Burton to Host NBA, Incorruptible by Lilith Saintcrow, The Nightjar by Deborah Hewett, Home for Erring and Outcast Girls by Julie Kibler and the Last Collection by Jeanne Mackin

Welcome to October and autumn, my favorite time of year. The air is cool and crisp, the trees are in their beautiful fall colors and we are heading for the holidays, which I love, including my husband and son's birthdays in November and my birthday in December. Unfortunately, September and October are also the start of flu season, and my household has been infected for the past three weeks. I've had to go to the ER at St Elizabeth's for breathing treatments and antibiotics and the dreaded cortisone shot. Still, I am finally feeling better, and am now able to stay upright long enough to update this blog with reviews of all the books I've read while I was sick in bed. 

I have always been a fan of Burtons, since my family and I watched him in Roots, and I watched him on Reading Rainbow. I think it's fantastic that he is hosting the NBAs.

LeVar Burton to Host National Book Awards

Actor and host of Reading Rainbow LeVar Burton will be the master of ceremonies for the National Book Awards http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz41986164 on November 20 in New York City. At the awards, the winners in five categories will be announced, and lifetime achievement awards will be presented to writer Edmund White and to American Booksellers Association CEO Oren Teicher.

Burton is probably best known for his roles as chief engineer Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation TV and film series and as the young Kunta Kinte in the original TV miniseries of Roots. He was the host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow, which aired from 1983 to 2009, one of the longest-running children's TV shows and winner of more than 200 awards, including multiple Emmys and a Peabody.

In 2012, Burton launched RRKidz, a digital educational publishing company, which now holds global rights to Reading Rainbow in a partnership with series creator WNED/Buffalo. Reading Rainbow has relaunched for a new generation of children, especially to classrooms in need, and through Skybrary, a digital online reading service, and Skybrary School, for teachers and students, he continues to promote the joys and benefits of reading.

In his new podcast, LeVar Burton Reads, he chooses a favorite piece of short fiction and performs it. He is currently touring the country with a live version of the podcast.

Burton is the recipient of 13 Emmy Awards, a Grammy and five NAACP Awards. As the National Book Foundation put it, he "has demonstrated in his career that he can do it all--acting, directing, producing, writing and speaking.... with millions of fans throughout the world, Burton continues his mission to inspire, educate and entertain."

Incorruptible by Lilith Saintcrow is, I believe, a stand alone novel (vs part of one of her many great series books) that infiltrates and expands on the angel legends to create a world in which a young waitress finds herself on the run from demons sent to kill her while she's protected by a military angel ala the original "Terminator" movie. 

Having read most everything that Saintcrow has written, I was assured of excellent prose, great storytelling and a swift plot, but it's the characters that really sell this particular slender volume, from the "incorruptible" Jenna, who thinks she's cursed and is cowed by her abusive ex boyfriend to the huge Legionnaire (read: angel) soldier,  Michael, sent to protect and keep her safe, these are people who feel full bodied and unforgettable. Their cross country adventure reads like an action movie on steroids. Here's the blurb:

Jenna Delacroix is determined to keep her life as simple as possible. Maybe if she tries hard enough to be normal the nightmares and strange occurrences plaguing her all her life will finally recede. But then the monsters arrive—and with them, the man who says he's her protector.
Lonely and disciplined, Michael Gabon is just a grunt in the Legion's endless war, but now he's stumbled across something special—a living, breathing Incorruptible, the first one he's seen in more decades than he can count. She's also being hunted. And now, so is he.
On the run without backup, the diaboli haunting their trail, their only hope is working together. Even that might not be enough, because the unclean seem to know more than they should. Whether it's treachery or bad luck doesn't matter to Michael. The only thing he cares about is seeing his Incorruptible safe...
…no matter who--or what--he has to kill.

Though there is only one romantic scene in the book, I felt that the romance between the protagonists was a strong through-line in the short 270 pages, and I was left hoping for more interaction by the end. However, due to how tightly woven the story is, I don't think Saintcrow could have fit more into the narrative without it seeming gratuitous. I'd give this enjoyable page turner an A, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in urban angel fantasy.

The Nightjar by Deborah Hewett was a book I was certain that I would like, because it had so many characteristics that I look for in a good read, ie female protagonist, magic, various kinds of people imbued with different magical talents, a quest or mystery of some kind, and a British background. I also always want good prose and excellent storytelling, of course, and a strong plot. Unfortunately, this book, which looked good from the outset, turned into a pumpkin within a chapter or two, and a moldering one at that. My first problem with it was that the protagonist was clumsy and stupid, and while that can be endearing if she grows and gets more savvy as the plot moves forward, our reluctant orphaned heroine Alice remains an idiot who puts herself and everyone around her in danger over and over again. She never learns from her mistakes and seems to take pride in her stubborn ignorance and rash, ridiculous actions. She's also immature, petulant and seems more than willing to overlook her 'protectors' lies and deceit for his looks and sex appeal, even when it gets her friends killed. Ugh. Here's the blurb:

The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt is a stunning contemporary fantasy debut about another London, a magical world hidden behind the bustling modern city we know.
Alice Wyndham has been plagued by visions of birds her whole life...until the mysterious Crowley reveals that Alice is an ‘aviarist’: capable of seeing nightjars, magical birds that guard human souls. When her best friend is hit by a car, only Alice can find and save her nightjar.
With Crowley’s help, Alice travels to the Rookery, a hidden, magical alternate London to hone her newfound talents. But a faction intent on annihilating magic users will stop at nothing to destroy the new aviarist. And is Crowley really working with her, or against her? Alice must risk everything to save her best friend―and uncover the strange truth about herself.

