Lovely Books and Things - 9.29.18

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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HAPPY THINGS:

1. Yoga classes that help get the kinks out

2. Random compliment from stranger "I like your color palette."

3. Looking at Maud Lewis paintings online - they give off that cozy vibe

~*~
Bought:

Emma
by Nancy Butler
illustrated by Janet Lee
based on Jane Austen novel
-Historical, Romance, Graphic Novel | Goodreads
SUCKER for things Jane Austen related.


Library:

Barrel Fever
by David Sedaris
-Humor, Essay, Memoir | Goodreads
CATCHING up on Sedaris works. I love to listen to the audio versions as Sedaris narrates them. His sense of humor really shines with the telling.

What We Were Promised
by Lucy Tan
-Contemporary, China, Shaghai | Goodreads
FOR the World Reads challenge (here). I chose China for this and next month.


AND watched: in theatre

Science Fair (2018)
Director/writer: Cristina Costantini, Darren Foster
Writer: Jeff Plunkett
Stars: Anjali Chadha, Ryan Folz, Harsha Paladugu, Abraham Riedel-Mishaan, Kashfia Rahman, Ivo Zell, Robbie Barrat, Myllena Braz de Silva, Gabriel de Moura Martins, Serena McCalla, Jack Andraka.
-Documentary | imdb | my rating: 5
Nine high school students from disparate corners of the globe navigate rivalries, setbacks, and hormones on their quest to win the international science fair. Only one can be named "Best in Fair."

WENT to a screening that included a Q&A with directors and one of the students in the film (Robbie). I usually find it entertaining and fascinating to learn about the behind-the-scenes goings on of big events. This film was inspiring and hopeful. Amazing kids!

The BookShop (2017)
Director/screenplay: Isabel Coixet
Based on book by: Penelope Fitzgerald
Stars: Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Hunter Tremayne, Patricia Clarkson
-Drama | imdb | my rating: 4
England 1959. In a small East Anglian town, Florence Green decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop.

LOVED the setting and storytelling visuals and the books!


AND watched: on DVD for Fall Film Challenge - six degrees from Kevin Bacon (here)

The Monuments Men (2007)
Director/Screenplay: George Clooney
Screenplay: Grant Heslov
Based on book by: Robert M. Edsel, Bret Witter
Stars: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray
-Drama, History, War | imdb | my rating: 3
An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their owners.

Watched: 9/23/18
Connection: John Goodman starred with Bacon in Patriot's Day
Despite the all-star cast and interesting historical topic I found the film okay.

On Chesil Beach (2017)
Director: Dominic Cooke
Writer/screenplay/based on book by: Ian McEwan
Stars: Billy Howle, Saoirse Ronan, Andy Burse
-Drama, Music, Romance | imdb | my rating: 4
Based on Ian McEwan's novel. In 1962 England, a young couple find their idyllic romance colliding with issues of sexual freedom and societal pressure, leading to an awkward and fateful wedding night.

Watched: 9/26/18
Connection: Saoirse Ronan was in Lady Bird with Laurie Metcalf who starred with Bacon in JFK
Beautiful scenes and scenery amongst a sad love story.

Paddington (2014)
Director/Writer/screen story: Paul King
Writer/screen story: Hamish McColl
Paddington Bear created by: Michael Bond
Stars: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins
-Adventure, Comedy, Family | imdb | my rating: 4
A young Peruvian bear travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he meets the kindly Brown family, who offer him a temporary haven.

Watched: 9/27/18
Connection: Ben Whishaw was in Cloud Atlas with Tom Hanks who starred with Bacon in Apollo 13
Cute one with a whimsical portrayal of London.

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino

Grotesque
by Natsuo Kirino
translated by Rebecca Copeland

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

Published: 2008
Publisher: Vintage
Genre: Mystery, Horror, Japan
Paperback: 544
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
Whenever I meet a man, I catch myself wondering what our child would look like if we were to make a baby.

Life at the prestigious Q High School for Girls in Tokyo exists on a precise social axis: a world of insiders and outsiders, of haves and have-nots. Beautiful Yuriko and her unpopular, unnamed sister exist in different spheres; the hopelessly awkward Kazue Sato floats around among them, trying to fit in.Years later, Yuriko and Kazue are dead — both have become prostitutes and both have been brutally murdered.

Natsuo Kirino, celebrated author of Out, seamlessly weaves together the stories of these women’s struggles within the conventions and restrictions of Japanese society. At once a psychological investigation of the pressures facing Japanese women and a classic work of noir fiction, Grotesque is a brilliantly twisted novel of ambition, desire, beauty, cruelty, and identity by one of our most electrifying writers.

