Lovely Books and Things - 4.17.22

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

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

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HAPPY THINGS:

1. The return of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan town
2. Searching for Louise Penny books at used book stores
3. Funny signs

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Library: audiobook

The Book of Mother
by Violaine Huisman
translated by Leslie Camhi
Contemporary, Mental Health, France | Published: 2021 | Goodreads

The Verifiers
by Jane Pek
Mystery, Thriller | Published: 2022 | Goodreads
Library:

Along for the Ride
by Sarah Dessen
YA, Romance | Published: 2009 | Goodreads
for Netflix book club

Freebies: from Free Little Library

Orly Farm
by Anthony Trollope
Classics, Victorian | Published: 1861 | Goodreads

Lucky
by Marissa Stapley
Thriller, Canada | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
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AND watched: virtual theatre

Turning Red (2022)
Director/Writer: Domee Shi
Writers: Julia Cho, Sarah Streicher
Stars: Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh
Animation, Adventure, Comedy | imdb | my rating: 5

A 13-year-old girl named Meilin turns into a giant red panda whenever she gets too excited.

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Books and Puzzles: The Last Resort

The Last Resort
by Marissa Stapley
Mystery, Thriller | Published: 2019 | Goodreads
The Harmony Resort promises hope for struggling marriages. Run by celebrity power couple Drs. Miles and Grace Markell, the "last resort" offers a chance for partners to repair their relationships in a luxurious setting on the gorgeous Mayan Riviera.

Johanna and Ben have a marriage that looks perfect on the surface, but in reality, they don’t know each other at all. Shell and Colin fight constantly: after all, Colin is a workaholic, and Shell always comes second to his job as an executive at a powerful mining company. But what has really torn them apart is too devastating to talk about. When both couples begin Harmony's intensive therapy program, it becomes clear that Harmony is not all it seems—and neither are Miles and Grace themselves. What are they hiding, and what price will these couples pay for finding out?

First sentence(s):
He struggles to breathe. There's blood trickling into one of his eyes. His glasses are gone. He can hear the ocean rising to meet him. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

The Seaside
Gray Malin puzzle (1000 pcs)

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* part of Summertime time (schedule)

Summer Getaways

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Untamed Shore
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Historical, Thriller | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
getaway: Baja, California
Baja California, 1979. Viridiana spends her days watching the dead sharks piled beside the seashore, as the fishermen pull their nets. There is nothing else to do, nothing else to watch, under the harsh sun. She’s bored. Terribly bored. Yet her head is filled with dreams of Hollywood films, of romance, of a future beyond the drab town where her only option is to marry and have children.

Three wealthy American tourists arrive for the summer, and Viridiana is magnetized. She immediately becomes entwined in the glamorous foreigners’ lives. They offer excitement, and perhaps an escape from the promise of a humdrum future.

When one of them dies, Viridiana lies to protect her friends. Soon enough, someone’s asking questions, and Viridiana has some of her own about the identity of her new acquaintances. Sharks may be dangerous, but there are worse predators nearby, ready to devour a naïve young woman who is quickly being tangled in a web of deceit.

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
by Elyssa Friedland
Chick-lit | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
getaway: Catskills
A family reunion for the ages when two clans convene for the summer at their beloved getaway in the Catskills--perfect for fans of Dirty Dancing and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel--from the acclaimed author of The Floating Feldmans.

In its heyday, The Golden Hotel was the crown jewel of the hotter-than-hot Catskills vacation scene. For more than sixty years, the Goldman and Weingold families - best friends and business partners - have presided over this glamorous resort which served as a second home for well-heeled guests and celebrities. But the Catskills are not what they used to be - and neither is the relationship between the Goldmans and the Weingolds. As the facilities and management begin to fall apart, a tempting offer to sell forces the two families together again to make a heart-wrenching decision. Can they save their beloved Golden or is it too late?

The Last Resort
by Marissa Stapley
Mystery, Thriller | Published: 2019 | Goodreads
getaway: Mayan Riviera
The Harmony Resort promises hope for struggling marriages. Run by celebrity power couple Drs. Miles and Grace Markell, the "last resort" offers a chance for partners to repair their relationships in a luxurious setting on the gorgeous Mayan Riviera.

