Saturday, December 31, 2022

Favorite 2022 and Anticipated 2023 Books

What are yours?
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Favorite book in 2022:
Eleutheria
by Allegra Hyde
Dystopia, LGBTQ | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Willa Marks has spent her whole life choosing hope. She chooses hope over her parents’ paranoid conspiracy theories, over her dead-end job, over the rising ocean levels. And when she meets Sylvia Gill, renowned Harvard professor, she feels she’s found the justification of that hope. Sylvia is the woman-in-black: the only person smart and sharp enough to compel the world to action. But when Sylvia betrays her, Willa fears she has lost hope forever.

And then she finds a book in Sylvia’s library: a guide to fighting climate change called Living the Solution. Inspired by its message and with nothing to lose, Willa flies to the island of Eleutheria in the Bahamas to join the author and his group of ecowarriors at Camp Hope. Upon arrival, things are not what she expected. The group’s leader, author Roy Adams, is missing, and the compound’s public launch is delayed. With time running out, Willa will stop at nothing to realize Camp Hope’s mission—but at what cost?


Most Anticipated book for January 2023:
Age of Vice
by Deepti Kapoor
Thriller, Mystery, India | Published: 2023 | Goodreads

This is the age of vice, where money, pleasure, and power are everything, and the family ties that bind can also kill.

New Delhi, 3 a.m. A speeding Mercedes jumps the curb and in the blink of an eye, five people are dead. It’s a rich man’s car, but when the dust settles there is no rich man at all, just a shell-shocked servant who cannot explain the strange series of events that led to this crime. Nor can he foresee the dark drama that is about to unfold.

Deftly shifting through time and perspective in contemporary India, Age of Vice is an epic, action-packed story propelled by the seductive wealth, startling corruption, and bloodthirsty violence of the Wadia family — loved by some, loathed by others, feared by all.

In the shadow of lavish estates, extravagant parties, predatory business deals and calculated political influence, three lives become dangerously intertwined: Ajay is the watchful servant, born into poverty, who rises through the family’s ranks. Sunny is the playboy heir who dreams of outshining his father, whatever the cost. And Neda is the curious journalist caught between morality and desire. Against a sweeping plot fueled by loss, pleasure, greed, yearning, violence and revenge, will these characters’ connections become a path to escape, or a trigger of further destruction?


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* image source: reading woman

Friday, December 30, 2022

Reading Wrap Up: December 2022

READING WRAP UP
(books from the tbr)

Hester
by Laurie Lico Albanese
Historical, Retelling, Scotland | Published: 2022 | Goodreads | my rating: 5
loved the journey of this character along with embroidery spotlight

Going Rogue
by Janet Evanovich
Mystery, Humor | Published: 2022 | Goodreads | my rating: 4
fun quips, action and donuts ;-)

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Happy Christmas 2022

BE MERRY AND BRIGHT!
~*~


* image source: vintage card (here)

Saturday, December 10, 2022

Explore: Vancouver

Explore The World 2022
through books, films, etc.
December: Vancouver

~*~

READ:
Little Eyes
by Samanta Schweblin
translated Megan McDowell, Eugenie Schoolderman, Arie van der Wal
Horror, SciFi | Published: 2020 | Goodreads

They've infiltrated homes in Hong Kong, shops in Vancouver, the streets of Senegal, town squares of Oaxaca, schools in Tel Aviv, bedrooms in Ohio. They're following you. They're everywhere now. They're us.

In Samanta Schweblin's wildly imaginative new novel, Little Eyes, "kentukis" have gone viral across the globe. They're little mechanical stuffed animals that have cameras for eyes, wheels for feet, and are connected to an anonymous global server. Owners of kentukis have the eyes of a stranger in their home and a cute squeaking pet following them; or you can be the kentuki and voyeuristically spend time in someone else's life, controlling the creature with a few keystrokes. Through kentukis, a jaded Croatian hustler stumbles into a massive criminal enterprise and saves a life in Brazil, a lonely old woman in Peru becomes fascinated with a young woman and her louche lover in Germany, and a motherless child in Antigua finds a new virtual family and experiences snow for the first time in Norway.



VISIT: someday...

