Lovely Books and Things - 5.7.17

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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Got back to some YA reading. I did a binge read of the Jenny Han series, To All The Boys I Loved Before. This is a rarity as I usually read the first in a series and get around to the rest at a later date. It was prompted by a book tour for the new release of the last book in the series, Always and Forever, Lara Jean. Loved it all!

Also got back into some Netflixing. And totally got sucked into Sense 8 which is similar to The Matrix series also created by the Wachowskis. Takes the interconnectedness theme onto another level.

Today, I will start Caroline Leavitt's Cruel Beautiful World which is (per the cover blurb):

"A gorgeous, seductive novel that is also terrifying and pulse-pounding."
-Wiley Cash, author of The Dark Road to Mercy
Ooo, looks like I am in for a wild ride now.

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Author event:

Books Inc. of Opera Plaza, San Francisco and NYMBC presented The Love Panel of YA authors and moderated by Christy, YA blogger for Tales of the Ravenous Reader. Along with a Q&A session, introductions to each of their new novel releases were presented.

Seated above are:
Nina LaCour, author of We Are Okay
Stacey Lee, author of The Secret Heart of a Note
Elizabeth Eulberg, author of Just Another Girl
Jennifer E. Smith, author of Windfall
Rachel Cohn, author of Kill All Happies

Bought:

Just Another Girl
by Elizabeth Eulberg
-YA
Amazon | Goodreads
Elizabeth said the cover illustration is inspired by Rube Goldberg contraptions.

Windfall
by Jennifer E. Smith
-YA
Amazon | Goodreads
Jennifer said the bear and alligator on her book cover are not charms, but little figures painted in gold.

Kill All Happies
by Rachel Cohn
-YA
Amazon | Goodreads
Rachel said she loves the image of the french fries on her book cover as it resembles being flicked "the finger" - LOL.

A History of Loneliness
by John Boyne
-Literary
Amazon | Goodreads
PICKED this up for a book club I am going to try out. Not something I would get on my own. So, yes, expanding my reading palette. Hope I like it.

Into the Water
by Paula Hawkins
-Mystery, Thriller
Amazon | Goodreads
HOT book. Going to also read it for the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge (here). Because I loved Girl on the Train I am looking forward to gobbling this one up.

Kojiki
(Kojiki #1)
by Keith Yatsuhashi
-SciFi
Amazon | Goodreads
HAD to get this after I got Kokoro earlier in the week as this is first in the series.

Kokoro
(Kojiki #2)
by Keith Yatsuhashi
-SciFi
Amazon | Goodreads
IMPULSE buy. Rarely do this, but the cover just GOT me. Also, I want to read some SciFi this year.


For Review:

A Short History of the Girl Next Door
by Jared Reck
-Humor, YA
Release date: September 26, 2017
courtesy of tour -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads
THIS comes out in the Fall and has an interesting premise...

A debut that is perfect for readers who are stuck in that awkward limbo between childhood and adulthood (and those who just barely escaped).


In my mailbox:

GOT some snail mail. A Thank you card. And, a lovely letter in response to my April Writing Month efforts. It is on super cute stationery which has a pop-up character on the page!


AND watched: in theatre

The Zookeeper's Wife (2017)
Director: Niki Caro
Screenplay: Angela Workman
Based on book by: Diane Ackerman
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Daniel Brühl
-Biography, Drama, History | imdb | my rating: 5
The Zookeeper's Wife tells the account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Antonina and Jan Zabinski, who helped save hundreds of people and animals during the German invasion.

GREAT story based on a true historical account from diaries of Antonina Żabińska.


AND binge watching: on Netflix

Sense 8 (2015)
tv series, season one
Creators: J. Michael Straczynski, Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Starring: Doona Bae, Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai
Tuppence Middleton, Max Riemelt, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Brian J. Smith, Aml Ameen
Daryl Hannah, Naveen Andrews
-Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi | imdb | my rating: 5
A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order.

JUST the right amount of mystery, action, romance, drama and variety of likable characters to get me hooked. You can guess what I will be watching next week...

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

:-)

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
narrated by: Ryan Gesell, Tara Sands

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt
Website: Rachel
Website: David

Published: 2010
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: YA
Hardback: 272 pages
Rating: 4

series:
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily

First sentence(s):
Imagine this:
You're in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves. You get to the section where a favorite author's books reside, and there, nestled in comfortably between the incredibly familiar spines, sits a red notebook.

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

16-year-old Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on her favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. Dash, in a bad mood during the holidays, happens to be the first guy to pick up the notebook and rise to its challenges.

What follows is a whirlwind romance as Dash and Lily trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations all across New York City. But can their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions, or will their scavenger hunt end in a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

My two-bits:

What a fun scavenger hunt-like story. This story involves lovely and lively YA banter about books and the feelings that occur during the holiday season. The interesting twist with this story is that the relationship starts with journal/letter writing which will appeal to those who like the epistolary form.