Eagle Harbor Book Company Helps Out in the Heat, Oprah Features LGBTQ Bookstores, Hamnet Movie, Indie Bookshop Week, The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella, The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris, Nobody's Ghoul by Devon Monk, and A Study in Crimson by Robert J Harris

Hola Fellow Book lovers! It's HOT out there, (it's 111 degrees in Maple Valley, WA, where I live, thank heaven for AC!) so grab a cold bev, kick back and stay cool while reading today! I know that I'm certainly not going anywhere in this heat! BTW, normally in the Pacific Northwest, it's around 75-80 degrees this time of year. So climate change is making itself felt this summer.

Thank heaven that there are places like libraries and bookstores with air conditioning that can help people without make it through this ridiculous heat wave. I agree with Eagle Harbor...be careful, folks, not to get burned by this extreme heat.

Eagle Harbor Book Company's 'Excessive Heat Advisory'

With a record-breaking heat wave hitting the Pacific Northwest, Eagle Harbor Book Company, Bainbridge Island, Wash., issued an "EXCESSIVE HEAT ADVISORY http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48975270: Residents are urged to go to Eagle Harbor Book Company, where air conditioning has been reported. The books are hot, but the air is not! Be careful out there!"

Thank heaven for Oprah and her platform in the media that brings awareness to great LGBTQ bookstores that are an intrinsic part of their communities.

Oprah Features '53 LGBTQ-Owned Bookstores'

Oprah Daily featured "53 LGBTQ-owned bookstores you can be proud to support http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48943516," noting that these businesses "are more than shops to browse for books; they are hubs for both entertainment and enlightenment, meeting grounds for hearts and minds. They are, above all, vital community spaces."

Oprah's comprehensive directory highlights "shops that go above and beyond selling hardcovers and paperbacks to foster a sense of community, acceptance, and solidarity. We'll continue to add to this list, and if there are any that we missed, please make sure to let us know in the comments below! From New York to San Francisco, from Montgomery, Alabama to Verona, Wisconsin, we hope you'll find an indie bookstore near you to support--during Pride month and beyond."

 This sounds like a fascinating film, based on a novel that I would like to read before I see it, though I wasn't a fan of the last book of Maggie O'Farrell's that I read.

Movies: Hamnet

Amblin Partners, Hera Pictures and Neal Street Productions are teaming on a film adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's award-winning novel Hamnet http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48946468, with Chiara Atik writing the script. Deadline reported that Atik has previously worked with Amblin and Neal Street on Beautiful Ruins, alongside Mark Hammer. Liza Marshall, Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris are producing.

 I agree that books are a ticket to another world and endless possibilities! Here are some interesting responses and poems for Indie Bookshop week.

Independent Bookshop Week: 'It May Call Itself a Bookshop, but Don't Be Fooled by That.'

It may call itself a bookshop, but don't be fooled by that. There may be books in the window, on the tables and shelves, but really, it's a travel agent selling all-immersive holidays,weekend breaks, first-class tickets to other worlds...

These lines are from poet Brian Bilston's "Never Judge a Bookshop by Its Cover http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48946485,"written for Independent Bookshop Week "in celebration of all the brilliant independent bookshops out there and the role they play in their communities."

Five Leaves Bookshop http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48946508,

Nottingham: "The number of indie bookshops has been growing steadily for the last four years. There were even new shops opening during the last year with more on their way. We often mention the newbies here. Indies do what it says on the tin. We are not beholden to faraway owners, we choose the stock, we organize our own events and--yes, we even make our own mistakes--that is what being independent is all about. We also pay our taxes and money spent in your community stays in your community. We celebrate each other's successes, encourage customers to explore indies wherever they are going... PS We try not to make too many mistakes!"

Lighthouse Bookshop http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz48946509, Edinburgh: "Oh and it's Indie Bookshop Week (like every week here really, but this week there's bunting & press & hashtags)! The heart of being an indie for us, is our booksellers--championing voices and publishers and artists from the margins--and our readers, some of you we catch up with weekly, some we see once a year on a fringe pilgrimage, some we meet but once and yet you leave us with a story or a reflection that shapes us. That space where books and people meet has its own magic, it's a privilege to make those sparks happen...."

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella was a cheap (99 cent) ebook that I bought for my Kindle Paperwhite last week. I was expecting a light and fluffy rom com, but what I got was an antifeminist, sexist book with a female protagonist who was too stupid to live (TSTL, as it's called by many book reviewers). Kinsella expects readers to believe that there's a woman of adult age who can't sew on a button, run a washing machine, doesn't know how to clean a toilet or even make a bed with fresh sheets...like she's never even seen someone doing this during her entire life! And! We're supposed to believe this high powered attorney with a genius level IQ can't even boil water for tea, she's that inept. SMH. Meanwhile, her dragon of a mother, who is also a lawyer, constantly berates her and is a bully, as are ALL of her male co-workers, who use and abuse her at every turn...but of course she does whatever they say, because she's that much of a wee timorous cowering beastie...a mouse, basically. Ugh. Here's the blurb: Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership.

Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they’ve hired a lawyer–and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope–and finds love–is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake.

But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back? 

Of course her life catches up to her, as do all the JERKS and misogynist bastards she works with, and the British tabloid press, who are apparently all a-holes, are right behind, making her life a misery. It's not until the final chapter that Samantha actually gets her sh*t together and goes after what she really wants, which is a relationship with the hottie gardener and a life outside the rigid, restrictive and slavish confines of the law practice (and seriously, how can HR dept people be so ruthlessly fascist in the UK?). Meanwhile, though, all the characters outside of the male and female protagonists are rendered like cartoons and cliches, making the book itself more of a farce than regular fiction. I'd give it a C, and only recommend it to those who find broad farcical comedies with a romantic subplot to be fun and endearing.

