Saturday, October 15, 2016

Stacking the Shelves - 10.15.16

Stacking the Shelves
hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

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Bought:

The Secret Lives of Rock Stars
by Suzanne Lazear
-Urban Fantasy, YA
Amazon | Goodreads

=====> Curious to read this music and urban fantasy mix.

=====> Book Passage, San Francisco, hosted a visit from author, Eowyn Ivey, to release her latest, To The Bright Edge of the World. It is in epistolary form with the illustrations and a map of the Alaska described in the story. Some inspiration is from Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier.

To The Bright Edge of the World
by Eowyn Ivey
-Historical, Fantasy
Amazon | Goodreads


For Review:

Love Connection
(First Comes Love #1)
by Camilla Isley
-Romantic Comedy, Chick Lit
Amazon | Goodreads -giveaway ends Dec 6

Secrets in the Snow
by Michaela MacColl
-Historical, Jane Austen theme, YA
courtesy of Chronicle Books -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads


Other things book-related:

Coming soon...

A Week in Paris
a virtual book event
October 23-28, 2016

=====> I will be spotlighting books from one of my favorite places in the world, Paris ;-)


AND watched: on DVD

Seven Samurai (1954)
Shichinin no samurai (original title)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Screenplay: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura
-Action, Adventure, Drama, Japan | imdb | my rating: 5

A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.

=====> Loved how the band was hand-picked and put together along with the bonding. Epic battle scenes.

Magnificent Seven (1960)
Director: John Sturges
Screenplay: William Roberts
Starring: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson
-Action, Adventure, Western | imdb | my rating: 5

An oppressed Mexican peasant village hires seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.

=====> American version of Seven Samurai. Embodies a classic western. Yul Brynner steals the show.

Return of the Magnificent Seven (1966)
Return of the Seven (original title)
Director: Burt Kennedy
Writer: Larry Cohen
Starring: Yul Brynner, Robert Fuller, Julián Mateos
-Action, Western | imdb | my rating: 4

Three survivors of the initial Magnificent Seven outfit, Chico, Chris and Vin, recruit four new members in order to re-form the outfit and defend a few Mexican villages from attacks by vicious bandits.

=====> The story continues with a new bunch headed again by Yul Brynner's character, Chris. Again, I enjoyed the process of getting new members and learning about their mad fighting skills.


AND watched: in theatre

Magnificent Seven (2016)
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Screenplay: Richard Wenk, Nic Pizzolatto
Based on screenplay by: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni
Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke
-Action, Adventure, Western | imdb | my rating: 4

Seven gun men in the old west gradually come together to help a poor village against savage thieves.

=====> American version of Seven Samurai with its own twist. Loved the cast.


Soulmate (2016)
Director: Kwok Cheung Tsang
Writers: Wing-Sum Lam, Yuan Li, Nan Wu, Yimeng Xu
Starring: Chengshan Li, Sichun Ma, Dongyu Zhou
-Drama, China | imdb | my rating: 5

Two women who have been close friends since adolescence must cope with the changes that maturity brings.

=====> Gives interesting perspectives on soulmates. The love relationships tugs at the heart.


I Belonged to You (2016)
Director: Yibai Zhang
Writer: Jiajia Zhang
Based on short story series by: Jiajia Zhang
Starring: Chao Deng, Crystal Zhang, Baihe Bai
-Drama, China | imdb | my rating: 5

A recently dumped radio host finds a new perspective on love when a young intern begins to work with him on his show.

=====> Another film that tugs at the heart. Need tissues with this one. Loved the various location shots around Chongqing and Yading Daocheng in China.



=====> The Mill Valley Film Festival hosted an onstage conversation with Ewan McGregor, a screening of AMERICAN PASTORAL, and presented Ewan with an MVFF Award in recognition of his auspicious directorial debut. Fangirl moment: It was a thrill to be at this event :-)

American Pastoral (2016)
Director: Ewan McGregor
Screenplay: John Romano
Based on novel by: Philip Roth
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Connelly
-Drama | imdb | my rating: 5

In 1968, a hardworking man, who's been a staple in his quaint community for years, watches his seemingly perfect middle class life fall apart as his daughter's new radical political affiliation threatens to destroy their family.

=====> Sad but beautifully made film of an American dream that comes true and then what comes after.


Currently flipping through: from the library

Chopsticks
by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral
-Graphic Novel, YA
Amazon | Goodreads

=====> Heard about this one from Sophia Rose of the Delighted Reader. The premise of a story told through pictures, text messages, various media clippings, etc. pulled me in.


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

 
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