It's Monday! What are you reading, watching and/or listening to?

I have had the strangest experience in reading this week..........I am reading and loving this book....

Amazon states: "
Adriana Trigiani, the New York Times bestselling author of the blockbuster epic The Shoemaker's Wife, returns with her biggest and boldest novel yet, a hypnotic tale based on a true story and filled with her signature elements: family ties, artistry, romance, and adventure. Born in the golden age of Hollywood, All the Stars in the Heavens captures the luster, drama, power, and secrets that could only thrive in the studio system—viewed through the lives of an unforgettable cast of players creating magic on the screen and behind the scenes.
In this spectacular saga as radiant, thrilling, and beguiling as Hollywood itself, Adriana Trigiani takes us back to Tinsel Town's golden age—an era as brutal as it was resplendent—and into the complex and glamorous world of a young actress hungry for fame and success. With meticulous, beautiful detail, Trigiani paints a rich, historical landscape of 1930s Los Angeles, where European and American artisans flocked to pursue the ultimate dream: to tell stories on the silver screen.
The movie business is booming in 1935 when twenty-one-year-old Loretta Young meets thirty-four-year-old Clark Gable on the set of The Call of the Wild. Though he's already married, Gable falls for the stunning and vivacious young actress instantly.
Far from the glittering lights of Hollywood, Sister Alda Ducci has been forced to leave her convent and begin a new journey that leads her to Loretta. Becoming Miss Young's secretary, the innocent and pious young Alda must navigate the wild terrain of Hollywood with fierce determination and a moral code that derives from her Italian roots. Over the course of decades, she and Loretta encounter scandal and adventure, choose love and passion, and forge an enduring bond of love and loyalty that will be put to the test when they eventually face the greatest obstacle of their lives.
Anchored by Trigiani's masterful storytelling that takes you on a worldwide ride of adventure from Hollywood to the shores of southern Italy, this mesmerizing epic is, at its heart, a luminous tale of the most cherished ties that bind. Brimming with larger-than-life characters both real and fictional—including stars Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, David Niven, Hattie McDaniel and more—it is it is the unforgettable story of one of cinema's greatest love affairs during the golden age of American movie making."

I am entranced with the story of Loretta Young and Clark Gable.  Now grant you, I was aware of these 2 but not in conjunction with each other and I paid little attention to either as it was before my time.  Although this novel is fiction or so she says, I can't stop thinking about these 2 and I have been researching on You Tube on both of them.  I cannot get them off of my mind.....it is so weird and I am so sad about their loves and losses.  I think I am getting overly sentimental in my old age but I have never ever had a book affect me like this and I'm not even half way finished with it!  Have you ever had a book that you couldn't get out of your mind, or it's characters?  I have never considered myself a romantic either but this book and their real lives have brought tears to my eyes. 
As for my non-fiction (which I have basically ignored because of my one track mind when it comes to Adriana's book), I have just started this one..........

The book you hold in your hands is the distillate of a quarter century’s teaching. It is my attempt to answer, ‘What next?’ for students who are embarking on their ‘second act.’”
—Julia Cameron
Amazon states:
"Julia Cameron has inspired millions with her bestseller on creativity, The Artist’s Way. In It’s Never Too Late To Begin Again, she turns her eye to a segment of the population that, ironically, while they have more time to be creative, are often reluctant or intimidated by the creative process. Cameron shows readers that retirement can, in fact, be the most rich, fulfilling, and creative time of their lives. When someone retires, the new found freedom can be quite exciting, but also daunting. The life that someone had has changed, and the life to come is yet to be defined. In this book, Cameron shows readers how cultivating their creative selves can help them navigate this new terrain. She tells the inspiring stories of retirees who discovered new artistic pursuits and passions that more than filled their days—they nurtured their souls. 
This twelve-week course aimed at defining—and creating—the life you want to have as you redefine and re-create yourself, this book includes simple tools that will guide and inspire you to make the most of this time in your life:
-  Memoir writing offers an opportunity to reflect on and honor past experience. This book guides you through the daunting task of writing an entire memoir, breaking it down into manageable pieces.
-  Morning Pages—private, stream-of-consciousness writing done daily—allow you to express wishes, fears, delights, resentments, and joys, which in turn, provide focus and clarity for the day at hand.
-  Artist Dates encourage fun and spontaneity.
-  Solo Walks quell anxiety and clear the mind.
This fun, gentle, step-by-step process will help you explore your creative dreams, wishes, and desires...and help you quickly find that it’s never too late to begin again."

