Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Cruising Through the Louvre by David Prudhomme

Cruising Through the Louvre
by David Prudhomme

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon | Goodreads

Published: 2016
Publisher: NBM Publishing
Genre: Graphic Novel, Art, France, Paris
Hardback: 80
Rating: 4

Louvre Collection series::
The Cross-Eyed Mutt
On The Odd Hours
Sky Over The Louvre
The Museum Vaults
Cruising Through The Louvre
Rohan At The Louvre
Glacial Period
Guardians Of The Louvre

An artist’s unique take on the museum experience: peoplewatching

Author and artist David Prudhomme meanders through the Louvre, feeling as if in the panels of a giant comic while he himself is creating his own is this graphic novel. In this institution, all manner of people from all over the world rub elbows quietly. So Prudhomme decides to cruise through the museum, not to look at the world famous art, but to observe the people and their interaction with it. As he wanders, he discovers a group of students somehow stuck together just as in the shipwreck on the Raft of the Medusa; a man standing behind the Seated Scribe, as if attempting to read over his shoulder; and in the hall of antiquities, a woman placing her head in a lion’s mouth. This work presents readers a strange, silent, and casual choreography, danced in the midst of one of the most prestigious museums in the world.


PeekAbook:


My two-bits:

Mostly views of people looking at art. Along with famous art pieces scattered throughout the book, prodigious amounts of cell phones - seems like one per page.

~*~

* part of Paris in July (here)

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Lovely Books and Things - 7.28.18

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

Linking up with:
Stacking the Shelves (details)
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

~*~

HAPPY THINGS:

1. Peach oolong tea while doing a dvd binge of CSI: Las Vegas season 7

2. Totally taken with All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth - elite boarding school, missing mother and secrets

3. Squeezing in time to work on a crochet project

~*~


Bought:

Children of Blood and Bone
Legacy of OrĂ¯sha #1
by Tomi Adeyemi
-Fantasy, YA
Amazon | Goodreads

VOTED to be the Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show Summer Read (details).


Library:

Kudos
by Rachel Cusk
-Literary, Contemporary
Amazon | Goodreads

FOR the Rooster Summer Reading Challenge (here)


Author event:


Book Passage, Corte Madera, hosted an event with Ayobami Adebayo with the recent paperback release of Stay With Me. Found out that this novel started out as a short story. Also, some of her sources of inspiration are Toni Morrison and Margaret Atwood.

Stay With Me
by Ayobami Adebayo
-Historical, Literary, Africa, Nigeria
Amazon | Goodreads


AND watched: in theatre

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)
Director/Writer: Susanna Fogel
Writers: David Iserson
Stars: Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon, Justin Theroux, Sam Heughan
-Action, Comedy | imdb | my rating: 5

Audrey and Morgan are best friends who unwittingly become entangled in an international conspiracy when one of the women discovers the boyfriend who dumped her was actually a spy.

HILARIOUS!

Sorry To Bother You (2018)
Director/Writer: Boots Riley
Stars: Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson
-Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi | imdb | my rating: 5

In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a universe of greed.

THOUGHT provoking. Loved how the storyline turned into something that was totally unexpected.

Dark Money (2018)
Director/Writer: Kimberly Reed
Witer: Jay Arthur Sterrenberg
-Documentary | imdb | my rating: 5

DARK MONEY, a political thriller, examines one of the greatest present threats to American democracy: the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials. The film takes viewers to Montana--a front line in the fight to preserve fair elections nationwide--to follow an intrepid local journalist working to expose the real-life impact of the US Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Through this gripping story, DARK MONEY uncovers the shocking and vital truth of how American elections are bought and sold. This Sundance award-winning documentary is directed/produced by Kimberly Reed (PRODIGAL SONS) and produced by Katy Chevigny (E-TEAM).

SCARY.


~*~

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Friday, July 27, 2018

All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth

All These Beautiful Strangers
by Elizabeth Klehfoth

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter

Just released: July 10, 2018
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Mystery, YA
Hardback: 448
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
My father built the house on Langely Lake for my mother, in the town she grew up in.

A young woman haunted by a family tragedy is caught up in a dangerous web of lies and deception involving a secret society in this highly charged, addictive psychological thriller that combines the dishy gamesmanship of Gossip Girl with the murky atmosphere of The Secret History.