The Paper Hound
344 West Pender Street
in downtown
Vancouver, BC, Canada
website

The Paper Hound is a new, used and rare book store at 344 West Pender Street in downtown Vancouver, BC, Canada, on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. We don’t specialize in one particular kind of book, but we favour the classic, curious, odd, beautiful, visually arresting, scholarly, bizarre, and whimsical.

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* part of Explore the World (here)

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Books and Bag: Cozy

Books and Bag
doing some dreaming
a designer bag and books to fill it

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~*~


Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
by Jenny Bayliss
Contemporary, Romance, Holiday, Christmas | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Elinor Noel—Nory for short—is quite content running her secondhand bookshop in London. Forever torn between her working-class upbringing and her classmates’ extravagant lifestyles at the posh private school she attended on scholarship, Nory has finally figured out how to keep both at equal distance. So when two of her oldest friends invite their whole gang to spend the time leading up to their wedding together at the castle near their old school, Nory must prepare herself for an emotionally complicated few days.

The reunion brings back fond memories, but also requires Nory to dodge an ill-advised former fling. When she falls quite literally into the arms of Isaac, the castle’s head gardener, who has nothing but contempt for the “snobby prep school kids,” the attraction between them is undeniable. And as Nory spends more time with Isaac during the wedding festivities, she finds herself falling hard for the boy she used to consider an enemy. Nory and Isaac explore their common ground, but pressures mount on all sides, and Nory must decide what kind of life she wants to live and what sort of love is worth the risk...


~*~


* image source: bag -Polene Numero Neuf Mini, Ecru Shearling edition

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Rabbit rabbit: Peacebunny

Peacebunny Island
The Extraordinary Journey of a Boy and His Comfort Rabbits,
and How They’re Teaching Us about Hope and Kindness
by Caleb Smith
Memoir, Animals | Published: 2021 | Goodreads

The incredible true story of a boy who is changing the world through kindness... one bunny at a time.

Meet Caleb Smith: a young man who, at age 9, decided to follow his dream to train endangered and rescued rabbits to become therapy animals. Today, 15-year-old Caleb is an entrepreneur who owns and operates a private 22-acre Mississippi River sanctuary called Peacebunny Island. The deal is simple: he saves the rabbits, and they help save us. Driven by an unbreakable desire to minister kindness and compassion, Caleb's adventures include:

Founding a program of therapy rabbits who visit with first responders, senior citizens, families with special needs, and much more

Embarking on a quest along the Mississippi River to develop the site that would become Peacebunny Island

Overcoming challenges, obstacles, and disappointed dreams along the way

Inspiring hope and possibility in the next generation of young people

Stories of the kids who experience the calm, healing magic of Peacebunny Island



Monday, November 28, 2022

Jane in Autumn

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Austen Mondays
September 19, 2022 to March 20, 2023
details | episodes

Rosenbach’s new biblioventure series with a focus on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen
by Professor Puzzle
252 piece double-sided jigsaw puzzle

illustration of an iconic scene on one side and extract from the book on ther other


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* header image source: from Emma (2020) film
* part of Jane-austenesque 2022 (here)

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Books and Bag: Green

Books and Bag
doing some dreaming
a designer bag and books to fill it

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~*~


Legends & Lattes
by Travis Baldree
Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQ | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

The much-beloved BookTok sensation, Travis Baldree's novel of high fantasy and low stakes.

Come take a load off at Viv's cafe, the first & only coffee shop in Thune. Grand opening!

Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.

However, her dreams of a fresh start filling mugs instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners, and a different kind of resolve.

A hot cup of fantasy, slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.


~*~


* image source: bag -Kate Spade, Manhattan Lady Leopard Large Tote

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Happy release: Going Rogue by Janet Evanovich

Going Rogue
by Janet Evanovich
Mystery, Humor | Published: November 1, 2022 | Goodreads

Monday mornings aren’t supposed to be fun, but they should be predictable. However, on this particular Monday, Stephanie Plum knows that something is amiss when she turns up for work at Vinnie’s Bail Bonds to find that longtime office manager Connie Rosolli, who is as reliable as the tides in Atlantic City, hasn’t shown up.

Stephanie’s worst fears are confirmed when she gets a call from Connie’s abductor. He says he will only release her in exchange for a mysterious coin that a recently murdered man left as collateral for his bail. Unfortunately, this coin, which should be in the office—just like Connie—is nowhere to be found.

