Eitanli/goodreads huggingface dataset:
How to Read Literature Like a Professor
by Thomas C. Foster
Genres: Nonfiction, School, Books About Books, Writing, Education, Literature, Read For School
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.63

While many books can be enjoyed for their basic stories, there are often deeper meanings interwoven in these literary texts...How to Read Literature Like a Professor helps us to discover those hidden truths by looking at literature with the eyes—and the literary codes—of the ultimate professional reader: the college professor.What does it mean when a fictional hero takes a journey? Shares a meal? Gets drenched in a sudden rain shower? Often, there is much more going on in a novel or poem than is readily visible on the surface – a symbol, maybe, that remains elusive, or an unexpected twist on a character – and there's that sneaking suspicion that the deeper meaning of a literary text keeps escaping you.In this practical and amusing guide to literature, Thomas C. Foster shows how easy and gratifying it is to unlock those hidden truths, and to discover a world where a road leads to a quest; a shared meal may signify a communion; and rain, whether cleansing or destructive, is never just rain. Ranging from major themes to literary models, narrative devices and form, How to Read Like a Professor is the perfect companion for making your reading experience more enriching, satisfying and fun.
The Incredible Journey
by Sheila Burnford
Genres: Fiction, Classics, Animals, Childrens, Adventure, Young Adult, Dogs
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.16

Instinct told them that the way home lay to the west. And so the doughty young Labrador retriever, the roguish bull terrier and the indomitable Siamese set out through the Canadian wilderness. Separately, they would soon have died. But, together, the three house pets faced starvation, exposure, and wild forest animals to make their way home to the family they love. The Incredible Journey is one of the great children's stories of all time—and has been popular ever since its debut in 1961.
Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle, #4)
by Christopher Paolini
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Dragons, Magic, Adventure, High Fantasy
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.13

It began with Eragon... It ends with Inheritance.Not so very long ago, Eragon — Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider — was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders.Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chance.The Rider and his dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? And if so, at what cost?This is the spellbinding conclusion to Christopher Paolini's worldwide bestselling Inheritance cycle.
The Lost City of the Monkey God
by Douglas Preston
Genres: Nonfiction, History, Adventure, Travel, Science, Audiobook, Archaeology
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.92

A five-hundred-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world's densest jungle.Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God-but then committed suicide without revealing its location.Three quarters of a century later, author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization.Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn't until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease.
The Complete Anne of Green Gables 8-Book Box Set
by L.M. Montgomery
Genres: Classics, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Historical Fiction, Romance, Middle Grade
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.44

Favorites for nearly 100 years, these classic novels follow the adventures of the spirited redhead Anne Shirley, who comes to stay at Green Gables and wins the hearts of everyone she meets.Includes Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, Anne of Ingleside, Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside - the whole collection. Each book includes: The original, unabridged text; a specially commissioned biography of L.M. Montgomery; a map of Prince Edward Island.
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
by Atul Gawande
Genres: Nonfiction, Medicine, Science, Health, Medical, Philosophy, Death
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.48

In Being Mortal, author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its endingMedicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering.Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified.
The Threat Below (Brathius History, #1)
by Jason Latshaw
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Dystopia, Fiction, Adventure, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.11

Three hundred years ago, something terrifying arose and pushed humanity to the brink of extinction. Now, a small remnant – the descendants of the few survivors who were able to escape the massacre below – lives above the clouds, on the top of a Mountain.  When they discover that their water supply is being poisoned Down Below, an expedition, including seventeen year-old girl Icelyn Brathius, must descend and face the monsters, the Threat Below, that wiped out civilization centuries ago.  Icelyn quickly learns that all is not what it seems as she uncovers secrets hundreds of years old and struggles to stay alive in a world where no human is fit to survive.
If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries What Am I Doing in the Pits?
by Erma Bombeck
Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Comedy, Memoir, Essays, Biography, Adult
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.03

The hilarious #1 New York Times bestseller: Erma Bombeck’s take on marriage and family life is “fun from cover to cover” (Hartford Courant).Ever since she was a child, Erma Bombeck has been an expert worrier, and married life has only honed that skill. She gets anxious about running out of ball bearings; about snakes sneaking in through the pipes; about making meaningful conversation on New Year’s Eve. Married life, she realizes, is an unpredictable saga even when you know exactly how loud your husband snores every night—and she wouldn’t have it any other way. In this crisp collection of essays, Bombeck shows off the irresistible style that made her one of America’s favorite humorists for more than three decades. When she sharpens her wit, no family member is sacred and no self-help fad is safe.
The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well
by Meik Wiking
Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Audiobook, Philosophy, Personal Development, Denmark
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.76

