RIP Bob Loomis, Quote of the Day, Arundel's Inspiring Mural, Stormsong by C.L. Polk, Mornings with Rosemary by Libby Page and Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Well, my bibliophile friends, I've been putting off writing this latest post out of ennui and anxiety over the eagerness of some people in society to put the economy ahead of the immune compromised, the elderly and the very young who don't have immune systems that can fight the coronavirus. There are too many selfish asshats out there who don't care who dies, as long as they can work and bring money to the greedy capitalist overlords of American society. So the government, lead by a greedy capitalist baboon, is urging everyone to open their businesses back up in early May, when doctors and scientists recommend not opening anything up until late May or early June, because that would save hundreds of thousands of lives. There are millions who haven't been tested for the virus who are asymptomatic, and are going to spread it to millions of others, who will eventually spread it to people like me, for whom it is fatal. Hence my anxiety and fear of dying on a ventilator before my 60th birthday in December. Anyway, I just have to press on, stay home and hope that my son and husband don't get it and bring it home anytime soon.

Once again, we've lost another legendary editor to the coronavirus. 

Obituary Note: Bob Loomis

Bob Loomis http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44006580, who spent most of his long career as an editor at Random House, died on Sunday, April 19. He was 93.

In a letter to staff, Gina Centrello, president & publisher of Random House, called Loomis "one of the greatest editors Random House, and our industry, has ever known." He had retired in 2011, at age 85, and began his career at Random House in 1957, "in the days of our founders, Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer," Centrello wrote. "Bob edited Maya Angelou (every one of her more than 30 books), William Styron, Edmund Morris, Robert Massie, Shelby Foote, Calvin Trillin, and hundreds of others whose literary careers he guided, assisting them in the creation of many works that have been and will be read for decades....

"I was just one of many who adored and learned from Bob, who inspired several generations of editors and publishers. His values and work ethic are permanently embedded in the Random House DNA."

The New York Times called Loomis "an editor who bloodlessly transformed embryonic manuscripts by a pantheon of 20th-century American authors into award-winning and best-selling books....

"He was so solicitous that, at first blush, an author might be lured into believing that his manuscript, gingerly sprinkled with rhetorical questions, was virtually complete--only to be invited to a rigorous line-by-line copy-editing tutorial at Mr. Loomis's desk, or a broader conversation over two double Jack Daniels's at lunch."

The Times quoted Loomis as likening editing to a quasi-religious function: "You have to turn your collar around like a priest," he said. "You offer a lot of praise, you have confession and you have faith, and pretty soon they might trust you enough to know that you're not trying to make the book in your own image. It's their book."

I totally agree with this quote, because bookstores and libraries are places of worship for me. I love them and miss them terribly. But many are now succeeding with online sales.

Quotation of the Day

'Everybody Wins When Bookstores Succeed'

"In honor of World Book Day this April 23, it seems the right time to say this: we believe in books. George R.R. Martin wrote it well in his novel A Dance with Dragons, 'A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.... The man who never reads lives only one.' Great books can do this to a person. Essential to the human experience, books transport us, inform us, and have the power to lift our spirits when we need it most.

"But books don't sell themselves, which is why we also believe in bookstores--and the incredible, knowledgeable, and passionate people who run them. Sadly, after a decade of recovery and growth that affirmed the importance of reading, writing, and publishing, bookstores are suddenly facing a moment of monumental crisis at the hands of the Covid-19 pandemic. In some instances, these beloved institutions, which mean so much to so many communities, face the very real possibility that they will never open their doors again.

"We cannot let this happen because we need bookstores now more than ever. As award-winning poet and writer Jen Campbell wrote in her book The Bookshop Book, 'Bookshops are dreams built of wood and paper. They are time travel and escape and knowledge and power. They are, simply put, the best of places.'

