John Willson Retires From Eagle Harbor Book Company, The Watergate Girl Movie, Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T.A. Willberg, Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan, I'll Be Seeing You by Elizabeth Berg, and The Billionaire's Beagle by Kristy Tate

Spring has sprung, as the saying goes, and here's an Easter basket full of book reviews and tidbits for you all on this rainy, chilly March day. Happy reading, Bibliophiles!

Retiring from Eagle Harbor Book Co. After 30 Years

John Willson, a bookseller at Eagle Harbor Book Company http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47885439, Bainbridge Island, Wash., for 30 years, is retiring. In a touching e-mail to customers, the store wrote, in part, "John's literary reach has been wide and deep, as a lifelong and award-winning poet, a teacher and mentor in his longstanding poetry workshop on Bainbridge Island, and recipient of the Island Treasure award in 2014. Given his track record, we feel distinctly honored to have had his expertise and intentionality shaping the bookstore. He has for many years been the quiet force behind the wall of Staff Picks, championing the recommendations of his coworkers.

"John's first book-length collection of poems, Call This Room a Station, has been our bestselling book of poetry over the past two years. Fellow bookseller David Perry says of the collection, 'John notices and makes us aware of value in the world around that we're otherwise likely to miss,' and these words ring true for how John has poured into the culture and spirit of Eagle Harbor Books as well. We are so grateful and wish him all the best."

The store also noted that "none of us remembers the store quite like John does when he joined the team in 1991. In truth, none of the rest of us were there, and a few of us may not have even reached the diaper stage yet. When our fearless owner Jane Danielson brought her job application into the store over a dozen years ago, she handed it to none other than John."

Eagle Harbor has a memory book in which people can write Willson "a note of appreciation" that will be set out through Friday, April 2.

This sounds like a great book to movie adaptation of a story that is long overdue.

Movies:  The Watergate Girl

Katie Holmes has optioned The Watergate Girl http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47885475: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President by former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks through her Noelle Productions banner, Deadline reported. Holmes will star and produce the project, which is planned as a feature adaptation.

"I'm excited to be working with Katie Holmes and am both honored and humbled to have my experience as the only woman on the Watergate trial team shared on the big screen," said Wine-Banks, who has also served as general counsel of the U.S. Army and executive v-p and COO of the American Bar Association. "Though it was almost 50 years ago, the story of our investigation and trial remain compelling and relevant to current events, and the sexism reflected in my story reverberates today. I hope this film opens up more dialogue around the challenges still facing professional women."

Holmes added: "I was drawn to this story because it is as relevant today as it was then. Women are constantly trying to break through the glass ceiling in the male workplace and this woman singlehandedly helped reshape the Watergate trial. I am constantly inspired by these strong female protagonists, and it is a world I will always want to explore."

 

Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T.A. Willberg is an odd paranormal fantasy/mystery hybrid based in England that sounded like it was right up my alley. Unfortunately, as I've discovered with many books I've been lured into reading during the pandemic quarantine this past year, looks, or blurbs, can be deceiving. The prose was clean, but pedestrian and the plot glacially slow. I actually fell asleep reading this book several times, which is not common for me, especially when reading fiction. But the author seems to have forgotten the maxim of "Show, don't tell" as she has her protagonist and others ramble on and on about things we already know in nearly every chapter. Snore. Here's the blurb: The letter was short. A name, a time, a place.

Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder plunges readers into the heart of London, to the secret tunnels that exist far beneath the city streets. There, a mysterious group of detectives recruited for Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries use their cunning and gadgets to solve crimes that have stumped Scotland Yard.

Late one night in April 1958, a filing assistant at Miss Brickett’s receives a letter of warning, detailing a name, a time, and a place. She goes to investigate but finds the room empty. At the stroke of midnight, she is murdered by a killer she can’t see―her death the only sign she wasn’t alone. It becomes chillingly clear that the person responsible must also work for Miss Brickett’s, making everyone a suspect.

Marion Lane, a first-year Inquirer-in-training, finds herself drawn ever deeper into the investigation. When her friend and colleague is framed for the crime, to clear his name she must sort through the hidden alliances at Miss Brickett’s and secrets dating back to WWII. Masterful, clever and deliciously suspenseful, Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder is a fresh take on the Agatha Christie-style locked-room murder mystery, with an exciting new heroine detective.

Willberg is one of the few authors who can take something as interesting as a secret underground organization that uses brilliant and innovative gadgets to fight crime and turn in into a mundane view of the lives of self-loathing, half starved British people who seek revenge for the most minor slights by trying to kill everyone with explosive and corrosive chemicals. Seriously. Because of course these people never talk about their disappointments or fears or anger, they just seethe quietly until they become mad scientists and murderers. Insert eye roll here. Obviously, I didn't find this book engaging or delightful, and I felt that I wasted full price on the hardback copy that I now own. Hence I'd give this lackluster mystery novel a C+, and only recommend it to those who don't mind long-winded explanations of every clue the protagonists have gathered in every chapter. 

Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan is the sequel to Girls of Paper and Fire, which was a fantasy novel set in and alternate feudal China. The protagonists in these two books are young lesbians in love, and their journey of discovery about themselves and each other is fascinating to watch. Ngan's prose is clear and cool, like a river in early spring, and her plot flows as swiftly as the rapids of that river. Here's the blurb: In this mesmerizing sequel to the New York Times bestseller Girls of Paper and Fire, Lei and Wren have escaped the oppression of the Hidden Palace, but their freedom comes at a terrible cost.

Lei, the naive country girl who became a royal courtesan, is now known as the Moonchosen, the commoner who managed to do what no one else could. But slaying the cruel monarch wasn't the culmination of her destiny -- it was just the beginning. Now Lei, with a massive bounty on her head, must travel the kingdom with her warrior love Wren to gain support from the far-flung rebel clans.

Meanwhile, a plot to eliminate the rebel uprising is taking shape, fueled by dark magic and vengeance. Will Lei succeed in her quest to overthrow the monarchy, or will she succumb to the sinister magic that seeks to destroy her bond with Wren, and their very lives?
As usual, the rebels are outmanned and outgunned, with the King (whom Lei supposedly killed, but it turns out was able to survive via the use of magic healers) using all of the soldiers, spies and mages at his disposal to track down Lei and Wren and bring them to heel (where we can only assume he will torture them in his dungeon). The fact that the duo manage to evade his capture for most of the book is astonishing, but what really surprised me SPOILER ALERT, was discovering that Wren and her guards instigated the death of key people as well as razing entire villages and then planting the King's flag in the ruins as a way to sway public opinion toward the rebels in the upcoming war. Lei is also gutted by the discovery of her love's political treachery, and toward the end the two aren't in a good place, though Lei always seems to forgive Wren, even when she's clearly in the wrong. This book was much harder to read than the first book, because there just wasn't as much optimism or hope for all the abused young women in it, but I have a suspicion that the third and final book of the series will be much better and leave readers with a more satisfying ending. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who has read the first book in the series.