Johanna and Ben have a marriage that looks perfect on the surface, but in reality, they don’t know each other at all. Shell and Colin fight constantly: after all, Colin is a workaholic, and Shell always comes second to his job as an executive at a powerful mining company. But what has really torn them apart is too devastating to talk about. When both couples begin Harmony's intensive therapy program, it becomes clear that Harmony is not all it seems—and neither are Miles and Grace themselves. What are they hiding, and what price will these couples pay for finding out?

Old (2021)
Director/Screenplay: M. Night Shyamalan
Based on graphic novel: Sandcastle by Frederick Peeters, Pierre-Oscar Lévy
Stars: Gael García Bernal, Vicky KriepsRufus Sewell
Drama, Mystery, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 4
A family on a tropical holiday discovers that the secluded beach where they are relaxing for a few hours is somehow causing them to age rapidly reducing their entire lives into a single day.

certainly got me thinking of life, Lost vibes

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* image source: Capri Da Luigi Beach Club by Gray Malin

* part of Summertime time (schedule)

Lovely Books and Things - 8.8.21

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

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

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HAPPY THINGS:

1. Morrocan restaurant with belly dancing show
2. Preparing TBR pile for my Summer theme event (here)
3. Team Lab: Continuity at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco - this immersive art exhibit introduces the concept of ultrasubjective spaces.

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Library:

The Last Resort
by Marissa Stapley
Mystery, Thriller | Published: 2019 | Goodreads

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

The Passenger
How a Travel Writer Learned to Love Cruises & Other Lies from a Sinking Ship
by Chaney Kwak
Memoir, Travel, Survival | Published: 2021 | Goodreads

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

Let's Talk Murder Books: Women in Crime Fiction Panel

The Therapist
by B.A. Paris
Thriller | Published: 2021 | Goodreads

Local Missing Woman
by Mary Kubica
Thriller, Mystery | Published: 2021 | Goodreads

Hollywood Hack
by Kellye Garrett
Mystery | Published: 2019 | Goodreads

A Game of Cones
by Abby Collette
Mystery, Cozy | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
Virtual Author event: hosted by Third Place Books
Check out their calendar for future free author events (here)

All's Well
by Mona Awad
Literary, Horror | Published: 2021 | Goodreads -giveaway offer thru 8/16/21
Virtual Author event: hosted by Green Apple Books
Check out their calendar for future free author events (here)

Paris Is a Party, Paris Is a Ghost
by David Hoon Kim
Literary, Paris | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
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* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Stuck In A Good Book Giveaway Hop

Stuck In A Good Book Giveaway Hop
September 20-25, 2014
hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Stuck in Books
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Here are a few to keep you engaged...

The Fever
by Megan Abbott
-horror, mystery, YA
Amazon | Goodreads
my review

Rock Angel
by Jeanne Bogino
-music, new adult
Amazon | Goodreads
my review

Mating for Life
by Marissa Stapley
-chick-lit
Amazon | Goodreads
my review

Ghosting
by Edith Pattou
-poetry, YA
Amazon | Goodreads
my review
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FOR 4 winners...

WIN my review copy of a book listed above!

Open to US only.

Offer ends: September 25, 2014

TO DO: (3 parts)

1. GO to my sidebar and do ONE of the following:

FOLLOW me on BlogLovin.

FOLLOW me on Twitter.

FOLLOW me on GFC.

FRIEND me on Goodreads.

SUBSCRIBE via email to my blog.

2. TELL me what you did in comments.

3. TELL me which book you want.

AND, leave your email OR make sure I have a way to contact you (twitter link, clickable profile, etc).

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NOW, hop-along to these other sites for more goodies...

Complete list here

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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Mating for Life by Marissa Stapley

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Mating for Life
by Marissa Stapley

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt
Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter @marissastapley

Just released: July 1, 2014
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Genre: chick-lit
Paperback: 336 pages
Rating: 4.5

With pitch-perfect honesty and heartwarming humor, this captivating debut explores marriage, motherhood, identity, and what it takes to love someone—family members, friends, or spouses—for life.

Former folk singer Helen Sear was a feminist wild child who proudly disdained monogamy, raising three daughters—each by a different father—largely on her own. Now in her sixties, Helen has fallen in love with a traditional man who desperately wants to marry her. And while she fears losing him, she’s equally afraid of abandoning everything she’s ever stood for if she goes through with it.

