiman's masterpiece 
The Sandman
 set new standards for mature, lyrical fantasy and graphic narrative. Now, Vertigo and DC Comics are proud to present the first of four definitive Absolute Editions collecting this groundbreaking series in its entirety. 
The Absolute Sandman, Volume One
 reprints issues 1-20 of 
The Sandman
, and features all-new coloring on issues 1-18, commissioned especially for this edition. This volume also includes a full reproduction of Gaiman's original proposal for the series and the complete script and pencils by Gaiman and Charles Vess for the World Fantasy Award-winning story "A Midsummer Night's Dream" from The Sandman 19. Finally, a gallery of character design sketches show the evolution of Dream of the Endless.
Ojo por ojo (Talion, #1)
by J.K. Franko
Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, International, Cultural, Mystery Thriller, The World
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.29


"NUEVO TWIST EN EXTRAÑOS EN UN TREN" - THE SUNDAY TIMES
   

¿Qué harías si alguien lastimara a la persona que amas?

 Cuando conocí a Susie, ella parecía ser una mujer normal, felizmente casada que se enfrenta a una tragedia. Entonces, descubrí sus secretos. Si bien podía entender todo lo que ella había hecho, nunca podría aprobarlo. Pero, sabiendo de lo que era capaz, quedó claro que si iba a sobrevivir a ella, tenía que cumplir sus reglas. Y, la primera y más importante regla es ... no dejar huesos cantando.   EYE FOR EYE ES EL THRILLER CONTROVERSIAL, QUE SE ENCUENTRA CON UN CORAZÓN QUE SE ENCUENTRA, SE ENCUENTRA EXPERTAMENTE CON EL NUEVO CRIME MASTER, J.K. FRANKO
Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America
by Jill Leovy
Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, History, Politics, Race, Sociology
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.07

On a warm spring evening in South Los Angeles, a young man was shot and killed on a sidewalk minutes away from his home, one of hundreds of young men slain in LA every year. His assailant ran down the street, jumped into an SUV, and vanished, hoping to join the vast majority of killers in American cities who are never arrested for their crimes. But as soon as the case was assigned to Detective John Skaggs, the odds shifted. Here is the kaleidoscopic story of the quintessential American murder--one young black man slaying another--and a determined crew of detectives whose creed was to pursue justice at all costs for its forgotten victims. Ghettoside is a fast-paced narrative of a devastating crime, an intimate portrait of detectives and a community bonded in tragedy, and a surprising new lens into the great subject of murder in America--why it happens and how the plague of killings might yet be stopped.
Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
by Steve Martin
Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Humor, Comedy, Audiobook, Autobiography
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.87

In the midseventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. This book is, in his own words, the story of "why I did stand-up and why I walked away." Emmy and Grammy Award winner, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company, and a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Martin has always been a writer. His memoir of his years in stand-up is candid, spectacularly amusing, and beautifully written. At age ten Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park. In the decade that followed, he worked in the Disney magic shop and the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott's Berry Farm, performing his first magic/comedy act a dozen times a week. The story of these years, during which he practiced and honed his craft, is moving and revelatory. The dedication to excellence and innovation is formed at an astonishingly early age and never wavers or wanes. Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and originality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. Martin also paints a portrait of his times-the era of free love and protests against the war in Vietnam, the heady irreverence of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late sixties, and the transformative new voice of Saturday Night Live in the seventies.Throughout the text, Martin has placed photographs, many never seen before. Born Standing Up is a superb testament to the sheer tenacity, focus, and daring of one of the greatest and most iconoclastic comedians of all time.
Outer Order, Inner Calm: Declutter & Organize to Make More Room for Happiness
by Gretchen Rubin
Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Audiobook, Personal Development, Psychology, Productivity, Health
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.52

Bestselling author of The Four Tendencies and The Happiness Project Gretchen Rubin illuminates one of her key realizations about happiness: For most of us, outer order contributes to inner calm. In a new book packed with more than one hundred concrete ideas, she helps us create the order and organization that can make our lives happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative. In the context of a happy life, a messy desk or crowded coat closet is a trivial problem–yet Gretchen Rubin has found that getting control of the stuff of life makes us feel more in control of our lives generally. By getting rid of things we don’t use, don’t need, or don’t love, as well as things that don’t work, don’t fit, or don’t suit, we free our mind (and our shelves) for what we truly value. In this trim book filled with insights, strategies, and sometimes surprising tips, Gretchen tackles the key challenges of creating outer order, by explaining how to “Make Choices,” “Create Order,” “Know Yourself–and Others,” “Cultivate Helpful Habits,” and, of course, “Add Beauty.” When we get our possessions under control, we feel both calmer and more energetic. With a sense of humor, and also a clear sense of what’s realistic for most people, Gretchen suggests dozens of manageable steps for creating a more serene, orderly environment–one that helps us to create the lives we yearn for.