I'll Be Seeing You by Elizabeth Berg is a memoir of Bergs time transitioning her grumpy elderly parents from their home into an assisted living facility due to her father's Alzheimers and her mother's mental instability. I've read a lot of Berg's fiction, most of which I've enjoyed, but this particular non fiction book was depressing and made Berg seem rather mean and immature. Her compassion for her father was constantly offset by her anger and distrust toward her mother, who, to be fair, was a real piece of work. Here's the blurb: Elizabeth Berg’s father was an Army veteran who was a tough man in every way but one: He showed a great deal of love and tenderness to his wife. Berg describes her parents’ marriage as a romance that lasted for nearly seventy years; she grew up watching her father kiss her mother upon leaving home, and kiss her again the instant he came back. His idea of when he should spend time away from her was never.

But then Berg’s father developed Alzheimer’s disease, and her parents were forced to leave the home they loved and move into a facility that could offer them help. It was time for the couple’s children to offer, to the best of their abilities, practical advice, emotional support, and direction—to, in effect, parent the people who had for so long parented them. It was a hard transition, mitigated at least by flashes of humor and joy. The mix of emotions on everyone’s part could make every day feel like walking through a minefield. Then came redemption.

I’ll Be Seeing You charts the passage from the anguish of loss to the understanding that even in the most fractious times, love can heal, transform, and lead to graceful—and grateful—acceptance.

There is very little grateful or graceful acceptance here, from what I read, and only one spot of humor that I can think of in the entire book. I kept having to put the book down because it was so dull, repetitive and sad. Berg's mother, who was German like my grandmother, was a nasty person and very hard to live with, just like my grandma Lang. So of course my grandfather, Bill, was my mothers hero and favorite parent, because he was a kinder and gentler person, just as Bergs father seems, at the outset, to be a kinder person than her mother. But I think anyone would become rattled and frustrated and angry with a spouse who, through the ravages of dementia, will not let them have a moment alone or to themselves. I know that this would be unbearable for me, so I found myself becoming frustrated with Berg for not trying hard enough to see her mother's side of things, and always seeing her father as a victim. At any rate, the long hard road to her parents death is what this book is really about, so if you're already depressed or frustrated by being part of the "sandwich generation" of people who have to care for their family at home and also care for their aging and infirm parents, this isn't the book for you, as it will only drag you down further into the oubliette of despair. I'd give the book a D, and only recommend it to die-hard fans of Berg's work.

The Billionaire's Beagle by Kristy Tate was an ebook that I got for free, which sounded like a rom-com that would take the taste of the previous depressive books out of my brain. The prose was light and the plot easy, so it was the perfect palate cleanser before I delve into my next stack of Easter books. Here's the blurb: Above all else, Letty detests liars. A good girl through and through, she’s always tried to walk a straight line, which hasn’t been easy given her father walked a crooked path that led him to prison.
Wes is attracted to Letty the moment he meets her. One of the things he loves about her is she thinks he’s just a beach bum working at the local hotel and she’s okay with him just as (she thinks) he is.
But when Betty the beagle gets kidnapped, the budding romance goes off the rails and Wes and Letty are forced to fess up to their lies and exaggerations before their problems (and beagles) get completely out of hand and off leash.
Romantic comedy fans and dog-lovers will enjoy this sweet beach-side romp by USA Today bestselling author, Kristy Tate.

One of the tropes that has always bothered me about romances and rom-coms is how sexist they are toward women and young women, especially when it comes to body size. In this book, Betty the beagle is overweight, so the protagonists constantly make jokes about Betty's size, her "laziness" and how easy it is to find a "copy" beagle identical to her who is unwanted because the copy-beagle is so fat! How horrible! Why would anyone want a fat dog?! Even when it turns out that the copy-beagle is actually pregnant and not fat/overweight, they still make fun of her, which seems especially heartless. I kept wanting to remind Letty and Wes that they, too, will get older and doubtless put on weight as the years go by, so being nasty and fatphobic about two poor beagles will eventually come and bite them in their spandex-covered runners butts. But other than the author's blatant size prejudice and ignorance, the characters were goofy and the book was easily read in an afternoon. I doubt that I would read any sequels or any other books by this author, but this one was fun and not too much work to get through. I'd give it a B-, and recommend it to anyone who likes madcap romantic romps.

 

President Biden Gives Bookseller a Boost, Bookstore Marriage Proposal, Oprah Picks Gilead Quartet for Book Club, Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey, Cat Me If You Can by Miranda James, Star Trek Discovery: The Way to the Stars by Una McCormack, Cold Iron Heart by Melissa Marr

Good evening fellow book craving folks! I have been wrestling with health issues, again, and haven't had the energy to get to blogging my book reviews. But I shall rectify that right now, on the eve of springtime, when the world begins to awaken from her winter slumber. 

I love having Joe Biden as president, he was such a great and inspiring VP to Obama, and now he is working hard to undo all the damage to our nation that the last president caused. So I'm not surprised he gave a boost to a bookstore owner in PA. Good for him, and for her!

Bookseller Mentioned in President Biden's Speech

During President Biden's prime-time address last Thursday, he recalled that last summer, "I was in Philadelphia and I met a small-business owner, a woman. I asked her, I said, 'What do you need most?' Never forget what she said to me. She said, looking me right in the eye and she said, 'I just want the truth. The truth. Just tell me the truth.' "

That small business owner was Kirsten Hess of Let's Play Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47783258, Emmaus, Pa. She told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Biden was describing their interaction at a campaign event in June. "He was directly across the table and he said specifically, 'What are you looking for from your government?' And I believe I said, 'The truth. I want clear consistent language so that business owners and others can make smart decisions.' "

Hess was excited to learn that her words had been cited in the president's speech, even if he didn't use her name. "I'm a little giddy to be honest with you," she said. "The fact that maybe my five minutes or 10 minutes... with him actually resonated makes me feel really proud."

She also recalled that then-President Trump had tweeted an image of her husband and daughter attending a speech Biden gave later in the day, held at a venue with limited capacity due to Covid-19. Trump's mockery of the crowd ("Joe Biden's rally. ZERO enthusiasm!") "used to bother Hess but it feels different now, with Biden in office and Trump suspended from Twitter," the Inquirer noted.

