Lovely Books and Things - 1.13.18

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update
Linking up with:
Stacking the Shelves (details)
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

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Instead of a new year's resolution, I decided to join in on the phenomenon of choosing One Word for this year --> FOCUS.

After putting all the holiday decorations away, I got into rearranging furniture and clearing up clutter. This got me inspired to create a cozy reading corner in the dining room. The cat seems to like it too as he takes over when I am not occupying the seat.

Current happy things:

1. Rosca de Reyes with a cup of creamy coffee - went to the Mission district to hunt a small one down for twelfth night. I was successful at the third bakery.

2. Radio Atlantic and The Atlantic Interview podcasts (details) - I started listening to these weekly stories last year and enjoy getting a bit of news from it. They are part of The Atlantic magazine.

3. Reading corner

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Bought:

Braving the Wilderness:
The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
by Brené Brown
-Inspirational
Amazon | Goodreads
REESE Witherspoon's book club January pick. This is one I would not normally gravitate towards. It will be interesting to see how I like it.


Author event:

Book Passage, Corte Madera hosted a conversation and Q&A between authors Karen Joy Fowler and Chloe Benjamin on the release of The Immortalists. Part of Chloe's research was learning a lot about magic.

The Immortalists
by Chloe Benjamin
-Literary, Magical Realism
Amazon | Goodreads

For Review:

After We Fall
by Melanie Harlow
-New Adult, Romance
ebook
courtesy of Romance Read-of-the-Month Club -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads

Freebie:

Calendar Girl
January-February-March
by Audrey Carlan
-Romance
Amazon
January - Goodreads | February - Goodreads | March - Goodreads
SET of three stories in this one.


OTHER things (kinda book-related):

Bout of Books 21
read-a-thon
hosted by Bout of Books
January 8 to January 14, 2018 (details)
PARTICIPATING in this as it a short term challenge that looks like fun. Go check out my Jane Austen inspired book spine poetry ;-)


AND binge watched: on viki

Legendary: (2018)
Making of a K-pop Star
Stars: Alex Christine, JRE
-Kpop, Competition, South Korea | viki | my rating: 4
Her mad dance skills shot her straight to the top of the dance competition of “Rising Legends: Season 2,” a K-pop audition show sponsored by Soompi and Cube Entertainment. Now Alex Christine is on her way to Seoul, South Korea, to begin her journey to find K-pop fame.

“LEGENDARY: Making of a K-Pop Star” is a Viki Original series that follows Alex Christine as she travels from her hometown in Oklahoma to Seoul, South Korea, to experience the K-pop star treatment for the first time. You’ll be able accompany her on a complete tour of Cube Entertainment, watch her official audition for the agency, see her practice and record her debut song and dance choreography. Alex Christine also gets a complete makeover from the hottest Korean salon and participates in her first photo shoot with the Hallyu magazine “KWAVE.” Accompanying her on the experience of her life is JRE, a popular YouTube K-pop fan.

The special series will culminate with Alex Christine shooting the official music video and debuting her first single “Strike It Up”! Don’t miss a minute of this exciting series and learn all the behind-the-scenes events that lead to the debut of a new K-pop star! Making special guest appearances are such influential people as “Produce 101” stars Jang Moon Bok and Seong Hyun Woo, f(x)'s Amber, The Ark's Euna Kim, 24K's Cory, UP10TION, and the international taekwondo demo team K-Tigers.

FUN to see this transformation. But, really wanted to see this for one of my fave YouTuber, JRE.


AND binge watched: on AmazonPrime

Good Girls Revolt (2015)
tv series, season one
Creator: Dana Calvo
Stars: Genevieve Angelson, Anna Camp, Erin Darke
-Drama | imdb | my rating: 5
A look at the personal and professional lives of employees at an American news magazine in the late 1960s.

PICKS up where the Mad Men tv series leaves but with a mainly female oriented perspective. Not too crazy about the fashion in this time period. But the groovy vibe is present.


AND watched: in theatre

The Shape of Water (2017)
Director/Writer/Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro
Screenplay: Vanessa Taylor
Stars: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon
-Adventure, Drama, Fantasy | imdb | my rating: 5
In a 1960s research facility, Elisa, a mute janitor, forms a relationship with a mysterious aquatic creature.