Hygge has been described as everything from "cosines of the soul" to "the pursuit of everyday pleasures". The Little Book of Hygge is the book we all need right now, and is guaranteed to bring warmth and comfort to you and your loved ones this winter.Hooga? Hhyooguh? Heurgh? It is not really important how you choose to pronounce 'hygge'. What is important is that you feel it. Whether you're cuddled up on a sofa with a loved one, or sharing comfort food with your closest friends, hygge is about creating an atmosphere where you can let your guard down.
Wyrd Sisters (Discworld, #6; Witches, #2)
by Terry Pratchett
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Comedy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Witches, Magic
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.15

Witches are not by nature gregarious, and they certainly don't have leaders. Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders they didn't have. But even she found that meddling in royal politics was a lot more difficult than certain playwrights would have you believe...
The Informers
by Bret Easton Ellis
Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Contemporary, American, Literature, Thriller, Novels
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.39

Set in Los Angeles, in the recent past. The birthplace and graveyard of American myths and dreams, the city harbours a group of people trapped between the beauty of their surroundings and their own moral impoverishment. This novel is a chronicle of their voices.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
by Eleanor Coerr
Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Japan, Classics
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.12

Hiroshima-born Sadako is lively and athletic--the star of her school's running team. And then the dizzy spells start. Soon gravely ill with leukemia, the "atom bomb disease," Sadako faces her future with spirit and bravery. Recalling a Japanese legend, Sadako sets to work folding paper cranes. For the legend holds that if a sick person folds one thousand cranes, the gods will grant her wish and make her healthy again. Based on a true story, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes celebrates the extraordinary courage that made one young woman a heroine in Japan.
The Complete Novels
by Jane Austen
Genres: Classics, Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction, Literature, Historical, Classic Literature
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.57

Few novelists have conveyed the subtleties and nuances of their own social milieu with the wit and insight of Jane Austen. Through her vivacious and spirited heroines and their circle, she paints vivid portraits of English middle-class life as the eighteenth century came to a close. Each of the novels is a love story and a story about marriage — marriage for love, for financial security, for social status. But they are not mere romances; ironic, comic and wise, they are masterly studies of the society Jane Austen observed. The seven novels in this volume contain some of the most brilliant, dazzling prose in the English language.--back coverEmma / Lady Susan / Mansfield Park / Northanger Abbey / Persuasion / Pride and Prejudice / Sense and Sensibility
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone
by Olivia Laing
Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Art, Essays, Biography, Psychology, New York
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.92

What does it mean to be lonely? How do we live, if we're not intimately engaged with another human being? How do we connect with other people? Does technology draw us closer together or trap us behind screens?When Olivia Laing moved to New York City in her mid-thirties, she found herself inhabiting loneliness on a daily basis. Increasingly fascinated by this most shameful of experiences, she began to explore the lonely city by way of art. Moving fluidly between works and lives -- from Edward Hopper's Nighthawks to Andy Warhol's Time Capsules, from Henry Darger's hoarding to the depredations of the AIDS crisis -- Laing conducts an electric, dazzling investigation into what it means to be alone, illuminating not only the causes of loneliness but also how it might be resisted and redeemed.
The Sound of Suffering (The Master of Perception, #2)
by Darin C.  Brown
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.40

Hunter Miller has a secret.He can read and manipulate the auras that surround everyone.Having used his talent to dethrone the reigning school bully, thirteen-year old Hunter finds himself thrust into a new quest after hearing screams in the aura of a teacher.  Unable to resist this powerful siren song, he investigates—despite warnings from his family and friends. It nearly costs him everything.Upon discovering the truth, Hunter seeks assistance in his mission to defeat his formidable adversary. As the situation escalates, the adolescent hero ultimately realizes that despite the risks, he must fight this battle alone.In this second installment of The Master of Perceptions series, can Hunter use his extraordinary powers to rescue an innocent woman without losing himself in the process?
Desert Solitaire
by Edward Abbey
Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Memoir, Travel, Environment, Adventure, Biography
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.19

First published in 1968, Desert Solitaire is one of Edward Abbey’s most critically acclaimed works and marks his first foray into the world of nonfiction writing. Written while Abbey was working as a ranger at Arches National Park outside of Moab, Utah, Desert Solitaire is a rare view of one man’s quest to experience nature in its purest form.Through prose that is by turns passionate and poetic, Abbey reflects on the condition of our remaining wilderness and the future of a civilization that cannot reconcile itself to living in the natural world as well as his own internal struggle with morality. As the world continues its rapid development, Abbey’s cry to maintain the natural beauty of the West remains just as relevant today as when this book was written.
Cold Comfort Farm
by Stella Gibbons
Genres: Fiction, Classics, Humor, Historical Fiction, British Literature, Comedy, 20th Century
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.89

