Lovely Books and Things - 4.3.22

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

Linking up with:
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

~*~

HAPPY THINGS:

1. BookstaScreen Netflix watch party for Pieces of Her (details)
2. Finding inexpensive quality jigsaw puzzles at thrift shop
3. Encountering SpongeBob SquarePants in the neighborhood

~*~
Library:

The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra
by Vaseem Khan
Mystery, India | Published: 2015 | Goodreads

Freebies: from Free Little Library

The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds
by Alexander McCall Smith
Mystery, Scotland | Published: 2012 | Goodreads

Bury Your Dead
by Louise Penny
Mystery, Canada | Published: 2010 | Goodreads

For Review:

Take My Hand
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Historical, African American | Published: 2022 | Goodreads
courtesy of publisher -Thanks!

~*~
Virtual Author event: hosted by Book Reporter
See archive of this (here)

On Gold Mountain:
The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family
by Lisa See
Memoir, History, China | Published: 1995 | Goodreads
~*~
AND watched: theatre

You Won't Be Alone (2022)
Director/Writer: Goran Stolevski
Stars: Noomi Rapace, Alice Englert, Anamaria Marinca
Drama, Horror, Macedonia | imdb | my rating: 4
witch folklore told in a beautiful and dark scary way
In an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, a young girl is kidnapped and then transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit.

The Lost City (2022)
Director/Writer: Aaron Nee, Adam Nee
Screenplay: Oren Uziel, Dana Fox
Story: Seth Gordon
Stars: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum
Action, Adventure, Comedy, Romance | imdb | my rating: 4
fun times
A reclusive romance novelist on a book tour with her cover model gets swept up in a kidnapping attempt that lands them both in a cutthroat jungle adventure.


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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Lovely Books and Things - 3.6.22

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

Linking up with:
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)
Sunday Salon (here)

~*~

HAPPY THINGS:

1. Livestream Paris tours on Heygo (here)
2. 100,000 Free Tulips at Union Square
3. Lawn ornaments - huge skeleton with Valentine's day theme on Divisadero Street

~*~
Library: audiobook

The Silence of Bones
by June Hur
Historical, Mystery, YA, Korea | Published: 2020 | Goodreads
for Koreadathon (here)

Library:

The Easy Life in Kamusari
by Shion Miura
translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter
YA, Contemporary, Japan | Published: 2021 (first 2009) | Goodreads
Freebies: from Free Little Library

The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
by Alexander McCall Smith
Mystery, Scotland, Philosophy | Published: 2011 | Goodreads
~*~
Virtual Author event: hosted by SFPL
See archive of this (here)

What My Bones Know:
A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma
by Stephanie Foo
Memoir, Mental Health | Published: 2022 | Goodreads
~*~
AND watched: theatre

Cyrano (2021)
Director: Joe Wright
Writer: Erica Schmidt
Based on play: Edmond Rostand
Stars: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Drama, Musical, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
romance that pierces the soul
Too self-conscious to woo Roxanne himself, wordsmith Cyrano de Bergerac helps young Christian nab her heart through love letters.

AND watched: virtual theatre

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)
Director: Michael Showalter
Based on documentry by: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Abe Sylvia
Stars: Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield
Biography, Drama, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
ahhh, for the love and happy
An intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.

AND watched: Mostly British Film Festival (details)

Phantom of the Open (2021)
Director: Craig Roberts
Screenplay: Simon Farnaby
Based on book: Scott Murray
Stars: Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins
Comedy, Drama, Sport, UK | imdb | my rating: 5
fun and inspiring
Maurice Flitcroft, a dreamer and unrelenting optimist, managed to gain entry to The British Open Golf Championship Qualifying in 1976 and subsequently shot the worst round in Open history, becoming a folk hero in the process.