I read her Artist's Way and The Artist's Way at Work years ago and loved them.  In fact, her daily pages were what started me journaling and I have been doing it for over 20 years now.  She calls it the 2nd act but at my age I think I may be on my 3rd and final! LOL!  I'll let you know what I think after I've read it.

I'm reading my Vintage Christmas magazine...an article a night as I want to savor it......

  I just read an article on those little glittery Putz houses that originated in Germany.....I have always loved them and would like to make my own.....in my next life! LOL!  Until I found this book on Amazon.........ummm.....maybe I could do it in this life after all.........

In my Bible reading I am now on Chapter 4 - Numbers........moving right along......although the difference between God in the Old Testament and God in the New Testament is like night and day!
Whoa Nellie!
I have listened to Daily Hope pretty regularly and his latest 4 podcasts I really enjoyed.  Crochet Cupcake from Puerto Rico is still not online and I am so sad about all the islands that are not getting the help they need.  I pray for them daily.
As for watching other programs.......I watched the 1935 episode of Call of the Wild with Loretta Young and Clark Gable...it was free on You Tube.....I couldn't help myself....I told you, I am obsessed with these 2 and then also Carol Lombard which is another whole story!  Has anyone else read Adriana's book and has it had this affect on you?  I think I'm a bit nutty but then you know how I love real life compared to fiction.
I also have been watching Father Brown mysteries on Netflix, I caught up with Cranford on Brit Box and last night I started watching Miss Marple on Brit Box.  I've watched a new podcast called The Knit Show and you can get free patterns on their website/blog The Knit Show.  That's all for this week...I think.
Oh!  I ordered my Halloween book from Thrift Books...it's this one..........

 Amazon states:
"Stranded in a gloomy medieval fortress, an orphaned heroine battles the devious schemes of her guardians as well as her own pensive visions and melancholy fancies. Generations of readers have thrilled to The Mysteries of Udolpho, one of the most popular of the early Gothic novels, and considered a landmark in the realm of psychological fiction.
Set in 1584, the tale unfolds amid the secret chambers of a chateau in southern France and a castle in the remote Apennines, populated by pirates, brigands, ghosts, and specters. Emily St. Aubert, imprisoned by her rapacious guardian Count Montoni and his sadistic wife, struggles to reconcile her father’s teachings of reserve and moderation with her own reckless passions. Emily’s attempts to control her emotions and resolve her suspicions and self-doubts offer a haunting and hypnotic pre-Freudian exploration of the psyche.
Sir Walter Scott proclaimed author Ann Radcliffe “the first poetess of romantic fiction,” and this thriller became a bestseller upon its 1794 publication. The novel exercised a powerful influence on the Marquis de Sade, Edgar Allan Poe, and other mystery writers. It achieved further renown with a satirical treatment in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, in which an impressionable young character is profoundly affected by the dungeons and crypts of Castle Udolpho and their scenes of bloodshed, mayhem, and terror. The Mysteries of Udolpho continues to enchant modern readers with the fairy-tale elements of its suspenseful plot and its dreamlike, surrealistic portrayals of human consciousness."

It's an old book but it must be good to have been around this long.  I just hope it doesn't scare me too much!  It sounds like it has everything in it so that is my Halloween story for this year.  Do you have any favorite Halloween books you enjoy or have enjoyed?
So, that's all for now and I hope you are enjoying whatever you are reading, watching and/or listening to and share it here with the rest of us, please.
Happy Trails!!!