The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola

Today I am absolutely delighted to share my thoughts on the brand new novel from Anna Mazzola, The Book of Secrets, which is out tomorrow. @Anna_Mazz @orionbooks #books #thebookofsecrets #bookreview #bookstagram

I do love an Anna Mazzola book, and I am absolutely delighted to share my thoughts on her latest novel, The Book Of Secrets, which is out tomorrow. Look at it! Beautiful inside and out. My thanks to publisher Orion for indulging my reading habit and providing an early copy of the book for review. Here’s what it’s all about: Source; NetgalleyRelease Date: 21 March 2024Publisher: Orion Continue…

View On WordPress

On The Jukebox: "Trolls Band Together (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)"

Featuring the cast of "Trolls Band Together" and the return of *NSYNC.

[And yes, that means anyone tagged in this post who is not JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick or Joey Fatone is a member of the cast of "Trolls Band Together".]

Roberto Devereux - Oper Zürich 22.02.2023

ROBERTO DEVEREUX - OPER ZÜRICH 22.02.2023 #gaetanodonizetti #tudortrilogie #oper #elenamosuc #stephencostello #davidalden #enriquemazzola #rezension #musicwasmyfirstloveanditwillbemylast #operalover #vorstellungsbesprechung #kritik

Zum Abschluss der “Tudor-Trilogie” (die eigentlich gar keine Trilogie ist, aber gerne so bezeichnet wird) gibt es in Zürich aktuell “Roberto Devereux” zu sehen, Die Regie ist erneut von DAVID ALDEN, am Pult wie bereits bei den beiden vorhergehenden Produktionen steht ENRIQUE MAZZOLA… (more…) “”

View On WordPress

The Show Must Go On and it’s a Gertrude one. I love Gertrude. Yes, I know she did terrible things her assistants but it’s very nice to have an older woman character who is not just a fluffy dementia ridden non-entity

And I love the use of the Mechanical Turk. It’s a fantastic thing and perfect to be used in a horror story about manipulation (and if you like this story I’d highly recommend reading Anna Mazzola’s Clockwork Girl)

Elias so office manager - insisting everyone going to save the world keeps their receipts to claim expenses

And now - Jonmartin. Jon insisting that Martin stays behind. Very insistent. Does Jon know how much Martin matters to him yet? He’s very all-knowing when it comes to everyone else, is he self-knowing? Anyway. The reason Jon insists Martin stays behind is rubbish - he’s obviously not wanting Martin in danger.

And poor Martin, pissed off ‘sit around drinking tea until the world ends!’

Black Book Stack 📖

i was tagged by the lovely @therefugeofbooks 💚 there were so many i could've chosen so here is just a small selection:

Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

i'm tagging @dauen, @anxiousstudybuddy, @dooareyastudy and @learnelle, plus anyone else who wants to join in!

The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola  @Anna_Mazz @orionbooks

Dark, vivid, visceral and utterly compelling, I loved the story and adored the writing

Source: Review copyPublication: 21 March 2024 from OrionPP: 384ISBN-13: 978-1398714304 My thanks to Orion for an advance copy for review Rome, 1659. Months after the plague has ravaged Rome, men are still dying in unnatural numbers, and rumour has it that their corpses do not decay as they should. The Papal authorities commission prosecutor Stefano Bracchi to investigate, telling him he will…

View On WordPress

"I really wish you had not seen that," Henry put down the blood covered knife that he'd been holding, straightening up to look at Beth. There was no easy explanation for what Beth was seeing, nor would Henry pretend that there was. There were only so many reasons a knife could be drenched in blood, after all, and it was not hunting season. "I do not suppose you are willing to look the other way?"

