Weekend Wrap-up #4

The Sunday post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. It's a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things you have received.

This week I tried to pick up the rhythm of everyday life after an eventful week/weekend. 

I got book mail in which The Line of Beauty arrived (read about it below). It made me super happy because I rarely order books these days (I'm broke, ugh) and it's a good feeling to receive the package when I order one now and then.

This week I watched two films on Netflix. That's progress for me because lately I've mostly watched tv shows (the reason for that is that I'm somehow unable to concentrate on one thing for a long time, I find it easier to watch one episode at a time from a series rather than watching a long movie).

The movies I saw were totally out of my comfort zone, too. They were Maid in Manhattan and Crazy, Stupid Love. Romantic comedies are not my type of films so my sudden, fleeting crave for them surprised me. Anyway, both movies were entertaining and in that way they served their purpose.

By the way, am I the only one who now cannot unsee Voldemort when looking at Ralph Fiennes? It's a tragedy because for the longest time I had a crush on that man. And now... Voldy!!??

 

On the TV show front I'm very close to finish Black Sails. The situation in Nassau is very dire at the moment. I'm sad I have to let go of this show after the end of this season but at the same time I'm hoping for a satisfying ending. 'Cause even surly pirates deserve a happy ending sometimes.

Posts on the blog this week:

Monday: March Wrap-Up, April TBR

Wednesday: Blog Tour + Review + Giveaway - Hiding by Jenny Morton Potts

Thursday: My trip to Oradea in pictures

Friday: Book Beginnings on Friday and the Friday 56 - Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews that makes it possible to share with other bookworms what books you added to your shelves – physical or virtual – during the week. 

Purchased:

Title: The Line of Beauty

Author: Alan Hollinghurst

Synopsis:

It is the summer of 1983, and young Nick Guest, an innocent in matters of politics and money, has moved into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the Feddens: Gerald, an ambitious new Tory MP, his wealthy wife Rachel, and their children Toby and Catherine. As the boom years of the mid-80s unfold, Nick becomes caught up in the Feddens’ world, while pursuing his own private obsession, with beauty – a prize as compelling to him as power and riches are to his friends. An early affair with a young black council worker gives him his first experience of romance; but it is a later affair, with a beautiful millionaire, that brings into question the larger fantasies of a ruthless decade.

This is a critically acclaimed LGBTQ fiction novel from the year 2004. I have only read one LGBTQ book that was set in the 80s so far, Tell the Wolves I'm Home. I have the feeling the AIDS epidemic that touched the lives of the characters in that book will influence the happenings in The Line of Beauty as well. I'm a bit afraid this book will be a bit heavy on politics, given that the MC goes to live with an MP and his family but at least I'll have the chance to learn more about the Thatcher era. Political history is part of history after all.

How was your week? Please leave a link to your STS and Sunday posts below so I can go and comment on them! Happy reading!

Weekend Wrap-up #13

The Sunday post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. It's a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things you have received.

Long time no see, I know, but please forgive me, lovelies, the wedding bells are ringing for me and I've got much to arrange (the date is September 14). I've also been in a huuuuge reading slump that seems to be leaving me these days, fingers crossed. 

Right now I'm determined to finish The Balance of Heaven and Earth by Laurence Westwood, that I put aside for a while because of all the things that have been going on in my life recently, but that I enjoyed a lot when I still had time to read. I've also picked up Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, a classic I've been eyeing for a while now.

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews that makes it possible to share with other bookworms what books you added to your shelves – physical or virtual – during the week.

Physical Books:

Title: Cleopatra's Daughter

Author: Michelle Moran

Goodreads

Synopsis:

At the dawn of the Roman Empire, when tyranny ruled, a daughter of Egypt and a son of Rome found each other...

Selene's legendary parents are gone. Her country taken, she has been brought to the city of Rome in chains, with only her twin brother, Alexander, to remind her of home and all she once had.

Living under the watchful eyes of the ruling family, Selene and her brother must quickly learn how to be Roman – and how to be useful to Caesar. She puts her artistry to work, in the hope of staying alive and being allowed to return to Egypt. Before long, however, she is distracted by the young and handsome heir to the empire...

When the elusive ‘Red Eagle' starts calling for the end of slavery, Selene and Alexander are in grave danger. Will this mysterious figure bring their liberation, or their demise?

Title: Lincoln in the Bardo

Author: George Saunders

Goodreads

Snyopsis:

February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returned to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy’s body.

From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a thrilling, supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory, where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul.

Title: Circe

Author: Madeline Miller

Goodreads

Synopsis:

 In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe has neither the look nor the voice of divinity, and is scorned and rejected by her kin. Increasingly isolated, she turns to mortals for companionship, leading her to discover a power forbidden to the gods: witchcraft.

