Obituary for Annie Dillard, Quote of the Day, Barnes and Noble Buys Levenger, The Summer Storms by Sarah Maclean, Tempest by Victoria Aveyard, Big Bad Wolf by Laurie Gilmore, A Summer of Stars by Liana Cincotti, and the Someday Garden by Ashley Poston

Welcome to the final week of September! We're headed right into spooky season, and all things pumpkin spice. I will celebrate my mother's 89th birthday posthumously, and my 29th wedding anniversary now that my abusive husband has been dead for almost a year. Still, I'm looking forward to the next three months, and hoping that my health will improve and my life become less solitary. Here's some tidbits and as many reviews as I can stuff onto the blog page.

I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek when I was 18 years old and on my way to graduating high school and entering Clarke College. I felt it was a profound book that had a beautiful outlook on the way we live our lives. I'm sorry that Annie Dillard has passed. She was a singular talent.

Obituary Note: Annie Dillard

Annie Dillard, "who as a young American writer walked into the woods and came out with a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the wonders and horrors of creation, the modern classic Pilgrim at Tinker Creek," died September 15, the New York Times reported. She was 81. The book, published in 1974, was an immediate success and won the Pulitzer for general nonfiction in 1975.

Dillard also published essays, meditations on religion, poems, a theory of literature, two novels, journalism, and the bestselling autobiography An American Childhood (1987).

Dillard's first book was the poetry collection Tickets for a Prayer Wheel, published a few months before Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Later titles include Encounters with Chinese Writers (1984); The Writing Life (1989); For the Time Being (1999); and her second novel, The Maytrees (2007), which was the last book she wrote.

Many reviewers of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek mentioned it as a 20th-century analogue to Henry David Thoreau's Walden, which was not coincidental given that Dillard had chosen Thoreau as the subject of her master's thesis at Hollins University.

"Though her writing could convey the sense of a solitary life in the wilderness, she was mostly a day-tripper. After her forays into the Roanoke Valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains--which was, after all, her neighborhood--she would return home to the suburban house she shared with Richard Dillard, a creative writing instructor she had married at the end of her sophomore year at Hollins," the Times wrote, adding that "in spite of her patient, unflinching observations on flora and fauna, she wasn't a nature writer, but rather a theologian looking high and low for God."

In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Dillard wrote: "I walk out; I see something, some event that otherwise would have been utterly missed and lost; or something sees me, some enormous power brushes me with its clean wing, and I resound like a beaten bell."

She moved to Washington State, dividing her time between Bellingham and the islands Waldron and Lummi. Her marriage ended, and in the Pacific Northwest, she regained the concentration essential to her work.

"The Cascade Range, in these high latitudes, backs almost into the water," she wrote in Holy the Firm (1977). "There is only a narrow strip, an afterthought of foothills and farms sixty miles wide, between the snowy mountains and the sea.... If the Greeks had looked at Mt. Baker all day, their large and honest art would have broken, and they would have gone fishing, as these people do."

In addition, she taught classes at Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University). Paul Lindholdt, a former student working on a biography of Dillard, recalled: "She was by turns disorganized and inspiring, prickly and brilliant. She required her students to foot-stomp aloud the meter of favorite poems, including 'God's Grandeur' by Gerard Manley Hopkins."

Dillard returned east in 1979, and from then until 2001 she taught at Wesleyan University. After her second divorce in 1988, she married Robert D. Richardson Jr., whom she had met after sending him a fan letter about his book Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind. He died in 2020.

Dillard's papers are held at the Beinecke Library at Yale University. She was last photographed in public in 2014, when she received the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama for her "profound reflections on human life and nature."

She spent recent years at her Cape Cod home, painting watercolors, the Times noted, adding that Dillard "had written with all her might, and had tried to light the same fire in others."

In Holy the Firm, she wrote about a day in her classroom: "How many of you, I asked the people in my class, which of you want to give your lives and be writers? I was trembling from coffee, or cigarettes, or the closeness of faces all around me.... All hands rose to the question. And then I tried to tell them what the choice must mean: You can't be anything else. You must go at your life with a broad-ax."

YES! Books do save the world, and I know that for me, I would not be able to face the day to day of getting older and dealing with the pain of all my inflammatory diseases without the comfort and beauty of books and stories.

Quotation of the Day

"But what I think is beautiful is people open bookshops anyway, and it's always because those people really love books. Books are being generationally devalued, but they're actually one of the most precious resources in the world. We're all in the businesses of conservation, and keeping bookshops open makes books accessible and keeps reading relevant. The survival rate of bookshops is a real snapshot of our most creative, curious and hopeful society, so in terms of changing people's perspective about the world of books--would it even be too bold a claim to make that books really might be saving the world?"--Katie Clapham, author of Receipts from the Bookshop and co-owner of Storytellers Inc.

I've been a huge Levenger fan since I got ahold of my first catalogue in 1987, when I was living in St Petersburg Florida and working at a magazine that I would eventually edit. Being a lifelong fan and collector of pens and paper and swank office supplies, Levenger's pages looked tailor-made for me, and over the years I saved up to buy several items, among them pens from Germany and Circa papers and office organizers. I longed to buy furniture from them, but everything Levenger offered was very high quality and built in exotic locales, so most of it was beyond my price range. I still have some pencils and a caddy with my initials on it from all those years ago, but many of the items I purchased were taken by my boyfriend/fiance, and he eventually sold much of my inventory for beer money (he was an alcoholic).  Still, this news that B&N is going to offer Levenger items in their store is thrilling, and I am looking forward to perusing their stock, once it comes in.

Barnes & Noble Buys Levenger

Barnes & Noble continues on a buying spree. After indicating early last week that it will acquire Joseph-Beth Booksellers, it announced on Friday that it has bought Levenger, known for fine writing instruments, premium paper and stationery, leather goods, desk accessories and furniture, as well as Circa, its customizable discbound notebook system.

Founded in 1987 by Steve and Lori Leveen, Levenger has been privately held. B&N said that Levenger, with headquarters in Delray Beach, Fla., "will continue to operate from South Florida, with its existing employees remaining in place." The Levenger.com website will continue to offer all Levenger's products, with "a curated assortment to be made available in select Barnes & Noble stores this fall. In due course, an assortment will be offered in most Barnes & Noble and Paper Source stores." 

Levenger CEO Margaret Moraskie said, "Levenger has always been about more than the products we create. It is about a belief in the power of reading, writing and ideas, and the remarkable community that has grown around that belief. Steve and Lori Leveen built something truly special nearly 40 years ago, and our team has worked with tremendous care to carry that legacy forward. Joining Barnes & Noble is an exciting next chapter for Levenger, bringing together two brands with a shared love of books, the written word and lifelong learning. I could not be more proud of our team, nor more excited about the opportunity ahead to introduce Levenger to more people while preserving everything that makes this brand so distinctive."

B&N CEO James Daunt said, "Levenger has created something truly special. For nearly four decades, Steve and Lori Leveen and the Levenger team have established a distinctive brand created specifically for readers and writers. Levenger is an exceptional complement to Barnes & Noble and Paper Source and we look forward to introducing these wonderful products those of our customers who are not already their fans."

The Summer Storms by Sarah Maclean is a contemporary family life novel with a thread of dreadful romance woven throughout. The women in the novel do NOT make good choices, and they use their privileged childhoods as the children of a billionaire who was an evil asshat (but what billionaire isn't an ass?) to point to why they can't grow a backbone and have their own lives, instead of allowing their father to control them even after his death. Here's the blurb: From author Sarah MacLean, a razor-sharp, wildly sexy novel about a wealthy New England family’s long-overdue reckoning . . . and the one week that threatens to tear them apart.