Meanwhile, Helen’s youngest daughter, Liane, is in the heady early days of a relationship with her soul mate. But he has an ex-wife and two kids, and her new role as a “step-something” doesn’t come with an instruction manual. Ilsa, an artist, has put her bohemian past behind her and is fervently hoping her second marriage will stick. Yet her world feels like it is slowly shrinking, and her painting is suffering as a result—and she realizes she may need to break free again, even if it means disrupting the lives of her two young children. And then there’s Fiona, the eldest sister, who has worked tirelessly to make her world pristine, yet who still doesn’t feel at peace. When she discovers her husband has been harboring a huge secret, Fiona loses her tenuous grip on happiness and is forced to face some truths about herself that she’d rather keep buried.

Interweaving the alternating perspectives of Helen, her daughters, and the women surrounding them, “each new chapter brings a wise and tender look at single life, dating rituals, and marital unease” (New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Close). In this “absolute feat of storytelling” (bestselling author Grace O'Connell), Marissa Stapley celebrates the many roles modern women play, and shows that even though happy endings aren’t one-size-fits-all, some loves really can last for life.

My two-bits:

I enjoyed this story of varied perspectives on love and loving and relationships. The age range of women was from 20's to 60's with relationship status of single, separated, divorced and married.

Loved the tie-in of the chapter blurb headings of animal mating behaviors.

About the author:

Marissa Stapley is a National Magazine Award nominated writer and former magazine editor whose work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, National Post, Elle Canada, and many others. Mating for Life (Atria Books; Simon & Schuster Canada) is her first novel.

When Marissa is not writing, she’s reading. (In fact, she never goes anywhere without a book. Except maybe swimming.) Some of her favourite authors are Meg Wolitzer, Julia Glass, Alice Munro, John Irving, Lauren Groff, Margaret Atwood and James Salter. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two children, where she teaches writing, and is working on another novel.

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* stay tuned: giveaway for this book later this month :-)

* review copy courtesy of Fall Reading Challenge 2014. @booksparks #FRC2014

Stacking the Shelves - 9.6.14

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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For Review:

Moral Order:
The Rise of Luca C. Mariner
by Phil Pauley
-sci-fi, YA
courtesy of book tour
Thanks !
Amazon | Goodreads

Mating for Life
by Marissa Stapley
-chick-lit
courtesy of BookSparks Fall Reading Challenge 2014
Thanks Janay!
Amazon | Goodreads
Library:

Underground:
The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche
by Haruki Murakami
-history, Japan, non-fiction
Amazon | Goodreads
In March of 1995, agents of a Japanese religious cult attacked the Tokyo subway system with sarin, a gas twenty-six times as deadly as cyanide. Attempting to discover why, Murakami conducted hundreds of interviews with the people involved, from the survivors to the perpetrators to the relatives of those who died, and Underground is their story in their own voices. Concerned with the fundamental issues that led to the attack as well as these personal accounts, Underground is a document of what happened in Tokyo as well as a warning of what could happen anywhere. This is an enthralling and unique work of nonfiction that is timely and vital and as wonderfully executed as Murakami’s brilliant novels.

-----> wanted to start reading more from Murakami's body of work

Dreaming about getting soon:

Big Little Lies
by Liane Moriarty
-mystery, chick-lit
Amazon | Goodreads
Sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal. . . .

A murder… . . . a tragic accident… . . . or just parents behaving badly?
What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.
But who did what?

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

-----> curious about this one. and, i really liked her previous, The Husband's Secret.

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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

Fall Reading Challenge 2014

Fall Reading Challenge 2014
sponsored by BookSparksPR
details here

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I am really liking the BookSparks reading challenges and will participate in the Fall 2014 challenge.

Below are the ones I plan on reading. (see complete list)

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Course: Guide to Women’s Studies
Required reading: Mating for Life by Marissa Stapley
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: Week of September 8
my review
With honesty and heart-warming humor this course will transport you into four women’s lives. While you watch them navigate their chaotic and unconventional lifestyles, they realize the many modern roles woman play and that some love can really last a lifetime.

Course: Poetry 101
Required reading: Ghosting by Edith Pattou
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of September 22
my review
Have a love for drama and poetry? Then this course is a must for you! Throughout this class you will learn about a group of teenagers’ perspectives on an end-of-the-summer prank gone wrong, written in verse. Alcohol, guns and a dare— within minutes, events collide and a group of teenager’s lives are altered forever.

Course: Theatre Studies 201
Required reading: Destined for Doon by Laurie Langdon and Carey Corp
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of October 6
my review
*Suggested prerequisite for this class (available upon request): Theatre 101 (Doon by Laurie Langdon and Carey Corp)

Anyone with an active imagination should ace this course! This exciting class explores the enchanted land of Doon and what it means to live there. With Broadway, true love and an ancient curse, a group of three friends must battle a world of nightmares in order to save their beloved kingdom.

