My sincere apologies for not posting during the first 10 days of March, but my father, Henry Duane Semler, died on March 3, and I have been dealing with grief, relatives and friends, obituaries and phone calls to Iowa and sympathy cards full of photos. I am glad that my dad is at peace and not in pain or confusion any longer, but I do miss him and his larger than life personality. He loved laughter and chaos and politics and parties. He loved digging in the dirt and making things grow. He loved his two remaining children and his only grandchild, my son Nick. He loved food and a good (big) cup of coffee, and he loved to "doodle" on paper and sing in church. He loved his siblings. He enjoyed reading and he loved that I was a lifelong learner like he was. He was loud, proud, crude, gullible and terrible with money, but he was also the most open-hearted man you'd ever want to meet...he believed everyone deserved a second, third and fourth chance. He was optimistic and told awful off-color jokes. He was a big man, and yet he was the kind of father who would stay up all night rubbing my back when I had an asthma attack, much as his mother stayed up for 24 hours straight rubbing his back when he had an asthma attack as a toddler (he grew out of his asthma). I will miss him for as long as I live. Rest in peace, Daddy.
Only in Seattle
would a gay man named Ron Van Winkle be a bookseller and sales rep for Avon
books. Fairytales come alive in the Pacific Northwest!
Obituary Note: Ron
Van Winkle
Ron Van Winkle
Former bookseller
and sales rep Ron (Clair Ronald) Van Winkle died
February 26. He
was 69. In a tribute, his longtime friend John Hall
wrote: "You
may remember Ron from the book business, first at Elliott
Bay Book Company
in Seattle, and then at Raymar Books in Bellevue, Wash.
in the '70s. He
went on to become Avon Books' sales representative in
the Pacific
Northwest, before being named their national sales manager
and moving to New
York City in 1979.
After moving back
to the Pacific Northwest in 1983, Van Winkle took a
position in
computer sales and bought a home in Kirkland, Wash., with
Hall, where they
lived until they separated in the '90s. Van Winkle
returned to the
book business in 1986 to work for Warner Books as
Western regional
manager.
"Unfortunately,
his position was made 'redundant' by Warner's
'down-sizing' in
the late '90s," Hall noted, adding that Van Winkle
returned to
computer sales until his health forced his retirement in
2010.
Hall wrote that
he, along with Van Winkle and his partner Janet Huston,
"shared a
great friend in Ron Whiteaker, once owner of Beyond the Closet
Bookstore in
Seattle. He and his husband, Alex Ludecke, became close to
Ron and Janet
through the past decade or more, and it was from Ron
Whiteaker that I
received the news of Ron's passing."
Hilarious!
Book Trailer of
the Day: Feck Perfuction
Feck Perfuction:
Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life
http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39900620
by James Victore
(Chronicle Books).
This hits the nail on the head about why we need independent bookstores, actual brick and mortar places of business for booklovers everywhere. Real people, real interaction, real, not digital, books!
Quotation of the
Day
'To the Readers of
Denver: #ChooseIndie'
"Algorithms
are great, but staff that has gone on your reading
adventures with
you and your kid over the years is better. Four-star
reviews are
helpful, but a colorful spine catching your eye is joyful.
Amazon Books is
conveniently located, but Tattered Cover has been around
for almost 50
years. Amazon Books is cool, but BookBar has wine. Amazon
Books has
perfectly designed shelves, but Kilgore Books is as
fantastically
nerdy as you are. Amazon Books has great advertising, but
The Bookies has
experts in education. Amazon Books can ship within a
day, but Hermitage
Books just around the corner can help you find that
rare title you've
been wanting.
"Denver--you've
got at least 10 bookstores helping shape your
communities, and being
shaped by community. You've got a choice here,
and we ask that if
you're able, you make the choice that will strengthen
that connection.
Choose Indie Bookstores."
--From a letter to
the readers of Denver
children's
bookstore Second Star on the Right
http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39989492,
following the opening of Amazon Books in Denver on Wednesday.
I think this is horrible! Who would vandalize a bookstore when its down?
Samuel French L.A.