"We are therefore asking for your help to save these best of places. Please visit your community bookstores online or find them at Indiebound.org. Your actions matter and they are waiting for you: a little shopping today will do so much to ensure their futures. You can also make a donation to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation here: Save Indie Bookstores http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44062607. Everybody wins when bookstores succeed. Thank you for your help and happy reading!"--A joint post yesterday from Maria Pallante, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers; Mary Rasenberger, executive director of the Authors Guild; and Allison Hill, CEO of the American Booksellers Association

 Arundels is a magical bookstore in Pioneer Square, one of the first places I visited when we moved to Seattle (from Florida, by way of Mass and Iowa before that) in 1991. At that time, there were 5 or 6 bookstores right in that area, and Arundel's was this wonderful Victorian-looking place that made you think the doors to Narnia and the Hobbit's shire were somewhere in the stacks. Bravo to Arundel for creating a mural that gives hope of brighter days ahead for book lovers and booksellers in Seattle.

Image of the Day: Arundel's Inspiring Mural

So many businesses are boarded up in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square neighborhood--not far from Shelf Awareness's office--that people are calling it "Plywood Square." When Arundel Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44062652 was forced to halt retail operations, the store wanted to convey a positive message. The result is this mural, based on text by Neil Gaiman and created by local artist Amanda Joyce Bishop and designer Ty Kreft. Gaiman has long been one of the favorite authors of many Arundel staffers, and one of the authors the store recommends most. 

Arundel Books founder Phil Bevis said, "The work was so inspiring we wanted to share it, as it truly represents our belief that books can raise your spirits during difficult times, and add enjoyment to your life when times are good."

The mural design is available as a poster http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44062653,created by Arundel's indie press affiliate Chatwin Books and printed in Seattle on heavy archival stock. It is available as a limited edition signed by the artist and as a regular unsigned edition.

 Stormsong by C.L Polk is the sequel to Polks well received Witchmark, which I reviewed a year or so ago quite favorably. (I just checked and it was June 20 of 2018, so nearly two years ago). Witchmark was the story of Miles Singer and his beloved Tristan, who want to find out why souls are disappearing and why witches are committed to insane asylums if they don't agree to be used as magical "batteries" for those in power. This novel takes up where the last left off, but it's Dame Grace Hensley's story of trying to rebuild a world without using witches and souls to power lights and healing and everything else. She's also walking a tightrope by not telling society about the reason behind her shutting down the use of witches to enslave souls for weather work and other things. Here's the blurb: C. L. Polk continues the Kingston Cycle in Stormsong. Magical cabals, otherworldly avengers, and impossible love affairs conspire to create a book that refuses to be put down.

Dame Grace Hensley helped her brother Miles undo the atrocity that stained her nation, but now she has to deal with the consequences. With the power out in the dead of winter and an uncontrollable sequence of winter storms on the horizon, Aeland faces disaster. Grace has the vision to guide her parents to safety, but a hostile queen and a ring of rogue mages stand in the way of her plans. There's revolution in the air, and any spark could light the powder. What's worse, upstart photojournalist Avia Jessup draws ever closer to secrets that could topple the nation, and closer to Grace's heart.
Can Aeland be saved without bloodshed? Or will Kingston die in flames, and Grace along with it?

While I understand why the author has to use the second novel to get further into the political situation in Aeland and its surrounding areas, I found the political turmoil and intrigue to be deadly dull after awhile, and I felt that it slowed the plot to a crawl in many places before the action picked up again. That said, Polk has a way with character that is amazing. She manages to keep the prose steady, though a bit stolid, on stormy seas of plot during the entire novel. Grace was a bit too self effacing and naive when it came to the female reporter she falls in love with, but I still enjoyed watching her fight for what is right against all odds and against the will of a greedy Queen. I'd give this sophomore effort by Polk a B, and recommend it to those who've read Witchmark. 

Mornings with Rosemary by Libby Page reminded me of  The Story of Arthur Truluv and a Man Called Ove, because it is a heartfelt book about the importance of community and friendship, whether it's within a group of people who swim at the community pool or a diverse group of people who live on the same street and help each other find their place in the world. Here's the blurb: We’re never too old to make new friends—or make a difference.

