Lovely Books and Things - 9.20.20

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

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

~*~

HAPPY THINGS:

1. Back to long daily walks in fresh air! - yay! smoke-free again in San Francisco
2. Jane Austen's Persuasion adapted by Kerry Skam by Iowa Stage Theatre on YouTube - watch it free (here)
3. Snail mail

~*~

Library:audiobook

Death on the Nile
by Agatha Christie
Mystery, Crime, Egypt | Goodreads
Freebies: from Free Little Library

The Last Book Party
by Karen Dukess
Contemporary, Coming of Age, Cape Cod | Goodreads

We Went to the Woods
by Caite Dolan-Leach
Contemporary, Thriller, New York | Goodreads

The Christmas Boutique
by Jennifer Chiaverini
Christmas, Quilts | Goodreads

Virtual Author event: hosted by New York Times Books
Listen to archive of this (here)
A conversation between:

Homeland Elegies
by Ayad Akhtar
Literary | Goodreads

The Mars Room
by Rachel Kushner
Literary | Goodreads

Black Leopard, Red Wolf
by Marlon James
Literary | Goodreads

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AND watched: on Netflix

Frances Ha (2012)
Director/Writer: Noah Baumbach
Writer: Greta Gerwig
Stars: Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner
Comedy, Drama, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
A New York woman (who doesn't really have an apartment) apprentices for a dance company (though she's not really a dancer) and throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as the possibility of realizing them dwindles.

Beautifully done coming of age story filmed in black and white.

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

*** THANKS to those on the front line during these times ***
Shelter In Place - Day 188, Week 28

Stay healthy! Be safe!

Thanks for stopping by :-)

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

The Mars Room
by Rachel Kushner

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

Published: 2018
Publisher: Scribner
Genre: Literary
Hardback: 352
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
Chain night happens once a week on Thursdays.

Zombie sighting:
Her eyes glowed a grayish green like this was a zombie film and not a bus ride to a California state prison.
-chapter 1, page 15

It’s 2003 and Romy Hall is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility, deep in California’s Central Valley. Outside is the world from which she has been severed: the San Francisco of her youth and her young son, Jackson. Inside is a new reality: thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive; the bluffing and pageantry and casual acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike; and the deadpan absurdities of institutional living, which Kushner evokes with great humor and precision.

My two-bits:

A woman's California prison experience is portrayed with its stereotypes and realities. The sketchy side of San Francisco also plays a part in regards to backdrop. The story is told well in an engaging and sad way.

~*~
* part of the Tournament of Books 2019 (here)

Lovely Books and Things - 1.19.19

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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HAPPY THINGS:

1. Internet connection at the new place ;-)

2. Staying home from work on a stormy day

3. Mushrooms - treat for the eyes and eats

~*~
Bought:

The Master Key
by Masako Togawa
translated by Simon Grove
-Mystery, Thriller, Japan | Goodreads
PART of my face-to-face mystery book club, Foreign Intrigue Book Club (here).


Freebie: from a nearby Little Free Library

Lady Cop Makes Trouble
(Kopp Sisters #2)
by Amy Sewart
-Historical, Mystery | Goodreads
DO I dare read this before reading the first in the series?


Library: part of this year's Tournament of Books (here)

A Terrible Country
by Keith Gessen
-Contemporary, Russia
Goodreads

The Mars Room
by Rachel Kushner
-Literary
Goodreads

Milkman
by Anna Burns
-Literary, Ireland
Goodreads

So Lucky
by Nicola Griffith
-Literary, Thriller, LGBTQ
Goodreads

Speak No Evil
by Uzodinma Iweala
-Literary, LGBTQ | Goodreads

Warlight
by Michael Ondaatje
-Literary, Historical, War
Goodreads
STARTED reading this and got sucked in!


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

Thanks for stopping by :-)