A very bookish birthday party indeed!

This past weekend, I celebrated my birthday at home and yes, it was a rather good time despite the current health crisis that we're all living through right now.

I did enjoy a sugar free chocolate cake, had a lovely home cooked meal with my family and finally got to watch the new adaptation of Emma(which I'll talk about at the end of this post). What more could I ask for? Being grateful for what I have is important and it's the best gift you can give to yourself, in my opinion.

So, when it came to presents, of course books were part of that equation! While I didn't get only books(a couple of DVDs and a Funko figure were also included), the ones that were given to me were like having special guests arrive to make this party a bit more entertaining , so please let me to introduce them properly here:

LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE: This celebrated novel from renowned author Celeste Ng is set in the suburban enclave of Shaker Heights, where artist Mia Warren and her teenage daughter Pearl
move into and find themselves caught up in the doings of their well off landlords,the Richardson family.

When matriarch  Elena Richardson decides to interfere with a local controversy involving an adoption, Mia finds herself not only on the opposite side of the issue but in danger of a secret from her own past being exposed by Elena. Knowing a few things about what goes on in the Richardson household gives Mia some leverage yet this is a fight that doesn't make anyone a winner in the end.

This is one of those books that I've been meaning to get to for sometime and now is the right moment for such a great read to be on hand. Since it'll be awhile before I can check out the limited series Hulu adaptation(which sounds excellent), it'll be great to have this first impression made on paper:

GODS OF JADE AND SHADOW: Silvia Moreno-Garcia sets her spell binding story in Mexico during the 1920s where small town girl Cassiopea goes off to the big city not as an adventure of her own accord but as the bound companion of a death god.

She has accidentally released Hun-Kame',aka the Supreme Lord of Xibaba, due to a minor act of rebellion against her controlling grandfather, and now has no choice but to aid him in his quest to retake his seat of power in the underworld.

The mystical bond between them leaves them both vulnerable to death, an advantage that the twin brother of Hun-Kame' wishes to exploit, using Cassiopea's obnoxious cousin Martin as his unwilling servant. Can this blend of magic and family ties let those among the living to take back their freedom from their immortal manipulators or will all involved be doomed to perish?

Moreno-Garcia has a wonderful knack for making literary magic with both human and enchanted characters, bringing each to vivid life on every page. She also has a new novel entitled Mexican Gothic coming out this June(which I've been reading via Netgalley) and if you haven't tried any of her books yet, what are you waiting for, seriously?:

THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE: If there ever was a time for a fresh new tales of dragons and intrigue, this is surely it and Samantha Shannon is certainly stepping up to the plate here!

Her massive saga begins in a world where dragons are either revered or feared depending on where you live. The priory of the title is run by women mages who do not believe that the line of sacred queens in the realm of Berethnet is the only source of protection from the threat they all dread called The Nameless One.

Instead, they seek one who can draw from a different fount of elemental power and that may be Tane, a young dragon rider who lives in a country that bans sea travelers to enter it's waters.

Nonetheless, she takes a risk that unexpectedly connects her to Queen Sabran IX, who has the throne of Berethnet and yet needs to be protected from the truth about her position in the royal bloodline of power. I don't know if this book is intended to start a new series or simply be a solid tale in it's own right but regardless, this certainly sounds like a amazing ride worth taking:

CHOSEN: I thoroughly enjoyed Kiersten White's revival of the Buffyverse(aka Buffy the Vampire Slayer) last year with Slayer and it was hard to wait for the next installment!

To recap, this series is set in a post-Buffy reality where Nina, the daughter of Watchers, has been tapped as the last of the Slayer line. Her twin sister Artemis was expected to be given the mantle but fate had something else in mind.

Now, with Artemis out on her own, Nina is doing her best to keep what's left of the demons no longer connected to magic and humanity from tearing each other apart. It's a struggle for both sisters yet things would be easier if the remaining forces of darkness weren't determined to make their claim on what little magical power is left on the table. so to speak.

White is a real Buffy fan who knows how to write this story in a way that blends the previous mythos with original content , plus a sense of fun. I not only look forward to reading this book , there is news that her take on a Mary Shelley classic(The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein) may soon become a TV series,yes! That should be engagingly awesome to say the least!:

To make this bookish birthday complete, I watched the latest version of Emma, starring Anya Taylor-Joy as the formidable Miss Woodhouse.  All in all, I would say that this is a good take on the story, with Taylor-Joy being well cast here.

Visually, this is a gorgeous film and I did enjoy Mr. Woodhouse's increasing use of fireplace screens(a lot like a pillow fort!) and found that bit to be a smartly conceived running joke. Bill Nighy made for a solid Mr. Woodhouse while  Johnny Flynn as Mr. Knightley did well there although he felt more like Emma's contemporary rather than much older than Emma as originally written.

I also adore Tanya Reynolds as the awful Mrs. Elton(who we didn't get enough of, if you ask me!) and Mia Goth was a very credible Harriet Smith. My only off note was a pivotal scene between Emma and Mr. Knightley(slight spoiler) where she gets a nosebleed after he tells her his true feelings. Apparently, the directer Autumn de Wilde went with this because she's prone to nosebleeds during stressful moments but it just really pull me out of the whole scene there.

Regardless, I did like the movie and hopefully when the world situation gets a whole lot better, we can have more new takes on Jane Austen. In the meanwhile, this one was a charmer and Taylor-Joy was definitely born to be an Austen heroine. Her performance was a wonderful delight to behold that added some extra pleasure to my birthday party indeed: