A Tale of Two Cities

Beach Read

Invalid date •English

A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

How I Taught Myself to Be a Child

March 2019 •German

Paul Silberstein, youngest son of an urbane but deeply strange old Austrian dynasty of confectionery millionaires, discovers the power of love and humor - and also his own extraordinary ability to shape his realities. Based on the motives of the short story with the same name by André Heller.

The Manxman

January 1929 •English

A fisherman and a rising lawyer who grew up together as brothers fall in love with the same woman.

The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin

March 1967 •English

To restore his family's lost wealth, a young Boston lad stows away on a ship bound for the California Gold Rush. When their very proper butler gives chase, all roads lead to nonstop adventure, wild and woolly characters, and a lucky punch that leads to a bonanza of belly laughs!

Daisy Kenyon

December 1947 •English

Daisy Kenyon is a Manhattan commercial artist having an affair with an arrogant and overbearing but successful lawyer and family man named Dan O'Mara. Daisy meets a single man, a war veteran named Peter Lapham, and after a brief and hesitant courtship decides to marry him, although she is still in love with Dan.

Never Die Alone

March 2004 •English

A drug kingpin's return home touches off a turf war.

The Road

November 2009 •English

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.

Yield to the Night

June 1956 •English

Locked in her cell, a murderer reflects on the events that have led her to death row.

The Handmaid's Tale

February 1990 •English

In a dystopian, polluted right-wing religious tyranny, a young woman is put in sexual slavery on account of her now rare fertility.

Diner Noir Istanbul

March 2015 •French

A nature-hating aesthete, Jean des Esseintes attempts to furnish and decorate a country home where he will be able to live without ever again having to deal with the outside world.

Mothers' Instinct

January 2024 •English

Housewives Alice and Celine are best friends and neighbours who seem to have it all. However, when a tragic accident shatters the harmony of their lives, guilt, suspicion and paranoia begin to unravel their sisterly bond.

Night Is Short, Walk On Girl

April 2017 •Japanese

As a group of university students go out for a night on the town, a sophomore known only as "The Girl with Black Hair" experiences a series of surreal encounters with the local nightlife – all the while unaware of the romantic longings of "Senpai", a senior student who has been creating increasingly fantastic and contrived reasons to run into her in an effort to win her heart.

Mary

August 1964 •Czech

Spy Story

January 1976 •English

A nuclear war specialist returns from a mission gathering data on Soviet communications and electronic warfare techniques in the Arctic Ocean to find that his flat has been broken into and mysteriously re-decorated.

Equator

August 1983 •French

Although based on a novel by Georges Simenon, director (and songwriter) Serge Gainsbourg has superimposed several dark emotions and a subtle brutality over the weak plot about a man's trip to Africa and his unfortunate passion for a murderess whose amorality sends the disillusioned fellow back to Europe. Sometimes described as frustrating and self-centered, reactions to this film swing across a broad spectrum of complaints -- not the least might be whether or not Gainsbourg is using a clichéd and stereotypical view of "dark Africa" to convey what he sees in his characters.

Sanctuary

February 2001 •English

A famous photographer, Jo Ellen Hathaway, has been being stalked for quite some time. She returns to the island she grew up on in an effort to get away from the stalker and get some well-needed relaxation time. On the island, she meets up with old friends and boyfriends and works on relationships with her family. However, she can't shake the feeling that she's still being watched.

Let the Sunshine In

September 2017 •French

Isabelle, Parisian artist, divorced mother, is looking for love, true love, at last.

Dick Turpin

December 1974 •Spanish

Uncontrolled Love 2

August 2016 •Chinese

Both Xie Yan and Shu Nian are still unable to deal with their feelings for each other, but Xie Yan realizes that Shu Nian is the one for him, but Shu Nian continues to hide from Xie Yan. Shu Nian is later fired by Xie Yan's father. Devastated that his father has sent Shu Nian away, Xie Yan's relationship with his father sours, particularly since the older Xie already knew about the relationship between Xie Yan and Shu Nian.

Beaches

January 2017 •English

Follows the serendipitous meeting of two young girls on the Venice Boardwalk, who, though worlds apart in lifestyle, embark on unexpected and lifelong friendship. CC is an aspiring singer trying to make it in Los Angeles. Hillary is the daughter of a prominent civil rights lawyer who struggles to find her own destiny. Their friendship—even with its ups and downs—sustains them for decades.