Oprahs New Book Club for Apple, Best Bookstores in the USA, Princess Bride Musical, Tarot by Marissa Kennerson,The Beast's Heart by Leife Shallcross, Mahimata by Rati Mehrotra and Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott

Here we are another 10 days after I posted last time, and we're already at the end of March, coming up hard on spring (yay allergy season...not) I've managed to read four books this time, though my reading schedule has been thrown off by a lot of things this month, including streaming the new show (based on Lindy West's book) Shrill, starring an SNL alum and chubby gal Aidy, who does a decent, if mousey job of portraying Lindy West, who is far more confident and competent as a journalist for Seattle's Stranger newspaper than her TV counterpart is at a weekly paper in Portland, Oregon. Several other SNL comics appear in the show, but there were only 6 episodes and other than a kick ass pool party, or "chunky dunk" as they call it in Portland, there wasn't a lot of strong and powerful fat babes taking charge scenes, it was mostly the main character, Anne, being pushed around and being a wimp. Definitely disappointing and not worth the price of Hulu. In other streaming news, Star Trek Discovery's second season has been a smash hit, engaging and totally worth the price of admission on CBS All Access. I can hardly wait for season 3! This 

This looks pretty exciting, and I hope that it takes off, as Oprah can help authors get their books noticed and put them on society's radar.

Revamped Version' of Oprah's Book Club for Apple

During Apple's "It's Showtime" event yesterday in Cupertino, Calif., Oprah Winfrey "was the last show biz personality to take the stage [about the 1:40:00 mark http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz40168779 in the confab's section about the new AppleTV+ streaming service," Deadline reported. Almost a year after she signed a multi-year deal with Apple for original content, Winfrey introduced several new projects and "put a brief spotlight on a revamped version of her successful book club http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz40168780"

"For me there is nothing more thrilling than being transported by a brilliant book," she said. "The only other thing more gratifying than an extraordinary read is being able to share that experience with others, and we're going to do just that by building the biggest, the most vibrant, the most stimulating book club on the planet."

Vulture noted that "details are scarce http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz40168781 as to how exactly Apple TV+ will be arranging the various threads of the club, so in the meantime, please allow Winfrey to be her own hypewoman while teasing what to expect."

Winfrey said, "This is a club, imagine, where Apple stores stream a conversation with the author and me across all the devices, across all borders, uniting people to stories that remind us that no matter who you are or where you're from, every man, woman, and child looks up with awe at the same sky. So I want to literally convene a meeting of the minds through books."

I have been to many of these bookstores, and I would like to visit them all, of course. I think that would make a wonderful bucket list, visiting a bookstore in every state, and then visiting great bookstores all over Europe and New Zealand and Iceland.

'Best Bookstores in All 50 States'

In honor of Independent Bookstore Day http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz40168810>, Mental Floss has picked "the best bookshop in every state http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz40168811--plus a few others we loved," noting: "From their resident cats to that old book smell, there's something about wandering up and down the aisles of a brick-and-mortar bookstore that online merchants could never replicate."

I would dearly love to see this, being a huge fan of musicals and the Princess Bride book and movie. BTW, I saw The Light in the Piazza's premier in Seattle at the Intiman Theater years ago, and it was wonderful.

On Stage: The Princess Bride Musical

Disney Theatrical Productions has confirmed that a new musical based on

the late William Goldman's 1973 novel The Princess Bride

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz40201581,

as well as the 1987 film, is in development "from a trio of writers

currently lighting up Broadway," Playbill reported. Tony Award winner

David Yazbek (The Band's Visit) will write the score, while Tony winner

Bob Martin (The Prom, The Drowsy Chaperone) and Rick Elice (The Cher

Show, Jersey Boys) collaborate on the book. There is no information yet

on a production timeline or additional creative team members.

The project's journey to Broadway has been a long one. Playbill noted

that Goldman "had initially teamed up with The Light in the Piazza's

Adam Guettel on an adaptation, though the two parted ways in 2007. Rob

Reiner, who directed the movie, subsequently approached a host of

songwriters from theatre and beyond. Disney Theatrical announced its

continued commitment to bringing the story to life, in collaboration

with Walt Disney Studios' Alan Horn, in 2013."