Rosemary Peterson has lived in Brixton, London, all her life, but everything is changing.
The library where she used to work has closed. The family grocery store has become a trendy bar. And now the lido, an outdoor pool where she’s swum daily since its opening, is threatened with closure by a local housing developer. It was at the lido that Rosemary escaped the devastation of World War II; here she fell in love with her husband, George; here she found community during her marriage and since George’s death.
Twentysomething Kate Matthews has moved to Brixton and feels desperately alone. A once-promising writer, she now covers forgettable stories for her local paper. That is, until she’s assigned to write about the lido’s closing. Soon Kate’s portrait of the pool focuses on a singular woman: Rosemary. And as Rosemary slowly opens up to Kate, both women are nourished and transformed in ways they never thought possible.
“Charming [and] an unusually poignant tale of married love” (The Washington Post), Mornings with Rosemary is a feel-good novel that captures the heart and spirit of a community across generations—an irresistible tale of love, loss, aging, and friendship.  

I must admit that I was also drawn to this book because my late best friend's first name was Rosemarie, and I think she would have loved this book, and would have written books like this for publication had she lived longer. Though there are some rather cheesy emotional moments that anyone who has ever read a "cozy" British mystery can tell you are standards of the genre, I found the light and bright prose and the elderly protagonist to be utterly charming. The plot flowed naturally and easily as a stream in summer, and if you aren't a bit misty-eyed by the end of the book, you have no heart. I'd give the book an A-, and recommend it to anyone who likes quirky, cozy and warm-hearted stories during this time of global health crisis. It will take your mind off your troubles for awhile.

Untamed by Glennon Doyle is a revolutionary memoir about feminism, growth, finding yourself and your family and becoming whole as a person. I was not expecting this book to be such a page-turner, but every paragraph is chock full of insights and wisdom and brutal, often sarcastic, honesty. Here's the blurb: In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the activist, speaker, bestselling author, and “patron saint of female empowerment” (People) explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet others’ expectations and start trusting the voice deep within us.

This is how you find yourself.

There is a voice of longing inside each woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We hope all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives and wonder: Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful, hiding our discontent—even from ourselves.

For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her own discontent. Then, while speaking at a conference, she looked at a woman across the room and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There She Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. But she soon realized they had come to her from within. This was her own voice—the one she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions, cultural conditioning, and institutional allegiances. This was the voice of the girl she had been before the world told her who to be. Glennon decided to quit abandoning herself and to instead abandon the world’s expectations of her. She quit being good so she could be free. She quit pleasing and started living.

Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is the story of navigating divorce, forming a new blended family, and discovering that the brokenness or wholeness of a family depends not on its structure but on each member’s ability to bring her full self to the table. And it is the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honor our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts so that we become women who can finally look at ourselves and say: There She Is.

Untamed shows us how to be brave. As Glennon insists: The braver we are, the luckier we get. 

When I find a book that has something profound to say I put post it markers on the paragraphs that I want to transcribe to my journal, so as to hoard some of these precious insights for myself. Some books its one or two little flag post its, and some its a fringe of them. Untamed has an enormous fringe of post it flags that will take me the better part of a weekend to transcribe...it was that good. Though I am not gay, I found Glennon's insights into falling in love and upending a traditional marriage to live your truth to be profound and fascinating. Her insights into parenting, creativity, understanding the need for body autonomy when society tells you exactly what to do with your body, if you're female, practically from the cradle, are mind-blowing. the only part of this book that I didn't agree with was the premise that all white people are automatically racists at base. I don't agree with that premise at all, so that part of the book didn't speak to me, as it were. And while I understand Glennon's need to constantly fight against misogyny and societal injustice, I don't believe that because I don't spend my life doing the same that I am a bad person, or that I'm allowing these social evils to flourish. When I was younger and not disabled, I did sign petitions and go on hunger strike for Oxfam, or protest for good causes, but those things, while seemingly important, really didn't do much to alleviate suffering or change things for the better. Still, I laud Glennon and her family for striving to make the world a better place. I enjoyed this book and it's shining prose and insightful peek into the authors life. I think it takes guts and smarts to be willing to mine your soul for all these insights and lay them bare for the world to see. Brava, Glennon Doyle. I'd give your gutsy memoir an A, and recommend it to every woman in America, or the world, for that matter.