The quest to discover the coin, learn its value, and save Connie will require the help of Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur, her best pal Lula, her boyfriend Morelli, and hunky security expert Ranger. As they get closer to unraveling the reasons behind Connie’s kidnapping, Connie’s captor grows more threatening and soon Stephanie has no choice but to throw caution to the wind, follow her instincts, and go rogue.



First sentence(s):
My name is Stephanie Plum. I'm a bail bonds enforcement agent, working for my cousin Vinnie, and I'm currently locked out of the bail bonds office.

Monday, November 21, 2022

Explore: London

Explore The World 2022
through books, films, etc.
November: London

~*~

READ:
Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
by Jenny Bayliss
Contemporary, Romance, Holiday, Christmas | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Elinor Noel—Nory for short—is quite content running her secondhand bookshop in London. Forever torn between her working-class upbringing and her classmates’ extravagant lifestyles at the posh private school she attended on scholarship, Nory has finally figured out how to keep both at equal distance. So when two of her oldest friends invite their whole gang to spend the time leading up to their wedding together at the castle near their old school, Nory must prepare herself for an emotionally complicated few days.

The reunion brings back fond memories, but also requires Nory to dodge an ill-advised former fling. When she falls quite literally into the arms of Isaac, the castle’s head gardener, who has nothing but contempt for the “snobby prep school kids,” the attraction between them is undeniable. And as Nory spends more time with Isaac during the wedding festivities, she finds herself falling hard for the boy she used to consider an enemy. Nory and Isaac explore their common ground, but pressures mount on all sides, and Nory must decide what kind of life she wants to live and what sort of love is worth the risk...



VISIT: someday...

Word on the Water
The London Bookbarge
instagram| website

An independent bookshop on a 1920s Dutch barge situated in Granary Square, King's Cross.

~*~

* part of Explore the World (here)

Sunday, November 20, 2022

Lovely Books and Things - 11.20.22

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update


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

~*~


HAPPY THINGS:

1. Knitting my first pair of socks - autumn colors
2. Sting: A Winter's Night... Live from Durham Cathedral (here)
3. Kongkee: Warring States Cyberpunk at the Asian Art Museum (here)
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Bought:
The Christmas Murder Game
by Alexandra Benedict
Mystery, Christmas | Published: 2022 | Goodreads


Library: audiobook
The Cloisters
by Katy Hays
Mystery, Gothic | Published: 2022 | Goodreads


Library:
Lonely Castle in the Mirror
by Mizuki Tsujimura
translated by Philip Gabriel
Fantasy, YA, Japan | Published: 2021 (first 2017) | Goodreads


For review:
Going Rogue
by Janet Evanovich
Mystery, Humor | Published: 2022 | Goodreads
courtesy of publisher - Thanks!


~*~

Virtual Author event: hosted by bookreporter
See archive of this (here)
The Last Party
by Clare Mackintosh
Mystery, Thriller | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Virtual Author event: Happy Hannukah Romance
See archive of this (here)
Recommended for You
by Laura Silverman
YA, Romance | Published: 2020 | Goodreads


Mr. Perfect on Paper
by Jean Meltzer
Contemporary, Romance | Published: 2022 | Goodreads


Love and Latkes
by Stacey Agdern
Romance, Holiday | Published: 2021 | Goodreads


Season of Love
by Helena Greer
Romance, LGBTQ, Holiday | Published: 2022 | Goodreads


~*~
AND watched: streaming
The People We Hate at the Wedding (2022)
Director: Claire Scanlon
Screenplay: Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, Wendy Molyneux
Based on book: Grant Ginder
Stars: Allison Janney, Ben Platt, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Kristen Bell
Comedy | imdb | my rating: 4

Family tensions ramp up among siblings in the week leading up to their half-sister's wedding in the country.

AND watched: theatre
All That Breathes (2022)
Director: Shaunak Sen
Stars: Salik RehmanMohammad SaudNadeem Shehzad
Documentary | imdb | my rating: 5

Amidst the darkening backdrop of Delhi's apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protect one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the Black Kite.

The Menu (2022)
Director: Mark Mylod
Writers: Seth Reiss, Will Tracy
Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult
Comedy, Horror, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 4

A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

Triangle of Sadness (2022)
Director/Writer: Ruben Östlund
Stars: Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Woody Harrelson
Comedy, Drama | imdb | my rating: 5

A fashion model celebrity couple join an eventful cruise for the super-rich.