A Bleak Spiral || Accepting

To everything, a season, the Jesus Book says. Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse one. At least if she remembers it correctly. It was also the chorus of a really lovely Byrds song. The fact that he took away the weapon so that it was no longer the threat it had been moments ago when she'd popped into the Red Pony with a book in hand for him ~The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola~ of all things but really? Just an excuse for Beth to pay him a call. She seems to enjoy doing that more and more the longer she lives in Durant county. It isn't currently hunting season that she's aware of, and maybe might have made her glad. Beth understands some people needing to supplementing their food with wild game. Back home there were legal hunts to keep native and invasive species from eating the islands out of house and home, but there were also limits, understood practices to maintain sustainability that have never been a Haole strong suit. To Beth, it's a worse horror to kill an animal for sport, bragging about one's prowess than it might be to depopulate an overcrowded and overburdened world one person at a time. She continues to look at him though, wide eyes unblinking within her drawn, slender face. She has to make a decision; either she needs to realise she has to betray her friend and leave to call 911...or she has to help him try to recover from what can only be a regrettable mistake. Slowly, she picks her way toward the bar counter. Puts the book down after carefully making sure she hasn't stepped in or on anything. "Seems t' me dat...you need me t' grab some supplies for you. I have hospital grade ~t'irty-five percent~ hydrogen peroxide. Haemoglobin in blood seeks out an' attaches itself t' oxygen an' feeds until it gluts itself. if an' wen police stay investigatin'? Luminol no bid wi' haemoglobin cause it already full. If dat make sense." Her brows are furrowed and she certainly doesn't have the same shine in her face as when she'd walked in. "You don' have to tell me but...dis some kine tribal beef, or..." She's implying a white person. She can't believe Henry would do something like this to Walt. To anyone really. Her voice is all winter rust. "Tell me it was self defense."

Anna Goryachova was born in Leningrad (Saint-Petersburg). In 2008 she graduated with distinction from the Vocals Faculty of the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatory (class of Tamara Novichenko and subsequently class of Galina Kiseleva). From 2009 to 2011 she trained under Renata Scotto and Anna Vandi at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome) and also under Romualdo Savastano at the A.R.T. Musica academy (Rome). From 2008 to 2011 Anna was a soloist at the Mikhailovsky Theatre and the St Petersburg Chamber Opera. In 2010 she was nominated for Russia’s Golden Mask National Theatre Award for her performance of the role of Donna Elvira in the opera Don Giovanni staged by Yuri Alexandrov. In 2011 under the direction of Alberto Zedda she made her debut at the Vlaamse Opera (Flemish Opera) in Antwerp as the Marchesa Melibea (Il viaggio a Reims, Mariame Clément’s production). From 2012 to 2017 Anna was a soloist at the Opernhaus Zürich, where she performed the roles of Adalgisa (Bob Wilson’s production of Norma), Rosina (Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia), Polina (The Queen of Spades), Magdalena (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Eustazio (Handel’s Rinaldo), Zelim (Vivaldi’s La verità in cimento), Masha (Eötvös’ Three Sisters), Marchesa Melibea and so many others. She has collaborated with such conductors as Teodor Currentzis, Nello Santi, Fabio Luisi, Alain Altinoglu, Enrique Mazzola, Riccardo Frizza, Ottavio Dantone, Stefano Montanari and Daniele Rustioni among others. Took part in the world premiere of Christian Jost’s opera Rote Laterne (2015). In 2012 Anna sang the role of Alcina (Orlando paladino) at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and made her debut at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro (Italy) as Edoardo (Matilde di Shabran) staged by Mario Martone and conducted by Michele Mariotti. In 2020 at the Grand Théâtre de Genève she sang the roles of Angelina (La Cenerentola) and Sesto (La clemenza di Tito, staged by Milo Rau) in addition to making her debut at the Vienna State Opera in the role of Olga (Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production of Eugene Onegin); in Vienna she subsequently performed the roles of Angelina and Carmen. In 2022 as Angelina she made her debut at the Mariinsky Theatre (St.Petersburg). In the 2020–21 season Anna received Valencia’s “Best Mezzo-Soprano of the Season” award for the role of Angelina in La Cenerentola, staged by Laurent Pelly at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía. We all know that this has been a pretty tough time for the socio-political environment, which affected also the arts in a considerable way, and it was so beautiful to see you and your Ukrainian colleague hugging each other during the standing ovation. What do you think about this matter, about the way theaters, but also the society, took actions towards the Russian artists? Honestly, during these 3 months I have never found any change of attitude from my colleagues, nor from the theaters. The political conflict should not affect the cultural environment. Indeed, you all seemed such an united team on stage and behind it! Was it your first Carmen in the amazing production of Calixto Bieito, which such a passionate stage parter as Vittorio Grigòlo, for his debut at Don José? There was such an amazing energy coming from the stage towards us, in the audience! Thank you so much, I already sung in this production in Madrid in 2017. It’s a very intense staging. And I was very much touched to see the standing ovations in Wiener Staatsoper every evening. I never met Vittorio before and we really enjoyed playing and singing together. It was a perfect artistic match, I think! I adore Vittorio! He is not only an incredibly talented artist, but he is also a very nice person offstage. And his role debut was sensational! reposted from https://opera-charm.com/

