My Weekly Books and Films Update
Linking up with:
Stacking the Shelves (details)
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)
HAPPY THINGS:
1. Sunny, clear and warm spring day
2. Replacing the winter scarves with the spring scarves
3. Monday night chorus rehearsals for a Spring performance of Carmina Burana at the Herbst Theatre
Bought:
by Can Xue
translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen
-Literary, China | Goodreads
HIGHLY recommended by Helen Oyeyemi who described it with excited passion.
Author event:
Green Apple Books on the Park, hosted a reading and Q&A with Helen Oyeyemi including a gingerbread treat to celebrate the release of Gingerbread. It was fun to learn that part of the inspiration for the story was from passing a gingerbread shop on a street while walking up to Prague castle (details).
by Helen Oyeyemi
-Literary, Magical Realism | Goodreads
Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories--equal parts wholesome and uncanny, from the tantalizing witch's house in "Hansel and Gretel" to the man-shaped confection who one day decides to run as fast as he can--beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe.
Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druhástrana, the far-away (and, according to Wikipedia, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. In fact, the world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend, Gretel Kercheval--a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met.
Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the reader.
AND watched: in theatre
Director/Screenplay/Story by: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Screenplay/Story by: Geneva Robertson-Dworet
Story by: Nicole Perlman, Meg LeFauve
Stars: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn
-Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Superhero | imdb | my rating: 4
Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races.
OH, cool - an origin story of both Captain Marvel and Avengers.
AND watched: on DVD - nominated for the Oscar's 2019
Director: Marc Forster
Screenplay: Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, Allison Schroeder
Story by: Greg Brooker, Mark Steven Johnson
Based on characters by: A.A. Milne, E.H. Shepard
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael
-Animation, Adventure, Comedy | imdb | my rating: 4
A working-class family man, Christopher Robin, encounters his childhood friend Winnie-the-Pooh, who helps him to rediscover the joys of life.
DELIGHTFUL portrayal of Pooh and his buddies.
* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently
Thanks for stopping by :-)
