Hello everyone!! I have an odd mix of books to review today! But I guess I always do.

Let’s start with The Enchanted Greenhouse.

This book was the very perfect book to read to kick off the end of spooky season! It is about Terlu, the librarian who was turned to wood for making a sentient plant – Caz, if you read The Spellshop. She winds up in an Enchanted Greenhouse, brought there by the letters to the capitol from the shy, slightly grumpy gardener, who is all alone on this island, other than his greenhouse. Which is gigantic, and in need of help, hence his pleas to the capitol for said help. He gets Terlu. This book is so cozy and charming, with lots of homemade soup and bread and honey cakes, eaten in a snug little house surrounded by snow, and lots of plants. I wanted to move there as well! It just made me feel happy and warm, just reading it!

You guys, I was so excited to read this one that when it came in, I dropped everything else like a hot potato. And I absolutely devoured it! However, I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to. I loved the first half, I loved the characters and the setting but then, I disliked the final ending. Erin Craig let me down! It felt rushed and hurried, and well, sort of dumb. I feel like she had so much wrapped up in this story but then when it came time to wrap it up, she lost her way, which was a bummer because it was awesome until then. Sigh.

And finally, Goblin Mode. I picked this up randomly when we went to the library to grab A Land so Wide, and I am glad that I did. I needed a pick-me-up after that one, and this was just such a fun, silly read. I loved it. And I learned that me and my friend Kelly are goblins. Who knew? It is sort of about embracing who you are, being the person who is a bit quirky and out there, who might like weird nature items and collect lots of acorns and leaves and stuff them in their pockets on walks, or fill their houses with little collections of items, or have lots of hobbies. There is also a bit about what your Goblin companion is, and I learned that Billy’s is a frog, and mine is a turtle. It was just a little easy happy read, and I really enjoyed it! It was just a silly little fun book.

So two books I really loved, and one that was ok. Not too bad!

Today’s Prompt:  Modern Books You Think Will Be Classics In The Future (submitted by Veros @ Dark Shelf of Wonders)

I am uncertain at how far back in year I am allowed to go; like what would still be considered modern? Some of these are from early 2000, does that count? I am going to have a limit of 25 years ish. Lol.

I had fun with this one!

Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers :”Becky Chambers’ series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?” This book is such a peaceful, gentle read.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy: “The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.” This book also was very depressing and I thought it about for a long time afterwards.

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley: “Angeline Boulley takes us back to Sugar Island in this high-stakes thriller about the power of discovering your stolen history.” A very moving thriller, and one that made me wish I could do more to right wrongs.

Chlorine by Jade Song: “Chlorine is a debut novel that blurs the line between a literary coming-of-age narrative and a dark unsettling horror tale, told from an adult perspective on the trials and tribulations of growing up in a society that puts pressure on young women and their bodies… a powerful, relevant novel of immigration, sapphic longing, and fierce, defiant becoming.” Phew this book is one of my favorites this year. It is a tough read sometimes but has so much to say, and is a powerhouse of a book.

City of Thieves by David Benioff: “By turns insightful and funny, thrilling and terrifying, the New York Times bestseller City of Thieves is a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men.” This is another one that is a difficult read in terms of subject matter, but another that has stayed with me. It is one of my all time favorite books.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: “Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality”

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian: “A story of loss, adventure, and the search for friendship in the wake of catastrophe, Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is one of Chris Bohjalian’s finest novels to date—breathtaking, wise, and utterly transporting.”

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel: “An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days following civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.” I found this whole concept fascinating. I should really reread it.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie: “Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, based on the author’s own experiences and coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character’s art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.”

Virgil Wander by Leif Enger: “With intelligent humor and captivating whimsy, Leif Enger conjures a remarkable portrait of a region and its residents, who, for reasons of choice or circumstance, never made it out of their defunct industrial district. Carried aloft by quotidian pleasures including movies, fishing, necking in parked cars, playing baseball and falling in love, Virgil Wander is a swift, full journey into the heart and heartache of an often overlooked American Upper Midwest by a “formidably gifted” (Chicago Tribune) master storyteller.” Another book that is an all time favorite of mine.

Have you read any of these? What do you think?

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and as we move closer to Halloween, spookier) movies for the fall season.

Our last and final movie we watched is The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, starring Kunal Nayyar, Lucy Hale, Christina Hendricks, and Deputy Dewey – I mean, David Arquette.

So this movie is based on a book, about a grumpy bookseller who lives on an island that is very hard to get to. His wife has recently passed away, and his grief is enormous, swallowing him up like every drink, every bottle of wine he consumes, every night. His life is looking pretty bleak and miserable, honestly, and then one day, it changes. And with that one thing, everything changes, and not just for A.J. Fikry, this grump of a bookseller, but for a whole orbit of people who are in his life.

A few things happen, actually. First his prize possession, his very rare copy of Tamerlane by Edgar Allan Poe is stolen. Secondly, he finds a small two year old girl abandoned in his bookstore, with a note saying that she is being left for the owner of the bookstore, in general but not specifically, that would be A.J. Something about this child, Maya, pulls A.J. together. He adopts her, and raises her, and from here, life happens.

This is a movie about second chances, about living after things go south, finding happiness when perhaps you have given up on that ever happening. It is about love and life and all the small moments that make life what it is. The everyday moments. The moments in the quiet spaces, and of course, the much larger moments as well. It moves like a river through time, or waves upon the beach, each one giving us a new glimpse into these lives, their emotions, their struggles and their triumphs. The beauty that life can offer, and how no matter what, books are there for us. Words. Books. Stories.

Stories. We all have them. Good, bad, ugly. And we are along for the ride for the stories of these people of Alice Island. There is happiness and sadness, knowing when a chapter ends, and when to start a new one.

I think the actors in this did a fantastic job. Kunal Nayyar, from the Big Bang Theory, was so far from his character on that show and was so believable as A.J. Lucy Hale, from Pretty Little Liars did a great job playing a grown up, since the last time I saw her was in Pretty Little Liars as one of the liars and in a terrible relationship that grossed me out the entire series – anyway, she was the sunshine to Nayarr’s grumpy. David Arquette was amazing – I always picture him as Deputy Dewey from Scream, and he also played a police officer in this movie, however Lambiase, his character was so much more than Dewey. He was sincere, compassionate, understanding, and not dopey. I loved that he formed his own book club. Christina Hendricks as Ismay was also perfectly cast – she played her role very well.

Overall, I found this movie to be heartwarming, heartbreaking, and poignant. Good times and bad, the small moments that form a life.

Of course, as a very visual person, I loved the setting and the look of this movie. The island, the bookstore itself, the cozy nooks in the bookstore aisles, the living quarters above the store, just all of it, the weather and the store reflecting all the passages of time.

I have not read the book yet that this movie is based on. I do have it in my collection of physical books, somewhere. One day I will get to it.

And this was it! The very last movie of Comfy Cozy Cinema!

Be sure to check out Lisa’s post on her blog, here.

I hope that whatever you do today, that you do something that makes you smile!