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?

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* image source: bag -from Loewe Chinese Monochrome Collection

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)

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* part of Explore the World (here)

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril xvii

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril xvii
September 1 - October 31 (details) ~*~
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

Victober 2022

Victober
October 1-31
Victober Goodreads Group | List of Victorian authors on Victorian web
Spinster's Library Victorian Ladies Music Playlist (here)
#Victober
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Celebrating Victorian literature...
British and Irish literature published and/or written between 1837 to 1901
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host: Marissa, Blatantly Bookish
Marissa’s challenge: Read a Victorian short story

Gothic Tales
by Elizabeth Gaskell
Short Stories, Gothic, Horror, Victorian | Published: 2000 | Goodreads

host: Ros, Scallydandling about the Books
Ros’s challenge: Read a work of Victorian poetry, long or short

host: Kate Howe
Kate’s challenge: Read a Victorian work with chronic illness or disability representation

host: Katie, Books and Things
Katie’s challenge: Read a Victorian Bildungsroman/coming of age story

Group Read:
Also, host: Petra U
Petra’s challenge: Read a Victorian book and watch a screen adaptation of it

The Mayor of Casterbridge
by Thomas Hardy
Classics, Victorian | Published: 1962 (first 1886) | Goodreads

The Mayor of Casterbridge (2003)
Director: David Thacker
Screenplay: Ted Whitehead
Based on book by: Thomas Hardy
Stars: Ciarán Hinds, Juliet Aubrey
Drama | imdb
At a country fair, young hay-trusser Michael Henchard quarrels with his wife Susan, and in a drunken fit decides to auction off his wife and baby to a sailor for five guineas. The next day, realizing his loss, he swears not to touch liquor again for as many years as he has lived so far. Eighteen years later, Henchard has become Mayor of Casterbridge, a man well respected but not well liked. The unexpected return of his wife and daughter Elizabeth Jane sets off a turn of events that force him to face the consequences of his selfish impulses and violent temper.


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* image header source: Victorian Books list

Happy release: Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

Hester
by Laurie Lico Albanese
Historical, Retelling, Scotland | Published: October 2022 | Goodreads

Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced them to flee Edinburgh for a fresh start in the New World. But only days after they've arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic––leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country, forced to make her way by any means possible.

When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows––while she is an unusually gifted needleworker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward's safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which?

In this sensuous and hypnotizing tale, a young immigrant woman grapples with our country's complicated past, and learns that America's ideas of freedom and liberty often fall short of their promise. Interwoven with Isobel and Nathaniel's story is a vivid interrogation of who gets to be a "real" American in the first half of the 19th century, a depiction of the early days of the Underground Railroad in New England, and atmospheric interstitials that capture the long history of "unusual" women being accused of witchcraft. Meticulously researched yet evocatively imagined, Hester is a timeless tale of art, ambition, and desire that examines the roots of female creative power and the men who try to shut it down.

A vivid reimagining of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, the tragic heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and a journey into the enduring legacy of New England's witchcraft trials.

First sentence:
Salem was meant to be a new beginning, a place where the sharp scent of cinnamon and tea perfumed the air with hope; a place where the colors could be safe and alive in me.

Lovely Books and Things - 10.2.22

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)

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HAPPY THINGS:

1. Dreaming to international travel in 2023 - Switzerland? Italy? both?
2. Completed knitted hat project and started knitted cowl project
3. Puzzle imagery

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Bought:

It Ends with Us
by Colleen Hoover
Romance, New Adult | Published: 2016 | Goodreads

Library: audiobook

Anne of Green Gables
by L.M. Montgomery
Classic, YA, Canada | Published: 2014 (first 1908) | Goodreads

The Island of Sea Women
by Lisa See
Historical, South Korea | Goodreads
Freebies: from Free Little Library

Bellewether
by Susanna Kearsley
Historical, Romance | Published: 2018 | Goodreads

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AND watched: theatre

Oni: Thunder God's Tale (2022)
Netflix tv series, episodes 1 and 2
available Oct 21, 2022
Director: Daisuke 'Dice' Tsutsumi
Animation, Action, Adventure | imdb | my rating: 5

The oddball gods and monsters of Japanese mythology.

Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March (2022)
Directors: Gina Kim, Titi Yu
Documentary | PBS | my rating: 5

Explore the fight against Asian American hate following the March 2021 mass shootings at three spas in Atlanta. Examine how this critical moment of racial reckoning sheds light on the struggles, triumphs and achievements of AAPI communities.

AND watched: online

Hazing (2022)
Director: Byron Hurt
Writer: Jessica Lee Salas
Documentary | imdb | my rating: 5

Explores a variety of underground hazing rituals that are abusive and sometimes deadly. The exploration journey reveals a world of toxic masculinity, violence, humiliation, binge drinking, denial, and institutional coverups.

My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)
Director: Damon Thomas
Writer: Jenna Lamia
Based on book: Grady Hendrix
Stars: Elsie Fisher, Amiah Miller, Rachel Ogechi Kanu
Comedy, Horror, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 4

Teen best friends Abby and Gretchen grapple with an otherworldly demon that takes up residence in Gretchen's body.

AND watched: virtual Shotgun Players theatre -live stream (details)

Man of God (2022)
Sep 3 to Oct 2, 2022
Video on demand available: Oct 5-16, 2022
Director: Michelle Talgarow
Writer: Anna Ouyang Moench
Thriller, Feminism | my rating: 5

Inspired by a real life incident at a Christian mission in Southeast Asia, this play delves into the lives of four young women faced with a choice. A funny feminist thriller about that moment when girls realize the male gaze has been watching all along - and decide they are definitely gonna do something about it.


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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Rabbit rabbit: White Rabbit

White Rabbit, Red Wolf
by Tom Pollock
YA, Thriller | Published: 2019 | Goodreads
Seventeen-year-old Peter Blankman is a math genius. He also suffers from devastating panic attacks. Pete gets through each day with the help of his mother—a famous scientist—and his beloved twin sister, Bel.

But when his mom is nearly assassinated in front of his eyes and Bel disappears, Pete finds himself on the run. Dragged into a world where state and family secrets intertwine, Pete must use his extraordinary analytical skills to find his missing sister and track down the people who attacked his mother. But his greatest battle will be with the enemy inside: the constant terror that threatens to overwhelm him.