Alice Storm hasn’t been welcome at her family’s magnificent private island off the Rhode Island coast in five years—not since she was cast out and built her life beyond the Storm name, influence, and untold billions. But the shocking death of her larger-than-life father changes everything.

Alice plans to keep her head down, pay her final respects (such as they are), and leave the minute the funeral is over. Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his family a final challenge—an inheritance game designed to upend their world. The rules are clear: spend one week on the island, complete their assigned tasks, and receive the inheritance.

But a whole week on Storm Island is no easy task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting with chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s unyielding arrogance. Her younger sister’s constant analysis of the vibes. Her mother’s cold judgment. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s intriguing and too-handsome second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape unscathed.

A smart and tender story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel explores past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms.  

 

UGH, once again, we have a female protagonist who starts out strong, eschewing her family's wealth and her fathers iron control over their lives, (and making a good life of her own), and once she's met the lying jerk who is her father's second in command fixer, she instantly becomes a fragile flower who only wants to have sex with him, and of course instantly forgives him for lying to her and manipulating her, because, gosh, he's just so darned handsome and good at sex! She just can't control her libido around him! (insert eye roll here). And of course, Jack repeatedly tells her that he loves only her, and even though he's seduced her and manipulated her on her father's orders, she needs to be with him forever. Personally, I would have told this bozo to pound sand, though Alice gets off on his continued ability to "rescue" her when she is actually fine, and his desire to protect her, which only goes as far as her father's instructions prior to his demise. The other sisters (and brother) are equally venal, stupid and greedy, and make a lot of loud proclamations about how "necessary" their large inheritance is (when its not), because none of them apparently have any talents or skills to get a job in the "real world." Their mother is a cold as ice viper who seems to hate them (how is that possible?), so they get no help from her, and in the end, after they've all basically done what their father wanted them to do, they only receive (SPOILER) a little over a thousand dollars each...so it was all for nothing anyway. But Alice walks off into the bedroom/sunset with Jack, so I guess the author could consider this an HEA. I'd give this annoying novel about horrible 1 percenters a C, and only recommend it to people who are fascinated by Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.

 

Tempest by Victoria Aveyard is a seafaring romantasy that mainly revolves around a woman who lives in a society much like 19th century England, where women's choices were severely limited and those who tried to build an unusual life down a different path were often jailed, or destroyed along with their impoverished families. Here's the blurb: 

This limited deluxe hardcover edition features gorgeous sprayed edges, full-colored endpapers, a foil stamped case, and jacket effects—available while supplies last, so order now!

From Victoria Aveyard comes a romantic fantasy epic like no other in which a fallen noblewoman faces off against her former love—the last great pirate captain—amid a brutal war for the high seas.

Cat Rose knows what it is to live in two worlds, in two times. Before—as Lady Catrine Rose of the Meridian Empire, chained to a loathsome lord with a dwindling fortune. And after—as the Widow Rose, queen of a pirate tavern in the Lyrian Sea, determined to be the master of her own fate.

But tides turn and winds change. The Meridian Empire looms on the horizon, the full weight of her navy falling on the Lyrian, bent on reclaiming the wealthy colonies and crushing the pirate republic once and for all. Ship after ship is captured, save for one, captained by a pirate who continually evades both noose and blade: the legendary Valerian Kane.

With his fearsome ship and uncanny connection to the song of the sea, Valerian is the only man who might rally the pirates who remain. The only man who threatens the Empire. And the only man Cat has ever loved, blazing in and out of her life like a star.

Desperate for victory, the Empire offers Cat a devastating choice: bring them Valerian or hang. In truth, no choice at all.

But Cat Rose is nothing if not a survivor. A storm is rising on the Lyrian. What will it leave in its wake?

 Cat's  mantra is "If not their necks, mine" as she navigates the Kings power vs the pirates who freely roam the seas. Of course, being a strong woman, its inevitable that she will fall in love with a handsome pirate captain, and eventually, once she is captured, give him and the fellow pirates up to the authorities to be hanged, lest she be hanged herself for having been a free woman who chose her own path (and killed, thank heaven, her abusive toad of a husband). This book was well written, and the plot flew by on swift sails, but the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying. I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys seafaring stories and stories of strong women trying to survive in a society determined to cage and control them.

 

Big Bad Wolf by Laurie Gilmore is a funny (not intentionally) retelling of the Little Red Riding H0od fairy tale, but placed in contemporary society with a "furry" loving duo....so there's some strange erotica herein...just a warning. Here's the blurb: 

The darker the woods, the bigger the secrets…

Ruby Bellerose lives on the edge of the woods, in a cottage more akin to a fairy tale than modern day life. Her love life is practically non-existent, and she keeps away from the whispered gossip that travels through Maple Hollow.

Until a chance encounter with Rafe.

As mysterious as he is brooding, Ruby is drawn to the woodsman, curious to find out about the stranger who lives deep within the woods.

But Rafe is hiding a secret. And with something lurking in the shadowy forest, will Ruby find that Rafe is her knight in shining armor, or something altogether more dangerous.

 While this book starts out atmospheric and intense, it devolves into some weird beastiality territory when Ruby discovers that Rafe is a werewolf, and she digs it...in a sexual way. So the two develop a "Good boy" relationship, where Ruby treats Rafe like a pet, and allows him to chase her down and then ravish her. Yikes. Freaky sex aside, I've read a lot of Gilmore's cozy romances, and her prose is light and evocative, and her plots glide along beautifully. So I read the book all the way through, though by the end I was chuckling at their doggie foreplay. I'd give this odd novel a B- and recommend it to anyone who enjoys retold fairy tales.

 

A Summer of Stars by Liana Cincotti is an enemies to lovers YA romance that plays with the trope of sports star who embarks on a fake relationship with a Hollywood celebrity to help revitalize both their careers. Here's the blurb: 

 

A fake relationship between a tennis pro and a Hollywood celeb—who happen to be sworn enemies—slowly simmers into something more in this romance from the author of the viral Booktok book, Picking Daisies on Sunday
Fake relationship terms and conditions: do not fall in love.

After a messy breakup, it feels like the entire world hates tennis superstar Luna Aldridge. With her reputation ruined and her career at risk, the only way to repair it is a PR stunt: fake-dating Hollywood’s golden boy, Kieran Alexander. There’s just one problem ... Luna can’t stand him.

For Kieran, the feeling is mutual. He’s about to lead a big-screen love story, but his dating history is jeopardizing the film’s success. His team believes the world needs to see him wildly in love. And who better than Luna, the person he loathes most?

Soon, Luna and Kieran spend the summer posing for cameras, sharing red carpets and flying around the world for the tennis circuit. But the more they pretend, the more they question if they can keep their hearts, and their careers, together. Especially with everyone watching  

 

Their fake hatred and eventual love for one another never came off as real to me, it seemed forced. The prose was heistant and often transparent, making the plot wobble almost off the rails. I'd give this beach read a C, and recommend it to anyone who wants a read that is really easy and doesn't require much brain power.

 

The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston is an odd paranormal romantasy that, while it starts strong and becomes fascinating, gets confusing aroung 2/3rds of the way through the book, with time travel that is never quite explained. Here's the blurb: The new head gardener at the enchanting Lilymoor House stumbles upon a secret garden . . . with a mysterious man trapped inside, in the next magical novel from Ashley Poston.

 
When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer—for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House—she doesn’t expect to fall in love.

But she does: With the beguiling land, the fragrant flowers, and the towering hedge maze. With the quirky staff and the enigmatic woman who owns the place.

And then, the door appears. Never in the same place twice, it leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside.

This mysterious garden is not the only sign that the future of Lilymoor is unstable: the foliage resists Sophie’s careful nurturing, vines threaten to strangle the hedges, and the manor’s owner has wild ideas about who will take over when she retires—including her inconveniently attractive nephew who is also there just for the summer.

