Worst-Case Scenario Experience, Wigtown Book Festival, Pipi Longstocking on Stage, Maid on TV, Wilder Girls by Rory Power and There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool

It's almost Thanksgiving, and here I am struggling to get books read and not be distracted by a thousand holiday movies, Apple TV offerings (SEE with Jason Momoa is a standout of great acting and script writing and directing) and regular TV programs that are winding down for their fall finales, or finishing up their run as a series. Despite pessimism running rampant these days in America (and on social media) I am looking forward to the glittery lights and snow covered landscapes of Christmas and New Years. Anyway, here's a bunch of interesting tidbits and two reviews. Happy Thanksgiving to all my bibliophile friends.

I remember reading this book back when it first came out, and I thought it was hilarious, though my boyfriend at the time found it more instructional than funny (but he's one of those people who sees the worst case scenario in every situation he encounters, everyday.) I wish I could visit this museum experience!

At Philadelphia's Frankfurt Institute: The Worst-Case Scenario Experience

The "Worst-Case Scenario Experience," an exhibition at the Franklin Institute http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz42424223 based on The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook by Philadelphia natives Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht, has opened and runs through April. The exhibit allows museum-goers to learn 13 survival skills, including how to pick a lock, how to get out of quicksand and how to jump from a moving train. Also in the "gymnasium": listening stations that offer additional advice and how-tos from the original audiobook narrated by the late Burt Reynolds, as well as a live actor who plays the role of the "worst-case pro." The exhibit displays everyday items that can be used for extreme survival and displays graphics about fear and anxiety and how stress, physical exhaustion and disorientation can make surviving more difficult. In the "hall of fame" gallery, the exhibit documents real-life incidents of near-death escapes, from evading an angry lion to surviving a shark attack, and celebrates people who encounter worst-case scenarios daily: emergency first responders, wildlife rescue workers, psychologists and physical trainers In March, the Worst-Case Scenario celebrated its 20th anniversary with a fully updated and expanded edition, which will be on sale at the exhibit. Quirk Books is one of the co-producers of the "Worst-Case Scenario Experience."

One of the main items on my "Bucket List" is going to Wales to Hay on Wye and Wigtown in Scotland to visit these places where book shops outnumber regular stores and where you can find lots of like-minded readers to chat with about books!

Wigtown Book Festival

Although they had no plans then to return so soon, Fred credits Kathy's recent retirement from Frostburg State University and the support of his "well-seasoned staff" at Main Street Books for allowing the couple to come back as festival volunteers last month.

"The Wigtown Book Festival is a huge undertaking," he said. "It started as a weekend event and has now become the second largest book festival in the country after Edinburgh. Many people are repeat customers. What we like about Wigtown's events is how close they are to each other. The village green is the center of the set-up with five other locations used that are a few steps away. This creates such an intimacy for all who attend as well as the town since the authors, staff and festival goers are all together and run into each other all the time."

With only about 900 residents, Wigtown is not large, but for 10 days each year book-lovers make the pilgrimage to this rural village in southwest Scotland. In 2019, more than 29,000 people attended 200-plus events, ranging from author talks and children's/YA programming to forums on current events (Brexit) and music. There were breakfasts, hosted by the Bookshop Band and Wigtown Feasts, dinner forums held in the homes of local residents.

"The streets are full of book lovers as the town is also the home to 16 second-hand book shops. For that reason it is easy to make friends and hold conversations with strangers since you all have books as a common love," Fred said. "We were lucky enough to rent the snug (extra room) above The Old Bank Bookshop and spend time with the owners Ian and Joyce Cochrane and their daughter Helena. When not staffing an event at the festival, we were helping out in downstairs bookshop."

With 30 years bookselling experience, Fred had no problem recommending titles he spotted on the shelves to readers. He said that for Wigtown booksellers, festival week is like the Christmas season for U.S. booksellers: "Kathy and I were often support for the Old Bank staff and made many cups of tea to keep them going. Lots of books are being put in customer's hands and talk of books can be heard in every bookshop, tea shop and cafe."

