Samuel French Closes Bricks and Mortar Store, The Inner Lives of Book Clubs, His Dark Materials series comes to TV, New Co-Editors at NYRB, I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O' Farrell, Meet Me At the Museum by Anne Youngson, and When A Scot Ties The Knot by Tessa Dare

I remember when we'd get our scripts for plays and musicals, when I was in high school, from Samuel French. They always had the same gold/yellow covers and by the time you finished rehearsals, they were always tattered and marked up on the inside with highlighers and red pens. Though I've never been to the actual bookshop, I think its a shame that it is closing down in favor of having an online-only store. Recently, the famed Seattle Weekly newspaper has decided to do the same. 

Samuel French Closing Hollywood Bookshop

  

The Samuel French  Film & Theatre

Bookshop in Hollywood, Calif., will close effective March 31

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39872145.

Broadway World reported that the company's "extensive collection of

iconic acting edition play scripts and musical libretti will continue to

be available online through the Samuel French website" as well as at

Samuel French's bookshop in London's Royal Court Theatre, which

celebrates its first anniversary next month.

Citing a significant decline in sales for over the past decade, BWW

observed that more than 80% of Samuel French's retail sales are now made

online.

"Although the community loves the store and its exceptional staff, most

people are choosing to buy their books from e-retailers these days,"

said company president Nathan Collins. "It is an unfortunate situation,

in which many other bookshops find themselves. However, the good news is

that Samuel French continues to serve the world online with an

unparalleled range of shows to license and scripts to purchase. This is

supported by our expert staff in New York, London, and L.A. and their

outstanding service to our customers."

Samuel French will be donating scripts and other materials from the

closure to local libraries, theaters and educational institutions.

"It's one small way for us to give back to the community," Collins

added. "The bookstore has been a beloved landmark for decades and we are

extremely grateful to our dedicated staff and loyal customers who have

run and supported it for so many years."

I am the leader/host of a long-running book club that meets once a month at my local branch of the King County Library System (KCLS), so I totally agree with this report. We aren't allowed to have alcohol at the library, and we do, indeed, spend a majority of the hour that we have talking about the book that we've all read. Sometimes we talk about the book for next month, or how our life experiences dovetail with that of the characters in the book, but for the most part we do stay on track with our discussions.

BookBrowse Report: 'The Inner Lives of Book Clubs

Book club meeting at Island Books, Mercer Island, Wash.

The stereotype that book clubs are "primarily social groups who use

books as a pretext to get together for a gossip and a glass of wine" is

"far from the reality," according to a new BookBrowse report called "The

Inner Lives of Book Clubs." In fact, the vast majority of book

clubs--84% of private book clubs and 90% of public ones--spend at least

40 minutes of each meeting discussing a book, and most "designate a

facilitator to keep the conversation on track."

Based on more than 5,500 responses, the report also found that book club

members are happier with the book club the longer the club discusses the

book. For example, in groups that discuss the book for 75 minutes or

more, some 81% of respondents described themselves as "very happy" with

the group. By contrast, in groups where book discussions are 20 minutes

or less, only 55% of respondents are "very happy."

Socializing has its place: "71% of those in private book clubs and 43%

of those in public groups feel that a social element is very important,"

the report found. Many respondents observed that friendships often grow

out of "open debate and sharing of perspectives."

Another stereotype is that book clubs "mainly consist of women reading

'women's' or literary fiction," but nearly half (48%) of public book

groups have male participants. While 88% of private book clubs are all

women, many would be happy to include men, the report found.

Some 70% of book groups do read fiction most of the time, but the books

"straddle multiple genres, including nonfiction." Moreover, the longer a

group runs, "the broader their reading tends to be."

While book club members almost unanimously (98%) said respect for each

other's opinions is very important, a majority of respondent (71%)

indicated that it's very important that their group's book choices

challenge them as a reader and 55% said they're drawn to books that are

"a bit controversial."

Problems that lead members to leave book clubs or cause book clubs to

disband include "overly dominant participants, poor attendance, book

selection, group size, and managing meetings."

Overall, the vast majority of book club members describe their group as

"a vital and fun aspect of their life. Book clubbers enjoy a sense of

community and, often, personal friendships within their group; but,

above all else, they value intellectual challenge and growth."

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing the television version of Pullman's His Dark Materials series, which I read and enjoyed years ago. 

