AND
Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer (details)
Slow reading week due to lots to movie watching - good stuff.
Despite the speed, I am enjoying my current read, The Return of Sir Percival by S. Alexander O'Keefe. Loving learning about this knight from Arthur's Round Table.
Would you be interested in receiving snail mail? SEE BELOW for details.
For Review:
by Shawn Hartje
-Coming of Age, YA
Amazon | Goodreads
Won from contest: first win from an instagram giveaway
(A Crusoe Adventure #2)
by Andy Lane
-retelling, Historical, Adventure, YA
courtesy of publisher -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads
Months after their rescue by the government agency Segment W, Robinson Crusoe and his friend Friday have proven their skills as secret agents. They re now climbing the ranks of this exclusive group of spies who reports directly to the Crown. Suddenly, in the dead of winter, Friday is shocked to see her father, who once tried to kill her, walking the streets of London. She tries to elicit the help of Segment W, but they are preoccupied with the continued investigation into an organization that staged a kidnapping of the king s daughter. What will she do? As Friday s past comes back to haunt her, she, Crusoe, and Daniel Defoe must uncover the mystical Circle of XIII s sinister plans to recruit new members into the society using dangerous and magical means. How does her father fit into all of this? Will they be able to escape unscathed? Day of Ice is the second installment of a series that thrusts a young Robinson Crusoe into a new world of espionage, intrigue, and peril."
HAVE not read Robinson Crusoe, so I may have to read the original... or maybe watch the film first.
Author event:
by Stephanie Garber
-YA, Fantasy
Amazon | Goodreads
Book Passage in Corte Madera hosted an interview of Stephanie Garber by Veronica Rossi (author of Under the Never Sky) to celebrate the release of, Caraval. It was interesting to learn that the book inspirations included Baz Luhrmann's Great Gatsby, Disneyland. Fashion was inspired by the tv series, Reign and Splintered series by A.G. Howard.
OTHER things on my shelf:
theme: fairy tale
theme: cupcake
theme: jane austen
theme: bronte sisters
theme: surprise me (with something else)
APRIL is the Write_On Challenge sponsored by Write_On (here). It is a call to action to write 30 letters in 30 days during April, National Letterwriting Month.
I pulled out my stationery to prepare and get hyped. Now I need to prepare my list of people to write to.
WOULD you like to be one of those people? If so, pick one of the stationery themes listed above which will be what I use to correspond to you. AND email me ( vvb32@yahoo.com ) your mailing address with that pick.
OPEN to both US and international folks.
OFFER ends March 31.
AND watched: in theatre
Forushande (original title)
Director/Writer: Asghar Farhadi
Starring: Taraneh Alidoosti, Shahab Hosseini, Babak Karimi
-Drama, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 5
Forushande (The Salesman) is the story of a couple whose relationship begins to turn sour during their performance of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Oscar nominated for Foreign Language Film.
The exploration into the condition of women in Iran and the male psyche were interestingly played out in the reality and theatre acting of this story. Fascinating.
Director: Amma Asante
Screenplay: Guy Hibbert
Starring: David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Jack Davenport
-Biography, Drama, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
Prince Seretse Khama of Botswana causes an international stir when he marries a white woman from London in the late 1940s.
Wow. Learned some Botswana history in this one. Despite racism issues in this it ends on a feel good note.
AND watched: on DVD
Director: Jon Favreau
Screenplay: Justin Marks
Based on book by: Rudyard Kipling
Starring: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley
-Adventure, Drama, Family | imdb | my rating: 4
After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther, Bagheera, and free spirited bear, Baloo.
Oscar nominated for Visual Effects.
I was resistant to watch this as I loved the Disney version. Gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised. King Louie was outrageously huge and voiced by Christopher Walken - loved his singing.
Director/Writer: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Starring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich
-Comedy, Mystery | imdb | my rating: 4
A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio's stars in line.
Oscar nominated for Production Design.
Notes on some ins and outs of Hollywood shenanigans. Clooney was a hoot.
Director: Ezra Edelman
-Documentary, Biography, Crime | imdb | my rating: 5
It is the defining cultural tale of modern America - a saga of race, celebrity, media, violence, and the criminal justice system. And two decades after its unforgettable climax, it continues to fascinate, polarize, and even, yes, develop new chapters.
"O.J." revisits - and redefines - it all. The domestic abuse. The police investigation. The white Bronco chase. The trial of the century. The motive, the blood, the glove. The verdict. The aftermath. Drawing upon more than seventy interviews- from longtime friends and colleagues of Simpson to the recognizable protagonists of the murder investigation to observers and commentators with distinct connections to the story - the documentary is an engrossing, compelling, and unforgettable look at a tantalizing saga. Because at the end of what seems like a search for the real truth about O.J. Simpson, what's revealed just as powerfully is a collection of indelible, unshakeable, and haunting truths about America, and about ourselves.
Oscar nominated for Documentary Feature.
This was a long and in-depth look at the O.J. case phenomena that pulls in American black history that does well in explaining how's and why's of it all.
Director: Michael Bay
Screenplay: Chuck Hogan
Based on book by: Mitchell Zuckoff
Starring: John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, James Badge Dale
-Action, Drama, History | imdb | my rating: 4
During an attack on a U.S. compound in Libya, a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.
Oscar nominated for Sound Mixing.
Got a dose of military history of an event I had not known about before. Good to know what is going on overseas.
AND watched: on Netflix
Director/Writer: Ava DuVernay
Writer: Spencer Averick
Starring: Melina Abdullah, Michelle Alexander, Cory Booker
-Documentary, Crime | imdb | my rating: 5
An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
Oscar nominated for Documentary Feature.
Shocking data. Also, scary as the number of prisoners continues to go up. Something has to change.
* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently
