It's Fall, and the air is crisp and smoke-filled, at least out here in the suburbs of Seattle. I'm hoping that my fellow bibliophiles are donning sweaters, making themselves a nice hot cup of tea or coffee and settling in a cozy reading nook for the duration. I've got lots of tidbits to get through and more than a few reviews to post, so lets get to it!
I love that many in the Seattle area have realized how badly the local Native American population has been treated, and are taking steps to deal with it by, in this one instance, celebrating Indigenous People's Day instead of that rank racist/misogynist Christopher Columbus Day.
Elliott Bay Book Company https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAfZw7gI6allJRF0Tw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jAC8LwpoMLg-gVdw, Seattle, Wash.: "Happy #IndigenousPeoplesDay! Our Native American section has a range of titles from contemporary Indigenous authors--including many Northwest and Coastal Peoples--as well as an extensive collection of historical works told from a range of perspectives. We're extremely fortunate to have two of these authors--Julian Aguon and Sasha LaPointe--speaking at Seattle Arts & Lectures this month on Oct 19."
Octavia Butler's books have been sidelined too often historically, and I'm glad that her books are experiencing a renaissance with her books and with adaptations of her books. This adaptation will premier the day after my birthday! What a gift!
TV: Kindred
FX's Kindred https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAfZw7gI6allJRFwSw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jAC8LwpoMLg-gVdw, the new series based on Octavia E. Butler's novel, will premiere December 13 on Hulu, Deadline reported, adding that the premiere will include all eight episodes. The series will soon be available on Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ under the Star banner in all other territories.
The announcement was made at New York Comic Con during a Kindred panel presentation featuring showrunner and executive producer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and cast members Mallori Johnson, Micah Stock, Gayle Rankin, Austin Smith, David Alexander Kaplan, Sophina Brown and Sheria Irving.
Kindred has been adapted for television by Jacobs-Jenkins, who executive produces the series with Joe Weisberg, Joel Fields, Darren Aronofsky, and Ari Handel of Protozoa Pictures, Courtney Lee-Mitchell, Jules Jackson, and Ernestine Walker. Janicza Bravo directed and served as an executive producer on the pilot. The season is produced by FX Productions.
People who willingly go out and spread COVID, especially in places where there are people like me, who are immune compromised, are asshats. I laud this bookseller for tossing them out of her store.
Fla.'s Third House Books Holds Grand Reopening
Third House Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAfawewI6allJBwgSw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jACMCkpoMLg-gVdw, Gainesville, Fla., held a grand reopening last week, after being closed to browsers since March 2020, when pandemic lockdowns started.
Owner Heather Halak, who is the sole bookseller in the store, is immunocompromised, which led her to stay closed to browsers longer than most other stores, and now she is requiring customers to wear masks. If customers don't wear masks, she turns them away. "Good riddance," she told alligator.org "Those aren't the people I want shopping in my store--people trying to kill me."
The bookstore opened in 2016 and moved into its current, larger location only three months before having to close in 2020.
Third House Books specializes in titles from small independent presses and marginalized voices and has an unusual approach to inventory. It carries no more than 300 titles at a time, so that customers can "browse nearly every title in a relatively short amount of time without becoming overwhelmed." The store also carries T-shirts and puzzles.
I loved the Joy Luck Club book when it debuted, and I liked the movie as well...so the fact that they're developing a sequel is music to my ears!
Movies: The Joy Luck Club Sequel
Nearly 30 years after The Joy Luck Club https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAfawewI6allJB93Tg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jACMCkpoMLg-gVdw "changed Asian and Asian American representation in cinema, a sequel is in development with author Amy Tan and Oscar-winning screenwriter Ron Bass continuing from the former's bestselling novel," Deadline reported. Also producing are Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park Entertainment Group and The Judge producer Jeff Kleeman.
The original leading cast of the Wayne Wang-directed movie are in talks to return to their roles, including Ming-Na Wen, Tamlyn Tomita, Rosalind Chao and Lisa Lu.
"We are excited to be teaming with Hyde Park and Jeff Kleeman in bringing to life the next generation of these four families so close to our hearts," said Tan and Bass.
Amritraj added: "I am thrilled to work with Amy, Ron and Jeff to bring this special film to the screen. Now more than ever it is important to share authentic stories about the Asian-American experience, and we believe this film will speak to wide audiences with its narrative rooted in humanity and connection."
This was one of my favorite books as a preteen, and an adaptation for the stage sounds just perfect. I wish I could see it, but most great musicals and stage plays don't make it out my way.
On Stage: A Wrinkle in Time Musical
A musical adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's Newbery Medal-winning novel A Wrinkle in Time https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAfawewI6allJB90Gw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jACMCkpoMLg-gVdw, is in the works. Playbill reported that the production will feature music and lyrics by Obie-winning composer Heather Christian (Oratorio for Living Things) and a book by Horton Foote Prize winner Lauren Yee (Cambodian Rock Band). Two-time Obie Award winner Lee Sunday Evans (Dance Nation) will direct. Diana DiMenna and Plate Spinner Productions, Aaron Glick, and Charlotte Jones Voiklis are attached as producers. Dates for productions, as well as additional creative team members, will be announced in 2023.