One summer day, Grace Fairchild, the beautiful young wife of real estate mogul Alistair Calloway, vanished from the family’s lake house without a trace, leaving behind her seven-year old daughter, Charlie, and a slew of unanswered questions.

Years later, seventeen-year-old Charlie still struggles with the dark legacy of her family name and the mystery surrounding her mother. Determined to finally let go of the past, she throws herself into life at Knollwood, the prestigious New England school she attends. Charlie quickly becomes friends with Knollwood’s "it" crowd.

Charlie has also been tapped by the A’s—the school’s elite secret society well known for terrorizing the faculty, administration, and their enemies. To become a member of the A’s, Charlie must play The Game, a semester-long, diabolical high-stakes scavenger hunt that will jeopardize her friendships, her reputation, even her place at Knollwood.

As the dark events of past and present converge, Charlie begins to fear that she may not survive the terrible truth about her family, her school, and her own life.


Zombie sighting:
"Do mine next," Drew said. "You always do the best smoky eye. Somehow mine always end up making me look like the walking dead."
chapter 13, page 164


My two-bits:

Elite boarding school, missing mother, secrets are only part of the package in this mystery thriller that kept me in its clutches this week.

The story was told mostly with a YA perspective but had insight into multiple characters that rounded out the picture well.

Loved the character growth and cleverness of the protagonist.

~*~

* part of the Blog All About It Challenge (here)

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines

Until Friday Night
narrated by Olivia Song and Sebastian York

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest | Twitter

Published: 2015
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Sports, YA
Hardback: 336
Rating: 5

The Field Party series:
Until Friday Night
Under the Lights
After the Game
Losing the Field

First sentence(s):
This wasn't home. Nothing ever would be again.

The first novel in a brand-new series—from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Abbi Glines—about a small Southern town filled with cute boys in pickup trucks, Friday night football games, and crazy parties that stir up some major drama.

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.

Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.

As West’s pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father—so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t tell anyone else.

West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn’t control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own—or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn’t ever let her go…



My two-bits:

This couple's individual stories tug at the heart. But the support they have for each other is a beautiful thing.

Fell in love with this crowd of kids and look forward to reading the rest in this series.

~*~

* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of the Blog All About It Challenge: Spirit (here)

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Census by Jesse Ball

Census
by Jesse Ball
narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla


Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Twitter

Just released: March 2018
Publisher: Ecco
Genre: Literary, Dystopia
Hardback: 272
Rating: 4

First sentence(s):
When a widower receives the devastating news that he doesn't have long to live, he is struck by the question of who will care for his adult son — a son whom he fiercely loves, a boy with Down syndrome.

When a widower receives notice from a doctor that he doesn’t have long left to live, he is struck by the question of who will care for his adult son—a son whom he fiercely loves, a boy with Down syndrome. With no recourse in mind, and with a desire to see the country on one last trip, the man signs up as a census taker for a mysterious governmental bureau and leaves town with his son.

Traveling into the country, through towns named only by ascending letters of the alphabet, the man and his son encounter a wide range of human experience. While some townspeople welcome them into their homes, others who bear the physical brand of past censuses on their ribs are wary of their presence. When they press toward the edges of civilization, the landscape grows wilder, and the towns grow farther apart and more blighted by industrial decay. As they approach “Z,” the man must confront a series of questions: What is the purpose of the census? Is he complicit in its mission? And just how will he learn to say good-bye to his son?

Mysterious and evocative, Census is a novel about free will, grief, the power of memory, and the ferocity of parental love, from one of our most captivating young writers.


My two-bits:

As with many road trips, this one provided a variety of experiences in a somewhat eerie futuristic setting. The encounters helped the protagonist reach solutions and solace.

~*~

* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Rooster Summer Reading Challenge 2018 (here)

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Providence by Caroline Kepnes

Providence
by Caroline Kepnes

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt
Website
Facebook
Instagram | Twitter

Just released: June 19, 2018
Publisher: Lenny
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Horror
Hardback: 384
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
I brung Pedro home for Thanksgiving break and tomorrow I have to bring him back to school. You're not supposed to say brung. You're supposed to say brought.

Best friends in small-town New Hampshire, Jon and Chloe share a bond so intense that it borders on the mystical. But before Jon can declare his love for his soul mate, he is kidnapped, his plans for a normal life permanently dashed.

