Reading in Public Opens in West Des Moines, IA, World Read Aloud Day, LOC and NASA Send Poem into Space, Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare, The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais, Capture the Crown by Jennifer Estep, and Drop Dead by D.N. Erikson

Greetings Bibliophiles! Welcome to February! I hope you all are enjoying the beauty of winter in it's last month before Spring starts making itself felt in March and April. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks of bundling up in a warm blanket with a hot cup of tea and some good books near the fireplace...Reading heaven.  Meanwhile, here's some fantastic tidbits about a new bookstore in my native state of Iowa, and Reading Aloud Day, as well as sending a poem into space, which I think is a fantastic idea, because who knows who will find it in decades or millennia to come?! Also below are four of my latest book reviews. See you all next weekend.

 

I am so excited that a new bookstore is opening up in Iowa, in a part where my family lived for several years. I hope that RIP thrives in WDM, and that they continue to bring diversity to the area. 

Reading in Public Opens in West Des Moines, Iowa

Reading in Public Bookstore + Cafe https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAjen-8I6aluJh8jGw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jPDJ6npoMLg-gVdw is open for business in West Des Moines, Iowa, following a grand opening on January 14. Owner Linzi Murray, store manager Bethany Fast and their team carry books with a strong focus on social justice and diversity.

There are books for children and adults in both Spanish and English, and Murray, who is a Chinese adoptee, reported that most of the store's front-facing books are by authors of color. She added that the bookstore is "very proudly Asian-owned," and noted that as far as she is aware,her store is one of the very few Asian-owned bookstores in the entire Midwest.

The bookstore's emphasis on social justice is also evident in the community partnerships it's formed. Even before the bricks-and-mortar store opened, Murray and the team had partnered with organizations such as the Iowa Abortion Access Fund and Pied Piper Studio, a children's music and movement studio in Urbandale, Iowa.

In addition to books, Reading in Public carries a variety of sidelines for all ages, including stationery, greeting cards, puzzles and toys.

The cafe side of the business, meanwhile, sells coffee sourced from a roaster in Kansas City called PT's Coffee, and Murray has partnered with local vegan bakery Thistle Summit. Pointing out that she's originally from New York City, Murray said she also has a partnership with a bakery called Five Borough Bagels, which makes New York-style bagels and was founded by former New Yorkers.

While Reading in Public has yet to schedule any events, Murray remarked that she plans to host "anything that really serves the community and the interests of the community." Along with author talks and book signings, Murray said she likes the idea of hosting less traditional events like yoga workshops and programs that raise environmental-awareness.

Murray had dreamed of owning a bookstore for a long time, though she had always thought of it as a "far-off dream" that would manifest later in life if at all. When her favorite bookstores were forced to close in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, she started a Bookstagram  https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAjen-8I6aluJh8jGA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jPDJ6npoMLg-gVdw account so that she could continue connecting with other readers and discovering new authors and stories.

Before long she felt compelled to open a bookstore of her own, and she began planning for Reading in Public in July 2021, when she was still living in New York City. Having a cafe in the bookstore was part of the plan pretty much from the beginning, as was the bookstore's general location. Valley Junction, a historic neighborhood in West Des Moines with a tight-knit community of small businesses, was the "only place I wanted to be."

Murray and her husband moved to Des Moines in November 2021, and in early 2022 Murray started looking for spaces in Valley Junction in earnest. There wasn't much available at the time, but there were a few new buildings planned and she "got in that as fast as I possibly could." She signed the lease in February 2022 and had initially hoped to open the store over the summer. Due to some long construction delays, the opening was pushed back into 2023.

"People have been so excited and anticipating this for such a long time," Murray said. The enthusiasm has not been confined to West Des Moines: some of her Bookstagram followers have been telling her "they're going to travel to visit" now that the store is open. "There's been lots of support."

I loved being read to as a child, and I think a WRAD is a wonderful idea!

Robert Gray: World Read Aloud Day--Maybe You Heard the Voices, Too

Maybe you heard it, too. On Wednesday, all over the planet, the sound of children's reading voices was being carried on a word breeze. It couldn't drown out the usual cacophony, so perhaps you thought you'd just imagined it. But imagining all those voices was the point of World Read Aloud Day https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAjewuQI6aluJkp2Sw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jPDMOspoMLg-gVdw.

LitWorld and Scholastic teamed up to celebrate the 14th annual WRAD in 173 countries with 24 hours of free, virtual programming spanning across time zones.

Internationally, children's book authors (including Dav Pilkey sharing his upcoming graphic novel Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea) read aloud and offered pre-recorded messages from 13 countries through Storyvoice.

