NZ Book Council, RIP Russell Baker, American Gods season 2, The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley, and No Time Like the Past and What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Jodi Taylor

I think this is sad, but it is something that is happening in more countries than New Zealand. I believe we need more men to step up and get men and boys to read more often, and to read a different variety of books.

N.Z. Book Council Study: Why Are Kiwi Men Reading Less?

"Are you, or do you know a bloke who doesn't like to read?

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39547403"

Noting that "our research last year showed that Kiwi men are reading

less," the New Zealand Book Council is recruiting "a group of 12 men

from a range of backgrounds, occupations and ages. You must be a

reluctant or 'low-volume' reader who is happy to help provide insights

into how to get more boys and men to read.

"We expect to hold 3-5 meetings in a pub in Wellington throughout 2019.

You'll be helping us in our mission to grow a nation of readers, and

making a big difference to the future of New Zealand!"

RIP to a wonderful author and columnist.

Obituary Note: Russell Baker

 

Russell Baker

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39573298,

the Pulitzer Prize-winning author "whose whimsical, irreverent

'Observer' column appeared in the New York Times and hundreds of other

newspapers for 36 years and turned a backwoods-born Virginian into one

of America's most celebrated writers," died January 21. He was 93. The

Times noted that Baker, "along with the syndicated columnist Art

Buchwald (who died in 2007), was one of the best-known newspaper

humorists of his time."

His son, Allen Baker, said, "We couldn't have asked for a better father.

He was a tender and loving man to his family.... He was just a Regular

Joe with an extraordinary job."

After an early career that included stints as a police reporter, rewrite

man and London correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, then a Washington

correspondent for the Times, Baker became a columnist in 1962. He wrote

nearly 5,000 "Observer" commentaries, which "generated a devoted

following, critical acclaim and the 1979 Pulitzer for distinguished

commentary, ended with his retirement in 1998." He subsequently wrote

essays for the New York Review of Books, some of which were collected in

Looking Back.

Regarding his columns, he once told Nora Ephron: "Nobody knew what the

column was going to be. I didn't. The Times didn't."

Baker published 15 books, including many column collections: No Cause

for Panic (1964), Baker's Dozen (1964), All Things Considered (1965),

Poor Russell's Almanac (1972), So This Is Depravity (1980), and The

Rescue of Miss Yaskell and Other Pipe Dreams (1983). Baker's memoir

Growing Up (1982) earned his second Pulitzer, the 1983 prize for

biography. Baker also won two George Polk Awards, for commentary in 1978

and career achievement in 1998, and many other honors. In addition, he

edited the Norton Book of Light Verse (1986) and Russell Baker's Book of

American Humor (1993).

"To a generation of television watchers, he was also a familiar face as

the host of Masterpiece Theater on PBS from 1993 to 2004, having

succeeded Alistair Cooke," the Times noted.

In a tribute, Pulitzer Prize administrator Dana Canedy

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39573299

observed that Baker "was one of the first American writers to win

Pulitzer Prizes in both Journalism and Letters. He was a distinguished

member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, who served as its chairman in 1994,

and who delivered the keynote address at the Prizes's 75th Anniversary

Celebration in 1991. We join the rest of the country in recalling and

celebrating his life, characterized by wit, charm and erudition."

"The classiest and most talented

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39573300," Maureen

Dowd tweeted. "Once, when some male pols were giving me a hard time, he

wrote me a letter telling me not to get overwhelmed: 'Just remember,

these are all the same guys you went to high school with.' "

In his final "Observer" column, "A Few Words at the End

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39573301,"

Baker wrote: "Thanks to newspapers. I have made a four-hour visit to

Afghanistan, have seen the Taj Mahal by moonlight, breakfasted at dawn

on lamb and couscous while sitting by the marble pool of a Moorish

palace in Morocco and once picked up a persistent family of fleas in the

Balkans.... I could go on and on, and probably will somewhere sometime,

but the time for this enterprise is up. Thanks for listening for the

past three million words."

Such a stellar cast! 

TV: American Gods, Season 2

A new trailer has been released for the second season of American Gods

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39573323,

the Starz series based on Nail Gaiman's novel. Deadline reported that in

the new season, "the battle moves toward a crisis point, as the

destinies of gods and men collide. While Mr. World plots revenge for the

attack against him in the first season, Shadow throws in his lot with

Wednesday's attempt to convince the Old Gods of the case for full-out

war, with Laura and Mad Sweeney in tow."