Bookshop Vandalized
Samuel French
Theatre & Film Bookshop in
Hollywood, Calif.,
which recently announced it would be closing
http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz39989508
March 31, was
forced to close
earlier this week after being broken into and vandalized
The store will not
reopen.
In a statement
posted on Facebook, the store wrote: "The plan had been
for the bookshop
to shutter at the end of this month, however on the
night of Monday,
March 5, it was broken into and seriously vandalized.
And earlier that
day, several men deliberately intimidated a beloved
member of our
staff on the premises. The police require us to close the
store pending
their investigation and with our staff's safety in mind,
we are unable to reopen it."
The Last Ship Off Polaris-G by Carol Van Natta was billed as a book in the burgeoning science fiction romance genre, when in reality it is more military/political science fiction with a little bit of romance thrown in as a way to keep readers interested between paragraph after boring paragraph about the political and military minutia of this star system. YAWN. Had I known that this was a tiny mass-market paperback that looks to be self published, I would NOT have wasted 10 dollars on it. Here's the blurb: A bureaucrat and an interstellar trader must overcome treachery and
their broken past to save the last inhabitants of a dying planet.
Frontier planet Polaris-Gamma is dying, afflicted by a suspiciously-timed blight that destroys all crops. Worse, the whole system is now under military quarantine by the Central Galactic Concordance to prevent the catastrophic blight from spreading. The settlers must escape--or perish.
Caught behind the blockade, independent trader Gavril Danilovich finds his interstellar trading ship commandeered in the desperate plan to escape. He tells himself that's the only reason he stays, and not because he's worried about the woman he walked out on two years ago--who still lives on Pol-G.
Supply depot manager Anitra Helden races to gather the last of Pol-G's assets. Her plan to launch a mothballed freighter off Pol-G may be crazy--but it can work, if she can talk Gavril into helping. Their precious cargo? Four thousand stranded colonists.
Can Anitra and Gavril, and their ragtag crew get past the deadly military blockade?
Series note: The events in Last Ship Off Polaris-G take place several years before Overload Flux (Central Galactic Concordance, Book 1). Think of it as an introduction to the series, and a foreshadowing of things--and people--to come.
Frontier planet Polaris-Gamma is dying, afflicted by a suspiciously-timed blight that destroys all crops. Worse, the whole system is now under military quarantine by the Central Galactic Concordance to prevent the catastrophic blight from spreading. The settlers must escape--or perish.
Caught behind the blockade, independent trader Gavril Danilovich finds his interstellar trading ship commandeered in the desperate plan to escape. He tells himself that's the only reason he stays, and not because he's worried about the woman he walked out on two years ago--who still lives on Pol-G.
Supply depot manager Anitra Helden races to gather the last of Pol-G's assets. Her plan to launch a mothballed freighter off Pol-G may be crazy--but it can work, if she can talk Gavril into helping. Their precious cargo? Four thousand stranded colonists.
Can Anitra and Gavril, and their ragtag crew get past the deadly military blockade?
Series note: The events in Last Ship Off Polaris-G take place several years before Overload Flux (Central Galactic Concordance, Book 1). Think of it as an introduction to the series, and a foreshadowing of things--and people--to come.
If only the author had kept to the plotted story listed in the blurb, I might have enjoyed the book, but alas, she goes on and on with technobabble and political or engineering jargon that reads like the dullest textbook you've ever seen. Though the book is only 205 pages long, at times it feels like an 800 page manuscript that will never end. Snore. The prose is fair, but the plot freezes up and stops every time the author goes into one of her jargon filled rants. I'd give the book a C, and only recommend it to someone who finds starship technical specs thrilling.
The Look of Love by Sarah Jio is the 6th of her books that I've read, and frankly, it's not her best. The idea of the book is a good one, of a woman who has been gifted with the ability to "see" real love between two people. Unfortunately, Jio mucks up a good thing by trotting out every single romance trope and cliche she can find, and repeating them over and over during the course of the book. It didn't help that I kept hearing that annoying ABC tune from the 80s, called Look of Love, in my head every time I saw the cover of the novel. (Ugh, I hate earworms!) Here's the blurb: Born during a Christmas blizzard, Jane Williams receives a rare gift: the ability to see
true love. In spite of her unique talent, Jane has emerged from an
ailing childhood a lonely, hopeless romantic without love on her life.
