Hurrah! It's my birthday week (Thursday) and I've already received some books as gifts from my friend in Iowa, along with some legal pads and a bunch of new nightgowns and shirts from Woman Within that should get here by Friday...so with new cozy PJs and some good books and tea, I will be all set to spend my day reading and enjoying myself. Meanwhile, I have a lot of tidbits, and five book reviews on offer. Take a break from all that Christmas prep and read on!
Quotation
of the Day
McNally Jackson at 20: 'It Has Been a
Joy'
"It has been the joy and pride of
my life to open public places
dedicated to books in New York, to
deepen the experience of our streets,
to push into the streetscape and claim
spaces for the life of the mind.
Our first bookstore had been a mob
front, our second a steel factory,
our third an Ann Taylor, our fourth
fallow and vacant since it was
built, our fifth a bank, and the new
SoHo store had been a parking
garage. Small victories won by readers
and booksellers. Writers make it
possible, writers living and passed.
Sappho helps us pay the rent.
Solzhenitsyn helps us pay our
booksellers. It's an extraordinary
industry, everyone in it has a debt of
gratitude to the body of work
that in its totality is something
called books. Bound pages, one of the
most enduring technologies. The
interior voice, disembodied and shared,
one of the most extraordinary
innovations.
It has been a joy. Thanks for keeping
us going."
--Sarah McNally, in part, in a letter
to customers today celebrating the
20th anniversary of McNally Jackson in
New York City.
This sounds like a fascinating series that I can look forward to in the new year.
TV:
Climbing in Heels
Emily in Paris creator Darren Star and
Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas will
co-write and executive produce a series
for Universal Television based
on the latter Goldsmith-Thomas's debut
novel, Climbing in Heels
https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscVfcwe8I6a1ndU92GQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6mQDsCnpoMLg-gVdw,
Deadline reported. The studio preemptively acquired the rights to the
book, which will be published next April.
"I am thrilled to be partnering
with Darren Star and Universal
Television to bring life to these
complicated, colorful women who
refused to be sidelined or silenced,"
Goldsmith-Thomas said.
Star added: "I'm excited to team
up with Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas to
bring Climbing in Heels--her addictive
fictional account of Hollywood in
the 1980s through a female lens--to the
screen. It's the ballsy and
bawdy love child of Mad Men and Sex and
the City. I can't wait for
audiences everywhere to meet this
indomitable ensemble of female
characters who broke all the rules to
make their own."
I've been a fan of Stephen Fry's since I saw him on reruns (during the 90s) of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, which was a brilliant sketch comedy program that was hilarious.
He's since done a great deal of work on TV and movies, and I've adored him in everything he's done. He's a Renaissance man for the ages.
Reading
with... Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscVfcwe8I6a1ndU92SA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6mQDsCnpoMLg-gVdw
is an award-winning comedian,
actor, presenter, and director. He rose
to fame alongside Hugh Laurie in
A Bit of Fry and Laurie (which he
co-wrote with Laurie) and Jeeves and
Wooster, and he was unforgettable as
General Melchett in Blackadder. He
hosted more than 180 episodes of QI and
has narrated all seven of the
Harry Potter novels for the audiobook
recordings. He is the bestselling
author of the Mythos series, which
includes the most recent Mythos: The
Illustrated Edition (Chronicle Books),
where he draws out the humor and
pathos in each story and reveals its
deep resonance with our own lives.
He also wrote four novels and three
volumes of autobiography.
On your nightstand now:
Someone recommended Simon Mason, so I
picked up A Killing in November, a crime novel set in Oxford.
Astonishingly good writing. Brilliant, not "cosy."
Favorite book when you were a child:
Favourite Greek Myths by Lilian
Stoughton Hyde. She started my love
affair with it all.
Your top five authors:
Really? Crumbs.
Charles Dickens
Oscar Wilde
James Joyce
Anton Chekhov
P.G. Wodehouse
Book you've faked reading:
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas
Hardy, Women in Love by D.H.
