Saturday, May 21, 2016

Stacking the Shelves - 5.21.16

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:

The Excellent Lombards
by Jane Hamilton
-Contemporary
Amazon | Goodreads


=====> Book Passage, Corte Madera, hosted a visit from author, Jane Hamilton. She mentioned that the main character, Mary Frances, is partly inspired by the character Frankie from Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers. She said her quiet novel is filled with conflict and tension amongst characters in farm living.

Author, Gail Tsukiyama, was also on hand in conversation with Jane. She is currently working on a novel that is based in Hawaii.

For Review:

Pasta Wars
by Elisa Lorello
-Humor, Romance
courtesy of publisher -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads

The Hawkweed Prophecy
by Irena Brignull
-Fantasy, YA
courtesy of publisher -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads

Gena/Finn
by Hannah Moskowitz and Kat Helgeson
-LGBTQ, YA
courtesy of publisher -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads

Freebie: for kindle

The Mirror and the Maze:
A Wrath & the Dawn Short Story
by Renée Ahdieh
-Fantasy, Short Story, YA
Amazon | Goodreads

From BEA:


=====> What a treat it was to find BookSparks at BEA (here). Loved meeting Robert and Janay :-)

Thieving Weasels
by Billy Taylor
-YA
courtesy of publisher at BEA -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads

=====> Fantastic fun! I inhaled this one on the plane ride home! This was one of a few books I was able to stow in my luggage on the flight home. I am waiting to receive a couple boxes of books that I shipped to myself from Chicago before posting that haul received from the fabulous publishers at BEA.


=====> Various tote bags were handed out as swag.

Pictured above left to right:

Penguin: Riverhead Books - this colorful one is my favorite! I quickly started using it the whole time at BEA. It is for the new release, The Mothers by Brit Bennett.

Hachette: Grand Central Publishing (Forever) - Book lovers never go to bed alone. This red tote had the best blurb on it ;-)

HarperCollins: Epic - Book Shimmy Second best blurb.

Quirk Books - For Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - looking forward to its movie release in September.

Scholastic - I Read YA.

Random House - Cute one for Penguin Problems by Jory John and illustrated by Lane Smith.

Chronicle Books - This is a handy one that folds up neatly into the size of a pocket pack of tissues.

AND watched: in theatre

Classmates (2016)
Director: Shoko Nakamura
Starring: Kenji Nojima, Hiroshi Kamiya, Hideo Ishikawa
-Anime | website | my rating: 5

Rihito Sajo is an honor student who enrolled into his high school with a perfect score on the entrance exam. Hikaru Kusakabe is in a band and popular among girls. They are “different kind of guys”, who would have never crossed paths.

One day, they started talking to each other at the practice for their school’s upcoming chorus festival. After school, the two meet regularly, as Hikaru helps Rihito to improve his singing skills. While they listen to each other’s voice and harmonize, their hearts start to beat together.

Their feelings for each other slowly elevate, then peak when least expected.

Goofy yet innocent, Hikaru directly talks about his feelings towards Rihito. Hesitant at first, but Rihito gradually opens up his heart to Hikaru.

Two adolescent boys – being perplexed about not only about each other, but also about themselves – struggle and get confused; however, they eventually get to understand each other.

As they start to think about college and their future, what comes to their mind in order to move forward…


=====> Sweet romance and can get you curious about the Yaoi genre if you don't already know about it.

AND watched: in theatre

The Huntsman (2016)
Winter's War
Director: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
Writers: Evan Spiliotopoulos, Craig Mazin, Evan Daugherty
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt
-Action, Adventure, Drama | imdb | my rating: 4

As a war between rival queen sisters Ravenna and Freya escalates, Eric and fellow warrior Sara, members of the Huntsmen army raised to protect Freya, try to conceal their forbidden love as they combat Ravenna's wicked intentions.

=====> Action packed fairy tale that I liked for the special effects.

A Bigger Splash (2015)
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Screenplay: David Kajganich
Based on story by: Alain Page
Starring: Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson
-Crime, Drama, Mystery | imdb | my rating: 5

The vacation of a famous rock star and a filmmaker is disrupted by the unexpected visit of an old friend and his daughter.

=====> A dark moody story despite the beautiful, bright and sunny setting. Despite attractive characters in this film they are quite unlikable yet fascinating to watch. I cringed watching Ralph and Dakota's character interactions because you know that they were up to no good. Hence, they played their parts well.

The Lobster (2015)
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Writers: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
Starring: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz
-Comedy, Drama, Romance | imdb | my rating: 4

In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.

Oscar nominated for Original Screenplay.

Certainly gets the conversation going on the state of singledom.

Hotel Manager: Now have you thought of what animal you'd like to be if you end up alone?
David: Yes. A lobster.
Hotel Manager: Why a lobster?
David: Because lobsters live for over one hundred years, are blue-blooded like aristocrats, and stay fertile all their lives. I also like the sea very much.


Currently flipping through: from the library

M.F.K. Fisher's Provence
by M. F. K. Fisher and Aileen Ah-Tye (photos)
-Photos
Amazon | Goodreads

Fanciful breads
...the shop always smelled right, not confused and stuffy but delicately layered: fresh eggs, fresh sweet butter, grated nutmeg, vanilla beans, old kirsch, newly ground almonds...


=====> Love the various shots of Aix-en-Provence - makes me want to revisit the place.

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