TV: His Dark Materials

A teaser trailer has been released for the big-budget His Dark Materials

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39872186,

adapted from Philip Pullman's epic fantasy trilogy: Northern Lights, The

Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Deadline reported that the BBC

partnered with HBO on the Bad Wolf and New Line Cinema-produced series,

featuring Dafne Keen, James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

"We wanted fans to have a tiny glimpse of His Dark Materials," said exec

producer Jane Tranter. "As with Lyra, there are many more worlds to

discover as we start upon this epic journey."

I will be anxious to see how these co-editors turn things around for the New York Review of Books, after the scandal. 

Co-Editors Named at NYRB

Emily Greenhouse and Gabriel Winslow-Yost have been named co-editors

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39898094

of the New York Review of Books, which has been without a top editor

since the sudden departure of Ian Buruma last September

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39898095 "amid an

uproar over the publication and ensuing defense of an essay about the

#MeToo movement," the New York Times reported. In making the

announcement, NYRB publisher Rea Hederman also said that longtime

contributor Daniel Mendelsohn will assume the newly created role of

editor at large.

Greenhouse, who was most recently managing editor of the New Yorker,

worked at the Review in 2011 and 2012 as an editorial assistant to

Robert Silvers, who co-founded the publication in 1963 with Barbara

Epstein and died in 2017.

Winslow-Yost began working at the Review, also as an editorial assistant

to Silvers, in 2009, rising to the position of senior editor.

Greenhouse and Winslow-Yost told the Times they believe that their

longtime friendship, and most importantly the time they spent working

together for Silvers, will help them share power.

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell is the March book chosen by my Tuesday Night Book Group at the local library for discussion. It is the second book of O'Farrell's that I've read, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox being the first. This book is comprised of 17 chapters wherein the author describes times when she nearly died. While the subject matter is grim, O'Farrell uses her excellent command of language to paint gorgeous pictures of places and people whom she's loved and encountered while she was recovering, or prior to, her various dates with death. Here's the blurb: On seventeen occasions, Maggie O’Farrell has stared death in the face—and lived to tell the tale. In this astonishing memoir, she shares the near-death experiences that have punctuated and defined her life: The childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, which she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. An encounter with a disturbed man on a remote path. And, most terrifying of all, an ongoing, daily struggle to protect her daughter from a condition that leaves her unimaginably vulnerable to life’s myriad dangers. Here, O’Farrell stitches together these discrete encounters to tell the story of her entire life. In taut prose that vibrates with electricity and restrained emotion, she captures the perils running just beneath the surface, and illuminates the preciousness, beauty, and mysteries of life itself.

I found myself becoming annoyed at Maggie's continued disregard for her own safety, when it is apparent that she is accident prone at best and unlucky at worst. She seems to almost have a death wish, but once she becomes a mother, seems determined to save her fragile daughter from the ravages of an extreme form of eczema that makes her skin crack and bleed. Yet it seems bizarre to me that Maggie would even have a third child, considering that she nearly died of miscarriages and after having her first child was told she could not and should not have more children. My frustration with her death wish got to be a bit much by the end of the book, yet I still felt that the luminous prose made it worth reading. I'd give this medical memoir a B, and recommend it to all those who survived accidents and assaults when no one thought that they would.

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson is a delightful epistolary novel about an older farm wife who begins a correspondence with a museum curator in Denmark. They get to know one another and compare their very different lives over the months and years, and eventually seem to develop a true affection for one another. This book reminded me of Helene Hanff's 84 Charring Cross Road, which was such a beautiful compilation of the letters Hanff wrote to a bookseller in England during WWII. Tina and Anders are much less passionate than the protagonists of Charring Cross Road, however, mainly because the two are hard working introverts who tend to see the beauty in details of the natural world. Here's the blurb:

In Denmark, Professor Anders Larsen, an urbane man of facts, has lost his wife and his hopes for the future. On an isolated English farm, Tina Hopgood is trapped in a life she doesn’t remember choosing. Both believe their love stories are over.
Brought together by a shared fascination with the Tollund Man, subject of Seamus Heaney’s famous poem, they begin writing letters to one another. And from their vastly different worlds, they find they have more in common than they could have imagined. As they open up to one another about their lives, an unexpected friendship blooms. But then Tina’s letters stop coming, and Anders is thrown into despair. How far are they willing to go to write a new story for themselves?