When love drives Circe to cast a dark spell, wrathful Zeus banishes her to the remote island of Aiaia. There she learns to harness her occult craft, drawing strength from nature. But she will not always be alone; many are destined to pass through Circe's place of exile, entwining their fates with hers. The messenger god, Hermes. The craftsman, Daedalus. A ship bearing a golden fleece. And wily Odysseus, on his epic voyage home.

There is danger for a solitary woman in this world, and Circe's independence draws the wrath of men and gods alike. To protect what she holds dear, Circe must decide whether she belongs with the deities she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

 

Please leave  link to your weekend post below so I can go and visit your blog. 

Happy weekend! 

Weekend Wrap-up #14

The Sunday post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. It's a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things you have received.

I'm thankful we are getting closer to the end of July because summer always brings tougher days at work for me (so many flight cancellations) and so I can't wait for it to be autumn already. Once month to go...

Yesterday we ordered our wedding rings. We've been to several jewellery shops and the choice wasn't easy but we are pleased with the ones we picked in the end (I'll show you Lovelies, along with some wedding pics when we get there).

Yesterday I was off so we  could at last binge the third season of La Casa de Papel (Money Heist). It's one of my favourite Spanish shows at the moment, the characters are to die for and there's so much action in it, I'm always at the edge of my seat while watching. Also, I ship El Profesor and Raquel hard.

I've finished reading The Balance of Heaven and Earth by Laurance Westwood yesterday, my review is coming next week. I'm planning to finish Lady Audley's Secret soon.

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews that makes it possible to share with other bookworms what books you added to your shelves – physical or virtual – during the week.

Physical Books:

Title: De Profundis, The Ballad of the Reading Gaol & Other Writings

Author: Oscar Wilde

Goodreads

Synopsis: De Profundis is Oscar Wilde's eloquent and bitter reproach from prison to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie"). In an extended letter, Wilde accuses Lord Alfred of selfishness, shallowness, parasitism, greed, extravagance, tantrums, pettiness, and neglect. He contrasts this behaviour towards him with the selfless devotion of his close friend, Robert Ross, who became Wilde's literary executor, gave the work its title (from the opening of Psalm 130) and who published a shortened version of it in 1905.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a deeply moving and characteristically generous poem on the horrors of prison life. It was published anonymously in 1898, signed only "C.3.3.", Wilde's cell number in Reading Gaol. Wilde himself, released from his two-year prison sentence in 1897, was at the time living in France on the charity of friends and under the pseudonym Sebastian Melmoth.

This collection also includes the essay "The Soul of Men Under Socialism", Wilde's most outspoken defence of anarchy, and two of his Platonic dialogues, "The Decay of Lying" and "The Critic as Artist" in which he puts forward his provocatively witty ideas about art and this social role of the artist.

Title: My Dear Hamilton

Author: Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie

Goodreads

Synopsis:

A general’s daughter…

Coming of age on the perilous frontier of revolutionary New York, Elizabeth Schuyler champions the fight for independence. And when she meets Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s penniless but passionate aide-de-camp, she’s captivated by the young officer’s charisma and brilliance. They fall in love, despite Hamilton’s bastard birth and the uncertainties of war.

A founding father’s wife...

But the union they create—in their marriage and the new nation—is far from perfect. From glittering inaugural balls to bloody street riots, the Hamiltons are at the center of it all—including the political treachery of America’s first sex scandal, which forces Eliza to struggle through heartbreak and betrayal to find forgiveness.

The last surviving light of the Revolution…

When a duel destroys Eliza’s hard-won peace, the grieving widow fights her husband’s enemies to preserve Alexander’s legacy. But long-buried secrets threaten everything Eliza believes about her marriage and her own legacy. Questioning her tireless devotion to the man and country that have broken her heart, she’s left with one last battle—to understand the flawed man she married and the imperfect union he could never have created without her…

ARCs:

Title: Screamcatcher

Author: Christy J. Breedlove

Goodreads

Synopsis:

When seventeen-year-old Jory Pike cannot shake the hellish nightmares of her parent’s deaths, she turns to an old family heirloom, a dream catcher. Even though she’s half blood Chippewa, Jory thinks old Indian lore is so yesterday, but she’s willing to give it a try. However, the dream catcher has had its fill of nightmares from an ancient and violent past. After a sleepover party, and during one of Jory’s most horrific dream episodes, the dream catcher implodes, sucking Jory and her three friends into its own world of trapped nightmares. They’re in an alternate universe—locked inside of an insane web world. How can they find the center of the web, where all good things are allowed to pass?

What has happened to you this week? What are you reading right now?

Please leave your weekend post links below so I can visit your site.

Weekend Wrap-up #5

The Sunday post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. It's a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things you have received.

