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)

~*~

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

~*~
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

~*~
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.


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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Lovely Books and Things - 9.5.22

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. The start of September Summer in San Francisco - warm and sunny days - best time to visit the city if you're thinking of venturing out.
2. Pasta swirled in a wheel of Parmesan cheese and topped with mushroom truffle sauce at Acquolina (here)
3. Reading on a train trip - Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger

~*~
Library: audiobook

Murder in Old Bombay
by Nev March
Mystery, Historical, India | Published: 2020 | Goodreads
Library:

Without Merit
by Colleen Hoover
YA, Romance, Mental Health | Published: 2017 | Goodreads
fallen into the read-all-the-Colleen Hoover trap

A Place in the World:
Finding the Meaning of Home
by Frances Mayes
Memoir, Travel | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Freebies: from Free Little Library

Jane Austen's Guide to Dating
by Lauren Henderson
Chicklit, Non-fiction, Humor | Published: 2005 | Goodreads

~*~
AND watched: theatre

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)
Director/Writer: George Miller
Writer: August Gore
Based on short story: The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye by A.S. Byatt
Stars: Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba
Drama, Fantasy, Romance | imdb | my rating: 4
ahhh... wishes... what would you...
A lonely scholar, on a trip to Istanbul, discovers a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.


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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Lovely Books and Things - 7.24.22

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. Almost done with covid experience (halfway - i think, i hope)
2. Home made veggie soup from friend, thanks M!
3. Angalo, filipino jazz band, outdoor show at Noise

~*~
Library:

New Animal
by Ella Baxter
Literary, Australia | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Library: audiobook

The Summer I Turned Pretty
by Jenny Han
YA, Romance | Published: 2009 | Goodreads

Ugly Love
by Colleen Hoover
New Adult, Romance | Published: 2014 | Goodreads

~*~
Virtual Author event: hosted by KQED

Orwell's Roses
by Rebecca Solnit
Essays, Nature | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
~*~
AND watched: Netflix

Persuasion (2022)
Director: Carrie Cracknell
Screenplay: Ron Bass, Alice Victoria Winslow
Based on book: Jane Austen
Stars: Dakota Johnson, Cosmo Jarvis
Drama, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
not our Anne, but loved it for what it was
Eight years after Anne Elliot was persuaded not to marry a dashing man of humble origins, they meet again. Will she seize her second chance at true love?

AND watched: YouTube

Pride and Prejudice, Cut (2019)
aka Becoming Ms. Bennet Director: Michael Kampa
Screenplay: Elizabeth Snoderly, Erin Murphy West
Based on book: Jane Austen
Stars: Lexi Giovagnoli, David Witts
Drama, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
a fun P&P story in a P&P adaptation
A popular American vlogger is cast in a British film production of 'Pride and Prejudice', but struggles with her accent.

AND watched: DVD

Sanditon (2019)
season 1
Creator: Andrew Davies
Based on book by: Jane Austen
Stars: Rose Williams, Theo James
Drama, Romance, Jane Austen | imdb | my rating: 5
every episode ends with an upset, the ultimate hook
About Charlotte Heywood, a spirited and impulsive woman, who moves from her rural home to Sanditon, a fishing village attempting to reinvent itself as a seaside resort.

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Meet and greet: Atlas

Atlas Six
by Olivie Blake
Fantasy, Magic | Published: 2020 | Goodreads
The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few...

- Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.
- Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.
- Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.
- Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.
- Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

The Thousandth Floor
by Katharine McGee
Dystopia, YA | Published: 2016 | Goodreads
Welcome to Manhattan, 2118.

A thousand-storey tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future, where anything is possible – if you want it enough.

A hundred years in the future, New York's elite of the super-tower lie, backstab and betray each other to find their place at the top of the world. Everyone wants something… and everyone has something to lose.

As the privileged inhabitants of the upper floors recklessly navigate the successes and pitfalls of the luxury life, forbidden desires are indulged and carefree lives teeter on the brink of catastrophe. Whilst lower-floor workers are tempted by a world – and unexpected romance – dangling just out of reach. And on the thousandth floor is Avery Fuller, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all – yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.

So when a young woman falls from the top of the supertower, her death is the culmination of a scandal that has ensnared the top-floor elite and bottom-floor. But who plummeted from the roof? And what dark secrets led to her fall?

