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!
Library:
(Gabriel Allon #1)
by Daniel Silva
-Mystery, Spy Thriller
Amazon | Goodreads
Gabriel Allon is an art restorer persuaded out of retirement by Ari Shamron, Israeli spymaster, to kill Palestinian Tariq before he assassinates old comrade Yasir Arafat.
Tariq's role in the murder of Gabriel's wife and son draws in Gabriel and his mistress, French model Sarah Halevy. Sarah infiltrates Tariq's inner circle. Before Gabriel can rescue her, tables turn.
=====> This series is now at book 15 and still going strong. Knowing two people who are enamored with this series, I decided to give book 1 a try. Let me know your thoughts on this if you are a fan.
Ooodles of fun from fellow book bloggers:
cover art lego mashup!
Amazon | Goodreads
=====> Just discovered a set of SUPER COOL lego art book covers created by Friends Are Fiction (here).
UNBOXING:
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!
Box #57 includes:
- A signed first-edition of Mr. Splitfoot in a custom slipcase exclusive to Indiespensable
- A collectible booklet featuring the Powells.com interview and Indiespensable Q&A with Samantha Hunt
- ARC of Fever at Dawn by Péter Gárdos
- Tony's Chocolonely Milk Caramel Sea Salt chocolate with 100% slave-free, fair-trade ingredients
by Samantha Hunt
-Gothic Thriller
Powells | Amazon | Goodreads
A contemporary gothic from an author in the company of Kelly Link and Aimee Bender, Mr. Splitfoot tracks two women in two times as they march toward a mysterious reckoning.
Ruth and Nat are orphans, packed into a house full of abandoned children run by a religious fanatic. To entertain their siblings, they channel the dead. Decades later, Ruth’s niece, Cora, finds herself accidentally pregnant. After years of absence, Aunt Ruth appears, mute and full of intention. She is on a mysterious mission, leading Cora on an odyssey across the entire state of New York on foot. Where is Ruth taking them? Where has she been? And who — or what — has she hidden in the woods at the end of the road?
In an ingeniously structured dual narrative, two separate timelines move toward the same point of crisis. Their merging will upend and reinvent the whole. A subversive ghost story that is carefully plotted and elegantly constructed, Mr. Splitfoot will set your heart racing and your brain churning. Mysteries abound, criminals roam free, utopian communities show their age, the mundane world intrudes on the supernatural and vice versa.
by Péter Gárdos
-Historical, Romance
Powells | Amazon | Goodreads
Twenty-five-year-old Holocaust survivor Miklós is being shipped from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to Gotland, Sweden, to receive treatment at the Larbro Hospital. Here he is sentenced to death again: he is diagnosed with tuberculosis and his doctors inform him that he has six months to live. But Miklós decides to wage war on his own fate: he writes 117 letters to 117 Hungarian girls, all of whom are being treated in the Swedish camps, with the aim of eventually choosing a wife from among them.
Two hundred kilometres away, in another Swedish rehabilitation camp, nineteen-year-old Lili receives Miklós’s letter. Since she is bedridden for three weeks due to a serious kidney problem, out of boredom — and curiosity — she decides to write back.
The slightly formal exchange of letters becomes increasingly intimate. When the two finally manage to meet, they fall in love and are determined to marry, despite the odds that are against them.
Based on the original letters written by Miklós and Lili (ninety-six altogether), Fever at Dawn is a tale of passion, striving, and betrayal; true and false friendships; doubt and faith; and the redeeming power of love.
OTHER things on my shelf: kinda book-related
Bracket PDF is now available (here) - woot!
=====> March Madness (for books) starts on March 7!
AND watched: on Netflix, Oscar nominee
Director: Liz Garbus
Starring: Nina Simone
- Documentary, Biography, Music | imdb | my rating: 4
On stage Nina Simone was known for her utterly free, uninhibited musical expression, which enthralled audiences and attracted life-long fans. But amid the violent, haunting, and senseless day-to-day of the civil rights era in 1960s America, Simone struggled to reconcile her artistic identity and ambition with her devotion to a movement. Culled from hours of autobiographical tapes, this new film unveils the unmitigated ego of a brilliant artist and the absurdities of her time. At the height of her fame Simone walked away from her family, country, career and fans, to move to Liberia and give up performing. The story of her life leading up to that event poses the question, 'how does royalty stomp around in the mud and still walk with grace?'
=====> The last third of the movie made me feel the title of this film. However, I did like learning about this amazing singer/pianist and hearing her earlier works.
AND watched: online, Oscar nominee
Director: Asif Kapadia
Starring: Amy Winehouse
- Documentary, Biography, Music | imdb | my rating: 5
The story of Amy Winehouse in her own words, featuring unseen archival footage and unheard tracks.
=====> This movie made me start listening to Amy's two albums (for the first time) and loving them. Previously, I did not know anything about her other than her name. Another documentary on an amazing female singer.
AND watched: on DVD, Oscar nominee
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writer: Taylor Sheridan
Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro
- Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 4
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
=====> Some realities of the war against drugs from FBI perspective. Sad.
AND watched: in theatre, Oscar nominee
Director: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Starring: Saba
- Documentary Short, Pakistan | imdb | Website | my rating: 5
More than a 1000 women are killed in the name of 'honor' in Pakistan every year. A Girl in the River: The price of forgiveness follows the story of a rare survivor who falls in love and lives to tell the tale.
=====> At this showing, the audience was treated to a Q&A with the director. This film is an eye-opener for those who do not already know about honor killings in Pakistan.
AND watched: in theatre
Director: Burr Steers
Screenplay: Burr Steers
Based on book by: Seth Grahame-Smith
which based on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Starring: Lily James, Sam Riley
- Action, Horror, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
Jane Austen's classic tale of the tangled relationships between lovers from different social classes in 19th century England is faced with a new challenge -- an army of undead zombies.
=====> Fun and better than I expected for what it is. Also just as enjoyable as the book with the right amount of romance, kick-ass female fight scenes and zombies ;-)
fyi: Mr. Darcy was indeed, darcylicious
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