Leslie's Bookcase

celebrating books & the literary lifestyle

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A GUIDE TO THE 2019 OSCAR AWARDS – How & where to see all the movies before the awards show

January 27, 2019 /

The 91st Academy Awards will be televised on Sunday, February 24. This gives us a few weeks to watch the movies that will be honored.

Keep reading to find out how to see all the nominees for best picture.

Unless you go to the movie theater regularly, seeing all the films nominated for “best picture” can be a challenge. By the time the nominees are announced, some movies are already out of theaters and may have entered a blackout period where they are not yet available through other providers.

Luckily, this year with some careful planning we can have access to all the movies in time for the awards show. Not many are available for rent yet so you will have to purchase some of them, but keep in mind that $15 is still cheaper than two people going to the theater!

Although the list of nominations is by no means a complete list of all the movies worth seeing from the year, I have found this project a good way to see a diverse group of movies, many of which I would not have seen otherwise.

Below is my guide for how you can see all the movies before Feb. 24. I will be filling in my thoughts about all as I work through the list myself.

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THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY

January 12, 2019 /

This book about the German occupation of the island of Guernsey during WWII was published in 2009, but caught my attention as a new movie feature on Netflix. And I’m always looking for additions to my WWII historical fiction reading list.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – A Novel

The novel reads as a series of letters. At first, the letters were a bit confusing as Juilet Ashton corresponds with her publisher and friends. But then, she receives a letter from Guernsey (territory of Great Britain in the channel islands) because her address was inscribed on the inside of a Charles Lamb book that made its way to the island. Juliet begins corresponding with the letter writer (Dawsey Adams) and the other members of his informal literary group called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers How delightful if that were true.”

the guernsey literary and potato peel society (2009)
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The book covers (without pages) I found yesterday.

Favorite Children’s Books – Part II

January 4, 2019 /

I was helping my 10-year-old clean out his room yesterday – I mean really clean it…it took us more than 2 hours and resulted in a full bag of trash, a pile of recycling, and several other piles to be relocated to other areas of the house. We even went through the closet and under the bed, Ick!!

And in the closet I found the tattered covers of a book I want to recommend.

A couple of years ago I wrote My Favorite Children’s Books Part I about my absolute favorite series of children’s books. I’ve been so focused on my own reading that I forgot to finish this series of posts, but I was inspired to do so yesterday.

Because what I found was obviously another favorite considering the state of this book…I have no idea where the pages went! It literally fell apart due to lots of reading over two kids!

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MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2018

December 26, 2018 /

This is my third year of blogging on “Leslie’s Bookcase” and my year-end tradition is to announce my favorite five books of the year. To keep this process consistent from year to year, I only consider books published within the past year. And I can’t read ALL the books so this honor is obviously limited to the books I have read and posted about.

And here are my favorite books of 2018:

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THE BOOK FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE THE LIBRARY

December 20, 2018 /

Decades ago I sat at a bar next to a older man who – with great pride – pulled a stack of library cards out of his wallet.

“I’ve moved a lot in my life, and the first thing I did in any new town was get a library card,” he said.

Writing this post triggered this memory I hadn’t thought of in years but it speaks towards the variety of people who use libraries. This man was a character although an intelligent one. And at that point in my life (early 20s) I wasn’t necessarily using my library although I had grown up visiting the library. These days, however, I am there at least once a week if not more. So when I heard great things about a book that is about libraries I had to check it out! And add it to my winter reading list.

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‘A LADDER TO THE SKY’

December 10, 2018 /

I can’t believe I forgot to put A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel on my winter reading list, but I read it as soon as I remembered!

A book by the same author, John Boyne, made my favorite books of 2017 list and this new book is a contender for this year’s list. Check back; my list is coming soon!!

Maurice Swift, a truly unforgettable and unique protagonist, is a charming psychopath who steals others’ ideas because although he can write well, he can’t come up with his own plots. 

“There’s something in all our pasts that wouldn’t want revealed. And that’s where you’ll find your story,” his first mentor tells him. The book’s title is a reference to a proverb about ambition: “It’s like a ladder to the sky. A pointless waste of energy.” Maurice’s ambition leads him to do things you wouldn’t believe until you start anticipating just what he’ll do next and how far he’ll go!!

The book is entertaining, disturbing, funny, thought provoking, and irresistible.

For me personally it had two traits that I loved:

  • Intertextuality, something I write about a lot.
  • Pub references. The chapters of the last section are titled by the pubs he is sitting in. hysterical!

Through the last page, this book is brilliant. Bravo bravo – I hate that I don’t still have this book to read tonight. 

 

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LOVE AND RUIN

December 1, 2018 /

One of my favorite reads over the past few years has been The Paris Wife so when my cousin reminded me that this author, Paula McClain, had a new book out about Ernest Hemingway’s third wife Martha Gellhorn, I was on it, immediately. This new books is:

 Love and Ruin: A Novel

I didn’t previously know much about Martha Gellhorn, but this woman was a real journalist and author in her own right without being tied to Ernest Hemingway. She was his second wife between Pauline and Mary. (The Paris Wife is about his first wife Hadley.)
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