I loved reading the letters Anders wrote to Tina, right up until the end, when, SPOILER ALERT, we never learn if Tina actually gets on a plane or train and fulfills her dream of seeing Anders and Tollund Man! We are left with Tina's heartbreak after her creep of a husband cheats on her with the one woman in town she despises most, and she moves out, only to get a final letter from Anders imploring her, once again, to come to him in Denmark. Ugh. I hate it when authors leave the ending of a book up in the air like that! It is not at all fair to the reader. So what was a book that deserved an A now is demoted to a B, and recommended only to those who don't mind lousy nebulous endings.

When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare is a witty romance novel that, while full of the romance novel tropes and cliches that I normally despise, was still a sporran full of fun. The dialog was zingy, the characters full bodied and realistic, and the plot moved along like a beach breeze on a June day. Here's the blurb:

On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shy, pretty, and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: she invented a sweetheart.
A Scottish sweetheart. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter . . . and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely. Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep—handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. He's wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters . . . and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep.

Maddie and Mac are a match made in the scruffy part of heaven, and their journey to love and partnership is a real delight to read. Even the inevitable sex scenes were dealt with in a manner that wasn't too melodramatic or grotesquely sexist. Hence, I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone looking for an absorbing beach read or a distracting read on an airplane or while at the doctor's office. 

RIP Betty Ballantine and Rosamund Pilcher, Holy Envy; Finding God in the Faith of Others by Barbara Brown Taylor, Devil in the White City Comes to TV, Dear Committee Members by Julia Schumacher, The Sisters Mederos by Patrice Sarath and City of Broken Magic by Mirah Bolender

I used to have a ton of Ballantine science fiction and fantasy paperbacks, because they were cheap and often had fantastic colorful cover art. RIP Ms Ballantine. Rosamund Pilcher was a great author, whose work my mother and I shared reading and chatting about for years. She will be missed.

Obituary Note: Betty Ballantine

Betty Ballantine

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39778830, who with her

late husband, Ian Ballantine, "helped invent the modern paperback and

vastly expand the market for science fiction and other genres through

such blockbusters as The Hobbit and Fahrenheit 451," died on Tuesday,

the AP reported. She was 99.

In their early 20s, the Ballantines began their publishing career by

establishing the U.S. division of Penguin Books, introducing quality

paperbacks to the U.S. In 1945, they founded Bantam Books, then part of

Grosset & Dunlap. Seven years later, they set up their own publishing

house, Ballantine Books. Both legendary imprints are now owned by

Penguin Random House.

As the AP recounted, "Charging as little as a quarter, [the Ballantines]

published everything from reprints of Mark Twain novels to paperbacks of

contemporary bestsellers. They helped established the paperback market

for science fiction, Westerns and other genres, releasing original works

and reprints by J.R.R. Tolkien, Arthur C. Clarke and H.P. Lovecraft,

among others. They made their books available in drugstores, railroad

stations and other non-traditional outlets. They issued some paperbacks

simultaneously with the hardcover, instead of waiting several months or

longer."

Betty Ballantine edited Shirley MacLaine's Out on a Limb and wrote a

fantasy novel, The Secret Oceans, published in 1994. The Ballantines

were voted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2008.

Obituary Note: Rosamunde Pilcher

British novelist Rosamunde Pilcher

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39719964,

author of "the sweeping, bestselling family saga The Shell Seekers,"

died February 6, the Guardian reported. She was 94. Author Robin Pilcher

described his mother as a "a wonderful, rather alternative-thinking

mother--I think she might have liked the description bohemian--who

touched and influenced the lives of many of all ages, not only through

her writing but through personal friendships."