"All I can say is what a difference a year can make," she said.

 I love it when people get engaged and/or married in a bookstore. I wish that my husband and I had thought of this back in 1997!

Bookstore Marriage Proposal: Powell's Books

"Congratulations to Michael and Melody http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47783262 on their engagement! We are so honored to be a part of your story. Thank you for sharing your joy and love with us," Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., posted on Facebook.

Though I wasn't able to make it through Gilead (I found it boring), I still appreciate Oprah taking the quartet of books to new heights through her book club.

The first novel, Gilead, takes place in Iowa, my home state.

Oprah's Book Club Picks: Marilynne Robinson's Gilead Quartet

Oprah Winfrey has chosen Marilynne Robinson's four Gilead novels http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47814311 (Gilead, Home, Lila, Jack) as her 87th, 88th, 89th and 90th Oprah's Book Club selections. Winfrey said Robinson "is one of our greatest living authors, and in the Gilead novels she's written a quartet of masterpieces. The more closely I read them, the more I find to appreciate, and the more they show the way in seeing the beauty in the ordinary. I'm thrilled to share them all with you."

Describing Winfrey as "a singular voice in this country and in the world," Robinson said, "It is wonderful and amazing that my books will have the kind of attention only she could bring to them."

Over the next two months, Winfrey will lead an exploration of the universe of Gilead, beginning with Gilead. A reading schedule will be posted on the Oprah's Book Club social platforms. She will also conduct an interview with the author, whom Winfrey calls "a philosopher/teacher, as well as one of our most important fiction writers," which will air on dates to be determined on Apple TV+.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey is the April pick for my library book group. I should have loved this book, too, because it's within one of my favorite genres, fantasy, with a magical realism/mystery overlay that sounded juicy and fascinating. But this novel, which was labyrinthine, even though it wasn't long enough to warrant such an elaborate plot, ended in such a "WHAT?" way that I was thoroughly disappointed in it, and regretted all the time I'd spent reading it. Here's the blurb: Sharp, mainstream fantasy meets compelling thrills of investigative noir in Magic for Liars, a fantasy debut by rising star Sarah Gailey.

Ivy Gamble was born without magic and never wanted it.

Ivy Gamble is perfectly happy with her life – or at least, she’s perfectly fine.

She doesn't in any way wish she was like Tabitha, her estranged, gifted twin sister.

Ivy Gamble is a liar.

When a gruesome murder is discovered at The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages, where her estranged twin sister teaches Theoretical Magic, reluctant detective Ivy Gamble is pulled into the world of untold power and dangerous secrets. She will have to find a murderer and reclaim her sister―without losing herself.   

So, SPOILER ALERT, Ivy, who is rather stupid and not at all as nice as she's supposed to be, does find out who the murderer is, but then *lets her go* because it's her insane, evil sister, whom she doesn't like anyway, and whom she's not spoken to in years. If you find yourself shaking your head in disbelief and saying WTF? over and over, then you've got my reaction to this ridiculous novel. She discovers that her sister is gay, and that she does regret being unable to save their mother from the ravages of stage 4 cancer, yet when Tabitha discovers that her lover also has advanced cancer, her reaction to try and "cure" her by literally tearing her apart seems a bit hysterical, if not power-crazed. But while the prose is smooth, it has a job getting the weird plot from point A to B without stumbling over tangents, such as Ivy's relationship with one of the teachers. (Surprise, it also doesn't end well). I didn't really find anyone I could relate to in this novel, either, so I'd give it a C, and recommend it to anyone who found Lev Grossman's The Magicians to be enjoyable, even with all its tragedy and gore. 

Cat Me If You Can by Miranda James (pen name of Dean James) is the 13th "Cat in the Stacks" mystery, which involves the sleuthing of Charlie and his Main Coon cat Diesel (and now his fiancee Helen).  Here's the blurb: Charlie and Diesel along with Charlie's fiancée, Helen Louise Brady, are heading to Asheville, North Carolina to spend a week at a boutique hotel and participate in a gathering of a mystery reader's club composed of patrons of the Athena Public Library. In addition to seeing the local sights, the members will take turns giving talks on their favorite authors. 

The always spry Ducote sisters, friends of the hotel’s owners, are helping underwrite the expenses, and they’ve insisted that Charlie, Helen, and Diesel join them. Anxious to get Helen Louise away from her bistro for a vacation, Charlie readily agrees. While Charlie is looking forward to relaxing with Helen Louise and Diesel, other members of the group have ulterior motives including a long-standing score to settle.

When an intrusive, uninvited guest turns up dead, only one mystery club member with a connection to the deceased appears to have a motive to kill. But could the answer really be that simple? Charlie and Diesel, along with the detecting Ducote sisters, know that every murder plot has an unexpected twist.

Of course it's a (SPOILER) religious homophobic idiot who ends up being the killer, which is not surprising, as I believe the author himself is gay. That said, the prose is clean and clear, while the plot is a straight shot that never leaves readers hanging. This is exactly the kind of cozy cat mystery that my mother loves, because it has familiar characters and few, if any, surprises. Therefore I'd give it a B, as it is exactly what the packaging says, a nice diversion of a read at a time when such things are desperately needed during the pandemic and quarantine. 

Star Trek Discovery: The Way to the Stars by Una McCormack is a ST Discovery novel that outlines the origin story of engineer Sylvia Tilly. Though I didn't like Tilly at first, because she acted like a giggling immature ninny, a sharp contrast to her room mate, the seriously wonderful Michael Burnham, the writers of Discovery have pushed the story of her growth so well that if you're not in love with her character by the time she's done being the vicious Captain Killy in the Mirror Universe, then you have no soul. I read this ebook all in one sitting, because I was riveted by her backstory. Here's the blurb: Despite being an inexperienced Starfleet cadet, Sylvia Tilly became essential to the USS Discovery finding its way back home from the Mirror Universe. But how did she find that courage? From where did she get that steel? Who nurtured that spark of brilliance? The Way to the Stars recounts for fans everywhere the untold story of Tilly’s past.

It’s not easy being sixteen, especially when everyone expects great things from Tilly. It’s even harder when her mother and father are Federation luminaries, not to mention pressing her to attend one of the best schools that the Federation has to offer. Tilly wants to achieve great things—even though she hasn’t quite worked out how to do that or what it is she wants to do. But this year, everything will change for Tilly, as she about to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime—an adventure that will take her ever closer to the stars.

