Happy 15th Birthday Shelf Awareness, Queen Anne Book Company, Scotland's Armchair Books Delivers, In Pieces by Sally Field, The Witch's Kind by Louisa Morgan, The Ghosts of Sherwood by Carrie Vaughn, and Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

Happy 15^th Birthday Shelf Awareness, practicing love in the time of Coronavirus! I love you guys/gals! Thanks for all the glorious book news and tidbits over the past 15 years, I appreciate it more than you know!

Here's how the Shelf will help: we will continue to be the best community newspaper we can be, keeping everyone connected. We will continue to report on and highlight how everyone is doing business now. We will keep everyone informed about new ways to keep our businesses strong. We will continue to highlight BIPOC authors to our growing audiences, which so many of you have entrusted to us. We will continue to innovate, creating new products that help our indies and our publishers sell more books. And, most importantly, now more than ever: we will listen and ask how we can do even better. Have thoughts or ideas? Send them to our publisher, Jenn Risko.

In the meantime, hydrate. Prioritize sleep. If you lose your way, watch this video, Times Like These, to rally.

Heed Mary Oliver's words, which is what we try to do every day at the Shelf:

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

We hope to remain your ritual daily read, and we thank you to the moon and back for letting us do something that, 15 years later, we still feel especially lucky and astonished about every single day.

Stores are gradually trying to reopen, and I am glad that they're taking every precaution, though with some crazy people not wearing masks, I don't know how effective this will be. Still, it's heartening that some independent bookstores will survive the pandemic and thrive, despite the economic downturn.

In Seattle, Wash., Queen Anne Book Company http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44752913 has yet to reopen for browsing, and manager and co-owner Janis Segress reported that the store is continuing to do a brisk business through web, e-mail and phone orders, front door pick-up and free home delivery in the Queen Anne neighborhood. The plan is slowly to allow customers back in the store by offering "book appointments." Customers will be able to go to the store's website and schedule an appointment with a QABC bookseller. Segress said they'll do this for however long it feels necessary before eventually opening up at with reduced occupancy.

Once QABC starts offering appointment shopping, masks will be required and hand sanitizer stations will be set up throughout the store. Segress and her staff will use tape to illustrate six-foot spacing, the store will accept payment only by credit card, and furniture will be removed to allow for more space. Bathrooms will be open only to staff. Generally speaking, Segress added, her community seems to be on board with wearing face masks and following social distancing guidelines, at least based on the customers who have come by to pick up orders.

Segress said the store has seen a massive amount of orders for titles such as How to Be an Antiracist, White Fragility and The New Jim Crow since late May, and in early June the store sent out a customer e-mail with a "Justice and Change" reading list. They also set up a full window display featuring those titles, and they've been heartened to see customers continuing to take pictures of it.

LOL on this delightful way of book delivery in Scotland. Yet another reason Scotland is on my bucket list!

Absolutely 'Metal' Bicycle Book Deliveries in Edinburgh's Old Town

Posted on Facebook by Scottish bookseller Armchair Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44782914, Edinburgh: "Absolutely nothing--but NOTHING--is more metal than doing bicycle deliveries down Edinburgh's Old Town closes. Will you find the right door? Will you be eaten by a mighty dragon? Will you find the right door but then have to earn the begrudging respect of the guard dragon through the cunning use of gladiatorial poetry recitation? The answers are: eventually, maybe, and BYO sonnets.

"Amazon and Waterstones couldn't do this for you, pals. They wouldn't even know where to start. Spontaneous dragon poetry slams? That's all Armchair Books, my dudes. Happy #indiebookshopweek! Books straight to your face, by bicycle (or by post, if you have the nerve to live more than 2 miles from our shop)."

 I think that it's great that this local (Seattle) publisher has decided to expand by offering a YA imprint. I'm very fond of YA novels, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with for their fall catalog!

Sasquatch Books Launches YA Imprint

Seattle publisher Sasquatch Books has launched a new imprint called

Spruce Books, with Sharyn Rosart as publisher. Spruce Books will publish nonfiction titles for young adults meant to "encourage self-expression and personal growth in teens and tweens," with its first three titles due out this summer and fall.

The imprint's first title, Anti-Racism: Powerful Voices, Inspiring Ideas, will appear in July and features a collection of quotes compiled by activist and journalist Kenrya Rankin. In September, Spruce Books will release the guided journal Best Worst Grateful, and in October the imprint will publish Write It! 100 Poetry Prompts to Inspire, from poets Jessica Jacobs and Nickole Brown.

"Today's young adults are empathetic, motivated, and committed to self-knowledge," said Rosart. "Despite their eagerness for books, they are an underserved readership, sandwiched between children and adults."

In Pieces by Sally Field is the ebook that my library book group is reading for July. Though I am not a fan of ebooks, it's currently the only way that the KCLS libraries can get books to book groups, because most branches haven't opened their doors since March, when they closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. This memoir was brutally honest and often painful to read, especially the parts about Field's sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather, plus the rape and abortion that happens a bit later in the book. Field's mother, whom she calls "Baa" seems like a particularly pathetic and stupid woman who feels her relationship with the stepfather are far more important than the safety and health of her daughters. That said, I believe Baa was a product of her time, and had bad parenting herself to deal with, not that this lets her off the hook for not believing her daughters cries for help against the pedophilic child molester stepfather. Here's the blurb:  Sally Field is one of the most celebrated, beloved and enduring actors of our time, and now she tells her story for the first time in this intimate and haunting literary memoir. In her own words, she writes about a challenging and lonely childhood, the craft that helped her find her voice, and a powerful emotional legacy that shaped her journey as a daughter and a mother.

