Ahh, the lusty month of May! Today is Cinco de Mayo, and I am celebrating with freshly baked bread, flank steak and broccoli for supper (with the help of my hubby, of course, who is the master of cooking meat). I've been reading a lot of ebooks lately, and now, due to mother's day, I have 7 new books on the way to my doorstep, which is really exciting! I'm also looking forward to going out for tea with my son on Mother's Day, which is this upcoming Sunday, and having a good chin-wag while people-watching, something I've not been able to do for over a year due to COVID restrictions. We're also planning a purse-perusing expedition, but I don't know if I will have the energy to do that. Still, better and brighter times are on the horizon, as more people are vaccinated and the restrictions on businesses are lifted.
This sounds utterly wonderful, and as a fan of Florence and the Machine, I will be excited to see how this musical version of the classic translates to the stage.
On Stage: Great Gatsby, the Musical
Rock star Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine), Thomas Bartlett and Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok are collaborating on a musical stage adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48347728, which entered the public domain earlier this year, Playbill reported.
Directed by Rebecca Frecknall (Summer and Smoke), the production will feature lyrics by Welch, music by Welch and Bartlett (Call Me By Your Name's "Mystery of Love"), and a book by Majok (Cost of Living). Jeanie O'Hare serves as story consultant.
"This book has haunted me for a large part of my life," Welch said. "It contains some of my favorite lines in literature. Musicals were my first love, and I feel a deep connection to Fitzgerald's broken romanticism. It is an honor to have been offered the chance to recreate this book in song."
I'm looking forward to this collection of rebooted fairy tales by one of my favorite authors, Joanne Harris.
Book Review: Honeycomb
With Honeycomb, the prolific Joanne M. Harris (Chocolat; Peaches for Father Francis http://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48377862), who has written fantasy, historical fiction, suspense, cookbooks and more, offers an enchanting collection of darkly delightful, imaginative fairy tales and parables of the modern world. (These stories began as a series on Twitter.) Illustrator Charles Vess (Stardust; Sandman) brings to life Harris's Silken Folk, "weavers of glamours, spinners of tales... whom some call the Farie, and some the First, and some the Keepers of Stories," in richly detailed images.
In the world of Honeycomb, the Sightless Folk (regular humans) unwittingly often share space with the numerous and diverse Silken. "There are many doors between the worlds of the Farie and the Folk. Some look like doors; or windows; or books. Some are in Dream; others, in Death." These 100 stories form a whole that is magical, fanciful, enchanting and occasionally nightmarish. Some center on single-appearance characters, and some characters are revisited, but all belong to the same universe. "Dream is a river that runs through Nine Worlds, and Death is only one of them." In special moments, "all Worlds were linked, like the cells of an intricate honeycomb, making a pattern that stretched beyond even Death; even Dream," and the stories are likewise linked cells.
Some act as allegories, as in "The Wolves and the Dogs," in which the Sheep elect a Wolf to protect them because at least he is honest. In "The Traveller," the titular character passes quickly by many delights in pursuit of his destination, which turns out less impressive than he'd hoped. "Clockwork" is a horrifying tale in which a husband rebuilds his wife piece by piece. "The Bookworm Princess," on the other hand, ends with deep satisfaction. There is the Clockwork Princess and the watchmaker's boy; a girl who travels with a clockwork tiger; and a mistrustful puppeteer who manifests what he fears. A recurring farmyard is packed with colorful animal characters--a troublesome piglet, a petulant pullet--and allegory, Orwellian and otherwise. The connecting character is the Lacewing King, whom readers meet at his birth in "The Midwife" and follow for hundreds of years, as the fate of Worlds hangs in the balance. "There are many different ways to reach the River Dream. One is Sleep; one is Desire; but the greatest of all is Story...."
Completely engrossing, exquisitely inventive, brilliantly illustrated and thought-provoking, Honeycomb is a world, or Worlds, to get lost in. "Some of these tales have stings attached. But then, of course, that's bees for you." --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia
I've always felt that Emily Bronte didn't really get her due when it came to publicity, probably because Charlotte was everyone's darling and was a limelight hog, and Anne was sickly and shy, so she was also relegated to the background. These movies should be fascinating.
Movies: Emily; All Quiet on the Western Front
A first look is available of Emma Mackey (Sex Education) in Emily http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48412387, the origin story biopic of author Emily Bronte, Deadline reported. Production is underway in the U.K. on the project that marks the writing and directing feature debut of actress Frances O'Connor (The Missing). The cast also includes Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Hill House), Alexandra Dowling (The Musketeers), Amelia Gething (The Spanish Princess), Gemma Jones (Ammonite) and Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty).
Filming is underway in the Czech Republic, near Prague, on Netflix's World War I film All Quiet on the Western Front http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48412388, based on the classic novel by Erich Maria Remarque, Deadline reported.
The book was previously adapted by Universal and Lewis Milestone in 1930 and won Oscars for best picture and director.
Directed by Edward Berger (Patrick Melrose), the German-language version of the anti-war story stars Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Moritz Klaus, Aaron Hilmer, Edin Hasanovic, Daniel Bruumlhl, Adrian Gruumlnewald, Devid Striesow, Andreas Doumlhler, Sebastian Huumllk, Alexander Schuster, Luc Feit, Michael Wittenborn, Michael Stange, Andre; Marcon, Tobias Langhoff and Anton von Lucke.