The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris the third installment in her Gunnie Rose series of "Alternate History" fantasy novels. I've read the first two books in the series, and while I like Lizbeth (the Gunnie), I find her violent streak disturbing, and her ability to shoot people and just go on as if it's any other day downright creepy. Still, this particular book has her coming for the man she loves to break him out of jail and set things right, no matter the cost. Here's the blurb: Charlaine Harris is at her best in this alternate history of the United States where magic is an acknowledged but despised power in this third installment of the Gunnie Rose series.

Picking up right where A Longer Fall left off, this thrilling third installment follows Lizbeth Rose as she takes on one of her most dangerous missions yet: rescuing her estranged partner, Prince Eli, from the Holy Russian Empire. Once in San Diego, Lizbeth is going to have to rely upon her sister Felicia, and her growing Grigori powers to navigate her way through this strange new world of royalty and deception in order to get Eli freed from jail where he’s being held for murder.

Russian Cage continues to ramp up the momentum with more of everything Harris’ readers adore her for with romance, intrigue, and a deep dive into the mysterious Holy Russian Empire.

What they don't mention in the blurb is that Prince Eli and Lizbeth are actually married, and still in love. It seems the only reason that Lizbeth is staying away from the HRE is because SPOILER if they find out that she is of Rasputin's bloodline they will force her to become one of the Tsars blood slaves who live in the palace (a gilded cage) and are available whenever he needs a blood transfusion for hemophilia. Anyway, Harris's prose is, as usual, beautifully done, and her plots fly along like a bullet from the barrel of a gun. I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone who has read the first two novels.

Nobody's Ghoul by Devon Monk is the 8th book in the Ordinary Magic series that I've read and loved from Portland, Oregon author Devon Monk. Since the book was only available in ebook format, it was an inexpensive and delightful way to keep my mind off the climbing temperatures here in the PNW. Here's the blurb:

Police Chief Delaney Reed can handle supernatural disasters. With gods vacationing in her little town of Ordinary, Oregon, and monsters living alongside humans, she’s had plenty of practice.

But trying to handle something so normal, so average, so very ordinary as planning her own wedding to the man she loves? Delaney is totally out of her depth.

When a car falls out of the sky and lands on the beach, Delaney is more than happy to push guest lists and venue dates out of her mind. The car appears empty, but someone has slipped into Ordinary with stolen weapons from the gods. Someone who has the ability to look like any god, monster, or human in town. Someone who might set off a supernatural disaster even Delaney can’t handle.

Monks prose is, as always, utterly cool and delicious, complimenting her swift plot like a cherry and caramel on top of an ice cream sundae. I couldn't put my Kindle Paperwhite down until the last word was read! I love Delaney and her sisters, and I love the way that her depiction of the various gods makes me laugh and also get misty-eyed at their foibles and vulnerabilities. Especially characters like Rossi, the ancient vampire who is a classy old hippy, and Than, who is Death incarnate and has a predilection for cheesy Hawaiian shirts and goofy pink/pretty T-shirts and shorts (and he runs a kite shop, which just makes me laugh in delight). There's just nothing to be critical about in Monks books (and that includes all of her series with the exception of the one that focuses on teenage hockey players). So I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who has wolfed down any of her previous Ordinary, Oregon fantasy novels. Oh, and I'd like to live in Ordinary, Oregon, if you don't mind, Ms Monk...please?!

A Study in Crimson by Robert J Harris was a rare hardback purchase for me, mainly because I'd heard it was a well done homage to Sherlock Holmes mysteries by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Oddly enough, the author makes it clear that this book was inspired by an early film version of Sherlock Holmes starring the incomparable Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr Watson. While I enjoyed Rathbone's portrayal, I became a fan of PBS's Jeremy Brett as Holmes in the 80s and 90s as my "best" Sherlock portrayal. At any rate, Harris's prose is similar in style and tone to A Conan Doyles, and the plot just labyrinthine enough to keep readers guessing until the last third of the book. Here's the blurb: Bringing Sherlock Holmes from the Victorian Era into the dark days of World War II, this imaginative new thriller confronts the world’s greatest detective with a killer emulating the murders of Jack the Ripper.

London, 1942.
A killer going by the name of “Crimson Jack” is stalking the wartime streets of London, murdering women on the exact dates of the infamous Jack the Ripper killings of 1888. Has the Ripper somehow returned from the grave? Is the self-styled Crimson Jack a descendant of the original Jack—or merely a madman obsessed with those notorious killings?

In desperation Scotland Yard turn to Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest detective. Surely he is the one man who can sift fact from legend to track down Crimson Jack before he completes his tally of death. As Holmes and the faithful Watson tread the blacked out streets of London, death waits just around the corner.

Inspired by the classic film series from Universal Pictures starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, which took Sherlock Holmes to the 1940s, this is a brand-new adventure from a talented author who brilliantly evokes one of mystery fiction’s most popular characters.

Though it depicts London and its environs during the second world war, there is a miasma of Victorian classism and sexism that clouds every scene in which a woman is present. But if you can hold your nose and try not to roll your eyes too hard at the way women are considered disposable and soforth, this mystery is engaging and sublime. Mycroft Holmes makes an appearance, and is as fusty and bossy as ever. I enjoyed this fast-paced mystery, but I'd only give it a B, due to the aforementioned sexism. I'd recommend it to anyone who loved the original Sherlock Holmes mysteries and especially those who liked Basil Rathbone's turn as the Great Detective.

Booked For Murder by R. J. Blain was one of the worst books I've ever read (as a free ebook, which is what it was worth, in the end). Since I really can't find anything good to say about the novel, I'll just give it an F, and recommend that you avoid it at all costs.