Rose Kent

First Edition 
Kimchi and calamari. It sounds like a quirky food fusion of Korean and Italian cuisine, and it's exactly how Joseph Calderaro feels about himself. Why wouldn't an adopted Korean drummer—comic book junkie feel like a combo platter given:

(1) his face in the mirror

(2) his proud Italian family.

And now Joseph has to write an essay about his ancestors for social studies. All he knows is that his birth family shipped his diapered butt on a plane to the USA. End of story. But what he writes leads to a catastrophe messier than a table of shattered dishes—and self-discovery that Joseph never could have imagined.

Grade level: 4 - 7
Ages 8 - 12+

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Maryland

A wide range of readers can relate to Joseph's story--those who are adopted, have mixed-race heritage, or those caught between their parents' culture and the culture where they live now.

Kimchi and Calamari

03319336-a56b-4f6b-81bb-5d1cd206d154-0

#hardcover #SelfDiscovery #SelfImprovement #Happiness

Alabama

A Weekend To Change Your Life

Tear and discoloration on dust jacket. Book itself in excellent condition 

Washington

My Search for Ruth

5a29a71b-6dd6-482e-b451-52fe96533c58-0

Jojo Moyes

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

North Carolina

A Novel

An early work from the New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes, the story of a young woman who opens an eclectic shop and comes to terms with the secrets of her past. In the sixties, Athene Forster was the most glamorous girl of her generation. Nicknamed the Last Deb, she was also beautiful, spoiled, and out of control. When she agreed to marry the gorgeous young heir Douglas Fairley-Hulme, her parents breathed a sigh of relief. But within two years, rumors had begun to circulate about Athene's affair with a young salesman. Thirty-five years later, Suzanna Peacock is struggling with her notorious mother's legacy. The only place Suzanna finds comfort is in The Peacock Emporium, the beautiful coffee bar and shop she opens that soon enchants her little town. There she makes perhaps the first real friends of her life, including Alejandro, a male midwife, escaping his own ghosts in Argentina. The specter of her mother still haunts Suzanna. But only by confronting both her family and her innermost self will she finally reckon with the past--and discover that the key to her history, and her happiness, may have been in front of her all along.

The Peacock Emporium

4966f7b9-82de-4efd-a2de-63ae8bcb62cb-1

#historical #chicklit #family #relationships #small-town #suemonkkidd #nytbestseller #self-discovery #lovestory

A transcendent tale of a woman's self-discovery—the New York Times–bestselling second work of fiction by the author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Book of Longings Inside the church of a Benedictine monastery on Egret Island, just off the coast of South Carolina, resides a beautiful and mysterious chair ornately carved with mermaids and dedicated to a saint who, legend claims, was a mermaid before her conversion. When Jessie Sullivan is summoned home to the island to cope with her eccentric mother’s seemingly inexplicable behavior, she is living a conventional life with her husband, Hugh, a life “molded to the smallest space possible.” Jessie loves Hugh, but once on the island, she finds herself drawn to Brother Thomas, a monk about to take his final vows. Amid a rich community of unforgettable island women and the exotic beauty of marshlands, tidal creeks, and majestic egrets, Jessie grapples with the tension of desire and the struggle to deny it, with a freedom that feels overwhelmingly right, and with the immutable force of home and marriage. Is the power of the mermaid chair only a myth? Or will it alter the course of Jessie’s life? What happens will unlock the roots of her mother’s tormented past, but most of all, it will allow Jessie to discover selfhood and a place of belonging as she explores the thin line between the spiritual and the erotic.

The Mermaid Chair

25ff0b31-990c-4388-bf87-066568aa06da

#paperback #family #selfdiscovery #sisters

Virginia

After her sister's death in a car accident, Rae McDonald's teenage years were in turmoil. Pregnant at sixteen, she found a loving couple to adopt her child - and then buried her grief under a heart of stone. Her sister's best friend Lisa Smyth survived the crash, but never told the truth about it. So when a family obligation draws her back to Alexandria, Virginia, both women must confront the past, as long-buried artefacts are unearthed by the Shire Architectural Salvage company that link their family histories - and point to a new future.

