It's the final week of July, heading into the hotter than Lucifer's back porch August. Welcome to my cool book blog, where I invite you to grab a frosty glass of something delicious, alcoholic or not, and curl up inside, where its air conditioned, and read some beachy or at least summer-fun novels! It's the only way to stay healthy (no sunburn, no bug bites, no asthma or allergies due to pollen-laden air) and happy, IMO. This past week hasn't been a good one for celebrities, as we lost Ozzie Osborn, Malcom Jamal Warner and Hulk Hogan, among others. I wasn't aware that Hogan, whom I interviewed for a Florida lifestyle magazine in 1986, was a racist, misogynist fascist asshat, but this was nearly 40 years ago, and there was no indication, at the time, that he was a scumbag. After watching the final season of another misogynist/rapist/pedophilic scumbag's series, the Sandman, (I read the graphic novels back in the early 90s, and they were sublime), and realizing that the whole season was Neil Gaiman's (the author in question) apology tour, with his Marty Stu character, Morpheus, who is supposedly immortal, dying at the end, I realized that men of that generation, who are in their 50s, 60s and 70s, are nearly all guilty of being asshats, sadly. Boo to the Boomers...and thank heaven the next couple of generations aren't letting them slide or push this crap under the rug. Anyway, here are some tidbits and 4+ reviews for your edification.
I adored News of the World, and enjoyed the movie adaptation with Tom Hanks as well. I was, prior to reading the book, unaware that there were men who traveled from town to town reading from the newspapers and books to towns full of illiterate people, who were in the majority in that era. RIP to a fantastic historical author.
Obituary
Note: Paulette Jiles
Paulette Jiles, "a horse-riding
poet who wrote historical novels that evoked the grit and natural
grandeur of the 19th-century American West, notably in News of the
World, in which a Civil War veteran and a 10-year-old girl embark on
a 400-mile journey in search of the girl's relatives," died July
8, the New York Times reported. She was 82.
Jiles published six books of poetry,
two memoirs, and nine novels. News
of the World (2016) sold more than
700,000 copies, was shortlisted for a
National Book Award, and adapted into a
2020 film directed by Paul
Greengrass and starring Tom Hanks.
Jiles wrote "from a small writing
studio above her one-room cabin on a
32-acre ranch near Utopia, in Texas
hill country, where she also played
the penny whistle in a bluegrass band,
sang in a local choir and made
frequent riding trips to Mexico and
elsewhere. At the ranch, she kept
two horses, Buck and Jackson, two cats
and a koi fish," the Times noted.
Born in Missouri, Jiles moved to Canada
in 1969 and worked as a
freelance journalist for the CBC. She
remained in Canada through the
1970s and much of the '80s.
I can hardly wait for this new adaptation. I'm a big fan of the movie starring Emma Thompson that premiered decades ago.
Movies:
Sense & Sensibility
The new film adaptation of Jane
Austen's Sense and Sensibility
has added Caitrona Balfe (Outlander),
Frank Dillane, George
MacKay, Herbert Nordrum, Bodhi Rae
Breathnach, and Fiona Shaw to the
cast, Deadline reported. They join
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esme
Creed-Miles, who will play Elinor and
Marianne Dashwood. Production has
begun in the U.K.
Directed by Georgia Oakley from an
adaptation by Diana Reid, the project
will be produced by Tim Bevan and Eric
Fellner of Working Title Films,
alongside India Flint of November
Pictures and Jo Wallett.
Oh, Murderbot, how I love thee! I wasn't sold on Alexander S in the title role, but his understated autistic human/robot hybrid won me over within the first two episodes. I can hardly wait for season 2, with it's "quality entertainment" as Murderbot would say!
TV:
Murderbot Renewed
Apple TV+ has renewed the TV series
Murderbot, based on the Murderbot
Diaries sci-fi book series by Martha
Wells, for a second season. Created
and showrun by Chris and Paul Weitz,
Murderbot stars Alexander
Skarsgard, who also serves as executive
producer. The season one
cast also includes Noma Dumezweni,
David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu,
Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, and
Tamara Podemski.
"We're so grateful for the
response that Murderbot has received, and
delighted that we're getting to go back
to Martha Wells's world to work
with Alexander, Apple, CBS Studios and
the rest of the team," said the
Weitz brothers.
Matt Cherniss, head of programming at
Apple TV+, commented: "Chris,
Paul, Alexander and the entire
Murderbot team have delivered a
brilliantly original, addictive, witty
and vibrant adaptation that has
captured the imagination of audiences
everywhere. We can't wait to
unveil what's next for Murderbot and,
of course, Sanctuary Moon in
season two."
I was actually a big fan of Alien Nation...so much so that I almost considered trying spoiled milk to see if it would get me drunk, like it did the aliens on the show. Many P and Gary G were fantastic as human/alien police partners, and the show was too short-lived, IMO. I'm also a huge fan of Firefly, Star Trek and Doctor Who.
The
15 Best Sci-Fi Universes Of All Time, Ranked
Annnnd
SlashFilm recently posted its list of the 15
Best Sci-Fi Universes Of All Time, Ranked.
Some of the universes included would not surprise anyone—Star
Wars,
Star
Trek,
Doctor
Who—but
there was one that I didn’t expect. When was the last time you
thought about the 1988 sci-fi police film Alien
Nation
?
It’s about a Los Angeles police officer who gets a new partner, an
alien from space. I remembered James Caan was in it, but I completely
forgot that Mandy Patinkin followed up his 1987 role in The
Princess Bride
by playing Caan’s partner! What a strange cast. It also has Terence
Stamp, who is awesome in everything, always.
Which
one of these universes is your favorite? Mine is Firefly.
(I am wearing a ‘Captain Tightpants’ T-shirt as I write this.)
What universe do you think should have been included?
This sounds fantastic! My
mom grew up on a farm near Cedar Rapids, as did most of her extended
family. They're all gone now, (though their grands and great grands are
still going strong, I'd imagine). I wish that I knew someone who lived near CR so I could ask them to attend the grand opening and tell me all about it.
I'll
Meet You There Coffee Shop & Bookstore Coming to Cedar Rapids,
Iowa
I'll Meet You There bookstore and
coffee shop will open in December at 62 16th
Ave. SW in the Czech Village neighborhood, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The
Gazette reported that co-owners and sisters Lindsay McGrath and
Jaymie McGrath "hope to carry on the legacy of their late
mother, Mary Kay McGrath."
An entrepreneur and property owner,
known as the "Angel of the Village,"
Mary Kay McGrath led revitalization
efforts in the Czech Village and New
Bohemia districts until she died in
2024, the Gazette noted.
The store's name was inspired by a
phrase Mary Kay McGrath and her
husband, Pat, often shared, "whether
arranging a meeting for business or
planning a simple dinner together,"
according to the store's website.
"It spoke to their unwavering love
and trust, a promise that no matter
the destination, they would always find
one another. This sentiment is
so cherished in the McGrath family that
Mary Kay's headstone bears those
very words, a message of comfort and
faith: she will meet her loved ones
again in Heaven."
Inspired by their parents, Lindsay and
Jaymie McGrath have a vision that
every detail of the shop reflects the
work ethic and tenacity their
parents instilled in them. They hope to
"create the space to celebrate
connections, community and a love for
books, as well as encourage a
slower pace with carefully curated
shelves and a menu of coffee
beverages paired with sweet treats."
My mother and I have read all of Mary Roach's well written and researched books, which are hilarious and fascinating. Once you open them, you can't put them down...and they're educational, as well. I never knew what a "prison wallet" was until I read Gulp. Trust me, its something you'd least expect. Anyway, I will be on the look out for a copy of this book.