Tarot by Marissa Kennerson is a magical YA romance that is based on the major arcana of tarot cards, which have been used for predicting the future for hundreds of years. While I have been a fan of using tarot cards for entertainment, I have never really come upon a book with characters based on the cards. Though the characters were interesting, the prose was simplistic and a bit stiff/formal, which made this seem like a book written for a younger, middle grade audience, though the subject matter was too violent to be appropriate for them. It was like reading Grimms fairy tales, or an old translation of them. Here's the blurb: Her fate is so much more than the cards she was dealt.

Born of a forbidden union between the Queen and the tyrannical King's archnemesis, Anna is forced to live out her days isolated in the Tower, with only her mentors and friends the Hermit, the Fool, and the Magician to keep her company. To pass the time, Anna imagines unique worlds populated by creatives and dreamers—the exact opposite of the King's land of fixed fates and rigid rules—and weaves them into four glorious tapestries.

But on the eve of her sixteenth birthday and her promised release from the Tower, Anna discovers her true lineage: She's the daughter of Marco, a powerful magician, and the King is worried that his magical gifts are starting to surface in Anna. Fearing for her life, Anna flees the Tower and finds herself in Cups, a lush, tropical land full of all the adventure, free-spiritedness, and creativity she imagined while weaving.

Anna thinks she's found paradise in this world of beachside parties, endless food and drink, and exhilarating romance. But when the fabric of Cups begins to unravel, Anna discovers that her tapestries are more than just forbidden expression. They're the foundation for a new world that she is destined to create—as long as the terrors from the old world don't catch up with her first.

The plot of this book was clear and easy to follow, while the conclusion was almost too HEA, though the author didn't resolve the love triangle she set up in the last few chapters. That said, I enjoyed the books inventive premise and the pretty world building. I'd give Tarot a B, and recommend it to anyone interested in astrology, tarot or fairy tale reboots.

The Beast's Heart by Leife Shallcross is another fairy tale reboot, this time a retelling of Beauty and the Beast,mostly from the viewpoint of the tormented beast in his lonely castle.If you are a fan of the old French film La Belle et Le Bette, which was filmed in black and white and has some decent special effects for the time, you will probably love this lushly French retelling of a nobleman cursed to be a beast until he finds someone to fall in love with him and agree to marry him as he is. Here's the blurb: A luxuriously magical retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in seventeenth-century France—and told from the point of view of the Beast himself.

I am neither monster nor man—yet I am both. I am the Beast.

He is a broken, wild thing, his heart’s nature exposed by his beastly form. Long ago cursed with a wretched existence, the Beast prowls the dusty hallways of his ruined château with only magical, unseen servants to keep him company—until a weary traveler disturbs his isolation.
Bewitched by the man’s dreams of his beautiful daughter, the Beast devises a plan to lure her to the château. There, Isabeau courageously exchanges her father’s life for her own and agrees to remain with the Beast for a year. But even as their time together weaves its own spell, the Beast finds winning Isabeau’s love is only the first impossible step in breaking free from the curse.

While I loved knowing how the Beast felt about everything, I wish readers would have had more insight into Isabeau's thoughts and fears. That said, the viewing (via magic mirror) of her sisters and father's family growing and changing and adapting to their new life, and the letters that one of her sisters sends to Isabeau are very satisfying and keep the reader engaged with Isabeau's side of the story. The prose is poignant and pretty, and the plot flows gracefully along to a lovely conclusion. The only thing missing from this adaptation is the household servants turned into animated objects, like teapots and lamps. Here the servants are all invisible and part of the house and the weather, so they react to Isabeau and the Beasts moods and state of mind. I'd give this engaging, clever fantasy a B+, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys fairy tale reboots with heart.

Mahimata by Rati Mehrotra is the sequel to Markswoman, and the final book in a duology. 

