National Doughnut Day 2019

Happy National Doughnut Day 2019
on the first Friday of June
Everyday is donut day at Twin Peaks. But for those of us who don't take part in this daily breakfast treat, we can indulge for a day of donuts guilt free ;-)


EAT:

Open 24 hours, Bob's Donuts and Pastries called to me. Although tempting, I did not go for the cake-sized version. Got a regular and chocolate glazed.


READ:

May have to try the first of 41 books in the Donut Shop Mystery series.

Glazed Murder
(Donut Shop Mystery #1)
by Jessica Beck
-Mystery, Donuts | Goodreads
Meet Suzanne Hart, owner and operator of Donut Hearts coffee shop in April Springs, North Carolina. After her divorce from Max, an out-of-work actor she’s dubbed “The Great Impersonator,” Suzanne decided to pursue her one true passion in life: donuts. So she cashed in her settlement and opened up shop in the heart of her beloved hometown.

But when a dead body is dumped on her doorstep like a sack of flour, Suzanne’s cozy little shop becomes an all-out crime scene. Now, everyone in town is dropping by for glazed donuts and gruesome details. The retired sheriff warns her to be careful—and they’re all suspects. Soon Suzanne—who finds snooping as irresistible as donuts—is poking holes in everyone’s alibis…

ART:

Three Donuts by Wayne Thiebaud
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* image source: Twin Peaks, Three Donuts

Happy Release: Someday We Will Fly by Rachel DeWoskin

Someday We Will Fly
by Rachel DeWoskin
-Historical, WWII, YA | Goodreads
Release date: January 22, 2019
Warsaw, Poland. The year is 1940 and Lillia is 15 when her mother, Alenka, disappears and her father flees with Lillia and her younger sister, Naomi, to Shanghai, one of the few places that will accept Jews without visas. There they struggle to make a life; they have no money, there is little work, no decent place to live, a culture that doesn't understand them. And always the worry about Alenka. How will she find them? Is she still alive?

Meanwhile Lillia is growing up, trying to care for Naomi, whose development is frighteningly slow, in part from malnourishment. Lillia finds an outlet for her artistic talent by making puppets, remembering the happy days in Warsaw when they were circus performers. She attends school sporadically, makes friends with Wei, a Chinese boy, and finds work as a performer at a "gentlemen's club" without her father's knowledge.

But meanwhile the conflict grows more intense as the Americans declare war and the Japanese force the Americans in Shanghai into camps. More bombing, more death. Can they survive, caught in the crossfire?

About the Author
Rachel DeWoskin spent her twenties in China as the unlikely star of a nighttime soap opera that inspired her memoir Foreign Babes in Beijing. She is the author of Repeat After Me and Big Girl Small, which received the American Library Association's Alex Award for an adult book with special appeal to teen readers; Rachel's conversations with young readers inspired her to write her first YA novel, Blind. Rachel is on the faculty of the University of Chicago, where she teaches creative writing. She lives in Chicago with her husband, playwright Zayd Dohrn, and their two daughters. Rachel and her family spent six summers in Shanghai while she researched Someday We Will Fly.

Lovely Books and Things - 6.1.19

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. Upcoming birthday treats, next week :-)

2. Started volunteer usher duties for this week's SF International Arts Festival (here).

3. Despite the crowds, my 4th visit to see the Monet: the Late Years at the deYoung museum.


~*~
Bought:

Miracle Creek
by Angie Kim
-Mystery, Korea | Goodreads

Diary of a Murderer:
And Other Stories
by Young-Ha Kim
-Short Stories, Korea | Goodreads
POST CAAMfest, I am feeling like getting into more Asian related stories with these two.

Shadows on the Lake
(Commissario Stefania Valenti #1)
by Giovanni Cocco, Amneris Magella
-Mystery, Historical, Italy, Lake Como | Goodreads
FOR face-to-face group, Foreign Mystery Book Club, June pick.


Author event:

The Bindery hosted a reading and Q&A for Penguin Classics Asian American Writers Series with Karen Tei Yamashita and Elaine Castillo.

Karen read her Introduction from...

No-No Boy
by John Okada
-Historical, 1950s, Japanese American | Goodreads

Elaine read her Forward from...

America Is in the Heart: A Personal History
by Carlos Bulosan
-Memoir, 1940s, Filipino | Goodreads

The authors current releases:

I Hotel
by Karen Tei Yamashita
-Historical, Short Stories, SF Chinatown | Goodreads

America Is Not the Heart
by Elaine Castillo
-Historical, Filipino American | Goodreads

Library:

The Lost Girls of Paris
by Pam Jenoff
-Historical Fiction, WWII, Paris | Goodreads
FOR online International Book Club, June pick.


AND watched: in theatre

Walking On Water (2018)
Director: Andrey Paounov
-Documentary, Adventure, Comedy | imdb | my rating: 5
Ten years after the passing of his wife and creative partner, Jeanne-Claude, renowned environmental artist Christo sets out to realize The Floating Piers, a project they conceived together many years before. We follow his visionary quest to install a wide golden walkway floating across the scenic Italian alpine Lake Iseo, looking like a heavenly dream but sturdy enough to support hundreds of thousands of people. Christo, now in his eighties, and Vladimir Yavachev, his stalwart director of operations, are passionate and stubborn about getting everything right despite bad weather, burdensome bureaucracy and a turnout of thousands more people than were expected.