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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Rabbit rabbit: Rabbit Hutch

The Rabbit Hutch
by Tess Gunty
Literary, Coming of Age | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

The automobile industry has abandoned Vacca Vale, Indiana, leaving the residents behind, too. In a run-down apartment building on the edge of town, commonly known as the Rabbit Hutch, a number of people now reside quietly, looking for ways to live in a dying city. Apartment C2 is lonely and detached. C6 is aging and stuck. C8 harbors an extraordinary fear. But C4 is of particular interest.

Here live four teenagers who have recently aged out of the state foster-care system: three boys and one girl, Blandine, who The Rabbit Hutch centers around. Hauntingly beautiful and unnervingly bright, Blandine is plagued by the structures, people, and places that not only failed her but actively harmed her. Now all Blandine wants is an escape, a true bodily escape like the mystics describe in the books she reads.


Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Books and Bag: Yellow

Books and Bag
doing some dreaming
a designer bag and books to fill it

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~*~


Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution
by R.F. Kuang
Historical, Fantasay | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he'll enroll in Oxford University's prestigious Royal Institute of Translation — also known as Babel.

Babel is the world's center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel's research in foreign languages serves the Empire's quest to colonize everything it encounters.

Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide: Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?


~*~


* image source: bag -from Loewe Chinese Monochrome Collection

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Explore: Kenya

Explore The World 2022
through books, films, etc.
October: Kenya

AUDIOBOOK:

Circling the Sun
by Paula McLain
Historical, Africa, Kenya | Published: 2015 | Goodreads

Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl Markham is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships. Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly.

READ:

Mark of the Lion
by Suzanne Arruda
Mystery, Historical, Africa, Kenya | Published: 2006 | Goodreads

After driving an ambulance along the front lines of World War I, she can fire a rifle with deadly precision. Still suffering trauma from the Great War, she sets off for Africa determined to fulfill a man's dying wish...never expecting to become involved in murder.Rich with romance, mystery, and adventure, Mark of the Lion introduces a fascinating new heroine and explores the elusive heart of a compelling and exotic world.

WATCH:

Honey at the Top (2015)
Directors: Dean Puckett, Rebecca Wolff
Documentary, Africa, Kenya | imdb

Honey at the Top is a film about the Sengwer forest people of the Cherangani Hills, Kenya, being evicted from their ancestral land in the name of conservation.
EAT:
Teranga Foods
332 Golden Gate Ave
San Francisco, CA, 94102
(details)

TERANGA is on a mission to create refreshing and healthy prepared foods, snacks, frozen treats and drinks handcrafted in small batches using baobab and other unique ingredients from around the world.

VISIT: someday...
Prestige Bookshop
Prudential Building, Ground Floor
Mama Ngina St, Next to Imax.
Nairobi City, Kenya
(details)

~*~

* part of Explore the World (here)

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril xvii

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril xvii
September 1 - October 31 (details)
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Peril of the Fiction Read!
Motherthing
by Ainslie Hogarth
Horror, Ghosts | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Homicide and Halo-Halo
by Mia P. Manansala
Mystery, Cozy, Filipino | Published: 2022 | Goodreads


Hallowe'en Party
(Hercule Poirot #41)
by Agatha Christie
Mystery, Crime, Halloween | Published: 2012 (first 1969) | Goodreads


Peril of the Short Story!
Gothic Tales
by Elizabeth Gaskell
Short Stories, Gothic, Horror, Victorian | Published: 2000 | Goodreads


Peril of the Screen!
Suspiria (1977)
Director/Writer: Dario Argento
Writer: Daria Nicolodi
Based on book: Suspiria de Profundis by Thomas De Quincey
Stars: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci
Horror | imdb | my rating: 4

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

Suspiria (2018)
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Writers: David Kajganich, Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi
Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson
Drama, Fantasy, Horror | imdb | my rating: 4

A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.

Peril of the Real!
Helltown:
The Untold Story of Serial Murder on Cape Cod
by Casey Sherman
True Crime, Biography | Published: 2022 | Goodreads


 
Imagination Designs
Images from: Lovelytocu