SPOILER alert, Crowley is a complete asshat who is only using Alice to get his sister's nightjar back, yet she still falls for him and seems to trust him when it's obvious that she should not. Though the prose was decent, I found the plot to be meandering and confusing, and, as previously stated, I hated the main characters, who were either too stupid to live or evil scumbags with their own agendas for using Alice's talents and heritage. Even the London setting seemed dilapidated and dull. I wish I hadn't purchased this book and wasted money on it, but at least now I know that I won't be wasting money on any of Hewett's other volumes. I'd give this book a C, and only recommend it to those who like bird-brained heroines who bungle everything.

Home for Erring and Outcast Girls by Julie Kibler is a story based on true events/places/people in turn of the century Texas. I didn't expect to like this story of the hard lives of drug addicted prostitutes and unwed mothers who find a home in a religious institution in Texas, but in the end the characters and their tales were irresistible. Kibler's prose is sturdy and yet manages to be lyrical at the same time, and her plot marches along at a metered pace that is not too fast or slow. Here's the blurb: In turn-of-the-20th century Texas, the Berachah Home for the Redemption and Protection of Erring Girls is an unprecedented beacon of hope for young women consigned to the dangerous poverty of the streets by birth, circumstance, or personal tragedy. Built in 1903 on the dusty outskirts of Arlington, a remote dot between Dallas and Fort Worth’s red-light districts, the progressive home bucks public opinion by offering faith, training, and rehabilitation to prostitutes, addicts, unwed mothers, and “ruined” girls without forcibly separating mothers from children. When Lizzie Bates and Mattie McBride meet there—one sick and abused, but desperately clinging to her young daughter, the other jilted by the beau who fathered her ailing son—they form a friendship that will see them through unbearable loss, heartbreak, difficult choices, and ultimately, diverging paths.
A century later, Cate Sutton, a reclusive university librarian, uncovers the hidden histories of the two troubled women as she stumbles upon the cemetery on the home’s former grounds and begins to comb through its archives in her library. Pulled by an indescribable connection, what Cate discovers about their stories leads her to confront her own heartbreaking past, and to reclaim the life she thought she'd let go forever. With great pathos and powerful emotional resonance, Home for Erring and Outcast Girls explores the dark roads that lead us to ruin, and the paths we take to return to ourselves. 

I was surprised at the number of women who were drug addicted at this time in history, and the way that the home helped them through withdrawl to start a clean life with their babies. This is something that you don't generally read about when you read about homes for unwed mothers. My only real problem with this book was the that the modern day chapters related from the POV of Cate, weren't as powerful or interesting as the lives of the women in the Berachah home. I'm also confused as to the outcome of Cate's pregnancy....we never learn what happened to her baby, if she gave it up or if the girl that she helps is actually her daughter? Yet Lizzie and Mattie's stories are so much more vivid that they make up for the weak modern day storyline, somehow. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in real women's history at the turn of the 20th century. 

The Last Collection by Jeanne Mackin is subtitled "A novel of Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel, and that is basically what it is about, the long term feud and hatred between these two famed fashion mavens, particularly during the time before WWII when they dueled in their Paris fashion salons. Here's the blurb: An American woman becomes entangled in the intense rivalry between iconic fashion designers Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli in this captivating novel.

Paris, 1938. Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli are fighting for recognition as the most successful and influential fashion designer in France, and their rivalry is already legendary. They oppose each other at every turn, in both their politics and their designs: Chanel’s are classic, elegant, and practical; Schiaparelli’s bold, experimental, and surreal.
When Lily Sutter, a recently widowed young American teacher, visits her brother, Charlie, in Paris, he insists on buying her a couture dress—a Chanel. Lily, however, prefers a Schiaparelli. Charlie’s beautiful and socially prominent girlfriend soon begins wearing Schiaparelli’s designs as well, and much of Paris follows in her footsteps.
Schiaparelli offers budding artist Lily a job at her store, and Lily finds herself increasingly involved with Schiaparelli and Chanel’s personal war. Their fierce competition reaches new and dangerous heights as the Nazis and the looming threat of World War II bear down on Paris.

Because this story was about real women and actual events, I was riveted from the first page onward. Not being a fashionista myself, I was not aware of the history of Chanel or Schiap, as she was called during the book, nor was I aware that, for example, Coco Chanel was a Nazi collaborator during WWII. Not being a fan of Chanel's classic clothing designs anyway (they're made for women without curves), I was heartened to read that Schiap designed clothing that was ahead of its time in whimsy and with unusual fabrics and sizes. Mackin's prose is clean and evocative while her plot is brisk and assured. I really wish that the author would have gone into what happened to Gogo, Schiap's daughter, however, as she's an important part of the fabric of the story. I'd give this winning book an A, and recommend it to anyone interested in iconic fashion.