Sally Field has an infectious charm that has captivated audiences for more than five decades, beginning with her first television role at the age of 17. From Gidget’s sweet-faced ‘girl next door’ to the dazzling complexity of Sybil to the Academy Award-winning ferocity and depth of her role in Norma Rae and Mary Todd Lincoln, Field has stunned audiences time and time again with her artistic range and emotional acuity. Yet there is one character who always remained hidden: the shy and anxious little girl within.
With raw honesty and the fresh, pitch-perfect prose of a natural-born writer, and with all the humility and authenticity her fans have come to expect, Field brings readers behind the scenes for not only the highs and lows of her star-studded early career in Hollywood, but deep into the truth of her lifelong relationships including, most importantly, her complicated love for her own mother.
Powerful and unforgettable, In Pieces is an inspiring and important account of life as a woman in the second half of the twentieth century.

I agree that the prose is beautifully rendered here, especially considering the heartbreaking subject matter. Despite that, I found the constant complaining about every aspect of her life, and Field's poor choices in men, to be tiresome by the end. She seems to only be happy, or close to it, when acting, inhabiting a character that is far from herself and the inner pain that she wants to avoid dealing with. I'd give this book a B+ and recommend it to those who enjoy learning more about the background of their favorite actor/actress.

The Witch's Kind by Louisa Morgan is not as much about actual "witches" as the title would suggest. This story is more about a woman who made a lot of bad choices with the men in her life, and eventually has to grow up enough to realize that defending herself and her adopted child is part and parcel of being an adult and dealing with the consequences of her bad choices in men. (She was rather shallow and fell for a good looking, charming man who is abusive and a controlling liar, willing to do anything for money). Its also something of a WWII story, both in the years before the war and the years following it. There's a sprinkling of "magic" in that the protagonist, Barrie, has some of the precognitive skills passed down to her by her grandmother, and the Aunt who raised her, Charlotte, who is a lesbian. They get their premonitions through touching water, and its implied that they have some kind of selkie/magical connection to the sea, via the Puget Sound area of Washington state. Here's the blurb:

In the aftermath of World War II, two women with unusual gifts must protect a mysterious baby in a poignant tale of family, sacrifice and magic.

Barrie Anne Blythe and her aunt Charlotte have always known that the other residents of their small coastal community find them peculiar -- two women living alone on the outskirts of town. It is the price of concealing their strange and dangerous family secret.

But two events threaten to upend their lives forever. The first is the arrival of a mysterious abandoned baby with a hint of power like their own. The second is the sudden reappearance of Barrie Anne's long-lost husband -- who is not quite the man she thought she married.

Together, Barrie Anne and Charlotte must decide how far they are willing to go to protect themselves -- and the child they think of as their own -- from suspicious neighbors, the government, and even their own family.

I couldn't understand Barrie's desperation for a so-called "normal" life of a husband and children in a perfect looking home where nothing ever happens. That kind of life is BORING AF, and nothing like reality, or real love, which is always messy and complicated. I loved that the foundling baby has gills and is, again, likened to a selkie or other magical water creature, but I found the addition of the men in black government goons looking for evidence of aliens to be an unnessesary red herring. Still, the prose was clean and clear and engaging, and along with the fast-paced plot made for a real page-turner of a novel. I'd give it an A- and recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories of women in the aftermath of WWII with a sprinkling of magic thrown in for good measure.

The Ghosts of Sherwood by Carrie Vaughn is a delightful, albeit slender novella that  posits what happened to the famous Robin Hood in the nearly 20 years after he married Lady Marian and disbanded the Merry Men of Sherwood Forest. Robin of Locksley and Marian are married and the parents of three lively children, two girls and a boy. Mary, the eldest, is a teenager, followed by John and the youngest, mute Eleanor. All three children have been taught woodcraft and how to use a bow and arrow by their famous father, to varying degrees of success. Meanwhile, though he has an uneasy truce with King John, Robin knows that enemies lurk in the Kings Court. Here's the blurb: Carrie Vaughn's The Ghosts of Sherwood revisits the Robin Hood legend with a story of the famed archer's children.

Everything about Father is stories.
Robin of Locksley and his one true love, Marian, are married. It has been close on two decades since they beat the Sheriff of Nottingham with the help of a diverse band of talented friends. King John is now on the throne, and Robin has sworn fealty in order to further protect not just his family, but those of the lords and barons who look up to him – and, by extension, the villagers they protect.

There is a truce. An uneasy one, to be sure, but a truce, nonetheless.
But when the Locksley children are stolen away by persons unknown, Robin and Marian are going to need the help of everyone they’ve ever known, perhaps even the ghosts that are said to reside deep within Sherwood.
And the Locksley children, despite appearances to the contrary, are not without tricks of their own.

I loved this beautifully written tale of three very smart children who basically rescue themselves from a dangerous situation. The plot is swift and you can finish this slender volume within a couple of hours in an afternoon. I'd give it an A, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the Robin Hood stories.

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner is being touted as a "frothy" summer beach read. I found it much deeper than a fluffy and fun romantic beach novel, myself, but then I haven't been to a beach for decades, so it could be that this is the kind of novel that passes for fun these days. Here's the blurb: Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time—she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media—so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless.

Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.

A sparkling novel about the complexities of female relationships, the pitfalls of living out loud and online, and the resilience of the human heart, Big Summer is a witty, moving story about family, friendship, and figuring out what matters most.
Because Daphne is a larger person, I was hoping that there would be more moments of self acceptance and that Daphne would have grown beyond the ridiculous and pathetic need to have a friend who is gorgeous, glamorous and thin, but also a complete narcissistic jerk, almost to the point of manic depressive, bipolar disorder. Drue consistently treats Daphne like crap, but Daphne keeps forgiving her, believing her lies and coming back for more abuse, which is stupid. But of course Drue is portrayed as a poor little rich girl with horrible, cruel parents and few friends because that's the only sympathetic trope for trust fund idiots, is that their parents are cold monsters, so of course they can't be anything but messed up because all mommy and daddy ever gave them was fancy cars and private schools and no love or affection...boo freaking hoo. So they're somehow forgiven for being shallow asshats, while our protagonist Daphne has had a wonderful childhood (because she's from a poor to middle class family) and yet still yearns for this glamorous and glitzy perfect-seeming world that Drue inhabits, which makes her almost as shallow and empty as her supposed friend. Though the prose is sparkling and pretty and the plot fairly straight-forward, I can't give this book more than a B+. I feel like Weiner could have gone far beyond the tropes for dieting/exercising fat women and the "perfect" models that society tells all of us we must aspire to be, and shown Daphne to be the kind of person who invests in herself and doesn't let shallow celebs entangle her in their messes, or allow society to dictate how she conducts her life.  Therefore I'd recommend this to those who are secure in themselves and find celebrity culture irresistible.