The series stars Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Pablo

Schreiber, Crispin Glover, Orlando Jones, Yetide Badaki, Bruce Langley,

Mousa Kraish, Omid Abtahi and Demore Barnes. The eight-episode second

season, which is helmed by executive producer and showrunner Jesse

Alexander, replacing Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, premieres March 10.

The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley is the latest Flavia deLuce mystery novel. I've read all of these books, mainly because I enjoy following Flavia and her beloved bike Gladys on their adventures in 1950s small town England. The series reminds me of Father Brown and Grandchester and all those other PBS Masterpiece mysteries, only from a young, (teenage) bright woman's POV. Here's the blurb: A finger in a wedding cake is only the beginning in this deliciously shocking mystery featuring Flavia de Luce, “the world’s greatest adolescent British chemist/busybody/sleuth” (The Seattle Times).

Although it is autumn in the small English town of Bishop’s Lacey, the chapel is decked with exotic flowers. Yes, Flavia de Luce’s sister Ophelia is at last getting hitched, like a mule to a wagon. “A church is a wonderful place for a wedding,” muses Flavia, “surrounded as it is by the legions of the dead, whose listening bones bear silent witness to every promise made at the altar.” Flavia is not your normal twelve-year-old girl. An expert in the chemical nature of poisons, she has solved many mysteries, sharpening her considerable detection skills to the point where she had little choice but to turn professional. So Flavia and dependable Dogger, estate gardener and sounding board extraordinaire, set up shop at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, eager to serve—not so simple an endeavor with her odious little moon-faced cousin, Undine, constantly underfoot. But Flavia and Dogger persevere. Little does she know that their first case will be extremely close to home, beginning with an unwelcome discovery in Ophelia’s wedding cake: a human finger.

What struck me immediately about the 10th novel in this series is that Dogger, the faithful servant of the de Luce family, is now Flavia's partner in their private investigations business, and is much more a part of the book, using his various experiences in the war to help track down the murderer and solve the case. Although I adore Doggers character, I wasn't prepared for him to take over so much of the novel, and have Flavia take a backseat to him during the investigation. She seemed to be at a loss several times, more emotional and all at sea than she's ever been, and I missed her confident and daring nature. 

I was also surprised that the horrible little cousin Undine, who has none of Flavia's smarts or charm, is allowed to do whatever she wants and get in the way of the investigation, putting herself in danger and being snotty and vile and bratty. Shining a light on this loathsome little blot on the landscape seemed a waste of time and ink, to me, because I read the books for Flavia, not for the secondary characters. Also, Flavia is now 13 or 14, from what the text says, so she's growing up, which is great, but I get the feeling that the author wants Undine to take her place as the ingenue in this play, because she's younger than Flavia and that innocent/fresh youth, combined with a brilliant mind and chemistry skills are the bedrock of what makes the series different. Still, the prose is excellent and the plot putters along like clockwork. I'd have to give it a B, and recommend it to anyone else who has read this series and wants to see what direction Bradley's taking for Flavia's future.

No Time like the Past and What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Jodi Taylor are the 5th and 6th books in the St Mary's Chronicles series of time traveling adventures through history. I am reading the 7th book now, and I have the 8th and 9th books on my TBR stack, ready to go after I finish lucky number 7. While I enjoy the saucy take on history and the famed British wit, I find the misogyny and it's lesser creature sexism to be rather tedious, as they're wove throughout the novels. Here's the blurbs: Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don’t call it “time travel”—these historians “investigate major historical events in contemporary time.” And they aren’t your harmless eccentrics either; a more accurate description, as they ricochet around history, might be unintentional disaster-magnets.
The Chronicles of St. Mary’s tells the chaotic adventures of Madeleine Maxwell and her compatriots—Director Bairstow, Leon “Chief” Farrell, Mr. Markham, and many more—as they travel through time, saving St. Mary’s (too often by the very seat of their pants) and thwarting time-travelling terrorists, all the while leaving plenty of time for tea.

