Ada's Technical Books Creates New Coffee Shop/Bookstores, Sandman Netflix Series Back in Production, The Tail of the Curious Mouse Movie, Invitation Bookshop, The Brideship Wife by Leslie Howard, We Came Here to Shine by Susie Orman Schnall, and Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne

Hello Book lovers! Here we are at the final post for the month of August, which seems to have lasted a decade. At the beginning of the month we lost our air conditioning and my iMac died, and COVID 19 has claimed over 180,000 lives in the United States alone. Now in the past few days, we lost Chadwick Bozeman, who played T'Challa in the wonderful movie Black Panther just two years ago, to colon cancer. He was only 43 years old, and such a bright light in Hollywood and the world. Rest in Power, CB...Wakanda Forever! At any rate, here are some tidbits, finally, and a few reviews before we fall into Autumn.

I am so glad to read about bookstores not only hanging in there, but thriving in this quarantine economy. 

Seattle's Ada's Technical Books Converting Fuel Coffee Shops to Coffee Shop/Bookstores

Ada's Technical Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz45361766, Seattle, Wash., is transforming the Fuel Coffee coffee shop minichain http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz45361767 it bought in June into three  combination coffee shop/bookstores, the Seattle Times reported.

Limited to "summer walk-up window" service for now, the three Fuel Coffee shops are serving coffee drinks and baked goods, and now have about 100 books on hand, with 10 or so displayed at the front door. With the interiors closed, owners Danielle and David Hulton are beginning renovations; each location will have "book nooks or little bookstore areas" and carry some 1,000 nonfiction, fiction and children's titles.

Current bestsellers are children's books, anti-racism titles, and science fiction & fantasy, and already customers are beginning to shape the inventory at each shop, the Times noted. "We brought children's books to all the locations, but in Montlake we have not been able to keep them in stock," Danielle Hulton said. "People keep buying everything that's on display." At Montlake and Wallingford, farther from the center of the city than the Capitol Hill Fuel Coffee location, "new, hot titles" are moving, the Times added. "New York Times bestseller list titles don't move a ton at Ada's, but they're moving a lot at the Fuel locations," Hulton noted.

The Hultons founded Ada's 10 years ago, and the store moved and expanded three years later. It includes the Lab event space and a co-working space called the Office. In June, Ada's closed the Discovery Cafe. As its name implies, Ada's Technical Books has an emphasis on technical and science-minded books and happily describes itself as "geeky."

 I can hardly wait for this series to debut! My husband and I read the Sandman graphic novels back in the 90s, and were blown away by the storytelling and the beautiful graphics. It will be thrilling to see the characters come to life on the streaming screen.

TV: Gaiman Update on The Sandman Netflix Series

On a DC FanDome panel Saturday, Neil Gaiman updated fans on the The Sandman http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz45361814, the Warner Bros TV project that was given an 11-episode series order by

Netflix last year, Variety reported. The Covid-19 pandemic had forced the production to shut down in mid-March.

Gaiman revealed that he had been using the downtime to get the script as "close to perfect as we can.... Right now as the universal pause button is starting to come off, we're starting to cast again. I'm getting these inspiring and wonderful e-mails with production designs with places that I'd only ever seen in the comics before, now being rendered in 3D, and I'm being asked to comment on it. That's amazing."

He also said the Netflix series is "still going to start in 1916, but the thing that happens in Sandman 1, the point that the story starts is not 1988. It's now. And how does that change the story? What does that give us? What does that make us have to look at that we wouldn't have to look at if we were setting it as a period piece? What is that going to do to the gender of characters, what is that going to do to the nature of characters? What's that going to do to the story? And that has been an absolute delight. Because it means we are always being true to the story and being true to the characters. But it gives us tremendous freedom to go, 'Okay if we were doing it now what would Sandman be?' And that, again, is very liberating."

This is another movie that I'm excited about, because who doesn't love Roald Dahl and Beatrix Potter and their books?  And Murray Gold is responsible for a lot of the beautiful music on the later incarnations of Star Trek.

Movies: Roald & Beatrix, The Tail of the Curious Mouse

The cast has been rounded out for Roald & Beatrix, The Tail of the Curious Mouse http://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz45363155, a Sky original Christmas movie that will blend live action camera work, stop-frame animation and puppetry, Deadline reported.

Starring Dawn French as Beatrix Potter, the cast also includes Jessica Hynes (W1A), Rob Brydon (The Trip), Alison Steadman (Gavin and Stacey), Nina Sosanya (Brave New World), Bill Bailey (In the Long Run) and Nick Mohammed. Shooting began August 24.

Written by Abi Wilson, the film is "inspired by the true story of when a six-year-old Roald Dahl meets his idol, Potter," Deadline wrote. John Hannah is narrating, with music composed by Murray Gold.

