Happy 14th Anniversary, Butterfly Books Blog! Also, Interview with Margaret Atwood and Polar Vortex Sale, Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor and Lies, Damned Lies and History, And the Rest is History by Jodi Taylor

Happy 14th Anniversary, Butterfly Books! Today, Superbowl 53 Sunday, 

marks 14 years since I was so bored by the Superbowl that my husband sat me down in front of 

the computer and said "Why don't you start a blog about books?"The result is nearly
 650 posts of book reviews, author interviews and other bookish news and tidbits,
 mostly from the magnificent Shelf Awareness newsletter, which I enjoy reading every
 weekday, and which originates here in Seattle.
 Anyway, to celebrate, here's a Margaret Atwood interview and several book reviews. 
I plan on keeping this good thing going until I can't type anymore.

Margaret Atwood in Conversation
Erin Morgenstern and Margaret Atwood
"I think this is very uplifting. We're all still in this room. There's
still books, people are still reading them," said Margaret Atwood,
author of The Handmaid's Tale, The Blind Assassin and much more, during
the breakfast keynote on the second day of Winter Institute 14 in
Albuquerque, N.Mex.
"Part of the uptick of books is that's one of the places people go when
they feel under both political and psychological pressure," Atwood
continued. "It is actually quite helpful to know that other people have
been through similar things before, and have come out of them."
Atwood was in conversation with Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night
Circus and the upcoming The Starless Sea, and during a wide-ranging,
illuminating and often funny discussion, topics ranged from forthcoming
novels to blurring genre lines, early book-signing experiences, and past
and present reactions to The Handmaid's Tale.
On the subject of her new novel, The Testaments--the sequel to The
Handmaid's Tale coming from Nan Talese/Doubleday on September 10--Atwood
joked that her publisher would kill her if she said too much, but she
did say that it is set 16 years after the events of the previous book
and features three narrators. Beyond that, her publisher "would be very
cross" with her.
When asked what led her to return to the world of The Handmaid's Tale
more than 30 years later, Atwood replied that there have "always been a
lot of questions asked" about the book, like what happens next and what
happens to the main character after the end of the novel. She said that
she never answered those questions, because she didn't know. Writing The
Testaments, Atwood explained, was "an exploration of the answers" to
those many questions.
Atwood recalled that following the publication of The Handmaid's Tale in
1985, there were a handful of major reactions. The English, "having done
their religious civil war in the 17th century, said 'jolly good yarn.' "
Canadians, meanwhile, "being nervous by nature," wondered if it could
happen in Canada, which Atwood doubted. And in the United States there 
were two different reactions: one being, this will never happen
here--"wrong," Atwood remarked--and the other being, how much time have
we got?
She said that the 2016 election changed the way people viewed the book
and especially the television show, which had started shooting in
September 2016. She reported that when the show's cast and crew woke up
on November 9, they all said to themselves, "We are now in a different
show." Nothing changed in terms of what they were filming, Atwood added,
"but the frame changed," as did the frame around the book.
While discussing their first book-signing experiences, Atwood said that
hers was in 1969 in the men's sock and underwear department in a
Hudson's Bay Company in Edmonton, Alberta. The signing was for her debut
novel, The Edible Woman, and she reported that she "frightened a lot of
men" who had come in to buy socks and underwear, and she sold a grand
total of two copies. The only signing she ever had that was worse, she
continued, was held in a bookstore in a suburban mall in Winnipeg on a
Tuesday afternoon. "Nobody was in the mall and nobody was in the
bookstore," and when someone finally approached her signing table it was
just to ask where he could find the Scotch tape.
Atwood and Morgenstern also talked about the forthcoming graphic novel
adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale, drawn by artist Renée Nault
(Nan Talese, Mar). Atwood related that the graphic novel, which she
described as "gorgeous," entered production about five years ago and has
taken so long in part because of Nault's perfectionism and her desire to
color every single frame by hand. "Finally it's here," said Atwood. "I'm
not any longer writing little notes saying 'how can I help? Would you
like me to hand-color some of those pages?' "
Atwood noted that interpretations and adaptations of The Handmaid's Tale
have "proliferated in an odd kind of way" over the years. In addition to
the graphic novel and television series, it's been an opera, a ballet,
various plays written and performed by university students and a variety
of parodies, like FunnyOrDie's Handmaid's Tale for Men. She's also built
a collection of what she's dubbed "Handmaid's Artifacts," including
something called "The Handsoap's Tale," which is a soap dispenser that
features a picture of a red handmaid's dress and white bonnet; a photo
of Melania Trump's bizarre red Christmas trees; and countless photos of
pets in white veterinary collars made to look like handmaids.
Said Atwood: "I think it's because it's so immediately visually
recognizable, which is also why it's become a brilliant political
protest gizmo." --Alex Mutter 