Lawrence, the U.S.A. trilogy by John
Dos Passos, Moll Flanders by Daniel
Defoe, The Ambassadors by Henry James.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Thomas Mann's Little Herr Friedermann
and Other Stories in Penguin
Modern Classics with its George Grosz
portrait on the front. What a
cover!
Book you hid from your parents:
Querelle of Brest by Jean Genet. The
cover, Panther Books if I recall
aright, was a little too...
Book that changed your life:
Escape from the Shadows by Robin
Maugham. A story of growing up gay that so mirrored my own
experience.
Favorite line from a book:
"He was born with a gift of
laughter and a sense that the world was
mad," from the epigraph to
Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini.
Five books you'll never part with:
The Complete Works of Shakespeare
(obv.), the Complete Works of Oscar
Wilde, The Jeeves Omnibus by P.G.
Wodehouse, Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh, The Oxford Book of
English Verse edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch.
Book you most want to read again for
the first time:
Bleak House by Charles Dickens.
Your favorite Greek god:
I sometimes reply Athena, because she
is wise and strong and powerful. I
do admire her enormously, but in the
end it has to be Hermes: god of
liars, story-tellers, thieves, rascals,
and travelers. He was charming,
but impertinent and cheerful. These are
all aspects and qualities that
mean a lot to me.
I developed a love for Giovanni's poetry in college, and I'm gutted that she's gone from this earth. Her wonderful poems will live on, however, which is a grand legacy to have.
Groundbreaking
Poet Nikki Giovanni Dies at 81
Beloved
poet Nikki
Giovanni has died at the age of 81.
Giovanni made her name as a standout of the Black
Arts Movement
and became the rarest of things: a famous poet. Known for her
powerful performances, Giovanni was also often invited to comment on
politics, current events, and issues of race and gender. If you’ve
never had the pleasure of hearing Giovanni read her work, here
is one wonderful example,
though if you’re going to consumer one piece of Giovanni-related
media, it really should be this
conversation she had with James Baldwin in 1971,
well worth two hours of your time. Fare thee well, Ms. Giovanni.
The Study of Fire (Book 3 in Valek's Adventures) by Maria V Snyder is a romantic fantasy adventure novel that tells the story of Fire Study from the male protagonist's (Valek) point of view. It's like getting a second read of a favorite book, but looking at everything that happened in a different way, which is delightful. Here's the blurb: Because I loved the original "Study" series, it's no surprise that this new POV series is a real delight to read, full of "ah ha" moments and sighs when you recall how Yelena reacted to events in the original series. Snyder's prose sparkles and her plots fly on gilded wings, without any plot holes or slow downs, until you're surprised that you've reached the end...it's just that good. I'd give this book (and the other Valek POV books) an A, and recommend them to anyone who read the original series and wants to enjoy visiting that world again.
Grimstone and Monarch by Sophie Lark are billed as "romantic thrillers" when what they are is horror/romance novels that have a lot of pornographic scenes in them, enough so that to call them both "spicy" is like calling the Pacific Ocean wet. A gross understatement, and while I do enjoy a bit of spice in my romantasy books, these two novels go into graphic detail on both the torture/horror front and the sexual scenes with an unseemly gusto that can leave some readers nauseous (or in my case, I just skimmed the sexual descriptions and tried to focus on the plot). I was also not a fan of the illustrations, which were grotesque and overblown enough that they resembled the Frazetta illustrations to old 70s science fiction/fantasy novels, with men that are huge and rippling with muscle and women whose breasts and butts are enormous, as are their weirdly snubbed noses, huge cheekbones and puffy lips (but of course they still have tiny waists and delicate hands and feet, blonde hair and long legs). Here's the blurbs: The Covett brothers are both huge, muscular and manly, and of course grumpy and rude/mean until they meet the young women of their dreams, and have a lot of sex, which turns them both into nice, protective guys who must rescue their damsels in distress. UGH....cliches and tropes abound in these horrific pornographic novels that wouldn't have enough of a plot to publish if it weren't for all the descriptions of oral sex in nearly every chapter. I was disappointed that there wasn't more of a story here, just nightmares and very descriptive sex scenes, which isn't what I look for in a novel at all. If you're going to write "dark" (just a jingoistic word for horror) fantasy porn, call it what it is and leave the regular romantasy readers out of it, please. We're not looking for serial killers and torturers and rapists in our reading, thanks. Though the books are beautifully created with colored edges and such, I'd give them both a C+ and only recommend them to those who don't mind the misogyny of cis gendered porn and horror.