The prose was evocative and the plot swift as a starship at warp speeds; I loved every moment of Tilly's break from her rigid and cruel mother's clutches, to becoming a budding engineer (or in her words, "someone who knows how to fix things") and eventual Starfleet cadet. 

Her father, whom she adores but who seemed like a weak and cowardly guy who put his own career above the life and health of his daughter, finally gets around to apologizing and helping Tilly in the end, though his surprise that his ex-wife is a terrible bully seems disingenuous. I mean, he was married to the woman and has known her ways for a long time, so why he couldn't predict that she'd be a horribly controlling and abusive mother is beyond me. Still, this was a captivating coming of age story worthy of an A, that I would recommend to young women who are Star Trek fans. 

Cold Iron Heart (A Wicked Lovely Adult Faery novel) by Melissa Marr is yet another ebook that I snagged for a really reasonable two bucks off of Amazon. While I enjoyed the first 2/3rds of the novel, the last part, which delved into the future of the characters 100 years later, was somewhat confusing and stilted. Here's the blurb:  In this prequel to the international bestselling WICKED LOVELY series (over a million copies sold), the Faery Courts collide a century before the mortals in Wicked Lovely are born.

Thelma Foy, a jeweler with the Second Sight in iron-bedecked 1890s New Orleans, wasn’t expecting to be caught in a faery conflict. Tam can see through the glamours faeries wear to hide themselves from mortals, but if her secret were revealed, the fey would steal her eyes, her life, or her freedom. So, Tam doesn’t respond when they trail thorn-crusted fingertips through her hair at the French Market or when the Dark King sings along with her in the bayou.

But when the Dark King, Irial, rescues her, Tam must confront everything she thought she knew about faeries, men, and love.

Too soon, New Orleans is filling with faeries who are looking for her, and Irial is the only one who can keep her safe.

Unbeknownst to Tam, she is the prize in a centuries-old fight between Summer Court and Winter Court. To protect her, Irial must risk a war he can’t win--or surrender the first mortal woman he's loved.

"Set 100 years before the events in Wicked Lovely, Cold Iron Heart finds Irial, the king of the Dark Court, in New Orleans and entranced by a mortal. Is his interest in Thelma Foy just a passing fascination, or could it change the course of her life and the world forever? Melissa Marr masterfully rises to challenge of writing a prequel by both expanding on the mythology of the original series while telling a story that exists wholly on its own. Fans of the series will inhale this delicious glimpse into Irial’s past.”--​John McDougall of Murder by the Book
 

So I believe that if I haven't read Wicked Lovely, that I do have a copy around here somewhere that I have been meaning to read. As with most novels with a heavy romantic storyline, I am always on the look out for the cliches and tropes that make the romance genre so irritating for me to read. This book has some of them, with the female protagonist being so "thin" (due to starvation) and waif-ish, while also having big lips and pretty eyes that are seen as extremely sexy by the muscular and flawlessly handsome fae male protagonist...blech. She's like an old-time Bratz doll.  This is followed by Irial's delighted discovery that his soon to be obsession Thelma, or Tam, as she prefers to be called, is virginal and fearful of sex, while also being skinny enough to resemble a young boy, which lights his fires because he's bisexual and apparently, as an immortal, nearly a pedophile. I really hate it when female protagonists, even those in earlier eras (this takes place in 1890s New Orleans) are so ignorant about their bodies that they're shocked (!) when they get pregnant after having sex for the first time. Seriously? Tam is supposed to be a smart and independent woman who is well read and savvy. Yet the two things she expressly says that she does NOT want, a man (and a love affair) and children, happen nearly halfway through the book and she's suddenly all in with being a domestic drudge with children to feed and raise by herself. WTF Melissa Marr?  Why all the sexist BS? Still, I did enjoy the storyline of the war and the curse and the evil fae vs good fae, and the prose and plot were nicely laid out. I'd give this prequel novel a B- and recommend it to anyone who has read a Melissa Marr novel and isn't too picky about sexist tropes in romance novels. 

Big Little Newsstand Opens in Seattle, The Runaway Bunny on TV, Queens's Gambit, the Musical on Stage, RIP Norton Juster, An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn, Full of Briars by Seanan McGuire, Magical Midlife Madness by K.F. Breene and Monster by Carmen Caine

Happy St Patrick's Week, fellow bibliophiles! I've not been able to post to my blog before today because I've been struggling with a massive Crohn's disease flare up, but I am determined to get things done today, so here goes on the latest news and reviews.

There used to be a great news stand in the Pike Place Market that had newspapers from all over the world, as well as magazines from far and wide. It has been sold and closed down, but this new place sounds like it will take up the mantle just fine.

Big Little News: New Seattle Shop Co-Owned by Elliott Bay GM

Big Little News http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47714918, a newsstand and bottle shop, has opened in the Pike/Pine section of Seattle, Wash., Capitol Hill Seattle reported. Big Little News is owned by Tracy Taylor, longtime general manager of Elliott Bay Book Company, and Joey Burgess, an area LGBTQ nightlife entrepreneur.

The two worked together in particular "representing the neighborhood as Pike/Pine pushes and pulls on Seattle City Hall for attention and resources the busy but challenged neighborhood has faced over the past months and recent years of explosive growth," Capitol Hill Seattle wrote. Taylor added: "We've worked together on this neighborhood-y, city stuff for a while, but we've looked for a project and this just opened up."

Big Little News carries more than 250 foreign and domestic magazines, newspapers and zines, as well as beer, wine, champagne and other sundries.

Capitol Hill Seattle said that Taylor "provided an eclectic mix of recommendations" and commented, "This year I've read fewer books. I've listened to more books. For me, it's been an attention span thing. Magazines kind of fill that niche that's not a tweet."

I used to read the Runaway Bunny to my son Nick when he was little, and it always made me misty-eyed, because it's such a beautiful story of a mom asserting that she will always love her baby. It's great that this classic children's tale will become a TV special.          

TV: The Runaway Bunny

HBO Max released a trailer and key art for The Runaway Bunny http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47714963, an animated special based on the classic children's book by Margaret Wise Brown, Deadline reported. Tracee Ellis Ross narrates and performs an original lullaby by Brown in the special, with songs also performed by Mariah Carey, Kelly Rowland, Rosanne Cash, Ziggy Marley, Kimya Dawson, Rufus Wainwright and Michael Kiwanuka. Premiering March 25, The Runaway Bunny is produced and directed by Amy Schatz (Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepytime Tales, the Classical Baby series).

 I really enjoyed The Queens Gambit, though I don't play chess and never plan to learn how. The show had such a dynamic script and such great actors, it was riveting viewing. I imagine the musical will be just as exciting.