The Halloween Tree Movie, RIP Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Azimov's Foundation Comes to TV, Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon, The Bachelor Girl's Guide to Murder by Rachel McMillan, Ember Queen by Laura Sebastian and Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies by Vicky Zimmerman

I'm really excited that Hollywood/Streaming services (Like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon) are on board with adapting more classic science fiction novels into TV shows and movies. I adore Ray Bradbury's works, and I've read everything he's written. I'm also a fan of Arthur C Clarke, Issac Azimov and Frank Herbert, all of whose works are being adapted to the big or small screen as I write this. It has become more of a challenge to cast and create these films during the Coronavirus quarantine, but I know that studios are constantly looking for workarounds so that everyone can stay safe and still bring these masterworks to life.

Movies: The Halloween Tree

Will Dunn has been hired by Warner Bros. to adapt Ray Bradbury's 1972 fantasy novel The Halloween Tree http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44669874. Deadline reported that Bradbury "wrote and narrated Hanna-Barbera's 1993 feature-length animated version of the novel for television, for which he won the 1994 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program."

Production company 42 is producing the film adaptation, with Charlie Morrison overseeing the project. Dunn was a member of 20th Century Fox's Feature Writer Program, Deadline wrote, adding that his "spec feature The Fisherman was featured on the Black List, and he has worked on features for Disney, Sony, eOne and Warner Bros."

 I was gutted when I read that the author of one of my all time favorite novels, The Shadow of the Wind, died of colon cancer late last week. Carlos Ruiz Zafon was only 55 years old, and such a master of elegant prose delineating beautiful stories that I find it horrible that the world will be deprived of his excellence from now on. RIP, Mr Zafon.

Obituary Note: Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Carlos Ruiz Zafon http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44701138, whose novel The Shadow of the Wind "became one of the best-selling Spanish books of all time," died June 19, the New York Times reported. He was 55. Published in 2001, The Shadow of the Wind was translated into dozens of languages and has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.

Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote is the only Spanish novel that has sold more copies, according to his publisher, Planeta.

Ruiz Zafon's debut novel, The Prince of Mist (1993), was written for a teenage audience and won him the first of many literary awards. In an essay on his website, he observed: "I have written for young readers, for the movies, for so-called adults; but mostly for people who like to read and to plunge into a good story. I do not write for myself, but for other people. Real people. For you.... I became a writer, a teller of tales, because otherwise I would have died, or worse."

The Shadow of the Wind was the first title in a four-part project called "The Cemetery of Forgotten Books," which also included The Angel's Game (2008), The Prisoner of Heaven (2011) and The Labyrinth of Spirits (2017).

His literary agent, Antonia Kerrigan, said his long fight against colon cancer cut short his plans to write more novels, as well as film scripts. Recalling her first impressions of The Shadow of the Wind, she noted: "Carlos had been very successful with his young-adult books, and he had no real need to switch to an adult novel. But authors sometimes want to enlarge their vision of the world, and he clearly felt the time had come for him to do just that." Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain paid homage on Twitter to Ruiz Zafon, describing him as "one of the most read and admired Spanish authors worldwide," adding: "Thank you for letting us travel through your stories."

Calling him "one of the best contemporary novelists http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44701139," Planeta quoted from his most famous work: "Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it." The Guardian also noted that his British publisher, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, said it was "deeply saddened to hear of Carlos' passing."

Though Azimov's master work won't hit screens until next year, this trailer shows that it will be worth the wait. 

TV: Foundation

A teaser trailer has been released for Foundation http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44718395, the upcoming 10-episode series from Apple TV+ and Skydance based on Isaac Asimov classic novel series. Deadline reported that in this first look, showrunner and executive producer David S. Goyer "unveils a glimpse into the making of the epic saga, which chronicles a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire."

Foundation stars Jared Harris as Hari Seldon, Lee Pace as Brother Day, Lou Llobell as Gaal, Leah Harvey as Salvor, Laura Birn as Demerzel, Terrence Mann as Brother Dusk, and Cassian Bilton as Brother Dawn. The project is executive produced by Robyn Asimov, David S. Goyer, Josh Friedman, Cameron Welsh, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross.

 Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon is a YA inclusive retelling of the Beauty and the Beast tale, with added Royal romantic spice thrown in for good measure. Our Belle in this book is a Princess from India, while our beast is a British Lord whose family has been "at war" with the Princesses family since the British occupation of India. Here is the blurb: From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the first novel in a brand-new series set at an elite boarding school, that’s a contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast.

Will the princess save the beast?
For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?

His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can't shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…
As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending. 

I've read two other books by this author, and though I love her spicy prose and her fast-moving plots that dance along from page to page, I find the sexism of the female protagonist always being the one to sacrifice and the weaker person who falls into cliches of what young women are like to be slightly off putting. The idea that young women also must be in love or have a relationship with a guy at all times or they're filled with sorrow and angst seems a bit old fashioned as well (as is the idea of young women fighting over young men who treat them badly). Still, this was a fun read, and well worth a B+. I'd recommend it to any woman, young or old, who likes reboots of classic fairy tales.