It's freezing in Iowa, my original home state, so I found this Polar Vortex sale idea interesting. Here
in the Pacific Northwest its been comparatively balmy in the 50s
 , but the weather people say we're in for some snow and ice on Monday and Tuesday
 of this week.  

Cool (Freezing) Idea of the Day: Polar Vortex Online Sale

Noting that it was going to be "colder than Siberia in Chicago"

yesterday, Open Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39630342,

Chicago, Ill., wrote customers to say that although the West Loop store

was closed, it's holding a "polar vortex online sale" through Groundhog

Day, this Sunday, February 2. Many bookstores across the Midwest were

closed yesterday because of historically cold temperatures and wind

chills. In Chicago, temps hit -20F (-29C) and the wind chill was -50F

(-45C).

 

Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor is the sequel to her highly successful YA Fantasy novel, Akata Witch, which I read a couple of months ago. This series has been described, and rightly so, as Harry Potter if it were set in Africa with a female protagonist. That's a simplified description of the lush and fascinating mythology that infuses the books and will keep readers turning the pages into the wee hours. Here's the blurbs: A year ago, Sunny Nwazue, an American-born girl Nigerian girl, was inducted into the secret Leopard Society. As she began to develop her magical powers, Sunny learned that she had been chosen to lead a dangerous mission to avert an apocalypse, brought about by the terrifying masquerade, Ekwensu. Now, stronger, feistier, and a bit older, Sunny is studying with her mentor Sugar Cream and struggling to unlock the secrets in her strange Nsibidi book.

Eventually, Sunny knows she must confront her destiny. With the support of her Leopard Society friends, Orlu, Chichi, and Sasha, and of her spirit face, Anyanwu, she will travel through worlds both visible and invisible to the mysteries town of Osisi, where she will fight a climactic battle to save humanity. Much-honored Nnedi Okorafor, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards, merges today’s Nigeria with a unique world she creates. Akata Warrior blends mythology, fantasy, history and magic into a compelling tale that will keep readers spellbound.

School Library Journal: Fans of Akata Witch will fall again for the wondrously intriguing fantasy world in modern-day Nigeria in this imaginative sequel. Ekwensu, the evil spirit that Sunny, now 13, and her leopard society friends defeated in the previous book has returned. He severs Sunny's connection to her spirit face Anyanwu, and without it, Sunny feels lost and unsure of herself. The fact that the severing did not kill her means that the vision that she saw a year ago of a fiery apocalypse may come true. The prevalence of oil spills caused by companies in the Niger Delta makes the threat of a massive fire all too real. To restore Sunny's spirit face, she and the others must find the giant spider spirit Udide, ask it to spin a flying grasscutter (a van-sized rodentlike creature) for them, then fly it to the city of Osisi in Lagos to prevent the world's end. The magic in Sunny's world is not always kind or gentle, and the punishment for breaking the rules can be brutal. This, alongside the novel's portrayal of contemporary Nigeria with its cuisine, multiethnic groups speaking many languages, economic inequality between social classes, and threats against albinos, will make readers believe that this magical world could really exist. The story has playful elements too, like Grashcoatah the grasscutter and Sunny's wasp artist. Don't miss this beautifully written fantasy that seamlessly weaves inventive juju with contemporary Nigerian culture and history.—Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library 

I adore all the cultural references and the unique magic on display in these books, but I don't like the sexism, misogyny and blatant prejudice toward albinos that is woven into the story, probably because it is written as part of the Nigerian culture in Africa. The way that these young teenage girls are sexualized when they're still children also made me nauseous, as that was treated as normal as well. While I know all cultures are different, I also know that no 13 year old girl is ready for any kind of relationship, and even mature-seeming girls should never be forced to pair off with a boy at that age. I would think that they would have laws against child marriage or sex until the participants are at least 18 or 19 years old. At any rate, the prose was, as usual, brilliant and made the twisty, fascinating plot flow along like a river raft on the Mississippi. I will watch for Sunny's further adventures as time goes on, but I sincerely hope that she won't be made to get into a serious relationship until she's older. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who read the first book in the series.

