Unburnable Handmaid's Tale to be Auctioned, Eagle Harbor Book Co Response to Mass Shooting, Robert Gray, the Six Million Dollar Bionic Reader, Dead Calm and Dead Shift by Annie Anderson and Cold Burn of Magic and Dark Heart of Magic by Jennifer Estep

Welcome! It's the 31st anniversary of our arrival in Seattle, after a 10 day journey driving diagonally across the country from Florida. So Memorial Day has a special significance for Jim and I, and I always look forward to the sunny skies and warmer temps that are usual at the end of May in the PNW. 

It doesn't deter me from curling up somewhere comfy and reading a good book, however. I've been falling in love with a couple of series of urban fantasy and fantasy romance hybrids that I've been reading on my Kindle Paperwhite in ebook format this month. So while I've been eagerly gobbling those ebooks, I've also tried to slow down my reading of regular paper books a bit to make time to savor them, and to stream some movies or TV series, and get some more medical tests out of the way. In the words of the wise and wonderful Robert Gray of Shelf Awareness: "Reading is a journey, not a race. With that in mind, enjoy this long weekend, the first taste of summer before summer officially begins. And slow down if you're reading too fast." Amen to that!

I absolutely LOVE these photos of the famed Margaret Atwood trying to burn her non- flammable book with a huge flamethrower...it's just AWESOME, and it makes me want to send it to all the anti-choice politicians with the cutline "Do NOT piss off feminists, or any woman, really!"

 'Unburnable' Edition of The Handmaid's Tale to Be Auctioned for Anti-Censorship Fundraiser

To raise awareness about the proliferating book banning and educational gag orders in some U.S. schools, Margaret Atwood and Penguin Random House have partnered to create The Unburnable Book, a fireproof edition of Atwood's prescient--and often banned--novel The Handmaid's Tale, featuring imagery by designer Noma Bar. In the launch video https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAOMlegI6apuch0iSw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jEXpSgpoMLg-gVdw, Atwood can be seen "testing" a prototype with a flamethrower.

The one-of-a-kind edition was created using fireproof materials and will be presented at auction by Sotheby's New York, with proceeds going to PEN America to support the organization's work to counter censorship. The opening date for the Sotheby's exhibition is June 3, and it will close with the auction on June 7.

This single-copy special edition of The Handmaid's Tale was produced by creative agency Rethink and fabricated in Toronto by the graphic arts specialty and bookbinding atelier the Gas Company Inc. The Unburnable Book was manufactured by print-and-bindery master craftsman Jeremy Martin. Fireproof materials and processes were researched and tested by Doug Laxdal.

PRH CEO Markus Dohle said: "We are at an urgent moment in our history, with ideas and truth--the foundations of our democracy--under attack. Few writers have been as instrumental in the fight for free expression as Margaret Atwood. To see her classic novel about the dangers of oppression reborn in this innovative, unburnable edition is a timely reminder of what's at stake in the battle against censorship, and Penguin Random House is incredibly proud to support Sotheby's auction of this one-of-a-kind book to help fund PEN's crucial work against these forces."

Atwood commented: "I never thought I'd be trying to burn one of my own books... and failing. The Handmaid's Tale has been banned many times--sometimes by whole countries, such as Portugal and Spain in the days of Salazar and the Francoists, sometimes by school boards, sometimes by libraries. Let's hope we don't reach the stage of wholesale book burnings, as in Fahrenheit 451. But if we do, let's hope some books will prove unburnable--that they will travel underground, as prohibited books did in the Soviet Union."

PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel added: "In the face of a determined effort to censor and silence, this unburnable book is an emblem of our collective resolve to protect books, stories and ideas from those who fear and revile them. We are thankful to be able to deploy the proceeds of this auction to fortify this unprecedented fight for books."

This has GOT TO STOP, people. Yet another mass killing of elementary school children in Texas happened this week, with 20 children and a few adults getting gunned down by yet another mentally ill teenage white boy who was able to purchase huge rifles and guns without a background check, online or at a gun show or out of someone's truck. Our politicians are all in the pocket of the NRA, and they're allowing gun violence and mass shootings to continue unabated. Some thing has to give, here, it's disgusting that so many families are heartbroken and so many lives lost due to the greed and thirst for power of the NRA and republican politicians in Washington DC. These are the same people who are trying to ban all abortions, saying that they're pro-life, when they do NOTHING to try and save the lives of children once they're out of the womb...then they're not nearly as valuable to the so-called pro lifers, who are really just pro-misogyny and want to control women through forced pregnancy and childbirth. 

Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Gives Bookseller Response to Most Recent Mass Shooting.

21 Children and a few adults were killed in a mass shooting at an Elementary School in Texas this week. On Instagram, Eagle Harbor Book Co., Bainbridge Island, Wash., posted a series of pictures of staff holding books and wrote: "Our booksellers have been talking about what our response should be to what's happening in this country. We've decided we want to share what we know best: book recommendations. If you are able, please consider making a donation to Everytown https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAOOluwI6apudx10Gg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jEXJekpoMLg-gVdw for a cause we feel very passionate about."

 I used to watch the Six Million Dollar Man (and the Bionic Woman) with my brothers on TV when we were kids, so I can easily recall the sound effects and opening theme that Robert Gray is talking about here. I totally agree with his take on reading and savoring books more slowly, though there are books that are like snacks, or treats to be devoured quickly, while other books are a feast of deliciously sensual prose that you have to enjoy deliberately, otherwise you miss all the layers of flavor.

Robert Gray: The Six Million Dollar Bionic Reader

As the long holiday weekend begins and languorous summer nears, my brain is stuck on a troubling image. In the opening sequence for the 1970s ABC TV series The Six Million Dollar Man , former astronaut Steve Austin (Lee Majors) crashes his experimental jet and is subsequently--literally--reconstructed.

"Gentlemen, we can rebuild him," the voiceover intones. "We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better... stronger... faster." Then we see him running at what is meant to be superspeed, though initially--and often later he seems to be hyper-sprinting in slow motion.

Why am I thinking about this? Blame HuffPost, which clued me in recently to "a new hack for speed reading doing the rounds on Twitter right now. It's called 'bionic reading' and it's really dividing people."

Bionic Reading https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAOOluwI6apudx1wTw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jEXJekpoMLg-gVdw's website describes the strategy as "a new method facilitating the reading process by guiding the eyes through text with artificial fixation points. As a result, the reader is only focusing on the highlighted initial letters and lets the brain center complete the word. In a digital world dominated by shallow forms of reading, Bionic Reading aims to encourage a more in-depth reading and understanding of written content."

BR "revises texts so that the most concise parts of words are highlighted. This guides the eye over the text and the brain remembers previously learned words more quickly." Founder & owner Renato Casutt observes: "Future needs origin. I'm a typographic designer from Switzerland with 25 years of experience. Passionate about what I do and full of joy to be able to help other people. Growing with Bionic Reading and breaking old patterns has been driving me for years."

I suspect I'm not the target audience for BR. Speed reading innovations have never appealed. Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics long ago promised to teach me how to determine my current reading rate, then increase it immediately. "Your reading speed will double--guaranteed!... Polish off entire books in one sitting. Plus, there's an advanced comprehension and retention system that will help you understand more."