The View from Prince Street

41ce27ed-3da8-4906-b994-cf34d313226c-1

Michigan

When Mallory discovers that her boyfriend, Jeremy, is cheating on her with an online girlfriend, she swears off boys. She also swears off modern technology. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in 1962, Mallory decides to "go vintage" and return to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn't cheat on you online). She sets out to complete grandma's list: run for pep club secretary, host a dinner party, sew a homecoming dress, find a steady, do something dangerous. But the list is trickier than it looks. And obviously finding a steady is out . . . no matter how good Oliver (Jeremy's cousin) smells. But with the help of her sister, she'll get it done. Somehow.

Going Vintage

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Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

For fans of J. Courtney Sullivan, Meg Wolitzer, Claire Messud, and Emma Straub, a gorgeous and absorbing novel of a trio of confused souls struggling to find themselves and the way forward in their lives, set against the spectacular backdrop of contemporary New York City. Set in the most magical parts of Manhattan—the Upper West Side, Central Park, Greenwich Village—The Ramblers explores the lives of three lost souls, bound together by friendship and family. During the course of one fateful Thanksgiving week, a time when emotions run high and being with family can be a mixed blessing, Rowley’s sharply defined characters explore the moments when decisions are deliberately made, choices accepted, and pasts reconciled. Clio Marsh, whose bird-watching walks through Central Park are mentioned in New York Magazine, is taking her first tentative steps towards a relationship while also looking back to the secrets of her broken childhood. Her best friend, Smith Anderson, the seemingly-perfect daughter of one of New York’s wealthiest families, organizes the lives of others as her own has fallen apart. And Tate Pennington has returned to the city, heartbroken but determined to move ahead with his artistic dreams. Rambling through the emotional chaos of their lives, this trio learns to let go of the past, to make room for the future and the uncertainty and promise that it holds. The Ramblers is a love letter to New York City—an accomplished, sumptuous novel about fate, loss, hope, birds, friendship, love, the wonders of the natural world and the mysteries of the human spirit.

The Ramblers

e9be8ed2-a32b-4097-b7b5-1ec035c11060-1

James Redfield

Carol Adrienne

New York

An Experiential Guide

The Celestine Prophecy

3f7049f0-fb18-4b0d-9513-9a3e271ae2d5

Texas

An invitation to fall in love with life 

A Touch of Wonder 

Tanaz Bhathena

Wisconsin

In this debut novel set in Saudi Arabia, where the law forbids romantic relationships outside of marriage, two teens fall in love with tragic consequences. "Unlike any YA book I've ever readEfascinating and disturbing."--#1 "New York Times"-bestselling author Jodi Picoult.

A Girl Like That

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#paperback #fiction #Louisiana #friends #selfdiscovery #friendship #marriage 

New Jersey

Toulouse, Louisiana. Laura Landry's quarterback husband was her ticket out, but after a devastating football injury Brian starts drinking instead of rehabbing his knee. Madison Blanchette waited for bad-boy musician Cash Romero to commit; when wealthy George Dubois asks her out, she figures she may as well wait in style. Claire Thibodeaux doesn't want to end up like her single parent mom, but as her pastor husband Gavin starts spending late nights at work she fears history is about to repeat itself. Gabrielle Vaughn never thought she'd end up with someone like Tony Ford, son of a prominent congressman, but how do you tell the love of your life that everything she told him was a lie? Four women... and no easy answers in matters of the heart.

The Young Wives Club

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Susannah Conway

Georgia

Notes on Unraveling the Heart

Part memoir, part creative journal, This I Know chronicles Susannah’s journey through bereavement and healing, taking the reader on a ride into the possibilities of unravelling — and healing — her own life too. It’s a guidebook of sorts, a collection of thoughts and theories, with creative exercises for you to try, and dreamy light-filled Polaroids dotted throughout the text. It’s a cosy blanket for your heart.