On her twenty-ninth birthday, a mysterious greeting card arrives. The card specifies that Jane must identify the six types of love before the full moon following her thirtieth birthday—or face grave consequences. But when Jane at last falls for a science writer who doesn’t believe in love, she fears that she may never accomplish her task—and that her loveless fate may be sealed...
So Jio uses 6 couples to outline the various types of love, but the problem is that they are not really outlined well enough at all. They all seem to have typical roadblocks to love that are similar enough that they don't make the classical descriptions seem appropriate. The married women are all in love with someone who isn't their spouse, or in love with a married man, and Jane, who is single, can't seem to use her gift to find her own lifelong love. Things end, or continue, in the usual ways for all the couples, and the book draws to its inevitable conclusion, with Jane passing along her gift to some poor unsuspecting baby. I'd give this lackluster novel a C, and only recommend it to the most rabid Jio fans.
On her twenty-ninth birthday, a mysterious greeting card arrives. The card specifies that Jane must identify the six types of love before the full moon following her thirtieth birthday—or face grave consequences. But when Jane at last falls for a science writer who doesn’t believe in love, she fears that she may never accomplish her task—and that her loveless fate may be sealed...
So Jio uses 6 couples to outline the various types of love, but the problem is that they are not really outlined well enough at all. They all seem to have typical roadblocks to love that are similar enough that they don't make the classical descriptions seem appropriate. The married women are all in love with someone who isn't their spouse, or in love with a married man, and Jane, who is single, can't seem to use her gift to find her own lifelong love. Things end, or continue, in the usual ways for all the couples, and the book draws to its inevitable conclusion, with Jane passing along her gift to some poor unsuspecting baby. I'd give this lackluster novel a C, and only recommend it to the most rabid Jio fans.
Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman was a fast paced, odd novel full of Lipman's trademark unlikable heroines and heroes, and bizarre, pathetic villains. Full disclosure, Lipman was a mentor of mine during grad school in 1984-85, and was actually the one who pointed me in the direction of journalism as a career. She was a graceful and honest mentor, and I owe her a debt of gratitude for my 33 years as an award-winning journalist/reporter.
Here's the blurb: The delightful new romantic comedy from Elinor Lipman, in which one
woman’s trash becomes another woman’s treasure, with deliriously
entertaining results.
Daphne Maritch doesn't quite know what to make of the heavily annotated high school yearbook she inherits from her mother, who held this relic dear. Too dear. The late June Winter Maritch was the teacher to whom the class of '68 had dedicated its yearbook, and in turn she went on to attend every reunion, scribbling notes and observations after each one—not always charitably—and noting who overstepped boundaries of many kinds.
In a fit of decluttering (the yearbook did not, Daphne concluded, "spark joy"), she discards it when she moves to a small New York City apartment. But when it's found in the recycling bin by a busybody neighbor/documentary filmmaker, the yearbook's mysteries—not to mention her own family's—take on a whole new urgency, and Daphne finds herself entangled in a series of events both poignant and absurd.
Good Riddance is a pitch-perfect, whip-smart new novel from an "enchanting, infinitely witty yet serious, exceptionally intelligent, wholly original, and Austen-like stylist" (Washington Post).
Daphne Maritch doesn't quite know what to make of the heavily annotated high school yearbook she inherits from her mother, who held this relic dear. Too dear. The late June Winter Maritch was the teacher to whom the class of '68 had dedicated its yearbook, and in turn she went on to attend every reunion, scribbling notes and observations after each one—not always charitably—and noting who overstepped boundaries of many kinds.
In a fit of decluttering (the yearbook did not, Daphne concluded, "spark joy"), she discards it when she moves to a small New York City apartment. But when it's found in the recycling bin by a busybody neighbor/documentary filmmaker, the yearbook's mysteries—not to mention her own family's—take on a whole new urgency, and Daphne finds herself entangled in a series of events both poignant and absurd.