Bloodguard by Cecy Robson is a romantasy action/adventure (swords and sorcery) novel that takes all the battles of films like The 300 and Gladiator and marries them with the elves of Tolkien (only more bloody-minded) and a sprinkling of witty banter in a fast-moving plot. Here's the blurb: Though bloody books are not my strong suit, I found myself riveted to Leith and Maeve's story, and their struggles to survive in this Romanesque world of battles and bloodshed. I couldn't put this book down, and read it all in one day. The prose is sleek and stunning and the plot cuts like a fine blade through silk. I was crushed (though not surprised) when it was discovered that Leith's sister and entire family had died years before he was made aware of it, so it would seem all of his attempts at sending them money for food and helping them get medical care was all in vain. But Leith gets his revenge, and there's a hint of how things will change for the better under the new regime. This book is gorgeous to look at, with it's white embossed cover and red/white endpapers, so I would give it an A-, and recommend it to booklovers and book collectors alike.
Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford is a "coming of old age" cozy novel with a mystery/secret at it's heart that doesn't detract from the beauty of the prose or the delicious plot that will have you running to the kitchen to bake up something for tea. Here's the blurb: A huge-hearted, redemptive coming-of-old-age tale, a love story, and an ode to good food
Nothing could be more out of character, but after fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard’s health declines, and her friends' lives become focused on their grandchildren—which Jenny never had—Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes.
Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras and timed challenges, Jenny delights in a new-found independence. But that independence, and the stress of the competition, starts to unearth memories buried decades ago. Chocolate teacakes remind her of a furtive errand involving a wedding ring; sugared doughnuts call up a stranger’s kind act; a simple cottage loaf brings back the moment her life changed forever.
With her baking star rising, Jenny struggles to keep a lid on that first secret—a long-concealed deceit that threatens to shatter the very foundations of her marriage. It’s the only time in six decades that she’s kept something from Bernard. By putting herself in the limelight, has Jenny created a recipe for disaster?
Nothing could be more out of character, but after fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard’s health declines, and her friends' lives become focused on their grandchildren—which Jenny never had—Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes.
Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras and timed challenges, Jenny delights in a new-found independence. But that independence, and the stress of the competition, starts to unearth memories buried decades ago. Chocolate teacakes remind her of a furtive errand involving a wedding ring; sugared doughnuts call up a stranger’s kind act; a simple cottage loaf brings back the moment her life changed forever.
With her baking star rising, Jenny struggles to keep a lid on that first secret—a long-concealed deceit that threatens to shatter the very foundations of her marriage. It’s the only time in six decades that she’s kept something from Bernard. By putting herself in the limelight, has Jenny created a recipe for disaster?
Because this story was based in England, the characters (particularly the women) are self-effacing and insecure, and in Jenny's case, nearly spineless in her fear of not telling her husband of almost 60 years about the baby she had to give up when she was a teenager. Why there's still such hierarchical misogyny in modern England, I don't know, but it lent the whole story a waft of bitterness, at least from my POV, that women aren't allowed to enjoy their successes and must still wait on their men like slaves. That seems pitiful to me, especially in someone Jenny's age, 77, who should know her own worth at this point. Still, I loved her tale of baking and love and persistence, so I'd give this beautiful baked good of a novel a B+, and recommend it to anyone who watches The Great British Bake Off avidly.
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