BEAUTIFUL horror love story with a sexy beast ;-)


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

:-)

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
by Karen Joy Fowler

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt
Website
Blog
SAVE the Chimps

Published: February 2014
Publisher: Plume
Genre: Contemporary fiction, animals
Paperback: 320 pages
Rating: 5

The New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club introduces a middle-class American family, ordinary in every way but one.

Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sister Fern, and Rosemary, who begins her story in the middle. She has her reasons. “I was raised with a chimpanzee,” she explains. “I tell you Fern was a chimp and already you aren’t thinking of her as my sister. But until Fern’s expulsion … she was my twin, my funhouse mirror, my whirlwind other half and I loved her as a sister.” As a child, Rosemary never stopped talking. Then, something happened, and Rosemary wrapped herself in silence.

In We Are All Completely beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler weaves her most accomplished work to date—a tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions lead to heartbreaking consequences.

My two-bits:

I picked this one up because I was curious about this year's Man Booker Prize book nominations. And coincidentally, I found that I have a few books on the Longlist.

Wow! what a great read this one is!

Loved how it goes into psychology and social development of humans and animals.

Got me thinking of the treatment of domestic and wild animals and the tendency to anthropomorphize them.

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* Winner of the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award

* Winner of the 2014 California Book Award for Fiction

* Shortlisted on 2014 Man Booker Prize

* added this to my Bookish Bingo challenge - square: Creature on Cover

Stacking the Shelves - 10.18.14

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!

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Bought:

My True Love Gave To Me
Twelve Holiday Stories
by Stephanie Perkins
Holly Black
Ally Carter
Gayle Forman
Jenny Han
David Levithan
Kelly Link
Myra McEntire
Matt de la Pena
Rainbow Rowell
Laini Taylor
Kiersten White
Amazon | Goodreads
-----> stay tuned: I am planning a special holiday giveaway for this book release in December.

For Review:

Left Behind
by Vi Keeland & Dylan Scott
-New Adult Romance
courtesy of blog tour
Thanks !
Amazon | Goodreads

All the Bright Places
by Jennifer Niven
-mental illness, YA
courtesy of publisher
Thanks Kerry!
Amazon | Goodreads

Razorhurst
by Justine Larbalestier
-paranormal, YA
courtesy of edelweiss
Thanks !
Amazon | Goodreads

Queen of Hearts
The Wonder, vol. 2
by Colleen Oakes
-fairy tale, YA
courtesy of BookSparks Fall Reading Challenge 2014
Thanks Janay!
Amazon | Goodreads
Library:

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
by Karen Joy Fowler
-contemporary fiction, animals
-on Man Booker Prize 2014 Shortlist
Amazon | Goodreads
The New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club introduces a middle-class American family, ordinary in every way but one.

Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sister Fern, and Rosemary, who begins her story in the middle. She has her reasons. “I was raised with a chimpanzee,” she explains. “I tell you Fern was a chimp and already you aren’t thinking of her as my sister. But until Fern’s expulsion … she was my twin, my funhouse mirror, my whirlwind other half and I loved her as a sister.” As a child, Rosemary never stopped talking. Then, something happened, and Rosemary wrapped herself in silence.

In We Are All Completely beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler weaves her most accomplished work to date—a tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions lead to heartbreaking consequences.

-----> listening to the audio version

Dreaming about getting soon:

The Narrow Road to the Deep North
by Richard Flanagan
-historical, Australia, ww2
-winner of the Man Booker Prize 2014
Amazon | Goodreads
August, 1943. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Thai-Burma Death Railway, Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his affair with his uncle’s young wife two years earlier. His life is a daily struggle to save the men under his command from starvation, from cholera, from pitiless beatings. Until he receives a letter that will change him forever.

Moving deftly from the POW camp to contemporary Australia, from the experiences of Dorrigo and his comrades to those of the Japanese guards, this savagely beautiful novel tells a story of love, death, and family, exploring the many forms of good and evil, war and truth, guilt and transcendence, as one man comes of age, prospers, only to discover all that he has lost.

OTHER things on my shelf: kinda book-related

Joined the Bookish Games: Ready Player One edition hosted by Oh, The Books! which starts Oct 25.

Based on the book...

Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
Amazon | Goodreads | Website
-----> I read this when it first came out and loved it! May have to do a re-read for the gaming session.

SPECIAL GIVEAWAY:

Quirk has a bunch of zombie books to giveaway here!

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* 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

Bookish Bingo Challenge: Fall

Bookish Bingo Challenge
Fall: October to December 2014
hosted by Great Imaginations
details here
Just joined the next edition of this book challenge!