Funny at times, inspiring, and breathtakingly beautiful, WALKING ON WATER takes the viewer on an intimate journey into Christo’s world amid mounting insanity—from complex dealings between art and state politics to engineering challenges, logistical nightmares, and the sheer force of mother nature. Through spectacular aerial views and fly-on-the-wall camerawork, we watch the artist’s extraordinary vision unfold, and get to know the man chasing it. Directed by Christo’s fellow countryman, Bulgarian Andrey M. Paounov.

I was in awe of the appearance of artist, Christo, at the screening of this documentary at the Opera Plaza theatre. He spoke about his piece, The Floating Piers installed at Lake Iseo near Brescia, Italy in June 18, 2016 to July 3, 2016.

Found out the color they always use is Yellow Dahlia.

Always Be My Maybe (2019)
Director: Nahnatchka Khan
Writers: Michael Golamco, Randall Park, Ali Wong
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Ali Wong, Miya Cech
-Comedy, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
A pair of childhood friends end up falling for each other when they grow up.

ALL around feel good film with hilarious moments. Loved that San Francisco and food were characters as well.

This Vogue theatre screening included a Q&A with director, Nahnatchka Khan and actors, Ali Wong and Randall Park and special guest Dan the Automator.

We have to keep hush hush on the appearance of a certain special guest actor in the film. Just want to say, the person was part of the hilarious moments.


AND watched: on DVD

Just My Luck
Director: Donald Petrie
Screenplay: I. Marlene King, Amy Harris
Story by: Jonathan Bernstein, Mark Blackwell, James Greer, I. Marlene King
Stars: Lindsay Lohan, Chris Pine
-Comedy, Fantasy, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
FUN, funny and cute ;-)

Miss Zombie (2013)
Director/Writer: SABU
Stars: Makoto Togashi, Ayaka Komatsu, Tateto Serizawa
-Horror, Zombies, Japan | imdb my rating: 5
A Japanese family acquires an undead domestic servant whose presence begins to effect their daily lives.

BEAUTIFUL zombie film. Really. It was shot in black and white with a splash of color in one scene which created the perfect dramatic effect. Low level "pet" zombies, provided you do not feed them meat!

*** Happy Zombie Awareness month ***

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

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Gloved Heart by Charlotte Brentwood

Gloved Heart:
A Regency Romance
by Charlotte Brentwood

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

Just released: April 20, 2019
Publisher: self
Genre: Historical, Romance
Paperback: 225
Rating: 5

Hearts of Amberley series:
The Vagabond Vicar
Gloved Heart

First sentence(s):
Screams echoed in every corner of the room, and in her mind.

Can she ever trust again?

Amy Miller is struggling to come to terms with her new life as a mother, while being a reluctant guest in a rigid gentry household. A victim of abuse, she is determined to never trust a man again.

Henry Russell has loved Amy for as long as he can remember, but his family want nothing to do with her. A chance encounter with Amy rekindles a friendship which might save both of them.

The discovery of a secret which holds the key to Amy’s past will change them both forever, and jeopardize any chance they have for happiness. Can Henry show Amy that true love will give her everything she could ever need?

Sensuality level: sweet (only kissing)
Some content may challenge sensitive readers.

My two-bits:

Loved falling into this world with its characters and the setting of country living in England.

I liked how both Amy and Henry's perspectives are presented with their struggles to unite.

Despite the traumas in this story things, move along gently which makes for a cozy clean romance read.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of author

The Ensemble by Aja Gabel

The Ensemble
by Aja Gabel
narrated by Rebecca Lowman

Find out more about this book and author:
Goodreads
Website
Instagram
Twitter

Published: 2018
Publisher: Riverhead
Genre: Literary, Contemporary, Music
Hardback: 352
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
It's a love story, the famous violinist had said, and even thought Jana knew it was not, those were the worlds that knocked around her brain when she began to play on stage.

The addictive debut novel about four young friends navigating the cutthroat world of music and their complex relationships with each other, as ambition, passion, and love intertwine over the course of their lives.

Brit is the second violinist, a beautiful and quiet orphan; the viola is Henry, a prodigy who’s always had it easy; the cellist is Daniel, the oldest, the angry skeptic who sleeps around; and on first violin is Jana, their flinty, resilient leader. Together, they are the Van Ness String Quartet.

In The Ensemble, each character picks up the melody, from the group’s youthful rocky start through to adulthood. As they navigate devastating failures and wild success, heartbreak and marriage, triumph and loss, betrayal and enduring loyalty, they are always tied together—by career, by the intensity of their art, by the secrets they carry together, and by choosing each other over and over again.

Following these four unforgettable characters, Aja Gabel’s debut novel gives a behind-the-scenes look into the highly competitive, mysterious world of high-level musicians. The story of Brit and Henry and Daniel and Jana, The Ensemble is a heart-skipping portrait of ambition, friendship, and the tenderness of youth.

My two-bits:

This story delves into the lifespan of a quartet with its ups and downs. It gets into the rise and then what happens next stories.

The relationships within and outside of the quartet dynamics are explored. And amongst it all, music weaves the individuals together.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version. I liked the brief musical interludes between chapters.