No thanks. I've always been rubbish at fast reading, not least because I have no interest in the concept beyond curiosity. I could be a poster child for the Slow Books movement. By nature and temperament, I'm a patient and deliberate reader, though the pace increased measurably when I took a bookseller's job in the early 1990s. Before that, I lingered over pages, paragraphs and sentences of the books I loved. I underlined and committed excessive marginalia. I read passages aloud to people I liked, saying, "Listen to this...."

But I can't really say I read dramatically faster than I used to. As a bookworker, I don't always have a vested interest in the titles that land on my desk, though I begin each with hope. Page one is always full of possibility.

Books remain irresistible. Can I read them all? No. But within the considerable limitations of my ability, time and attention span, I'm reading as fast as I can. Except, of course, when I read... slowly.  Reading is a journey, not a race. With that in mind, enjoy this long weekend, the first taste of summer before summer officially begins. And slow down if you're reading too fast. As Arden Reed observes in Slow Art: The Experience of Looking, Sacred Images to James Turrell, "slowness is also essential to grasping the experience of modernity--if only because the hallmark of modernity is speed." --Robert Gray, contributing editor, Shelf Awareness

Dead Calm and Dead Shift by Annie Anderson are the 3rd and 4th books in the Grave Talker series, by an author who knows her way around witty repartee and snarky come-backs. Her prose is dialog heavy and made for blazing fast reading, while Anderson's plots run straight and true by keeping her characters busier than Arnold S in an action movie. Here are the blurbs: #3:

There's not enough coffee or tacos in the world to deal with Darby Adler's family.

If it's not her death-dealing father, her back-from-the-dead mother, or her ghost grandfather, it's her long-lost siblings and their bid for power.

With the ABI radio silent and her siblings to find, Darby's got a major problem on her hands--especially when the local coven figures out that her father is no longer bound.

Can Haunted Peak, TN handle this family reunion?

 #4:

Detective Darby Adler is about to hand in her badge.

After inadvertently taking the mantle of Warden of Knoxville, Darby has painted a huge target on her back. With bridges burned and the ABI on her tail, she’ll have to decide between staying a small-town detective or leaning into her new role.

It’s not only her job on the line—it’s her life.

Who says small towns are boring?

Dead Shift is the fourth book in the Grave Talker Series. If you enjoy foul-mouthed heroines, dark humor, and enemies-to-lovers, then then this is the series for you.

Darby Adler is an irresistible combination of Gilmore Girls Lorelai Gilmore and Seanan McGuire's Toby Daye with some Tiffany Haddish, Melissa McCarthy and Ali Wong thrown in for good measure. She doesn't suffer fools at all, she eats and swears like a truck driver and she strongly believes in good and doing what is right, even if it negatively impacts her life in some extreme ways. I love that she can talk to the dead, while at the same time having a lust for life that manages to shine through the fog of nightmares that she constantly traverses. The prose, as I've mentioned, gleams along the vibrant plot(s) and the characters are full bodied and most are fascinating. I'd give these page-tuners an A, and recommend them to anyone who likes paranormal romantic mysteries with unforgettable heroines.

Cold Burn of Magic and Dark Heart of Magic by Jennifer Estep are books 1 and 2 in a YA paranormal fantasy series that I found delightful, if written with an eye to the younger teenage crowd. the prose was clean and clear, if sometimes a bit too "children's book g-rated" for my tastes, while the plots were straightforward and provided an easy and fun read. Here are the blurbs: Cold Burn: It’s not as great as you’d think, living in a tourist town that’s known as “the most magical place in America.” Same boring high school, just twice as many monsters under the bridges and rival Families killing each other for power. 

I try to keep out of it. I’ve got my mom’s bloodiron sword and my slightly illegal home in the basement of the municipal library. And a couple of Talents I try to keep quiet, including very light fingers and a way with a lock pick. 

But then some nasty characters bring their Family feud into my friend’s pawn shop, and I have to make a call—get involved, or watch a cute guy die because I didn’t. I guess I made the wrong choice, because now I’m stuck putting everything on the line for Devon Sinclair. My mom was murdered because of the Families, and it looks like I’m going to end up just like her.
 
“An adventurous ride you will never want to get off.”—Jennifer L. Armentrout

Dark Heart: As a thief, I stick to the shadows as much as possible. But when the head of the Sinclair Family picks me to compete in the Tournament of Blades, there’s no escaping the spotlight—or the danger. 

Even though he’s my competition, Devon Sinclair thinks I have the best shot at winning what’s supposed to be a friendly contest. But when the competitors start having mysterious “accidents,” it looks like someone will do anything to win—no matter who they hurt. 

As if I didn’t have enough to worry about, mobster Victor Draconi is plotting against Devon and the rest of my friends, and someone’s going around Cloudburst Falls murdering monsters. One thing’s for sure. Sometimes, humans can be more monstrous than anything else.

Fairy tale magic mobster families combine with gladiator games and intrigue in this series to create some real page turners that will keep you up until the wee hours.  Lila Merriweather is a delightful protagonist who checks all the YA fantasy heroine boxes, from bravery and insane combat skills (check!) to being an orphan with a tragic backstory who now has some great found family and has been able to live on her own as a street rat/thief (double check!). She also checks the box for unresolved issues and magic powers that she has to hide, for fear of them being taken from her by evil forces. Kind of like Harry Potter with a lot more combat skills and a cool sword. Also like HP, these books are so readable that you'll find yourself saying the booklovers mantra of "Just one more page/chapter!" over and over, until the book is read and you've lost the last 24 hours. Hence, I'd give this series an A-, and recommend it to fans of romantic fantasy novels with kick butt heroines.

 

 

Inventing the It Girl Book Review, Goodnight Moon in Space, Stan Lee's Image "Returns" to Marvel Studios, Movies Catherine, Called Birdy and The Good People, The First Sister by Linden A Lewis, Book Lovers by Emily Henry, Dead to Me and Dead and Gone by Annie Anderson

It's almost summer, my fellow book dragons! You wouldn't know it by the on and off cool rainy days (with hot sunny days inbetween) here in the PNW, but June's summery days are almost upon us. I'm not a huge fan of spring and summer (too many allergies) but I find that, as I get older, I've developed a bit more respect for the change of seasons and some much-needed vitamin D-filled sunbeams floating through my windows. Anyway, I've got lots of reviews to share, so off we go!

I will be keeping an eye out for this book, which sounds like tremendous fun.

Book Review: Inventing the It Girl: How Elinor Glyn Created the Modern Romance and Conquered Early Hollywood

The writer Elinor Glyn (1864-1943) was extravagantly vain, unapologetically snobbish, flagrantly money-minded and of unremarkable literary talent. But Hilary A. Hallett's Inventing the It Girl: How Elinor Glyn Created the Modern Romance and Conquered Early Hollywood demonstrates that Glyn, having "done her part to let loose the genie of women's sexual liberation," is an undersung feminist trailblazer ripe for a biography.