 More good news! Another bookstore opening in Gig Harbor!

Invitation Bookshop Coming to Gig Harbor, Wash.

Invitation Bookshop’s  http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz45363107 opening next month in Gig Harbor, Wash. Noting that there are already two used bookstores in Gig Harbor, owner Allyson Howard reported that the 1,230-square-foot store will focus on new books, as well as puzzles, games, stationery and other book-related sidelines.

Howard plans to keep her inventory flexible in the store's first few months and respond to the interests and needs of her community. At the same time, she is working to curate an inclusive collection of books with the goal of "elevating voices that are either underrepresented in our community or have been historically marginalized."

With so many limitations on group gatherings in place, Howard said, her event plans will be limited for now. The bright side, though, is that she'll have some breathing room when it comes to learning how to host events. She looks forward to having children in the store for storytime sessions and hopes to feature local authors from the greater Puget Sound region. There are also plenty of "fantastic small businesses" in Gig Harbor, she added, and she's already talked to a few about potential partnerships.

Howard said she committed to her lease just before Washington State shut down retail businesses. The last several months have not been anything like what she had planned, but the one consolation has been that they are not alone in this. She added: "We're perfectly content being that scrappy small business that opened in spite of a global crisis."

Prior to starting Invitation Bookshop, Howard spent 19 years in education. She explained that despite working for a few years in academic publishing and freelancing for a literary agent for a brief stint, it was her time as an educator that honed her belief in the "social purpose of bookselling." She's tried to reflect that with her bookstore's name and its tagline: "Every book is an invitation."

"Writing and reading are open-hearted acts, and the page is where the experiences and ideas of two people meet to converse," Howard said. "It's a little act of wonder and magic. That was my favorite part of teaching, and I feel grateful that I get to continue that in my own bookstore."

The Brideship Wife by Leslie Howard is a beautifully wrought and printed historical romance that I was surprised by, which is unusual for me. I was not expecting a story of the horrors that the 19th century British class system visited on women to be so prominent. The romance was actually believable and didn't tax the plot at all. The misogyny of the aristocracy was also pointed out in detail, with poorer women being considered easy prey for vile lords and dukes to rape or use as they pleased, and then discard. But I loved the descriptions of the women struggling and successfully making a life for themselves in British Colombia, Canada. Here's the blurb: Inspired by the history of the British “brideships,” this captivating historical debut tells the story of one woman’s coming of age and search for independence.

Tomorrow we would dock in Victoria on the northwest coast of North America, about as far away from my home as I could imagine. Like pebbles tossed upon the beach, we would scatter, trying to make our way as best as we could. Most of us would marry; some would not.
England, 1862. Charlotte is somewhat of a wallflower. Shy and bookish, she knows her duty is to marry, but with no dowry, she has little choice in the matter. She can’t continue to live off the generosity of her sister Harriet and her wealthy brother-in-law, Charles, whose political aspirations dictate that she make an advantageous match.
When Harriet hosts a grand party, Charlotte is charged with winning the affections of one of Charles’s colleagues, but before the night is over, her reputation—her one thing of value—is at risk. In the days that follow, rumours begin to swirl. Soon Charles’s standing in society is threatened and all that Charlotte has held dear is jeopardized, even Harriet, and Charlotte is forced to leave everything she has ever known in England and embark on a treacherous voyage to the New World with her sister.
From the rigid social circles of Victorian England to the lawless lands bursting with gold in British Columbia’s Cariboo, The Brideship Wife takes readers on a mesmerizing journey through a time of great change. Based on a forgotten chapter in history, this is a sparkling debut about the pricelessness of freedom and the courage it takes to follow your heart. 

Howard's prose is delightfully forthright and clean, and her plot sails along on calm seas. I was mesmerized by the female characters and their struggles, so I read this novel in one sitting, and the hours flew by. Therefore I'm giving it an A, and recommending it to anyone interested in this slice of British/Canadian history that is so often ignored.

We Came Here to Shine by Susie Orman Schnall is a historical romantic novel that takes place at the 1939 New York World's Fair. I had high expectations of this book, because not a lot has been written about the Aquacade and the female swimmers who made the show what it was. I was so disappointed when I began reading, only to discover immature prose full of cliches and tropes, with characters so stereotypical that you know what they're going to say and do before they open their mouths. The protagonists come off as stupid, and the plot was so overused that readers will know what is going to happen long before the end of the novel. Here's the blurb: Set at the iconic 1939 New York World’s Fair, Susie Orman Schnall's We Came Here to Shine is historical fiction featuring two bold and ambitious women who navigate a world of possibility and find out what they're truly made of during a glorious summer of spectacle and potential.

