Quote of the Day, UW Bookstore Downsizes, Fantastic Beasts Movie, Nobel Lit Scandal, Steel by Carrie Vaughn, The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis, Amy Falls Down by Jincy Willett and School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins

This is a good reminder to frequent your local independent bookstore, which always has booksellers on hand who actually read!

Quotation of the Day

"As far as I can tell, as a weekly patron of local bookshops for quite

some time, the difference is the people that work there. They love books

and people that love books and they show it, which is probably the

simplest formula for bookselling success. I bring my two young daughters

into small, independent bookstores all the time, and as rowdy as they

get, the booksellers are always welcoming and warm and kind and don't

mind the two yellow-haired-terrors streaking through the stacks. So we

keep going back.... As a result, I've come to care about local

bookstores. They've invested in my family's future, and so it seems

natural that I would invest in them."

Major M.L. Cavanaugh in a Colorado Springs Gazette column headlined

"Keeping book buying local has value http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz38402328."

The UW Bookstore has been one of the best places to see famous and infamous authors, who come to sign their books, give a little talk/reading and take questions from local fans. The curator of the SF section, Duane, was an amazing guy who knew everyone in the fantasy/science fiction book community, and who always knew where to find a special sequel you'd been looking for, or what book you'd want to read next, based on his encyclopedic memory of your taste in genre fiction. The fact that they're now downsizing the actual book stacks makes me really sad. Instead of several floors of books to peruse, now there will be one floor, and you will have to go to events only on the second floor. I would guess this is because even the mighty U bookstore is feeling the pinch of local giant retailer Amazon.com. 

University Book Store Reconfiguring Flagship Store

University Book Store <http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz38402338> in Seattle, Wash., is making major changes to its flagship store on the University of

Washington campus. According to general book department manager Pam

Cady, the store is consolidating its entire book inventory on the

flagship store's first floor.

While the book inventory, which had previously been spread across the

first and second floors, will now have less total square footage, the

first floor still amounts to more than 10,000 square feet of retail

space, and Cady described the new layout as "much more intimate." At the

same time, the move will allow the flagship store to significantly

expand its second-floor event space.

"It's something we've been considering for a while," explained Cady. "I

think it's coming at a good time. Our neighborhood will be undergoing

big changes in the next couple of years with light rail opening almost

on our doorstep, so we wanted to get ready for that and position

ourselves for the future." 

University Book Store was founded in 1900 by two University of

Washington students, who first opened for business in a coat closet next

to the university president's office. The store has six locations around

the Seattle area and has operated as a trust since 1964, with UW

students, faculty and staff as the beneficiaries.

I can hardly wait for this movie! I loved the first one!

Movies: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

The final trailer has been released for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of

Grindelwald http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz38402373,

featuring Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) "finally meeting his

brother.... Johnny Depp's powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald also

returns, despite being captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the

United States of America), with the help of Scamander at the end of the

first film. This time he warns his followers to 'join me or die,' "

Deadline reported.

"You're going to want to watch to the end of this trailer," J.K. Rowling

warned. "There's a lot in there for you guys. When you see the trailer,

don't speak to each other until the end because there's a name you'll

want to hear." 

Directed by David Yates from a screenplay by Rowling, the film also

stars Jude Law, Zoe Kravitz, Ezra Miller and Claudia Kim. It opens

in theaters November 16.

Guilty Verdict for Man at Center of Nobel Lit Scandal

Jean-Claude Arnault, the man at the center of a scandal that led to the

cancellation of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature, has been found

guilty http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz38441495

of rape and sentenced to two years in prison by a Swedish court, the New

York Times reported. The Swedish Academy declined to comment on the

verdict, which came just as the 2019 Nobel season was beginning with the

announcement of this year's physiology or medicine recipients.

Last November, Dagens Nyheter reported that 18 women had accused the

French photographer of sexual assault or harassment. The Times noted

that he and his wife, Katarina Frostenson, a member of the Swedish

Academy, owned the Forum, a popular cultural venue that received support

from the academy.

In the wake of the accusations, the academy dismissed permanent

secretary Sara Danius, who had severed the group's ties with Arnault and

commissioned an investigation of the academy from a law firm. Some of

the academy's members resigned over Frostenson's continued membership.