Born on the island of Jersey, England, Glyn developed her passion for books in her stepfather's library and her taste for the finer things following a trip to Belle Epoque Paris as a teenager. A middle-class child of the Victorian era, Glyn married up--she landed a proper English gentleman--and soon learned that, as she would write, "brains did not count" when one was the mistress of an estate. But her husband had a gambling problem and the family needed money, so Glyn sought what was then considered an unsuitable job for an upper-class woman: professional writer.

Glyn had success with her books, especially Three Weeks, her scandalously steamy and occasionally banned 1907 romance novel; in Hallett's assessment, the plot's implicit "glorification of a woman's right to pursue her heart's desire outside the bounds of matrimony proved too much of a blow to the era's genteel literary code to go unpunished." Given Glyn's crowd-pleasing notoriety, it's no wonder that Jesse Lasky, vice-president of production at Famous Players-Lasky Studio, invited her to Hollywood to write for the movies. In the film world as in the literary one, Glyn's calling card was her ability to give even the raciest stories an aristocratic gloss, which assured a prudish public that what they were viewing couldn't possibly be smut. As Hallett puts it, "High-class settings and costumes, refined manners, and a smoldering intensity could transmute steamy erotic play into acceptable behavior that permitted the expression of women's sexual pleasure."

Exhaustively researched and decked out with 50-odd photos and reproductions, Inventing the It Girl is rich with history--inevitable, given all that Glyn observed and lived through, including the erosion of Victorian social mores, World War I and Hollywood in its infancy. Hallett (Go West, Young Women!: The Rise of Early Hollywood) is utterly persuasive regarding the beneficent influence of Glyn, who popularized the term "it," meaning,as she explained, the "strange magnetism that attracts both sexes." Glyn herself may not have had it, but she had something well worth reading about. --Nell Beram , author and freelance writer

Shelf Talker: This tip-top biography of the British novelist turned early-Hollywood screenwriter salutes her for writing of women's sexual desire at a time when they weren't supposed to admit to feeling any.

 Goodnight Moon was the first book I read to my son when I brought him home from the hospital, and it was one of the first books my mother read to me when she brought me home. It's a classic children's story for a reason...it's so sweet and soothing. Now it's being read in space, which is so cool!

Image of the Day: 'Goodnight Moon'--in Space!

Earlier this week, astronaut Tom Marshburn on the International Space Station shared a zero-gravity reading of Goodnight Moon. The out-of-this-world event, which included an "Ask an Astronaut" q&a and an art project inspired by the book, was part of the 75th anniversary celebration of Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd's classic, and was sponsored by Crayola, NASA and HarperCollins Children's Books. The event can be viewed on Crayola's Facebook https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAOKkrgI6apuJxwkHw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jEWJPwpoMLg-gVdw page.

 

I'm not sure that I like this, because the man himself isn't here to protest how they use his image after his death. He was such a fun guy, and enjoyed his cameos on the films of his works, that I assume he'd like living on this way, but we'll never know, since he's dead and, greedy guys like Andy Heyward can do whatever they want under the guise of being a big fan of Stan Lees.

Stan Lee 'Returns' to Marvel Studios 

In what was described as "a unique deal," the late and legendary Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, Avengers and Hulk, is returning to Marvel Studios. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Marvel has signed a 20-year deal with Stan Lee Universe https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAOKkrgI6apuJxwlHw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jEWJPwpoMLg-gVdw, a venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment, to license the name and likeness of Lee, who died in 2018, for use in future feature films and television productions, as well as Disney theme parks, various "experiences" and merchandising.

"It really ensures that Stan, through digital technology and archival footage and other forms, will live in the most important venue, the Marvel movies, and Disney theme parks," said Andy Heyward, chairman and CEO of Genius Brands. "It's a broad deal."Describing Lee as a mentor, Heyward said he spearheaded the venture because, in the aftermath of Lee's death and the revelations of conflicts in Lee's final years, "there needed to be a steward of his legacy." The company is now sifting through Lee's files and dealing with offers, all through a protective lens. "The audience revered Stan, and if it's done with taste and class, and respectful of who he was, [uses of his likeness] will be welcomed. He is a beloved personality, and long after you and I are gone, he will remain the essence of Marvel."

This is going to be a fantastic film, I just know it...so I can hardly wait for the fall when it debuts.

Movies: Catherine, Called Birdy

The first footage has been released for Catherine, Called Birdy https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAOKkrgI6apuJxwlEw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jEWJPwpoMLg-gVdw, Lena Dunham's adaptation of Karen Cushman's 1996 medieval coming-of-age book. IndieWire reported that the project "has been in the works for 13 years--almost the exact age as the historical YA novel's heroine."

Dunham writes, directs and executive produces film, which she has described as the "most ambitious project" of her career. Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) stars "as the titular precocious Birdy, who is set to be married off for money so that her father (Andrew Scott) can save their English manor in the year 1290," IndieWire noted. The cast also includes Joe Alwyn, Ralph Ineson, Billie Piper and Isis Hainsworth. Catherine, Called Birdy premieres in theaters September 23 and on Prime Video October 7.

This is another book to movie adaptation that I'm anxiously awaiting...anything about Celtic witches and the fae is right up my alley.

Movies: The Good People

Australian production company Aquarius Films has partnered with Irish production company Port Pictures to produce The Good People https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAOLxOQI6apuchkgTA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jEWcWspoMLg-gVdw, based on the novel by Hannah Kent, who also wrote the adapted screenplay, Variety reported. The film has received development funding from Screen Australia. Kent's first novel, Burial Rites, is currently being prepared for the screen by Sony TriStar.

"What's not to love about Hannah Kent's brilliant novel?" said producers Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford of Aquarius Films. "A dark tale about three complex women, fairies, witches and changelings. All set against the eerie backdrop of 1800s Ireland."

The First Sister by Linden A Lewis is a diverse (ie LGBTQ characters are front and center) science fiction novel that was interesting, but could really have used some fine-tuning with a smart editor. The prose was mostly sterling, but there were rough spots where it became overblown with too much emotional baggage. The plot went from being straightforward to labyrinthine and back so quickly I got reader's whiplash. The characters appeared to be whole and inviolate, but would suddenly seem tissue-thin. So this is an odd novel that I enjoyed, but felt stymied by, more than once. Here's the blurb:

Combining the social commentary of The Handmaid’s Tale with the white-knuckled thrills of Red Rising, this epic space opera filled with “lush prose” (Publishers Weekly) follows a comfort woman as she claims her agency, a soldier questioning his allegiances, and a non-binary hero out to save the solar system.

First Sister has no name and no voice. As a priestess of the Sisterhood, she travels the stars alongside the soldiers of Earth and Mars—the same ones who own the rights to her body and soul. When her former captain abandons her, First Sister’s hopes for freedom are dashed when she is forced to stay on her ship with no friends, no power, and a new captain—Saito Ren—whom she knows nothing about. She is commanded to spy on Captain Ren by the Sisterhood, but soon discovers that working for the war effort is much harder when you’re falling in love.