This week was about job interviews for me and my boyfriend too. Fingers crossed we'll soon be able to start our life together in earnest because we've been waiting for long enough to do that.

I watched The Greatest Showman recently and I CAN'T STOP listening to the soundtrack. I hum the songs all day and dance to them too when no one's watching. I'm totally obsessed with the film, it's pure magic.

This week I posted my Red Tent review at last and my first ever giveaway is live too (please check below). No one has entered it yet, I don't know if it's because of a lack of interest or perhaps I messed something up with the giveaway itself (?) I'm a little worried, haha.

This was altogether a good reading week for me, I finished The Shipbuilder by Salina B. Baker (My review is coming tomorrow) and I'm making good progress with all three books I'm reading at the moment (see the titles in the 'Currently reading' section on the sidebar).

Posts on the blog this week:

Monday: Book Blitz - Death Island by Kelsey Ketch 

Tuesday: Review + Gieveaway - The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Wednesday: WWW Wednesday #10

Thursday: Red Queen read-along update #1

Friday: Book Beginnings on Friday and the Friday 56 #12

Click on the picture if you'd like participate in my Red Tent giveaway!

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews that makes it possible to share with other bookworms what books you added to your shelves – physical or virtual – during the week.

I added a new e-arc to my collection this week. I read Stephen King's Salem's Lot earlier this year and since it was a pleasant surprise I thought maybe the time has come for me to take a few tentative steps towards the horror genre and try some other scary books. I sincerely hope I won't be afraid of cats forever after reading Clowders, haha.

Title: Clowders

Author: Vanessa Morgan

Publication Date: March 1st, 2018

Source: NetGalley

Goodreads

Synopsis:

Clervaux, Luxembourg. This secluded, picturesque town in the middle of Europe is home to more cats than people. For years, tourists have flocked to this place – also known as “cat haven” - to meet the cats and buy cat-related souvenirs.

When Aidan, Jess and their five-year-old daughter, Eleonore, move from America to Clervaux, it seems as if they've arrived in paradise. It soon becomes clear, though, that the inhabitants' adoration of their cats is unhealthy. According to a local legend, each time a cat dies, nine human lives are taken as a punishment. To tourists, these tales are supernatural folklore, created to frighten children on cold winter nights. But for the inhabitants of Clervaux, the danger is darkly, horrifyingly real.

Initially, Aidan and Jess regard this as local superstition, but when Jess runs over a cat after a night out in the town, people start dying, one by one, and each time it happens, a clowder of cats can be seen roaming the premises.

Are they falling victim to the collective paranoia infecting the entire town? Or is something horrible waiting for them? Something unspeakably evil.

Aidan and Jess' move to Europe may just have been the worst decision they ever made.

How was your week? Any good news? Any new books? Let me know in a comment below!

Weekend Wrap-up #9

The Sunday post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. It's a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things you have received.

This was my first week at the new job. I didn't work yet actually, only observed what my colleagues were doing. I'll do that for another week, then my training will start on June 4th. 

I didn't think that sitting and watching would be as exhausting as it is but the thing is, time would go so much faster if I had active tasks too. Not that I'm complaining, I'm getting paid for showing up and doing virtually nothing for 8 hours so yeah... it's worth it, obviously. However, I'm looking forward to the real training process more and more.

My best friend moved home to Hungary at last and I'm looking forward to seeing her next week when she comes to my town to hang out with me. Good times ahead.

This week I finished Clowders by Vanessa Morgan. It was kind of a disappointment unfortunately. My review is coming next week. I've started reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman and can't wait to learn more about the Norse gods.

Recent posts on the blog:

Monday: Life Update and Goodreads Monday #14 

Tuesday: Tell Me Something Tuesday #2

Wednesday: WWW Wednesday #14

Friday: Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #16

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews that makes it possible to share with other bookworms what books you added to your shelves – physical or virtual – during the week.

I haven't added any books to my physical or virtual shelf in the past 7 days, however, there's a couple I haven't showed you guys yet due to missed weekend wrap-ups. Here they are:

Title: Succubus Lips (Succubus Sirens #1)

Author: Lina Jubilee

Publication Date: May 8th, 2018

Source: RockStar Book Tours

Goodreads

I won't lie to you: there are so many ways this book can go wrong or can trun out to be problematic and I'm very curious if the writer managed to do it well or the story trips on itself and its subject material. I haven't read erotica in a while so yeah, let's do this!

Title: Bring Me Their Hearts

Author: Sara Wolf

Publication Date: June 5th, 2018

Source: YA Bound Book Tours

Goodreads

I'll probably start reading this book pretty soon, as  my book tour review date is June 15th. You'll hear more about this title on the blog soon.

Don't forget to leave a link to your weekend posts! Have a nice one!