Despite herself, Sophie has come to care for the residents of Lilymoor just as much as she cares for its grounds. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more. 

 

I feel like Poston (I've read several of her other romantasies) was trying to channel either Alice Hoffman or Doctor Who here, by having a man who was alive outside the secret garden appear inside the garden, but only when Sophie finds a blue door and is able to access it. The two talk and garden and fall in love, but of course time works differently inside the garden, where only an hour goes by, while days and weeks go by on the outside. Also, Sophie doesn't meet the inside man in real life until near the end, and of course he doesn't know who she is...and Poston doesn't handle this conundrum with any grace or sense. I'd give this pretty, but confusing book a B, and recommend it to anyone who loves movies like The Ghost and Mrs Muir.

 

Lonesome Dove Comes to TV, Reading With Ann Aguirre, Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen, The Hocus Pocus Handbook by Ann Aguirre, The Last Restaurant in Paris by Lily Graham, Level Up for Love by Leonora Woods, and Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Welcome to the third week of September, and falls chill is already in the air. I've been feeling pretty awful, but now that I have a weekly appointment for paracentisis, I'm trying to get myself used to dealing with the after-effects and the pain meds that I've got to take to deal with my gut and knee pain. Fingers crossed that my second visit to an ortho doc will provide me with answers, or at least a way to get some answers, so I don't have to spend the rest of my life on narcotic pain medication and using a cane or walker to get around. I'm a tough old bird, and my 65 year old body is really challenging me right now. Anyway, here's some tidbits and more than a few reviews.

 

I remember reading this book decades ago, and being surprised at how much I liked it...I believe I even gave a copy to my Western-fiction loving grandpa Lang. I hope that this new series lives up to the book.

 

TV: Lonesome Dove

 

Netflix has green lighted Lonesome Dove, a limited series based on Larry McMurtry's classic novel. Deadline reported that the indie studio Teton Ridge Entertainment "had previously announced acquisition of the rights to the Lonesome Dove literary franchise for film and television. It brought in Kazan and Stuart to write the adaptation and took the package out in late April. By early May, in a very competitive situation, Lonesome Dove had landed at Netflix with a straight-to-series order."

The project is envisioned as an ongoing series. Lonesome Dove was

previously adapted as a hit 1989 CBS miniseries, starring Robert Duvall

and Tommy Lee Jones. It won a Peabody, seven Emmys, and two Golden

Globes. Subsequent books in the Lonesome Dove series were also adapted

into miniseries.

Kazan and Stuart were co-showrunners for Netflix's upcoming East of Eden

series, based on John Steinbeck's novel and written by Kazan. Starring

Florence Pugh, that project premieres October 1.

"After our singular experience on East of Eden, we are thrilled to be

teaming with Netflix again, along with Teton Ridge Entertainment, to

bring Larry McMurtry's western classic to life," Kazan and Stuart said

in a statement. "We come to this material with love and respect, and

can't wait to hit the trail with Gus and Call and the rest of these

beloved characters. Yee-haw."

Jinny Howe, Netflix head of scripted series, U.S., Canada, Australia,

and New Zealand, said, "Lonesome Dove is one of the great American

stories, and there was no question we wanted to follow Zoe and Jeb

wherever they went next. After East of Eden, we know exactly what

they're capable of--the depth of character, the sweep of place, the

emotional precision. This material deserves that level of care. In their

hands, it's going to be something extraordinary. We're excited to

partner with Teton Ridge to bring this legendary story to life."

I've read most everything Ann has written, especially her science fiction and science fiction/romance hybrids, which are surprisingly steamy. I just finished her latest, The Hocus Pocus Handbook, a couple of days ago, and I was surprised at how slow the pace was and how disagreeable the characters were. Still, I didn't chuck it when the going got tough. I enjoyed reading about her reading past and her favorite books, however, and I feel like if we ever met we'd have a lot in common to chat about.

Reading with... Ann Aguirre

Ann Aguirre is the author of numerous bestselling adult and YA novels. She volunteers regularly and is enrolled in graduate school for clinical mental health counseling. The Hocus Pocus Handbook (Sourcebooks Casablanca, September 1, 2026) features a sunshine-shadow slow burn, an unforgettable found family, and a world lush with wildcraft magic. It's a cozy fae fantasy romance perfect for fans of Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries and T. Kingfisher.

On your nightstand now:

My reading is quite eclectic these days. I'm reading Man's Search for

Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl for grad school, and I suspect that text

requires no introduction from me. Incredibly powerful. I have The Deep

by Alma Katsu playing whenever I'm in a vehicle. Alma's books make me

feel like I'm swimming through deep water and struggling to catch my

breath. I am also reading The Fallen Fruit by Shawntelle Madison, and

she's both a good friend and a tremendously talented writer. The Fallen

Fruit is tender, clever, brilliant, and heartfelt, and I am nibbling the

story rather than devouring it to make it last longer.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Oh gosh. Picking just one will be tough, as I was a voracious reader.

But it has to be A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. That book

opened the door to so many possibilities because Meg was allowed to be

who she was. She didn't need to be smaller or quieter or less than

herself to make friends and go on adventures. That book means a great

deal to me, even to this day.

Your top five authors:

Since I tend to be a mood reader, it depends. But writers I return to

include Kate Elliott, Skyla Dawn Cameron, Beverly Jenkins, Sharon Shinn,

and Courtney Milan. Those are listed in no particular order; I mentioned

them as I thought of them. Kate Elliott offers something to love for all

fantasy readers. I am obsessed with the Waverly Jones mystery series by

Skyla Dawn Cameron. Beverly Jenkins has so many gorgeous romances, but

most people are drawn in by Indigo and stay for the sparkling backlist.

As for Sharon Shinn, I'll talk about her more in a bit. Finally,

Courtney Milan writes historical romances that are lush and addictive.

Book you've faked reading:

I have a degree in English literature, which means it would be more

fruitful to ask what books by old white men that I did not fake reading.

But seriously, I couldn't finish a darn thing by Thomas Hardy. I was

supposed to read multiple books, including Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Even the synopsis for that one aggravates me.

Book you're an evangelist for:

First, some backstory: A long while ago, I boldly proclaimed, "I do not

like vampire stories." People would name titles and I would shake my

head. "Read it. Not for me." Famous vampires. Funny vampires. Scary

vampires. Sexy vampires. None of them sparkled in my eyes. Then one

reader finally recommended a book I hadn't read. Sunshine by Robin

McKinley. I could write an entire post about this book. I inhaled it and

desperately wanted more. After that, I discovered more vampire books

that I could enjoy, but Sunshine was the gateway novel. Now imagine me

in reader forums: Think you don't like vampire stories? Try Sunshine!

Book you've bought for the cover:

Lovely covers work. If a book has sufficient dazzle, I want to put a

physical copy on my shelf. The last two books to wow me in that regard

were Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett and The

Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski. Both of these books exude a

delicate prettiness and cozy charm, and they're both on my mantel right

now.

Book you hid from your parents:

Anything with sex in it, including multiple library books by Judy Blume;

Wifey and Forever spring to mind. I had to dig deep for this next one,

but my best friend and I also acquired a movie tie-in novel for a film

called Little Darlings by Sonia Pilcer. We read the story long before we

were allowed to watch R-rated movies.

Book that changed your life:

Earlier, I promised to talk more about Sharon Shinn. I encountered The

Shape-Changer's Wife in the basement of a gaming shop in Muncie, Ind. I

spent my last few dollars buying it and loved it so much that I even

read her bio. I saw that Shinn was a woman living in the Midwest.

Nothing about her background made me think she was already famous or had connections prior to selling her book. Before, I had been told "you have

to know people" or "only famous people get book deals." Seeing her book

made me believe I could do it too. I became a huge fan and bought

everything she published as I wrote my own material. When I finally sold

my first book in 2007, I marshaled my courage and e-mailed her.