The Bachelor Girl's Guide to Murder by Rachel McMillan is a short historical mystery novel that takes place in Canada in 1910. I thought this book would be right up my alley, as I usually love female sleuths and smart sidekicks and a historical atmosphere with a touch of Steampunk. Unfortunately, the author seems to be somewhat new to novel writing, though she notes in the author bio that she's a bibliophile, so one would assume she knows a bit about good storytelling. McMillan's prose is somewhat slapdash and her plot wobbles in spots, but its her characters that nearly make or break the novel. Her Sherlock Holmes stand-in, Merinda, is a controlling, conceited, elitist jerk who treats her naive and somewhat dunderheaded Watson stand-in, Jem, like crap. I was ready to strangle Merinda by page 30, and felt the need to slap some sense into Jem soon thereafter. Anyway, here's the blurb:

In 1910 Toronto, while other bachelor girls perfect their domestic skills and find husbands, two friends perfect their sleuthing skills and find a murderer.
Inspired by their fascination with all things Sherlock Holmes, best friends and flatmates Merinda and Jem launch a consulting detective business. The deaths of young Irish women lead Merinda and Jem deeper into the mire of the city's underbelly, where the high hopes of those dreaming to make a new life in Canada are met with prejudice and squalor.
While searching for answers, donning disguises, and sneaking around where no proper ladies would ever go, they pair with Jasper Forth, a police constable, and Ray DeLuca, a reporter in whom Jem takes a more than professional interest. Merinda could well be Toronto's premiere consulting detective, and Jem may just find a way to put her bachelor girlhood behind her forever—if they can stay alive long enough to do so.

It seemed obvious to me that Merinda is gay, and that Jem really wants to have a typical home and family, without the responsibility of children so that she can continue to have "adventures" with the all-mighty Merinda. The problem is that Merinda relies on a member of the police force and anyone else she can bully into allowing her to piggyback on their investigations. She really doesn't do that much by herself. So she's less like Sherlock Holmes than she claims to be. I found myself growing bored and irritated with Merinda and her high handed treatment of everyone around her, so I'd give this slender volume a C+ and recommend it to those who are curious about Canada in the early 20th century.

Ember Queen by Laura Sebastian is the third and final book in the Ash Princess trilogy. Having read the other two books, I was anticipating that the longer and final book might be a bit of a slog. What a relief to discover that Sebastian rose to the challenge and made her final book rich with character development and sizzling action. Here's the blurb: Ember Queen is an epic fantasy about a throne cruelly stolen and a girl who must fight to take it back for her people.

Princess Theodosia was a prisoner in her own country for a decade. Renamed the Ash Princess, she endured relentless abuse and ridicule from the Kaiser and his court. But though she wore a crown of ashes, there is fire in Theo's blood. As the rightful heir to the Astrean crown, it runs in her veins. And if she learned anything from her mother, it's that a Queen never cowers.
Now free, with a misfit army of rebels to back her, Theo must liberate her enslaved people and face a terrifying new enemy: the new Kaiserin. Imbued with a magic no one understands, the Kaiserin is determined to burn down anyone and everything in her way.

The Kaiserin's strange power is growing stronger, and with Prinz Søren as her hostage, there is more at stake than ever. Theo must learn to embrace her own power if she has any hope of standing against the girl she once called her heart's sister. 

Sebastian's prose is muscular and crisp, while her plot soars on steel wings that kept me turning pages until the wee hours. I was only slightly irritated as Theo's insistence on giving the Kaiserin Cress every single opportunity to be a better person and less of a mad serial killer than she was. It was obvious that Cress was not redeemable, but Theo just couldn't accept that, and because of this blindspot, many more had to suffer Cress's cruelty. Still, I'd give this final novel an A, and recommend it to anyone who has read the other two books in the series.

Miss Cecily's Recipes For Exceptional Ladies by Vicky Zimmerman was not at all what I was expecting. I really thought that this book would be more like Fanny Flagg's novels or Elizabeth Bergs books than a whiny Jojo Moyes romance. Yet the first 100 pages are all about the protagonist, Kate, whinging on an on about her boyfriend's lack of commitment. Fortunately, 97 year old Cecily arrives on the scene with her fantastic recipe book and stories of a life well lived, and slowly teaches Kate to grow a spine and take control of career and her love life. Here's the blurb:

An unlikely friendship between two stubborn, lonely souls anchors this big-hearted book and dares us all to ask for more.
When her life falls apart on the eve of her 40th birthday, Kate Parker finds herself volunteering at the Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies. There she meets 97-year-old Cecily Finn. Cecily's tongue is as sharp as her mind, but she's fed up with pretty much everything.

Having no patience for Kate's choices in life or love, Cecily prescribes her a self-help book...of sorts. Thought for Food: an unintentionally funny 1950s cookbook high on enthusiasm, featuring menus for anything life can throw at the "easily dismayed," such as:

Breakfast with a Hangover

Tea for a Crotchety Aunt

Dinner for a Charming Stranger

As she and Cecily break out of their ruts, Kate will learn far more than recipes.
A feel-good summer read with a wicked sense of humor, Vicky Zimmerman's book will teach you that food is for feasting, friends are for savoring, and the way to a man's heart is...irrelevant.
Fans of Jennifer Weiner, Elin Hildenbrand, and Sophie Kinsella will delight in this recipe for confidence, romance, and fun.

Once I got through the first frustrating 100 pages, this novel really began to fly, with hard scrabble prose and an endearing senior character who makes the whole story worthwhile. I'd give the book a hearty B+, and recommend it to those who like books about quirky and wise elderly characters, like Arthur Truluv or Ove. It well worth wading through the first wobbles to get to the best parts later on.