On Stage: Queen's Gambit: the Musical

Level Forward will adapt The Queen's Gambit http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47716752, the 1983 novel by Walter Tevis that last year became an award-winning hit Netflix series, for the stage as a musical. The Guardian reported that it is unclear where the company, "which has produced films on sexual harassment and assault including the feature and documentary On the Record, will adapt the musical. But given its recent history of Broadway productions, including a musical based on Alanis Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill and the provocative Slave Play, by Jeremy O Harris, all signs point to New York."

"It is a privilege for Level Forward to lead the charge of bringing The Queen's Gambit to the stage through the beloved and enduring craft of musical theater," said Level Forward CEO Adrienne Becker and producer Julia Dunetz in a statement. "Audiences are already sharing in the friendship and fortitude of the story's inspiring women who energize and sustain Beth Harmon's journey and ultimate triumph. The story is a siren call amidst our contemporary struggles for gender and racial equity, and we're looking forward to moving the project forward."

Seems like every single post this past year has had at least one author obituary in it, which is a shame. COVID has taken 534,000 lives in the US so far, and there are still millions infected, though the numbers are starting to turn now that people are being vaccinated, myself included. At any rate, I read the Phantom Tollbooth when I was 5 years old...it was one of the first books that I checked out of our local library's children's section. 

Obituary Note: Norton Juster

Norton Juster http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47747517, "who wrote one of children's literature's most beloved and enduring books, The Phantom Tollbooth," died March 8, the New York Times reported. He was 91. First published in 1961, The Phantom Tollbooth was illustrated by the man Juster shared a duplex with at the time, Jules Feiffer, who was early in his career as a cartoonist and author. The book has sold almost four million copies, been reissued multiple times and was adapted into an animated film and a stage musical.

In a statement, Feiffer reflected on the qualities Juster brought to the book and the impact his story has had on generations of readers: "His singular quality was being mischievous. He saw humor as turning everything on its head. It's incredible the effect he had on millions of readers who turned The Phantom Tollbooth into something of a cult or a religion."

An architect, Juster described himself as an "accidental writer," and despite his success as a children's author he "would continue to work in architecture for three more decades, co-founding an architectural firm and working as a professor of architecture at Hampshire College until his retirement in 1992," the Guardian wrote.

Among the projects his company Juster Pope Frazier, designed was the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47747520 in Amherst, Mass., the Washington Post noted.

In addition to reuniting with Feiffer in 2010 on The Odious Ogre, Juster's other children's titles include The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics, which was adapted into a 1965 Oscar-winning animated short; Alberic the Wise and Other Journeys, illustrated by Domenico Gnoli; As Silly as Knees, as Busy as Bees: An Astounding Assortment of Similes, illustrated by David Small; and The Hello, Goodbye Window with Chris Raschka, who received a Caldecott Medal for his illustrations of the magical window at a little girl's grandparents' house. He also wrote a book for adults, A Women's Place: Yesterday's Women in Rural America.

In a 2012 CNN interview, Juster talked about the key to writing for young readers: "You have to retain, I guess, a good piece of the way you thought as a child. I think if you lose all of that, that's where the deadliness comes from. The idea of children looking at things differently is a precious thing. The most important thing you can do is notice."

 

An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn is the 6th book in the Veronica Speedwell mystery series. I've read and enjoyed them all, particularly the developing relationship between Stoker and Veronica. Here's the blurb: A princess is missing and a peace treaty is on the verge of collapse in this new Veronica Speedwell adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

January 1889. As the newest member of the Curiosity Club--an elite society of brilliant, intrepid women--Veronica Speedwell is excited to put her many skills to good use. As she assembles a memorial exhibition for pioneering mountain climber Alice Baker-Greene, Veronica discovers evidence that the recent death was not a tragic climbing accident but murder. Veronica and her natural historian beau, Stoker, tell the patron of the exhibit, Princess Gisela of Alpenwald, of their findings. With Europe on the verge of war, Gisela's chancellor, Count von Rechstein, does not want to make waves--and before Veronica and Stoker can figure out their next move, the princess disappears.

Having noted Veronica's resemblance to the princess, von Rechstein begs her to pose as Gisela for the sake of the peace treaty that brought the princess to England. Veronica reluctantly agrees to the scheme. She and Stoker must work together to keep the treaty intact while navigating unwelcome advances, assassination attempts, and Veronica's own family--the royalty who has never claimed her.

While there were some really bizarre moments in this installment of the VS mysteries, especially the forced "prince and pauper" switch where Veronica is made to disguise herself as the German Princess, I still loved the central mystery and it's solution.

It seems to me that the visiting royalty took advantage of her good nature and desire to do the right thing one too many times. Still, the dynamic between Stoker and Veronica heated up nicely, and was interesting to watch/read about because it's obvious that while Veronica doesn't want to marry and scuttle her career aspirations as an independent woman, she and Stoker are in love, and eventually will be forced by the mores of society of that time or pregnancy or some other happenstance to make it "official" and marry one another. I also liked that Veronica was able to meet some of her royal relatives, though because she's considered illegitimate, she can never be recognized as a member of the British royal family. Raybourn's prose is deliciously descriptive, and her plots fly along on swift wings. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who has read the previous books in the series.

Full of Briars by Seanan McGuire is a novella set in her October Day paranormal urban fantasy series. I managed to get this novella for a very low price for my Kindle, and I read it over an afternoon. Here's the blurb: Meet Quentin Sollys. Squire. Hockey fan. Canadian. And Crown Prince to the entire continent of North America, known as “the Westlands” to the fae, currently ruled by his parents, High King Aethlin and High Queen Maida. Not that most people know that, since he’s a blind foster squired to a changeling—not exactly something that screams “hidden royalty.”

But with a new Queen on the throne in the Mists, his parents have finally come to town to see how he’s doing…and to take him home with them. That’s going to be a problem, since Quentin doesn’t particularly want to leave, and his knight, Sir October Daye, doesn’t particularly want to let him go.

Set after Chimes at Midnight and before The Winter Long, it’s finally time to meet the parents in our first-ever story narrated by Quentin himself.

I loved that they put an illustration of a strapping blond teenage boy on the cover of this novella, however, I'd never imagined Quentin as looking like every football jock at a Midwestern high school, all of whom were committed to bullying everyone who wasn't a jock or a cheerleader, so that was a bit jarring. Quentin is described early on as being more long limbed, skinny and geeky looking, plus he's gay, so my image of him is different, if not stereotypical. But this particular novella has more to do with seeing Toby as a proper foster mom for Quentin and less about the boy himself. His parents are the stereotypical disapproving, snobbish people who are horrified that their son has been in danger during his fosterage, and they've also made the assumption that they can control him enough to have him give up his knighthood and adventures and come back to their realm because it is convenient for them and because they want to keep him "safe." 