In No Time Like the Past, St. Mary’s has been rebuilt, and it’s nearly back to business as usual for the history department. Except for the visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral with a seventeenth-century ghost that only Mr. Markham can see. And getting trapped in the Great Fire of London. And an unfortunately-timed vacation at Thermopylae that leaves the fate of the western world hanging in the balance.
Actually, that sounds quite like business as usual for Max and the gang. In What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Max is back, with a new husband, a new job, and a training regime that cannot fail . . . to go wrong. Take one interim chief training officer, add five recruits, and mix with Joan of Arc, a baby mammoth, a duplicitous Father of History, a bombed rat, Stone Age hunters, a couple of passing policemen who should have better things to do, and Dick the Turd. Stir well, bring to a boil—and wait for the bang!

Taylor's prose is deliciously fun, a sort of cross between PG Wodehouse, Monty Python and Doctor Who with some Agatha Christie thrown in for good measure. The plots only slow about once per book, and then they pick up speed and carry on as if nothing had happened. But though Max the protagonist is a woman, there is still the miasma of sexism and stereotyping/cliches riddling the text. None of the women at St Mary's can exist without a relationship of some kind with a man, the main bad guy is a guy (though there is a woman who is his henchman who is as nasty as they come, but of course, Max kills her at least twice so far), the women cry and the men do stupid sexist things, make harassing comments and are generally loutish, and all of the women lack basic self esteem, while the men are all egotistical braggarts. Blech. All the same, I'd give these two titles a B-, and recommend them to anyone who has read the first 4 books and hasn't thrown them across the room in frustration. Feminism will eventually get to St Mary's, I'm certain of it! 

Gail Carriger Live in Seattle, Bookshops Around the World, Bookstore Cats, Women Warriors: An Unexpected History by Pamela Toler, RIP Mary Oliver, Gloria Steinem Movie, A Second Chance and A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor

I was able to go to the University of Washington Bookstore last night to see author Gail Carriger live, talking with the crowd of Seattle Steampunk afficionados and signing her books (I've read all but two of her novels). It was a wonderful evening, and Dwayne the book concierge who has been curating the Science Fiction and Fantasy section of the U Bookstore for at least 30 years, was there and remembered me, though I haven't been in the the store for at least 7 years. He was so kind and helped me, due to my disability, to be first in line so I didn't have to stand for hours and wait for my books to get signed, and then he held my books and my purse while he assisted me in getting down the stairs and into the parking lot to Nick's car. Miss Gail was a delight, and she loved the gifts I brought her, and she was resplendent in an Emerald green dress and gloves for her turn in the rainy Emerald City! I wish I had remembered to take photos, but I didn't. Still, it was a magical evening that I will remember forever. 

These are some bookstores that I have on my bucket list to visit!

Five Bookshops for Globetrotting Bibliophiles

Spanish writer, academic and literary critic Jorge Carrin, for

whom a bookshop is "the perfect place to understand the world," picked

"five bookshops that globetrotting bibliophiles

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39487516

should put on their bucket list" for ABC Arts' The Bookshelf.

"When you enter a bookshop you discover a kind of country--a little

world--and you can find different aspects of the history of the world,

and also of the present time," said Carrión, author of Bookshops:

A Reader's History. "I know the library is more democratic than the

bookshop, but the bookshop is part of the city. It is a private space

with a public service dimension to the community that is very

important."

Though I am allergic, I love bookstore kitty cats! They're so calm and soothing.

The 20 Most Instagrammable Bookstore Cats'

"There's something magical about stepping into a bookstore and finding a

cat lounging on a well-worn arm chair surrounded by rows and rows of

books. After all, cats make the coziest reading companions," Electric

Lit noted in showcasing the "20 most Instagrammable bookstore cats

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39516400."

I really want to read this book, it sounds fantastic. History has ignored or buried women's stories for far too long.

Review: Women Warriors: An Unexpected History

With Women Warriors: An Unexpected History, Pamela Toler (The Heroines

of Mercy Street: The Real Nurses of the Civil War) reveals a history

many readers will meet with surprise as well as fascination. By the end

of this brisk accounting of just some of the many women warriors Toler

found in her research, she makes it clear that while little known, this

phenomenon is neither new nor unusual.

Women Warriors is a broad examination that spans history from the second

millennium BCE through the present, and across Europe, Asia, Africa and

the Americas. Toler details dozens of examples, from the better-known

(Matilda of Tuscany, Njinga, Begum Sahib and, of course, Joan of Arc) to

the obscure (Ani Pachen, Mawiyya, Bouboulina), in two- or three-page

summaries. She notes primary sources in each case and questions "facts"

where appropriate (for example, numbers of troops are notoriously

dubious), often presenting a fact in the main body and then questioning

it in a footnote. Chapters organize women warriors into mothers,

daughters, queens, widows; besieged defenders and leaders of attacks;

women disguised as men and women undisguised.