Cool Idea of the Day at Island Books, Bookshop Cat Returns, In the Land of Good Living Book Review, Fundraiser for Writers Against Racial Injustice, Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian, and Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

Hello bookish friends and fellow Coronavirus quarantine warriors! I've been struggling with reading lately, mainly because I have been buying books online (I had no other choice) and a few times now I've been sold books that were not at all what they were advertised to be. The Library of Legends, for example, initially seemed right up my alley. Female protagonist, books and Chinese magic and all! Unfortunately, the author takes those juicy ingredients and renders them flavorless and boring. There were a couple of other books, a female-lead vampire novel and a quest fantasy that were also supposed to be engaging and exciting reads that turned out to be total drek. And I gave all of them more than 50 pages to prove themselves, too! Library of Legends got 150 pages, and it was still putting me to sleep and filling me with disappointment at the misogyny by page 147 as it was on page 27. Even the novel I'm reading now, (Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies) a cool British romantic Bridget Jones-ish style tale was supposed to have a female protagonist who was bright and empowered to take control of her life. Not so, as the first 19 chapters are the protagonist, Kate, whining and pining for her boyfriend, getting drunk, and dealing with her horrible mother who wants her married off and away from home ASAP, no matter the cost. All Kates bad decisions and troubles relate to her extremely low self esteem, her controlling mothers low esteem of herself and her daughter, and the constant imperative to have a boyfriend, a fiance, a husband, without which a woman is apparently worthless. How ridiculous and sexist and stupid! Finally, though, we're hearing from an elderly (97 year old) feminist who has traveled and lived and loved on her own terms. So I am praying that the rest of the book focuses on Cecily the zingy senior, and not on Kate the brainless.

Island Books used to be my go-to bookstore when I worked for the Mercer Island Reporter. It heartens me to hear that they're still going strong in this time when so many retail outlets are closing down forever.

Cool Idea of the Day: 'Retail Priority Pick-Up Zone'

The city of Mercer Island, Wash., recently implemented a "Retail

Priority Pick-Up Zone http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44441143" on SE 30th Street for the Islandia Shopping Center, where tenants include Island Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44441144. "Just like the Food Priority Pick-Up Zones' in Town Center, these new 3-minute loading zones provide a safe and convenient way to access curbside service from your favorite local businesses," the city said.

On Facebook, Island Books expressed its appreciation noting: "Running a small business has never been easy and the current climate makes it even more challenging. Small businesses are facing a strong headwind and we appreciate the City of Mercer Island and Mercer Island Police Department efforts to provide us all with a small tailwind. Please reach out to the city and city council to thank them and let them know you appreciate their efforts on behalf of small businesses on Mercer Island."

 My mom is from a tiny town near Cedar Rapids, and it's where she went to nursing school. I am thrilled to hear that their bookstore kitty cat is back in action at the store.

Bookshop Cat: Frank at Next Page Books

Posted on Facebook by Next Page Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44441149,Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "Frank is back! Following a three-month papa-imposed hibernation, Frank made his triumphant return to the bookstore this morning. As one might imagine, he's pretty happy about it. If you're lucky, you may well spot him in the window as you pass by or pull up curbside for a pick-up. Small steps but we're hopeful this is the first one towards better days ahead."

 I lived in Florida for 5 years, long enough to learn that it's a truly bizarre place to reside. I imagine this book would be a fun read, especially for someone like my husband, who grew up in St Petersburg, Florida, and knows first hamd of "Walkin' Lawton's"  epic journey of a thousand miles.

Book Review: In the Land of Good Living: A Journey to the Heart of Florida

If Hunter Thompson and Joan Didion had produced a literary offspring, a young man whose older brother was Bill Bryson, his writing might sound something like Kent Russell's. That's the spirit that infuses In the Land of Good Living: A Journey to the Heart of Florida, Russell's entertaining, often deeply reflective portrait of his uneasy relationship with his native state, a place he calls "Hothouse America, a microcosm or synecdoche of the larger nation."

In late August 2016, the Miami-born journalist,along with his friends Glenn, a Canadian documentary film producer, and Noah, an Iraq War Marine veteran and fellow Floridian, embarked on a daunting journey, attempting to re-create the 1,000-mile walking campaign of former governor and senator Lawton Chiles in 1970. The goal, as Russell enthusiastically envisioned it, was to produce the "grandest, funniest, most far-ranging, depth-plumbing, tear-jerking, je-ne-sais-quoi-capturing work of art ever to emerge from the rank morasses and mirage metropolises of our beloved home!"

If they don't quite pull off that feat, the resulting account of their shambling odyssey on foot through America's "most dangerous pedestrian state" will more than suffice. Energetic and insightful, In the Land of Good Living bounces between the madcap account of the trio's frequent misadventures as they trudge across the state--from the "grim hotels and fried fish shacks" of Perdido Key in the Panhandle to flashy Miami, with its "combination of arriviste decadence and abject poverty"--and biting reflections on subjects that include looming environmental catastrophe and some of the "carpetbaggers, chicanerers, and salesfellows who grafted the American Dream onto strange roots in sandy soil."

At various moments, Russell and his compatriots attend a hurricane party, evade a pack of hounds, survive a near miss with an apparently homicidal pickup truck driver, and hang out with assorted denizens of Florida life, including archetypal "Florida Men," among them an alligator hunter and the ex-addict who plays Jesus in an "unofficial capacity" at Orlando's Holy Land Experience. Russell skillfully juxtaposes these sometimes bizarre, frequently hilarious, encounters (some of them recounted in the form of shooting scripts for the projected documentary) with glimpses of the history of the "swamp of self-creation that, for better or worse, leads the nation the way a jutting thermometer leads the infirm" and visions of its perilous future.

Love it or loathe it, the third most populous state occupies an outsized presence in American life and consciousness. Anyone who wants to better understand why that is, and what it portends for the country, would do well to start with In the Land of Good Living. --Harvey Freedenberg,freelance reviewer

With all the protests of police brutality toward People of Color, particularly black Americans these days, this quote is particularly appreciated for its insight.

Quotation of the Day

"Let me just give you guys a little perspective of what it has been like being a black business owner in Martinsville. I've been open going on 4 years in September, it was not until maybe a month or two ago that I felt comfortable enough to put 'black owned' in any of my bios or on my website out of fear that I would run off potential white customers. I also would heavily consider how my white customers would feel about me often posting black authors on my social media pages.

