My Weekly Books and Films Update
Linking up with:
Stacking the Shelves (details)
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)
The air quality has been poor here in the Bay area this week. Smoke hazed days since Monday has put a damper on outdoor activities and lots of stress, worry and sadness emanates from the fires up north. I am looking forward to being able to take a deep long refreshing breath outside soon.
Uhhh, OK. I am resigned to a slower reading pattern nowadays. With the holiday season kicking in starting with Halloween festivities there is a lot of competition to go out to fun events and parties.
NOTE to self: next year, avoid booking requested book reviews from October to December
Current happy things:
1. Fall Film Challenge (here) - I enjoyed good ones this week. And now, inspired to see more films with or directed by Clint Eastwood.
2. Thick slice of toast topped with honey and peanut butter from Trouble Coffee. The honey and pb combo was a first, yum.
3. Pedicure treatment with a purple color called, Serenity. I treat myself to this once in awhile. So relaxing. It is especially fun to see pretty colored toes while doing certain yoga poses.
Bought:
A Palestine Mystery
by Kate Jessica Raphael
-Mystery, Thriller
Amazon | Goodreads
PICKED this up for a face-to-face book club that reads foreign mysteries. This is the third club I am trying out this year.
Bookshop in West Portal, San Francisco, CA hosted a panel discussion on the current state of activism featuring:
Kate Harding – Nasty Women Editor
Samhita Mukhopadhyay – Nasty Women Editor
Carolyn Jasik – Director of California Women’s March
Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump’s America
edited by Samhita Mukhopadhyay
-Essays, Feminism
Release date: October 3, 2017
Amazon | Goodreads
Twenty-Three Leading Feminist Writers on Protest and Solidarity
When 53 percent of white women voted for Donald Trump and 94 percent of black women voted for Hillary Clinton, how can women unite in Trump’s America? Nasty Women includes inspiring essays from a diverse group of talented women writers who seek to provide a broad look at how we got here and what we need to do to move forward.
Featuring essays by REBECCA SOLNIT on Trump and his “misogyny army,” CHERYL STRAYED on grappling with the aftermath of Hillary Clinton’s loss, SARAH HEPOLA on resisting the urge to drink after the election, NICOLE CHUNG on family and friends who support Trump, KATHA POLLITT on the state of reproductive rights and what we do next, JILL FILIPOVIC on Trump’s policies and the life of a young woman in West Africa, SAMANTHA IRBY on racism and living as a queer black woman in rural America, RANDA JARRAR on traveling across the country as a queer Muslim American, SARAH HOLLENBECK on Trump’s cruelty toward the disabled, MEREDITH TALUSAN on feminism and the transgender community, and SARAH JAFFE on the labor movement and active and effective resistance, among others.
Author event:
Booksmith in San Francisco hosted an event with Celeste Ng to celebrate the release of Little Fires Everywhere. Her inspiration for the book was a place - Shaker Heights, Ohio.
by Celeste Ng
-Contemporary, Family
Amazon | Goodreads
From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town--and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.
Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.
For Review:
by Geoffrey Girard
-Horror, Gothic, Ghosts
Release date: April 17, 2018
Amazon | Goodreads
ADDED this to my FrightFall readathon (here).
OTHER things (kinda book-related):
features a book related question
Sponsored by The Coffee Addicted Writer (details)
This week's prompt: Who is your favorite horror/suspense author and why?
(submitted by Kitty @ Vicarious Bookworm)
Stephen King tops my list for the horror/suspense genre because his stories are meaty even without the horror element.
AND watched: on DVD
Director/Writer: Simon Aboud
Starring: Jessica Brown Findlay, Jeremy Irvine, Andrew Scott
-Comedy, Drama, Fantasy | imdb | my rating: 5
A young woman who dreams of being a children's author makes an unlikely friendship with a cantankerous, rich old widower.
For Fall Film challenge: about prudence
SWEET feel good film with quirky characters. Sherlock Cumberbatch fans will be treated with a performance by a very un-Moriarty. Inspired me to do some gardening.
Director: Gavin O'Connor
Writer: Bill Dubuque
Starring: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons
-Action, Crime, Drama | imdb | my rating: 4
As a math savant uncooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities, and the body count starts to rise.
For Fall Film challenge: released last year and reviewed on slothsandmovies.com (here)
ANOTHER trademark performance from Ben with an interesting autistic take.
Director: Don Siegel
Screenplay: Albert Maltz, Irene Kamp, Claude Traverse
Based on book by: Thomas Cullinan
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman
-Drama, Thriller, War | imdb | my rating: 5
While imprisoned in a Confederate girls' boarding school, an injured Union soldier cons his way into each of the lonely women's hearts, causing them to turn on each other, and eventually, on him.
For Fall Film challenge: about envy
CLINT is so charming in this. He also sings in it. I was amused with this jibe "hussy is a hussy." I liked how still photos depict a flash of history during the beginning credits.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Screenplay: David Webb Peoples
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman
-Drama, Western | imdb | my rating: 5
Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner and a young man.
For Fall Film challenge: about wrath
CLINT is charming in his cowboy way. This captures the gritty wild west story with a melancholy vibe.
* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently
:-)