Lito val Lucius climbed his way out of the slums to become an elite soldier of Venus but was defeated in combat by none other than Saito Ren, resulting in the disappearance of his partner, Hiro. When Lito learns that Hiro is both alive and a traitor to the cause, he now has a shot at redemption: track down and kill his former partner. But when he discovers recordings that Hiro secretly made, Lito’s own allegiances are put to the test. Ultimately, he must decide between following orders and following his heart.

With “a layered, action-filled plot and diverse characters” (Library Journal), The First Sister explores the power of technology, colonization, race, and gender and is perfect for fans of James S.A. Corey, Chuck Wendig, and Jay Posey.

I understand, intellectually, that we're supposed to be appalled by the misogyny inherent in the space nun's "sisterhood," which uses religion to codify women being emotional and sexual support to a ship full of men (and a few women), therefore turning them into prostitutes in all but name. But the political structure that supports this corrupt religion made little sense to me. It also came off as almost fan-boy space porn, with the first sister desperate to escape being demoted to the pool of women who are made sexually available to anyone on board the ship. If this book is trying to point out the unfairness of the sister system, why aren't there male "sisters" or gender neutral/queer/non binary space nuns? Why do the sisters stab each other in the back and why do their superiors manipulate them with the fear of prostitution? This pornographic bent colored the book for me in a way that made it hard to read. I liked Lito and Hiro's story, but since that was about guys, it got to be much more fleshed out than the sister's tale. At any rate, I felt that though it could have used a surgical editor, this novel deserved a B, and I'd recommend it to those who like LGBTQ relationships in their space opera/science fiction.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry is a delicious and well written romantic comedy/contemporary romance novel that I could not put down. Thanks to Ms Henry I'm writing this on only 4 hours of sleep, because I needed to know what happened to Nora and Charlie (and to Nora's sister and her family, of course). The prose was tart and crisp and the plot flew by on hummingbird wings. Brava, Ms Henry...you are obviously a master wordsmith. Here's the blurb:  

One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming...

Nora Stephens' life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.  

I love, love, love that there was a sense of meta-fiction going on here because the main characters were aware of the usual tropes of romantic comedy/contemporary romances, like the ones constantly being made into Hallmark Channel movies of the week. Those tropes, of the career gal who goes to the small town, falls in love with the local farmer, cowboy, handyman, small business owner, etc, and then gives up her hard-won career and life in the big city to settle down in Podunk, Nowheresville (which is nearly always in the South or sometimes the Midwest) and make babies with said farmer/cowboy, etc, are so predictable and sexist that you can set your watch by them. They always grate on me, though, because while I love romance and witty banter, I dislike that the women are always adorable quirky short/petite blondes or brunettes, and they're always willing to give up the lives they've built for themselves so quickly, just for a guy whom they barely know. There's never any hint that they'll grow dissatisfied or bored with small town life, or with having babies and not being able to use their academic degrees or intellect or artistic gifts ever again because now they're just a brood mare for some guy and housewife/motherhood is all they can aspire to for the next 20 years. Women are worth more than their gestational abilities, and thank heaven that Emily Henry recognizes that with Nora, who doesn't want kids and could never leave her career in New York, a city she feels born to inhabit. Fortunately, her male counterpart, Charlie, is of the same mindset as Nora, and, as she's a literary agent and he's an editor, the two working on the same novel together allows for sparks to fly and witty banter to abound in this deliciously snappy, sarcastic page-turner. Nora, who is tall and not at all sweet and kind and petite, uses her rapier wit throughout the book by dueling with the equally sarcastic Charlie, whose deadpan humor slices the air between them every time they meet or text. I devoured this book, and I'd give it an A and a recommendation to any woman with brains who is tired of the same stupid romantic tropes and really wants to see something different, or more realistic, in their romance novels.

Dead To Me and Dead And Gone by Annie Anderson are the first two ebooks in the Grave Talker series, which I am becoming addicted to, more each day. These books are urban fantasy with romantic underpinnings, and a lot of action and comedy elements. The prose is white hot, and the plot glides along on greased wheels, so you're halfway through book 2 before you're even aware you've missed a meal (or an entire day). Here's the blurbs: 

Book One:

Meet Darby. Coffee addict. Homicide detective. Oh, and she can see ghosts, too.

There are only three rules in Darby Adler's life.
One: Don't talk to the dead in front of the living.
Two: Stay off the Arcane Bureau of Investigation's radar.
Three: Don't forget rules one and two.

With a murderer desperate for Darby's attention and an ABI agent in town, things are about to get mighty interesting in Haunted Peak, TN.

If you enjoy foul-mouthed heroines, dark humor, and enemies-to-lovers, then check out Dead to Me, the first book in the action-packed Grave Talker series.

Book Two:

There are few things worse than being on the Arcane Bureau of Investigation's naughty list.
To keep herself out of hot water, Darby Adler has made a deal with the devil—using her skills as a grave talker to help the ABI solve some very cold cases.

But there is something mighty amiss in this task—especially when quite a few of these cases lead Darby right back to her home town of Haunted Peak and the secrets buried there.

Dead & Gone is the second book in the Grave Talker Series. If you enjoy foul-mouthed heroines, dark humor, and enemies-to-lovers, then then this is the series for you.

I adore the protagonist Darby, who is tough and funny, and I also really like her co-workers/friends, who all stick by her and help in times of trouble. There's that old saying about real friends being the ones who help you bury the bodies that totally applies here, but even if it didn't the nearly screenplay-like quality of the prose would suck me into the series and keep me buying book after book, and reading them until the wee hours. Though her parents are not the kind of people you'd ever want to meet in a dark alley, I appreciated the fact that Anderson made them seem less moustache twirling villain and more multi-faceted beings whose worlds kept them from nurturing or caring for their offspring. I'd give book one an A and book two a B, and I'd highly recommend this series to fans of Devon Monk or Lilith Saintcrow.

 

Book To Stage Takes on Molly Bloom, My Love Will Never Leave You Review, Obituary for Patricia A McKillip, Dune Part 2 Movie, Blue Kettle Book Mobile Comes to Seattle, Elizabeth Warren at the Strand Bookstore, Sandman Casting Choices, Spear by Nicola Griffith, By The Book by Jasmine Guillory, and Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Hello Book lovers! I hope you are all enjoying some sunshine and spring weather. Though it's been a bit chilly and rainy here in the PNW, the Rhododendron bushes are in full bloom, as are the Azaleas and the purple flowered bushes, all for the enjoyment of people and bumblebees alike. When the sun peeks out from under the clouds, it's glorious and warming. I've been warming up to a lot of gorgeous new books of late, so I'll get right down to it. Here are some great tidbits and three reviews.

I wish that I could return to Ireland, but barring that, I would love to stop by NYC for these productions from the Irish Rep. 

Book to Stage: Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom

Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City has announced two upcoming shows that are adaptations of novels: a new production of Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscADcnrgI6apvcUsgGg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jHDp_wpoMLg-gVdw and the world premiere of the new musical The Butcher Boy https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscADcnrgI6apvcUsgGw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jHDp_wpoMLg-gVdw, Playbill reported.

Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom is a stage adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses by Adenn Moloney and Colum McCann. Directed by John Keating and starring Moloney, the solo show begins previews June 8 on the W. Scott McLucas Studio Stage and officially opens June 15, running through July 17.