Fire Watcher by Lilith Saintcrow is the third book in her Watcher series, and though the first two books were rife with romance novel cliches, I found myself wanting to know what happened to the fire witch, and what kind of watcher would show up to guard her. Turns out it was a Creole French speaking man named Remy, who mirrored all the passion and anger displayed by his charge, fire witch and rock goddess Elise. Here's the blurb: The Fire Witch
Elise Nicholson isn’t your ordinary witch. For one
thing, she can light candles with a look, and she plays a mean guitar.
Unfortunately, being able to call fire out of the air isn’t the most
useful skill around. To top it off, she’s a Guardian of the City, and
the other Guardians—her two best friends—have no time for her. They’re
too busy with their Watchers, the grim, black-coated warriors sworn to
protect Elise and her friends from the Dark. Lonely, skating the edge of
controlling her intensified “gifts,” Elise is quickly running out of
options and patience. Then the Trifero—a Talisman capable of blowing the
city sky-high—lands in her lap, and everything just gets worse.
The Watcher:
Remy
is the Hunter, snatching Talismans away from the Dark and struggling
with the constant agony of being a Watcher. Then he’s assigned to stand
guard over a smart-mouthed fire witch who not only hates Watchers, but
has just found the Trifero. If the Dark catches Elise, she’ll be broken,
turned into a magical weapon, and sold to the highest bidder. Not only
does Remy have to get to her first and keep the Dark away, but he also
must convince Elise that he means her no harm—and that’s the easy part
of the job. If he pulls this one off, he just might redeem himself the
way every Watcher aches to do. But if he fails, both he and Elise might
be better off dead.
Elise comes off as really bitchy and whiny and immature, as she constantly stomps off in a huff, like a child throwing a temper tantrum. She's never happy with anything, and she's downright cruel to the people who love her, especially her fellow witches (who are perfect, of course, because earth and water witches are bound to be much nicer and more even keeled than a fire witch...bullpucky on that ridiculous cliche). The fact that Remy still loves her and wants to protect her no matter how mean or sullen she gets just makes it seem all the more pathetic that this romance never really gets off the ground. REmy comes more than halfway and risks his life for Elise over and over again. I was expecting Elise to be gay, actually, due to her deep seated hatred of all the male watchers, but I guess that there's no diversity in the Circle of Light, which is the group the Watchers belong to. As usual, Saintcrow's prose is sterling and her plots rip right along, as inexorable as the wind. I'd give this installment of the series a B-, (I almost gave it a C+) and recommend it to anyone who has read any of the other Watcher books.
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells is the 6th book in the Murderbot series, and I've read and enjoyed most of them. Other than all the tech talk and political stuff and the bits about how to make any given space secure, the prose is whip-smart and greases the wheels of the fast-moving plot. This was an ebook that I had a hard time putting down, because you never know what was going to happen next. Murderbot is a real treasure, with a dry wit and lots of funny observations about the foibles of humankind. Here's the blurb: The New York Times bestselling security droid with a heart (though it wouldn't admit it!) is back in Fugitive Telemetry!
Having
captured the hearts of readers across the globe (Annalee Newitz says
it's "one of the most humane portraits of a nonhuman I've ever read")
Murderbot has also established Martha Wells as one of the great SF
writers of today.
No, I didn't kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn't dump the body in the station mall.
When
Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is
going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is
(was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward,
at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of
people―who knew?)
Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!
Again!
I've always liked stories about outsiders looking into human social situations with compassion and fondness, but also with a clear eye to how we fool ourselves and others. Murderbot is charming and efficient both, as it makes its way through the investigation with logic and aplomb. I actually didn't see the end coming at all, which is unusual for me when reading mysteries. I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys robot/cyborgs with a heart stories.
A Deadly Delivery: A Psychic Cafe Mystery by April Fernsby was a free ebook that read like so many other cozy, slightly paranormal mysteries that I found myself wondering if I'd read it before. The prose was fine,but the plot was predictable and the characters annoying and stereotypical. Here's the blurb: Karis Booth has had psychic abilities for as long as she can remember.
But this is the first time she’s used them to solve a murder.
Things
are changing rapidly for Karis. As well as filing for divorce from her
unfaithful husband, she decides it’s time to make peace with her
estranged sister, Erin. With trepidation, Karis visits the café which
Erin owns. To her great relief, Erin welcomes Karis back into her life
with open arms.
During their reconciliation, a young woman,
Carmel, calls into the café with a bread delivery. As Karis watches
Carmel, she experiences a strong psychic vision. She sees two shadows
following Carmel. Only one of the shadows belongs to Carmel — the other
belongs to the person who is going to murder her later that day.
With
help from her sister and an old neighbour, Karis does all that she can
to find out who murdered Carmel. It doesn’t help that the investigating
officer is an ex-boyfriend who broke up with Karis because he couldn’t
cope with her psychic abilities. Despite this, Karis won’t rest until
she finds the killer.
The protagonist was just a bit too stupid to live, I felt, and the romantic subplot got too much time that would have been better spent on the mystery itself. Though this was the first in the series, I have a feeling that it will be popular with romance fans who like light mysteries on the side. I'd give it a C+ and recommend it to those who like their books light and not at all emotionally or mentally taxing.
No comments:
Post a Comment