Readers, she blurbed me.

Favorite line from a book:

I was a precocious reader, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë was my

first classic--at the age of eight. That year, I also read multiple

titles by Charles Dickens and Alexandre Dumas, who was, I confess, a

little grim for young Ann. I read with a pocket dictionary nearby,

earnestly looking up unfamiliar words, and it was one of the best things

I have ever done for my brain. For that reason alone, I must quote Jane

Eyre, because I was so wildly impressed with Jane's fierce spirit: "I am

no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an

independent will, which I now exert to leave you."

Five books you'll never part with:

Four signed books by Sharon Shinn: Royal Airs, Troubled Waters, Unquiet

Land, and Jeweled Fire. These have personal notes inscribed and they

mean the world to me. As I mentioned before, I was a fan first and then

we became colleagues. Now, decades on, I consider her a friend as well,

and I feel so lucky to have received the benefit of her wisdom and

generosity. The other title is less personal but no less invaluable for

other reasons. My updated copy of Merriam-Webster's dictionary remains

as critical to me today as it was when I was eight.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

This is a great question! As a kid, I was so enthralled by The

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and I wish I could

return to that moment and experience the wonder all over again.

Book that made you realize writing is a job:

In elementary school, I won a writing competition and went to regionals,

where I met Shel Silverstein. He read to us from Where the Sidewalk

Ends, and it occurred to me that he probably got paid to write that

book. He might even be getting paid to read to us. Which meant writing

was a job, a job that I could do also. From that moment on, I never

wanted to do anything else.

Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen is a magical realism ghost story that reads a lot like the original Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. I've long stated that SAA is the Southern version of Hoffman, with both writing superb prose about spooky subjects and the women who have to deal with them. Here's the blurb: Part ghost story, part love story and steeped in magical realism, Paper Ghosts will transport you to a place where old secrets echo through the years and love finds a way of bringing us home.

Every family has its secrets . . .The Wester women live inside theirs.

For decades, the women of Wester House have unsettled and fascinated their small, timeless North Carolina town. Their home is full of whispers, old griefs, and uncanny knowing. But when Willamena Wester reaches out to the granddaughter she once pushed away, long-buried truths begin to stir.

1976: Restless young Willamena falls for a stranded musician who brings freedom and the promise of another life to her carefully controlled world. Their brief, incandescent love story promises to escape the pull of the Wester legacy until Willamena makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.

Present day: Returning home is the last thing Bailey Wester wants. Yet as she reconnects with Willamena, the grandmother she feared, Bailey begins to understand the love, heartbreak, and impossible choices that shaped the women in her family and realizes the past may not have been trying to haunt them after all. A luminous novel filled with Sarah Addison Allen’s stunning prose and signature blend of romance, Southern charm, and wonder, Paper Ghosts reminds us that in order to have the future we really want, sometimes we need to live with the past, and not let go of it.

 

 Because I'm from the same era as Wills Wester, I enjoyed her part of the story the most, though I definitely understood how the women who came after her had such a difficult time with their ghost-seeing skills and their dealings with evil men. I love that SAA always champions women in her novels, just like Hoffman does, because there are so few authors who do that anymore. Most make excuses for rapists and pedophile men, and blame the victimized women involved because of the baked in misogyny in society. As I said before, this books plot moves at a rather sedate pace, and while the prose is wonderful, you have to be patient for the payoff, because SAA makes you wait for it. I'd give this novel a B+ and recommend it to anyone who likes Alice Hoffman's witchy magical realism. 

 

The Hocus Pocus Handbook by Ann Aguirre is a cozy witchy rom com that will thrill readers with its fast pace and fascinating characters. Here's the blurb: 

From author Ann Aguirre comes a cozy fae fantasy romance featuring a sunshine-shadow slow burn, a grumpy-but-secretly-tender love interest, an unforgettable found family, and a world lush with wildcraft magic. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries.

Thea Winter didn't choose to be a changeling ― stolen from the mortal world as a baby, raised in the wildlands by a hobgoblin named Mudge who taught her everything worth knowing. How to read the weather in a crow's wing. How to barter with brownies. How to stay alive in a world of capricious fae courts. What Mudge couldn't teach her was how to stay out of trouble. Which is why she's entangled in a objectionable marriage of convenience.

Or would be, but her spouse bolted. Now she has to hunt down Devan J. Fenelon, but she's been saddled with a taciturn, humorless hunter known as Winter's Hound. He answers only to his cousin, and she's not looking forward to this quest at all. 

Kerboros has survived the Winter Court by being exactly what they made him: relentless, invisible, and careful never to want anything at all. His life is an endless series of ceaseless commands from his reprehensible cousin, Lord Liskaal. Since his father's failed rebellion, Kerboros has been permitted to survive only as an example to others, an object lesson as to how far one may fall. But traveling with Thea―wild, warm, impossible Thea―is a glorious torment for an enforcer who has never known freedom. 

She is sunshine. He is shadow.

Their love is forbidden, but when irresistible force sweeps up an immovable object, the resulting reaction might be magical.

  

I enjoyed how much Mudge loved Thea, and sent her out into the world with a handbook full of spells and good advice, and reassurance that, though she was a changeling, she was loved her entire life. Kereboros is an interesting character, but he's a bit of a trope of the big, muscular military guy who believes himself beyond redemption until he falls for the female protagonist who is all manic pixie dream girl to his brooding shadowy guilt. BORING. He seems to fall for her at fist sight, which I find hard to believe, and she seems unaware of it for quite awhile, which, in the context of the novel, also seems a bit hard to swallow. Still, there's a lot of fun magic happening and a decent HEA for readers at the end. I'd give it a B+ and recommend it to fans of revamped fairy tales.

 

The Last Restaurant in Paris by Lily Graham is a historical (WWII) fiction novel that is told from the rare perspective of a seeming French collaborator who opens a restaurant with the help of some high ranking Nazi officers, and runs a resistance cell right beneath their noses. Here's the blurb: Paris 1944. To save her people, she served the enemy.

In enemy-occupied Paris, as the locals go to bed starving and defeated by the war, music and laughter spill through the door of a little restaurant crowded with German soldiers. The owner Marianne moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of food for the enemy officers. Her smile is bright and sparkling, her welcome cordial. Nobody would guess the hatred she hides in her heart.

One night the restaurant closes its doors for the final time. In the morning, the windows are scratched with the words traitor and murderer. And Marianne has disappeared without a trace…

Years later, Marianne’s granddaughter Sabine stands under the faded green awning of the restaurant left to her by the grandmother she never met. She knows she isn't welcome.  Marianne was hated by the locals, and when Sabine discovers they blamed her for the terrible tragedy that haunts the restaurant, she is ready to abandon her dark legacy.  Then she finds a hidden passport  with a picture of a woman who looks like her grandmother but has a different name, and she knows there must be more to Marianne’s story.

As Sabine digs into the past, she starts to wonder if her grandmother was a heroine, not a traitor. What happened to her after the tragic night when she fled from her restaurant? And will the answer change Sabine's own life forever? 

 

I was fascinated by Marianne's story because it is one we don't often read about in historical fiction. Usually we just read of the heroes of the resistance and the evil Nazi's who killed everyone they came in contact with. In this tale, we read about a woman who lost her beloved and her family to the Nazi regime, and instead of lashing out immediately, she decides to take the long view and work to get the officers who destroyed her life, all at once, by poisoning their food. She's the only one who knows about this plan, therefore the townspeople believe he was just another evil collaborator who accidently brought harm to her co conspirators. Her granddaughter, years later, begins researching the time and the incident, and soon discovers what her grandmother did to save the townspeople and to get justice for her family. Though its a hard book to read, the prose is sterling and the plot moves at a brisk pace. I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone interested in WWII fiction that takes place in occupied Paris.