Book Review: Replaceable You:
Adventures in Human Anatomy
With books like Gulp: Adventures on the
Alimentary Canal
and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of
Science and Sex, Mary Roach
has earned a well-deserved reputation
for delivering useful scientific
information to a general readership
with impressive style and wit.
Replaceable You: Adventures in Human
Anatomy, a lively survey of the
state of the art in the field of
regenerative medicine--a collection of
disciplines that, in the aggregate,
function as the equivalent of a
human auto body shop--continues on that
same path.
Each of Replaceable You's chapters
focuses on a discrete body part or
system, such as hair follicles and the
rectum. With Roach as an
inquisitive, intelligent guide, readers
learn about mundane topics, like
the evolution of the technology for
joint replacements, alongside exotic
research into editing pig genes to
reduce the probability that their
organs will be rejected when implanted
in humans, and more. That
problem, as Roach explains in her
chapter on hair replacement, is what
drives the search for "stealth"
cells--"a line of iPS [induced
pluripotent stem] cells that are able
to dodge the human immune system,
making immunosuppression unnecessary,"
something she calls the "Holy
Grail of regenerative medicine."
In describing efforts like these, Roach
isn't afraid to step out from
behind her computer and observe
cutting-edge research and practice up
close. Among other places, her travels
took her to Sichuan, China, where
researchers are working to overcome
traditional Chinese reluctance to
donate organs by exploring ways of
adapting pig organs to human beings,
and to a clinic in Tbilisi, Georgia,
attempting to track down a doctor
who uses fingers for penis transplants.
Roach also engaged in participatory
journalism, as she trained in the
critical skill of intubation with a
group of medical residents at
Stanford and even spent some time
inside one of the last working Emerson
ventilators--better known as an iron
lung--to experience what it felt
like to have it breathe for her. She
caps off the book with a visit to a
Pittsburgh organ procurement
organization where she observed a tissue
harvesting session.
In the chapter on fashioning a vagina
out of a colon, Roach comments on
the "remarkable and sometimes
surreal adaptability-- the
agreeableness--of the human body."
That characterization provides a
touchstone for many of the examples she
discusses in her intriguing
book. But as she cautions in her
chapter on 3D printed organs, citing
Carnegie Mellon biomedical engineer
Adam Feinberg, when it comes to
implanting entire functional bioprinted
organs in patients, we are
"somewhere around the Wright
brothers stage." Despite that caveat,
anyone interested in an informative,
entertaining exploration of the
fast-moving developments in these
fields will enjoy taking that trip
with Mary Roach. --Harvey Freedenberg
The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen is a hilarious romantasy with elements of myth interwoven throughout the book. I loved it. Here's the blurb: Having read and loved The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, I was thrilled to see that the author had another book out, only to discover that this is the third and final book of the series. Now I'm going to have to search my reading history and see if I've read "The Undermining of Twila Frank," because if not, I need to grab a copy, pronto! Bannen's prose is exacting, yet never falls into boring infodumps, and she always manages to bring humor and pathos to keep tense situations from being too upsetting. I also love the fact that her romances between characters are never "stock" or Trope-ish. They're always between opposites or unusual characters who think they'll never find love because they're different. And Rosie's quirky love of expensive and pretty undergarments is somehow just perfect, as is Adam's lust for her wearing them. Though it was nearly 400 pages, I read it all in one sitting. Great novel that deserves an A, and recommendation to anyone who enjoys misfit characters who finally get their due.
The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry is a historical mystery fiction novel that was somewhat labyrinthine, even though I got it as a cheap ebook. Here's the blurb: Inspired by a true literary mystery, New York Times bestselling author of the mesmerizing The Secret Book of Flora Lea returns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both.
In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, vanishes off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just twelve years old. Her disappearance leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for something far deeper and more insatiable: her beloved mother.
By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical. Compelled by the tragedy of her mother’s disappearance, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters—the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson’s family retreat nestled in the Lake District. It is there that Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.
In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, vanishes off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just twelve years old. Her disappearance leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for something far deeper and more insatiable: her beloved mother.