Gorgeous Vivi is the star of the Aquacade synchronized swimming spectacular and plucky Max is a journalist for the fair's daily paper. Both are striving to make their way in a world where men try to control their actions and where secrets are closely kept. But when Vivi and Max become friends and their personal and professional prospects are put in jeopardy, they team up to help each other succeed and to realize their dreams during the most meaningful summer of their lives.
We Came Here to Shine is a story of ambition, friendship, and persistence with a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the extraordinary NY World's Fair.

The author needs to learn, as does her female reporter character, to show, not tell everything that her characters are thinking and feeling. This limits the readers ability to empathize with these female characters, because we're being told what to think of them and how to react to them, instead of judging them by their actions and reactions. Plus, for all it's lip service to pre-war feminism, the main protagonist Vivi is continually sexually harassed and threatened, and subjects herself to leering men every time she performs in the Aquacade. After all her hard work to learn the routines and keep her career going, she ends up leaving acting and Hollywood behind to be a mother to her illegitimate daughter, and we can assume being a wife isn't far behind. So much for independence and ambition. The budding journalist Max is yet another study in what not to do if you're an independent woman seeking a career, as she is repeatedly told to shut up and stop having any ambition at all, because her boss, who is a sexually harassing scumbag, believes women can't write, and along with her staid professor at NYU, leaves Max with no choice but to manipulate and cheat her way into getting articles published in the Worlds Fair newspaper. The samples of Max's writing that readers are subjected to are terrible, full of overblown prose  without style or good grammar. As a former reporter, I was horrified that she was allowed to continue to write at all. What were her professors teaching her at NYU, if she didn't even have a grasp of the basics of grammar? I'd give this disappointing novel a C+, and only recommend it to those who are interested in the 1939 NY Worlds Fair and the Aquacade attraction. 

Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne is the first book in a new series by the author of the famed Iron Druid Chronicles. Having read and loved the tales of Atticus O'Sullivan, the Iron Druid, for many years, I was not surprised by how much I loved this latest series debut, which takes place in the same world as the Iron Druid Chronicles, and even features (fangirl squee!) a meeting of the two protagonists, Atticus and Al, later in the novel. Here's the blurb:

New York Times best-selling author Kevin Hearne returns to the world of his beloved Iron Druid Chronicles in a spin-off series about an eccentric master of rare magic solving an uncanny mystery in Scotland.

“Ink & Sigil is escape reading, and I loved every word.” (Charlaine Harris, New York Times best-selling author of A Longer Fall) 

Al MacBharrais is both blessed and cursed. He is blessed with an extraordinary white moustache, an appreciation for craft cocktails - and a most unique magical talent. He can cast spells with magically enchanted ink, and he uses his gifts to protect our world from rogue minions of various pantheons, especially the Fae. 

But he is also cursed. Anyone who hears his voice will begin to feel an inexplicable hatred for Al, so he can only communicate through the written word or speech apps. And his apprentices keep dying in peculiar freak accidents. As his personal life crumbles around him, he devotes his life to his work, all the while trying to crack the secret of his curse. 

But when his latest apprentice, Gordie, turns up dead in his Glasgow flat, Al discovers evidence that Gordie was living a secret life of crime. Now, Al is forced to play detective - while avoiding actual detectives who are wondering why death seems to always follow Al. Investigating his apprentice’s death will take him through Scotland’s magical underworld, and he’ll need the help of a mischievous hobgoblin if he’s to survive.

Hearne's trademark sense of humor is in full force here, as his characters crack wise and banter in their Glaswegian accents throughout the book. There are magic battles aplenty, and some serious drinking in between investigations into the death of Al's 7th apprentice, who died while eating a raisin scone. I was particularly enchanted by the explanations of the creation of the magical inks and their use via fountain pens on good card stock. For a pen and stationary aficionado, this book is a gold mine. Hearne's prose is, as usual, brilliant and his plots swoop and soar like a pixie on crack (or a hobgoblin on salsa, as the case may be). I fell in love with Al and Nadia and Buck, as well as "Gladys who has seen some shite", the cool Canadian woman who is Al's secretary.  I enjoyed reading this book so much, I purposely slowed my reading and often stopped to savor particular passages or paragraphs. I probably could have read it all in one day, but I managed to slow it down to two days, so I wouldn't have as much of a book hangover. At any rate, I'd give this sparkling fantasy novel a well-earned A, and recommend it to anyone who finds fun and funny trips through Scotland's magical streets a must. 