Four years later, Chloe has finally given up hope of ever seeing Jon again. Then, a few months before graduation, Jon reappears. But he is different now: bigger, stronger, and with no memory of the time he was gone. Jon wants to pick up where he and Chloe left off... until the horrifying instant he realizes that he possesses strange powers that pose a grave threat to everyone he cares for. Afraid of hurting Chloe, Jon runs away, embarking on a journey for answers.

Meanwhile, in Providence, Rhode Island, healthy college students and townies with no connection to one another are suddenly, inexplicably dropping dead. A troubled detective prone to unexplainable hunches, Charles “Eggs” DeBenedictus suspects there’s a serial killer at work. But when he starts asking questions, Eggs is plunged into a whodunit worthy of his most outlandish obsessions.

In this dazzling new novel—and with an intense, mesmerizing voice—Caroline Kepnes makes keen and powerful observations about human connection and how love and identity can dangerously blur together.


Zombie sighting:
"… If Jon loved you, he would want you to be happy. You look like a zombie."
-chapter Chloe, page 63


My two-bits:

Mostly likeable characters however warped they may have been.

Got a tinge of H.P. Lovecraft horror throughout and many references to his works.

Found out Providence, Rhode Island is the place to be for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon as well as the NecronomiCon.

~*~

* part of BookSparks Reading Challenge, Summer (here)

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Lovely Books and Things - 7.21.18

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

Linking up with:
Stacking the Shelves (details)
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

~*~

HAPPY THINGS:

1. Free film screening tickets - I joined the mailing list for a local theatre which sends out giveaway contest offers to attend newly released films.

2. Lahmejun aka Armenian/Turkish Pizza - love it as a quick, tasty, savory, snack from a local grocery

3. Coloring a mini page for one of my activities for Paris in July (here)


~*~

Library:

All These Beautiful Strangers
by Elizabeth Klehfoth
-Mystery, YA
Amazon | Goodreads

PART of the Blog All About It Challenge: Spirit (here) - the secret society element of this one catches my eye.


Author event:


Book Passage, Corte Madera, hosted an event with Kate Christensen to present The Last Cruise. After hearing about the origin story of this story, I wonder if I will still be interested in taking a future cruise trip.

The Last Cruise
by Kate Christensen
-Contemporary, Historical
Amazon | Goodreads


Breaking Up with Busy:
Real-Life Solutions for Overscheduled Women
by Yvonne Tally
-Self Help, Meditation, Time Management
Amazon | Goodreads

BOOK Passage SF at the Ferry Building hosted a reading and Q&A with Yvonne Tally. She has interesting tips on how to slow down and adding quality to life.


AND watched: in theatre

Eighth Grade (2018)
Director/Writer: Bo Burnham
Stars: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson
-Comedy | imdb | my rating: 4

A teenager tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth-grade year before leaving to start high school.

As painful to watch as it sounds. But, a good snapshot of how some of the kids survive the 8th grade experience in contemporary times with the added element of digital devices.


AND watched: on DVD

The King Is Dancing (2000)
Le roi danse (original title)
Director/Writer: GĂ©rard Corbiau
Writers: Ăˆve de Castro, AndrĂ©e Corbiau, Didier Decoin
Based on book by: Philippe Beaussant
Stars: Benoît Magimel, Boris Terral, Tchéky Karyo
-Drama, History, Music, France, Versailles | imdb | my rating: 5

PART of Paris in July (here)

LOVED the beautiful scenes of music, dance and decadence of this time period.

~*~

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Thursday, July 19, 2018

The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young

The Fragile Ordinary
by Samantha Young
narrated by Elle Newlands

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
BookBub | Facebook
Instagram | Twitter

Just released: June 26, 2018
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Coming of age, YA, Scotland
Hardback: 384
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
I am Comet Caldwell.
And I sort of, kind of, absolutely hate my name.

People expect extraordinary things from a girl named Comet. That she’ll be effortlessly cool and light up a room the way a comet blazes across the sky.

But from the shyness that makes her book-character friends more appealing than real people to the parents whose indifference hurts more than an open wound, Comet has never wanted to be the center of attention. She can’t wait to graduate from her high school in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the only place she ever feels truly herself is on her anonymous poetry blog. But surely that will change once she leaves to attend university somewhere far, far away.

When new student Tobias King blazes in from America and shakes up the school, Comet thinks she’s got the bad boy figured out. Until they’re thrown together for a class assignment and begin to form an unlikely connection. Everything shifts in Comet’s ordinary world. Tobias has a dark past and runs with a tough crowd—and none of them are happy about his interest in Comet. Targeted by bullies and thrown into the spotlight, Comet and Tobias can go their separate ways…or take a risk on something extraordinary.