 

Level Up For Love by Leonora Woods is a contemporary romantic comedy, and I will be blunt and say that if you are over the age of 40, you might have trouble understanding the games and terms used in this novel. I'm over 60, so I got hopelessly lost several times. But then, I've never been a Dungeons and Dragons player, or a player of video games, like my son. Here's the blurb: Sparks fly as two former college rivals are forced together for a new D&D campaign—clashing both in and out of the game—in this fusion of contemporary second-chance romance and fantasy from the author of Roll for Romance.

In college, Reagan Riley and Wesley Locke were constantly at each other’s throats, competing to be the best in their video game design program—until Wesley ghosts her after their unexpected hookup, severing their ties for good.

Six years later, Reagan has set aside her game design dreams, opting instead to stay close to her family in Connecticut and channel her creative energy into D&D. When her longstanding group falls apart, she and her sister join their local game store's new advanced campaign—only to find the demanding Dungeon Master at the helm is none other than Wesley. In the game, he is Vadrien, a merciless, power-hungry vampire lord, and Reagan is Sindra, the sword-wielding lady knight who will stop at nothing to cut him down.

When a game design opportunity opens up in the real world, Reagan and Wesley find themselves doubly pitted against each other. But as their buried spark reignites and Reagan starts to question why Wesley left all those years ago, can they find a way to play nice—and are they playing for more than just to win? 

 

To be honest, I really hated the male protagonist, Wesley, because he was a total jerk and a snob throughout the book, and yet Reagan somehow fell for him just the same, though I couldn't tell you why. It must be another case of "too good looking to ignore" and "wealthy guy of my dreams pays attention to me." Of course, in the end, its the female protagonist who gives up on winning her dreams in favor of saving a guy's ego, which was already massive, because she feels he needs it more than she does...boo hoo. Smug bastard doesn't deserve to win, nor does he deserve all the time and attention and expertise that she lends him in getting his game together for the competition. Ugh. Even the HEA was kind of lame here. I'd give this sour and sad romance a C+, and only recommend it to those who like smug jerks who win out over talented young women in the end.

 

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz is a cozy, funny science fiction novella about a group of robots who are trying to keep a noodle kitchen open during post apocalyptic times. Here's the blurb: A cozy near-future novella about a crew of leftover robots opening their very own noodle shop, from acclaimed sci-fi author Annalee Newitz.

You don’t have to eat food to know the way to a city’s heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food―the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around―for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war.

But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they’ll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other―and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn’t built for them. 

 

Fair warning, this novella will make you hungry, and let you learn more about how to hand-pull noodles than you ever thought possible. I fell in love with Hands and Staybehind and the whole gang, all so earnest in their desire to feed the city the best noodles ever made. This is one of those books that stays with you, not just because of the evocative prose, but also because the plot is not a straight line, and when you reach the end, you're hungry for more. I'd give this sublime novel an A, and recommend it to those who enjoy the books of TJ Klune and Becky Chambers and Martha Wells. You won't regret spending an afternoon with these fantastic robots. 

The Bell Jar (Plath) Movie, Thus With a Kiss, I Die by Christina Dodd, A Seer and Present Danger by Devon Monk, The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke, What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon, In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros, and Where Angels Fear by Mackenzie Kasey

Greetings fellow book dragons! It's the start of my favorite time of year, the "ber" season, with September, October, November and December. This December 4 will be the first anniversary of my husband's death, and my son has planned a "celebratory" party in honor of his demise, as my husband, by the time he died, was demented and abusive and generally an awful human being. 

Anyway, Nick and I also have birthdays coming up, Nick in November and me in December.Then there is the holidays, and this year Nick's beloved fiance Sylvie is going to share the Christmas holidays with us, which will be quite a treat. 

Meanwhile, though, my health has been rough and I'm struggling to get help through the maze of hospital and doctor bureaucracy. Hopefully things will smooth out in the next month or so. 

I've got a lot of reviews, but only one tidbit, so lets get going, and enjoy the upcoming cozy sweater weather! 

I read the Bell Jar as a teenager and found it very profound. I'm curious to see what this new adaptation does with it.

 

Movies: The Bell Jar

Focus Features has wrapped production on its adaptation of Sylvia

Plath's novel The Bell Jar directed by Oscar winner Sarah Polley, and starring Billie Eilish and Carey Mulligan, Deadline reported. 

The project marks 10-time Grammy winner Eilish's movie acting debut,

playing the lead role of Esther Greenwood, with Mulligan as Mrs.

Greenwood, Danielle Deadwyler as Dr. Nolan, Dylan Hawco as Buddy

Willard, Lili Taylor as Jay Cee, Ella Beatty as Joan, Maggie Kuntz as

Doreen, Ike Barinholtz as Lenny, and Connor Storrie as Marco.

Polley directed from her own adapted screenplay in her first film since

winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking in 2023.

The film is produced by Plan B, Studiocanal and Joy Coalition.

Thus With a Kiss, I Die by Christina Dodd is a Shakespearean take on modern "enemies to friends" romance, with some mystery thrown in for good measure. Dodd has taken the play Romeo and Juliet into the future, where neither dies, but instead create a large family of children (9!) while trying to keep the daughters chaste and the sons from harming themselves or others. Here's the blurb: The delightfully irreverent eldest daughter of the not-so-ill-fated Romeo and Juliet returns to sleuth another day in fair Verona, in this hugely entertaining historical mystery series with a refreshingly bold premise.

“Woe, for I am the bug that meets the windshield's might,
No longer the speeding glass, smooth, clean and bright . . .”

You’re right. I, Rosie Montague of Verona, am lousy at iambic pentameter and Shakespeare speak, but you get the point: Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. I, who for my whole life, have cruised along, unruffled by life’s trials, am suddenly smashed flat and speeding recklessly up the WhattheHellHappened Highway.

I’m 20-years-old and by my own design, never been wed, free as no married woman ever is. I’m beautiful, but without conceit, for Juliet, my legendary Mamma is the most gorgeous creature to ever walk the earth. Just ask Romeo, my legendary Papà. (Rumors of their deaths were premature.) I was heartwhole until I fell (literally) in love with Lysander of the House of Beautiful. But our love was not to be, for I was thwarted by Escalus, the Prince of Verona . . . who had designs on me. I’m trapped.

Then! I’m presented with a solution. Escalus’s father, Prince Escalus the Elder, appears to me. He tasks that I find his killer. Did I mention Elder is a ghost?

Given that I only recently dispatched Verona’s first serial killer, I’m less than pleased. Yet Elder promises to unite me with my One True Love, so I gather clues. Meanwhile, revolution threatens, for beneath Verona society’s glittering surface lurk dark shadows—and an enemy eager to make me a tragic heroine in my own right. 

 

 This is one of those books that will keep you engrossed from page one all the way through to the end. I loved the witty banter and the solid plot that never wavers, though it does take a few quick detours. I'd give it a B+ and recommend it to anyone who likes their Shakespeare with a large dose of humor and romance.

 

A Seer and Present Danger by Devon Monk is another small town cozy mystery by Oregon's own magical Agatha Christie. Monks prose is as clean and precise as a scalpel, and her plots are swift and intelligent and engrossing. Here's the blurb:  

A delightfully twisty, magic-packed cozy whodunit by Devon Monk

Come for the dining…stay for the criming (LOL)

Piper Themati is a waitress and seer who see flashes of futures that might come true. She’s gotten good at interpreting her quirky visions, but lately they’ve been static-filled and confusing.

When she stumbles upon a dead body outside the diner and her friend is there with blood on her hands, Piper has a choice: mind her own business and let the police solve the crime, or jump in with her unreliable power to try and clear her friend’s name.

