Lovely Books and Things - 10.27.19

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. Smoke mask N95 - to combat smoke in the air from the latest Northern California fires

2. Electricity - San Francisco is one of the cities in the bay area that did not undergo power outages

There is an apocalyptic vibe here. I wonder if zombies are on the horizon.

3. San Francisco Tea Festival - sampling pu-erh

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Author event:

City Arts & Lectures presented authors Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey in conversation with author Bernice Yeung. Towards the end of the conversation they were joined by Rowena Chiu, former assistant to Harvey Weinstein in 1998 (seated far left in picture above).

She Said:
Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement
by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey
-True Crime, Feminism | Goodreads

Book Passage of Corte Madera and the Curran theatre presented author Ronan Farrow in conversation with Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief of Mother Jones for the release of Catch and Kill.

Catch and Kill:
Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
by Ronan Farrow
-True Crime, Feminism | Goodreads

The San Francisco Public Library presented author Tommy Orange in Conversation with SF Poet Laureate Kim Shuck in celebration of selecting Tommy's novel, There There for the 15th Annual One City One Book.

There There
by Tommy Orange
-Literary, Native American | Goodreads

The San Francisco Public Library with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University and Angel City Press presented filmmaker, author Arthur Dong and his new book.

Hollywood Chinese:
The Chinese in American Feature Films
by Arthur Dong
-History, Asian American, Film | Goodreads

AND watched: in theatre

Linda Ronstadt (2019)
The Sound of My Voice
Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Stars: Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Dolly Parton
-Documentary, Biography, Music | imdb | my rating: 5
With one of the most memorably stunning voices that has ever hit the airwaves, Linda Ronstadt burst onto the 1960s folk rock music scene in her early twenties.

FASCINATING. Caught up with what ever happened to Linda moments.

The Lighthouse (2019)
Director: Robert Eggers
Writers: Max Eggers, Robert Eggers
Stars: Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson
-Drama, Fantasy, Horror | imdb | my rating: 5
The hypnotic and hallucinatory tale of two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.

LOVED the Herman Melville speak. Male-centric, mythology and metaphors. Black and white was beautifully done.

Parasite (2019)
Gisaengchung (original title)
Director/Screenplay: Bong Joon Ho (as Joon-ho Bong)
Screenplay: Jin Won Han
Stars: Kang-ho Song, Yeo-jeong Jo, So-dam Park
-Comedy, Drama, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 5
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

ANXIETY ridden thriller of the haves and have-nots. Secrets and smells.

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* updated my Blog All About It: Shiver post (here)

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

There There by Tommy Orange

There There
by Tommy Orange

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

Published: 2018
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: Literary, Native American
Hardback: 294
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
There was an Indian head, the head of an Indian, the drawing of the head of a headdressed, long-haired Indian depicted, drawn by an unknown artist in 1939, broadcast until the late 1939, broadcast until the late 1970s to American TVs everywhere after all the shows ran out.

Zombie sighting:
"You must think I'm pretty despicable, what with me turning into a zombie out here on the couch, killing myself with the drink, is that what she told you?" Lucas said.
-chapter Dene Oxendene, page 36

Fierce, angry, funny, heartbreaking—Tommy Orange’s first novel is a wondrous and shattering portrait of an America few of us have ever seen, and it introduces a brilliant new author at the start of a major career.

There There is a relentlessly paced multigenerational story about violence and recovery, memory and identity, and the beauty and despair woven into the history of a nation and its people. It tells the story of twelve characters, each of whom have private reasons for traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow. Jacquie Red Feather is newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind in shame. Dene Oxendene is pulling his life back together after his uncle’s death and has come to work at the powwow to honor his uncle’s memory. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield has come to watch her nephew Orvil, who has taught himself traditional Indian dance through YouTube videos and has come to the powwow to dance in public for the very first time. There will be glorious communion, and a spectacle of sacred tradition and pageantry. And there will be sacrifice, and heroism, and unspeakable loss.

Here is a voice we have never heard—a voice full of poetry and rage, exploding onto the page with stunning urgency and force. Tommy Orange writes of the urban Native American, the Native American in the city, in a stunning novel that grapples with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and profound spirituality, and with a plague of addiction, abuse, and suicide. An unforgettable debut, destined to become required reading in schools and universities across the country.

My two-bits:

Whoa! Totally engrossing that packs a punch at the end.

This is a contemporary tale of the realities of Native Americans who do not live on a reservation.

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* part of the Tournament of Books 2019 (here)

Lovely Books and Things - 3.30.19

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. The kid home for spring break :-)

2. Variety of work at work and volunteer locations

3. Monthly chocolate happy hour at Fog City News!

February picks:
magazines - frankie and Little White Lies, cover story on film Roma directed by Alfonso Cuarón
chocolate - Mirzam Dark Chocolate Dates & Fennel 62% from Dubai

March picks (here)


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

There There
by Tommy Orange
-Literary | Goodreads

Washington Black
by Esi Edugyan
-Historical, Canada | Goodreads

Bought:

The Hole
by Hye-Young Pyun
-Mystery, Horror, Korea | Goodreads
FOR my face-to-face group, Foreign Mystery Book Club.


Freebies: from free box at Green Apple Books

The Dinner List
by Rebecca Serle
-Magical Realism, Chick-lit | Goodreads

The Propsal
by Jasmine Guillory
-Romance, Chick-lit | Goodreads

The Age of Light
by Whitney Scharer
-Historical fiction | Goodreads
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* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Blog All About It: First

EAT: first visit to Mr. Holmes Bakehouse

Scrumptious.

I tried:

"Just Try It" croissant
House-made pastrami, pickled onions, pickled oranges, manchego cheese, pumpkin seeds, fennel seeds

Cruffin (croissant and muffin mashu-up)
Toffee Crunch Cream
A butter cream folded with crushed toffee.


READ: first library book to hook me into reading

Don't Call Me Katie Rose
by Lenora Mattingly Weber
-YA | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

READ: first book by Tommy Orange - and it's a hit!

There There
by Tommy Orange
-Literary
Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5Fierce, angry, funny, heartbreaking—Tommy Orange’s first novel is a wondrous and shattering portrait of an America few of us have ever seen, and it introduces a brilliant new author at the start of a major career. -Goodreads

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* part of the Blog All About It Challenge (here)