The Shell Seekers, Pilcher's 14th novel, was published in 1987 and spent

49 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists, selling more than 10

million copies. A TV adaptation starred Vanessa Redgrave. Pilcher's

other books include Coming Home, September and Winter Solstice

The subject of this book is one of the things I loved about my education at Clarke College, now Clarke University. We had a world religion class that explored how various religions saw God or the Creator of All Things, and how their worship practices differed or were the same as Christian worship. It was brilliant and eye opening, and I've always considered myself a person who was open to learning about all forms of religion, and how their participants practice their worship of the divine. This sounds like a good book for following that same quest of learning about God through other POVs

Book Review

Review: Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others

  

As an Episcopal priest, Barbara Brown Taylor (Leaving Church) spent

years delving into the nuances of Western Protestantism. But after

parting from parish ministry, she found herself ever more curious

about--even jealous of--certain elements of other faiths. She began

teaching Religion 101 to undergraduates at Piedmont College in rural

Georgia, which gave her and her students the chance to explore. It was

permission to learn the basic tenets of five major world religions, as

well as to walk forward into the wonder and joy that might await them in

a temple, a synagogue or a mosque. In Holy Envy, her 14th nonfiction

book, Taylor chronicles two decades of exploration and struggle, as she

took her students along on field trips to new places and unfamiliar

spiritual terrain.

To her credit, Taylor began with humility, knowing her own ignorance of

other faiths matched that of her students. "I was on the first leg of a

whole new journey," she writes, and the map changed so many times that

she lost track. "I got exactly what I wanted," she adds: "new views of

the divine mystery, new wells of meaning, new buckets for lowering into

new wells." The problem wasn't the fascinating conversations she had or

the joy she found in exploring new traditions; it was "the high cost of

seeing the divine mystery through other people's eyes." Inevitably, for

Taylor and her students, visiting an Atlanta masjid for Friday prayers

or sitting on the floor of a Buddhist meditation center raised

questions--not only about the Jewish Sabbath or the multiplicity of

Hindu deities, but about the ways American Christians often view those

who practice other faiths. As Taylor peeked over the fence to other

religious pastures, she had to reckon with the briar patches of her own.

In a time when religious differences are often the subject of polarizing

arguments, Taylor offers another way: a gentle, holy curiosity laced

with compassion and wonder. She urges her readers to ask questions, to

stay open to encountering the divine in whatever form it may appear.

Most of all, she encourages keeping a loose grip on certainty: "Once you

have given up knowing who is right, it is easy to see neighbors

everywhere you look." If this is heresy, it is the most joyful and

thoughtful kind: a call to see all people, of all faiths or none, as

fully human, and to accept that the divine may show up in the ways we

least expect. --Katie Noah Gibson

blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39778885

We read this book in my book group, and I would be intrigued to see how DiCaprio decides to play the evil Holmes.

TV: Devil in the White City

Hulu is developing a series based on Erik Larson's bestselling book The

Devil in the White City

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39811292:

Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, according to

Variety. Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese will executive produce

the project along with Stacey Sher, Rick Yorn, Emma Koskoff and Jennifer

Davisson. Paramount Television is producing.

Describing the project as "the latest chapter in the long development

history of the book," Variety wrote that DiCaprio "acquired the rights

nearly a decade ago with plans to adapt it as a film in which he would

star as Holmes. Scorsese came onboard to direct in 2015 with Billy Ray

set to write the script. It was first put in development in Hollywood by

Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner through their Cruise/Wagner banner via the

shingle's deal with Paramount, but the option lapsed in 2004. Paramount

reacquired the film rights in 2007 and set it up with producers Michael

Shamberg and Sher."

Dear Committee Members by Julia Schumacher is an epistolary novel about a much beleaguered English professor at a Midwestern college who is put upon to write recommendation letters for his students and colleagues. He does so with rapier sharp wit and satiric style. I laughed out loud during each letter, and found myself sympathizing with this ridiculously vain and egotistical man.  Here's the blurb: Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the Midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks) student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he thinks) work Accountant in a Bordello, based on Melville's Bartleby. In short, his life is a tale of woe, and the vehicle this droll and inventive novel uses to tell that tale is a series of hilarious letters of recommendation that Fitger is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce, each one of which is a small masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits, and passive-aggressive strategies. We recommend Dear Committee Members to you in the strongest possible terms. 

I concurr with the blurb, as I'd give this snarky but extremely well written slender volume an A, and recommend it to those who appreciate sarcasm, academic satire and wit that often draws blood, but is still humorous, rather like a latter-day Voltaire. 