In anticipation of the big day, WRAD author ambassador Rebecca Elliott said, "It's so exciting to know that millions of people are going to be coming together on World Read Aloud Day to celebrate the joy of story-telling and story-sharing, and I just feel so incredibly honored to be this year's Author Ambassador. I can't wait to bring The Owl Diaries along to the celebrations."

Canadian Independent Booksellers Association: "Today is World Read Aloud Day! There is something magical about sharing a story with other people. Today, why not spend some time reading aloud to someone you care about?"

I like CIBA's advice to "spend some time reading aloud to someone you care about." WRAD is geared for the kids, but it's also a yearly reminder adults might consider. Maybe you already do.

My wife and I are both lifelong readers, professionally and avocationally. We've read aloud to one another many times over the years, though not habitually. That situation changed last fall when she had surgery on one eye and was unable to read for about six weeks.

Audiobooks filled the void at first, but rather quickly I began reading books aloud to her as part of the healing process... for both of us, I suspect. Though I'll never win any awards for my reading voice, there's a gift in the effort. When she was able to read again, my time spent reading aloud declined, but we feel this is something worth sustaining.

In her memoir Coming into the End Zone, the late Doris Grumbach, who read her work in public hundreds of times and had a regular slot on NPR as a book reviewer for several years, wrote: "I dislike reading my work aloud, hearing all the errors that are, too late, cemented into print, noticing the rhetorical slips, the grating infelicities.... The sound of my own voice gives terrible legitimacy to faulty prose.

I'm pretty sure the sound of my pedestrian voice gives no "terrible legitimacy" to anything, but like all those kids who lifted their reading voices to the skies on World Read Aloud Day, I still hope to be part of the global bookish choir. --Robert Gray, contributing editor

This is so cool! Sending a poem into the vastness of space, therein to be read by space-faring generations to come!

The Library of Congress & U.S. Poet Laureate @adalimon are embarking on a mission with @NASA & @NASAJPL to send a poem to space! The poem, written by Ada & dedicated to the @EuropaClipper mission, will be engraved on the spacecraft. Launch is planned for October 2024.

 

The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare is the first book in Clares offshoot of the Shadowhunters series, the Eldest Curses, which focuses on Downworlders like Magnus Bane, the delicious gay warlock whose immortal exploits could fill more than a few books in a series. Here's the blurb: From Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu comes the first book in a new series full of “swoon-worthy romance [and] abundant action” (Publishers Weekly). The Red Scrolls of Magic is a Shadowhunters novel.

All Magnus Bane wanted was a vacation—a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon-worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke.

Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand before the cult can cause any more damage. Demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever—even if it means revealing the secrets they’ve both been keeping. 

 

Magnus and Alec are the odd couple of the Shadowhunter world, and that just makes their serious guy vs flamboyant wild guy romance all the more hilarious and heartwarming. Of course, being an extrovert, I identify much more with Magnus's wild and wacky exploits and his dress to impress style, but I still found myself adoring Alec's sweet insecure need to protect his love at all costs, and with all seriousness, though Magnus has been alive for millennia and can obviously take care of himself. Clare's prose is a perfect balance of sweet and salty, with lots of witty asides and moments that make you go "Awwww." The plot was easy-breezy, and it was one of those books that would be a good vacation read, full of action and adventure and romance. I'd give the book an A-, and recommend it to anyone who has read and loved the Shadowhunter series.

 

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais was a deliciously enchanting  tale of found family, feminism and the value of being an older woman in a society that likes to see any woman over 50 as worthless and invisible. I have to say, right off the bat, that I LOVED this book, which grabbed me and held on from the first page to the last. The prose was brilliant and decadent, while the plot was fulsome and rich. Here's the blurb: A coven of modern-day witches. A magical heist-gone-wrong. A looming threat.

Five octogenarian witches gather as an angry mob threatens to demolish Moonshyne Manor. All eyes turn to the witch in charge, Queenie, who confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments. Still, there’s hope, since the imminent return of Ruby—one of the sisterhood who’s been gone for thirty-three years—will surely be their salvation.

But the mob is only the start of their troubles. One man is hellbent on avenging his family for the theft of a legacy he claims was rightfully his. In an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. Then things take a turn for the worse when Ruby’s homecoming reveals a seemingly insurmountable obstacle instead of the solution to all their problems.

The witches are determined to save their home and themselves, but their aging powers are no match for increasingly malicious threats. Thankfully, they get a bit of help from Persephone, a feisty TikToker eager to smash the patriarchy. As the deadline to save the manor approaches, fractures among the sisterhood are revealed, and long-held secrets are exposed, culminating in a fiery confrontation with their enemies.

