Book Blogger Hop: Books into Movies

It's been ages since I've participated in the Book Blogger Hop, the blogosphere's biggest and brightest BOOK   PARTY!  The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly event for bloggers and readers, an opportunity to connect with other book lovers, make new friends and followers, and share a genuine appreciation of books. Hosted by Jennifer from  Crazy-for-Books, this Hop runs from August 31 - Sept 6.  During the Hop, we're usually asked a question pertaining to books. This week's question is: What is the one book or series you are dying to see turned into a movie or TV series?

That's a tough question!  Some of the books I've read and reviewed within the past few years have been made into movies, such as Shanghai Girls by bestselling author Lisa See, and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (now in production or pre-production, I think).  As I read I often imagine the book turned into a movie or TV series. It's hard to choose just one, so I will bend the rules a tad and choose a few books I've read recently that I think would make great movies, and one book series that I believe would be quite entertaining as a TV series.

The Iguana Tree by Michel Stone, The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli, and Dancing with Gravity by Anene Tressler would make remarkable movies.  I read (and reviewed) them recently and they're still quite fresh in my mind; I can definitely picture them as movies.  Another book that comes to mind is Creating an Orange Utopia by Patricia Ortlieb and Peter Economy.  This would make a wonderful historical movie.  As I've mentioned before, I can see Meryl Streep playing the lead, pioneer Eliza Tibbets, and even directing the film.  As for a TV series, I would love to see the four-book series, The Adventures of John and Julia Evans by Linda Weaver Clarke, made into a mini-series for TV.  Her cozy mysteries are exciting, and would translate into an engaging TV series.

Thanks for visiting!  If you'd like to enter my giveaway for The Color of Tea,  please do so by September 3.  If you'd like me to "hop by" your blog,  please leave me a comment.

Celebrating Labor Day

James Salter, Patricia Bosworth, David Corbett, Susan Dunlap, Edna O'Brien, Peter Blauner, and Luis Rodriguez. How did these well-known authors make ends meet before they became successful? Open Road Integrated Media sent me this short video in time for Labor Day.

Wishing all of my readers a safe and relaxing weekend!  Hopefully, there will be time to read, write, and reflect.

Mailbox Monday: A Confessional

More books! I need to try to stop, or at least to reduce my addiction to, getting books in the mail. This meme does not help me resist those neat packages. ;)

Here are the latest additions to my collection of books (maybe I am becoming a bibliophile!). 

I won As Always, Jack by Emma Sweeney on Anna's blog, Diary of an Eccentric, and This Bright River by Patrick Somerville, on Leslie's blog, Under My Apple Tree.  I received The Siren of Paris by David LeRoy and The Forgetting Tree by Tatjana Soli for upcoming book tours, and I ordered You Being Beautiful by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz, MD from Amazon, because I'm a fan of Dr. Oz.
 

Mailbox Monday, one of my favorite memes, is almost a confessional for book bloggers, a way to assuage our guilt.  Currently on tour, Mailbox Monday is hosted this month by 5 Minutes For Books. What books arrived in your mailbox recently, or from elsewhere? 

The Color of Tea: Review and Giveaway

"A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water."
~Eleanor Roosevelt

The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe is a novel about Grace Miller, who yearns for a child and opens up a French café in Macau, China, where she and her husband, Peter, live. The couple desperately wants to have a baby, and their marriage suffers tremendously as a result of their inability to have child. Grace also longs for her mother, with whom she shared an odd yet intense relationship.  Not-so-slowly and surely, Grace immerses herself in her work at the café, and creates a new life for herself, although she still yearns for a child.  As she bakes macarons and brews tea, she builds her business and makes some wonderful new friends at her café, Lillian's.

I completely adored this novel, which conjures up exotic locales, flavors, and foods, such as, of course, the macarons featured so prominently in the book (pictured on the book cover, above, and to the left, photo courtesy of Wikipedia). Il est délicieux!  The author writes beautifully about food--I could almost taste the fabulously flavored macarons.  Grace's new friends, especially Rilla, Gigi, and Marjory, are offbeat, resilient, and always interesting. They bond over coffee, tea, and macarons, and support each other in numerous ways, small and large, as good friends do.

Most importantly, The Color of Tea  is about following your dreams--following your bliss--even when you're not quite sure how to accomplish your goals. This is a lovely and tantalizing debut novel with inspiring messages about the value of friendship and about bringing your dreams to life.  The Color of Tea is an emotionally satisfying read with a great deal of appeal for women of all ages. It would be the perfect novel for a women's book club, as long as tea and macarons were served at meetings.

If this book also sounds like your cup of tea (sorry, couldn't resist!), then you're in luck.  Originally published in 2011 in Australia as The Colour of Tea, this book is now published in America by Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.. Scribner is generously offering a copy of The Color of Tea to one of my readers (U.S./Canada only). 

• To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment. 
• For another chance at winning, become a follower of this blog, or let me know that you're already a follower, or that you subscribe in Google Reader.
• For an additional chance, post about this contest on your blog, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter.

Enter by 5PM PDT on Monday, September 3.  One lucky winner will be randomly selected and announced on Tuesday, September 4.  Good luck!


Special thanks to Lisa from TLC for sending me this book.  For more reviews, please visit the other stops on TLC's The Color of Tea book blog tour.