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P.J.’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at P.J.’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
P.J. O'Brien’s Followers (72)
2,891 books
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181 friends
702 books
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23 friends
1,300 books
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38 friends
5,324 books
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40 friends
1,100 books
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17 friends
2,161 books
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623 friends
6,116 books
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84 friends
2,514 books
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407 friends
More friends…
P.J. O'Brien
Goodreads Author
Genre
Influences
Almost every book I've read influenced me in some way, whether positiv
...more
Member Since
December 2013
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Surviving Sanctuary
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published
2002
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4 editions
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Grave-climbing (Sanctuary, #2)
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published
2012
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4 editions
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Absolution (Sanctuary, #3)
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published
2012
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4 editions
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Waterloo Sunset (Sanctuary, #4)
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published
2011
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3 editions
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* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.
Reading and Living in Corona Time
There are days when time seems stretched out. Their boundaries blur as the hours of one slip into the next. But later perhaps, those days seem to have gone by faster than one thought. I experienced time like that when going through labor and becoming adjusted to life with a newborn. I’ve also felt that when sitting up with a seriously ill family member or waiting in an airport for an indefinitely
Read more of this blog post »
P.J.’s Recent Updates
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P.J. O'Brien
liked
Helen's review
of
Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America:
"So many parallels to my life - partly growing up in a factory town at a similar time but also getting educated and moving away for a career, while so many in my circle and in my family stayed and lived through the fallout, which continues."
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P.J. O'Brien
liked
Kelli's review
of
Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America:
"Compelling in noting the changes in a town that I visit and that has a lot in common with my hometown. I found the book a good read, but more descriptive than informative, with the exception of the demise of local press."
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P.J. O'Brien
liked
Dianne Jenkins's review
of
Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America:
"Memoir that situates current political events within a framework of changing social policies that illustrate why class differences have worsened; the author does this by making it personal, sharing her own story of class migration and how her journey"
Read more of this review »
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P.J. O'Brien
liked
David's review
of
Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America:
"Journalist returns to small Ohio town where she grew up in poverty amid extensive family dysfunction to try to understand political and cultural polarization. She offers touching reflections on teachers, friends' parents, etc. who helped her make it "
Read more of this review »
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P.J. O'Brien
has read
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| This book was really hard to rate. Perhaps it would have been better if I'd read it exclusively and in page order, but I found that hard to do. I loved the parts about seeds themselves and enjoyed other sections. But it seemed like a series of essays ...more | |
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P.J. O'Brien
has read
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I found out about this lesser known work of Louisa May Alcott after reading about it in the Smithsonian Magazine. A quick search for an online version of the 1882 short story led me here. A Christmas Dream was written in response to Dickens' A Christm ...more |
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P.J. O'Brien
rated a book liked it
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I'd rate most of this a 4, but some maddening character actions a 3. So maybe a 3.7 overall? I particularly liked how the author is moving the series forward over the mid-20th century decades. (Unlike some series, this one is best appreciated when rea ...more |
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P.J. O'Brien
rated a book really liked it
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| 4.5 really. I got this latest book in the series as soon as I discovered it was released and enjoyed it as much as the previous ones. There's a nice balance of character development, interesting setting, and the weaving and resolution of the mystery. ...more | |
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P.J. O'Brien
rated a book really liked it
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| There are some interesting ideas in here and a likeable main character. It's a bit more "shoot 'em up" than I generally prefer to read, but it is about intergalactic warfare. I plan to read more of the series, though I'll likely stretch it out. ...more | |
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P.J. O'Brien
rated a book it was amazing
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I thought about this very compelling book for a few hours after I finished it. Then, I opened it back up, read the prologue again and found myself rereading the entire book. There are so many ways to understand and appreciate Winter Journeys. On one ...more |
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“Books are portals for the imagination, whether one is reading or writing, and unless one is keeping a private journal, writing something that no one is likely to read is like trying to have a conversation when you’re all alone. Readers extend and enhance the writer’s created work, and they deepen the colors of it with their own imagination and life experiences. In a sense, there’s a revision every time one's words are read by someone else, just as surely as there is whenever the writer edits. Nothing is finished or completely dead until both sides quit and it’s no longer a part of anyone’s thoughts. So it seems almost natural that a lifelong avid reader occasionally wants to construct a mindscape from scratch after wandering happily in those constructed by others. If writing is a collaborative communication between author and reader, then surely there’s a time and a place other than writing reviews for readers to 'speak' in the human literary conversation.”
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“Oh, nothing’s impossible. It’s just a question of when it gets too hard to imagine doing.”
― The Valkyrie's Tale
― The Valkyrie's Tale
“Did you ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real, and you're just a reflection of him?”
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RW Cyber Hearth
— 11 members
— last activity Oct 27, 2023 12:13PM
A gathering space designed to connect those who are willing to read each other’s writing, without cost or any obligation to review. This is not design ...more
Fairy Godreaders
— 16 members
— last activity Jan 20, 2016 01:06AM
Valiant reader, there is a critical need for those who want to read undiscovered works. If you’re someone who likes to make up your own mind, to take ...more
Into the Forest
— 2103 members
— last activity 13 hours, 16 min ago
A group to discuss the fairy and folk tales, world mythologies, mythic fiction, magical realism fiction, and monsters. Of course, we also discuss rete ...more
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Hi PJ, do you have my Prairie e-mail address? I have an awkward task, because Goodreads refuses an option to shut off direct-messaging. I beg well-meaning friends on my profile, to never contact me there. Nearly any conversation is fine in comment boxes. Much easier on rural internet, which we can't believe we are using in this modern day. For anything that can't be stated aloud, I offer e-mail. :)Thank you so very much for consoling me regarding my Mom! She was resilient against health issues all year. We had not expected anything but her recovery, so the shift to "all we can do" was fast. But we had enough time to prepare and enjoy her. I am sorry you lost your Mom quickly. I would have said something if I had seen the news. I will be all right. I pray you have had time to feel the same about your Mom's "new chapter". It is a physical separation neither of their Daughters want. In gratitude for your care, Carolyn.
PJ: Thanks for like my review of EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON. I found this an invaluable background to reading Larry McMurtry's COMANCHE MOON. Best,
Pat
Ran wrote: "Hey P.J. thanks for friending me!"My thanks to you right back. :-) You read interesting books and I thought it was time to come out from skulking around your bookshelves and say hello. Hello!