Moloney "read Ulysses as a young girl and has developed her interpretation of Joyce's Penelope chapter since then through performances of passages," Playbill noted. "With McCann's encouragement, Moloney worked on the show's development beginning with the audio recording Reflections of Molly Bloom in 2017. Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom made its world premiere at Irish Rep in 2019 and was produced for Irish Rep Online during the pandemic." 

This sounds like one of those books that I would have read to Nick when he was little, if it had been available. It probably would have made me cry, and it sounds like one of those classic children's books that will be read for decades to come.

Children's Book Review: My Love Will Never Leave You

A wise old tree teaches his young sapling all that she needs to know about life, love and carrying on after a loss in the touching, warm and reassuring My Love Will Never Leave You.

The old tree has been devoted to the sapling ever since she was a seedling. He's "watched over and cared for her," "pointed her to the \sky" and "helped her branches grow true and strong." He's sheltered, shaded and supported her with his love. One morning, the curious little tree wants to know about the heart-shaped leaves covering his branches.

He answers, "These are memories of the life I've led." When the sapling asks if she will grow similar leaves of her own, the old tree realizes that it's time for the little tree to "see and learn" for herself. The pair walk upon hills, sit by streams, study the birds who "find refuge in their branches" and enjoy the fragrance of flowers. The old tree teaches the young sapling many things as they travel and, lo and behold, one day soon the little tree has her own leaves, "all heart-shaped, fresh, and green."

All is well until autumn, when the sapling discovers that some of the old tree's leaves have fallen, and as the weather grows colder, his leaves become fewer. At last, the old tree must go, but not before assuring the young one, "Each time the wind blows, in your leaves is where you'll find me." In time, the little tree understands that her "bright memories" will keep her safe and warm and can guide her home.

Hogtun's text is relatively spare and poetic. His choice to use trees as walking, talking stand-ins for humans is an inspired one, infusing a sense of fantasy into the weighty discussion of mortality. While the trees are familiar figures who inspire reflection on loving and nurturing (as well as on the loss of someone special), the approach leaves much up to readers to fill in for themselves. The luminous illustrations convey plenty of emotion and conjure a pervasive sense of dreaminess and wonder. This allegorical offering gently inspires readers to understand that while "we cannot stop the seasons," sorrow will almost certainly be followed by joyful moments of surprise and renewal. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author

The news of Patricia McKillip's death gutted me when I read about it a few days ago. Patricia McKillip was my favorite Fantasy fiction author. Her prose was magnificent and unmatched, her characters otherworldly and her plots elegance itself. I've read everything she's ever written, and never found one typo or grammo, never one word out of place or misused. When I had the chance to meet her years ago, I jumped at it, but standing in line with 35 years worth of novels and stories, and then getting to the head of the line and hearing her say in a whisper-weary voice, "Can't you have me sign half of them and then go back to the back of the line and I can sign the rest?" was devastating, because I'd already stood in line for over an hour, and I couldn't stand any longer, my knees and lower back were killing me. The woman behind me in line had huge plastic totes/bins that were full of many copies of the authors work, and no one suggested that she take her handtruck full of books she was obviously going to sell in a store or online, and go to the back of the long line out the door. Though McKillip was disappointingly weak and frail and dull, I will still always love her work, which is a great legacy to the world.

Obituary Note: Patricia A. McKillip

Patricia A. McKillip, the fantasy author best known for The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and the Riddle-Master trilogy, died on May 6 https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscADdxb4I6apvcBF-Tw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jHD8T2poMLg-gVdw, Locus magazine reported. She was 74.

McKillip's writing career began in 1973 with the publication of The Throme of the Erril of Sherill and The House on Parchment Street, both for younger readers. In 1974, she published her first adult novel, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, which won a World Fantasy Award, and followed that soon after with the Riddle-Master trilogy, consisting of The Riddle-Master of Hed (1976), Heir of Sea and Fire (1977) and Harpist in the Wind (1979). The trilogy's final book won a Locus Award and was a finalist for both the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

Along with fantasy novels, she would go on to write science fiction novels such as Fool's Run (1987), contemporary fiction like Stepping from the Shadows (1982) and books for both children and adults. In addition to winning the Locus and World Fantasy Awards, she won the Mythopoeic Award four times, for Something Rich and Strange (1994), Ombria in Shadow (2002), Solstice Wood (2006) and Kingfisher (2016). In 2008, she received a World Fantasy Life Achievement Award.

 I can hardly wait for part two of Dune, which will doubtless be as thrilling as part one.

Movies: Dune: Part Two

Denis Villeneuve "is adding another high-profile talent to an already-loaded cast," according to Deadline, which reported that Christopher Walken (The Outlaws, Severance) will play the Emperor in Warner Bros. and Legendary's Dune: Part Two https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscADeleUI6apvcE1-GA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jHDJStpoMLg-gVdw.

Walken joins the ensemble that includes Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya and Josh Brolin, who are expected to reprise their roles, as well recently announced cast members Florence Pugh and Austin Butler. Villeneuve will again write, direct and produce. Production is expected to start in the fall, with the film set to bow on October 20, 2023. Jon Spaihts is returning to co-write script with Villeneuve.

 A bookmobile bus! What a great idea! I want to shop in this bus in the worst way, but I don't know if I can get my son to take me to Folklife or the Fremont Fair this summer.

Blue Kettle Books Comes to Seattle, Wash.

Blue Kettle Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAOInuoI6apuIRslGw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jEWp-ipoMLg-gVdw, a mobile bookstore with an all-ages inventory, made its debut at Cairn Brewing in Kenmore, Wash., on Friday evening, the Seattle Times reported.

Owner Monica Lemoine carries an inventory of around 800 titles in her bookshop, which is built inside of a 22-foot-long 2014 Ford StarTrans bus. About 40% of the inventory is children's books, and there is a selection of sidelines sourced from small businesses and craftspeople of color.

Blue Kettle's adult titles are shelved in themed categories such as "Love Lighter Lit," full of romance novels and humor; and "Take a Thrill Ride," for page-turners. Lemoinie told the Times that with shelf space at such a premium, she asked family and friends to send her a list of their "absolute favorite" books when she was assembling her opening inventory.

Through the rest of the summer, Lemoine will set up shop at various family-friendly events and festivals in the Seattle area, such as Northwest Folklife in Kirkland, the Fremont Fair, PrideFest and the Mill Creek Festival. Eventually she would like to find a few businesses that would allow her to park her bookmobile in their parking lots on weekdays, and she isn't opposed to opening a bricks-and-mortar store someday.

Before opening an indie bookstore, Lemoine was a teacher for nearly 20 years. While serving as an English teacher at Highline Community College in Des Moines, Wash., she learned that the majority of her students "could not recall the last time they had picked up a book for pleasure."

That inspired her to start a book club with her students, which proved to be a hit. She came to love the feeling of introducing someone to the joys of reading. Lemoine noted that while she still loves teaching, the book club "sparked in me this realization that I would love to open a bookstore."

I adore Elizabeth Warren, she's the most awesome Senator there is, and right now she's one of the very few sane voices on Capitol Hill in DC. I hope and pray that she can keep fighting for women's rights for a long time.