"How insane is it that a black woman who owns a business feared simply stating that her business was black owned? Better yet, it's ridiculous that I held on to this fear that some people may see me as too 'pro Black' which in their minds makes me 'anti-White' (false narrative).

Anywho, this is just one small example of what it's like being a minority in the world. And this is very minuscule in comparison to the fear we live in when it comes to our lives.

"Being pro-Black doesn't make us anti-White. Saying Black Lives Matter does not mean we are saying All Lives do not Matter. It is a product of our visceral fear that makes us feel like we in fact do not matter at all. That's it and that's all."

--DeShanta Hairston owner of Books & Crannies http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44470621, Martinsville, Va., in a Facebook post yesterday

 This is an important time in history to stand with POC and fund justice for all!

#WritersAgainstRacialInjustice Doubles EJI Fundraising Goal

A fundraiser created by six authors under the hashtag #WritersAgainstRacialInjustice http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44570758 has already doubled its initial goal of $10,000. As of yesterday, more than $22,000 from 400-plus contributors had been raised for the Equal Justice Initiative , which was founded by author and lawyer Bryan Stephenson (Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption).

Writers Against Racial Injustice was launched June 4 by authors Jessica Keener, Lise Haines, Elizabeth Searle, Rosie Sultan, Michelle Hoover and Delia Cabe. The organizers said the Equal Justice Initiative "is an outstanding organization working to end mass incarceration, excessive punishment, and racial inequality. As events unfold globally in reaction to George Floyd's horrific death--our streets full of protestors rightfully demanding a world with justice for all--we are motivated to act. We all want to do something with impact, even those with health matters that keep us at home. We felt an urgency to gather our community of writers together and be part of a positive change."

In a Facebook post yesterday, Haines observed http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44570760: "When I try to imagine how this has been possible, I realize we are standing at a confluence of need, mission, and compassion. The need to do something is urgent and irrefutable. The Equal Justice initiative mission is crucial: to end mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenge racial and economic injustice, and to protect basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. And it's our good fortune that we're part of a community of writers who work from the compassionate end of life; it is our source material."

Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian is the sequel to the brutal but amazing story of Theo the Ash Princess.What I appreciated about this series is that it concerns a native people, similar to polynesians or Hawaiian Island peoples, who are crushed under a white fascist racist ruler of legendary brutality who seeks to strip the land and its people and leave nothing behind but ashes. The tale is about the last living royal of the native regime who finally decides to accept help in trying to foment rebellion and help her people take back their lands and homes. With the Black Lives Matter movement so fresh in everyone's mind right now in America, there is a resonance that is very satisfying in seeing Theo's people rise up against a usurper Kaiser/King and seek justice. Here's the blurb: Lady Smoke is an epic new fantasy novel about a throne cruelly stolen and a girl who must fight to take it back for her people.

The Kaiser murdered Theodosia's mother, the Fire Queen, when Theo was only six. He took Theo's country and kept her prisoner, crowning her Ash Princess--a pet to toy with and humiliate for ten long years. That era has ended. The Kaiser thought his prisoner weak and defenseless. He didn't realize that a sharp mind is the deadliest weapon.

Theo no longer wears a crown of ashes. She has taken back her rightful title, and a hostage--Prinz Soren. But her people remain enslaved under the Kaiser's rule, and now she is thousands of miles away from them and her throne.

To get them back, she will need an army. Only, securing an army means she must trust her aunt, the dreaded pirate Dragonsbane. And according to Dragonsbane, an army can only be produced if Theo takes a husband. Something an Astrean Queen has never done.
Theo knows that freedom comes at a price, but she is determined to find a way to save her country without losing herself.

The prose is muscular and dark without falling prey to the horror genre tropes that I dislike so much, ie gore and gruesomeness for it's own sake. The plot glimmers along with stealth and grace. There aren't a lot of people to like, but Theo and her journey are engrossing and fascinating. I already have the third and final book of the series at the top of my TBR. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who has read the first book in the series.

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center is a brilliant novel that explores the themes of love, forgiveness and personal growth with exciting and urgent prose combined with a rapid fire plot that kept me turning pages until I finished the book at 2 AM. Cassie, the independent and irresistible protagonist is just what the doctor ordered in this time of quarantine and racial strife when none of us are certain of the future, and our agency in the world is limited. Here's the blurb: From the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel about courage, hope, and learning to love against all odds.

Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's a total pro at other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own.
The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew―even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can't think about that. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping...and it means risking it all―the only job she’s ever loved, and the hero she’s worked like hell to become.
Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt and healing tour-de-force about the strength of vulnerability, the nourishing magic of forgiveness, and the life-changing power of defining courage, at last, for yourself.

An Amazon Best Book of August 2019: Texan firefighter Cassie Hanwell loves her job and the men and women she works with at her Austin-based station. When Cassie’s estranged mother calls up out of the blue to ask Cassie to move to Boston to help her after an operation, Cassie reluctantly agrees, but her pending transfer to the nearby all-male fire station doesn’t worry her overly until her female captain in Austin starts offering advice: “If you make eye contact, make it straight on, like a predator.” “No sex with firefighters. Or friends of firefighters. Or relatives of firefighters.” “If your captain says to run a mile, run two.” As for pull-ups? “Do thirty, at least…. And make sure you can do at least a few one-handed.” Cassie hopes this advice will turn out to be anachronistic, but a fire station that’s never had a “lady” firefighter in 120 years adapts slowly. And reluctantly. Making the whole situation even worse is the rookie, the bighearted new guy whom all the other firefighters like far more than they do Cassie, though she’s clearly more skilled. And Cassie, to her horror, really likes the rookie as well. Funny, smart, and smartly paced, Things You Save in a Fire ignites around the topics of equality, love, redemption, and forgiveness even as it delivers an unforgettable protagonist who shows off not just “a few” but nine breathtaking, cheer-worthy one-handed pull-ups on her first day at work. —Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review

This is one of those books that, though it might be labeled a "romance" it actually shows how tough it is for a woman to make it in a man's world like firefighting. I fully believe it is crucial to have stories like this that show that being a woman and having feelings for someone isn't a liability. This is a rare novel that deserves every drop of "Good Ink" and accolades that it gets. A solid A, with a recommendation that everyone who struggles with sexism read this book, or even just read it if you're looking for an engaging romance that's written in impeccable prose. I will be looking for more of Center's prose stylings in the future.