Plentiful footnotes serve an important role, especially evidencing a

certain wry humor, as when Toler repeatedly and impatiently points out

the tendency to compliment women as behaving like men and to denigrate

men as behaving like women (a habit consistent throughout history and

common to women as well as men). Double standards are likewise

emphasized, as in the way historians and archeologists have examined

evidence. For example, the grave known as the "Birka man," from 834 CE,

had long been considered that of a male because of the martial burial

items found with him. In 2014, a bioarcheologist determined that the

bones were actually that of a female. Despite follow-up DNA testing,

scholars, archeologists and historians continue to argue about the

identification of the Birka woman. As Toler points out, the scholarly

contortions now employed to deny her status as warrior were never

mentioned while her skeleton was assumed to be that of a male.

With such copious content, Toler has been careful to keep her book a

manageable length: at just over 200 pages, Women Warriors is an easy

entry to an expansive topic. Toler found thousands of examples of women

warriors in her research--many more than are contained in these

pages--and argues that this proliferation deserves to be treated as more

than a series of freak anomalies. In conclusion, answering an earlier

historian's claim that women in warfare are "the most insignificant

exceptions," Toler sums up: "Exceptions within the context of their time

and place? Yes. Exceptions over the scope of human history? Not so much.

Insignificant? Hell, no!" --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at

pagesofjulia http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39516436

Sadly, we lost one of America's greatest poets this week. RIP to a wild and wonderful woman of words.

Obituary Note: Mary Oliver

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39518876, a

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet "whose work, with its plain language and

minute attention to the natural world, drew a wide following while

dividing critics," died on January 17, the New York Times reported. She

was 83. Oliver, a "phenomenon: a poet whose work sold strongly,"

published more than 20 books, including the Pulitzer-winning American

Primitive National Book Award winner New and Selected Poems.

"For her abiding communion with nature," Oliver was often compared to

Walt Whitman and Robert Frost, the Times noted, adding: "For her quiet,

measured observations, and for her fiercely private personal mien (she

gave many readings but few interviews, saying she wanted her work to

speak for itself), she was likened to Emily Dickinson." She "often

described her vocation as the observation of life."

Oliver's poetry collections include The River Styx, Ohio; House of

Light; The Leaf and the Cloud; Evidence; Blue Horses and Felicity. Among

her prose titles are Rules for the Dance, A Poetry Handbook and Long

Life: Essays and Other Writings.

 

From Oliver's poem "When Death Comes":

When it's over, I want to say: all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder

if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,

or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

I love Gloria Steinem, and I've read and enjoyed several of her books. I hope that this movie does her justice.

Movies: The Glorias: A Life on the Road

Timothy Hutton has joined the cast of Julie Taymor's The Glorias: A Life

on the Road

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39518911,

based on Gloria Steinem's memoir, My Life on the Road, Deadline

reported. He will play Leo Steinem, Gloria's father, alongside Julianne

Moore as Steinem and Alicia Vikander as the feminist icon at ages 20-40.

The cast also includes Bette Midler as Bella Abzug and Janelle Monae

stars as Dorothy Pitman Hughes.

The movie "follows her journey to becoming a crusader for equal rights

and her groundbreaking work as a journalist and campaigner," Deadline

wrote. Taymor wrote the script with playwright Sarah Ruhl. Principal

photography is underway in Savannah, Ga.

A Second Chance and A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor are the 3rd and 4th books of this delightful British time-travel adventure series that has a wonderful PG Wodehouse sense of humor woven throughout the text. The crew of St Mary's is full of unforgettable characters who are out to protect history and the sanctity of St Mary's itself. Here are the blurbs: The third book in the bestselling British madcap time-travelling series, served with a dash of wit that seems to be everyone’s cup of tea.

Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don’t call it “time travel”—these historians “investigate major historical events in contemporary time.” And they aren’t your harmless eccentrics either; a more accurate description, as they ricochet around history, might be unintentional disaster-magnets.