The Sisters Mederos by Patrice Sarath is a Steampunkish fantasy/mystery with plenty of adventure and  magic thrown in for spice. Yvienne and Tesara are the daughters of a fallen house due to being framed by the local guild, and in trying to restore the family fortunes, each sister plays to her strengths and becomes a "gentleman bandit" and a card sharp gambler, respectively. While they are successful in gaining money through nefarious means, it takes awhile longer for them to find out who is behind the conspiracy to destroy their family and murder anyone who tries digging into the situation to find out more. Here's the blurb: House Mederos was once the wealthiest merchant family in Port Saint Frey. Now the family is disgraced, impoverished, and humbled by the powerful Merchants Guild. Daughters Yvienne and Tesara Mederos are determined to uncover who was behind their family's downfall and get revenge. But Tesara has a secret – could it have been her wild magic that caused the storm that destroyed the family's merchant fleet? The sisters’ schemes quickly get out of hand – gambling is one thing, but robbing people is another…
Together the sisters must trust each another to keep their secrets and save their family.
While I enjoyed the defiant sisters and their stories, I found the whole disapproving society ladies and political intrigue aspect of the tale tedious. That said, the prose is clean and the plot only slows down twice, and then only briefly. I'd give this novel a B, and recommend it to those who enjoy historical adventures and feisty female protagonists.

City of Broken Magic by Mirah Bolender is a unique fantasy novel that takes the perspective of magic being used in nefarious ways, especially when there are infestations of monsters in magical amulets gone bad. Laura is a new apprentice to magical monster hunter Clae, and between the two of them, and a magical recruit Okane, they put the magical smackdown on people-eating monsters in every chapter of the book. The way that they do it, with bombs and bullets containing "kin" a magical liquid derived from "Gin" a magical stone, is unusual and fascinating. Here's the blurb:

Five hundred years ago, magi created a weapon they couldn’t control. An infestation that ate magic—and anything else it came into contact with. Enemies and allies were equally filling.
Only an elite team of non-magical humans, known as sweepers, can defuse and dispose of infestations before they spread. Most die before they finish training.
Laura, a new team member, has stayed alive longer than most. Now, she’s the last—and only—sweeper standing between the city and a massive infestation. Publisher's Weekly: Bolender’s debut secondary-world fantasy comes to life thanks to a no-frills, working-class point of view that immerses readers in the world of the Sweepers. Monsters are threatening to take over the city of Amicae. The government has convinced residents that the monsters can’t get in, but Clae and Laura know that isn’t true. They are Sweepers, the only people in the city qualified to fight the monsters and make sure they can’t return—and narrator Laura has only been an apprentice for three months. The duo takes on mobsters, corrupt businessmen, and a deliberately skewed cultural narrative, culminating in a fight to protect their city from its own refusal to accept reality. Amicae’s strict caste system is expertly woven into the fast-paced plot that will keep readers turning pages until the very end. This debut builds a fascinating setting that readers will want to keep coming back to.

I completely agree that the prose is straightforward and no frills, but that's refreshing because the subject matter is so exotic and strange, telling it in uncomplicated prose normalizes the violent encounters that the team has with the monsters. the plot moves along well during the monster fighting action, but drags a bit when dealing with Laura's home life with her aunt and bratty cousin. I found the aunt a tedious stereotype of a matchmaker/homemaker who won't listen when her niece says she doesn't want to get married. The other problem I had with this book was its abrupt ending, which was a bit disappointing after the death of one of the team members. Readers are left without enough closure. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys dystopian magic stories and monster hunting tales.

Quotes of the Day, Season 3 of Handmaid's Tale, More Iowa Bookstores, An Argumentation of Historians by Jodi Taylor, The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester, The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman and The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Quotations of the Day

"Storytelling is fundamental to human beings. It is how we explore and

make sense of this world and understand one another. Because books

absorb us and harness our imaginations, they are an essential medium for

storytelling--as well as a satisfying one. The idea that these benefits

and pleasures are for a limited subset of any given population is

dangerous. Books are not exclusive.

"Literature strengthens our imagination. If we all have the tools to try

to imagine a better world, we're already halfway there. Each day, there

are more books being published that speak to every kind of person, from

every kind of place. And I believe readers can be built--because I know

we have an unlimited number of invitations to this party."

--Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation, in

Time magazine's "The Art of Optimism" special issue

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39751264

"My fellow booksellers are

generous with their time and their knowledge. They don't hesitate to

lend a hand to a fellow bookseller. They constantly try to make the tent

larger so more of us, and those who are different than we are, can not

only fit but thrive. The knowledge sharing, the Spanish-language book

drive to send books to people at the border, the numerous seminars on

ways to facilitate conversations across society's various divides found

at Winter Institute make me proud to be a part of this profession."