This I Know

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#feelgood #christmas #selfdiscovery #strength #struggle #family

Utah

A Homemade Christmas

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#hardcover #fulfillment #motivators #selfdiscovery #bestsellingauthor #BarbaraSher

In Ten Easy Step-by-Step Lessons

Barbara Sher has helped thousands of people recapture their dreams, overcome self-doubt and fear, and find meaning in their lives with her sensational bestsellers,I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It WasandWishcraft.  Now, in a work that is a brilliant culmination of her groundbreaking ideas, theNew York Timesbestselling author goes beyond the principles introduced in her previous books to explore the unique genius inside each of us.  Here, Sher employs a new, phenomenally effective approach to uncovering hidden talents--and nurturing the inborn "gifts" that make you different from any other person and provide the key to creating a life you will love. Combining fast-acting strategies and innovative exercises with motivational techniques and warm encouragement, Sher has designed an extraordinary step-by-step program that will help you uncover: What quality will make you "unstoppable" (and it's far more effective than "discipline" or "willpower"). What your favorite childhood pastimes reveal about what it takes to be a happy adult. How to use your natural curiosity, talents, and resources to turn your thinking--and your luck--around. Why one-size careers do not fit all. Foolproof techniques for leaping over the hurdles between you and your dream. If you've been waiting for a job that rewards you with more than a paycheck, or for the perfect moment to take that "long-lost" dream off hold, Barbara Sher's exquisitely simple but utterly transforming program makes right now the perfect time to break free from a career that doesn't cut it tailor-make a meaningful, rewarding life to your personal specifications and create a foundation for success that's strong enough to support your heart's desire.  With profound wisdom and insight, Barbara Sher has written a book that will lift your spirits, transform your thinking, and inspire you to dream--freeing you to do what you love and love what you do for the rest of your life!

Live the Life You Love

b3f9f951-0cea-49b8-bb25-507feb836536-1

Cordelia Jensen

Laurie Morrison

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Seventh-grader Lauren begins stealing to help children who, like her brother Ryan, are on the autism spectrum. When Lauren recruits Sierra, in foster care in Lauren's neighborhood, Sierra knows she has more to lose than her friend. Enabling Lauren's lawbreaking could cost Sierra everything. Told half in prose, half in verse.

Every Shiny Thing

b751cc44-71c8-4dfa-9aeb-9251c269f84d-1

Lawrence LeShan

Only flaw is top left corner on back cover got slightly bent but not very noticeable. (See pics) 

A Guide to Self-Discovery

A simple, straightforward approach. The brief, realistic guide lets you explore the many paths to meditation. Specific programs and exercises provide practical tools to begin your own journey.

How to Meditate

e8520f57-f711-48b3-9d61-f203bb50d148-1

Susan Cain

Oregon

How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole

The author of the bestselling phenomenon Quiet reveals the power of a bittersweet, melancholic outlook on life, and why our culture has been so blind to its value. With her mega-bestseller Quiet, Susan Cain urged our society to cultivate space for the undervalued, indispensable introverts among us, thereby revealing an untapped power hidden in plain sight. Now, she employs the same mix of research, storytelling, and memoir to explore why we experience sorrow and longing, and the surprising lessons these states of mind teach us about creativity, compassion, leadership, spirituality, mortality and love. Bittersweetness is a tendency to states of longing, poignancy, and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy when beholding beauty. It recognizes that light and dark, birth and death--bitter and sweet--are forever paired. A song in a minor key, an elegiac poem, or even a touching television commercial all can bring us to this sublime, even holy, state of mind--and, ultimately, to greater kinship with our fellow humans. But bittersweetness is not, as we tend to think, just a momentary feeling or event. It's also a way of being, a storied heritage. Our artistic and spiritual traditions--amplified by recent scientific and management research--teach us its power. Cain shows how a bittersweet state of mind is the quiet force that helps us transcend our personal and collective pain. If we don't acknowledge our own sorrows and longings, she says, we can end up inflicting them on others via abuse, domination, or neglect. But if we realize that all humans know--or will know--loss and suffering, we can turn toward each other. And we can learn to transform our own pain into creativity, transcendence, and connection. At a time of profound discord and personal anxiety, Bittersweet brings us together in deep and unexpected ways.

Bittersweet

3877955b-4aee-4f59-b41e-dbca744fbcea-1

Elizabeth Arthur

Some page yellowing.  Good shape clean and tight.

A young woman's very real journey of self-discovery set in the Canadian wilderness.

