Welcome Book Friends! I can't believe that we're halfway through May already! It's turning out to be a great spring and summer, as I make forays out into the world again now that I am fully vaccinated. One of my goals for this month is to visit The Sequel Bookstore in Enumclaw, the only bookstore within 30 miles of my home. It's a great little new/used bookstore with a nice little coffee/tea stand inside, so I can lure my son into taking me there so he can have his morning latte while I browse. Meanwhile, I've got bookselling news and three book reviews to share. Enjoy the sunshine and read outdoors today!
I am always excited to read about major political figures showing off their book nerd credentials, and this tidbit is no exception! Go Ms Veep!
Kamala Harris Shops at Rhode Island's Books on the Square
Yesterday morning, Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise visit to Books on the Square http://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48414635 in Providence, R.I., while in the state for meetings with local business owners. Books on the Square manager Jennifer Kandarian said, "We found out 30 minutes before that she would be coming in!" Kandarian reported that the VP purchased three novels--Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys, Ben Lerner's The Topeka School and Ann Patchett's The Dutch House--along with Julia Turshen's cookbook Simply Julia. Outside the store, Harris showed off her purchases and said, "I've been wanting to read all three of these, and I'm going to find the time to do that."
It was Harris's second visit recently to an independent bookstore: the day before Independent Bookstore Day, she shopped at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, N.H.
Though I'm not a GOT fan (of either books or TV series), this particular spin off stars Doctor Who's Matt Smith (11th Doctor) and I would watch him read the phone book.
TV:House of the Dragon
HBO has released the first official images from House of the Dragon http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48417197, the Game of Thrones prequel series based on George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, Deadline reported. The cast includes Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, Matt Smith, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno and Fabien Frankel. House of the Dragon has been given a 10-episode order with an eye toward a 2022 debut.
Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal will be co-showrunners and also exec produce along with Martin and Vince Gerardis. Martin and Condal co-created the series. Sara Lee Hess will also serve as writer and executive producer. Sapochnik is directing the pilot and additional episodes. Clare Kilner and Geeta V. Patel will also direct with Greg Yaitanes directing and co-executive producing.
This sounds like a wonderful event, and I'm hoping that I can participate.
10th Annual Book Group Speed Dating Event
This coming Friday, May 14, from 1 to 3 p.m. Eastern, ReadingGroupGuides.com will host its 10th annual Book Group Speed Dating Event--virtually. Representatives from 19 publishers of all sizes will share selections from their publishing houses via video to give booksellers, librarians and book group leaders an inside look at new and upcoming titles that book groups will want to know about and discuss. E-galleys will be available for selected titles from Edelweiss and/or NetGalley, as well as print galleys. Advance signup is required and can be done here http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48450649.
I was so sad to read that Pennie C I is retiring, because reading about her monthly picks has become a ritual for me. Sigh, but all good things must come to an end. Her last book pick sounds fascinating, BTW.
Pennie’s Last Pick: When the Apricots Bloom
Pennie Clark Ianniciello, Costco's book buyer, has selected When the Apricots Bloom by Gina Wilkinson (Kensington, $16.99, 9781496729354) as her pick for May. This was her last pick--she has retired after 32 years at Costco http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48450658, 27 of them as book buyer. In Costco Connection, which goes to many of the warehouse club's members, she writes:
"Huda, a secretary at the Australian embassy, lives in fear of the secret police who have ordered her to befriend the deputy ambassador's wife, Ally. Huda doesn't want to be an informant, but she will do what she must to protect her son. Huda's former friend, Rania, is also fighting to keep her child safe and protected.
"This is the story of three women willing to risk everything to protect their families."
I used to love Paul Gallico's books when I was a kid, and Mrs Harris was a particular favorite. I can hardly wait to see the movie version.
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris Movie
The film adaptation of Paul Gallico's novella Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48483593 is set for a theatrical release March 4, 2022, via Focus Features in the U.S. and Canada, Deadline reported. Directed by Anthony Fabian and in partnership with the House of Dior, the project stars Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Jason Isaacs, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo and Rose Williams.Carroll Cartwright, Fabian, Keith Thompson and Olivia Hetreed adapted. Producers are Xavier Marchand, Guillaume Benski, and Fabian. Universal has also set a February 25, 2022 release in the U.K. and abroad.
Here's the latest book reviews:
Laughter at the Academy by Seanan McGuire is a compilation of her short fiction, including many horror stories that she had published in anthologies. Because I'm not a fan of the horror genre, I wasn't expecting to like more than one or two of these stories, yet I surprised myself by liking about half of them for their clever twists of known fairy tales or existing fables or legends/folklore. Here's a blurb: From fairy tale forest to gloomy Gothic moor, from gleaming
epidemiologist’s lab to the sandy shores of Neverland, Seanan McGuire’s
short fiction has been surprising, delighting, confusing, and
transporting her readers since 2009. Now, for the first time, that
fiction has been gathered together in one place, ready to be enjoyed one
twisting, tangled tale at a time. Her work crosses genres and subverts
expectations.
Meet the mad scientists of “Laughter at the
Academy” and “The Tolling of Pavlov’s Bells.” Glory in the potential of a
Halloween that never ends. Follow two very different alphabets in
“Frontier ABCs” and “From A to Z in the Book of Changes.” Get “Lost,”
dress yourself “In Skeleton Leaves,” and remember how to fly. All this
and more is waiting for you within the pages of this decade-spanning
collection, including several pieces that have never before been
reprinted. Stories about mermaids, robots, dolls, and Deep Ones are all
here, ready for you to dive in.