Steel by Carrie Vaughn is a swashbuckling pirate YA adventure with a female protagonist who is, predictably, a bit of a sullen snot (she's a teenager, so I gather we're supposed to expect her to be a sore loser and a pain in the butt to her parents). Vaughn, author of the Kitty Norville series (I read all 16 of these fine paranormal romance paperbacks) has branched out into YA adventures with this book and Martians Abroad. Vaughn's prose is silken and clean, which helps along her confident plot. She's also a master storyteller who is able to grab the reader in the first couple of pages and not let them go until the final chapter. Here's the blurb: Jill has just lost a big fencing tournament, and now she's stuck on a Caribbean vacation with her parents, nursing her wounded ego. Walking along the beach, she picks up a broken, rusty rapier tip. The next day, she takes a boat trip with her family, falls into the ocean, and finds herself pulled out of the water and onto a pirate ship. Jill has a hard time accepting the fact that she's traveled 300 years into the past, but she eventually gets her sea legs and finds that her fencing skills come in handy in pirate life. But will she be able to save herself when it really counts? Details of shipboard life are well integrated into the narrative, with an emphasis on the endless hard work and real-life dangers of a pirate's existence. The Diana is captained by Marjory Cooper, a strong female character who wins Jill over with her courage and fairness. Magical elements, and the actions of an evil rival pirate captain determined to get his hands on the sword tip, enhance the time-travel premise, give the plot cohesion, and add suspense. Readers willing to suspend their disbelief will enjoy this swashbuckling adventure on the high seas.—Hayden Bass, Seattle Public Library, WA

This book, like her Kitty series, was a real page turner, and though there was enough blood and gore to make it seem realistic, Vaughn turned it around so that the fish out of water protagonist was able to get home in time for an HEA ending. I'd give the book an A- and recommend it to anyone who is fascinated by the history of female pirates and fencing.

The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis was the second book of hers that I've read, after The Dollhouse, which I believe I read last year. Though her protagonists are female, somehow Davis manages to have them constantly thwarted by sexism and ridiculous tropes of romance and life (like the tortured artist trope, or the woman who uses her feminine wiles/sexuality to get what she wants, because men are stupid). The two women at the forefront of the tale are Clara the artist and Virginia the divorcee. Each trades off chapters as we gain insight into the past of Grand Central Station in New York. Here's the blurb:

In her latest captivating novel, nationally bestselling author Fiona Davis takes readers into the glamorous lost art school within Grand Central Terminal, where two very different women, fifty years apart, strive to make their mark on a world set against them.
For the nearly nine million people who live in New York City, Grand Central Terminal is a crown jewel, a masterpiece of design. But for Clara Darden and Virginia Clay, it represents something quite different.
For Clara, the terminal is the stepping stone to her future, which she is certain will shine as the brightly as the constellations on the main concourse ceiling. It is 1928, and twenty-five-year-old Clara is teaching at the lauded Grand Central School of Art. A talented illustrator, she has dreams of creating cover art for Vogue, but not even the prestige of the school can override the public's disdain for a "woman artist." Brash, fiery, confident, and single-minded--even while juggling the affections of two men, a wealthy would-be poet and a brilliant experimental painter--Clara is determined to achieve every creative success. But she and her bohemian friends have no idea that they'll soon be blindsided by the looming Great Depression, an insatiable monster with the power to destroy the entire art scene. And even poverty and hunger will do little to prepare Clara for the greater tragedy yet to come.
Nearly fifty years later, in 1974, the terminal has declined almost as sharply as Virginia Clay's life. Full of grime and danger, from the smoke-blackened ceiling to the pickpockets and drug dealers who roam the floor, Grand Central is at the center of a fierce lawsuit: Is the once-grand building a landmark to be preserved, or a cancer to be demolished? For Virginia, it is simply her last resort. Recently divorced, she has just accepted a job in the information booth in order to support herself and her college-age daughter, Ruby. But when Virginia stumbles upon an abandoned art school within the terminal and discovers a striking watercolor hidden under the dust, her eyes are opened to the elegance beneath the decay. She embarks on a quest to find the artist of the unsigned masterpiece--an impassioned chase that draws Virginia not only into the battle to save Grand Central but deep into the mystery of Clara Darden, the famed 1920s illustrator who disappeared from history in 1931.