Image of the Day: Elizabeth Warren at the Strand

On Friday, May 6, The Strand Book Store https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAOInuoI6apuIRsiHg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jEWp-ipoMLg-gVdw in New York City hosted Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) for a discussion moderated by professor and civil rights activist Maya D. Wiley to mark the paperback release of Warren's Persist (Metropolitan).

The two discussed the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade. Warren emphasized, "It's the poor women in the United States who will suffer when the right to have a safe and legal abortion is no longer available," and she urged attendees to "get angry" and then go out and vote.

The Strand staff created a booklist centered on women's reproductive rights, with 20% of the proceeds going to Planned Parenthood. "Strand has an obligation to our customers and to our community," said Laura Ravo, COO of the Strand. "We remain steadfast and committed to using our voice to make a positive impact on the world and causes we believe in. The book collections we've curated show the history of the fight for reproductive rights and share the narratives of people who have had abortions. Both are vital in understanding the stakes of the current moment."

This is so exciting, that everyone involved, especially Neil Gaiman himself, took their time in finding the right actor to play Morpheus for the Sandman TV series. This is going to be amazing, folks, mark my words.

TV: The Sandman

Neil Gaiman and actor Tom Sturridge talked with Entertainment Weekly about this summer's highly anticipated release of The Sandman https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAOInuoI6apuIRsjEg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jEWp-ipoMLg-gVdw, based on the legendary comic series created by Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg. "Of all the questions the creators of Netflix's upcoming Sandman show had to answer, one loomed above the rest: Who will play Morpheus?" EW noted.

"I think I have personally seen 1,500 Morpheus auditions," Gaiman said. "I hesitate to imagine how many [casting director] Lucinda Syson and her team have seen.... Having watched all those other auditions, we were able to go to Netflix and say, 'it's Tom'.... We know it's Tom."

Sturridge said the long process was "entirely necessary, because this is a character who is so utterly beloved--by me more than anyone. That requires you to spend time with a human being to discover if they can live up to the dream you have of who he is. I think The Sandman pervades culture. Even the name Morpheus, King of Dreams, kind of haunted me in my youth."

Gaiman observed that "Morpheus' dialogue is incredibly specific. It was probably the thing I was most obsessive about. Someone would have written a fabulous script, [showrunner] Allan Heinberg would have rewritten a fabulous script, and I would have seen it at every iteration, but there would always be a point at the end where I would still be noodling on the Morpheus dialogue: Making sure the words were right, that the rhythms were right."

Sturridge added: "I remember you said to me that everything he says has to feel like it was etched in stone. He's never improvising. He has experienced and perceived every thought, dream, and moment, and therefore he knows what you're going to say. That was very helpful.

The cast also includes Gwendoline Christie, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, David Thewlis, Jenna Coleman, Stephen Fry, Patton Oswalt, Joely Richardson, Asim Chaudhry, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Kirby Howell-Baptiste. Allan Heinberg is the show runner and an executive producer. Also on the project as exec producers and co-writers with Heinberg are David S. Goyer and Gaiman. The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television.

Spear by Nicola Griffith is an historically infused, elegant retelling of the Arthurian legend from the perspective of Perceval, here called Peretur, a lesbian woman who dresses as a man in order to fight with Arthur and the other knights of the round table. Peretur grows up wild in what seems to be ancient Wales, drinking from a magic cauldron with her mother, who seems to be a mad witch. The cauldron is actually what the grail was taken from, but done with a female mythology behind it, rather than the Christian "cup of Christ" background. Here's the blurb: "If Le Guin wrote a Camelot story, I imagine it would feel like Spear: humane, intelligent, and deeply beautiful. It's a new story with very old bones, a strange place that feels like home." ―Alix E. Harrow, author of A Spindle Splintered

She left all she knew to find who she could be . . .

She grows up in the wild wood, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake drift to her on the spring breeze, scented with promise. And when she hears a traveler speak of Artos, king of Caer Leon, she decides her future lies at his court. So, brimming with magic and eager to test her strength, she breaks her covenant with her mother and sets out on her bony gelding for Caer Leon.

With her stolen hunting spear and mended armour, she is an unlikely hero, not a chosen one, but one who forges her own bright path. Aflame with determination, she begins a journey of magic and mystery, love, lust and fights to death. On her adventures, she will steal the hearts of beautiful women, fight warriors and sorcerers, and make a place to call home.
The legendary author of Hild returns with an unforgettable hero and a queer Arthurian masterpiece for the modern era. Nicola Griffith’s Spear is a spellbinding vision of the Camelot we've longed for, a Camelot that belongs to us all. 

I completely agree with Alix Harrow, this is a story with old bones that feels somehow familiar and right, as if the other Arthurian legends were bastardizations of this tale, which feels like the original. Griffith's prose is lean, spare and beautiful, and her plot flows like a swift river. Her attention-grabbing characters weave through the narrative in such a hypnotic fashion that you'll find yourself adrift on the final page, wondering how you got there so quickly. Though it's a slender volume, not a word is wasted, and I'd give this beauty an A, and recommend it to everyone who loves a good LGBTQ story and those who love beautiful legend updates that are engrossing and include fascinating perspectives.

By The Book by Jasmine Guillory is a YA contemporary rom-com (that is a take on Beauty and the Beast) with people of color taking center stage in a real page-turner of a story. The whole "regular young woman meets famous guy of her dreams, only to discover he's a hot mess and she's the clean up crew" trope has been done dozens of times in recent memory, but Guillory's adept and delightful prose, along with her saucy plot and realistic, witty characters handily keep the book from falling into cliche territory. I could happily have stayed in this world for another few hundred pages, I was that engrossed in the storyline. Here's the blurb:

Sometimes to truly know a person, you have to read between the lines.

Isabelle is completely lost. When she first began her career in publishing after college, she did not expect to be twenty-five, still living at home, and one of the few Black employees at her publishing house. Overworked and underpaid, constantly torn between speaking up or stifling herself, Izzy thinks there must be more to this publishing life. So when she overhears her boss complaining about a beastly high-profile author who has failed to deliver his long-awaited manuscript, Isabelle sees an opportunity to finally get the promotion she deserves.

All she has to do is go to the author’s Santa Barbara mansion and give him a pep talk or three. How hard could it be?

But Izzy quickly finds out she is in over her head. Beau Towers is not some celebrity lightweight writing a tell-all memoir. He is jaded and withdrawn and―it turns out―just as lost as Izzy. But despite his standoffishness, Izzy needs Beau to deliver, and with her encouragement, his story begins to spill onto the page. They soon discover they have more in common than either of them expected, and as their deadline nears, Izzy and Beau begin to realize there may be something there that wasn’t there before.

Best-selling author Jasmine Guillory’s achingly romantic reimagining of a classic is a tale as old as time . . . for a new generation.