I remember enjoying Markswoman, but having a few reservations about the need for the trope of the strong female protagonist having a romance with someone inappropriate. It seems to be a tired trope of romantic fantasy novels, and YA fantasy in particular (though this book is not billed as a YA novel, I maintain that it should be, as the protagonists are both in their late teens, early 20s) that the young women have to be paired up, because being alone and strong is somehow out of the realm of possibility for a woman. Here's the blurb from Publisher's Weekly: Both making love and making war bring problems in Mehrotra’s emotional roller coaster of a sequel to 2018’s science fantasy Markswoman. Eight hundred and fifty years after a Great War in an altered Asia, peace is maintained by religious orders of women armed with psychic daggers. Threatening them is the renegade Kai Tau, who equips his loyalists with corrupted telepathic rifles (“kalashiks”). Kyra Veer, only survivor of a Tau massacre and now head of the Order of Kali, builds an unorthodox alliance with the wild wyr-wolves as well as with the solely male Order—and especially its charming weapons trainer, Rustan. Still guilt-stricken from taking an innocent life, Rustan heads out on pilgrimage to a legendary monastery, where monks guard the secrets of the aliens who brought mind-reading metal and teleportation hubs to Asiana. Together and apart, Kyra and Rustan unite the quarreling powers of their world to stop Kai Tau. Mehrotra spends some time developing the setting, but her focus is on the romantic issues of her two fate-driven protagonists. Readers who enjoyed the first Asiana volume will be rewarded by this amorous wallow amid the battles and mountain treks.

I agree with the reviewer from PW that there is a great deal of emotional wallowing in guilt and pain and love with Rustan and Kyra in this book, almost to the point of insanity. However, the alliance with the wolves and the discovery of the spaceship on the mountain (and the ancient guardians set to protect it) save the novel from becoming too maudlin. The prose was rather melodramatic, but it served the plot, which moved along at a measured pace, fairly well. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who read the first book and wants to find out what happens two the protagonists...warning, it's not what you think.

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott is a YA novel that is basically this year's "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green with an added soupcon of the TV show Red Band Society. It's the usual Romeo and Juliet with cancer tale of two young people with Cystic Fibrosis, trying to survive long enough to get lung transplants. Unfortunately, the handsome Romeo has a medicine resistant bacterial infection in his lungs that prevents him from getting a transplant and significantly shortens his lifespan. That's why he can't give this contagion to his Juliet, because she is on track for a long-awaited pair of clean lungs and she wants to actually breathe and have a shot at making it to adulthood. Thus the duo must remain 6 feet apart at all times, except the female protagonist flouts this rule by finding a pool cue that is only 5 feet long and she believes that will satisfy her need for rebellion while still keeping her from catching his lung infection. Here's the blurb: Now a major motion picture starring Cole Sprouse and Haley Lu Richardson!

In this #1 New York Times bestselling novel that’s perfect for fans of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, two teens fall in love with just one minor complication—they can’t get within a few feet of each other without risking their lives.

Can you love someone you can never touch?

Stella Grant likes to be in control—even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life. At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Six feet apart. No exceptions.
The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn’t care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he’ll turn eighteen and then he’ll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals.
Will’s exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella she could lose her spot on the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. But suddenly six feet doesn’t feel like safety. It feels like punishment.
What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too? 

The prose is straightforward and clean, and keeps the plot moving briskly, while also keeping the story from becoming a bit too precious. Though I am normally not a fan of OCD stories, Stella's need for control and precision in her environment somehow comes off as playful and inventive, while Will often seems too grim and dark, wanting to die on his own terms but not really caring about those who love him and how they will feel when he's gone. That said, Will finally grows up enough to realize that he needs to stay away from Stella,so that she can get her new lungs and start her life over, so he leaves her to travel he world, and of course they meet up again almost a year later, with Stella healthy and Will still battling CF and carrying around an oxygen tank. We are left with the couple five feet apart, still caring for each other, but unable to do anything about it. So no real HEA to be had, however, I feel that the book did a great job of highlighting the hell that is CF, and the fact that there still is no cure on the horizon. As someone who has dealt with severe asthma and allergies since age 5, I have never taken a breath for granted, so I can empathize, in a small way, with these teenagers with lungs full of mucus that eventually drowns them. It is a hellish way to live, to struggle for air all day, every day. So I'd give this book an A-, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys medical YA romances, or anyone who struggles with, or knows someone who struggles with, Cystic Fibrosis.