Saturday, December 5, 2015

Stacking the Shelves - 12.5.15

Stacking the Shelves
hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

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Bought:

Furiously Happy:
A Funny Book About Horrible Things
by Jenny Lawson
-Humor, Memoir
Amazon | Goodreads


=====> Books Passage, Corte Madera presented JENNY LAWSON and her latest book!

Here are a few things that she shared:
- read one chapter and a bit from another chapter from her book
- does not write about current disputes with hubby, Victor
- permission is obtained from everyone included in her writings

Me and the Happy Raccoon

=====> Loved going to see another of my all-time favorite authors. Jenny is one of those authors who is amazing and personable in public which comes across the same in her writing. I especially love listening to the audio versions of her book which she reads.

Fortune Smiles
by Adam Johnson
-Short stories
Amazon | Goodreads

======> Loved his first novel, The Orphan Master's Son. And currently loving this collection of short stories.

For Review:

Curio
by Evangeline Denmark
-Steampunk, YA
courtesy of BookSparks -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads

=====> Can't resist steampunk themed stories.

Gifts:

Come December
by Holly Schindler
-Holiday, Short Story
courtesy of author -Thanks!
Amazon -kindle version is currently free, GET yours! | Goodreads

=====> Looking forward to reading this during the holiday season.

Slade House
by David Mitchell
-Horror, Mystery
courtesy of family -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads

=====> This has an interesting haunted house premise. The cover of this book has a cool cut-out window. I may wait to read this when I am in a dark mood.

UNBOXING:

From Powell's Indiespensable club package (details & signup):
Powell's subscription club delivers the best new books, with special attention to independent publishers. Signed first editions. Inventive, original sets. Exclusive printings.... Every six weeks, another installment to read and admire. Plus, every package is stocked with exciting surprises! @indiespensable


This is box #56. (sorry - this is sold out, but you can signup for the next one)

Box includes:
- A signed first-edition of City on Fire by Garth Risk Halberg in a custom slipcase exclusive to Indiespensable
- A collectible booklet featuring the Powells.com interview and Indiespensable Q&A with author
- Tumbes 73% chocolate bar from Ranger Chocolate Company

City On Fire
by Garth Risk Hallberg
-Historical, New York
Amazon | Goodreads

New York City, 1976. Meet Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city’s great fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by downtown’s punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbor—and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park on New Year’s Eve.

The mystery, as it reverberates through families, friendships, and the corridors of power, will open up even the loneliest-seeming corners of the crowded city. And when the blackout of July 13, 1977, plunges this world into darkness, each of these lives will be changed forever.

City on Fire is an unforgettable novel about love and betrayal and forgiveness, about art and truth and rock ’n’ roll: about what people need from each other in order to live . . . and about what makes the living worth doing in the first place.


=====> Actually purchased this book recently, but excited to see it highlighted as a Powell's special. And, thrilled to get this special edition. IF you are interested in receiving my second copy, comment on this post along with your email address. Offer ends: Dec 13, 2015

Library:

Nowhere But Here
by Katie McGarry
Amazon | Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.


=====> After seeing this on a lot of other blogger bookshelves, I wanted to give this a try. So far, loving it!

The Paying Guests
by Sarah Waters
-LGBTQ, Historical
Amazon | Goodreads

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned; the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa—a large, silent house now bereft of brothers, husband, and even servants—life is about to be transformed as impoverished widow Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

With the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the “clerk class,” the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. Little do the Wrays know just how profoundly their new tenants will alter the course of Frances’s life—or, as passions mount and frustration gathers, how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize three times, Sarah Waters has earned a reputation as one of our greatest writers of historical fiction, and here she has delivered again. A love story, a tension-filled crime story, and a beautifully atmospheric portrait of a fascinating time and place, The Paying Guests is Sarah Waters’s finest achievement yet.


=====> Listening to the audio version. So far, so good. Loving the details, details, details of the characters presented.


OTHER things on my shelf: kinda book-related

SEE who I picked for my NOVEMBER Literary Hunk of the Month (here)

AND watched: on DVD

Laggies (2014)
Director: Lynn Shelton
Written by: Andrea Seigel
Starring: Keira Knightley, Chloƫ Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell
-Comedy, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5

In the throes of a quarter-life crisis, Megan panics when her boyfriend proposes, then, taking an opportunity to escape for a week, hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year-old Annika, who lives with her world-weary single dad.

=====> So cute - coming of age story.

Pitch Perfect (2012)
Director: Jason Moore
Screenplay by: Kay Cannon
Based on book by: Mickey Rapkin
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Brittany Snow, Rebel Wilson
-Comedy, Music, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5

Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school's all-girls singing group. Injecting some much needed energy into their repertoire, The Bellas take on their male rivals in a campus competition.

=====> Another cute one. The music and choreography performances just warms the heart. Makes me want to check out shows by local acapella groups.

Must watch Pitch Perfect 2. And Pitch Perfect 3 is due to release in 2017.

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* some of these may be offered as giveaways within the next two months

* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways offers


 
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