My two-bits:

Unreliable narrators and unlikable characters serve to tell the state of affairs for the "ugly" realities in Japan especially in regards to women. The whole of it just drew me in.

~*~
* part of World Reads challenge - Japan pt 2 (here)

* part of R.I.P. 13 (here)

Lovely Books and Things - 9.22.18

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

~*~
HAPPY THINGS:

1. Short work week due to taking the kid back to college.

2. Oregon Shakespeare Festival - going to see Sense & Sensibility, Manahatta, and Othello.

3. Traditional Cheese Fondue

~*~
For Review:

Art Boss
by Kayla Cagan
-Art, YA
Release date: October 2018
courtesy of publisher -Thanks! | Goodreads
A companion novel to Piper Perish which includes illustrations sprinkled into the pages of the book.

Salt
by Hannah Moskowitz
-Fantasy, YA
Release date: November 2018
courtesy of publisher -Thanks! | Goodreads
SEA monster hunters premise makes this a good candidate to add to my R.I.P. 13 challenge.


Freebies:

By a Lady:
Being the Adventures of an Enlightened American in Jane Austen's England
by Amanda Elyot
-Historical, Time Travel, Jane Austen | Goodreads
GOT this from the bookswap table at the local chapter Jane Austen Society Fall meeting.

Finding Fraser
by K.C. Dyer
-Chick-lit, Scotland | Goodreads
GOT this from the free bin at Green Apple Bookstore. Could not resist this Jamie Fraser inspired romance (from Outlander by Diana Gabaldon).


AND watched: in theatre for Fall Film Challenge - six degrees from Kevin Bacon (here)

one
A Simple Favor (2018)
Director: Paul Feig
Screenplay: Jessica Sharzer
Based on the novel by: Darcey Bell
Stars: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding
-Crime, Drama, Mystery | imdb | my rating: 5
A Simple Favor, directed by Paul Feig, centers around Stephanie (Anna Kendrick), a mommy blogger who seeks to uncover the truth behind her best friend Emily's (Blake Lively) sudden disappearance from their small town.

Watched: 9/15/18
Connection: Anna Kendrick was in Pitch Perfect 3 with John Lithgow who starred with Bacon in Footloose
I liked this chick-lit thriller and enjoyed the french swinger tunes in the soundtrack.


AND watched: on DVD for Fall Film Challenge - six degrees from Kevin Bacon (here)

Annihilation (2018)
Director/Writer: Alex Garland
Based on novel by: Jeff VanderMeer
Stars: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson
-Adventure, Drama, Horror | imdb | my rating: 4
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.

Watched: 9/14/18
Connection: Benedict Wong starred with Benedict Cumberbatch in Avengers: Infinity War who starred with Bacon in Black Mass
Interesting concepts brought up in the mysterious zone aka the shimmer. Ended with an interesting cliffhanger too.

The Fate of the Furious (2017)
Director: F. Gary Gray
Writer: Chris Morgan
Writer/based on characters created by: Gary Scott Thompson
Stars: Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson
-Action, Crime, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 5
When a mysterious woman seduces Dom into the world of terrorism and a betrayal of those closest to him, the crew face trials that will test them as never before.

Watched: 9/17/18
Connection: Jason Statham was in The Italian Job with Mark Wahlberg who starred with Bacon in Patriot's Day.
This film series continues to entertain with its action packed scenes (with cars), especially the zombie time sequence.

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Death On Demand by Paul Thomas

Death On Demand
by Paul Thomas

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

Published: 2013
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Genre: Mystery, New Zealand
Paperback: 288
Rating: 5

Tito Ihaka series:
Death On Demand
Fallout

First sentence(s):
Greytown, fourteen years ago
Females had always found him hard to resist.

Zombie sighting:
He drove over the Rimutakas to Greytown, aka Gaytown. It had been just another zombified little country town until a few gays from Wellington jazzed it up.
-chapter 9, page 145

Maori cop Ihaka, unkempt, overweight, intemperate, unruly, unorthodox, and profane, is a cop unable to play the police politics necessary for promotion, but he's a man who has a way with women, and he's a stubborn investigator with an uncanny instinct for the truth.

Tito Ihaka is in the wilderness, having fallen foul of the new regime at Auckland Central. Called back to follow up a strange twist in the unsolved case that got him into trouble in the first place, Ihaka finds himself hunting a shadowy hitman who could have several notches on his belt.