Funny, tender and uplifting, the novel explores the formidable power that can be discovered in aging, found family and unlikely friendships. Marais’ clever prose offers as much laughter as insight, delving deeply into feminism, identity and power dynamics while stirring up intrigue and drama through secrets, lies and sex. Heartbreaking and heart-mending, it will make you grateful for the amazing women in your life. 

 

As a woman over the age of 60, I could identify with these octogenarian witches who feel every twitch of an arthritic joint and run out of steam after one spell is incanted. Though they're all 20 year older than I am, I certain know what it feels like to deal with the debilitations of age and chronic ailments. Yet not one of the witches lets that stop her from doing her best to try and save the others. Then there's the youngest member of the household, the teenage daughter of the town's mayor who recognizes that these women are being railroaded by her greedy insensitive and misogynistic father. She brings much needed fresh eyes to their situation and ends up helping to save the day. If you're a fan of TJ Klune or Gail Carriger, you're bound to like this delicious book with its sweet and poignant tale. I'd give it an A and recommend it to those I mentioned above, or anyone else who likes modern magical tales full of laughter and fierceness!

 

Capture the Crown by Jennifer Estep is the first book in the Gargoyle Queen series, and, as I've read two of her other series, I thought I'd give this one a try. I was slightly disappointed by the extremely insecure and cowardly heroine who looks to others for answers best found within herself. But, due to childhood trauma, I gather we're supposed to give her the benefit of the doubt. Here's the blurb:

Bestselling author Jennifer Estep returns to her Crown of Shards world with an all-new trilogy and a bold new heroine who protects her kingdom from magic, murder, and mayhem by moonlighting as a spy.
Gemma Ripley has a reputation for being a pampered princess who is more interested in pretty gowns, sparkling jewelry, and other frivolous things than learning how to rule the kingdom of Andvari. But her carefully crafted persona is just an act to hide the fact that Gemma is a powerful mind magier—and a spy. 

Gemma is undercover, trying to figure out who is stealing large amounts of tearstone from one of the Ripley royal mines when she encounters Prince Leonidas Morricone of Morta—her mortal enemy. Gemma tries to steer clear of the handsome prince, but when she finds herself behind enemy lines, she reluctantly joins forces with Leo. Also coming to Gemma’s aid is Grimley, her beloved gargoyle.

Despite the fact that Andvari and Morta are old, bitter enemies, a dangerous attraction sparks between Gemma and Leo. Further complicating matters is Leo’s murderous family, especially Queen Maeven Morricone, the mastermind behind the infamous Seven Spire massacre.

The closer Gemma gets to the stolen tearstone, the more deadly plots she uncovers. Everyone is trying to capture the crown, but only one queen can sit on the throne.

 

Another thing I find annoying about romance threads in fantasy books like this is the way the female protagonists seem unable to control themselves around the overly handsome male protagonist. It's as if they lose all their reasoning faculties and become stupid overnight. It brings into play the ridiculously sexist stereotype of the emotional or "hysterical" female who can't think straight due to hormones, as if men are only prey to hormones when they want to get laid. At any rate, the prose was clean and crisp and the plot very straightforward, almost like it was based on Romeo and Juliet (LOL). I'd give this book a B- and recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy retellings of Shakespeare romances.

 

Drop Dead by DN Erikson  is a paranormal fantasy/adventure/action novel that reads like something written by Jennifer Estep or Deanna Raybourn or Seanan McGuire's October Day series.  This would be a good thing if Erikson had anything new to offer the subgenre, but she does a virtual paint-by-numbers rendition of the strong female protagonist with powers who is in a heap of trouble and has to be the only one able to get herself and her sidekicks, one of whom is nearly always a romantic interest, out of the mess that they're in. If this is done in a deft fashion with unique flair then it's an engaging and wonderful journey. If it's not, it becomes tedious because regular readers of Estep or Raybourn or McGuire know where the plane is going to land at every beat of the story arc. Copying these other writers makes this writer seem like a lazy fangirl or just someone who wants to ride on the coat tails of a trend in order to get a publishing contract for a series. Here's the short blurb:

I just woke up in a motel.
I have no idea who I am or how I got here.
But I do know three things.
There's a body on the floor...and one in the bathtub.
There's a bullet in my shoulder. And it hurts. Bad.
And there's a vampire warlock right outside the door. And he's coming to finish the job.
Drop Dead is the first book in the new urban fantasy series starring Tess Skye.

Erikson's prose is gritty and witty, but the plot is commonplace and predictable. While I'd like to say it was good enough for me to want to read the second book, it was just too much like the other series mentioned for me to really care about the carbon-copycat characters. I'd give this book a C+, and recommend it only to those who haven't read the other series I've mentioned, so it will seem new to them.