Two Quotes of the Day, Becoming Book Tour Documentary, Phinney Books, Harry Potter Reads Harry Potter, A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris, Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian, and Hood: Season One by Lilith Saintcrow

It's May already, and I've been given a whole bunch of books for Mother's Day from my husband and son, so I'm excited to open the front door to see what the delivery people have left on my doorstep this week. Meanwhile, I've been reading and binge-watching streaming shows on Hulu, Amazon Prime and Netflix,and conference calling my doctors on Zoom so we can make health plans for the rest of the year. While here in Washington state we've managed to "flatten the curve" we are still not out of danger from the coronavirus contagion. So other than my monthly Remicade infusion, I am playing it safe and staying inside, which has become lonely but do-able, since my husband and son are here with me. I miss my friends and going to the library and bookstores, though.

This is a great quote and a very important reminder of how necessary book stores are to a community.

Quotation of the Day

Indie Bookstores' Many Roles

"Today's independent bookstores aren't just places of commerce. They're destinations unto themselves. They have also taken on many of the roles that used to be reserved for civic and religious institutions. Bookstores are community gathering places, hubs for conversation between like-minded souls, lecture halls hosting inspiring and thought-provoking speeches, and vital lyceums for citizens to discuss the important issues of the day."--Rachel Hirschhaut and Pauline Frommer, in the introduction to a Frommers.com story "25 Independent Bookstores We Love--and How to Support Them Now"

I have been watching this bit by bit, and so far it's fascinating.

Movies: Becoming Book Tour Doc

A first look trailer http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44093205 has been released for Becoming http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44093206, a new documentary about Michelle Obama's book tour to launch her 2018 memoir. Variety reported that the doc "offers a rare, up-close look at Michelle Obama's life, taking viewers behind-the-scenes as she embarks on a 34-city tour to promote her book. Both the memoir and the film are about highlighting the power of community to bridge divides and the spirit of connection that comes when people openly and honestly share their stories."

The film, which will be released on Netflix May 6, is from the Obamas' exclusive development pact with Netflix via their Higher Ground Productions banner, which they launched last year. It was directed by Nadia Hallgren (After Maria), with Katy Chevigny, Marilyn Ness and Lauren Cioffi producing.

Hallgren noted that she was approached by Higher Ground and was granted a 30-minute meeting with the former First Lady to decide whether she was the right fit to make Becoming: "She moves quickly and I had to learn to move with her--I filmed in tight, private spaces in a way that required the smallest possible footprint, but also allowed me to build a close relationship with her."

In a note, Michelle Obama wrote: "Those months I spent traveling--meeting and connecting with people in cities across the globe--drove home the idea that what we share in common is deep and real and can't be messed with. In groups large and small, young and old, unique and united, we came together and shared stories, filling those spaces with our joys, worries, and dreams. We processed the past and imagined a better future. In talking about the idea of 'becoming,' many of us dared to say our hopes out loud.

"I treasure the memories and that sense of connection now more than ever, as we struggle together to weather this pandemic, as we care for our loved ones, tend to our communities, and try to keep up with work and school while coping with huge amounts of loss, confusion, and uncertainty."

 

I remember when this bookstore opened in my old neighborhood up on the Ridge.  I hope that they manage to stay alive throughout the lockdown and into the virus-free future.

At Phinney Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44121368 in Seattle, Wash., doors are closed to the public but staff members are coming in most days, largely alone, to deal with inventory, orders and receiving. Store owner Tom Nissley reported that his staff is faring about "as well as can be hoped." In part because the staff is small and most of his employees are part-time, he's been able to keep everyone on payroll. Cabin fever, however, is, unfortunately, "rampant."

To Nissley's surprise, his PPP application was approved just in time for his store to receive funds as part of the first batch. He gives  credit for that to his neighborhood bank, which was helpful and efficient. He added that despite having little difficulty with the application process, it was still frustrating. "The fact that we, largely by chance, received ours and so many of our fellow businesses have not shows that the program is not working as it should," Nissley explained.

On the subject of virtual events, Nissley said Phinney Books doesn't do many actual in-store events even in normal times, but he has partnered with Phinney's sister store Madison Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44121369 to do some virtual storytimes and book clubs. With no end in sight to social distancing, however, Nissley and his team would like to plan and run more of them.