My two-bits:

Oh, the whoas. Teens dealing with various parental issues are covered with a sweet romance to follow along with.

High school issues such as bullies and drugs are highlighted.

~*~

* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of the Blog All About It Challenge: Spirit (here)

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Paris in July pt2

Paris in July
hosted by Thyme for Tea
(details & signup)

Paris in July is a French themed blogging experience running from the 1st – 31st July this year.
The aim of the month is to celebrate our French experiences through actual visits, or through reading, watching, listening, observing, cooking and eating all things French!


~*~

Adding more things to my original July plans on this post.

July In Paris part 1 (here)

READ:

Miss Don't Touch Me, Vol. 1
(Miss Pas Touche #1-2)
by Hubert
illustrated by Kerascoët
translated by Joe Johnson
-Graphic Novel, Historical, France, Paris
Amazon | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

Miss Don't Touch Me, Vol. 2
(Miss Pas Touche #3-4)
by Hubert
illustrated by Kerascoët
-Graphic Novel, Historical, France, Paris
Amazon | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

Cruising Through The Louvre
by David Prudhomme
-Graphic Novel, Art, France, Paris
Amazon | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 4


VISIT:

Bastille Day
at Justin Hermann Plaza
July 14, 2018 (details)


EAT:

Valrhona Chocolate
Lait Carmelia
Perles craquantes - crunchy pearls
36% cacao

Valrhona has been producing the world’s finest chocolate in the small village of Tain L’Hermitage, France since 1922. From the beginning, company founder and Pastry Chef AlbĂ©ric Guironnet was dedicated to the creation of unique, artisan quality chocolate with complex, balanced and consistent flavors. This mission of excellence continues as the gastronomic traditions of the renowned Rhone Valley find expression in every mouthwatering taste of Valrhona’s superb chocolate. For almost a century, Valrhona has created a range of unique and recognizable aromatic profiles by perfecting techniques for enhancing the flavor of rare cocoa beans, grown on land masterfully selected for its terroir. Today, leading Pastry Chefs and discerning gourmets rely on Valrhona’s expertise to experience the best that chocolate can be. (per website)


COLOR:

Before:

After:

~*~

*source: free coloring page (here)

Monday, July 16, 2018

Another Sun by Timothy Williams

Another Sun
by Timothy Williams

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon | Goodreads

Published: 2014
Publisher: Soho Crime
Genre: Mystery, Paranormal, Caribbean, Guadeloupe
Paperback: 352
Rating: 4

First sentence(s):
It was past six o'clock and night had begun to fall.

The sun-drenched Caribbean island of Guadeloupe is technically part of France, subject to French law and loyal to the French Republic. But in 1980, the scars of colonialism are still fresh, and ethnic tensions and political unrest seethe just below the surface of everyday life.

French-Algerian judge Anne Marie Laveaud relocated to this beautiful Caribbean island confident that she could make it her new home. But her day-to-day life is rife with frustration. Now she is assigned a murder case in which she is sure the chief suspect, an elderly ex-con named HĂ©gĂ©sippe Bray, is a political scapegoat. Her superiors are dismissive of her efforts to prove Bray innocent, and to add insult to injury, Bray himself won’t even speak to her because she’s a woman. But she won’t give up, and Anne Marie’s investigations lead her into a complex tangle of injustice, domestic terrorists, broken hearts, and maybe even voodoo.


Zombie sighting:
A sleepwalker. A zombie.
chapter 13, page 58


My two-bits:

The mystery was not too much of the draw for me on this one. I enjoyed the description of the people and culture of the islanders in regards to the racism and classism.

~*~

* part of Books, Inc. Foreign Intrigue Book Club (here)

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Pre-Dewey's Reverse Summer Read-a-thon: July 2018

Dewey's Reverse Summer Readathon
July 27 to July 28, 2018 (start: 5pm 2018 PST)
(details)


TO DO before read-a-thon:
- clear the calendar on event day
- do chores, housework, etc. before event
- plan easy main meals - minimal preparation
- stock up on favorite munchies

TO DO during read-a-thon:
- read, blog, mini-challenge
- go to cafe for lunch and reading


Reading list:

A Place for Us
by Fatima Farheen Mirza
-Literary, Family, India, Muslim
Amazon | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 4


When Dimple Met Rishi
by Sandhya Menon
-YA, Romance, Asian American, India
Amazon | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

Post-Dewey's Reverse Summer Read-a-thon

I did not get to participate as planned. I had originally posted the wrong timing for this event (now fixed) and missed it. However, I was reading and managed to ready half way through A Place For Us.