Piper and her besties Medusa (yes, that Medusa) and Jules (the town’s most powerful witch) are on the case. But to catch a killer, Piper’s going to have to out think a magical thief, stay one step ahead of the police, and take on a power dangerous enough to stop time 

 

I always think Monk's books are too short, because I enjoy them so much, but this book really was a slender 241 pages, which is nothing in today's book market of hefty 400-600 page tomes. Still, everything wraps up nicely and by the time you've finished, you're ready for the next installment of the Ordinary Oregon series of books. I'd give it an A, and recommend this delightful tome to anyone who has read any of the other books in the series.

 

The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke is a thriller/suspense/mystery that I was expecting to find irreverent and interesting, but instead found that the plot slowed to a crawl about halfway through, before picking up speed close to the ending. Here's the blurb: 

Six authors.

One private island.

Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.

Arthur Fletch, one of the world’s bestselling novelists, is a reclusive genius known for his iconic protagonists and fiendish twists. When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead . . . and his last book is unfinished.

Desperate to publish the novel, Fletch’s agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book. To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter––for a mind-boggling sum––they will also help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers. The catch: the writers have just seventy-two hours to finish Fletch’s magnum opus.

It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending.

Due to the redundancy of going over each character's faults and foibles again and again, I was fairly bored by the time I reached the anticlimactic ending. The idea of the book is a good one...kind of like the game of Clue, but with less panache. The two authors who collaborated on this tepid novel seemed to have wanted to go in two different directions, and in so doing, made a muddle of the plot and the action, to the point where most readers would get exasperated and just toss the book out altogether. Still, I'd give it a B-, and recommend it to die hard mystery fans yearning for something "new" in the mystery genre...though with all the tropes used, it's hardly treading new ground.

 

What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon (I am assuming no relations to Mark Harmon or Angie Harmon) is an historical romance fiction book with a bit of science fiction that involves time travel. Here's the blurb: 

In an unforgettable love story, a woman’s impossible journey through the ages could change everything…

Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.

The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.

As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?

 

There's a lot of apologizing for the crimes of the IRA herein, whom Harmon seems to feel were forced to become bloody thugs who bombed and shot innocent people for merely being the wrong religion (which is the opposite of what religions supposedly for), and who tore families and lives apart. This was obviously not the case, and though Irish independence was a great idea and ideal, there were too many hot headed men involved with differing agendas for it to ever work, at least right away. Ireland has been, and is currently, broken in half, with the Southern part of the country fiercely independent and loath to talk about the horrors of the British occupation, and Northern Ireland, which is occupied by Irish protestants who are still loyal to the British Crown. Even after all these decades, there's still a great deal of animosity between the northern protestants and the southern catholics, sadly. When my best friend and I visited Ireland 26 years ago, there were local Irish people who were astounded that we were friends at all, considering she was catholic and I was protestant. There are more than a few infodumps in this novel, and a romance that is too light and airy for a novel of this kind. Still, I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about Irish history and "the troubles."

 

In The Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros is a contemporary romance with a lot of military action from the current Middle East wars woven throughout. Here's the blurb: 

From the author of Fourth Wing, (though it was a hit I didn't like it, and found it derivative), Rebecca Yarros, comes a sweeping romance about the sustained power of chance encounters.

When Izzy Astor gets on a plane to go home, she isn’t expecting much. It’s the usual holiday travel experience: busy, crowded, stressful.

Then she spots her seatmate, who is anything but ordinary. Nate Phelan sports dark hair, blue eyes, and a deliciously rugged charm that Izzy can’t resist. Their connection is undeniable. Izzy never believed in destiny before, but she does now.

Just ninety seconds after takeoff, their plane goes down in the Missouri River.

Their lives change. They change. Nate goes on to a career in the military while Izzy finds her way into politics. Despite a few chance encounters over the years, the timing never feels right.

Then comes a high-stakes reunion in Afghanistan, where Nate is tasked with protecting Izzy’s life.

He’ll do anything to keep her safe. And everything to win her heart.

Sadly the two main characters fall into the dreaded ancient tropes of "Big he-man keeps his cool in a crisis and saves the female from harm" and "female protagonist loses whatever spine she had once she sets foot on an airplane and requires rescue like a damsel in distress every single time she runs into big he-man." UGH. The romance is, however, just spicy enough to seem realistic, and the book becomes a page-turner about halfway through, which surprised me. I was certainly a better book than 4th Wing, her rip-off of Anne McCaffrey (RIP)'s dragonriders of Pern series. I'd give this odd duck of a novel a B, and recommend it to anyone who longs to be in the right place at the right time for romance, but just can't seem to get there.

 

Where Angels Fear by Mackenzie Kasey is a paranormal angel romance that starts out to be a decent story of a psychic trying to save the world from evil, but it slowly devolves into a sappy and unbelievable romance with a dumb ending. Here's the blurb: One volatile psychic-in-training and one sexy fallen angel seeking redemption stand between the mortal world and the forces of evil. Better start praying.

Storm O’Malley’s psychic gifts are a time bomb waiting to go off. She has one last chance to avoid being completely wiped from existence after nearly killing her latest angelic mentor: trusting yet another Pathlighter to train her where his predecessors have failed. There’s just one small catch. Damien’s no ordinary angel—he’s the Fallen.

Fallen as in used to rub elbows with Lucifer and work for the shady syndicate known as the Diablerie. Seems he’s now seeking redemption and needs her just as much as she needs him. Storm must join forces with this sinfully sexy angel if she’s to have any hope of training her volatile powers without killing herself or others. Not to mention stop a kidnapper abducting children on the cusp of psychic manifestation before any more can be taken. No pressure or anything. 

I always wonder, when reading romances that involve angels (who are nearly always super-handsome guys), why the authors never seem to have done any research into the heirarchy of angels or their characteristics, from seraphim and cherubim to angels and dominions. Texts describing angels don't have them sounding like supermodels ready for the runway. Most are described in terrifying terms, like having many mouths, multiple genitals, claws, echoing voices or halos of light refracting around them. They're never terrifying or alien in any of the YA or adult paranormal romance books, instead they're beautiful and sexy and all too willing to bed a regular human being, something that was verboten by the Almighty about a thousand or so years ago. Angels were not humans transformed, no, they were God's messengers, invisible, usually, to humans and more voyeuristic than sexually attracted to immature human females. Still, this book was a fast read that I'd give a C+ to, and recommend only to those obsessed with the lives of angels and psychics.

 

Robert Gray on Dolly Parton's Passing, Beans and Bind Debuts in Spokane Valley, Wash., Gloria Steinem Obituary, Meet me in Paris by Kristin Harmel, When Lemons Give you Life by Anna Johnston, The Castle in the Glen by Rhys Bowen and The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman.

Heyho, fellow book travelers! It's been a horrific week or two, leading the end of the summer feeling like it took a whole year to run out. Between dental appointments, and esophageal banding with a gastro doc I've never heard of (because my own gastro doc is so busy and booked out through the first month of next year) and an anesthesia nightmare that had me hallucinating that everyone in the procedure room was some kind of animal (one nurse was a giraffe, Nick was a big brown bear eating a salmon with berries lunch) and they all were dancing and singing in a 70s nightclub with loud furniture colors and patterns, to trying to get more pain meds and trying to get a standing order for paracentisis and the illusive MRI for my painfully decaying knee, I feel like I don't know whether I'm coming or going. I'm fortunate to have a son who is ready and willing to help me with food prep and house cleaning and bills and everything else. If it weren't for him, I don't think I would have made it this far. Now in the past week, we've lost some great people, including the wonderful Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem, both of whom have written books that I've read. Both are amazing women whose like this world will never see again. Anyway, here are some book reviews and tidbits/obits for you all to reflect on.

RIP to the great Dolly P, who wrote books and songs and gifted books to millions of children. God bless her. May she rest at God's right hand.

