books and tv

I don’t always take notes, but today’s Coffee Klatch netted some great read/watch/listen recommendations that beg to be shared! Join us at the Coffee Klatch next week for discussion of all things travel!  Register here: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/events

TV Series

Medici the Magnificent (Netflix)

A political family drama set in Florence in the early fifteenth century. Cosimo de Medici finds himself at the helm of his banking dynasty when his father, Giovanni, dies suddenly.

Belgravia (Epix)

Belgravia is a story of secrets and scandals amongst the upper echelon of London society in the 19th Century. When the Trenchards accept an invitation to the now legendary ball hosted by the Duchess of Richmond on the fateful eve of the Battle of Waterloo, it sets in motion a series of events that will have consequences for decades to come as secrets unravel behind the porticoed doors of London’s grandest neighborhoods. The limited series reunites the award-winning creative team behind Downton Abbey with Julian Fellowes adapting his bestselling novel for the screen and a stellar ensemble cast.

Alias, Grace (Netflix)

In 19th-century Canada, a psychiatrist weighs whether a murderess should be pardoned due to insanity. Based on Margaret Atwood's award-winning novel.

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness (Netflix)

A zoo owner spirals out of control amid a cast of eccentric characters in this true murder-for-hire story from the underworld of big cat breeding.

It’s Alive with Brad Leone (Bon Appetit website and app for streaming devices, Youtube, and Hulu)

Join Bon Appétit test kitchen manager, Brad Leone, on a wild, roundabout and marginally scientific adventure exploring fermented foods and more.

30 Rock (check your preferred streaming service)

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), head writer of the sketch comedy show "TGS with Tracy Jordan", must deal with an arrogant new boss and a crazy new star, all while trying to run a successful television show without losing her mind.

Parks & Recreation (check your preferred streaming service)

The absurd antics of an Indiana town's public officials (Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman) as they pursue sundry projects to make their city a better place.

Schitt’s Creek (check your preferred streaming service)

When rich video-store magnate Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) and his family (Catherine O’Hara, Dav Levy) suddenly find themselves broke, they are forced to leave their pampered lives to regroup in Schitt's Creek.

Community (check your preferred streaming service)

A suspended lawyer is forced to enroll in a community college with an eclectic staff and student body. Starring Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, and Donald Glover.

Justified (check your preferred streaming service)

U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is reassigned from Miami to his childhood home in the poor, rural coal mining towns in eastern Kentucky.

Podcasts

White Lies (NPR)

(It was announced this week that White Lies was a 2020 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Audio Reporting.)

In 1965, Rev. James Reeb was murdered in Selma, Alabama. Three men were tried and acquitted, but no one was ever held to account. Fifty years later, two journalists from Alabama return to the city where it happened, expose the lies that kept the murder from being solved and uncover a story about guilt and memory that says as much about America today as it does about the past.

Reckon Radio (AL.com)

What is the South? A place? A people? A lifestyle? Each week, on the Reckon Interview, host John Hammontree explores that question and more, with some of the most interesting minds in the South – authors, entertainers, artists, activists, and thinkers. Join us as we learn how this place shaped them and how they’re reshaping this place. Think of it as Fresh Air but with a lot more humidity.

S-Town (Serial and This American Life)

John despises his Alabama town and decides to do something about it. He asks a reporter to investigate the son of a wealthy family who’s allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. But then someone else ends up dead, sparking a nasty feud, a hunt for hidden treasure, and an unearthing of the mysteries of one man’s life.

Books (annotations from amazon.com)

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

A powerful novel based on the incredible true story of glamour icon and scientist Hedy Lamarr, whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication, The Only Woman in the Room is a masterpiece.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko and Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner's In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, set against the backdrop of the Việt Nam War.

A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

All the joy and struggle of family life is here, from Rafiq and Layla's own arrival in America from India to the years in which their children - each in their own way - tread between two cultures, seeking to find their place in the world as well as a path home. A Place for Us is a book for our times and an astonishingly tender-hearted novel of identity and belonging.

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

Writers & Lovers follows Casey - a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist - in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis. Written with King’s trademark humor, heart, and intelligence, Writers & Lovers is a transfixing novel that explores the terrifying and exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another.

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

In The Dearly Beloved, we follow two couples through decades of love and friendship, jealousy and understanding, forgiveness and commitment. Against the backdrop of turbulent changes facing the city and the church’s congregation, these four forge improbable paths through their evolving relationships, each struggling with uncertainty, heartbreak, and joy.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives in southern Appalachia.

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions - religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians - trapping her in the center of the conflict and ultimately opening up her world.

The Eighty Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts

Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo, based on the insight and recollections of “the Flying Dutchman” himself, Harry de Leyer. Their story captured the heart of Cold War-era America - a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. Elizabeth Letts’s message is simple: Never give up, even when the obstacles seem insurmountable.

The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis by Elizabeth Letts

In the chaotic last days of the war, a small troop of battle-weary American soldiers captures a German spy and makes an astonishing find - his briefcase is empty but for photos of beautiful white horses that have been stolen and kept on a secret farm behind enemy lines. Hitler has stockpiled the world's finest purebreds in order to breed the perfect military machine - an equine master race. But with the starving Russian army closing in, the animals are in imminent danger of being slaughtered for food.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope--a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it

Film/Opportunities to support small business

Sidewalk Cinema film discussion on Instagram Live 5/12 at 7pm with Thank You Books about the documentary film “The Booksellers” and the bookselling world.  

Event description:

Directed by DW Young
Documentary Feature
Not Rated
Run time 1 hour 39 minutes

Antiquarian booksellers are part scholar, part detective and part businessperson, and their personalities and knowledge are as broad as the material they handle. They also play an underappreciated yet essential role in preserving history. THE BOOKSELLERS takes viewers inside their small but fascinating world, populated by an assortment of obsessives, intellects, eccentrics and dreamers.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymcRRt3Ix04

Sidewalk will be hosting a special Q & A with friends from Thank You Books on Instagram Live on 5/12 at 7 PM! Head on over to their Instagram account @sidewalkfilm to watch.

Rent the film here:

https://www.sidewalkfest.com/event/sidewalk-home-video-the-booksellers/

Or simply click the ticket link on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/230378954895989/

If you’d like to support Sidewalk Cinema with other rentals, find the list here:

https://www.sidewalkfest.com/cinema/movies/now-playing/

The Belcourt Theatre in Nashville is providing a similar service.  Check out their offerings here:

http://www.belcourt.org/