~*~

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Lovely Books and Things - 2.27.22

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

Linking up with:
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

~*~

HAPPY THINGS:

1. Paczki - traditional Polish donut served this time of year (for upcoming Fat Tuesday)
2. Mama's on Washington Square brunch - their Famous Monte Cristo sandwich with homemade jam (here)
3. Rubber duckies on display in Fredericksen's hardware window front

on the t-shirt: The Little Voices In My Head Keeps Telling Me Get More Ducks! ~*~
Library:

Nervous System: A Novel
by Lina Meruane
translated by Megan McDowell
Literary, Medical | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
Freebies: from Free Little Library

The Charming Quirks of Others
by Alexander McCall Smith
Mystery, Cozy, Scotland | Published: 2010 | Goodreads

The Book of Disquiet
by Fernando Pessoa
translated by Richard Zenith
Classics, Poetry, Portugal | Published: 2002 (first 1982) | Goodreads
~*~
AND watched: Netflix

Mitchell's vs the Machines (2021)
Stars: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Michael Rianda
Animation, Adventure, Comedy | imdb | my rating: 4

A quirky, dysfunctional family's road trip is upended when they find themselves in the middle of the robot apocalypse and suddenly become humanity's unlikeliest last hope.

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Lovely Books and Things - 11.28.21

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

Linking up with:
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

~*~

HAPPY THINGS:

1. Shopping and browsing for holiday treats
2. Holiday stickers and washi tape for December book journal decorating
3. Holiday lights... Embarcadero buildings and the Ferry building (bottom of post)

~*~

Library: audiobook

The Forest of Stolen Girls
by June Hur
Mystery, Historical, Korea | Published: 2020 | Goodreads

Library:

Crimson Snow
Winter Mysteries
edited by Martin Edwards
Short Stories, Mystery, Holiday | Published: 2017 (first 2016) | Goodreads

Freebies: from Little Free Library - thanks to the folks who share their books

The Careful Use of Compliments
by Alexander McCall Smith
Mystery, Scotland | Published: 2008 (first 2007) | Goodreads

~*~

Virtual Author event: hosted by bookreporter
See archive of this (here)

The Attic on Queen Street
by Karen White
Mystery, Paranormal, Southern | Published: 2021 | Goodreads

~*~
AND watched: theatre - thanks to P for free ticket :-)

House of Gucci (2021)
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenplay: Becky Johnston, Roberto Bentivegna
Based on book: Sara Gay Forden
Stars: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver
Crime, Drama | imdb | my rating: 5
stellar cast and performances, wow!
When Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel their legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately...murder.

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Summer Tea

~*~

The Peppermint Tea Chronicles
by Alexander McCall Smith
Mystery, Cozy, Humor, Scotland | Published: 2019 | Goodreads
To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose; it is summer in Scotland Street (as it always is) and for the habitués of Edinburgh's favourite street some extraordinary adventures lie in waiting.

For the impossibly vain Bruce Anderson - he of the clove-scented hair gel - it may finally be time to settle down, and surely it can only be a question of picking the lucky winner from the hordes of his admirers. The Duke of Johannesburg is keen to take his flight of fancy, a microlite seaplane, from the drawing board to the skies. Big Lou is delighted to discover that her young foster son has a surprising gift for dance but she is faced with big decisions to make on his and her futures. And with Irene now away to pursue her research in Aberdeen, her husband, Stuart, and infinitely long-suffering son, Bertie, are free to play. Stuart rekindles an old friendship over peppermint tea whilst Bertie and his friend Ranald Braveheart Macpherson get more they bargained for from their trip to the circus. And that's just the start...

The Seafront Tearoom
by Vanessa Greene
Women's Fiction, Food, England | Published: 2015 (first 2014) | Goodreads
The first rule of afternoon tea: never rush. Take time to savor it. Just like friendship…

The Seafront Tearoom is an insider secret in small-town Scarborough – a beach-front haven with the best tea and cakes in town – and journalist Charlie Harrison would love to put it on the map with a feature in her magazine. But single mom Kat Murray doesn’t want to see her favorite sanctuary overrun by tourists, and begs Charlie to seek out other options. She offers her help, as a “tea obsessive,” and so does French au pair Séraphine Moreau, whose upbringing makes her a connoisseur of everything sweet and indulgent.