By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical. Compelled by the tragedy of her mother’s disappearance, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters—the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson’s family retreat nestled in the Lake District. It is there that Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.
I don't get books like this, probably because my mother never left us, and though my dad was rarely around, I did see him and could talk to him nearly every day. It just seems to me that women going into deep depression and hysterics over the loss of a mother that they never really knew seems a bit too melodramatic. Why? And then in the end they always forgive this poor excuse for a mother, because she was "artistic" or "too young to handle being a mother" or, pearl clutching, "gay" and therefore she was emotionally unstable and just couldn't parent a child that she chose to bring into the world. These mothers seem weak and stupid to me, because they only care about themselves, and though they always proclaim that they "thought of you every day" and "always loved you" they can't seem to grow a spine and take responsibility for a baby that they could have given up for adoption or at least attempted to raise themselves. This books makes being an artist seem like a psychological disease. I don't buy that, not for one second. Anyway, though the characters were unbelievable, I found this book to be interesting, for the most part, if a bit "fainting couch" worthy. I'd give it a B- and recommend it to fans of Southern family secrets fiction, who can appreciate all the melodrama such families bring to the table.
Let Them Stare by Jonathan Van Ness and Julie Murphy is a YA LGBTQ book that is by turns hilarious and tender, poignant and witty. Though its prose is somewhat dumbed down, so its easy reading for even pre-teens, the plot whisks readers away to the small East Coast town and quirky characters that keep the reader glued to the page. Here's the blurb:
From Emmy Award winner Jonathan Van Ness of Queer Eye and bestselling author Julie Murphy comes a bighearted story about
friendship, love—and discovering the secrets and beauty of your own
hometown.
Sully is ready to get out
of Hearst, Pennsylvania. With a fashion internship secured, the
gender-nonconforming eighteen-year-old is trading in their stifling
small town for the big city. Sully even sells their beloved car, to
Bread—er, Brad—the most boring (and maybe only other) gay kid in town.
When
Sully’s internship goes up in smoke, they’re trapped in Hearst with no
cash—and no car. Desperate, they go to the thrift store, their personal
sanctuary. There, they discover a vintage bag—like "put this baby in an
airtight case at the MET" vintage. If Sully can authenticate it, the
resale value would be enough for a new life in the city.
But
when they begin to investigate, Sully finds themself haunted.
Literally. With the ghost of Rufus, a drag performer from the fifties
with no memory of how he died standing—no, floating—in their bedroom,
Sully’s summer has a new purpose: 1) help this ghostly honey unlock his
past and move on and 2) make bank—after all, the Real Real doesn’t take
poltergeist purses.
With Rufus in tow, and Brad—who’s
looking pretty scrumptious these days—playing chauffeur, Sully delves
into the history of the town they’re so desperate to escape. Only to
discover that there might be more to Hearst than they ever knew.
I have to say that I fell in love with Rufus right from the moment he ghosted his fine self out of the vintage handbag that is worth more than a year's rent in NYC, which is where the main character, Sully, longs to go to have a fabulous career and start her life. I could relate to Sully, because I always longed to get out of the small and judgemental Iowa towns I was raised in, and move to somewhere with Culture, like museums, theaters, fine dining, etc. That said, while Sully finds a lot of hidden LGBTQ history in her small town, and decides to stay there, I would never have found anything to allow me to fit into the small town/small mind set of the places I grew up. There was little or no acceptance of anyone who was different, and keep in mind that my brand of different was being fat and smart in places where it was expected that girls grow up to appear stupid and svelte and on the hunt for a "good provider" of a man to have many babies with, and spend their lives as house slaves to husbands and children, (and when the children are grown, or nearly grown, the husband hooks up with someone half his age and abandons his first wife and children in a desperate attempt to block time from taking its toll on his hair and body...this happened to almost every kid I grew up with). However, the Hallmark movie aspect of the book, with Sully and Brad enacting the typical ending of the woman who gives up her big dreams to settle down with the local hottie, was twisted on its end a bit by Sully taking over the gay bar/speakeasy/drag stage and making her town an inclusive place for a change. I would give this fun novel a B+ and recommend it to anyone who thinks that you can't go home again.