Weekend Wrap-up #7

The Sunday post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. It's a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things you have received.

I didn't sleep much last night because my friend's plane was late and so we all went to bed around 4 am. She had to leave very early in the morning too, I hope we'll have more time to spend together on Monday.

I was very lazy this week, it must have been because of the hot weather but it's no good anyway. I need my energy back!!

I'm currently reading Nothing But Sky by Amy Trueblood, which is very charming so far, I like spending time with it.

Recent posts on the blog:

Monday: Goodreads Monday #12 - Last Letter Home by Rachel Hore

Tuesday: April Wrap-Up, May TBR

Thursday: Review - The Last Sun (The Tarot Sequence #1) by K.D. Edwards

Friday: Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 # 13 - Nothing But Sky  by Amy Trueblood

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews that makes it possible to share with other bookworms what books you added to your shelves – physical or virtual – during the week.

I received one eARC via NetGalley this week:

Title: Claire's Last Secret

Author: Marty Ambrose

Publication Date: September 1st, 2018

Source: NetGalley

Goodreads

I really shouldn't browse NetGalley after promising myself I wouldn't request more titles... But there is always that one book that finds you there...  I don't even like Claire Clairmont that much but any story that involves Lord Byron, the Shelleys and that famous night at Villa Diodati is a must read for me. Sorry not sorry.

Don't forget to leave a link to your weekend posts! Have a nice one!

Weekend Wrap-up #11

The Sunday post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. It's a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things you have received.

I worked regular times from Monday to Friday this week. I could live with this, too bad it won't always be like this. 

On the other hand next week I have days off on Wednesday and Thursday, which means I can go to see the doctor at last and find out if I have allergies or not... 

I spent the weekend with my boyfriend in Eger. I really hope next week he'll hear back from at least one of his potential work places because that would mean we could start looking for a place to rent together.

I finished Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf this week. It didn't sweep me off my feet unfortuantely, my review is coming soon. I'm still reading Mrs Sherlock Holmes and liking it so far.

Recent posts on the blog:

Tuesday: Review - Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Thursday: Reading Habits Tag 

What happened to you this week? What are you reading right now?

Weekend Wrap-up #2

The Sunday post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. It's a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things you have received.

This week went by very fast and relatively uneventful. The snow is melting at last which gives me hope that spring is knocking at our doors. I'd really love to go for more walks but only if it's not freezing cold outside.

My left eye was inflamed yesterday but luckily it got better fast (I dabbed at it with a cotton pad soaked in camomile tea – gosh, I hate the smell of camomile...). Now I'm allowed to strain my eyes again, yay! XD

I've finished one novel and one short story this week one of which I enjoyed, and one that wasn't very much to my liking. Reviews are on the way.

Posts this week:

• Goodreads Monday: Death or Ice-Cream?
• Tell Me Something Tuesday: Books I can't wait to share with my kids
• Words, words, words: NTLive Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch Review
• Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 - Hiding by Jenny Morton Potts
• Review – Oops, Caught by Alli Reshi

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews that makes it possible to share with other bookworms what books you added to your shelves – physical or virtual – during the week.

I have only one new ARC to show you this week:

Title: Oops, Caught (Expanding Horizon #1)

Author: Alli Reshi

Source: NetGalley

Goodreads

Synopsis:

Mark Noland can’t figure out how he got into such a fix. How does an ex-mercenary (okay, an almost-reformed mercenary) get himself caught, stuck in a holding cell, on a hostile alien planet? Held captive by strange bug-like creatures who’d just as soon eat him as look at him. How can a simple mission go so awry? To make matters worse, Noland’s not alone. His fellow prisoner, a certain high-ranking, elite Stella officer holds him responsible for their failed plan. Yeah, it was supposed to be a quick in and quick out sort of mission. But no… Officer Gavnson just can’t let it go.

It’s not so easy trying to plan an escape when Noland keeps getting distracted by how his mission partner so very nicely fills out his uniform. And he suspects Gavnson is hiding something, too. As tensions run high, secrets are revealed that will change the both of them. There’s nothing like gunfights and running for your life to make that special bond.

It's a very short lgbtq sci-fi novella. My review will be up soon. 

I also have something else to share with you: a book-related DVD I've purchased recently:

I've seen this Onegin film adaptation ages ago and loved it a lot. It was around the time when in high school I had an Onegin phase and couldn't shut up about Pushkin's novel. Now that I'm gonna meet Toby Stephens in the summer at London Film and Comic Con, I've decided to revisit some of his older projects and this film is among them (he plays Lensky in it). Can't wait to discover if I'll still rate this movie as high as I would have done 10 years ago.

How was your week? What books did you add to your library? 

Leave your links down below, please!

Have a nice weekend!!