Together the three women will scour the countryside for quaint hideaways and hidden gems, sharing along the way their secrets, disappointments, and dreams – and discovering that friendship, like tea, takes time to steep. But learning too that once you open your heart, the possibilities are endless.

Tea & Treachery
(Tea by the Sea)
by Vicki Delany
Mystery, Cozy, Food, Cape Cod | Published: 2020 | Goodreads | my rating: 4
As the proud proprietor and head pastry chef of Tea by the Sea, a traditional English tearoom on the picturesque bluffs of Cape Cod, Lily Roberts has her hands full, often literally. But nothing keeps her busier than steering her sassy grandmother, Rose, away from trouble. Rose operates the grand old Victorian B & B adjacent to Lily’s tea shop... for now. An aggressive real estate developer, Jack Ford, is pushing hard to rezone nearby land, with an eye toward building a sprawling golf resort, which would drive Rose and Lily out of business.

Tempers are already steaming, but things really get sticky when Ford is found dead at the foot of Rose’s property and the police think she had something to do with his dramatic demise. Lily can’t let her grandmother get burned by a false murder charge. So she starts her own investigation and discovers Ford’s been brewing bad blood all over town, from his jilted lover to his trophy wife to his shady business partners. Now, it’s down to Lily to stir up some clues, sift through the suspects, and uncover the real killer before Rose is left holding the tea bag.

Tea with the Dames (2018)
Director: Roger Michell
Stars: Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench
Documentary | imdb
Dames Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, Joan Plowright, and Maggie Smith get together for tea to reminisce and discuss their acting careers.

~*~
* image source: book cover for Tea and Tea Drinking by Claire Masset

* part of Summertime time (schedule)

Lovely Books and Things - 6.13.21

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

Linking up with:
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

~*~

HAPPY THINGS:

1. Receiving a pretty bouquet of flowers
2. Exploring intermittent fasting
3. Spotting a whimisical mural while walking on Polk Street

~*~
Freebies: from Free Little Library

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
(Isabel Dalhousie #2)
by Alexander McCall Smith
Mystery, Scotland | Published: 2005 | Goodreads

For Review:

No Spring Chicken
Stories and Advice from a Wild Handicapper on Aging and Disability
by Francine Falk-Allen
Travel, Disability | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
courtesy of publisher -Thanks!

The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Historical, New York | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
courtesy of publisher -Thanks!

*!*~Winner~*!*

The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu
by Tom Lin
Western, Chinese American | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
courtesy of author -Thanks!
To Be Featured:

Never Saw Me Coming
by Vera Kurian
Mystery | Published: September 2021 | Goodreads
courtesy of publisher -Thanks!

~*~ Virtual Author event: hosted by Third Place Books
See archive of this (here)

With Teeth
by Kristen Arnett
LGBTQ, Contemporary | Published: 2021 | Goodreads

Virtual Author event: hosted by Green Apple Books
Check out their calendar for future free author events (here)

Rainbow Milk
by Paul Mendez
LGBTQ, Historical | Published: 2021 | Goodreads

Virtual Author event: hosted by Book Passages
See archive of this (here)

Animal
by Lisa Taddeo
Thriller, Feminism | Published: 2021 | Goodreads

Should We Stay Or Should We Go
by Lionel Shriver
Contemporary | Published: 2021 | Goodreads

~*~ AND watched: DVD

Promising Young Woman (2020)
Director/Writer: Emerald Fennell
Stars: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie
Crime, Drama, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 5
A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path.

Ooo, vengeance. A dark heroine of sorts who brought the shivers.

The Invisibile Man (2020)
Director/Screenplay: Leigh Whannell
Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Harriet Dyer
Drama, Horror, Mystery | imdb | my rating: 5
When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

Loved this new take on the invisible man. More shivers with this story.

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)