But safety is not what knights are made for, so Quentin and Toby push back, as do all the motley crew who make up Toby's adoptive family of cat-people and fae creatures. Tehre are some great moments of tenderness and humor in this short book, which I loved reading. McGuire is a master storyteller, and her prose, though no-frills, is sturdy enough to carry whatever weird or twisty plot she assigns to it. I'd give this novella an A, and recommend it to anyone who wonders about the inner life of Toby's faithful squire.

Magical Midlife Madness by K.F. Breene is a delightful paranormal romance/urban fantasy series about a middle-aged woman setting out to redefine herself after years of marriage and raising a family. Here's the blurb: A woman starting over. A new house with an unexpected twist. A cape wearing butler acting as the world's worst life coach.

"Happily Ever After" wasn't supposed to come with a do-over option. But when my husband of twenty years packs up and heads for greener pastures and my son leaves for college, that's exactly what my life becomes.

Do-over.

This time, though, I plan to do things differently. Age is just a number, after all, and at forty I'm ready to carve my own path.
Eager for a fresh start, I make a somewhat unorthodox decision and move to a tiny town in the Sierra foothills. I'll be taking care of a centuries old house that called to me when I was a kid. It's just temporary, I tell myself. It'll just be for a while.

That is, until I learn what the house really is, something I never could've imagined.
Thankfully forty isn't too old to start an adventure, because that's exactly what I do. A very dangerous adventure that will change my life forever. I have a chance to start again, and this time, I make the rules. 

I was thrilled to read, for once, about a female protagonist who wasn't a young, perky petite blonde with the perfect breasts and ass and a "fiery" temperment that leads the huge, tall and sexy male protagonist (and every other male creature in the book) to find her irresistible in and out of bed. That trope is so over-used it's ridiculous. This time, the protagonist is in her 40s and wants to take back her power, her sense of self and her life on her own terms. She doesn't have the perfect body, (because no one does after having children), she doesn't dress in the perfect clothes and she's smart, witty and wise. I will say that she gets drunk and is clumsy and in need of rescue a few too many times, however...but she always tries to get things done herself first, even if those are fumbled attempts that lead to being embarrassed. I liked Jessie, and I found the were-bear Austin Steele (yeah, that name is a bit much) to be tolerable, though he was overprotective and controlling even while he was rescuing her from her poor choices. Still, the prose was fizzy and funny and fun, and the plot moved so fast that it seemed almost magical! I'd give this delightful ebook an A, and recommend it to any paranormal romance fan who is tired of the "perfect woman meets drool-worthy guy with six pack abs" trope and wants to GET REAL for a change. Here's a great quote from the book "Money might not buy happiness, but it sure helps with an escape route." LOL.

Monster by Carmen Caine is yet another ebook that I got on the cheap from Amazon, due to the publisher sending around a daily discount in their e-newsletter. Here's the blurb: Monster, Book one of the Cassidy Edwards series!

Revenge. It’s all I've lived for. Revenge against those who stacked the cards against me from the start. But I’m changing the deck now. I’m getting even. Born to a vampire, I wasn’t supposed to survive—but I did.

My name is Cassidy. Cassidy Edwards. And I’m the first of my kind.

The Job
Trapping a sixteenth-century Scottish Highlander of a vampire who just might be seduction itself.
The Team
A firedrake with an attitude, a werewolf with a problem, and an imp in dire need of rehab.
The Boss
A dangerously powerful warlock as handsome as sin.
My Problem: Bluffing my way into a job, my first mission into the Charmed world opens a Pandora’s box of betrayal and secrets ... along with attractions of the most lethal kind. 

This labyrinthine tale begins with a young woman who sees herself as a monster due to an accident of birth, and who seeks revenge against her biological father for her very existence. Cassidy, it seems, dislikes sucking bits of lifeforce, or manna, from a variety of people as her only means of sustenance. If she takes too much from any one person, she drains their soul and they die. So she inadvertently tries to take some manna from a Warlock, who assumes she knows all about her powers and the war that has been raging between himself and other magical creatures, and what follows is one cruel revelation after another, as Cassidy is thrust into danger because she doesn't know anything about the magical world or the power of the creatures around her. Her own mother, it appears, willingly throws her daughter under the bus time and again, though Cassidy keeps falling for her BS. I didn't really like most of the characters we meet in this tale, from the drunken and generally worthless imp to the mean and controlling warlock and the equally controlling dead Highlander. No one seemed to have Cassidy's back.There's also not really a happy ending here. Still, it was an interesting book, so I will give it a B, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in vampires and warlocks and other evil creatures. 

Arundel Books Re-opens in New Location, RIP Lawrence Ferlinghetti, My Salinger Year Movie, Book Butler at the Ben Hotel in West Palm Beach, Award Winner CJ Cherryh, Tip of the Iceberg by Mark Adams, Soulstar by C.L.Polk, and The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Feret-Fleury

Good day to all my fellow bookish friends! I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to post again, but I had the first shot in the COVID vaccine at the beginning of the month, and it has set me back a bit in terms of feeling energetic and totally myself. So I've been watching a number of free movies, reading some good and bad books, napping and trying to recuperate. So, lets March onward!

I visited Arundel Books twice when we first moved here from Florida back in 1991. It was in a classic, beautiful brick building in Pioneer Square, and they had such a variety of gorgeous rare books and used volumes that I could have spent hours in the place happily sniffing the air, redolent of gently decomposing volumes. Now they've got a new home and a new lease on life, printing and binding books as well as selling them. Once the quarantine is over, I will have to plan a visit to their new digs!

 Arundel Books, Seattle, Wash., Opens in New Home

Arundel Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47565606 in Seattle, Wash., moved into a new space last Saturday at 322 1st Ave. S, in an historic building dating back to 1900. The new space is larger than the previous location in Pioneer Square and is open seven days per week from noon to 6 p.m. The building originally housed the Capitol Brewing and Malting Company, which later became the Olympia Brewing Company, and was home to a gallery called Flury & Co. for decades

Arundel was founded in 1984 as an art and poetry publisher and in 1987 began selling rare and out-of-print books. Now Arundel Books has a full retail bookstore and an affiliate publisher called Chatwin Books as well as a book printing and binding operation.