Lies, Damned Lies, and History, And the Rest is History by Jodi Taylor are books 7 and 8 on the Chronicles of St Mary's series of steampunk historical fantasy/adventure. I keep telling myself that I won't read anymore of these witty British books, because they're so full of sexism, class warfare and, in "Lies, Damned Lies...etc" there is a great deal of size prejudice and bullying vitriol toward fat women, especially, that I find reprehensible and intolerable. It makes the British people, women in particular, seem extremely stupid and cruel, narrow minded and without any self esteem at all. The men seem to all be swaggering egotistical dolts who think they're gorgeous when they're described as anything but, and they also expend a lot of time and energy telling the women in the book, the protagonist in particular, how insane she is, how she bungles every assignment and how horrible a person she is for doing her job. Anyone showing weakness or compassion is seen as prey for the petty cruelties of his or her coworkers, lovers and so-called friends. I found myself constantly telling the characters to grow the hell up already, because they certainly don't act like functioning adults a majority of the time. Yet for all their faults, these books are real page turners and they present historical events in a realistic and interesting fashion.

Here are the blurbs: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s tells the chaotic adventures of Madeleine Maxwell and her compatriots—Director Bairstow, Leon “Chief” Farrell, Mr. Markham, and many more—as they travel through time, saving St. Mary’s (too often by the very seat of their pants) and thwarting time-travelling terrorists, all the while leaving plenty of time for tea.

“I’ve done some stupid things in my time. I’ve been reckless. I’ve broken a few rules. But never before have I ruined so many lives or left such a trail of destruction behind me.”

As Max would be the first to admit, she’s never been one for rules. But in Lies, Damned Lies, and History , she’s gone too far and now everyone is paying the price. Grounded until the end of time, how can she ever put things right?

And the Rest is History:
You think you’re having a bad day? Max is trapped in the same deadly sandstorm that buried the fifty thousand-strong army of the Pharaoh Cambyses II, and she’s sharing the only available shelter for miles around with the murdering psychopath who recently kidnapped her and left her adrift in time.

She’s no safer at St. Mary’s. Tragedy strikes—not once, but several times—and with no Leon, no Markham, and no Peterson at her side, Max’s personal life slowly begins to unravel. From the Egyptian desert to the Battle of Hastings, and from Bayeux Cathedral to the Sack of Constantinople, Max must race through time to save the ones she loves.
  

Another thing that bothered me about these two novels is that,apparently, the Brits are shite at parenthood, and Max and Leon's little boy Matthew is treated to some seriously shoddy parenting by both, even though Max seems to be doing alright at first. The fact that she can't save her baby from an insane psychopathic former historian then seems all the more suspicious. Any decent mother would not freeze when someone has hold of their baby. Max has put her life on the line for coworkers, friends and even the much-loathed time police, but when it comes to her son, she can't seem to muster any of that fearlessness as she lets him be stolen away to be sold and abused in history for 8 years. After my son was born I would have fallen on a bomb for him,faced down anyone who tried to take him from me and never thought twice about taking a bullet for him. Max just freezes and then flops around anxiously until he returns with his father as a starved and traumatized boy who hates women because he was abused by them in the past (and he was also sold into servitude by a man, but for some reason the men don't get the same amount of resentment and distrust as the women do). So when the male authority figures recommend that she give Matthew to the Time Police for them to raise and protect him, she seems somewhat relieved to do so. I found that to be more than bizarre behavior, and I found myself wondering if Jodi Taylor was actually a pen name for a male writer who enjoys trying (and failing) to get into the mind of women and mothers, and as usual gets it all wrong. Max, who was sexually abused as a child, somehow is seen as a voracious sexual person, while also being a disaster magnet and totally lacking in empathy for her contemporaries,while having all the feels in the world for people in history who have been dead for centuries. As a character, she doesn't make much sense, yet as a protagonist she propels the plots along at a blistering pace.I'd give both books a B-, and recommend them to others who are obsessed with this series.