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Lovely Books and Things - 7.14.18

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

Linking up with:
Stacking the Shelves (details)
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

~*~

HAPPY THINGS:

1. Finding summer dinner recipes online: Chicken Burger with Avocado Corn Salsa (here)

2. Enjoying the pianos scattered at the Flower Piano event in the San Francisco Botanical Garden (here) - loved the Quinta Tango performance

3. Late night drinking: Double Chocolate Boba Tea from Purple Kow
fyi: gotta finish reading Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan before the film release next month


~*~

Library:

When Dimple Met Rishi
by Sandhya Menon
-YA, Romance, India American
Amazon | Goodreads

ADDING this to my World Reads challenge - India (here)

Providence
by Caroline Kepnes
-Mystery, Thriller
Release date: June 19, 2018
Amazon | Goodreads

PART of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge 2018 (here).


FREEBIE:

The Tenth Island
Finding Joy, Beauty, and Unexpected Love in the Azores
by Diana Marcum
-Memoir, Travel, Spain
courtesy of Amazon Kindle First -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads

LOOKS like a good one for summertime.


Author event:


GREEN Apple Books on the Park hosted a reading and Q&A with Ottessa Moshfegh to present her latest, My Year of Rest and Relaxation. Ottessa shared some experiences on living in New York and China.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation
by Ottessa Moshfegh
-Literary, Mental Illness
Release date: July 10, 2018
Amazon | Goodreads

From one of our boldest, most celebrated new literary voices, a novel about a young woman's efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature and the battery of medicines she prescribes

Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn't just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.



OTHER things (kinda book-related):

Dewey's
Reverse Summer Readathon
July 28-29, 2018
11pm to 11pm PST (details)

GOING to try the new timing for this one.


RECENT fascination with miniatures has prompted me to create the first of a few Miniatures posts (here).


AND watched: in theatre

That Summer (2017)
Director: Göran Olsson (as Göran Hugo Olsson)
Stars: Peter Beard, Lee Radziwill, Edith Bouvier Beale
-Documentary | imdb | my rating: 5

Montauk, East Hampton, New York, 2016. Peter Beard discusses his work as a photographer, artist and diarist before reminiscing about his attempt to make a documentary in the summer of 1972 with his friend Lee Radziwill (younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), focusing on their childhood and the 20th- century history of East Hampton.

BEING a fan of the documentary Grey Gardens, this was special treat to see. More of the same kind of footage but most especially scenes of the gals interacting with Lee Radziwill.


Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or The Bottom? (2017)
Uchiage hanabi, shita kara miru ka? Yoko kara miru ka? (original title)
Directors: Akiyuki ShimbĂ´, Nobuyuki Takeuchi
Writers: Shunji Iwai, Hitoshi Ône
Stars: Suzu Hirose, Masaki Suda, Mamoru Miyano
-Animation, Drama, Family, Japan | imdb | my rating: 4

Schoolchildren Norimichi, Yûsuke and Jun'ichi want to know if fireworks look round or flat from the side. They make a plan to find the answer at a fireworks display, while Nazuna schemes to run away with Norimichi or Yûsuke, whoever wins at the pool.

This film tells the story of a schoolgirl who finds a pretty transparent ball by the sea, on the day of a fireworks display of a religious festival in a seaside town in Japan. She plans to run away from home to escape from her unhappy home, as her mother is about to remarry for the third time. However, her escape fails until her male classmate finds out the supernatural power that the transparent ball has.


GROUNDHOG day kind of experience but unique in its own way. Certainly sparked fun conversation with the people I went to see this with.

Blindspotting (2018)
Director: Carlos LĂ³pez Estrada
Writers: Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs
Stars: Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal, Janina Gavankar
-Comedy, Drama | imdb | my rating: 5

Lifelong friends Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal co-wrote and star in this timely and wildly entertaining story about the intersection of race and class, set against the backdrop of a rapidly gentrifying Oakland.

THIS screening included a Q&A with director, Carlos, and David, Rafael, Janina and Utkarsh Ambudkar. A lively conversation with lots of laughs described the process and origination of the story and some people involved with the production.