 

Welcome Back! Night World by L.J. Smith, 10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, The Glamourist by Luanne G Smith, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman, and the Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani

 

Greetings fellow readers and bibliophiles! It's been a long month without access to my blog, due to my iMac computer dying and our central air conditioning dying at the same time...so I was left, on the hottest weeks of the year, sweating and uncomfortable, with a stack of books that I couldn't review. Fortunately, my brilliant son was able to find me a replacement iMac of the exact same make and model, for a very reasonable price. He'd backed up my hard drive a couple of months ago, so I didn't lose too much data. However, I did lose my "tidbits" from Shelf Awareness, which was on an MS Word document on my desktop. Nothing could be retrieved by the time the techs cracked it open in the shop.  

At any rate, here I am on my "new" used iMac, ready to review a mighty stack of books that I've been reading all month. Forgive the lack of publishing tidbits, folks. They'll be back soon, I promise.

Night World by L. J. Smith is an omnibus edition of three books, Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness and Spellbinder that illuminate the stories of vampires and witches and werewolves in the authors bestselling TV series Vampire Diaries novels. 

I never read the Vampire Diaries, and I tried watching the TV show based on the books but I couldn't get into it, it just seemed too horror/gore soap opera for my tastes. That said, these books are not about the main characters from that world, but more about other characters from the sidelines and how they came to be within the VD world. Here's the blurb: Night World Volume 1 includes books one through three of the New York Times bestselling series by the author of The Vampire Diaries.

Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters -- they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.

In Secret Vampire, Poppy thought the summer would last forever. Then she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now Poppy's only hope for survival is James, her friend and secret love. A vampire in the Night World, James can make Poppy immortal. But first they both must risk everything to go against the laws of Night World.

Fugitives from Night World, three vampire sisters leave their isolated home to live among humans in Daughters of Darkness. Their brother, Ash, is sent to bring the girls back, but he falls in love with their beautiful friend.

Two witch cousins fight over their high school crush. It's a battle between black magic and white magic in Spellbinder.

These books are most definitely in the YA category, but they're written in a style that is almost preteen-easy, with lots of stupid choices made by children who have no fear of dying because they're so young. There is also a ton of dialog, so though the book is well over 700 pages long, it moves swiftly and reading through the entire volume doesn't take more than a day. The plots of each book are also easy to navigate, with no real surprises, and how each couple finds work-arounds for the Night World restrictions against human/supernatural love is cute, but hardly innovative. All in all, I liked some of the characters, but found most of the humans annoying and stupid, but the easy style provided some much needed distraction from the heat and misery of August without AC. I'd give this omnibus a B, and recommend it as a "beach read" to those who like their YA vampire stories light and fun.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon is her 5th YA romance novel with Indian protagonists and a twisty path to a satisfying HEA. I've read all of Menon's YA romances, starting with the stellar "When Dimple Met Rishi" a couple of years ago. Her books are always well crafted, with bubbly prose and beautifully choreographed plots that, along with winning characters, will have readers turning pages into the wee hours. Here's the blurb: The delightful follow-up to When Dimple Met Rishi and There’s Something about Sweetie, which follows Ashish’s friends Pinky and Samir as they pretend to date in order to achieve their individual goals, to disastrous and hilarious results.

Pinky Kumar wears the social justice warrior badge with pride. From raccoon hospitals to persecuted rock stars, no cause is too esoteric for her to champion. But a teeny tiny part of her also really enjoys making her conservative, buttoned-up corporate lawyer parents cringe.

Samir Jha might have a few…quirks remaining from the time he had to take care of his sick mother, like the endless lists he makes in his planner and the way he schedules every minute of every day, but those are good things. They make life predictable and steady.

Pinky loves lazy summers at her parents’ Cape Cod lake house, but after listening to them harangue her about the poor decisions she’s made (a.k.a. boyfriends she’s had), she hatches a plan. Get her sorta-friend-sorta-enemy—who is a total Harvard-bound Mama’s boy—to pose as her perfect boyfriend for the summer.

When Samir’s internship falls through, leaving him with an unplanned summer, he gets a text from Pinky asking if he’ll be her fake boyfriend in exchange for a new internship. He jumps at the opportunity; Pinky’s a weirdo, but he can survive a summer with her if there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
As they bicker their way through lighthouses and butterfly habitats, sparks fly, and they both realize this will be a summer they'll never forget. 

This is another beach read, and if books were an expression, this one would be all giggles and eye rolls and sighs. I enjoyed, it, though I was annoyed at the way privileged teens took all their wealth for granted, and, as usual, their parents constant manipulations as gospel. I'd give it a B+ and recommend it to anyone who has read Menon's other books.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is an epic, if gory science fiction/fantasy that is inclusive in terms of characters of BIPOC and sexual orientation, but makes the lines between love and hate blur a few too many times for comfort. Here's the blurb: The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.
Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.
Of course, some things are better left dead.
 