The Powells arrived in Scotland a few days before the start of the festival and worked in a variety of roles--as a set-up team, stewarding author events and staffing an interactive map exhibit set up in an old bank. Fred noted that the festival would not happen without all the volunteers involved: "This year there were over 150 folks doing everything from parking cars, picking up authors at airports and train stations, selling tickets and so much more. Across the year, the festival office estimates that there were 4,300 volunteer hours to support the Festival Company."

Kathy observed that although southwest Scotland "is very remote, the residents are rather cosmopolitan. The festival has found a way to choose topics--such as farming or bird watching--that tie the locals' interest with the book world.... It's not just a place that loves books but a town that loves ideas. This may be the real draw. Wigtown may be a bit off the map, but you are not really remote if you have a great festival. I loved talking with all the U.K. and international visitors as I volunteered at events during the festival. In a divided world, books can be the great unifier."

A handseller at heart, Fred noted: "Lastly, I couldn't call myself a bookseller without recommending three titles from authors that presented at the festival: The Way Home: Tales from a Life without Technology by Mark Boyle (OneWorld), Our Man in New York: The British Plot to Bring America into the Second World War by Henry Hemming (Quercus); and Dark Skies: A Journey into the Wild Night by Tiffany Francis (Bloomsbury Wildlife)."

When I asked him what his "elevator pitch" might be to handsell a Wigtown Book Festival trip to other American booksellers (or book-lovers, for that matter), he replied: "There is no better place to immerse yourself in the world of books than Wigtown Scotland and their annual book festival. The air is full of 'book talk' from festival goers of all ages, authors and friendly town folks. New books, secondhand books and amazing cakes make it 10 days to treasure. Don't just read about bookshops, go to Wigtown and live it!"--Robert Gray

 I've read Pippi Longstocking several times throughout my life, but I always found the original movie somewhat off-putting. But now they're doing a circus stage production of the story, which should be very exciting. I hope that someone films it for the rest of the world to enjoy.

On Stage: Pippi at Cirkus

Pop House Productions and the Astrid Lindgren Company will celebrate Pippi Longstocking's 75th anniversary http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz42496436 next summer with Pippi at Cirkus http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz42496437, "a fun, musical circus show in collaboration with Cirkus Cirkör http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz42496438," Broadway World reported. ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus is exec producing and will be responsible for the show's lyrics to accompany previously released instrumental music by Benny Andersson, among others. Tilde Björfors, Cirkus Cirkör's founder, director and artistic director, is the circus director alongside Maria Blom, who will direct the actors.

"I had the privilege of meeting Astrid several times and her calm, confident radiance with a bright glitter in her eyes always made a deep impression on me," said  Ulvaeus. "Västervik, where I grew up, is only 55 kilometers from her Vimmerby, so we are both Smålanders. I especially remember how proud I was when she said that I was 'a real Emil.' I have the deepest respect for her work and hope we can present something she would have been proud of."

Olle Nyman, CEO of the Astrid Lindgren Company, added: "Imagine being in the audience when Pippi goes to the circus; it's totally irresistible! Pippi wants to play and not just sit in her place, so this will be great fun. We are extremely excited about this opportunity to share the strong, independent, fun and brave Pippi with this amazing company."Pippi at Cirkus will premiere at Cirkus June 26, 2020 and will run throughout the summer.

This book is on my Library Book Groups list of books for next year, and I can hardly wait to read it. Now it appears it will become a Netflix series, which should be fascinating to watch.

TV: Maid

Netflix has given a series order to Maid http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz42541907, inspired by Stephanie Land bestselling memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, according to Deadline. The project is from writer Molly Smith Metzler (Shameless, Orange Is the New Black); John Wells Productions; Margot Robbie's LuckyChap Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television, where the project had been in development. Metzler will write, executive produce and serve as showrunner on the series.

"Stephanie Land's book is a powerful and necessary read, with incredible insight into the struggles people face whilst just trying to get by," said LuckyChap Entertainment in a statement.

Wells commented: "Stephanie tells the searing and remarkably human story of a young woman battling to find a secure future for herself and her infant daughter, Mia, in the face of overwhelming odds and governmental assistance programs of impossible complexity."