One silver lining, Nissley continued, was the quick improvement of some of the store's shipping and customer-billing processes in ways that will be helpful in the long term. And while he said it wasn't really a

surprise, given the community, Phinney Books has had "wonderful support from our neighborhood, both with direct orders through our store and through Bookshop, although we miss seeing them in person." And, while he and his staff have the place to themselves, they are taking the opportunity to do some thorough inventory work.

He and his team, Nissley added, are very glad that Bookshop launched in February and that they got on board quickly. The volume of sales the store has seen through its Bookshop page has been "pretty astounding," and it's made it possible for them to "imagine coming out of this in decent shape, whatever conditions we come out to."

There are some lovely things to come out of the coronavirus quarantine, such as this lovely reading of the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling. Daniel Radcliffe was wonderful in the movies as Harry, and he does a great job here of reading the book that became a movie that started his acting career.

Harry Potter' Reads Harry Potter

Daniel Radcliffe reading the first chapter http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44186311of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer's Stone has launched Wizarding World's latest  Harry Potter at Home http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44186312 lockdown initiative, in which "some of the best-loved faces http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz44186313 from global entertainment, music and sport have lent their voices to the story they love by recording videos of themselves reading the timeless first Harry Potter book." Fans can also listen to an audio version of "The Boy Who Lived" exclusively on Spotify.

Other readers will include Stephen Fry, David Beckham, Dakota Fanning, Claudia Kim, Noma Dumezweni and Eddie Redmayne, "with more surprises and special appearances from across the Wizarding World and beyond to come. Each will be reading different sections of this iconic book--with its themes of family, friendship, courage and overcoming adversity--to families around the world," Wizarding World noted.

 Another good quote about the importance of local independent bookstores.

Quotation of the Day

'An Effort to Keep Indies' Beating Hearts Alive and Well'

"In the wild, certain species, like starfish or wolves, have a disproportionately nourishing effect on the communities around them. Independent bookstores are a lot like that for us. They give us a place to sit, to wander our imaginations, to commune. They are the endpoint of a stroll. The beginning point of an evening. They pump ideas and inspiration and meaning and warmth back out into the streets around them. And they are sick right now. Covid-19 is threatening their livelihoods in dire ways. I'm setting myself a goal--a fun and easy goal. Every Sunday, I am buying a book from an indie. It's an indulgence, a treat to myself in these lonely and uncertain times, that also may do a shred of good. I hope you'll join me, in some way that is right for you, in this effort to keep these beating hearts alive and well."--Lulu Miller, author of Why Fish Don't Exist and co-founder of NPR's Invisibilia, on S&S.com

A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris is the second book in her "Gunnie Rose" series, starring the toughest young female gun for hire ever to shoot a Colt or a Winchester. Here's the blurb: Charlaine Harris returns with the second of the Gunnie Rose series, in which Lizbeth is hired onto a new crew, transporting a crate into Dixie, the self-exiled southeast territory of the former United States. What the crate contains is something so powerful, that forces from across three territories want to possess it.

In this second thrilling installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired onto a new crew for a seemingly easy protection job, transporting a crate into Dixie, just about the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. But what seemed like a straight-forward job turns into a massacre as the crate is stolen. Up against a wall in Dixie, where social norms have stepped back into the last century, Lizbeth has to go undercover with an old friend to retrieve the crate as what’s inside can spark a rebellion, if she can get it back in time.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse mysteries and Midnight, Texas trilogy) is at her best here, building the world of this alternate history of the United States, where magic is an acknowledged but despised power.

I enjoyed the first book in the series, and while it was bloodier than I would have liked, there were many things to like about the book that made me overlook the high bloody body count. In this installment of the series, Lizbeth is teamed up with her old flame, the Russian wizard Eli Z, who is obviously in love with Lizbeth, but due to commitments to his Tsar and family, can't have a committed relationship with her. They can and do sleep together, however, and pretend they are husband and wife while they try to unravel the mystery of what happened to a crate of saint's bones that Lizbeth and her crew were hired to protect and get to a buyer in Dixie.There's a lot of crazy Southerners and racial/class strife that mirrors some of the troubles in society today, but Harris makes sure that the morality play never overwhelms the plot of the main story. And, as usual, Harris' prose is sterling, and her characters sublime. I'd give this book a solid B+, and recommend it to anyone who read the first book. This is a fast read that will keep you up turning pages into the wee hours.