Robert Gray: Dolly Parton 'Believed Deeply in the Power of Reading'

Everywhere I go, the kids call me 'the book lady.' The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the 'book lady' title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I've done something good with my life and with my success.--Dolly Parton (via the Bookstore at Fitger's, Duluth, Minn.)

Dolly Parton died on Tuesday. She was 80. The Associated Press described her as a "country music icon whose soaring vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim." 

That's true, but she was so much more. The AP also noted that Dolly was a "charismatic humanitarian, whose good humor and straightforward generosity lifted the well-being of communities in her home state and beyond. Fans across generations and geographies say it will remain part of Parton's legacy."

I wasn't surprised by the book world's emotional response to her passing. Dolly was one of us. In addition to being an accomplished author, her legacy is permanently enshrined in the Imagination Library, which to date has donated more than 330 million books to children across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, and Australia. The project was inspired by her father, whom Parton described as a "very smart man," adding that she "often wondered what he could have done had he been able to read and write."

Many independent bookstores honored Dolly with, fittingly, books, including Secret World Books, Highland Park, Ill. ("a free used book to any kid 10 and under who comes in through Saturday"); and the Secret Bookshelf, Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland ("giving away 50 books to families from tomorrow to Saturday"). Plenty of options for donating were posted by booksellers like the Book Box, Draper, Utah ("all sales from our kids section will be donated to Imagination Library through the end of August").

Powell's Books, Portland, Ore. ("Dolly understood something simple and powerful: give a child a book, and you give them somewhere to go."); and many more.

Indie booksellers also flooded social media with heartfelt tributes to Dolly. Here's a sampling:

The Book & Cover, Chattanooga, Tenn.: "As a bookstore, Dolly Parton has been with us from the day we opened, part of the very first display we agonized over. As Southerners, she's been with us our whole lives, making sure we had books in our childhood libraries, making sure we knew being proud of who you are goes hand in hand with being kind, and making sure we knew one of the most important parts of living is knowing who you are and doing it on purpose."

Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville, Ky.: "Dolly saw needs and took concrete actions to help. We would all be better served if we asked ourselves 'What Would Dolly Do?' and do what is in our power to help others. Thank you, Dolly, for everything. We will always love you."

Green Apple Books, San Francisco, Calif.: "Dolly Parton meant a lot to a lot of people. She did work beyond that of an entertainer.... We encourage you to do what you can in her honor now and always--be brave, be kind, shine on, and don't suffer fools!--but we are also putting a link in our bio to the Imagination Library if you feel like donating to their work."

Main & Mountain Bookstore, Kernersville, N.C.: "Dolly believed deeply in the power of reading.... As a bookstore, we can't think of a more beautiful legacy. Because somewhere, there is a child who fell in love with reading because a book arrived in the mail with their name on it. A child who asked for one more story before bed. A child whose imagination became a little bigger because Dolly believed books belonged in their hands."--Robert Gray

Spokane has been the victim of recent summer wildfires, causing death and destruction untold in the past month. This is a bit of good news to come out of the Spokane area, a new bookstore that I believe will fill residents with hope for the future of the Spokane Valley.

Beans & Bind Debuts in Spokane Valley, Wash.

Beans & Bind, a bookstore and coffee shop, opened August 1in Spokane Valley, Wash., the Spokesman-Review reported. Located at 17325 E. Sprague Ave., Beans & Bind carries general-interest titles for all ages, along with non-book items like tote bags, apparel, stickers, candles, kitchenware, and coffee mugs, much of it sourced from local suppliers. The cafe side of the business serves coffee, tea, espresso drinks, Italian sodas, and other hot and cold beverages. The food menu includes panini sandwiches, pre-made burritos, pastries, cookies, and other treats.

The store's children's section also serves as an event space, and owner Marcella Ferraro and her team have already held book drives, art activities for kids, and author events. Future event plans include things like candle-making classes and Gilmore Girls watch parties, and community members can rent out the space for their own functions.

Prior to opening Beans & Bind, Ferraro had eight years of experience working as a barista and always wanted to open a coffee shop of her own. After finding the space on Sprague Ave., she decided to expand her plans and combine two of her passions.

"I told my husband, 'we should just go check it out,' " Ferraro told the Spokesman-Review. "And then we got in here and saw the space, and I was like, I've got to combine the two things I love the most: reading and coffee, because there's room for it."

"From day one, our grand opening, pretty much every customer we get in here that's local has thanked us for having something like this in the Valley," she said. "Hearing how it's touched people to have a place like this to go…that we've never really had until now is amazing."

I started reading Gloria S's works when I was a pre-teen and a teenager in the 70s, and I would discuss her ideas on the patriarchy and misogyny and society with my mother on the long nights we worked the graveyard shift together at Iowa Lutheran Hospital. I continued to read her books later in my life, and I was always inspired by her clear reasoning and her brilliant wit and wisdom. Nobody, not even popular talk show hosts like Johnny Carson or Letterman or Merv Griffin could get the better of her in an interview...she outshone and outsmarted every one of them. Rest easy, beloved feminist icon.

Obituary Note: Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem, journalist, author, editor, and feminist activist, died yesterday at age 92.

"Calling herself 'an entrepreneur of social change,' Ms. Steinem helped usher in sweeping cultural transformations across virtually every facet of American life, from the boardroom to the courtroom to the bedroom," the New York Times wrote. "For more than half a century, she personified the women's movement and became its most enduring symbol; her tinted aviator glasses and curtain of streaked-blond hair parted in the center made her one of the most recognizable women in the world.

"Her own feminist awakening didn't come until her mid-30s, when, as a journalist in 1969, she attended a 'speak out' of women discussing their illegal abortions. Charismatic, articulate, media savvy, deeply empathetic and a workaholic, she evolved into a political and cultural force."

In the 1960s, she was a prolific freelance journalist, contributing to a variety of publications. In 1968, she helped found New York magazine, where she wrote a regular political column. In 1971, Steinem co-founded Ms. magazine, the ground-breaking feminist magazine, and was an editor there for 15 years. Among many other achievements, she also co-founded the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Women's Media Center, and Equality Now, and produced documentaries.

An autobiography, An Unexpected Life: A Memoir, is being published by Random House on September 22. In it, Steinem writes about growing up "a curious child: going on road trips with her itinerant father, caring for her mother, and devouring every book she could find" and her slow awakening to the problems of poverty and women's roles in society, becoming a leading feminist--and the rest of her long, rich life. Her earlier books included:

Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), which includes a variety of essays and material, including her exposé, "I Was a Playboy Bunny"; a tribute to her mother, "Ruth's Song (Because She Could Not Sing It)"; essays on female genital mutilation and the difference between erotica and pornography; and the satire, "If Men Could Menstruate."  Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem (1992), which draws on her own experiences with a lack of self-esteem as well as those of others, including Mahatma Gandhi. The Truth Will Set You Free, but First It Will Piss You Off!: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Rebellion (2019), an illustrated collection of inspirational and outrageous quotes by Steinem along with her introduction and essays. Marilyn: Norma Jean (1986), in which she "revealed the woman behind the myth."

Among her many honors, Steinem received the Penney-Missouri Journalism Award, the Front Page and Clarion awards, the National Magazine Award, the Women's Sports Journalism Award, the Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Writers Award from the United Nations, the James Weldon Johnson Award for Journalism, and others. In 2013, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.

Meet Me in Paris by Kristin Harmel is a romantic historical women's fiction novel that follows some of her earlier works (which I've read) like The Book of Lost Names and the Forest of Vanishing Stars with lyrical prose and a sturdy, well researched plot that illuminates a part of WWII from various women's perspective and leaves readers pondering the lives of their grandparents and great grandparents during a time when the world was aflame with danger and changing daily. Here's the blurb: Nine Americans in Paris. Seven intertwined love stories. One City of Light.