The Rules:

Sign-ups close on October 15 here

Read read read! You have all of October, November and December to cover as many squares as possible.

One book per square. So while Shutter has a creature on the cover and is a autumn release, it can only count for one square

There will be a giveaway at the end of December. Each bingo earned gets you extra points! To enter, write up a wrap up post with links to your books read and plug it into the Rafflecopter.

*Books do not have to be reviewed*

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Books read:

Square - Mystery
Danse Macabre by Cristelle Comby
my review

Square - Steampunk
Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger
my review

Square - Set at Christmas Time
An Unexpected Kiss by Cindy Roland Anderson
my review

Square - Snow on Cover
Feels Like Love by Jeanette Lewis
my review

Square - Serial Killers
Hunting in Bruges by E.J. Stevens
my review

Square - Historical
Whip Smart: Lola Montez Starts a Revolution by Kit Brennan
my review

Square - Green Cover
Mercy Thompson: Homecoming by Patricia Briggs
my review

Square - Birds on Cover
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
my review

Square - Set in Autumn
The Secret Journal of Ichabod Crane
my review

Square - Horror
Horrorstor: A Novel by Grady Hendrix
my review

Square - Set on Halloween
Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes
illustrated by Yuyi Marales
my review

Square - Frost in title
Frostbitten by Heather Beck
my review

Square - Creature on Cover -chimpanzee
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
my review

Square - Red cover
Drowning by Jassy de Jong
my review

Square - Black cover
The Bodies We Wear by Jeyn Roberts
my review

Square - Witches
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
my review

Square - Romance
The Sharp Hook of Love by Sherry Jones
my review

Square - Orange cover
Deadly Odds by Allen Wyler
my review

Square - Fall release
Of Monsters and Madness
by Jessica Verday
my review

The Jane Austen Book Club (2007) movie

The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
Director: Robin Swicord

Based on book:
The Jane Austen Book Club
by Karen Joy Fowler
Rating: 5

Inspiration: Everything Austen Challenge hosted by Stephanie's Written Word

Description from imdb:
Explores Austen's adage that general incivility is at love's essence. Sylvia's husband dumps her for another woman, so Bernadette and Jocelyn organize a book club to distract her. They recruit Sylvia's daughter Allegra; Prudie, a young teacher whose marriage may be on the rocks; and Grigg, a sci-fi fan who joins out of attraction to Jocelyn. The six read and discuss one Austen novel per month. Jocelyn tries to interest Grigg in Sylvia; Allegra falls in love with a woman she meets skydiving; Prudie contemplates an affair with a student; Sylvia's ex keeps popping up. In the discussions, characters reveal themselves in their comments.

Tagline: You don't have to know the books to be in the club.

Awards: 2 nominations from Casting Society of America, USA and Glaad Media Awards

Trivia: Order of books read in the film
February: Emma
March: Mansfield Park
April: Northanger Abbey
May: Pride & Prejudice
June: Sense & Sensibility
July: Persuasion

Wet moment: Allegra's girlfriend, Corinne, is in a bubble bath.

Memorable quote (for me):
Dean Drummond: Baby, high school's over.
Prudie Drummond: High school's never over.

My thoughts:
In-a-word(s): What would Jane Austen do? -from the blinking street light
I'm of the camp that really liked this movie. Heck, I'm going to watch it again. But first I would recommend that it would be more enjoyable for those who have read the Austen works or at least are familiar with the storylines. I knew most of the stories except for Mansfield Park so could relate the characters in the movie with the Austen books.

On the other hand, my hubby (who has not yet read an Austen) liked the movie as well.

The cast was great. Jimmy Smits plays a good Darcy prototype and Hugh Dancy does a good Mr. Knightley prototype.

At the start of each month's selection it was fun to see the different club members with different book editions and covers. Each of the characters are spotlighted with their individual struggles and growth. Except for Allegra. I didn't really see her change. So, if you watch this let me know what you think.

This movie has lit a spark into me to finally sit down and pick up an actual Austen book. I'm starting Mansfield Park!

And if I have time, I may sit down to read the book that this movie was based on.

Hubby's rating: 3.5
His thoughts: Enjoyable and in keeping with Austen endings.

Other DVD cover versions:

The heart in the book is cute and the pink one screams chick flick.

The pink in this cover is so girly. I like it.