--Catherine Weller, co-owner of Weller Book Works

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39632943, Salt Lake City, Utah, in her opening essay for yesterday's store e-newsletter

Margaret Atwood is certainly in the news a lot lately. Here is some news on season 3 of her program based on one of the great feminist novels of the 20th century.

TV: The Handmaid's Tale, Season 3

A new trailer debuted during Super Bowl LIII for the third season of The

Handmaid's Tale

<http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39662550,

the hit Hulu series based on Margaret Atwood's novel. The teaser painted

"a bleak, fire-filled picture of the Republic of Gilead," Deadline

reported, noting that the trailer bears similarities to Ronald Reagan's

1984 "It's Morning in America" presidential campaign ad.

The Handmaid's Tale "will venture further from the novel in Season 3,"

Deadline wrote. New cast members include Christopher Meloni (Law &

Order: Special Victims Unit) and Elizabeth Reaser (The Haunting of Hill

House), who join series regulars Elisabeth Moss, Amanda Brugel, Joseph

Fiennes, Alexis Bledel, Madeline Brewer, Ann Dowd, O-T Fagbenle, Max

Minghella, Samira Wiley and Bradley Whitford.

Bruce Miller serves as showrunner and an executive producer of the

series, which is also executive produced by Warren Littlefield, Moss,

Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Ilene Chaiken, Eric Tuchman and Mike Barker.

'State of the Bookstore Address'

"Friends, readers, Washingtonians, lend me your ears. I come not to

praise Amazon, but to bury it.

"In the year of our Lord, 2018, we faced challenges great and

small -- friends and allies of ours faded away (R.I.P. Riverby Books),

and our mortal enemy announced plans to build a new base just across the

river in Crystal City.... And yet, as I stand here today, the state of

our bookstore has never been stronger....

"But I will tell you this, readers: we will not go gentle into that good

night. We will rage against the dying of the light! When Amazon's drones

hover above this fair city, we will climb to the rooftops, slingshots in

hand! We will marshal an army of loyal readers against the

homogenization of our neighborhoods by the bourgeois banality of

developers! And finally, in 2019, we call upon all independent

bookstores in D.C. to unite under the banner of D.C. statehood!"

Awesome! More bookstore love from my home state of Iowa!

Iowa Bookstore Owner Buys Bookstore Down the Block

Kate Rattenborg, owner of the general bookstore Dragonfly Books

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39688984, Decorah, Iowa, has bought Master's Touch http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39688985, the Christian

book and gift store that is on the same block as Dragonfly, from Shari

Brink, who purchased Master's Touch in 2013.

"It is important to keep our main street retail businesses strong," said

Rattenborg. "Master's Touch has a loyal customer base, and I'm

appreciative of the opportunity to own and manage this business in

addition to Decorah's indie bookstore, Dragonfly Books."

Rattenborg, who founded Dragonfly in 2011 and is president of the

Midwest Booksellers Association, added on Facebook: "So... some folks

buy cars or go on vacations for their birthdays... this is what I did!"

Brink, who sold the business in order to spend more time with her

growing family, said, "I am so excited that Kate is the new owner. The

retail knowledge and experience that she brings to Master's Touch is a

true gift, and I look forward to the great things she will do, not only

for Master's Touch, but for downtown Decorah as a whole.... It has been

a great experience owning Master's Touch and being part of downtown

Decorah for the past five plus years. I am so thankful for great

employees and all the wonderful customers who made this possible.

Support from family and friends has been an incredible blessing as well.

Thank you to all who were part of this journey with me."

Rattenborg plans to make some renovations at Master's Touch and will

retain two longtime employees and cross-train her staff from Dragonfly

Books. "I will be relying on the expertise of our longtime employees to

help me absorb the differences in running the two separate, yet related,

businesses," she said. "I will be splitting my time between the two

stores, and I look forward to meeting new customers, and continuing the

mission of Master's Touch.... My staff and I want to provide a safe and

comfortable spot for the community."

Rattenborg worked for 20 years as a college/university librarian in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Minneapolis before moving back to her hometown

of Decorah with her daughters after the unexpected death of her husband.