Love Actually meets The Notebook in a tale of love, loss, and finding your way home, all set over the course of one life-changing week in Paris.

Julia Glover has brought her twenty-three-year-old daughter, Piper, to Paris for the first time—but they know it will also be their last trip here together. Julia is dying, and as the mother and daughter desperately try to make memories together as the clock ticks down, the world opens up around them. Piper meets a cute French waiter, who might just understand her better than anyone she’s ever met, and Julia meets a man at a dive bar and struggles with how to tell him the truth about her future.

Rock star Jackson Quick’s glory days are behind him. He had a handful of hit songs thirty years ago, but he hasn’t toured in a decade. This week, he’ll launch his reunion tour in Paris, the city where it all began. But he wants more out of life than being defined by fame. When he meets a woman who finally sees him for who he is at his core, the ground shifts beneath his feet.

Henry McGee has been writing hit songs for decades—including Jackson Quick’s biggest hit, City of Light. But his secret is that every love song he’s ever written is for a woman named Celeste, whom he loved a lifetime ago, when they were both teenagers in Paris during World War II. He has spent eighty years believing she died—but when a letter arrives telling him the opposite, he’s on the first flight to France. Can he break through the haze of her dementia, using the songs he’s written all these years, to remind her of who they once were to each other—and to tell her he came back for her?

Henry’s granddaughter, Melody, has just discovered that her husband of twenty years, Gilles, a French cosmetics executive, is having an affair. When she confronts him, he tearfully apologizes and begs her to forgive him. But can she? And, perhaps even more importantly, does she want to? Or is there a different kind of life out there for her if she chooses to be alone?

These intertwining stories—plus several others—unfold over a few breathtaking spring days, as an unforgettable group of Americans in Paris must find their way to their own versions of happily ever after in the City of Light. 

Despite it seeming more fragile, Love actually becomes stronger during times of national/international crisis, as Harmel illustrates in each woman's love story, some of which end in tragedy and some in triumph. This poignant book leaves readers emotionally wrung out, having laughed and cried abundantly as we hear of the fate of those caught in the Polish ghettos and others who never even made it to the concentration camps, but were shot by Nazi soldiers or died of cold and disease on trains going to the camps. The horror of mans inhumanity to man will leave you as breathless as the love that sprouts and grows like a tough weed between people in unlikely places. While I learned a lot about the ghettos and the Paris resistence, I also felt that at times Harmel was a little heavy handed with her research, which left me feeling hopeless and finding it hard to continue reading. I'd give this book a B for that reason, and recommend it to fans of Wartime romance.

When Lemons Give You Life by Anna Johnston is an LGBTQ family life and adventure fiction novel that shines a light on a gay senior citizen who has given up on life and his talents as a chef, until one day he finds it all coming back to him when he makes a lemon tart for a fellow inmate of the nursing facility he's living in. Here's the blurb: 

From the author of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife comes a heart-stirring novel about family, second chances, and the lengths we go for those we love, following a woman fighting to hold onto life and her older brother who's rediscovering reasons to embrace it

Retired Michelin-star chef Griff Barlow has lost his appetite. He's done with grief, guilt, and the beige slop they call food at Sunny Glen Aged Care Facility, where he resides. Six decades of life have handed him all the lemons he can handle, so he breaks into the nursing home kitchen to bake one last tart as his final meal. But the act of cooking stirs a dormant joy, and soon he's sneaking in after dark to serve up flavor and comfort to fellow residents, who come alive with each bite—all while hiding a lie big enough to destroy the one thing he has left to protect.

Lisa, Griff's younger sister and sole visitor, is navigating a midlife ADHD diagnosis, a new romance, and unexpected news that could change everything. Despite their fractured relationship, she keeps showing up, even with hope for reconciliation long buried in the silence between them. But the truth has a way of boiling over, and when secrets, soufflés, and second chances collide, Griff and Lisa may discover a recipe for forgiveness.

Heartfelt and inspiring, When Lemons Give You Life is a deeply human novel about love, forgiveness, redemption, and rediscovering joy when life has lost its flavor.

Grumpy Griff is, I would guess, loosely based on Hell's Kitchen's Gordon Ramsey, the foul-tempered and foul mouthed chef who creates blissful cuisine out of seemingly thin air. Griff has been living a lie, since he pretended to have dementia years ago, so the powers that be would allow him to live with his long-time love, suffering from Alzheimers, in the same nursing home room. No one, including his estranged sister, has copped to the fact that he's been lying, so he uses his anonymous mutism to sneak into the kitchen on weekends, pretend to be their chef, and make delicious food for the patrons of the nursing home, whom he knows don't all need or want bland tasteless mush day in and day out. Everythings going well until he's caught, and his ungrateful sister is really pissed off at him. Fortunately, he's been going through the food budget books and manages to get the adminstrator who has been stealing money from the food budget arrested. Eventually his sister forgives him (she seems a bit too needy and mean to me) and the HEA wraps everything up. I'd give this heartfelt and fun novel a B+, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in nutrition and the elderly, food and what its like to be alone and forgotten after age 65.

The Castle in the Glen by Rhys Bowen is a historical mystery set in Scotland. Here's the blurb: 

A ghostwriter plunges into danger as she unravels the dark secrets of a powerful Scottish family in a thrilling novel of romance and mystery by the bestselling author of Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure.

Australian writer Emma Callander has been recruited to complete the final historical mystery in a series by celebrated author Iris Blackburn. It’s 1965, and Iris’s memory is fading. She’s certain that only Emma can do justice to her novel about a murder on the Isle of Skye. When Emma ventures to Scotland for research, she discovers the story is not fiction at all but rather a true crime, unsolved for more than fifty years.

It was 1904 when a couple’s suspicious drowning led to the disappearance of a mysterious young woman the locals called the Wild Girl. To this day the mystery is unforgettable, especially among the descendants of an aristocratic family who’ll do anything to keep their secrets buried. From the misty Highlands to a medieval castle, Emma and Tony Gordon, Iris’s handsome lawyer, work ever more closely to uncover them.

But while Iris may be known for her fiendishly clever twists, there’s one not even Emma could have seen coming.

The clever protagonist and her search for belonging on the Isle of Sky was engaging and romantic at first, but became slightly tedious midway through. I knew that Emma was being manipulated by Iris right from the start, and I felt that she should have realized that the story she was charged with completing was true, and that Iris was trying to tell her something (but felt it was better to play games with her rather than come right out and tell her what was going on). I've read more than a few of Bowen's books, and her prose becomes more polished in each one. Since this book was so long (over 400 pages) it helped that Bowen never over-stretches her plots, and allows readers a recap or two along the way, so they don't get lost in all the mysterious background stuff. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to those who like slow-reading historical fiction that you can savor.

 

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman is the 5th book in the Thursday Murder Club Mystery series, which was made into a TV streaming series a couple of years back with Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan. Here's the blurb: Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan?

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favorite criminal.

But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang’s next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable—something worth killing for.

Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what’s this uncrackable code they keep hearing about? Plunged back into action once more, can the four friends solve the puzzle and a murder in time?

 

Though I really enjoyed the first season of the streaming series, I now can't picture the characters in the novel as anyone but the actors who have portrayed them on TV.   So when I read about Ron, I see Pierce Brosnan, and Elizabeth will always be Helen Mirren for me. Daffy Joyce will always be Celia Imrie, and Ben Kingsley the stately Ibrahim. The prose from actor Richard Osman is stunning, and his plots full of twists and turns that you will never see coming. I laughed out loud at several points, and as usual, Osman left me wanting more, so I will be waiting impatiently for the 6th book in the series. I'd give this installment a B+, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about more seasoned (older) sleuths going the distance to solve the various mysteries that plague one's life.