My Weekly Books and Films Update
Linking up with:
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)
HAPPY THINGS:
1. Listening to Billie Eilish's Bad Guy --- duh
2. Eating Mid-Autumn Festival Chinese Mooncakes
3. Pre-dawn photography session at the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza bus pad - shadows
Author event:
by Amor Towles
-Historical, Russia, Moscow | Goodreads
Bookshop in West Portal won an instagram challenge which granted them a visit from Amor Towles for Q&A.
Winner of the #agentlemaninmoscowcontest
hosted by Penguin Books
author: by Emma Donoghue
-Historical, Mystery, France | Goodreads
Bookshop in West Portal hosted a Q&A with Emma Donoghue to celebrate her new release, Akin.
Library:
by Lara Williams
-Contemporary, Feminism | Goodreads
THIS blurb got me…
A sharply intelligent and intimate debut novel about a secret society of hungry young women who meet after dark and feast to reclaim their appetites--and their physical spaces--that posits the question: if you feed a starving woman, what will she grow into?
Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession
by Rachel Monroe
-True Crime | Goodreads
SOME dark matter with women.
by George Saunders
-Short story | Goodreads
IMPULSE pick up from library shelf.
AND watched: on DVD
Une bouteille à la mer (original title)
Director/Writer: Thierry Binisti
Writer: Valérie Zenatti
Stars: Agathe Bonitzer, Mahmud Shalaby, Hiam Abbass
-Drama | imdb | my rating: 5
Tal is 17 years old. Naim is 20. She's Israeli. He's Palestinian. She lives in Jerusalem. He lives in Gaza. They were born in a land of scorched earth, where fathers bury their children. They must endure an explosive situation that is not of their choosing at an age where young people are falling in love and taking their place in adult life. A bottle thrown in the sea and a correspondence by email nurture the slender hope that their relationship might give them the strength to confront this harsh reality to grapple with it, and thereby ever so slightly change it. Only 60 miles separate them but how many bombings, check-points, sleepless nights and bloodstained days stand between them?
ELEMENTS of friendship, hope, peace permeate throughout.
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Writer: Lee Hall
Stars: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden
-Biography, Drama, Music | imdb | my rating: 5
A musical fantasy about the fantastical human story of Elton John's breakthrough years.
FANTASTICAL musical rendition (with favorite hit songs) of Elton John's life from childhood to present had some sad but feel good moments.
Director: Andy Muschietti
Writers: Gary Dauberman
Based on book by: Stephen King
Stars: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader
-Drama, Fantasy, Horror | imdb | my rating: 4
Twenty-seven years after their first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them back.
FACING fears and a certain clown equals scary times.
Director: Michael Engler
Writer: Julian Fellowes
Based on tv series: Downton Abbey
-Drama | imdb | my rating: 5
The continuing story of the Crawley family, wealthy owners of a large estate in the English countryside in the early 20th century.
LOTS of smiling, chuckling, snickering while watching Downton Abbey in a tizzy for preparation and hosting responsibilities for the King and Queen of England.
Director/Writer: Justin Chon
Writer: Chris Dinh
Stars: Jake Choi, Tiffany Chu, Mark Krenik
-Drama, American Korean | imdb | my rating: 5
MS. PURPLE, from award-winning filmmaker Justin Chon (Gook), is the poignant story of the family loyalties of an Asian American brother and sister, set in a dreamy vision of Los Angeles’ Koreatown, reminiscent of Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love.
Kasie (Tiffany Chu) struggles to take care of her comatose father at home, refusing to put him in hospice, because he raised her and her brother when their mother abandoned them. Kasie works as a Koreatown karaoke hostess, making good money keeping obnoxious drunken businessmen happy, and is well able to handle herself, but when her father’s in-home nurse quits, she is desperate. She calls her estranged brother Carey (Teddy Lee) to come home and help care for their father, and he agrees. As they reconnect over their dying father, Kasie and Carey confront the deep emotional wounds of their difficult shared past, attempting to mend their relationship.
Winner, Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Feature, Dallas International Film Festival.
This screening included a Q&A session with Tiffany Chu (actor), Alex Chi (producer) and moderated by Masashi Niwano, Festival & Exhibition Director at the Center for Asian American Media.
BEAUTIFULLY done with colors, soundtrack and quiet scenes.
* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently
Thanks for stopping by :-)
