Spring has sprung, as the saying goes, and here's an Easter basket full of book reviews and tidbits for you all on this rainy, chilly March day. Happy reading, Bibliophiles!
Retiring from Eagle Harbor Book Co. After 30 Years
John Willson, a bookseller at Eagle Harbor Book Company http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47885439, Bainbridge Island, Wash., for 30 years, is retiring. In a touching e-mail to customers, the store wrote, in part, "John's literary reach has been wide and deep, as a lifelong and award-winning poet, a teacher and mentor in his longstanding poetry workshop on Bainbridge Island, and recipient of the Island Treasure award in 2014. Given his track record, we feel distinctly honored to have had his expertise and intentionality shaping the bookstore. He has for many years been the quiet force behind the wall of Staff Picks, championing the recommendations of his coworkers.
"John's first book-length collection of poems, Call This Room a Station, has been our bestselling book of poetry over the past two years. Fellow bookseller David Perry says of the collection, 'John notices and makes us aware of value in the world around that we're otherwise likely to miss,' and these words ring true for how John has poured into the culture and spirit of Eagle Harbor Books as well. We are so grateful and wish him all the best."
The store also noted that "none of us remembers the store quite like John does when he joined the team in 1991. In truth, none of the rest of us were there, and a few of us may not have even reached the diaper stage yet. When our fearless owner Jane Danielson brought her job application into the store over a dozen years ago, she handed it to none other than John."
Eagle Harbor has a memory book in which people can write Willson "a note of appreciation" that will be set out through Friday, April 2.
This sounds like a great book to movie adaptation of a story that is long overdue.
Movies: The Watergate Girl
Katie Holmes has optioned The Watergate Girl http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47885475: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President by former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks through her Noelle Productions banner, Deadline reported. Holmes will star and produce the project, which is planned as a feature adaptation.
"I'm excited to be working with Katie Holmes and am both honored and humbled to have my experience as the only woman on the Watergate trial team shared on the big screen," said Wine-Banks, who has also served as general counsel of the U.S. Army and executive v-p and COO of the American Bar Association. "Though it was almost 50 years ago, the story of our investigation and trial remain compelling and relevant to current events, and the sexism reflected in my story reverberates today. I hope this film opens up more dialogue around the challenges still facing professional women."
Holmes added: "I was drawn to this story because it is as relevant today as it was then. Women are constantly trying to break through the glass ceiling in the male workplace and this woman singlehandedly helped reshape the Watergate trial. I am constantly inspired by these strong female protagonists, and it is a world I will always want to explore."
Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T.A. Willberg is an odd paranormal fantasy/mystery hybrid based in England that sounded like it was right up my alley. Unfortunately, as I've discovered with many books I've been lured into reading during the pandemic quarantine this past year, looks, or blurbs, can be deceiving. The prose was clean, but pedestrian and the plot glacially slow. I actually fell asleep reading this book several times, which is not common for me, especially when reading fiction. But the author seems to have forgotten the maxim of "Show, don't tell" as she has her protagonist and others ramble on and on about things we already know in nearly every chapter. Snore. Here's the blurb: The letter was short. A name, a time, a place.
Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder
plunges readers into the heart of London, to the secret tunnels that
exist far beneath the city streets. There, a mysterious group of
detectives recruited for Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries
use their cunning and gadgets to solve crimes that have stumped Scotland
Yard.
Late one night in April 1958, a filing assistant at Miss
Brickett’s receives a letter of warning, detailing a name, a time, and a
place. She goes to investigate but finds the room empty. At the stroke
of midnight, she is murdered by a killer she can’t see―her death the
only sign she wasn’t alone. It becomes chillingly clear that the person
responsible must also work for Miss Brickett’s, making everyone a
suspect.
Marion Lane, a first-year Inquirer-in-training, finds
herself drawn ever deeper into the investigation. When her friend and
colleague is framed for the crime, to clear his name she must sort
through the hidden alliances at Miss Brickett’s and secrets dating back
to WWII. Masterful, clever and deliciously suspenseful, Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder is a fresh take on the Agatha Christie-style locked-room murder mystery, with an exciting new heroine detective.
Willberg is one of the few authors who can take something as interesting as a secret underground organization that uses brilliant and innovative gadgets to fight crime and turn in into a mundane view of the lives of self-loathing, half starved British people who seek revenge for the most minor slights by trying to kill everyone with explosive and corrosive chemicals. Seriously. Because of course these people never talk about their disappointments or fears or anger, they just seethe quietly until they become mad scientists and murderers. Insert eye roll here. Obviously, I didn't find this book engaging or delightful, and I felt that I wasted full price on the hardback copy that I now own. Hence I'd give this lackluster mystery novel a C+, and only recommend it to those who don't mind long-winded explanations of every clue the protagonists have gathered in every chapter.
Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan is the sequel to Girls of Paper and Fire, which was a fantasy novel set in and alternate feudal China. The protagonists in these two books are young lesbians in love, and their journey of discovery about themselves and each other is fascinating to watch. Ngan's prose is clear and cool, like a river in early spring, and her plot flows as swiftly as the rapids of that river. Here's the blurb: In this mesmerizing sequel to the New York Times bestseller Girls of Paper and Fire, Lei and Wren have escaped the oppression of the Hidden Palace, but their freedom comes at a terrible cost.
Lei, the naive country girl who became a royal courtesan, is now known
as the Moonchosen, the commoner who managed to do what no one else
could. But slaying the cruel monarch wasn't the culmination of her
destiny -- it was just the beginning. Now Lei, with a massive bounty on
her head, must travel the kingdom with her warrior love Wren to gain
support from the far-flung rebel clans.