I loved, loved, loved Izzy, who was smart and funny without falling prey to the stereotypes of romance novels (being the Manic Pixie Dream Girl or perfect petite blonde, in other words) and I enjoyed her interactions with Beau, who, though somewhat immature, still manages to be charming and sexy enough that you don't loathe him by the end of the novel. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who likes spunky rom-com heroines and witty banter between main characters, as well as a cool new retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal is a contemporary adult romance novel that got great ink/reviews when it was first published, but since I'd already read another of this author's works (and I was not impressed), I decided to ignore the hype and skip this one. Unfortunately, I no longer have that option as this book was chosen by my library book group for their June read. As group leader, I'm required to read all the books listed each month, even ones that I don't like. Not that this novel was horrible, the prose was fun and the characters fascinating, though the plot seemed a bit too convoluted at several points (it slowed down with all the different sub-stories and too many characters to keep track of), it was still an engrossing read. I just found it hard to like many of the widows, who seemed comically ribald and lusty while also insisting on traditional male and female roles in the home, as well as upholding the horrible tradition of marrying female children to much older men, treating these girls as breeding cattle/chattel. The whole bending to the patriarchy because it's part of the culture of your country of origin makes no sense to me. Women shouldn't have to suffer and die just to appease men and their egos and need for control/power. Here's the blurb:

A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls.

Every woman has a secret life . . .

Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father’s death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of London’s close-knit Punjabi community.

Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected—and exciting—kind.

As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community’s "moral police." But when the widows’ gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife—a modern woman like Nikki—and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.

I felt that there was too much stereotyping of women in that they were always gossiping, taking care of their husbands and thinking of "erotic/pornographic" stories that were 99 percent cis/het romances with predictable positions and actions, leading to the idea that "all women" like, for example, their breasts to be suckled by their lovers. There was little variety or originality when it came to their fantasies. I would have liked to have read more about LGBTQ fantasies or kinks or even thruples. Still, the book was engrossing and held my attention all the way through. So I'll give it a B, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys female centered Indian expat stories. 

 

Fleishman Is In Trouble comes to TV, Review of The Dead Romantics, Bobo the Dog comes to Elliott Bay Book Company, The Prince of Tides on TV, Heroic Hearts edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L Hughes, Savage Lover by Sophie Lark and Listening Still by Anne Griffin

As the song goes, "It's mad, it's gay, the lusty month of May!" Spring's prettiest month has arrived at last. While there have been more than a few days of chilly rain, there's also been days like today, Mother's Day, which are sunny, full of blue skies and warmth. The Puget Sound area is in it's glory at this time of year, with everything blooming and green. For the aforementioned Mum's Day, my lovely son and husband have spoiled me with a dozen new books and lots of treats. My own mother is also enjoying her day, after having dinner out with my brother and calling to let me know she's in need of some more cozy cat mysteries, plus a book by the wonderful Senator Elizabeth Warren. So on that note, I'm going to update my blog with some delicious tidbits and three book reviews. Enjoy!

This sounds like a wonderful series, and I've been a fan of Christian Slater's since he did his fantastic Jack Nicholson impression in the movie "Heathers" which is a classic of the teen 80s movie genre. 

 TV: Fleishman Is in Trouble

Christian Slater (Dr. Death, Dirty John) has joined the cast of FX's limited series Fleishman Is in Trouble https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscADZkukI6apgdR9zSA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jHC5OhpoMLg-gVdw, based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner's debut novel, Deadline reported. He will star opposite Jesse Eisenberg, Lizzy Caplan and Claire Danes. The cast also includes Adam Brody, Joy Supruno, Ralph Adriel Johnson, Brian Miskell, Michael Gaston, Maxim Jasper Swinton and Meara Mahoney Gross.

Brodesser-Akner serves as a writer of the limited series and executive produces along with Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Susannah Grant as well as Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris who will also direct the first block of the series. Fleishman Is in Trouble is produced by ABC Signature.

This review makes me really want to read this book, and I've read a couple of Ashely P's other books, so I will be keeping an eye out for an ebook of the Dead Romantics.

Book Review: The Dead Romantics

Ashley Poston's fun, lighthearted novels for young adults (Geekerella; Heart of Iron) offer a blend of the fantastical infused with wit and romance.

The Dead Romantics, Poston's first book for adults, is a romantic comedy about Florence Minerva Day, a smart, snarky millennial who is nursing a broken heart and suffering from writer's block. Florence is emotionally on the skids; after publishing a romance novel that received a less-than-stellar reception, downcast Florence became an assistant-turned-ghostwriter for Ann Nichols, one of "romance's greats."

Nichols is a well-established, popular author who hasn't left her home in Maine for the five years that Florence has been the secret source behind her writing success. But Florence is floundering, too depressed and turned off by love to write about it and meet a looming deadline--already extended three times--to finish and deliver Nichols's next book to the new editor at her publishing house, Benji Andor. The hottie is cold and no-nonsense. He totally unnerves Florence by threatening legal action if the new Nichols book isn't turned in asap.

She's intent on finishing the manuscript, but then Florence runs into her ex, who stole the story of Florence's life--personal secrets she shared with him about her family and their funeral home business and how Florence interacts with ghosts--and turned it into a book that sold at auction for $1 million. Weary after seeing her successful, user-ex again and faced with the impending writing deadline, Florence's life further tailspins when she is summoned from her home in Hoboken, N.J., back to Mairmont, S.C., to deal with the devastating sudden death of a family member. Being back in a place she longed to escape suddenly resurrects the past and elicits the presence of a handsome ghost who wrenches Florence from her rut and upends her beliefs about love.

Romance, chaos and complications are central components in Poston's refreshingly fun, spirited rom-coms, and The Dead Romantics is no exception. The beauty and charm of Poston's storytelling continues to make miraculous happy endings out of the messes in which ordinary people often find themselves entangled. --Kathleen Gerard

 Awwww, what a good boy!

Bookseller Dog: Bobo at Elliott Bay Book Company

"Bobo applied to be a bookseller at Elliott Bay Book Company https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscADaw74I6apvJB0kGg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jHCML2poMLg-gVdw, Seattle, Wash., posted on Facebook. "Even though he's clearly not tall enough to see over the counter and lacks opposable thumbs, we couldn't say no to that face. So here we are. ⁠Please welcome Bobo the bookseller our newest #dogsofebbco."

 I watched the movie The Prince of Tides, and I loved it enough that I then read the book, which sent me on a Pat Conroy reading spree, because I found his prose and characters so compelling.

TV:The Prince of Tides

Director Tate Taylor (The Help, The Girl on the Train) is developing a TV adaptation for Apple of Pat Conroy's novel The Prince of Tides https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscADblbkI6apvJBF-TA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jHCZTxpoMLg-gVdw, which was previously adapted into the 1991 film that was directed by Barbra Streisand, co-written by Conroy and Becky Johnston, and starred Streisand and Nick Nolte. Deadline reported that "the project is believed to be in the very early stages of development."

The series project comes from Sony Pictures Television, whose sister movie arm Columbia Pictures released the film, with Taylor writing and exec producing, Deadline noted, adding that it "is Taylor's latest project for Apple; he is exec producing Mrs. American Pie, which stars Kristen Wiig and Allison Janney, for the streamer."