Island Sojourn

85978cd5-119d-4257-a1b7-4adc63ebb5a2-0

#paperback #romance #drama #catskills #secondchances #selfdiscovery #love #opera #1955 #terrykay in excellent condition. 

Shadow Song

In the summer of 1955, Madison Lee "Bobo" Murphy was a waiter at the Catskills' Pine Hill Inn. A rural Southerner, he had never heard the word meshugge until Avrum Feldman -- a retired New York City furrier -- became his unlikely friend. For Bobo, nothing about that special time and place ever lost its glow: Avrum's obsession with the haunting voice of a famous opera diva, music that no one else could hear; the exotic mingling of Yiddish and German in the dining room; and the girl he met and loved.
In everyone's life, Avrum claimed, there is one grand, undeniable moment that never stops mattering. For Bobo, it was his first glimpse of beautiful Amy Lourie. But, for a wealthy Jewish girl and a Georgia farm boy, the summer had to end, leaving Bobo with the pain of lost love. Nearly forty years later, his children grown and marriage comfortably routine, Bobo comes north once more; there, amidst the haunting hints of Amy's presence, she unexpectedly appears. Nothing has dimmed the passion of their youth, yet two lifetimes and a thousand Catskills sunsets stand between who they were and who they have become. The barriers between them are different now. But mysteriously, miraculously, Bobo reawakens the dream of a love larger than himself....

757f9bce-df29-4cf8-bd7a-a32915613287-1

Jacqueline E. Luckett

Cover showsild wear, pages mild yellowing. See photos. Otherwise pristine. 

On the surface, Lena Spencer appears to have it all. She and her wealthy husband Randall have two wonderful children, and they live a life of luxury. In reality, however, Lena finds that happiness is elusive. Randall is emotionally distant, her son has developed a drug habit, and her daughter is disgusted by her mother's "overbearing behavior." When Randall decides that he's had enough of marriage counseling, he offers his wife an ultimatum: "Be grateful for all I've done for you or leave." Lena, realizing that money can't solve her problems and that her husband is no longer the man she married, decides to choose the latter. Drawing strength from Tina Turner's life story, SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER is Lena's struggle to find herself after 25 years of being a wife and mother.

Searching for Tina Turner

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#selfdiscovery #encouraging #paperback #love

A Perfect Day

#hardcover #family  #friendship #selfdiscovery

Pennsylvania

And her plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World

Ida B

Melanie Cantor

There's nothing like being told that in three months you'll be dead to make you think about what you really want in life

"A novel about self-discovery, with plenty of surprises and a snappy, Bridget-Jones-gets-a-terminal-diagnosis vibe." -Booklist

Jennifer Cole has just been told that she has a terminal blood disorder and has just three months to live--ninety days to say goodbye to friends and family, and to put her affairs in order. Ninety days to come to terms with a diagnosis that is unfair, unexpected, and completely unpronounceable. Focusing on the positives (she won't have to go on in a world without Bowie or Maya Angelou; she won't get Alzheimer's or Parkinson's like her parents, or have teeth that flop out at the mere mention of the word apple), Jennifer realizes she only has one real regret: the relationships she's lost.

Rather than running off to complete a frantic bucket list, Jennifer chooses to stay put and write a letter to the three most significant people in her life, to say the things she wished she'd said before but never dared: her overbearing, selfish sister, her jelly-spined, cheating ex-husband, and her charming, unreliable ex-boyfriend--and finally tell them the truth.

At first, Jennifer feels cleansed by her catharsis. Liberated, even. Her ex-boyfriend rushes to her side and she even starts to build bridges with her sister Isabelle (that is, once Isabelle's confirmed that Jennifer's condition isn't genetic). But once you start telling the truth, it's hard to stop. And as Jennifer soon discovers, the truth isn't always as straightforward as it seems, and death has a way of surprising you....

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Rose Kent

Kimchi and Calamari

Joan Anderson

A Weekend To Change Your Life

Anna Clarke

My Search for Ruth

Jojo Moyes

The Peacock Emporium

Sue Monk Kidd

The Mermaid Chair

Mary Ellen Taylor

The View from Prince Street

Lindsey Leavitt

Going Vintage

Aidan Donnelley Rowley

The Ramblers

James Redfield; Carol Adrienne