His enemies want him off the case, but the bodies are piling up. Ihaka embarks on a quest to establish whether police corruption was behind the shooting of an undercover cop and—to complicate matters—he becomes involved with an enigmatic female suspect who could hold the key to everything.

My two-bits:

This mystery got complicated and twisty-like. However, I liked how this cop stayed true throughout.

~*~
* part of Books, Inc. Foreign Intrigue Book Club (here)

Lovely Books and Things - 9.15.18

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

~*~
HAPPY THINGS:

1. Watching films for the start of the Fall Film Challenge (here)

2. Making Chinese hot pot meal using a fondue pot :-) it worked but was a slower process

3. Custom-made zombie cards, stickers and washi tape by @beecreativegreetings - Thanks Nicole!

~*~
Library:

How To Walk Away
by Katherine Center
-ChickLit
Goodreads
PART of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. Although summer is over, I am still working through some of the books on the list (here).

A People's History of the Vampire Uprising
by Raymond A. Villareal
-Horror, Vampires | Goodreads
IMPULSE pick up. Looks like a good one for R.I.P. 13 reading challenge (here).


AND watched: in theatre

BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Director/writer: Spike Lee
Writers: Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott
Based on book by: Ron Stallworth
Stars:
-Biography, Comedy, Crime | imdb | my rating: 5
Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer from Colorado, successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan with the help of a white surrogate, who eventually becomes head of the local branch.

“based on some fo’ real, fo’ real shit.”

TIMELY story as a reminder of the past and how things have/have not changed.

Of Love & Law (2017)
Director: Hikaru Toda
-Documentary, Japan | imdb | my rating: 5
Fumi and Kazu are life partners, both professionally and privately: they run the first and only law firm in Japan set up by an openly gay couple. The lawyers know all too well the realities of being a minority in a conformist society, where the collective unity is absolute and often maintained at the expense of individual rights and freedom. Not being part of the majority could lead to prosecution by law and alienation by society at large - illustrated by the cases that the two lawyers take on. The individual freedom is viewed as a privilege not a right, and the fundamental human rights of equality and security are only extended to the majority. In a 2014 report, Amnesty International slammed Japan for 'veering away from global human rights standards', while the World Economic Forum places Japan 101st out of 145 countries in the global gender equality ranking, far behind developing countries such as Rwanda and the Philippines. Laws of Love and Other Things follows the two lawyers as they enter into the lives of their clients; each revealing the hidden diversities of the homogeneous and conservative society. As the two lawyers work hard to defend the rights of their clients, they have their own dilemma to deal with - to raise a family of their own in a society where their partnership have no legal recognition or protection. The film explores the universal concept of love, family, and equality with the personal stories of the characters revealing modern Japan in transition. The film also poses the questions - what are the risks of being an outsider in your own country? What happens when you don't belong to the masses?

THOUGHTS on diversity and conformity prevail.


AND watched: on DVD

Jane Got A Gun (2015)
Director: Gavin O'Connor
Screenplay: Brian Duffield, Anthony Tambakis, Joel Edgerton
Story by: Brian Duffield
Stars: Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Ewan McGregor
-Action, Drama, Western | imdb | my rating: 4
A woman asks her ex-lover for help in order to save her outlaw husband from a gang out to kill him.

WESTERN heroine by necessity. Made me think of Natalie's character from Cold Mountain film and this film as the continuation of her story.

AND watched: on DVD for Fall Film Challenge - six degrees from Kevin Bacon (here)

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Writers: Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn
Based on comic book The Secret Service by: Mark Millar, Dave Gibbons
Stars: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Julianne Moore
-Action, Adventure, Comedy | imdb | my review: 5
When their headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage, the Kingsman's journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the United States. These two elite secret organizations must band together to defeat a common enemy.

Watched: 9/11/18
Connection: Colin Firth starred with Bacon in Where the Truth Lies
Action-packed with British spy work and a kooky villain.

The Sea of Trees (2015)
Director: Gus Van Sant
Writer: Chris Sparling
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Naomi Watts, Ken Watanabe
-Drama | imdb | my rating: 4
A suicidal American befriends a Japanese man lost in a forest near Mt. Fuji and the two search for a way out.

Watched: 9/10
Connection: Ken Watanabe was in Batman Begins with Christian Bale who was in The Big Short with Steve Carrell who starred with Bacon in Crazy Stupid Love.
Slow moving but good story on self reflection and survival amongst trees (and dead people).

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)