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian is a YA fantasy that reminded me of Sarah Maas's Throne of Glass series and  SnowWhite/RoseRed re-booted fairy tales that are everywhere out there now. There's also Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen series and Fairest by Marissa Meyer that come to mind. Here's the blurb: The first book in the New York Times bestselling series "made for fans of Victoria Aveyard and Sabaa Tahir" (Bustle), Ash Princess is an epic new fantasy about a throne cruelly stolen and a girl who must fight to take it back for her people.

Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes. On that day, the Kaiser took Theodosia's family, her land, and her name. Theo was crowned Ash Princess--a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner.
For ten years Theo has been a captive in her own palace. She's endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser and his court. She is powerless, surviving in her new world only by burying the girl she was deep inside.

Then, one night, the Kaiser forces her to do the unthinkable. With blood on her hands and all hope of reclaiming her throne lost, she realizes that surviving is no longer enough. But she does have a weapon: her mind is sharper than any sword. And power isn't always won on the battlefield.
For ten years, the Ash Princess has seen her land pillaged and her people enslaved. That all ends here.
 

The abuse that Theo must bear is horrendous in this book, but it's nothing compared to how her people are starved, beaten, enslaved and murdered. When she finally gets up enough gumption to escape and try to help her people, things do not go according to plan, and she fumbles and ends up killing the wrong people while not ending the Kaiser, who has been taking over her country and torturing her people (and skeeving after her) for years. There's also the inevitable love triangle between the Kaiser's son Soren, who is in love with Theo, and Theo's childhood friend (and member of the resistence) Blaise, who is also in love with her, but because he spent too much time in the mines, he's now close to becoming a "berserker" who burns up with magic from the inside out. The first book ends with an escape, and while I'm looking forward to the next two books in the series, I sincerely hope that Theo grows up and gets herself together enough to take back her throne and free her people. The prose is clean and strong, while the plot is somewhat twisty and slows down a couple of times for no reason.I'd give this book a B, and  recommend it to fans of  Aveyard and Maas.

Hood: Season One by Lilith Saintcrow is a "Robin Hood" in space retelling of the classic fairy tale of the titled prince who ends up robbing from the rich to give to the poor. Unfortunately, in this reboot version of Robin Hood, Robbhan has been at war and has a severe case of not only PTSD, but of self-loathing that makes him want to get himself killed and also makes him an unhygenic asshat who doesn't want a relationship with the Maid Marion character, Marah, but does want to kill the Sheriff of Nottingham's thug and second in command, Giz, the "Guy of Guisborne" character. Giz is in love with Marah, of course, but in a really creepy survelance way, where he constantly manipulates her into dining with him so he can ingratiate himself into her life. She uses Giz to keep her smuggling operation going (she sells black market stuff to keep her medical clinic for the poor open and operational) but she does also seem to have some feelings for him, as well as feelings for Rob that he makes clear he doesn't share. I'm not really in love with this version of Nottingham, England, or the characters who populate it. It's all very grim and the only person who seems to want to do something to aleviate that suffering is Marah.  Here's the blurb:

The Great Migration was centuries ago; two generation ships reached the Anglene galaxy with its clutch of terraform-suitable planets and performed their work. Now Anglene is smoldering; the galactic insurrection is supposed to be crushed. Robbhan Locke, a Second Echelon soldier, has returned to his birth planet along with other veterans, finding Sharl Notheim holding all of Sagittarius in his mailed fist for Parl Jun the Regent. 
There’s no redemption in homecoming. Even Marah Madán and Ged Gizabón, Robb’s childhood friends, have been forced into accommodation. The Sharl won’t stop squeezing until he’s made maximum profit for his royal patron–and covered up all his wartime indiscretions.
Heroes aren’t needed here, but even a damaged man can fight…

Though Saintcrow's excellent prose is on display here, and the plot is faster than a speeding bullet or plasma arc, I found it to be too depressing and dark and militaristic for my tastes. It's a short novel, at 257 pages, but there's unrelenting negativity here that wears on the reader as surely as it has worn on Rob and Giz and Marah. I'd give the book a C, again because it's not really my cuppa and there's no one here to root for in this grim landscape, but for some Robin Hood fans who are into military fantasy and horror, this book might be just the ticket.