RIP to the famed and amazing Lawrence Ferlinghetti. At 101, he lived a long and storied life and brought books to the people with City Lights in San Francisco.  The world weeps for the loss of this legend.

Obituary Note: Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti distinguished American poet, artist and founder of City Lights Booksellers and Publishers http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47565638 in San Francisco, died February 22. He was 101 years old. In a tribute, City Lights noted that Ferlinghetti "was instrumental in democratizing American literature http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47565639 by creating (with Peter D. Martin) the country's first all-paperback bookstore in 1953, jumpstarting a movement to make diverse and inexpensive quality books widely available. He envisioned the bookstore as a 'Literary Meeting Place,' where writers and readers could congregate to share ideas about poetry, fiction, politics, and the arts.

Two years later, in 1955, he launched City Lights Publishers with the objective of stirring an 'international dissident ferment.' [His own Pictures of the Gone World] was the first volume of the City Lights Pocket Poets Series, which proved to be a seminal force in shaping American poetry." 

Ferlinghetti continued to write and publish new work until he was 100 years old. "For over 60 years, those of us who have worked with him at City Lights have been inspired by his knowledge and love of literature, his courage in defense of the right to freedom of expression, and his vital role as an American cultural ambassador," City Lights wrote. "His curiosity was unbounded and his enthusiasm was infectious, and we will miss him greatly. We intend to build on Ferlinghetti's vision and honor his memory by sustaining City Lights into the future as a center for open intellectual inquiry and commitment to literary culture and progressive politics. Though we mourn his passing, we celebrate his many contributions and give thanks for all the years we were able to work by his side."

Paul Yamazaki, City Lights buyer and a close friend, told Hoodline that while Ferlinghetti's death is a huge loss, he hopes people can celebrate his life http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47565640:

"That's what he would want. As we are all aware, it was quite a life. It's like the sun and moon, and it's going to affect us for a long, long time in a really positive way.... As the years have passed, what was always important to Lawrence was that we continue the tradition at City Lights that has been established over the last 68 years. That's what we are going to do."

Nancy Peters, co-owner and retired executive director of City Lights, told the San Francisco Chronicle "It was my good fortune to have worked closely with him for more than 50 years. We've lost a great poet and visionary. Lawrence--never Larry--was a legend in his time and a great San Franciscan."

Ferlinghetti's many poetry books include A Coney Island of the Mind, which was published in 1958 and has never gone out of print, with a million copies released in a dozen languages. His final book, the novel Little Boy, was published a week before his 100th birthday.

The Chronicle wrote that "his greatest contribution to the world of letters was as co-founder of City Lights, a paperback bookstore and propeller of the San Francisco Renaissance in poetry." As a publisher, one of his first books was Allen Ginsberg's Howl & Other Poems (1956), which was introduced at the famed Six Gallery reading on Fillmore Street in October 1955.

"Lawrence Ferlinghetti kicked open the door to free up publishing in this country," said San Francisco novelist Herbert Gold. "He risked a great deal for a lot of books that are now considered classics."

In a 2018 Chronicle interview, Ferlinghetti said of San Francisco: "It seemed like it was still the last frontier, which it isn't anymore. I mean, in 1951, it was a wide-open city, and it seemed like you could do anything you wanted to here. It was like there was so much missing that if it was going to be a real city, there was so much that it had to get, that it didn't have. And, for instance, as far as bookstores go, all the bookstores closed at 5 p.m. and they weren't open on the weekends. And there was no place to sit down. And there was usually a clerk on top of you asking you what you wanted.... And so the first thing I realized, there was no bookstore to become the locus for the literary community. It's really important if you're going to have a literary community, it has to have a locus."

From Ferlinghetti's "The World Is a Beautiful Place":

Yes the world is the best place of all for a lot of such things as making the fun scene and making the love scene and making the sad scene.

As Michael Barnard of Rakestraw Books, Danville, Calif., commented: "Today is a sad scene."

 I've read this book, and I look forward to streaming the new movie adaptation of it this weekend.

Movies: My Salinger Year

IFC Films will release My Salinger Year http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47607437, adapted from the memoir by Joanna Rakoff, in theaters and VOD on March 5. Directed and written by Philippe Falardeau, the film stars Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver and Douglas Booth.

Set in 1990s New York City, My Salinger Year tells the story of Joanna (Qualley), who, after graduate school, pursues her dream of becoming a writer, landing a job as an assistant to Margaret (Weaver), a literary

agent whose clients include J.D. Salinger. Joanna's main task is processing Salinger's voluminous fan mail, but as she reads the letters from around the world, she becomes reluctant to send the agency's impersonal standard letter and impulsively begins personalizing the responses. As she uses the great but reclusive writer's voice, she begins to find her own.

OMG, this would be the ONLY reason I'd ever fly back to Florida, to have my own book butler at the Ben Hotel. What a great idea...I wish someone in the Seattle hospitality industry would do the same! I think there are some wonderful hotels, like the Sorento, who could really use this added benefit, especially in such a literary-forward town.

Cool Idea of the Day: Book Butler

The Palm Beach Book Store http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47609350 in Palm Beach, Fla., has partnered with The Ben, a hotel in West Palm Beach, to create a service called the Book Butler, Palm Beach Daily News reported http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47609351.

Through the Book Butler program, guests can order complimentary books to be delivered to their rooms. Each room has a curated book menu, and guests can dial 0 on their room phones, order a book and have it hand-delivered to their rooms. An in-room dining option called Book Bites also matches small-plate items with the titles on the book menu.

"During the pandemic, it has been especially important that we continue to connect our customers to books," Candice Cohen, founder of the Palm Beach Book Store, told the Palm Beach Daily News. "We look forward to partnering with The Ben to curate a selection of new and topical book titles that relate to the history of the hotel and the city of West Palm Beach."

Guests are free to keep the books, or they can leave them behind to be donated to the West Palm Beach Library Foundation. The titles featured on the book menu will rotate seasonally.

 I used to read CJ Cherryh's books about giant cat people in space, and I remember loving them, but ultimately giving up on them when they started to get too political and militaristic (I also gave up on the later books in the Dune series for the same reason). Still, this is a well-earned award. Congrats to Ms Cherryh!

Awards: BSFS Robert A. Heinlein Winner CJ Cherryh

Carolyn Janice Cherry, known to readers as C.J. Cherryh, won the 2021 Robert A. Heinlein Award http://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47640532 for her "body of work, with emphasis on her detailed social science and commercial relationship-based stories set in the space station rich Alliance-Union universe."

Sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, the award honors "outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space." It will be formally presented May 28 at opening ceremonies during Virtual Balticon 55 http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47640533, the Maryland regional science fiction convention.