Friends will be betrayed and enemies forged as promises are broken. When you’re this high up, there’s nowhere to go but down...

fyi: Atlas is Avery’s adopted brother.

WATCH OUT:

It Starts With Us
by Colleen Hoover
Romance | Published: October 2022 | Goodreads
Before It Ends with Us, it started with Atlas. Colleen Hoover tells fan favorite Atlas’ side of the story and shares what comes next in this long-anticipated sequel to the "glorious and touching" (USA TODAY) #1 New York Times bestseller It Ends with Us.

Verity by Colleen Hoover

Verity
by Colleen Hoover

Published: 2018
Publisher: Independently published
Paperback: 331
Rating: 5
Thriller, Mystery, Romance | Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
I hear the crack of his skull before the spattering of blood reaches me.

Zombie sighting:
Most of the time, I cry in my shower and stare at my computer screen like a zombie, wondering how so many other authors can promote their books with so much confidence.
-chapter 4, page 41

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.

My two-bits:

Pleasantly surprised with the way this book played with its characters. I was torn on who to side with. Perfectly creepy and haunting in some parts.

~*~
* part of ibc book club (here)

Stacking the Shelves - 12.12.15

Stacking the Shelves
hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

~*~
Bought:

Fates and Furies
by Lauren Groff
-Literary
Amazon | Goodreads
For Review:

The One-of-a-Kind Cat Book
by Ciye Cho
-Cats, Illustrated
courtesy of author -Thanks!
Goodreads

The Word Game
by Steena Holmes
-Women's Fiction
courtesy of BookSparks Fall Reading Challenge 2015 @booksparks #FRC2015 -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads
Freebies:

Never Never (part 1 of 3)
by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
-Romance, YA
free for kindle
Amazon | Goodreads

Princesses Behaving Badly
Real Stories From History - Without the Fairy-Tale Endings
by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
-Historical, Feminism
courtesy of publisher Quirk's Quirksgiving Challenge -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads
Library:

Throne of Glass
by Sarah J. Maas
-Fantasy, Romance, YA
Amazon | Goodreads
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

=====> FINALLY going to start this series that continues to get rave reviews left and right!

OTHER things on my shelf: kinda book-related

Going to participate in this...

First Book Of The Year 2016
hosted by Book Journey (details)
AND watched: on DVD

Got into a robot sci-fi mood...

Ex Machina (2015)
Director: Alex Garland
Written by: Alex Garland
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac
-Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi | imdb | my rating: 5
A young programmer is selected to participate in a groundbreaking experiment in artificial intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a breathtaking female A.I.

=====> Scary. Just how far do we want robots to affect and "be" in our world?

Robocop (2014)
Director: José Padilha
Written by: Joshua Zetumer, Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner
Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton
-Action, SciFi, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 4
In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy - a loving husband, father and good cop - is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer.

=====> Very small part-man and lots of robot parts. A little more control of this robot made him more palatable.

AND binge watching:

Broadchurch (2015)
tv series, season two
Creator: Chris Chibnall
Starring: David Tennant, Olivia Colman
-Murder Mystery, UK | imdb
=====> The story continues from season one. MUST watch season one before this otherwise you will be spoiled.

This season continues the sort of surreal vibe and lush coloring that is in season one in regards to presentation. Love it.

There are two story lines which are equally interesting to follow. And the ensemble cast includes characters that are also equally engaging.

~*~
* some of these may be offered as giveaways within the next two months

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

* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways offers

Stacking the Shelves - 3.22.14

Stacking the Shelves
hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

~*~
Bought:

Crudrat
by Gail Carriger
-short stories, sci-fi, YA
ebook and audio from Kickstarter campaign
Freebie:

Finding Cinderella
by Colleen Hoover
ebook courtesy of publisher
Thanks!
get a copy here while offer lasts
Library:

Portlandia
A Guide for Visitors
by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein
-humor, tvPicked this one up because I have been binging on the show and loving it. The book is pretty much an episode of the show in book form. Funny stuff ;-)

A Game of Thrones:
The Graphic Novel: Volume One
by Daniel Abraham, George R.R. MartinBeen loving the book and tv series and wanted to try the graphic novel version as I can't get enough of this epic fantasy story which is so rich in details.

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

* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways offers