Channing Dungey, v-p original series at Netflix, added that Maid "is a poignant portrait that chronicles Stephanie Land's strife and victories, and has the power to connect with our members around the world as they identify with her struggles and root for her success."

Wilder Girls by Rory Power is a bizarre YA dystopian novel that resembles a combination of Lord of the Flies (with girls instead of boys) and the Andromeda Strain with a little Hunger Games thrown in for good measure. The prose is fine and gritty, but the plot wanders a bit and there is no real resolution in the end. Here's the blurb: A feminist Lord of the Flies about three best friends living in quarantine at their island boarding school, and the lengths they go to uncover the truth of their confinement when one disappears. This fresh, new debut is a mind-bending novel unlike anything you've read before.

It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.
  I find it amusing that they say that this is unlike anything you've read before, while at the same time saying the book is a "feminist" retelling of Lord of the Flies...so if you've read that classic tale, you've obviously read something like this book before. And I don't really think its a "feminist" retelling if you just replace the boys with girls. Yes, the main character is a budding lesbian, but here, that is almost a trope, since it's a girl's school, and everyone expects homosexuality at schools segregated by gender. I think the point that the author makes here, that girls are just as mercenary and cruel and murderous as boys when they are struggling to survive, is one that has been made before in many other books, so it's nothing new. The only "new" or fresh take that I got from the book is that the parasitical infection is caused by climate change, because when ice in a cold place like an Island in Maine melts, the bacteria and creatures it uncovers can come back to life and infect all the flora and fauna in the area. There are lots of gruesome and deadly monsters and grotesque transformations in this book, so if you have a weak stomach, this isn't the book for you. It was even a bit too horror-oriented for me, which is why I'd give it a B-, and only recommend it to those who enjoy survivalist/environmental nightmares. 

There Will Come A Darkness by Katy Rose Pool is a YA fantasy novel reminiscent of Lord of the Rings and Six of Crows with some of Cashore's Graceling series thrown in for spice. The dystopian world it takes place in is well written, as are the characters, most of whom are well fleshed out, though they skirt stereotypes. The plot marches along at a decent pace, and once you get past the first 50 pages you may find yourself unwilling to put the book down until you've finished it, it's that compelling. Here's the blurb:

The Age of Darkness approaches.
Five lives stand in its way.
Who will stop it . . . or unleash it?
For generations, the Seven Prophets guided humanity. Using their visions of the future, they ended wars and united nations―until the day, one hundred years ago, when the Prophets disappeared.
All they left behind was one final, secret prophecy, foretelling an Age of Darkness and the birth of a new Prophet who could be the world’s salvation . . . or the cause of its destruction. With chaos on the horizon, five souls are set on a collision course:
A prince exiled from his kingdom.
A ruthless killer known as the Pale Hand.
A once-faithful leader torn between his duty and his heart.
A reckless gambler with the power to find anything or anyone.
And a dying girl on the verge of giving up.
One of them―or all of them―could break the world. Will they be savior or destroyer?

Oddly enough, Pool doesn't make her protagonists likeable, (and surprisingly, that wasn't a deal-breaker for me this time.) Anton is weak and selfish and cowardly, Hassan lies and is gullible, Ephyra has little conscience and is willing to kill anyone, from parental figures to an entire town full of people, to keep her sister Beru alive, and Beru, who is actually a zombie (surprise) seems to also have no conscience, as she allows her sister to continue to kill to keep her living, when her time has passed, and she knows that it isn't sustainable for either of them to go on this way. Jude is a conflicted and somewhat stupid homosexual who is in love with his best friend, but can't seem to understand that his best friend doesn't love him back,and is, in fact, more interested in avenging his family (who were killed by Ephyra) than he is in hooking up with Jude. All of these characters have a role to play in saving their world from the Witnesses, a growing group of fanatics who want to kill anyone with a "grace" (this world's word for magical powers) and make the world "normal" with themselves and their god and priests in control, of course. It's obvious, at the end, that this is a series and we won't know the full extent of the consequences of everyone's actions until book 2 comes out. Still, I found this book riveting reading, and I'd give it an A-, and recommend it to anyone who likes adventure oriented magical fantasy. 

-->