I have to SPOILER ALERT here, because it's impossible for me to review this book without railing against some of Muir's choices as an author. Why, in the name of all that is holy, does she make Harrowhark and Gideon go through several near death experiences before they realize that they love one another (though they've hated each other all their lives)? Then she kills off Gideon, so that Harrowhark can suffer even more. There's so much pain and suffering in this book that it's exhausting, so even allowing the two protagonists a few months of a relationship would have been a welcome relief from all the bleak death and mayhem. This is a book that you have to be something of a masochist to enjoy, because the pain and bloodshed is unrelenting. 

That said, the prose is razor-sharp and beautifully wrought. The plot, though labyrinthine, is fascinating, and makes you feel as if you're under a compulsive spell,so you have to read it through to the finish or your head will explode. Though I can't say that I "enjoyed" this book in the literal sense of the word, (and I won't be reading the sequels, because they are likely as stomach churning as the inaugural book) I did feel it was worth the price and the time it took to read the witty dialog and lush prose. An A for the writing alone is in order, with a recommendation to anyone with a strong enough stomach to make it through the gory parts (and they are legion). 

The Glamourist by Luanne G Smith is the sequel to the stunning Vine Witch, which I read earlier this summer. This book is a fantasy set in early 20th century France, and concerns a regulated group of witches of various kinds who use their powers generally for simple things like making wine grapevines healthy or creating potions to make foods more enchanting (or to poison someone, there's always the dark witches to consider). However, in this book we soon discover that children of the fairies/fae also have been around and often have difficulty identifying their powers and training them for use. Here's the blurb:

A spellbinding novel of bloodlines, self-discovery, and redemption by the author of the Washington Post bestseller The Vine Witch.

Abandoned as a child in turn-of-the-century Paris, Yvette Lenoir has longed to uncover the secrets of her magical heritage and tap her suppressed powers. But what brave and resourceful Yvette has done to survive the streets has made her a fugitive. With a price on her head, she clings to a memento from her past—what she believes to be a grimoire inherited from the mother she never knew. To unlock the secrets of her past, Yvette trusts in one woman to help solve the arcane riddles among its charmed pages.

Elena Boureanu is the vine witch of Château Renard, noted for its renowned wines. Even as she struggles with her own bloodline—and its poisonous threat to her future—Elena can’t ignore a friend on the run. Joined by a cunning thief, the proprietor of an enchanted-curio shop, and a bewitching black cat, Elena and Yvette are determined to decode Yvette’s mysterious keepsake. But what restless magic will be unleashed? And what are Yvette and Elena willing to risk to become the witches they were destined to be?

Smith's prose is lush and sensual, and her plots move along swiftly and without skidding or tripping up on typos. The way magic works in her novels is also more down and dirty and realistic than most fantasy novels, which is a good thing for the characters navigating the underbelly of society as they try to find the secret of Yvette's heritage and powers. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone interested in witches and practical magic.

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman is basically a short story that some idiot publisher decided to pad out and put between the pages of a hardback book and sell for 10 bucks, which is outrageously overpriced for what you get or don't get therein. To add insult to injury, my copy of this tiny "novella" was printed half upside down and half right side up. The entire book is comprised of a conversation between a boy and his dementia/alzheimer's addled grandfather/father. It's confusing and painful to read, and I wish that I hadn't been lured into buying a copy and wasting my money. I'd give it a D, and not recommend it to anyone for purchase, but if you really want to read a sad and unsatisfying short story, get it from the library.

The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani is a contemporary literature novel with a romantic subplot and characters who are second generation Indian immigrants, who struggle with their place in American society due to their cultural heritage. In this tale, the protagonist goes back to India to try and discover why her mother has always been so distant with her and what caused her grandmother to leave her school and home to her grand daughter after her death. Here's the blurb:

From the bestselling author of Trail of Broken Wings comes an epic story of the unrelenting force of love, the power of healing, and the invincible desire to dream.

Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past.

Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation. Through her courageous grandmother’s arrestingly romantic and heart-wrenching story, Jaya discovers the legacy bequeathed to her and a strength that, until now, she never knew was possible.

Though the prose was somewhat overwrought and there was a great deal of repetition throughout the novel, I did enjoy the grandmother's story of secrets and love, as told by her faithful servant, an untouchable named Ravi. Her kindness to him and his family, in giving them meaningful work and a helping hand out of dire poverty, had repercussions for generations to come. This view of going against the perceptions and cruelties of the caste system was unique and fascinating, and made the story that much richer. The plot never lagged, and I appreciated this peek into the world of India under British rule. 

I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in a little discussed part of history, as well as those interested in unique love stories.