This is a box of strange
surprises dredged up from the depths of the sea, each one polished and
prepared for your enjoyment. So take a chance, and allow yourself to be
surprised.
McGuire's prose is, as usual, sturdy and evocative, while her plots careen around corners and leave you breathless as a roller coaster ride. Prior to each story McGuire prefaces it with a tidbit about how the story came to be and what made her want to write it in the first place. I found these prefaces almost as interesting as the stories themselves. I can't really get much into the stories without spoiling them for future readers, but I'd say that those who enjoy her "Every Heart a Doorway" series, which is way too dark for me, will love these short works. I'd give this e-book a B+.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is the third science fiction novel by the author of the groundbreaking book "The Martian" that enchanted even those who don't normally read genre fiction, especially science fiction. That book was made into a lukewarm movie starring Hollywood's boring podgy everyman, Matt Daemon. I read and LOVED The Martian, and was underwhelmed by Weir's sophomore effort, Artemis, but with Project Hail Mary, Weir's gone back to his roots of telling a great story grounded in real world science with main characters so charming and realistic they fairly leap off the page. Here's the blurb: Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance
mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except
that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own
name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All
he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s
just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with
nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his
memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now
confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him
to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an
extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.
Speaking of pages, this book is a real page turner that I had a hard time putting down just to do things like go to the bathroom or have a bite to eat. Grace and Rocky are reminiscent of the duo from a great little film of the 80s called "Enemy Mine" which starred Louis Gossett Jr and Dennis Quaid as an alien and human who are stranded together and have to learn to get along so that they can get home. They eventually realize that they have more in common than they thought, and they become friends who care deeply for one another, just as Ryland Grace and Rocky learn each other's language and learn to care for one another as beings. My only problem with the book, and it was minor, was that (SPOILER) we never learn if Grace decides to go home to earth and take his place in society as a hero, a teacher who saved our sun and our planet from going kaput. Although it was 475 pages long, I was sad to see this book end, and while there was way too much math and science explanations to skip over for those of us who aren't engineers, I wish that Weir had allowed us to see what became of Grace in the end. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who loved The Martian or the movie Enemy Mine.
Before I Saw You by Emily Houghton is a romantic medical dramedy that was somewhat reminiscent of Jojo Moyes "Me Before You." Houghton's prose is actually better than Moyes, much more robust and with fewer asides, while her plot steams along like the QEII, full of British wit and self effacing characters. Here's the blurb: For fans of Me Before You comes
a poignant and moving novel about two patients who fall in love as they
recover from traumatic injuries in the same hospital ward…all without
seeing each other.
Alice Gunnersley and Alfie Mack sleep just
a few feet apart from one another. They talk for hours every day. And
they’ve never seen each other face-to-face.
After being in
terrible accidents, the two now share the same ward as long-term
residents of St. Francis’s Hospital. Although they don’t get off to the
best start, the close quarters (and Alfie’s persistence to befriend
everyone he meets) brings them closer together. Pretty soon no one can
make Alice laugh as hard as Alfie does, and Alfie feels like he’s
finally found a true confidante in Alice. Between their late night talks
and inside jokes, something more than friendship begins to slowly
blossom between them.
But as their conditions improve and the
end of their stay draws closer, Alfie and Alice are forced to decide
whether it’s worth continuing a relationship with someone who’s seen all
of the worst parts of you, but never seen your actual face.
A tender novel of healing and hope, Before I Saw You reminds us that connections can be found even in the most unexpected of places—and that love is almost always blind.
Though the central conceit of the book, that Alice is too horrified about her extensive burn scars to let anyone but the nurses see her, is understandable, it becomes a bit tedious by the time you're 2/3rd of the way through the book, mainly because it's rather sexist to portray a female character as being so vain that she'd rather die than have half of her face be scarred. So unless you're attractive as a woman your life is worthless, meaningless and your self worth is only to be found in your exterior? Really?? Alice as a person is pretty prickly and snobbish, and if I were her, I would have used the opportunity to work on my mental and spiritual problems, rather than focus on how I look. I mean, who cares if others pity you or stare, that is their problem, not yours. No one is perfect, I don't care who they are, and some of the most troubled people I've ever met were the models I worked with when I was a magazine editor. Nearly all of the female models, no matter how perfect they looked, hated themselves and could list, at the drop of a hat, their flaws and how they despaired of them. Body positivity is a rallying cry of mine in the past decade or so, and I have given a great deal of thought to how women are portrayed in such a misogynistic manner in the media, airbrushed to look so thin and "perfect" when this so called standard of beauty is not attainable (because it's unrealistic) at all, and drives women into unhealthy eating disorders, body dysmorphia and suicide. Still, I found Alfie's optimism funny and endearing, until it, too, became a bit cloying 2/3rds of the way through the book, because he was masking his pain with a fake sunny outlook. I was glad of the HEA ending, though, and along with the delicious descriptions of Alfie's mum's cooking and baking, earned this novel an A, with a recommendation to all those who have had to fight their way back from an accident to find themselves and find a new family.
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