The Chronicles of St. Mary’s tells the chaotic adventures of Madeleine Maxwell and her compatriots—Director Bairstow, Leon “Chief” Farrell, Mr. Markham, and many more—as they travel through time, saving St. Mary’s (too often by the very seat of their pants) and thwarting time-travelling terrorists, all the while leaving plenty of time for tea.

In A Second Chance , it seems nothing can go right for Max and her fellow historians. The team confronts a mirror-stealing Isaac Newton and later witnesses how the ancient and bizarre cheese-rolling ceremony in Gloucester can result in CBC: Concussion By Cheese.

Finally, Max makes her long-awaited jump to Bronze Age Troy, only for it to end in personal catastrophe. And just when it seems things couldn’t get any worse, it’s back to the Cretaceous Period to confront an old enemy who has nothing to lose.

The fourth book in the bestselling British madcap time-travelling series, served with a dash of wit that seems to be everyone’s cup of tea.

Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don’t call it “time travel”—these historians “investigate major historical events in contemporary time.” And they aren’t your harmless eccentrics either; a more accurate description, as they ricochet around history, might be unintentional disaster-magnets.

The Chronicles of St. Mary’s tells the chaotic adventures of Madeleine Maxwell and her compatriots—Director Bairstow, Leon “Chief” Farrell, Mr. Markham, and many more—as they travel through time, saving St. Mary’s (too often by the very seat of their pants) and thwarting time-travelling terrorists, all the while leaving plenty of time for tea.

In A Trail Through Time , Max and Leon are reunited and looking forward to a peaceful lifetime together. Sadly, that doesn’t even last until lunchtime.

The action races from seventeenth-century London to Ancient Egypt and from Pompeii to fourteenth-century Southwark as the historians are pursued up and down the timeline, playing a perilous game of hide-and-seek before seeking refuge at St. Mary’s—where new dangers await them. Overwhelmed, outnumbered, and with the building crashing down around them, will this spell the end of St. Mary’s?

Much like the times that various Star Trek crews have time traveled (I'm looking at you, Voyager) the St Mary's crew consistently mess things up in whatever time they're sent to observe, and not get involved. Of course, like the temporal prime directive, they ignore this and not only get involved, but are always stupid enough to wade into the fight and save people who are supposed to die at that point in time, regardless of the consequences. The protagonist, Max, is struck by the lack of History doing a smack down on herself and others for messing with the time line, but even though the famed soothsayer Cassandra warns Max that her protection via the muse of history isn't always going to help her, she and her beloved Leon still save a young boy from dying at Troy and bring him forward in time to work at a bar/casino. And if that wasn't confusing enough, Max is brought to an alternate time line where she had died and Leon was having to learn to live without her (Leon died in her time line). And she has to confront Bitchface Barkley again, because she's alive in this time line and, as always, out to kill Max so that she can have Leon and St Mary's to herself. While I enjoy the historical perspectives and the humor and wit of these books (I'm reading book 5 now) I get more than a bit frustrated with Max constantly flouting the rules and ending up half dead in the infirmary at the end of every book. Then there's her comrades at St Mary's who die off or are severely injured, usually due to their trying to help Max get out of the terrible situations she's gotten herself into. Why anyone would follow her to some spot in history, knowing her dismal track record, is beyond me. But I gather it's all due to her being a plucky red head, which is one of those sexist stereotypes that linger on, despite being horrifically outdated and stupid. Still, I'd give both of these books a B+, and recommend them to those who like Doctor Who and British adventure stories in general. 

Books at the Golden Globes, Miranda Buys Drama Book Shop, Shadow and Bone on TV, A Forgotten Place by Charles Todd, Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor, Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix and a Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor

I have just not been in a place where I can blog recently. There have been multiple storms that have caused power outages, then Comcast had an outage for a couple of days, so there was no internet, and between that we had houseguests, parties and Crohn's flares to deal with, so I am late in getting this post up. Sorry!

I find it interesting that as time goes on, there are more and more books being adapted to the small screen and the large screen. There's not a lot wrong with that, however, I've also noticed, as a bibliophile, that there are more authors than ever who pander to the entertainment industry by writing books that read like nascent screenplays, and that is just wrong, in my opinion. A good story is a good story, regardless of the medium, but don't create a book with the sole purpose of selling the movie and TV rights. Readers want to have the option of seeing the work in the "theater of the mind" first.