 

Quote of the Day, Minerva the Bookshop Kitten, Book Review of Sitting Pretty, Shadows in the Vineyard and The Flight Attendant on TV, True to Form by Elizabeth Berg, The Rivals by Vi Keeland, Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell and The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin by Stephanie Knipper

Hello fellow Bibliophiles and Coronavirus quarantined friends! I've got a mixed bag of stuff for you all today, including 4 book reviews and lots of tidbits. Here we go!

This is true of every community I've ever lived in:

Quotation of the Day

"Independent bookstores are connectors. They connect people to many worlds, to discover people and places we'd never know otherwise. They also connect readers to other readers, and to writers and poets. They provide people with a peaceful place to browse, a place for conversation, a refuge offering comfort and inspiration. Indie bookstores are where we find community.... Bookstores build a more compassionate and aware citizenry. Books allow us the hope of living in a world of shared humanity, as we become closer to those unlike us who we meet in books. Plain and simple, indie bookstores are the heart of their neighborhoods."

--Linda Kass, owner of Gramercy Books  in Bexley, Ohio

 This is the most adorable kitten disguised as a neck scarf I've ever seen!

Bookshop Cat: Minerva at Arts & Letters Bookstore

Arts & Letters Bookstore Granbury, Tex., showcased its new feline bookseller on Facebook, posting: "We would like to introduce you all to our latest employee http://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz45134035.

Her name is Minerva, and she is about 8 weeks old. Her favorite pastimes are meowing and playing with her toy mouse. So come by and say hi to our special little bookstore cat!"

 I really want to read this book, it sounds fascinating, especially as I become more disabled by my chronic ailments as time goes on.

Book Review: Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body

A candid and engaging memoir-in-essays, Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Body offers readers deep insight and broad perspective on disability, as reflected in Rebekah Taussig's life.

Taussig, an independent woman, successful educator and prolific Instagrammer (@sitting_pretty became paralyzed at age three following treatment for childhood cancer. Because her parents didn't treat her any differently than her five siblings--several years passed before she got her first wheelchair--Taussig initially didn't see herself as disabled. "I continued to sleep on the top bunk on the top floor of the house. I learned how to pull my body up the side of my bunk bed, my feet mere props as I used my arms to lift myself up higher and higher until I tumbled onto the top mattress." Like many young children, "I believed that I was royally beautiful, valuable, and fully capable of contributing to the group." That idyllic view changed as she began to understand--often painfully--how society considered people like her. "I consumed and digested the culture around me and slowly learned, with certainty, that I was not among those who would be needed, admired, wanted, loved, dated, or married."

Sitting Pretty is a groundbreaking and candid memoir that immediately draws the reader into Taussig's world with a casual, witty and confident tone. Through her interactions with friends, family and strangers, Taussig shows that concepts such as ableism ("favoring, fetishizing, and building the world around a mostly imagined, idealized body while discriminating against those bodies perceived to move, see, hear, process, operate, look, or need differently from that vision") permeate society. She addresses the lack of accessible housing and the dearth of gainful employment (with health insurance) for people with disabilities; shatters misconceptions that they are helpless and devoid of sexual attraction; and takes on the media's influence in perpetuating stereotypes and disability through the lens of "inspiration."

While acknowledging her privilege and position as someone who is highly educated (she holds a Ph.D. in disability studies), Taussig conveys that her greatest struggles aren't always physical. Sitting Pretty poignantly demonstrates that the biggest obstacle is the common inability to see past disability so that all people can be fully accepted and integrated into society. Only with that emotional connection will it be possible to create a community of understanding and respect. Sitting Pretty is a refreshingly welcome and necessary addition to the voices that may help get everyone there. --Melissa Firman , writer, editor and blogger at melissafirman.com

           

These both sound wonderful, I can hardly wait for Hollywood to get back into filming TV series and movies.

TV: Shadows in the Vineyard; The Flight Attendant

Landmark Studio Group has partnered with District 33 to develop and produce Shadows in the Vineyard http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz45164830, a limited event drama series based on the book Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine by Maximillian Potter, Deadline reported. Noah Wyle and Judith Light will star and executive produce the project, which will be written by John Newman (Get Shorty, Proud Mary), Peter Cambor and Potter.

"This is a fascinating crime story, but it's really a love story," Potter said. "I went to Burgundy not knowing or caring a thing about wine; I went to report on a crime, but I fell in love with Burgundy. When I was losing faith in the world and my fellow man, burned out by the ugliness I had been covering as a journalist, Burgundy came out of nowhere and restored my faith in life, in humanity. The world needs to know a place and a people like Burgundy exists as it gives us all hope and something to aspire to. Maybe now more than ever."

