Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

THE CELESTINE PROPHECY contains secrets that are currently changing our world. Drawing on the ancient wisdom found in a Peruvian manuscript, it tells you how to make connections between the events happening in your own life right now... and lets you see what is going to happen to you in years to come!A book that has been passed from hand to hand, from friend to friend, since it first appeared in small bookshops... (more)

Whirligig (Laurel Leaf Books)

by Paul Fleischman

Upset by a recent event at school, Brent sets out to kill himself, but when he accidentally kills an innocent bystander with his car, he is forced to make reparations to her parents by taking a cross-country journey setting up whirligigs in her memory. Reprint. AB. SLJ.

The Memory of Running

by Ron McLarty

Every decade seems to produce a novel that captures the public’s imagination with a story that sweeps readers up and takes them on a thrilling, unforgettable ride. Ron McLarty’s The Memory of Running is this decade’s novel. By all accounts, especially his own, Smithson "Smithy" Ide is a loser. An overweight, friendless, chain-smoking, forty-three-year-old drunk, Smithy’s life becomes completely unhinged... (more)

A Piece of Cake: A Memoir

by Cupcake Brown

There are shelves of memoirs about overcoming the death of a parent, childhood abuse, rape, drug addiction, miscarriage, alcoholism, hustling, gangbanging, near-death injuries, drug dealing, prostitution, or homelessness. Cupcake Brown survived all these things before she’d even turned twenty. And that’s when things got interesting…. You have in your hands the strange, heart-wrenching, and exhilarating tale... (more)

Into the Wild

by Jon Krakauer

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. How... (more)

Into the Wild

by Sarah Beth Durst

The Wild is a fairy-tale world -- at least it was until the fairy-tale characters escaped -- but lately it's just a mass of hungry vines stuffed under Julie's bed. Julie, her mom Rapunzel (yep, that Rapunzel -- think long hair, tower, prince), and her brother Puss-in-Boots (okay, he's a cat) do their best to keep it hidden and under control. But Julie's sick of living with the Wild -- it eats her jeans... (more)

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Book 1

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites

by Heather Brewer

Vlad has to keep his vampire urges under control while dealing with the pressures of middle school. Thirteen-year-old Vladimir Tod really hates junior high. Bullies harass him, the principal is dogging him, and the girl he likes prefers his best friend. Oh, and Vlad has a secret: His mother was human, but his father was a vampire. With no idea of the extent of his powers, Vlad struggles daily with his blood... (more)

A Patchwork Planet

by Anne Tyler

In this, her fourteenth novel--and one of her most endearing--Anne Tyler tells the story of a lovable loser who's trying to get his life in order. Barnaby Gaitlin has been in trouble ever since adolescence. He had this habit of breaking into other people's houses. It wasn't the big loot he was after, like his teenage cohorts. It was just that he liked to read other people's mail, pore over their family photo... (more)

Eat, Pray, Love

One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

by Elizabeth Gilbert

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures,... (more)

Bleachers

by John Grisham

High school all-American Neely Crenshaw was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the legendary Messina Spartans. Fifteen years have gone by since those glory days, and Neely has come home to Messina to bury Coach Eddie Rake, the man who molded the Spartans into an unbeatable football dynasty. Now, as Coach Rake’s “boys” sit in the bleachers waiting for the dimming field lights to signal his passing,... (more)

Another Kind of Cowboy

by Susan Juby

For Alex Ford, dressage is an oasis. In the stable, he can slip into his riding pants, shed the macho cowboy image, and feel like himself for a change. For Cleo O'Shea, dressage is a fresh start. She's got a new boarding school, absentee parents, and, best of all, no one to remember her past. . . . They're an unlikely pair. Cleo's looking for love, but Alex has a secret he's not ready to give up, and a... (more)

Converting Kate

by Beckie Weinheimer

Kate was raised in the Holy Divine Church—it influenced everything from her homeschooling to her handmade clothes. But ever since her unbelieving father’s death last year, she has suspected that there’s more to life than memorizing scripture. Taking advantage of their move to a new town, Kate—to her devout mother’s horror—quits Holy Divine. She joins the cross-country team, wears shorts to public school,... (more)

Petite Anglaise

by Catherine Sanderson

A young Englishwoman in Paris, juggling a dying romance and the demands of motherhood, discovers escape, excitement, and—possibly—true love when she reinvents herself with a click of the mouse as … Petite Anglaise. She has a job in Paris, the city of her dreams, a handsome Frenchman, a beautiful bilingual toddler, and a charming apartment with breathtaking views. So why does Catherine Sanderson feel that her... (more)

While My Sister Sleeps

by Barbara Delinsky

Following the success of The Secret Between Us, a book the Boston Globe hailed as “one of her best,” Barbara Delinsky returns with another moving and deeply satisfying novel, this one about the unique and emotionally complex world of siblings. Molly and Robin Snow are sisters, and like all sisters they share a deep bond that sustains them through good times and bad. Their careers are flourishing—Molly is a... (more)

Kokology : The Game of Self-Discovery

by Tadahiko Nagao

Introducing Kokology -- the fascinating, addictive pop-psych quiz game that reveals the surprising real you Created by a famous Japanese psychologist, kokology is the study of kokoro ("mind" or "spirit" in Japanese). Based on sound psychological principles, Kokology asks you to answer questions about seemingly innocent topics -- such as the color of an imaginary bird that has flown in your window -- and... (more)

Rose Cottage: A Novel

by Mary Stewart

At the request of her beloved grandmother, war widow Kate Herrick returns to the idyllic English countryside and the tiny thatched dwelling of her childhood, Rose Cottage, where she must retrieve some valuable papers hidden in a secret safe. Yet Kate is intrigued to discover the mysterious documents have been stolen. While eccentric villagers buzz with sightings of strange lights and ghostly apparitions around... (more)

Jane Austen Ruined My Life

by Beth Pattillo

English professor Emma Grant has always done everything just the way her minister father told her she should -- a respectable marriage, a teaching job at a good college, and plans for the requisite two children. Life was prodigiously good, as her favorite author Jane Austen might say, until the day Emma finds her husband in bed with another woman. Suddenly, all her romantic notions a la Austen are exposed for the... (more)

The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Transformed Their Lives

The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Transformed Their Lives

by Cheryl Jarvis

The true story of thirteen women who took a risk on an expensive diamond necklace and, in the process, changed not only themselves but a community. Four years ago , in Ventura, California, Jonell McLain saw a diamond necklace in a local jewelry store display window. The necklace aroused desire first, then a provocative question: Why are personal luxuries so plentiful yet accessible to so few? What if we shared... (more)

Siddhartha

by Hermann Hesse

This is a beautiful, large format (6"x9") new edition of Hermann Hesse's classic novel of pilgrimage and spiritual awakening, Siddhartha.

Never Change

by Elizabeth Berg

A self-anointed spinster at fifty-one, Myra Lipinski is reasonably content with her quiet life, her dog, Frank, and her career as a visiting nurse. But everything changes when Chip Reardon, the golden boy she adored in high school, is assigned as her new patient. Choosing to forgo treatment for an incurable illness, Chip has returned to his New England hometown to spend what time he has left. Now, Myra and Chip... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: self-discovery

An Adventure

by James Redfield