Seven Recently-Arrived Titles from the Gardening Section:
Posts Tagged ‘nature’
This Just In: Gardening
Thursday, February 28th, 2013Gift Ideas: Animals, Nature & Gardening, Travel & Living Abroad
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012
Let us be your personal shoppers!
ABC’s booksellers don’t just sell books: as well as being voracious readers, almost all ABC staff members are personally responsible for buying the books for one or more sections in the stores. That means you’ll always find someone who can put exactly the right book in your hands when you need it. We asked our buyers for their tips for the best gifts for the upcoming holiday season, and they came up with some great ones: new books, classic books, magazines, games, merchandise, and stationery.
Today you’ll find gift ideas for Animals, Nature & Gardening and Travel & Living Abroad as supplied by Klaartje, Ester and Tom.
Event Report: Labour of Love Book Signing
Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
Nature calling: a book signing report by Labour of Love author Hannah de Groot
Was it the tropical plants, hanging from the ceiling, draped between the books? Was it the live cello music – Bach’s notes - that filled up the complete store? Or maybe it was the delicious raw finger food and beautiful saffron tea…
It’s hard to say what was the reason so many lovely people came to the booksigning of Labour of Love: Portrait of a Botanic Garden on Saturday, the 25th of August. But that day in the American Book Center came very close to the magical atmosphere of the VU Hortus, the botanical gardens of the VU University Amsterdam.
Making the book Labour of Love, photographer Elsbeth Tijssen and I wanted to bring the botanic gardens to life with stories and pictures. Not with scientific language and dry annotations, but with picturing the magical quietness of plants, with stories that show the concentrated love of people for nature. It was our goal to let the book be as the gardens: time stands still and you become immersed in what you see and read, creating the ideal circumstances to just fall in love with the gardens.
Isn’t it wonderful that what we wanted for our book also happened the 25th of August in the American Book Center, during the 2 hour book signing? Labour of Love brought people together, smiling, enjoying the multisensory event: wonderful raw finger food, beautiful saffron tea served by saffron trader Çaglar Özer, music played by cellist Christina Kellenberger, surrounded by VU Hortus people, answering any questions about plants and gardens. Was it the magic of the plants? I don’t know. May be it was just nature calling.
ABC’s Femke Wijdekop and Rick Lightstone: thank you, it was amazing.
Read the Book Before You See…
Thursday, April 5th, 2012…these movies in April. Part One.
… Bel Ami. We actually start April with an American adaptation of Guy De Maupassant’s novel of the same title. Directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerond, it stars Robert Pattinson, Urma Thurma and Christina Ricci among others.
Georges Duroy is a chronicle journalist in the late 19th century-Paris, who rises from a poor good for nothing to a high position of power through his many sexual liaisons.
… The Lorax. Based on Dr. Seuss’s book of the same title, it’s a 3D computer animated film directed by Chrys Renaud and Kyle Balda, and starring the voices of Danny DeVito and Zac Efron among others.
Ted is a 12 year-old boy who lives in a totally artificial city. He wants to impress the girl of his dreams finding a way to let her see a real tree, and to do that he has to get in touch with the Once-ler, who will tell him about trees, but also the story of The Lorax, a grumpy endangered creature.
… Wuthering Heights. Based on Emily Brontë’s novel, it’s directed by Andrea Arnold and stars Kaya Scodelario and James Howson.
The story, centered in the Yorkshire moors, tells us about the passionate and all-consuming love between Catherine Earnshaw and and Heathcliff, and how utterly doomed that love was, and how much their unresolved passion ends up destroying them and those around them.
… Headhunters. Based on Jo Nesbø’s novel of the same title (aren’t we getting a lot of those lately?), it’s a Norwegian film directed by Mortem Tyldum and starring Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund and Nicolaj Coster-Waldau. At the theaters spoken in Norwegian with Dutch subtitles.
Roger Brown is successful in his career as headhunter, in his marriage and how he lives. But money is short and to keep paying for his life style, he steals art work on the side. When he decides to try for a grand strike, he finds out he’s been put in a very difficult position indeed…
… The Deep Blue Sea. Written and directed by Terence Davies, it’s based on Terence Rattigan’s play and stars Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale.
Having chosen a passionate love instead of her husband, a woman is betrayed by her lover and suddenly sees herself utterly alone in the world. How can she survive this? How can she rebuild her life, when everything she knew before is gone?
… We Bought a Zoo. Directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson and Thomas Haden Church, this is based on Benjamin Mee’s actual story.
After the loss of his wife, a father moves his young family to the countryside to renovate and re-open a struggling zoo.
Read The Book Before You See…
Thursday, March 1st, 2012…these movies in March:
…Albert Nobbs, directed by Rodrigo Garcia and starring the magnificent Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson. Based on the novella Albert Nobbs by George Moore.
Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th century Ireland, where women aren’t encouraged to be independent. Posing as a man, so she can work as a butler in Dublin’s most posh hotel, Albert meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living.
…Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, directed by Stephen Daldry and starring Tom Hanks, Thomas Horn, and Sandra Bullock. Based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s second novel.
A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
…John Carter, directed by Andrew Stanton and starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins and Willem Dafoe. Based on the book A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Transplanted to Mars, a Civil War vet discovers a lush planet inhabited by 12-foot tall barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter a princess who is in desperate need of a savior.
…A Dangerous Method, directed by David Cronenberg and starring Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender. Based on the book A Most Dangerous Method by John Kerr.
A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.
…Big Miracle, directed by Ken Kwapis and starring John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore and John Pingayak. Based on the novel originally called Freeing the Whales, but retitled Big Miracle by Tom Rose.
In small-town Alaska, a news reporter recruits his ex-girlfriend – a Greenpeace volunteer – on a campaign to save a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.
…The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross and starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. Based on the excellent The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, a true staff and customer favorite! I don’t think I’m understating anything when I say this is one hotly anticipated movie!
Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place for the latest match.
…The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, directed by John Madden and starring Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith. Based on the novel These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach (now republished as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel).
British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than its advertisements, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways.
Bonus:
…The Mill and the Cross, directed by Lech Majewski and starring Rutger Hauer, Charlotte Rampling and Michael York. Based on the book The Mill and the Cross: Peter Brueghel’s ‘Way to Cavalry’ by Michael Francis Gibson, which is currently out of print (but available through our supplier of second-hand books).
…The Grey, directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney and Frank Grillo. Based on the short story “The Ghost Walkers” by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, which appears to only be available as an e-book. Sorry folks, can’t help you there (yet)!
…Black Gold, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Tahar Rahim, Mark Strong and Antonion Banderas. Based on the novel Arab by Hans Ruesch, which is also currently out of print (but available through our supplier of second-hand books).