Milano: torna LOVE MI, il concerto tutto italiano ideato da Fedez a scopo benefico

Milano: torna LOVE MI, il concerto tutto italiano ideato da Fedez a scopo benefico.  Martedì 27 giugno, a partire dalle ore 19:00, Italia 1 trasmetterà in diretta da Piazza Duomo a Milano LOVE MI, la seconda edizione del grande festival musicale ideato da Fedez con tantissimi artisti che si esibiranno a scopo benefico in favore dell’Associazione Andrea Tudisco OdV. La serata evento sarà condotta da Mariasole Pollio e Max Angioni. 30 cantanti si esibiranno nel corso della serata: Achille Lauro, Andrea Damante, Angelina Mango, ANNA, Annalisa, Articolo 31/J-Ax, AVA, Bresh, Caneda, Capo Plaza, Clara, Francesca Michielin, Fred De Palma, gIANMARIA, Il Pagante, La Sad, Lazza, Luigi Strangis, Mara Sattei, Massimo Pericolo, Matteo Paolillo, MILES, Rondodasosa, Seryo, Speranza, Tananai, Tedua, Tony Effe e VillaBanks. Non mancheranno, inoltre, tante guest star a sorpresa. Gabriele Vagnato dalle 18:00 condurrà la diretta in onda in esclusiva solo su Mediaset Infinity e poi sarà l’inviato speciale dietro le quinte e tra il pubblico. Il live sarà, inoltre, trasmesso in simulcast su Radio 105 con la conduzione di Annie Mazzola e Alessandro Sansone. I fondi raccolti grazie al numero solidale 45596 (attivo fino al 2 luglio) saranno donati dalla Fondazione Fedez all’Associazione Andrea Tudisco OdV che, da 26 anni opera con l’obiettivo di garantire il diritto alla salute dei bambini. La regia è affidata a Roberto Cenci.... #notizie #news #breakingnews #cronaca #politica #eventi #sport #moda Read the full article

Hello everyone! It’s that time again where I catch you up on my giant #currentlyreading📚 pile! I’m still reading War and Peace as a buddy read, Babel with the lovely Janel @keeperofpages Our Missing Hearts, Agnes Grey, Drums Of Autumn, Quite Ugly One Morning, Medea and Other Plays, A Hero Of Our Time, The Almanac 2023 and A Year Of Birdsong with Mr B (not pictured) New books 📚 The Regulators by #richardbachman with the #keeperofkingbookclub The Storied Life Of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin The Kill by Emile Zola with lots of lovely bookstagrammers Two On A Tower by Thomas Hardy in my quest to read all of his novels! Re-reading the nonfiction Stiff by Mary Roach 😍 On my Kindle The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola as part of #hfbookclub Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson with #bitcrackbookclub Listening to Not That Bad: Dispatches From Rape Culture - Roxane Gay (editor) That makes 18!! 😂 I’d love to know your thoughts on my little stack of adventures. Let’s have a chat in the comments! #bookstagramuk #scottishbookstagrammer #topplingbookpile #insatiablebookworm #readingaddiction📚 #neverstopreading📚 #multibookreader #multibookreading #morebooksplease📚 #myreadingadventures https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp0gqLWLLSb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

TÍTULO: Retrato de Anna Eleonora Sanvitale

AUTOR: Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli

FECHA: 1562

TÉCNICA: Óleo sobre lienzo

DIMENSIONES: cm 121,5 x 92,2

ORIGEN: Sala Baganza, colección Sanvitale; Colección Farnesio; ya en Nápoles y Caserta; en la Galería desde 1943

INVENTARIO: GN 1471

GÉNERO: Pintura

MUSEO: Galería Nacional

SECCIÓN DE EXPOSICIÓN: Del Renacimiento al Ala Norte Superior Barroca

Después de pasar de la colección Sanvitale a la Sala Baganza en la colección de Barbara Sanseverino en Parma, el lienzo se encuentra entre las obras confiscadas (1612) por los Farnesio a los Sanseverino.