Bookish Winners at the Golden Globes
Book-to-screen adaptations collected their share of hardware at last
night's Golden Globe Awards with eight of the 20 nominated productions garnering trophies. Golden Globe winners that started as books or have book connections included:

Movies
The Wife, based on the novel by Meg Wolitzer: Glenn Close (actress in a
motion picture, drama)
If Beale Street Could Talk, based on James Baldwin's novel: Regina King
(supporting actress in a motion picture)
First Man, based on the book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by
James R. Hansen: Original score, motion picture (Justin Hurwitz)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, based on the Marvel comics superhero:
Best motion picture, animated

TV
Sharp Objects, based on the novel by Gillian Flynn: Patricia Clarkson
(supporting actress in a series, limited series or TV movie)
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, based on
Maureen Orth's book Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace and
the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History: Best limited series or TV
movie; Darren Criss (actor in a limited series or TV movie)
A Very English Scandal, based on John Preston's book: Ben Whishaw
(supporting actor in a series, limited series or TV movie)
Killing Eve, based on Luke Jennings's Codename Villanelle novella
series: Sandra Oh (actress in a TV series, drama)

I love Lin-Manuel Miranda, and not just for changing the face of musical theater with his smash Broadway hit Hamilton, but also because he's a reader and a bright spot in the theater world, doing shows for charity and helping others realize their theater dreams. He's also currently playing Jack the lamplighter in Mary Poppins Returns, and he does an excellent job in the movie, singing and dancing and filling the screen with light and hope.So now he's bought the famed Drama Book Shop to keep it open so that other theater nerds will have a place where they can dream and foster their love of plays.

Lin-Manuel Miranda & Partners Buy NYC's Drama Book Shop

and three of his Hamilton collaborators have purchased New York City's

beloved Drama Book Shop which had

celebrated its 100th birthday last year but announced in the fall it

would close this month because of a large rent increase. The New York Times reported that

the new owners are Miranda, a longtime supporter of the bookshop; Thomas

Kail, director of Hamilton; Jeffrey Seller, lead producer; and James L.

Nederlander, president of the Nederlander Organization, which operates

the theater in which the show's Broadway production is running.

They bought the store from Rozanne Seelen, whose husband, the late

Arthur Seelen, had acquired it in 1958. She "sold it for the cost of the

remaining inventory, some rent support in the store's final weeks, and a

pledge to retain her as a consultant," the Times wrote.

Future bookseller Lin-Manuel Miranda

"It's the chronic problem--the rents were just too high, and I'm 84

years old--I just didn't have the drive to find a new space and make

another move," she said. "Lin-Manuel and Tommy are my white knights."

The rescue plan is a joint venture between the Hamilton team and the

city, which has pledged to find the store an affordable space in

Midtown. Julie Menin, the mayor's media and entertainment commissioner,

said, "The store is a gem and a cultural institution in New York, and we

want to make sure it's saved."

The Drama Book Shop will close its West 40th St. location on January 20,

and reopen at a new, as yet unnamed, location in the fall.

"When I was in high school I would go to the old location and sit on the

floor and read plays--I didn't have the money to buy them," Miranda

said. "After college Tommy Kail and I met in the Drama Book Shop

basement, and I wrote a good deal of In the Heights there.... They're

like family to us, and when we heard that the rent increase was finally

too precipitous to withstand, we began hatching a plan."

Kail, whose post-college theater venture, Back House Productions, was a

resident company at the store, commented: "I was in many senses

professionally born in that bookshop's basement--I spent the first five

years of my career there."

Seller's office, which is already running a Hamilton merchandise store

in Manhattan, "will oversee the day-to-day management," the Times noted,

adding that he said the bookshop will have a revamped website and

expanded programming, with a goal of breaking even, which in recent

years the store has done occasionally but not consistently.

Miranda already had a track record for being there when the shop needed

him <http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39434002>. In

2016, a pipe burst on the third floor of the building that houses the

Drama Book Shop, causing severe damage. Customers rallied to support the

store and Miranda, using the hashtag #BuyABook, tweeted about the

situation and encouraged his followers to purchase books, which they

did. He later appeared for a book signing at the store when Hamilton:

The Revolution was published.

After the news broke yesterday, Miranda tweeted: "The best part of this

morning has been all your @dramabookshop stories. We love this place so

much  Keep 'em coming."