Meanwhile, a plot to
eliminate the rebel uprising is taking shape, fueled by dark magic and
vengeance. Will Lei succeed in her quest to overthrow the monarchy, or
will she succumb to the sinister magic that seeks to destroy her bond
with Wren, and their very lives?
As usual, the rebels are outmanned and outgunned, with the King (whom Lei supposedly killed, but it turns out was able to survive via the use of magic healers) using all of the soldiers, spies and mages at his disposal to track down Lei and Wren and bring them to heel (where we can only assume he will torture them in his dungeon). The fact that the duo manage to evade his capture for most of the book is astonishing, but what really surprised me SPOILER ALERT, was discovering that Wren and her guards instigated the death of key people as well as razing entire villages and then planting the King's flag in the ruins as a way to sway public opinion toward the rebels in the upcoming war. Lei is also gutted by the discovery of her love's political treachery, and toward the end the two aren't in a good place, though Lei always seems to forgive Wren, even when she's clearly in the wrong. This book was much harder to read than the first book, because there just wasn't as much optimism or hope for all the abused young women in it, but I have a suspicion that the third and final book of the series will be much better and leave readers with a more satisfying ending. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who has read the first book in the series.
I'll Be Seeing You by Elizabeth Berg is a memoir of Bergs time transitioning her grumpy elderly parents from their home into an assisted living facility due to her father's Alzheimers and her mother's mental instability. I've read a lot of Berg's fiction, most of which I've enjoyed, but this particular non fiction book was depressing and made Berg seem rather mean and immature. Her compassion for her father was constantly offset by her anger and distrust toward her mother, who, to be fair, was a real piece of work. Here's the blurb: Elizabeth Berg’s father was an Army veteran who was a tough man in every
way but one: He showed a great deal of love and tenderness to his wife.
Berg describes her parents’ marriage as a romance that lasted for
nearly seventy years; she grew up watching her father kiss her mother
upon leaving home, and kiss her again the instant he came back. His idea
of when he should spend time away from her was never.
But then
Berg’s father developed Alzheimer’s disease, and her parents were forced
to leave the home they loved and move into a facility that could offer
them help. It was time for the couple’s children to offer, to the best
of their abilities, practical advice, emotional support, and
direction—to, in effect, parent the people who had for so long parented
them. It was a hard transition, mitigated at least by flashes of humor
and joy. The mix of emotions on everyone’s part could make every day
feel like walking through a minefield. Then came redemption.
I’ll Be Seeing You charts
the passage from the anguish of loss to the understanding that even in
the most fractious times, love can heal, transform, and lead to
graceful—and grateful—acceptance.
There is very little grateful or graceful acceptance here, from what I read, and only one spot of humor that I can think of in the entire book. I kept having to put the book down because it was so dull, repetitive and sad. Berg's mother, who was German like my grandmother, was a nasty person and very hard to live with, just like my grandma Lang. So of course my grandfather, Bill, was my mothers hero and favorite parent, because he was a kinder and gentler person, just as Bergs father seems, at the outset, to be a kinder person than her mother. But I think anyone would become rattled and frustrated and angry with a spouse who, through the ravages of dementia, will not let them have a moment alone or to themselves. I know that this would be unbearable for me, so I found myself becoming frustrated with Berg for not trying hard enough to see her mother's side of things, and always seeing her father as a victim. At any rate, the long hard road to her parents death is what this book is really about, so if you're already depressed or frustrated by being part of the "sandwich generation" of people who have to care for their family at home and also care for their aging and infirm parents, this isn't the book for you, as it will only drag you down further into the oubliette of despair. I'd give the book a D, and only recommend it to die-hard fans of Berg's work.
The Billionaire's Beagle by Kristy Tate was an ebook that I got for free, which sounded like a rom-com that would take the taste of the previous depressive books out of my brain. The prose was light and the plot easy, so it was the perfect palate cleanser before I delve into my next stack of Easter books. Here's the blurb: Above all else, Letty detests liars. A good girl through and through,
she’s always tried to walk a straight line, which hasn’t been easy given
her father walked a crooked path that led him to prison.
Wes is
attracted to Letty the moment he meets her. One of the things he loves
about her is she thinks he’s just a beach bum working at the local hotel
and she’s okay with him just as (she thinks) he is.
But when Betty
the beagle gets kidnapped, the budding romance goes off the rails and
Wes and Letty are forced to fess up to their lies and exaggerations
before their problems (and beagles) get completely out of hand and off
leash.
Romantic comedy fans and dog-lovers will enjoy this sweet beach-side romp by USA Today bestselling author, Kristy Tate.
One of the tropes that has always bothered me about romances and rom-coms is how sexist they are toward women and young women, especially when it comes to body size. In this book, Betty the beagle is overweight, so the protagonists constantly make jokes about Betty's size, her "laziness" and how easy it is to find a "copy" beagle identical to her who is unwanted because the copy-beagle is so fat! How horrible! Why would anyone want a fat dog?! Even when it turns out that the copy-beagle is actually pregnant and not fat/overweight, they still make fun of her, which seems especially heartless. I kept wanting to remind Letty and Wes that they, too, will get older and doubtless put on weight as the years go by, so being nasty and fatphobic about two poor beagles will eventually come and bite them in their spandex-covered runners butts. But other than the author's blatant size prejudice and ignorance, the characters were goofy and the book was easily read in an afternoon. I doubt that I would read any sequels or any other books by this author, but this one was fun and not too much work to get through. I'd give it a B-, and recommend it to anyone who likes madcap romantic romps.
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