Bookstores Coping with Coronavirus with Online Sales, RWA Announces Vivian Awards, The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen and Looking for Alaska by John Green

This is the new normal, now that the Coronavirus curve has flattened but not gone away completely, of course. So many things are bought online, from pizzas to pillows, from beds to books and back, and now, many states are opening up businesses, too early in most doctors opinions, for customers in masks to come crowding in and buy again to restart the economy. Still, some smart businesses are reluctant to open and become a vector for disease, so they offer customers online shopping for pick up or delivery, and they offer shipping or appointment-based browsing with social distancing guidelines in mind. 

How Bookstores Are Coping: Community Support, Increased Online Sales

Jan Weissmiller, owner of Prairie Lights http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44343864 in Iowa City, Iowa, has not reopened her store to walk-in traffic, and does not plan to do so until Iowa sees a significant decline in new cases of novel coronavirus. Weissmiller closed her doors on March 19, but she and a small staff of booksellers have been "busy every minute" filling phone and online orders for free local delivery as well as curbside pick-up and free media mail shipping. Only five people are allowed to work in the store at any one time, Weissmiller said, and because the space is 10,000 square feet, it is easy to work safely and distantly.

Should case numbers start to decline over the summer, Weissmiller and her team may offer browsing by appointment. Then, if it looks like the store would be able to reopen safely in the early fall, Prairie Lights would close for a short time to renovate and rearrange the store.

Weissmiller said her furloughed booksellers have all been able to get unemployment benefits, as she closed the store before the state mandate was issued. Even though Iowa has allowed businesses to reopen, Weissmiller doesn't plan to bring back more employees until they feel safe. The store has maintained its health insurance coverage and will continue to do so.

Over the past six weeks or so, Prairie Lights has hosted frequent virtual events. The first was with Carmen Maria Machado and Evan James. Since then the store has done at least one per week, including a very successful event on Mother's Day with Honor Moore reading Our Revolution: A Mother and Daughter at Midcentury. The event was recorded, and Prairie Lights will post an edited version on Facebook. And next week, the store will host a virtual reading with John Grisham.

Weissmiller said the community is very supportive, and while her customers miss having Prairie Lights as a community gathering place, they are "thoughtful, responsible people who understand how imperative it is that we stay safe, and that our economy will be stronger in the long run if we prioritize health and well-being." Calls are coming in every day from people not only in the Iowa City area but also further afield. She added: "We are privileged to live in a community where people read broadly and constantly. Books are a solace we are proud to provide."

 So many bookstores have been saved from closing by customers buying books from them online and then either getting them mailed/shipped to their homes or going to the stores for outdoor, hands-free pick up.

Posted on Facebook by the English Bookshop in Uppsala and Stockholm, Sweden: "One thing that has quietly struck us these last couple of months has been the fact that you are placing more orders with us than ever before http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44343874.

Both orders for books to be delivered and order for books to be picked up at the shop. This feels to us like a very conscious act of support and love that you are showing. We cannot stress enough how much this means and how grateful we are for this.

"It seems like a seismic shift in values from the large-scale logistics monsters to the small scale personal 'little shops on the corners.' Please understand how grateful we are and by all means please keep the orders coming--they are our lifeblood. YOU are our lifeblood."

 I am so glad that the RITA award situation has been cleaned up, and now they've got a diverse board and a newly named Vivian award for romance writers. Brava!

RWA's Rita Awards Replaced by the Vivian

After a series of controversies, the Romance Writers of America has retired the annual RITA Awards and created a new award, dubbed the Vivian http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44373736.

The RITA was named after Rita Clay Estrada, RWA's first president, and the board thanked her for the past 30 years "as the award's namesake and for her service to RWA and romance authors everywhere."

The Vivian is named after RWA founder Vivian Stephens, "whose trailblazing efforts created a more inclusive publishing landscape and helped bring romance novels to the masses," the board said.

The board emphasized that its contest task force was "guided by the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access" and has aimed to develop a contest that recognizes "excellence in romance writing and showcases author talent and creativity. We celebrate the power of the romance genre with its central message of hope--because happily ever afters are for everyone."

Among other elements, the Vivian will offer "a clear rubric to enhance and streamline scoring guidelines in addition to judge training that will allow for more standardized judging, a sophisticated matching process so that entrants can be sure their books go to judges versed in their subgenre, and a category devoted to recognizing unpublished authors." The task force is presenting details about the Vivian to the full board at its May 30-31 meeting.

In January, the RWA cancelled this year's RITA Awards http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44373737 after months of controversy and mass resignations by members and board members. At issue were charges involving a lack of diversity and inclusion by the RWA.

At the time the RITA Awards were cancelled, the board said it was hiring "a consultant who specializes in awards programs and a DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] consultant" and would seek member involvement in remaking the awards. "Recent RWA Boards have worked hard to make changes to the current contest, striving to make it more diverse and inclusive, relieve judging burdens, and bring in outside voices," but those kinds of changes have been "piecemeal," and the hiatus allowed the RWA, it said, "the opportunity to take a proper amount of time to build an awards program and process--whether it's a revamped RITA contest or something entirely new--that celebrates and elevates the best in our genre."

The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall is a dark and somewhat grim YA fantasy with beautifully inclusive characters and elements of bright legend and magic woven throughout.  Here's the blurb: In a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic, a desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial lady find a connection on the high seas.