The Flight Attendant

Michelle Gomez (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) has been cast as a series regular in HBO Max's series The Flight Attendant http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz45164831, based on the novel by Chris Bohjalian. Kaley Cuoco stars in and executive produces the project. The cast also includes Sonoya Mizuno, Michiel Huisman, Colin Woodell, Zosia Mamet, Merle Dandridge and Griffin Matthews.

Production was underway on The Flight Attendant when the Covid-19 pandemic "shut down virtually all TV and film production in mid-March. Gomez was shooting prior to the shutdown, but her casting was never announced. The series is eyeing a return to production in late August," Deadline wrote.

True To Form by Elizabeth Berg was an ebook that I downloaded from the local branch of the KCLS this past week. I've read a number of Berg's works, and I have enjoyed most of them. This one, published years ago, somehow escaped my notice until now. Here's the blurb: Katie Nash -- the beloved heroine of Elizabeth Berg's previous novels Durable Goods and Joy School -- is thirteen years old in 1961, and she's facing a summer full of conflict. Her father has enlisted her in two care-taking jobs -- baby-sitting for the rambunctious Wexler boys and, equally challenging, looking after Mrs. Randolph, her elderly, bedridden neighbor. To make matters worse, Katie has been forcibly inducted into the "loser" Girl Scout troop, compliments of her only new friend Cynthia's controlling mother. Her only saving grace is a trip to her childhood hometown in Texas, to visit her best friend Cherylanne. But people and places change -- and Cherylanne is no exception. When an act of betrayal leaves Katie wondering just what friends are really for, she learns to rely on the only one left she can trust: herself.
Full of the joys, anguish, and innocence of American adolescence, True to Form is a story sure to make readers remember and reflect on their own moments of discovery and self-definition.

While I don't remember this protagonist from Joy School or Durable Goods, I do remember what it was like to be 13 and finding it hard to deal with puberty and crushes and all manner of adults who suddenly seemed like the most embarrassing and stupid people on earth, lol. I also remember the desperate need to fit in, and to curry favor with the popular girls in hopes of having friends to hang out with and talk on the phone for hours. I, too, had to take care of older people when I volunteered at the hospital as a candy-striper, and I also baby sat some local kids for money to buy books or records or Tiger Beat magazines. So when Katie throws her friend under the bus in order to get closer to the popular girls (who, unsurprisingly, don't actually want to be her friends, they just want to use her to do their homework), I could understand her anguish when she realizes her mistake. Though I hate reading books on a tablet or my computer, I really enjoyed this novel and read it all in an afternoon. Berg's prose is delicate and fragrant with nostalgia, while her plot never flags. I'd give this book a B+ and recommend it to anyone who grew up in the 60s and remembers what it was like to be an adolescent.

The Rivals by Vi Keeland is a spunky romantic tour de force that had me turning pages into the wee hours. The prose was shiny and the plot whipped along like a disco party on steroids. And though I try not to judge a book by it's cover, the hottie that they have in a Tux gracing the cover of this book only amped up the sizzle for me. Here's the blurb: A sexy, enemies-to-lovers standalone from #1 New York Times Bestseller, Vi Keeland.
The feud between Weston Lockwood and me started at the altar.
Only neither of us attended the wedding, and the nuptials happened decades before either of us was born.
Our grandfathers had been best friends and business partners, at least up until my grandfather’s wedding day—when his bride-to-be blurted out she couldn’t marry him because she was also in love with Weston's grandfather.
The two men spent years fighting over Grace Copeland, who also happened to be their third business partner. But in the end, neither man could steal half of her heart away from the other.
Eventually, they all went their separate ways. Our grandfathers married other women, and the two men became one of the biggest business rivals in history.
Our fathers continued the family tradition of feuding. And then Weston and I did, too.
For the most part, we kept as much distance as possible.
Until the day the woman who started the feud died—and unexpectedly left one of the most valuable hotels in the world to our grandfathers to share.

Now I’m stuck in a hotel with the man I was born to hate, trying to unravel the mess our families inherited.
As usual, it didn’t take long for us to be at each other’s throats.
Weston Lockwood was everything I hated: tall, smart, cocky, and too gorgeous for his own good. We were fire and ice.
But that shouldn’t be an issue. Our families were used to being at war. There was just one minor problem, though. Every time Weston and I fought, we somehow wound up in bed.

The "hate-sex" that these two share is hotter than a volcanic explosion, so be prepared for some well written sex scenes that actually make sense within the not-insubstantial plot. The rest of the story is engrossing and the characters are smart enough to let readers see their emotional build-ups and their struggles. I am not normally a huge fan of regular romance novels, but this one has moved to the top of my list of favorite contemporary romances of all time. I'd give it a solid A, and recommend it to anyone who can appreciate sexy romances that build toward love relationships.

Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell is a science fiction/epic family drama novel that, though it was over 570 pages long, zoomed along at top speed until the end. It's the first book in a series (the System Divine), so there's a lot of world building going on, but that barely slows the ricochet plot to a slightly more sedate pace. Here's the blurb: In the tradition of The Lunar Chronicles, this sweeping reimagining of Les Misérables tells the story of three teens from very different backgrounds who are thrown together amidst the looming threat of revolution on the French planet of Laterre.

A thief.
An officer.
A guardian.
Three strangers, one shared destiny…

When the Last Days came, the planet of Laterre promised hope. A new life for a wealthy French family and their descendants. But five hundred years later, it’s now a place where an extravagant elite class reigns supreme; where the clouds hide the stars and the poor starve in the streets; where a rebel group, long thought dead, is resurfacing.
Whispers of revolution have begun—a revolution that hinges on three unlikely heroes…
Chatine is a street-savvy thief who will do anything to escape the brutal Regime, including spy on Marcellus, the grandson of the most powerful man on the planet.
Marcellus is an officer—and the son of a renowned traitor. In training to take command of the military, Marcellus begins to doubt the government he’s vowed to serve when his father dies and leaves behind a cryptic message that only one person can read: a girl named Alouette.

Alouette is living in an underground refuge, where she guards and protects the last surviving library on the planet. But a shocking murder will bring Alouette to the surface for the first time in twelve years…and plunge Laterre into chaos.
All three have a role to play in a dangerous game of revolution—and together they will shape the future of a planet.

I read Les Miserables when I was in my early 20s, and though I enjoyed the book, I've never liked the musical/opera version, though I know that its very popular. The pain and suffering in Les Mis just gets to be too much, especially when all the songs sung in the musical version are so tragic and sad, just like the characters. This novel takes that same tack, with every character either being a horrible rich person with no conscience or a poor person being oppressed (read: beaten, starved, jailed) by the current tyrannical regime.  Of course there are the unique bits that make it science fiction, with towns built in old spaceships, and everyone having a phone implanted in their arms, among other things (and Madame Le Guillotine has a Star Wars style lightsaber used to chop heads instead of an actual metal blade) but those seem somehow inconsequential in light of the fact that English is now a forgotten language and no one can read anymore (therefore books must be hidden away to be preserved). Still, this felt like more social science fiction than actual nuts and bolts SF to me. It is a fast read, with a well known plot, so I'd give it a B+ with the recommendation for all who like epic fantasy characters with their SF,and those who love Les Mis.

The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin by Stephanie Knipper is a "magic realism" novel that I found engrossing and uplifting. Here's the blurb:

In the spirit of Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers--and with a touch of the magical--The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin is a spellbinding debut about a wondrously gifted child and the family that she helps to heal.  

Sisters Rose and Lily Martin were inseparable when growing up on their family’s Kentucky flower farm yet became distant as adults when Lily found herself unable to deal with the demands of Rose’s unusual daughter. But when Rose becomes ill, Lily is forced to return to the farm and to confront the fears that had driven her away.

Rose’s daughter, ten-year-old Antoinette, has a form of autism that requires constant care and attention. She has never spoken a word, but she has a powerful gift that others would give anything to harness--she can heal with her touch. She brings wilted flowers back to life, makes a neighbor’s tremors disappear, and even changes the course of nature on the flower farm.

Antoinette’s gift, though, comes at a price, since each healing puts her own life in jeopardy. As Rose--the center of her daughter’s life--struggles with her own failing health and Lily confronts her anguished past, the sisters, and the men who love them, come to realize the sacrifices that must be made to keep this very special child safe.

Written with great heart and a deep understanding of what it feels like to be different, The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin is a novel about what it means to be family and about the lengths to which people will go to protect the ones they love.

Though I know we are supposed to love the protagonist miracle child Antoinette, I thought she was a horrible little brat for most of the book, and though she's smart enough to know that healing causes her seizures, she has no sense of self preservation, and keeps pitching a fit when her mother refuses to let her exchange her life to heal her mother's heart condition. I did like Rose and Will and Seth, but Lily seemed too wishy-washy and cowardly for me. She was also indecisive, and couldn't seem to figure out whether or not to care for her niece or leave the farm and go her own way. I also didn't understand why Rose or Lily just couldn't tell Eli that Antoinette couldn't heal his wife of ALS because it would bring her deadly seizures and that her healing of serious ailments didn't last for long anyway. They waited until Eli was desperate enough to try and kidnap a child before they said anything....idiots. the prose was clean and decent, and the plot light and swift as a breeze. Still, I'd give this novel a B-, and recommend it to those who like magic realism about children who can perform miracles.