She has served on many local boards, including five years on the Chamber

of Commerce board. She reported that in the past few days, "many, many

folks have stopped by to say thank you for purchasing the business and

keeping it open." She noted that Decorah, in the Driftless Area of

northeastern Iowa, has a strong shop local community and robust tourism.

We've had a rare bout of snowstorms over the past week here in Western Washington,so,since we can't get the cars out of the driveway, it's been a good time to curl up with a few good books and make a dent in my TBR stacks.

An Argumentation of Historians is the 9th and latest book in the Chronicles of St Mary's time traveling adventure series by Jodi Taylor. Though I think there is a great deal too much sexism and misogyny in this series, I just can't help but read the next book to see what the hapless protagonist, Max, gets up to in her jumps back in time. The prose is slick and silky and the plots zing along well above the speed limit in this series, plus there's that British wit to look forward to in nearly every chapter. Here's the blurb: The ninth 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.

From Tudor England to the burning city of Persepolis, from a medieval St. Mary’s under siege to Victorian Rushford and a very nasty case of gaol fever, Max is struggling to keep her private life intact. There’s an ambitious programme hindered by giant teapots, plus Mrs. Midgely’s objection to dead hamsters in her airing cupboard, and Mr. Markham’s stubborn refusal to reveal his exact marital status.

And as if that’s not enough—the unfortunately not leprosy-laden Malcolm Halcombe is back. Admittedly, none of this is the most secure platform from which to launch an initiative to bring down the renegade Clive Ronan, but hey—what’s the worst that could happen?

I sincerely hope that book number 10 comes along this year and is the final book in the series, because much as I enjoy them, they're outrageously bad books and I get agitated and tense every time the main character takes the blame for everything that wasn't her fault, just because she's a woman with low self esteem, which seems to be an epidemic among English women. That said, the book seems to promise that Max is going to take the hunt for the antagonist up herself in the next book, assuming that she won't mess everything up, as she's wont to do. Still, I'd give the book a B, and recommend it to all the other frustrated time travelers who got hooked into this series and now have to see it through to the end.

The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester was right up my alley, with WWII historical fiction that focuses on the lives of women during the conflict. And I did enjoy reading it, as the prose was nice and tidy, the plot marched along at an even pace and the characters were charming. However, I kept getting the feeling that I'd read this book before. Once I was well into it, it occurred to me that the book followed along the same general outline as many other "women in WWII alternating with chapters about their female heirs today" so closely that I could predict what would happen in any given chapter. It was as if the author also read a lot of this type of fiction, (her work is compared to Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale and Lilac Girls) wrote up an outline of how these books were structured, and then just added her own spin and got the whole thing down in a "paint by numbers" fashion. as an artist friend of mine once said "Its the school of copy and trace...you just trace the pattern and copy another artists work onto the canvas." That said, Ms Lester, who is Australian, may have done no reading of this genre of fiction at all, and this could be something she brought forth of whole cloth, from her own imagination. Either way, it was an interesting read, full of charming characters that I wanted to spend time with, and fascinating bits about fashion, as well as a theme of exposing evil and festering secrets so that they can't continue to harm you. Here's the blurb: 1940: As the Germans advance upon Paris, young seamstress Estella Bissette is forced to flee everything she's ever known. She's bound for New York City with her signature gold dress, a few francs, and a dream: to make her mark on the world of fashion.
Present day: Fabienne Bissette journeys to the Met's annual gala for an exhibit featuring the work of her ailing grandmother - a legend of women's fashion design. But as Fabienne begins to learn more about her beloved grandmother's past, she uncovers a story of tragedy, heartbreak and family secrets that will dramatically change her own life.
 

Publishers Weekly: Lester whisks readers away to the past in this marvelous pair of intertwined romances. Fearing repercussions from the Germans for aiding the French resistance, seamstress Estella Bissette leaves Paris for New York in 1940. Once shipboard, she meets Sam, a talented American pattern cutter; after starting work in New York, Estella befriends Janie, a beautiful Australian model. Sam and Janie join Estella at a high-society party, where Estella shares a kiss with Alex Montrose, a British spy she’d met in Paris. But Estella discovers that Alex kissed her believing that she was Lena Shaw, a woman who looks exactly like Estella. Fast-forward to 2015 New York City, where Fabienne Bissette attends the annual Met Gala for an exhibit honoring her grandmother Estella, now a famed designer. At her grandmother’s urging, Fabienne spends a weekend in Paris and meets Tiffany designer Will Ogilvie. Will and Fabienne fall in love, but their relationship is hampered by the distance between her home in Australia and his in New York. Their complicated romance is expertly juxtaposed against the story of Estella’s life as she struggles to become successful and copes with the secrets her mother hid from her, including why she and Lena look so much alike. This rich, memorable novel unfolds beautifully from start to finish.