Good Riddance is a pitch-perfect, whip-smart new novel from an "enchanting, infinitely witty yet serious, exceptionally intelligent, wholly original, and Austen-like stylist" (Washington Post).
I agree with the blurb that this is an original and funny book, full of bizarre characters and a few twists and turns. I found the protagonist, Daphne, to be way too melodramatic and neurotic, but I liked the fact that when push came to shove, she made the decision to protect and defend the father who raised her, regardless of the cost. Lipman's prose is so clean you could eat off of it, and her plot is a roller coaster of misadventure. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to those who like weird family stories set in New York City.
The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner is a refurbished Jewish fairy tale full of shape shifters, magic and Christina Rossetti's Goblins from her famous Goblin Market poem. Despite it's size and heft, it's a fast read, with long form poems interspersing the prose of every other chapter. Here's the blurb: In a remote village surrounded by vast forests on the border of Moldova
and Ukraine, sisters Liba and Laya have been raised on the honeyed scent
of their Mami's babka and the low rumble of their Tati's prayers. But
when a troupe of mysterious men arrives, Laya falls under their spell -
despite their mother's warning to be wary of strangers. And this is not
the only danger lurking in the woods.
As dark forces close in on their village, Liba and Laya discover a family secret passed down through generations. Faced with a magical heritage they never knew existed, the sisters realize the old fairy tales are true...and could save them all. Publisher's Weekly:
Rossner’s intricately crafted, gorgeously rendered debut alternates perspectives between teenage sisters Liba and Laya Leib, who narrate in prose and verse, respectively. They are left to fend for themselves in the mysterious woods that border the town of Dubossary while their parents are away on urgent business. Before their parents leave, the sisters learn the family secret: their father can transform into a bear, a gift Liba will inherit, and their mother into a swan, as Laya will. The pair disagree on how to enjoy their newfound independence: where Laya longs for freedom, Liba craves stability, worrying constantly for her younger sister’s safety. People are going missing from the town, there are rumors of a bear in the woods, and anti-Semitic sentiment is on the rise. All of these strange occurrences coincide with the arrival of the Hovlins, a seductive band of fruit-peddling brothers whose otherworldly appeal Laya cannot resist. To save her sister and her people, Liba must learn to accept her bear-like nature. Drawing on true events, folklore, and Christina Rosetti’s classic The Goblin Market, Rossner’s fairy tale is creepy and moving by turn, full of heart, history, and enchantment.
As dark forces close in on their village, Liba and Laya discover a family secret passed down through generations. Faced with a magical heritage they never knew existed, the sisters realize the old fairy tales are true...and could save them all. Publisher's Weekly:
Rossner’s intricately crafted, gorgeously rendered debut alternates perspectives between teenage sisters Liba and Laya Leib, who narrate in prose and verse, respectively. They are left to fend for themselves in the mysterious woods that border the town of Dubossary while their parents are away on urgent business. Before their parents leave, the sisters learn the family secret: their father can transform into a bear, a gift Liba will inherit, and their mother into a swan, as Laya will. The pair disagree on how to enjoy their newfound independence: where Laya longs for freedom, Liba craves stability, worrying constantly for her younger sister’s safety. People are going missing from the town, there are rumors of a bear in the woods, and anti-Semitic sentiment is on the rise. All of these strange occurrences coincide with the arrival of the Hovlins, a seductive band of fruit-peddling brothers whose otherworldly appeal Laya cannot resist. To save her sister and her people, Liba must learn to accept her bear-like nature. Drawing on true events, folklore, and Christina Rosetti’s classic The Goblin Market, Rossner’s fairy tale is creepy and moving by turn, full of heart, history, and enchantment.
I really felt for the wild Laya and the stalwart Liba, who never gives up fighting for her sister, and I also enjoyed the peek into Jewish life in centuries past in the Ukraine. Though it is a folk tale/fairy tale, I have to say that the book read like a YA romance, with all the attendant hormonal yearning between the sisters and their various boys who wish to marry/conquor/use them in nefarious ways. The prose is luxurious and the plot slides along like silk on the edge of a sharp knife.I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who likes romantic fairy tales retold in unique ways.
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