First Light by Elizabeth Hunter is a magical Fae romantasy that had an interesting premise familiar to Star Trek fans everywhere, of a mirror universe where your opposite lives and works while looking like your twin. Here's the blurb: In the Shadowlands, strangers wear familiar faces, myths are reality, and lies hide behind the most beautiful stories.
Lachlan Murray disappeared without a trace. As his girlfriend, twenty-nine-year-old Carys Morgan refuses to accept the police’s explanation—that he simply left her. She travels to Scotland to seek help from Lachlan’s twin brother Duncan, and learns she was right—Lachlan didn’t leave her, he left her world to return to his own.
The Shadowlands are a mirror of the world Carys knows. Every human in her world also exists in this one with one key difference—magic.
Humans aren’t supposed to be able to wield the magic of the Shadowlands, but when Carys learns she can talk to dragons, she’s drawn deeper into a complicated world that would as soon kill her as keep her. And if magic and murder weren’t enough to overcome, she must navigate complicated feelings for two identical men from vastly different worlds.
The main character, Carys, is the ultimate clingy girlfriend who can't believe that her hottie boyfriend just up and left her one day, because, whining, they're "in loooooovvvve!" Blech...grow the F up, girl. Inevitably, Carys realizes that the "love of her life," fae king Lachlan is really an asshat, and conveniently develops feelings for his human counterpart, Duncan, who is, of course, grumpy (cue every trope in every romantasy book written in the past 10 years). So of course our heroine suddenly develops a magical ability to talk to dragons (someone has watched a few too many episodes of Game of Thrones), and again like a Hallmark movie, decides she needs to stay longer in the Shadowlands so that she can moon over her dead (in her world) father and mother. The ending, where a humanized dragon Cadell, is outed by her idiotic best friend is unsatisfying, to say the least. Though the prose is sparkling and the plot moves at a clip, I still think the author needs to look at her endings and do some judicious editing of the cliches in the rest of the novel. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who likes myths and magic and dragons.
Lachlan Murray disappeared without a trace. As his girlfriend, twenty-nine-year-old Carys Morgan refuses to accept the police’s explanation—that he simply left her. She travels to Scotland to seek help from Lachlan’s twin brother Duncan, and learns she was right—Lachlan didn’t leave her, he left her world to return to his own.
The Shadowlands are a mirror of the world Carys knows. Every human in her world also exists in this one with one key difference—magic.
Humans aren’t supposed to be able to wield the magic of the Shadowlands, but when Carys learns she can talk to dragons, she’s drawn deeper into a complicated world that would as soon kill her as keep her. And if magic and murder weren’t enough to overcome, she must navigate complicated feelings for two identical men from vastly different worlds.
The main character, Carys, is the ultimate clingy girlfriend who can't believe that her hottie boyfriend just up and left her one day, because, whining, they're "in loooooovvvve!" Blech...grow the F up, girl. Inevitably, Carys realizes that the "love of her life," fae king Lachlan is really an asshat, and conveniently develops feelings for his human counterpart, Duncan, who is, of course, grumpy (cue every trope in every romantasy book written in the past 10 years). So of course our heroine suddenly develops a magical ability to talk to dragons (someone has watched a few too many episodes of Game of Thrones), and again like a Hallmark movie, decides she needs to stay longer in the Shadowlands so that she can moon over her dead (in her world) father and mother. The ending, where a humanized dragon Cadell, is outed by her idiotic best friend is unsatisfying, to say the least. Though the prose is sparkling and the plot moves at a clip, I still think the author needs to look at her endings and do some judicious editing of the cliches in the rest of the novel. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who likes myths and magic and dragons.