The family genetic secrets and soforth lend a bit of spice to the novel, but still don't set it into the A category for me. So I'll give it a B+ and recommend it to fans of Hannah and other women who have written about women during WWII.

The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman is the 5th Invisible Library novel that I've read and enjoyed. These paranormal/steampunkish fantasy mysteries are always fun to read because Irene the Librarian and Kai the dragon library intern (though he's now an ex-intern), along with Vale the Sherlock Holmes character are always fascinating as they weave into and out of trouble throughout the twisty plot. Cogman's prose is very precise and sensible, and that makes her books all the more lucid and enjoyable. Here's the blurb: In the latest novel in Genevieve Cogman's historical fantasy series, the fate of worlds lies in the balance. When a dragon is murdered at a peace conference, time-travelling Librarian spy Irene must solve the case to keep the balance between order, chaos...and the Library.

When Irene returns to London after a relatively straightforward book theft in Germany, Bradamant informs her that there is a top secret dragon-Fae peace conference in progress that the Library is mediating, and that the second-in-command dragon has been stabbed to death. Tasked with solving the case, Vale and Irene immediately go to 1890s Paris to start their investigation.
Once they arrive, they find evidence suggesting that the murder victim might have uncovered proof of treachery by one or more Librarians. But to ensure the peace of the conference, some Librarians are being held as hostages in the dragon and Fae courts. To save the captives, including her parents, Irene must get to the bottom of this murder--but was it a dragon, a Fae, or even a Librarian who committed the crime?

Even Irene has noticed at this point in the series that she's shouldering most of the work of getting things done and solving the case, while the others seem determined to get themselves caught in the bad person's traps. Irene, of course, saves them again, but you can tell she's annoyed that these seemingly capable males of whatever species can't keep themselves out of trouble. I was not surprised, however, by who was the power behind the actions/murders taken to derail the peace talks. Anyone who hasn't figured it out by the time they're halfway through the book is a dunce. Yet it's enjoyable to read how Irene and company deal with the aftermath of the finger-pointing. All in all, a solid B+, with a recommendation that anyone who has read any of her other books in this series must pick up a copy of this one immediately. It's well worth the price.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris is a slightly fictionalized account of the story of Lale Sokolov and Gita Furman, both Jewish prisoners in the concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau for three years during WWII. It's an amazing story of the strength and power of love in the most harsh climate imaginable, and how being in such a place can bring people of different faiths, creeds, lifestyles and ideals together in compassion and understanding. Here's the blurb:

This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov—an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity.
“The Tattooist of Auschwitz is an extraordinary document, a story about the extremes of human behavior existing side by side: calculated brutality alongside impulsive and selfless acts of love. I find it hard to imagine anyone who would not be drawn in, confronted and moved. I would recommend it unreservedly to anyone, whether they’d read a hundred Holocaust stories or none.”—Graeme Simsion, internationally-bestselling author of The Rosie Project
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.
Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.
One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.
A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

Having studied WWII history and the role of women fairly extensively, I thought I was prepared to read this book and not be overwhelmed by it. I was wrong. I will give it to you straight, if you can read Lale's story and not weep and fall in love and feel deep despair and joy, all within the span of 260 pages, then you're a stronger human being than I am, or you're a robot. I actually had to set this book down, more than once, because I was physically ill reading about the things that one group of human beings did to another group, merely because they were of a different religion or ethnicity. Yet I always felt compelled to pick it up and see what would happen next to Lale and poor Gita. Once I finished this book, I had to take a break for 24 hours, because I was so moved by their story, which is ultimately uplifting. I'd give the book an A, and recommend it to anyone and everyone who has even the slightest interest in humanity, or WWII or love stories. Please do read this book, it's important, just as Ellie Weisel's Night is or Victor Frankel's Man's Search for Meaning is, or the Diary of Anne Frank is. We must not let fascism take root anywhere again. Ever.