Charlotte Jones Voiklis, L'Engle's granddaughter and director of her literary estate, said: "Knowing my grandmother's love of and devotion to theatre, I had long envisioned a musical adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time that could transport audiences to a different dimension in a way only music can. I am inspired by this creative team who truly love and understand the original novel and yet are ready to explore the possibilities of what it could be on the stage. Heather masterfully layers meaning with her unique voice and story-telling compositions.
Lauren's inventive and lyrical plays, many of which explore the relationships between generations, make her the perfect match to write the story for the stage. Lee, who is known for helming emotionally potent new plays and musicals that boldly re-invent familiar story-telling conventions and forms, is ready to bring all the elements together for a deep and magical stage experience."
I will watch anything Emma Thompson is in, but I am also a fan of Matilda the book, so I imagine the musical is delightful. I will be keeping an eye out for it on one of my streaming services.
Stage to Film: Matilda the Musical
The first official trailer has been released for Netflix's Matilda the Musical https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAfckeoI6allcBAiEw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jADpCipoMLg-gVdw, a screen adaptation of the Tony- and Olivier-winning stage production that is due for a limited release in theatres beginning December 9, with a full streaming release set for December 25, Playbill reported. Newcomer Alisha Weir stars in the title role opposite Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchbull.
Based on the 1988 children's novel by Roald Dahl, Matilda the Musical was adapted for film by the production's book writer Dennis Kelly, with original music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. Tony winner Matthew Warchus, who directed both the West End and Broadway productions, returned to direct the Netflix film. Working Title's Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner and The Roald Dahl Story Company's Jon Finn and Luke Kelly serve as its producers. Appearing alongside Weir and Thompson are Lashana Lynch as Miss Honey, Sindhu Vee as Mrs. Phelps, and Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough as Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood.
The Matchmaker's Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman is a delicious magical realism novel that has been recommended to me several times because I'm a fan of Alice Hoffman's Magic books. What I really enjoyed about this book is the through line of history, of the women who had various gifts for doing good things in their Jewish neighborhoods. When the protagonist Sara discovered her gift of matchmaking, she had a rough time going up against all the old male matchmakers, and now her granddaugher has that same gift and has to learn that she can't ignore something so intrinsic to her being, though her job depends on helping people divorce, not fall in love. I could not put this book down, I was so engrossed, I read it in one sitting! Here's the blurb: "Loigman's latest is a gem. A scrappy Jewish
teenager newly arrived in 1920s New York struggles to follow her calling
as a matchmaker––seventy years later, her cynical divorce-attorney
granddaughter realizes she has very inconveniently inherited the family
gift for matching soulmates. Both funny and moving, The Matchmaker's Gift made me smile from start to finish."
––Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code
Even
as a child in 1910, Sara Glikman knows her gift: she is a maker of
matches and a seeker of soulmates. But among the pushcart-crowded
streets of New York’s Lower East Side, Sara’s vocation is dominated by
devout older men—men who see a talented female matchmaker as a dangerous
threat to their traditions and livelihood. After making matches in
secret for more than a decade, Sara must fight to take her rightful
place among her peers, and to demand the recognition she deserves.
Two
generations later, Sara’s granddaughter, Abby, is a successful
Manhattan divorce attorney, representing the city’s wealthiest clients.
When her beloved Grandma Sara dies, Abby inherits her collection of
handwritten journals recording the details of Sara’s matches. But among
the faded volumes, Abby finds more questions than answers. Why did
Abby’s grandmother leave this library to her and what did she hope Abby
would discover within its pages? Why does the work Abby once found so
compelling suddenly feel inconsequential and flawed? Is Abby willing to
sacrifice the career she’s worked so hard for in order to keep her
grandmother’s mysterious promise to a stranger? And is there really such
a thing as love at first sight?
The prose in this novel is outstanding. Intricate and intelligent, it swoons it's way over a beautifully-rendered plot that will hook you in and not let you go until the final page. The insight into generations of Jewish women who must fight against prejudice and sexism to ply their trade is fascinating. But it's Sara and Abby as characters who keep you reading into the wee hours. They're both so realistically portrayed as strong women who don't give up that I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I'd give this book an A and recommend it to anyone who likes Alice Hoffman or Sara Addison Allen's works.
The Anatomist's Wife by Anna Lee Huber is a historical romance mystery that I found to be atmospheric and interesting. I'm a big fan of Scotland and Wales (and Ireland) and I loved the moody setting and the gruff inspector who helps the protagonist, Lady Darby, find out whodunnit. Here's the blurb: Scotland, 1830. Following the
death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister’s
estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when her hosts
throw a house party for the cream of London society, Kiera is unable to
hide from the ire of those who believe her to be as unnatural as her
husband, an anatomist who used her artistic talents to suit his own
macabre purposes.
Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when
one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to
utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian
Gage—a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While
Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn’t about
to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl.
When
Kiera and Gage’s search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a
series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But
Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence,
even as she risks becoming the next victim.
This is a very dense novel, and at times it can be almost suffocating, because there's way too much redundancy in going over and over every emotion and thought in Lady Darby's mind. She's got low self esteem and constantly feels like everyone hates and judges her because they all think that a woman who can draw the inner workings of a human body (provided by her abusive husband, who forced her to use her artistic skills to draw muscles and bones and organs during his autopsies) is somehow "unnatural" and insane. As this is set in the 19th century, when women were sent to houses of horrors known as asylums for a lot less than drawing dead bodies, we're made to know that Lady D considers herself lucky to be living with her sister's family in a huge mansion. She is pretty weak when it comes to seeing dead bodies, which seems odd, as she's seen so many before, and she constantly claims that she hated every minute of drawing them, when it sounds like it was the only thing that kept her from being another boring aristocrat. I'm hoping that future books have Lady D growing a spine and helping the handsome Agent Gage solve crimes. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to those who like historical romances with a mystery twist.
Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp was a delightful contemporary romance with a bit of magic added in, ala Alice Hoffman and Sara Addison Allen. I loved the premise of the protagonist baking magic into pies that showed evil men the harm they'd caused, and allowed them to change or die. I also liked that pie maker Daisy's bisexuality was taken as a given, not something strange or unusual. Here's the blurb: Daisy Ellery’s pies have a secret ingredient:
The magical ability to avenge women done wrong by men. But Daisy finds
herself on the receiving end in Misha Popp’s cozy series debut, a
sweet-as-buttercream treat for fans of Ellery Adams and Mary Maxwell.
The
first time Daisy Ellery killed a man with a pie, it was an accident.
Now, it’s her calling. Daisy bakes sweet vengeance into her pastries,
which she and her dog Zoe deliver to the men who’ve done dirty deeds to
the town’s women. But if she can’t solve the one crime that’s not of her
own baking, she’ll be out of the pie pan and into the oven.
Parking
her Pies Before Guys mobile bakery van outside the local diner, Daisy
is informed by Frank, the crusty diner owner, that someone’s been
prowling around the van—and not just to inhale the delectable aroma.
Already on thin icing with Frank, she finds a letter on her door,
threatening to reveal her unsavory secret sideline of pie a la murder.
Blackmail?
But who whipped up this half-baked plot to cut a slice out of Daisy’s
business? Purple-haired campus do-gooder Melly? Noel, the tender—if
flaky—farm boy? Or one of the abusive men who prefer their pie without a
deadly scoop of payback?
The upcoming statewide pie contest
could be Daisy’s big chance to help wronged women everywhere…if she
doesn’t meet a sticky end first. Because Daisy knows the blackmailer
won’t stop until her business is in crumbles.
I really didn't like the strident, rude and traitorous Melly at all, I felt she was heartless and conniving and stupid, which is a dangerous combination that almost gets Daisy, whom she claims to like, killed. I felt like the author wanted to paint all women who protest injustice toward woman as being like this, when that's just not true. I mean, we're supposed to believe that a strong feminist leader would be so easily bamboozled by an evil man who tells her a fairly transparent lie to get her to harass Daisy? Really? And Daisy lets this stupid person back into her life with only a short apology? Why? I would want her to go to jail for B&E if nothing else. I did enjoy Daisy's PBG business and her way of making pies helpful to people, like students, as well as making pies that can harm. The prose was as smooth as Boston cream and the plot flowed like cool lemon chiffon. I'd give this book a B+ and recommend it, again, to those who like magical realism, similar to the kind of books written by Alice Hoffman and Sara Addison Allen.
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N Holmberg is a delightful novel that reminded me of TJ Klune's House on the Cerulean Sea. It has magic, mystery, romance and a very British sensibility about it, though it takes place in America. I wasn't expecting too much of this low-priced ebook, to be honest, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself totally engrossed in Merritt and Hulda's struggle to set this magic haunted house to rights. I also loved that Merritt evolves from a fussy, immature and spineless sap of a man into a caring person who believes that the house and the spirits within it are his "found family." Here's the blurb:
The character of Hulda is a gem, and I loved how straightforward she was, and how tenacious. The prose was excellent and the plot swift, if a bit twisty in the final lap of the book. All in all, this book was worth twice what I paid for it. I'd give it an A- and recommend it to anyone who likes haunted houses and organizations that look after taming them (I thought the acronym BIKER was hilarious).
I Choose Darkness by Jenny Lawson is a short but funny essay by the author of Lets Pretend This Never Happened, among other non fiction comedy tomes. While it's ostensibly about Christmas, several other holiday traditions are outlined here, and all are just as bizarre and hilarious as you'd expect from Lawson. Here's the blurb:
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