Información e imagen de la web del Conjunto monumental de la Pilotta, Parma.

The #Bookvent Calendar 2023: Day Six

My day six #bookvent selection is a gothic beauty, one steeped in mystery, a historical tale that uses Europe's dark history to frame a story of obsession and control. @Anna_Mazz @OrionBooks #books

#Bookvent – Celebrating my top reads of 2023 My day six #bookvent selection is from one of the few authors I will make a trip into the past for. A truly beautiful gothic tale, this book drew me in from the very beginning, framing the story in one of the darkest times in Europe’s past. With a protagonist who is trying hard to find their place in a world that is becoming increasingly hostile, it…

View On WordPress

79. The Unseeing, by Anna Mazzola

Owned?: No, library Page count: 351 My summary: London, 1837. A woman named Hannah Gale has been murdered, horribly dismembered, and scattered about the town. Sarah Gale, a young woman known to the victim, has been sentenced to hang for her role in the crime, but is she actually guilty? Lawyer Edmund Fleetwood is determined that she is not, and to save Sarah’s fate from the gallows. My rating: 3/5 My commentary:

I probably shouldn’t have read this so soon after the last one, because it seemed to me to be very similar - an almost-Victorian setting, a dark tone, a middle/upperclass man trying to save a working class woman with criminality in her past. This one was a little disappointing to me overall, and yet I feel I must note that I did stay up too late to finish it, such did it draw me in. It’s gripping, I’ll say that much for it!

Let’s start with Sarah, whose POV we get for a few chapters showing her in prison. I felt like this was a bit of a misstep - the fact is, Sarah knows what happened, so to preserve the mystery she has to dance around it, even in her own internal monologue. I feel this would be a lot easier if Edmund was the POV character the whole time, so we only see Sarah from the outside. As is, I didn’t find Sarah to be that compelling a character. She’s sympathetic, yes, but she’s pretty one-note - she doesn’t want to die, she wants to be with her son, she doesn’t want the truth about the murder to get out. That’s all there is to her. I think it’d be far more effective if we weren’t in her head, as these are the only things she’s allowed to think about, really.

Then there’s Edmund. Ah, repressed Victorian lawyerman, you’re kind of my type when it comes to fictional characters. Still, there wasn’t a lot to distinguish him from the generic - and I hated the whole ‘he falls in love with Sarah’ angle. Guy can’t be against the death penalty unless HURR BURR PURTY GIRL I guess.

However, I found the mystery here to be sort of underwhelming? When the reveal of what actually happened hits, not only did I guess it earlier, but it’s simple and obvious and not really all that interesting. And when it wasn’t kind of boring, it was filled with convenient coincidence. Granted, this story is based on a real murder - Hannah and Sarah were real, though the conclusions this book comes to are fictitious. Maybe that’s the key, maybe the author was trying harder to be accurate than engaging. I don’t know. I wasn’t into it, but it did make a fun read, I must concede.

July 23.18 // I haven't been buying as many books as I used to. First I wanted to try and get through my TBR (which I have successfully been able to do), second, I downloaded Audible. Which allowed me to try out books I wasn't sure about before buying them. To save me both time and money. But! When I saw that @annamazzolawriter had a new release up for pre-order, I knew I had to order it immediately. Today, it arrived! This is the first piece of book mail I have received in nearly two months and I am so excited to get started! Congrats on your new release Anna! I'm sure this will end up being a favourite of mine 👏 (insta)

Winding Up the Week #104

Winding Up the Week #104

An end of week recap

This is a weekly post in which I summarize books read, reviewed and currently on my TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming features, see what’s on the nightstand and keep readers abreast of various book-related happenings.

PAUSE FOR A POD >>

* Lie Back and Listen *

Here I recommend engaging podcasts and other digital recordings…

View On WordPress

If you were into “Alias Grace” by Margaret Atwood, you’ll love this novel. Set in the 1800s, a woman faces death for being an accessory to a crime that she claims to have known nothing about. What follows next illustrates how the justice system was corrupt back then, how certain elements of it will always be corrupt if we keep this standard of justice seeking & how it affected women & children of the time. It was a really engaging read & I ended up nearly filling the rest of my review journal (50 pages or so) of just notes on this novel for a review for next week.