Winner of the 1933 Femina Vie Heureuse Prize, COLD COMFORT FARM is a wickedly funny portrait of British rural life in the 1930s. Flora Poste, a recently orphaned socialite, moves in with her country relatives, the gloomy Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm, and becomes enmeshed in a web of violent emotions, despair, and scheming, until Flora manages to set things right.
Joyland
by Stephen King
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.93

College student Devin Jones took the summer job at Joyland hoping to forget the girl who broke his heart. But he wound up facing something far more terrible: the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and dark truths about life - and what comes after - that would change his world forever.A riveting story about love and loss, about growing up and growing old - and about those who don't get to do either because death comes for them before their time. It is at once a mystery, a horror story, and a bittersweet coming-of-age novel, one that will leave even the most hard-boiled reader profoundly moved.
Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, #6)
by Richelle Mead
Genres: Young Adult, Vampires, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.37

They come first.My vision was growing dimmer, the blackness and ghosts closing in. I swore it was like I could hear Robert whispering in my ear: The world of the dead won't give you up a second time. Just before the light completely vanished, I saw Dimitri's face join Lissa's. I wanted to smile. I decided then that if the two people I loved most were safe, I could leave this world.The dead could finally have me.Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir's Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.Now the law has finally caught up with Rose - for a crime she didn't even commit. She's in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She'll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.But the clock on Rose's life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back...and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you?Join Rose, Dimitri, Adrian, and Lissa in Last Sacrifice, the epic, unforgettable finale to Richelle Mead's international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series.
Go Tell It on the Mountain
by James Baldwin
Genres: Fiction, Classics, African American, Race, Literature, Novels, Religion
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.03

Go Tell It On The Mountain, first published in 1953, is Baldwin's first major work, a semi-autobiographical novel that has established itself as an American classic. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Baldwin's rendering of his protagonist's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle of self-invention opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves.
The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap
by Paulette Mahurin
Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, LGBT, Historical, Amazon, Queer, Social Issues
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.89

A women's Brokeback Mountain. The year 1895 was filled with memorable historical events: the Dreyfus Affair divided France; Booker T. Washington gave his Atlanta address; the United States expanded the effects of the Monroe Doctrine to cover South America; and Oscar Wilde was tried and convicted for gross indecency under Britain's recently passed law that made sex between males a criminal offense. When news of Wilde's conviction went out over telegraphs worldwide, it threw a small Nevada town into chaos. This is the story of what happened when the lives of its citizens were impacted by the news of Oscar Wilde's imprisonment. It is a chronicle of hatred and prejudice with all its unintended and devastating consequences, and how love and friendship bring strength and healing. All profits are going to Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center, Ventura County, CA. (the first and only no-kill animal shelter in Ventura County). For further info please contact the author on Facebook. Buy a book; save a life.
Tatiana and Alexander (The Bronze Horseman, #2)
by Paullina Simons
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Historical, Historical Romance, Fiction, Russia, War
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.29

Tatiana is eighteen years old, pregnant, and widowed when she escapes war-torn Leningrad to find a new life in America. But the ghosts of her past do not rest easily. She becomes consumed by the belief that her husband, Red Army officer Alexander Belov, is still alive and needs her desperately.Meanwhile, oceans and continents away in the Soviet Union, Alexander barely escapes execution, and is forced to lead a battalion of soldiers considered expendable by the Soviet high command. Yet Alexander is determined to take his men through the ruins of Europe in one last desperate bid to escape Stalin's death machine and somehow find his way to Tatiana once again.
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
by Joshua Foer
Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Psychology, Self Help, Memoir, Personal Development, Audiobook
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.88

The blockbuster phenomenon that charts an amazing journey of the mind while revolutionizing our concept of memoryAn instant bestseller that is poised to become a classic, Moonwalking with Einstein recounts Joshua Foer's yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top "mental athletes." He draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human memory. From the United States Memory Championship to deep within the author's own mind, this is an electrifying work of journalism that reminds us that, in every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.
Garden Spells (Waverley Family, #1)
by Sarah Addison Allen
Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Fantasy, Romance, Chick Lit, Magic, Contemporary
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.06

In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.…The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys—except for Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down—along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy—if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom—or with each other.Enchanting and heartfelt, this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own….
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
by Raymond Carver
Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, American, Literature, Contemporary, Literary Fiction
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.07

Alternate-cover edition can be found here In his second collection, Carver establishes his reputation as one of the most celebrated and beloved short-story writers in American literature—a haunting meditation on love, loss, and companionship, and finding one’s way through the dark.
Title: Audition
by Ryū Murakami
Genres: Horror, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Japan, Thriller, Mystery, Contemporary
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.52

Book by Ryu Murakami