Heroic Hearts, edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L Hughes is an exciting collection of science fiction/fantasy short stories starring heroes and heroines of every stripe, from the wee fae hopelessly addicted to pizza in Butcher's Dresden Files story entitled "Little Things" to Kevin Hearne's "Fire Hazard" and Charlaine Harris' "The Return of the Mage" though the latter was somewhat of a confusing and dense tale in need of more context for those of us who are unfamiliar with the world it was written in. Here's the blurb: An all-star urban fantasy collection featuring short stories from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Charlaine Harris, Kelley Armstrong, and more . . .

In this short story collection of courage, adventure, and magic, heroes—ordinary people who do the right thing—bravely step forward.
But running toward danger might cost them everything. . . . 
 
In  Jim Butcher’s “Little Things,” the pixie Toot-Toot discovers an invader unbeknownst to the wizard Harry Dresden . . . and in order to defeat it, he’ll have to team up with the dread cat Mister.
In  Patricia Briggs’s “Dating Terrors,” the werewolf Asil finds an online date might just turn into something more—if she can escape the dark magic binding her.
In  Charlaine Harris’s “The Return of the Mage,” the Britlingen mercenaries will discover more than they’ve bargained for when they answer the call of a distress beacon on a strange and remote world. And in Kelley Armstrong’s “Comfort Zone,” the necromancer Chloe Saunders and the werewolf Derek Souza are just trying to get through college. But they can’t refuse a ghost pleading for help. 

Unsurprisingly, I found the stories by the "big name" (and more experienced) authors to be my favorites, while the authors I have never heard of had works that I didn't read all the way through because they didn't hold my interest. Though I don't normally read Patricia Brigg's works, I found her "Dating Terrors" story to be quite engaging and fun, and Kelly Armstrong's "Comfort Zone" was a delight. I'd say that this collection was worth the price for all the fun stories by master storytellers (like Kevin Hearne, I adore his Iron Druid series), so I'd give it an A and recommend it to anyone who enjoys short works of fantasy fiction set in well established worlds.

Savage Lover by Sophie Lark was a free ebook that I get every month for being an Amazon Prime subscriber. While I normally have few books that I haven't already read to choose from, this time I saw this book and felt that it might be an exciting contemporary romance that would hold my interest. I should have known that with a subtitle like "A Dark Mafia Romance" that I was in for some very unsavory characters and scenes that weren't in the least bit sexy. While I understand the concept and reality of very beautiful people, male or female, I do not understand people who lose control of themselves and become blathering thirsty idiots at the sight of such people. Because, like a work of art, beautiful people are nice to look at, but what is on the surface isn't the whole story...and realistically, what a person looks like is mostly determined by genetics, something very few people have any control over. What's inside a person's soul or character is a whole different story. The two main characters in this book aren't really good people on the inside, and that makes them unattractive to me. Here's the blurb: There’s A Reason I Never Go To Parties…
I saw him in a cloud of smoke, like sin made flesh. Even bruised and battered, I’d never seen anything more beautiful...
Unless I hate myself, I should stay far away from Nero.

He’s a heartbreaker.
A mess-maker.
A walking disaster.
Here’s the problem: I’m in deep trouble with a dirty cop. The only person who can save me is Nero. We’re not friends. If he saw me drowning, he’d throw me an anchor.
But he’s the only chance I’ve got.
He’s no hero, he’s a Savage Lover.
The Lark Notes:
I like to call Savage Lover my “James Dean meets Fast and the Furious” novel. Nero is the ultimate Lothario. But Camille is so genuine and down-to-earth that she finds the soul inside the sinner. As my favorite review said, it’s “two people who believed they were unworthy of love, until they met each other”. – Sophie

Camille is a poor woman who makes even poorer choices that lead her to having to rely on this scumbag mafia scion, who has murdered people (and gotten away with it) and who uses his sexuality like a weapon, treating the women he finds as disposable. Until he meets Camille, who he can't get enough of, so he ends up solving all her problems for her in the most brutal fashion, so that he can basically own her for the rest of her life. Ugh. Macho BS is so 1970s! Anyway, the prose here is fast-paced and slick, as is the plot. The characters definitely need work, though. So I'd give this book a C, and recommend it to those whose morality is loose enough to forgive good looking guys anything, even murder.

Listening Still by Anne Griffin is a magical realism novel that takes place in Ireland and England (with a small detour to Oslo, Norway). It's a rather melancholy novel about a young woman who can "hear" the dead speak for a short time after their demise, and, as she works in the family funeral parlor with her father, also a "listener" of the dead, she's able to help give the bereaved closure, while constantly wondering if she should "soften the rough edges" of what the dead have to say (ie LIE to family) so as to not hurt anyone's feelings among the living. Jeanie is burdened with this task in addition to helping run the family funeral home, and deal with her parent's wishes to retire and turn the whole thing over to her, whether she's ready for it or not. Her Aunt Harry is also a member of the business, as is her husband Niall, who really only became an embalmer so he could be close to Jeanie. Here's the blurb:

From Anne Griffin, the bestselling author of When All is Said, comes Listening Still, a refreshing new novel about a young woman who can hear the dead―a talent which is both a gift and a curse.

Jeanie Masterson has a gift: she can hear the recently dead and give voice to their final wishes and revelations. Inherited from her father, this gift has enabled the family undertakers to flourish in their small Irish town. Yet she has always been uneasy about censoring some of the dead's last messages to the living. Unsure, too, about the choice she made when she left school seventeen years ago: to stay or leave for a new life in London with her charismatic teenage sweetheart.

So when Jeanie's parents unexpectedly announce their plan to retire, she is jolted out of her limbo. In this captivating successor to her much-lauded debut, When All Is Said, Anne Griffin portrays a young woman who is torn between duty, a comfortable marriage, a calling she both loves and hates and her last chance to break free. Listening Still is a heartachingly honest look at what we give up and what we gain when we choose to follow our heart.

The prose is lyrical, but the plot of this novel is slower than molasses in January for most of the book...it only starts picking up in the last 1/3rd of the novel, when Jeanie finally grows a spine and decides to head out on her own to France and try to lead a life that she chooses, instead of one that has been chosen for her by her crappy parents. She also finally comes to understand that honesty is the best policy, especially when her Auntie and her parents tell her about the lie they've been living for her entire life! I thought she was way too kind in her reception of this secret, when I would have disowned them all. I also don't understand her desire to piece back together her relationship with Niall, who seems like a weak and besotted fool...and neither of them had, by the end of the book, solved their main conundrum of whether or not Jeanie was willing to have children that she obviously doesn't want for Niall's sake. Something like that can build a lifetime of resentment in a woman who is forced to have babies she doesn't want, especially if she is concerned about "passing along" the "gift" of hearing the dead speak. Though Jeanie was too much of a coward to be with the love of her life (and she regrets this when he dies young of cancer) settling for a man she doesn't love as much as he loves her is a stupid idea at best. I did enjoy the cast of secondary characters, who were colorful and often fascinating, but I found the character of Mikey to be bizarre and two dimensional...he was almost perfunctory, like you can't have a novel about a women trying to find herself without her having a handicapped family member, in this case, a brother who is autistic. At any rate, I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to anyone who finds ghosts and mediums interesting, and who isn't squeamish about the funeral industry or corpses.