The pirate Florian, born Flora, has always done whatever it takes to survive—including sailing under false flag on the Dove as a marauder, thief, and worse. Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, a highborn Imperial daughter, is on board as well—accompanied by her own casket. But Evelyn’s one-way voyage to an arranged marriage in the Floating Islands is interrupted when the captain and crew show their true colors and enslave their wealthy passengers.
Both Florian and Evelyn have lived their lives by the rules, and whims, of others. But when they fall in love, they decide to take fate into their own hands—no matter the cost.
Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s sweeping fantasy debut, full of stolen memories, illicit mermaid’s blood, double agents, and haunting mythical creatures conjures an extraordinary cast of characters and the unforgettable story of a couple striving to stay together in the face of myriad forces wishing to control their identities and destinies.

What I loved about this book, besides the Asian legendary quality and the lush storytelling, was the lesbian and transgender characters, but by that same token, I found the gay male characters and really all of the male characters and heterosexual female characters to be cast in the most brutal and horrific light possible. In YA books I've come to expect the parents of at least one of the main characters to be truly awful people, if not monsters, but it just seems here that there are no good adults, other than the transgender Pirate Supreme, and Rake gets something of a pass for being a Pirate Supreme operative. The only truly kind parent/adult/mature figure is the Sea itself, and because the sea is considered female here, that wasn't surprising. Flora/Florian's brother is a weak, drunken wastrel and a lout, whose only good deed in the entire book is setting his sister free of his care, because he finally realizes he's holding her back. Still, the plot is as swift as a wave, and the prose is crisp and bright. I'd give this book an A, with the caveat that it should only be read by older teenagers 16-17+ and older, because there's a lot of violence, rape, abuse and gore in the book that would be disturbing for younger teenagers and tweens.

Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen is a historical "Downton Abbey" like romance about a servant of good breeding who makes her way in the world of the late 19th century under Queen Victoria's last days in England and France. Here is the blurb:

A single twist of fate puts a servant girl to work in Queen Victoria’s royal kitchen, setting off a suspenseful, historical mystery by the New York Times bestselling author of The Tuscan Child and The Victory Garden.
Isabella Waverly only means to comfort the woman felled on a London street. In her final dying moments, she thrusts a letter into Bella’s hand. It’s an offer of employment in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, and everything the budding young chef desperately wants: an escape from the constrictions of her life as a lowly servant. In the stranger’s stead, Bella can spread her wings.
Arriving as Helen Barton from Yorkshire, she pursues her passion for creating culinary delights, served to the delighted Queen Victoria herself. Best of all, she’s been chosen to accompany the queen to Nice. What fortune! Until the threat of blackmail shadows Bella to the Riviera, and a member of the queen’s retinue falls ill and dies.
Having prepared the royal guest’s last meal, Bella is suspected of the poisonous crime. An investigation is sure to follow. Her charade will be over. And her new life will come crashing down—if it doesn’t send her to the gallows.

I've read more than a few books by Rhys Bowen, and though some didn't appeal to me, I found others delightful. I read the Tuscan Child and The Victory Garden, and in Farleigh Field, and I've read many of her Molly Murphy Mysteries. I didn't care for her Royal Spyness books, however. But it wasn't bad writing that put me off those books, because say what you will, but Bowen has a flair for engrossing plots, fascinating characters and page-turning storytelling in interesting locales. I found the main character in this book, Bella/Helen, to be a fascinating mix of naive young woman and ambitious, strong willed cook who was a quick learner and willing to pay her dues before moving up in rank in the kitchen. Though it seemed bizarre to me that nearly every man she encountered wanted to woo and wed or bed her (why there are no other good looking women available in the world Bowen has painted, I don't know), I was glad that she eventually found a man to love and start a new life with. At any rate, it's an easy, fast read and also holds some interesting insight into Queen Victoria's final days as a monarch. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to fans of Downton Abbey or Jane Austen films/books.

Looking for Alaska by John Green is Junes book for my Tuesday Night Book Group, which is held online while the library is closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This book impressed me as a modern reboot of the Catcher in the Rye type of story, of discontented, damaged teenage boys and the teenage girls they lust after. I'd read and loved John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars" which deserved all the good ink and awards and accolades it received. I've also read Paper Towns, which was okay, but I was somehow not expecting the deeply cynical and almost INCEL aspect of this book to be so strong. Green never seemed like the type of author to promote sexism or misogyny, but this book was loaded with it, in somewhat the same way that "Fight Club" was with it's one female character being drawn as a two-dimensional slut whose only importance was her sexuality. Here's the blurb: 

First drink. First prank. First friend. First love.
Last words.

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words—and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A modern classic, this stunning debut marked #1 bestselling author John Green’s arrival as a groundbreaking new voice in contemporary fiction.
 

I didn't find Miles, or Pudge as his school mates nickname him (because he's skinny and undersized, of course), to be as mature as Holden Caufield, instead he seemed like an arrogant, autistic, whiny and narcissistic/sexist jerk whose only interest was how to provoke Alaska to have sex with him. He felt he was a better "man" than her actual boyfriend, and he is mostly pissed off when she dies because she had been making out with him just before she got a phone call, and she said "to be continued" so Pudge assumes that this means she will finish having sex with him and leave her boyfriend for him, because he feels his "love" (which is nothing more than obsessive lust, really) for her is stronger and deserves to be rewarded with her body for as long as he wants it. She's nothing more than his just prize for being the "genius" he believes himself to be. Miles treats everyone around him like crap, and is not a very clean guy to boot. Somehow he thinks this makes him attractive. He can barely even speak when he encounters Alaska, and he doesn't act too smart in most of his classes at the private school he attends. AS you can see, I found Miles Halter to be a crappy protagonist, and I didn't much like any of the other characters, either. Alaska spent too much time on stuff that didn't matter,and using her bright mind on stupid pranks. Whatever John Green was trying to say about teenagers in this novel, it wasn't anything good or uplifting or enlightening. I'd give this depressing book a C, and I can't think of many people I'd recommend it to, unless they find deeply cynical books about teenagers smoking and drinking and being jerks amusing.