I really loved the history and mystery of the Grand Central Terminal, both in the 20s and 70s, but I was saddened by the cruel and ruthless people who preyed on the artists and stole their work. I was also put off by how bitter and mean Clara had become by the 70s, and surprised that no one called her on her sh*t. Though I wanted to slap Virginia around myself, especially for sleeping with the sleazy attorney, I don't think she deserved the viciousness heaped upon her by the aged Clara. Anyway, the story was a gripping one, the prose strong and the plot straightforward. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in New York's iconic buildings.

Amy Falls Down by Jincy Willett is a surprisingly fun novel about a woman writer whose life takes a turn for the better when she falls and twists her ankle and hits her head on the birdbath in her backyard.  Because her significant other has passed (he was a homosexual with whom she had a blissfully celibate marriage), Amy, who was already an introvert, has become something of a misanthropic hermit and a curmudgeon. Though she's had successful books published in the past, now she hasn't been able to write anything in years, and has been working as an online creative writing teacher to sustain herself. but after she hits her head and does an interview that she doesn't remember with a local journalist, Amy suddenly becomes a celebrity, and things snowball rapidly from there. Here's the blurb:

Amy Gallup is an aging novelist and writing instructor living in Escondido, California, with her dog, Alphonse. Since recent unsettling events, she has made some progress. While she still has writer's block, she doesn't suffer from it. She's still a hermit, but she has allowed some of her class members into her life. She is no longer numb, angry, and sardonic: she is merely numb and bemused, which is as close to happy as she plans to get. Amy is calm.
So, when on New Year's morning she shuffles out to her backyard garden to plant a Norfolk pine, she is wholly unprepared for what happens next.
Amy falls down.
A simple accident, as a result of which something happens, and then something else, and then a number of different things, all as unpredictable as an eight-ball break. At first the changes are small, but as these small events carom off one another, Amy's life changes in ways that range from ridiculous to frightening to profound.
This most reluctant of adventurers is dragged and propelled by train, plane, and automobile through an outlandish series of antic media events on her way to becoming—to her horror—a kind of celebrity. And along the way, as the numbness begins to wear off, she comes up against something she has avoided all her life: her future.
Jincy Willett's Amy Falls Down explores, through the experience of one character, the role that accident plays in all our lives. "You turn a corner and beasts break into arias, gunfire erupts, waking a hundred families, starting a hundred different conversations. You crack your head open and three thousand miles away a stranger with Asperger's jump-starts your career."
We are all like Amy. We are all wholly unprepared for what happens next.
Also, there's a basset hound.

I've always said that I'd read any novel with an older female protagonist who wasn't a perfect-looking petite blond with big breasts who cougars all the young guys into sleeping with her. So when I read about this book (and I'd already read and loved Willetts Winner of the National Book Award) I jumped on a copy at my local library ASAP. I laughed, I cried and I loved Amy's honesty and her bewilderment of all the hoopla surrounding her in today's media-saturated society. Also, when I was a teenager, we had a basset hound named Cleo. She was a lot of trouble, but also a lot of fun. I empathized with Amy and her basset, and I loved the ending,which I won't spoil for you here. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who has ever had one event domino into a series of events that somehow got out of their control. 

School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins is another YA supernatural fantasy set in the world of the Hex Hall series, which, after three books, ended much too soon, IMHO. This book is about the Brannick family of monster-hunters, the youngest of whom, Izzy, is forced to go "undercover"at a local high school in order to kill a ghost who is causing trouble. Here's the blurb: Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy's older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.
Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it's not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it's strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush. Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt?

Rachel Hawkins's delightful spin-off brings the same wit and charm as the New York Times best-selling Hex Hall series. Get ready for more magic, mystery and romance!  

Though I adored the Hex Hall series, I found Izzy to be a bit too much of a brat, and at the same time, she seemed so weak for a Brannick, I was surprised she didn't get beaten up sooner, or stomped out of existence. I found Izzy's mom to be overbearing and mean, and I wanted them to find the sister much sooner than they did. While I had some trouble with the characters, I did enjoy the story, which had a lot of charm and wit and was fun to read. Hawkin's prose is beautifully rendered, so clean and zippy that it flies along the rails of the plot at lightening speed. All in all, though, it's well worth the time spent reading it, and if there were to be a sequel, I'd pounce on it with all due fervor. I'd give this book a B+ and recommend it to anyone who likes magical YA books with a heaping dose of snark.