Course: 90s Music
Required reading: Rock Angel by Jeanne Bogino
Department: New Adult
Course Date: Week of October 20
my review
Calling all 90s rocker chicks (or those who wish they were)! By the end of this course you will have witnessed a young and beautiful guitar goddess rise to stardom and face the challenges inherent with being at the height of 90s rock. With love, drugs, bad boys and rock-n-roll this class will be nothing short of entertaining.

Course: Fairy Tale Remix 102
Required reading: Queen of Hearts Volume 2: The Wonder by Colleen Oakes
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of October 27
my review
*Suggested prerequisite for this class (available upon request): Fairy Tale Remix 101 (Queen of Hearts Volume 1 by Colleen Oakes - my review)

Continue on the adventure of a twisted Wonderland fairytale with FTR 102! In this class you will discover that not all fairytales have a happy ending and sometimes the pretty princess becomes the vile villain. This is an important course for anyone looking forward to Fairy Tale Remix 201 (Queen of Hearts Volume 3: The Fury).

Course: Hot for Teacher
Required reading: Hit by Lorie Ann Grover
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of November 3
my review
This course might be a little unconventional but why not learn how to navigate a flirtation with a teacher. In this course you will explore a student-teacher relationship that has become too flirty and too great a risk. This forbidden relationship is exhilarating and intense until a tragic accident changes everything.

Course: Family Studies
Required reading: Stillwater Rising by Steena Holmes
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: Week of November 17
my review
Throughout this course you will uncover the heart-wrenching story of a town trying to put itself back together after an elementary shooting that traumatized a close-knit community.

Course: Studying Abroad! Semester in Thailand
Required reading: The Unimaginable by Dina Silver
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: Week of December 1
my review
Pack your bags, grab your college sweetheart and get ready for an uber-romantic cruise to Thailand. You’ll learn the fine arts of wining, dining and pirate-invasion-evasion. Wait, what? Yes, this cruise is definitely not everything it seems.

Course: Personality Psychology
Required reading: Both of Me by Jonathan Friesen
Department: Young Adult
Course Date: Week of December 8
my review
Investigate the unexplained condition of dissociative identity disorder in this course through Elias and Cara’s story. Cara meets Elias on a plane and soon discovers that there is not just one Elias but two and Cara quickly finds herself entangled in both of Elias’s lives.

Extra reading: The Body Tourist by Dana Lise Shavin
my review
In this moving and funny memoir that spans the six years following the author's purported recovery from anorexia, Dana Lise Shavin offers a candid and ultimately optimistic window into the mindset and machinations of a mental illness whose tentacles reached deep into her life, long after she was considered "cured."

In 1981, Shavin graduated from college with a BA in Psychology. It had been a difficult venture that included an expulsion, a four-month institutionalization, and a multitude of transfers. By the time it was over, she was convinced she was cured, and that it was time to start curing others. "I’m ready," she told her parents, her therapist, and friends—all of whom shook their heads in horror at her 95-pound, 5’9” frame. Undaunted, she landed a job as a counselor in a halfway house for drug and alcohol addicts. If anyone knew what it took to become a happy, functioning adult, Shavin was convinced she was the one.

As anyone would suspect, the burden of self-contempt, faulty logic, and interpersonal turmoil that are the character traits of depressive disorders and addictions do not miraculously disappear once medication and therapy have taken effect. Where, then, do these dangerous obsessions, such as the wish for obliteration (which often co-exists with the wish for immortality), go once a person sets foot on the road to recovery?

For Shavin, they lived beneath the radar of her supposed new-found health, disguising themselves in the falling-down houses she happily moved into and the dangerous neighborhoods she somehow didn't fear. They announced themselves in the deeply flawed men she professed to adore, the food rituals she thought were normal, the ordinary sex she could not have, and, most profoundly, her inability to acknowledge her father’s illness and encroaching death.

While many writers have written candidly and eloquently about their struggles with depression, addictions, and eating disorders, those stories usually conclude once there is progress toward recovery. Beyond recovery—whether from addiction, illness, the death of a loved one, or divorce—there is another story, one that is about how we re-join the world, and, in the living years that follow the darkness, pursue a life that is creative, engaged, and deeply felt in one's body.

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It is not too late, you can join too - details here.