I loved all of Bardugo's Grishaverse books, and I am really looking forward to a hopefully accurate rendering of the books on screen. Fingers crossed!

TV: Shadow and Bone

Netflix has greenlighted Shadow and Bone

an eight-episode series based on Leigh Bardugo's bestselling Grishaverse

novels Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows, Deadline reported. The project

is from Eric Heisserer, writer of Netflix's recent hit Bird Box, and

Shawn Levy, executive producer of Stranger Things.

Created, written and executive produced by Heisserer, who will also

serve as showrunner, Shadow and Bone brings together the stories and

characters of both novels. Deadline noted that more than 2.5 million

copies have been sold in English and that Bardugo's Grishaverse books

have been translated into 38 languages. A new installment, King of

Scars, will be released later this month.

A Forgotten Place by Charles Todd is the 10th Bess Crawford mystery by the mother/son duo that I've read. Bess is similar to Maisie Dobbs, in that she's a WW1 nurse who has a good head on her shoulders, and is brave enough to follow her instincts when it comes to solving a murder mystery. Here's the blurb:

Though the Great War has ended, Bess Crawford finds herself caught in deadly circumstances on a remote Welsh headland in this tenth entry from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author.
The fighting has ended, the Armistice signed, but the war has left wounds that are still agonizingly raw. Battlefield Nurse Bess Crawford has been assigned to a clinic for amputees, and the Welsh patients worry her. She does her best to help them, but it’s clear that they have nothing to go home to, in a valley where only the fit can work in the coal pits. When they are released, she fears that peace will do what war couldn’t—take their lives.
Their officer, Captain Williams, writes to describe their despair, and his own at trying to save his men. Bess feels compelled to look into their situation, but the Army and the clinic can do nothing. Requesting leave, she quietly travels to Wales, and that bleak coal mining village, but she is too late.
Captain Williams’ sister tells Bess he has left the valley. Bess is afraid he intends to kill himself. She follows him to an isolated, storm-battered peninsula—a harsh and forgotten place where secrets and death go hand in hand. Deserted by her frightened driver, Bess is stranded among strangers suspicious of outsiders. She quickly discovers these villagers are hiding something, and she’s learned too much to be allowed to leave. What’s more, no one in England knows where she is.
Why is there no Constable out here? And who is the mysterious Ellen? Captain Williams and his brother’s widow are her only allies, and Bess must take care not to put them at risk as she tries to find answers. But there is a murderer here who is driven to kill again and again. And the next person in his sights is Simon Brandon, searching for Bess and unaware of his danger. 

I knew who the murderer was about halfway through the book, but by that time I was fairly bored with the story, which was rife with redundancies. I also didn't like the Welsh people, most of whom seemed mean, cruel and greedy, if not outright thugs. Their clannish ignorance made Wales seem like the worst kind of backwater, the kind of place where you'd never want to visit because you couldn't be sure you'd make it out of your vacation alive. I doubt that this was the impression that the authors wanted readers to leave the book with, but that kind of sour note tainted my view of the book in the end. Though the prose was fairly mundane, the plot was sluggish. I'd give this volume a C, and only recommend it to the biggest Bess Crawford fans.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor is a YA fantasy novel that reads like Harry Potter swathed in African/Nigerian culture. Yes, it's that good. I was surprised at how elegantly the author wove African myths/legends into the fabric of the "magical school for witch kids" plot. Since I've not read that many African legends, this book provided me with a many new vistas on the subject, and kept me entertained in the hijinks and trouble that the kids get into while learning to channel and control their powers. Here's the blurb:
Affectionately dubbed "the Nigerian Harry Potter," Akata Witch weaves together a heart-pounding tale of magic, mystery, and finding one's place in the world.
Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she's albino. She's a terrific athlete, but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing—she is a "free agent" with latent magical power. Soon she's part of a quartet of magic students, studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But will it be enough to help them when they are asked to catch a career criminal who knows magic too? Publisher's Weekly: Okorafor (The Shadow Speaker) returns with another successful tale of African magic. Although 12-year-old Sunny is Nigerian, she was born in America, and her Nigerian classmates see her as an outsider. Worse, she's an albino, an obvious target for bullies and suspected of being a ghost or a witch. Things change, however, when she has a vision of impending nuclear war. Then her classmate Orlu and his friend Chichi turn out to be Leopard People—witches—and insist that she is, too. Soon Sunny discovers her spirit face ("It was her, but it felt as if it had its own separate identity, too. Her spirit face was the sun, all shiny gold and glowing with pointy rays"). Eventually, the three and an American boy named Sasha visit the dangerous, magical city of Leopard Knocks and learn from their mentors in witchcraft that they must destroy Black Hat Otokoto, a monstrous serial killer and powerful witch. Although a bit slow getting started, this tale is filled with marvels and is sure to appeal to teens whose interest in fantasy goes beyond dwarves and fairies.
I disagree with PW in that I didn't find the book slow to start at all, in fact, once I'd started reading it, I couldn't put it down, and read it all in one afternoon/evening. The prose was sparkling it was so high energy, and the plot fizzed along without a hitch. A well deserved A, and a recommendation to those who love stories of magical teenagers on a journey to find themselves and help one another and their community.

Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix was another YA fantasy, though this one was Victorian/steampunkish and full of a sort of Regency romance vibe that, along with the inevitable British dry wit had me laughing more often than not. That said, I wasn't a huge fan of the protagonist, who was a bit dumber than I like, and had the whole "feisty but beautiful and petite" romance heroine cliche all sewn up.
Here's the blurb:

Inspired by the works of Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, Garth Nix's Newt's Emerald is a Regency romance with a fantasy twist. New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger calls it "charming; quite, quite charming." 
After Lady Truthful's magical Newington Emerald is stolen from her she devises a simple plan: go to London to recover the missing jewel. She quickly learns, however, that a woman cannot wander the city streets alone without damaging her reputation, and she disguises herself as a mustache-wearing man. During Truthful's dangerous journey she discovers a crook, an unsuspecting ally, and an evil sorceress—but will she find the Emerald?

SPOILER, of course she finds the emerald, but there are many evil people that stand in her way to actually having the thing in hand. Though in the end I didn't hate this novel, I felt there was just too much cutesy Jane Austen tropes to really make it shine on its own. I'd give it a B-, and recommend it to those who enjoy Austen spoofs and magical romance/mysteries.

A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor is the second book in the Chronicles of St Mary's, a comedic British science fiction/steampunk series that is begging to become a BBC TV show ala Doctor Who. I swore that after all the misogyny of the first book in the series that I wasn't going to read any more of them, but I found myself drawn to this irresistible novel like a moth to flame. The writing zings with funny bon mots and references to history and SF/F cultural landmarks, and the plots move so fast you might as well be in the TARDIS, or one of St Mary's "pods" flinging yourself around in time and space instantaneously. They're un-put-downable, and I read the second book in a day. Here's the blurb: The second book in the bestselling British madcap time-travelling series, served with a dash of wit that seems to be everyone’s cup of tea. 
Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don’t call it “time travel”—these historians “investigate major historical events in contemporary time.” And they aren’t your harmless eccentrics either; a more accurate description, as they ricochet around history, might be unintentional disaster-magnets.

The Chronicles of St. Mary’s tells the chaotic adventures of Madeleine Maxwell and her compatriots—Director Bairstow, Leon “Chief” Farrell, Mr. Markham, and many more—as they travel through time, saving St. Mary’s (too often by the very seat of their pants) and thwarting time-travelling terrorists, all the while leaving plenty of time for tea.
In the sequel to Just One Damned Thing After Another , Max and company visit Victorian London in search of Jack the Ripper, witness the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, and discover that dodos make a grockling noise when eating cucumber sandwiches. But they must also confront an enemy intent on destroying St. Mary’s—an enemy willing, if necessary, to destroy history itself to do it.
Once again our heroine Max manages to mess up every situation she's in, but she has help from her hapless contemporaries and the stalwart staff of St Mary's, which includes the goddess of history in disguise. I often questioned why Max and her friends were so intent on putting themselves in harms way, when, as educated adults they obviously should have known better, but apparently historians have a stupid need to actually see serial killers up close (such as Jack the Ripper) and the risk of dying is well worth it to view this abomination. Turns out, SPOILER, that the Ripper is actually some kind of alien bacterial entity who infects/invades its host and then goes on a killing spree.Taylor has no problem describing every gruesome moment of horror, either, which makes me wonder about her mental health.  I would give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who read the first book, with the warning that these books are addictive in the same way that chocolate or potato chips are addictive...you can't stop at reading just one.

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