The selection committee consists of science fiction writers and was founded by Dr. Yoji Kondo, a long-time friend of Robert and Virginia Heinlein. Members of the original committee were approved by Virginia Heinlein, who also authorized multiple awards in memory of her husband, including the Heinlein Prize, which is funded by Virginia Heinlein's estate, and a National Space Society award for volunteer projects.

 My latest book reviews:

Tip of the Iceberg by Mark Adams is the March book for my library book group, which means I had to read it, as I'm the leader of the group. Otherwise, I would have ditched this boring, redundant and sexist, fatphobic, racist and homophobic volume after the first couple of chapters. Adams is just another middle aged journalist who took a long-form story on Alaskan climate change and turned it into a padded and over-researched book about an expedition of old white guys in 1899 who were horrible people and just as racist, sexist, etc, as Adams was, but, as it was an earlier era, they were also bloodthirsty, wanting to kill bears and other wildlife native to Alaska. Disgusting. Here's the blurb: 

 In 1899, railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman organized a most unusual summer voyage to the wilds of Alaska: He converted a steamship into a luxury "floating university," populated by some of America's best and brightest scientists and writers, including the anti-capitalist eco-prophet John Muir. Those aboard encountered a land of immeasurable beauty and impending environmental calamity. More than a hundred years later, Alaska is still America's most sublime wilderness, both the lure that draws one million tourists annually on Inside Passage cruises and as a natural resources larder waiting to be raided. As ever, it remains a magnet for weirdos and dreamers.

Armed with Dramamine and an industrial-strength mosquito net, Mark Adams sets out to retrace the 1899 expedition. Traveling town to town by water, Adams ventures three thousand miles north through Wrangell, Juneau, and Glacier Bay, then continues west into the colder and stranger regions of the Aleutians and the Arctic Circle. Along the way, he encounters dozens of unusual characters (and a couple of very hungry bears) and investigates how lessons learned in 1899 might relate to Alaska's current struggles in adapting to the pressures of a changing climate and world. 

The last lines in Adam's book exhort readers to visit Alaska and see the glaciers before they're gone, yet the way he denigrates every single town he visits as being a grubby backwater full of crazy people leads any sane reader to want to stay as far away from this state and it's crumbling infrastructure and deadly weather as possible. He even points out how horrible Alaskan cruise ships are for the environment while hypocritically trying to bum a ride on one a few chapters later so that he can sleep in a warm bed and have a decent meal. Unsuprisingly, the cruise ship doesn't allow him to ride for free, and thus Adams goes back to trying to recapture his youth by pestering Alaskans and preying on their good natures, while talking smack about them after he is done using them. By the end of the book, I loathed the author and had nearly lost the will to live. I'd therefore give this book a D, and I can't really recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a cynical and crude POV about native flora and fauna (and people) of Alaska. I wish the author had been eaten by one of the bears he quailed and wailed about during the whole book.  

 

Soulstar by C.L Polk is the third and final volume of  the Kingston Cycle, which began with Witchmark. This is the book that ties everything together and provides readers with an HFN ending (happy for now). Though I loved the first book and enjoyed the second book, this volume has a lot more political intrigue than I like in my fantasy novels, and there's also a lot more pain and suffering than is usual for this kind of book. Still, the prose was lush and lovely, and the plot moved along smartly. Here's the blurb: With Soulstar, C. L. Polk concludes her riveting Kingston Cycle, a whirlwind of magic, politics, romance, and intrigue that began with the World Fantasy Award-winning Witchmark. Assassinations, deadly storms, and long-lost love haunt the pages of this thrilling final volume.

For years, Robin Thorpe has kept her head down, staying among her people in the Riverside neighborhood and hiding the magic that would have her imprisoned by the state. But when Grace Hensley comes knocking on Clan Thorpe’s door, Robin’s days of hiding are at an end. As freed witches flood the streets of Kingston, scrambling to reintegrate with a kingdom that destroyed their lives, Robin begins to plot a course that will ensure a freer, juster Aeland. At the same time, she has to face her long-bottled feelings for the childhood love that vanished into an asylum twenty years ago.

Can Robin find happiness among the rising tides of revolution? Can Kingston survive the blizzards that threaten, the desperate monarchy, and the birth throes of democracy? Find out as the Kingston Cycle comes to an end.
As painful as Robin's love affair is, it's very satisfying when everything comes to a well deserved conclusion. I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone who has read the other two novels.

The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Feret-Fleury is a novel translated from French and was beautifully packaged in a pretty book jacket with a lovely font that reminded me of  the Art Nouveau era. The prose was gorgeous and the plot smooth and velvety. I found myself using bookpoint post its to mark favorite passages in the novel. I rarely do this, especially with a contemporary writer, so you know that the prose has to be profound. Here's the blurb: For fans of Amélie and The Little Paris Bookshop, a modern fairytale about a French woman whose life is turned upside down when she meets a reclusive bookseller and his young daughter.

Juliette leads a perfectly ordinary life in Paris, working a slow office job, dating a string of not-quite-right men, and fighting off melancholy. The only bright spots in her day are her métro rides across the city and the stories she dreams up about the strangers reading books across from her: the old lady, the math student, the amateur ornithologist, the woman in love, the girl who always tears up at page 247.

One morning, avoiding the office for as long as she can, Juliette finds herself on a new block, in front of a rusty gate wedged open with a book. Unable to resist, Juliette walks through, into the bizarre and enchanting lives of Soliman and his young daughter, Zaide. Before she realizes entirely what is happening, Juliette agrees to become a passeur, Soliman’s name for the booksellers he hires to take stacks of used books out of his store and into the world, using their imagination and intuition to match books with readers. Suddenly, Juliette’s daydreaming becomes her reality, and when Soliman asks her to move in to their store to take care of Zaide while he goes away, she has to decide if she is ready to throw herself headfirst into this new life.

Big-hearted, funny, and gloriously zany, The Girl Who Reads on the Métro is a delayed coming-of-age story about a young woman who dares to change her life, and a celebration of the power of books to unite us all.

I'm a fan of character driven novels, and this one has a host of great characters whose stories are funny, sad and wonderful (I would not call them, however, zany...they're all too French for that). I'd assumed that I knew how the novel was going to end, based on Juliette's dedication to passing along books, but the author provides one plot twist after another, until the ending was a complete surprise. I won't spoil it for you here, but suffice it to say it's certainly a different ending than any I could have imagined. I'd give this wise and yet ennui-scented book an A, and recommend it to those who love the French and who love literature as well.