Loved the innovative style and presentation of the main character in this story, Oakland.


~*~

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Friday, July 13, 2018

Dead If You Don't by Peter James

Dead If You Don't
by Peter James

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt
Website | Blog
Facebook | Instagram
YouTube | Twitter

Just released: July 1, 2018
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Hardback: 400
Rating: 4

Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series:
Dead Simple
Looking Good Dead
Not Dead Enough
Dead Man's Footsteps
Dead Tomorrow
Dead Like You
Dead Man's Grip
Not Dead Yet
Dead Man's Time
Want You Dead
You Are Dead
Love You Dead
Need You Dead
Dead If You Don't

First sentence(s):
The small white ball skittered over the numbers own the spinning roulette wheel, passing 36, 11, 30.

Kipp Brown, successful businessman and compulsive gambler, is having the worst run of luck of his life. He’s beginning to lose, big style. However, taking his teenage son, Mungo, to their club’s Saturday afternoon football match should have given him a welcome respite, if only for a few hours. But it’s at the stadium where his nightmare begins.

Within minutes of arriving at the game, Kipp bumps into a client. He takes his eye off Mungo for a few moments, and in that time, the boy disappears. Then he gets the terrifying message that someone has his child, and to get him back alive, Kipp will have to pay.

Defying instruction not to contact the police, Kipp reluctantly does just that, and Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is brought in to investigate. At first it seems a straightforward case of kidnap. But rapidly Grace finds himself entering a dark, criminal underbelly of the city, where the rules are different and nothing is what it seems.


Velvet sighting:
'What's the latest from the EOD on the device, Sir?' asked DC Velvet Wilde, another recent recruit to his team.
-chapter 42, page 119


My two-bits:

The 14th book in the series, Dead If You Don't, is the second book I have read in this series. And while I missed out on some history of the main players, I did not feel lost in the story. This is a treat to those who like Roy Grace and his investigative team.

The story is told in a multi-player mode with multi-perspectives and brief insights into each person (including the people at fault) - all pretty much unlikable sorts.

There is a touch of the Albanian immigrant experience.

The thriller aspect is heavier than the mystery. So, the suspense lies in finding out whether or not things get resolved and how it all goes down.

~*~

* review copy courtesy of publisher

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Miniatures pt1


After recently watching Hereditary miniatures have captured me. The main character is an artist of miniatures and the film has many scenes of miniature dioramas juxtaposing the storyline which was effective in the storytelling.

This will be the first post with a Miniatures theme. It has a dark mystery tinge.

READ:

Malice in Miniature
by Jeanne M. Dams
-Mystery, Cozy
Amazon | Goodreads | my review: DNF


FLIP THROUGH:

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death
by Corinne May Botz
-Art, Photography, Mystery, True Crime
Amazon | Goodreads

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death offers readers an extraordinary glimpse into the mind of a master criminal investigator. Frances Glessner Lee, a wealthy grandmother, founded the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard in 1936 and was later appointed captain in the New Hampshire police. In the 1940s and 1950s she built dollhouse crime scenes based on real cases in order to train detectives to assess visual evidence. Still used in forensic training today, the eighteen Nutshell dioramas, on a scale of 1:12, display an astounding level of detail: pencils write, window shades move, whistles blow, and clues to the crimes are revealed to those who study the scenes carefully.

Corinne May Botz's lush color photographs lure viewers into every crevice of Frances Lee's models and breathe life into these deadly miniatures, which present the dark side of domestic life, unveiling tales of prostitution, alcoholism, and adultery. The accompanying line drawings, specially prepared for this volume, highlight the noteworthy forensic evidence in each case. Botz's introductory essay, which draws on archival research and interviews with Lee's family and police colleagues, presents a captivating portrait of Lee.



LISTEN:

Listen to "Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death,” episode 10 from Sidedoor: A Podcast from the Smithsonian (here).


WATCH:

Hereditary (2018)
Director/Writer: Ari Aster
Stars: Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff
-Drama, Horror, Mystery | imdb | my review | my rating: 4

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2006)
Las Vegas, season 7
Miniature Killer storyline
Stars: William Petersen, Marg Helgenberger
-Crime, Drama, Mystery | imdb | my review | my rating: 4


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* header image from Murder Is Her Hobby article (here) which is from The Nutshell Studies
 
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