Hey there, friends and readers! It's almost fall, hurrah! Lets enjoy these last few days of August by staying indoors in the AC and reading some good/great books! BTW, I've chosen a song for this week, Steely Dan's "Time Out of Mind," so give it a listen while you peruse my book reviews and tidbits from Shelf Awareness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYIv_dyhezs
These movies look fantastic! I can hardly wait to see them.
Movies: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz49438397, the Hunger Games prequel film based on Susan Collins's novel, should begin production in the first half of 2022. Yahoo Entertainment reported that Lionsgate motion picture group chairman Joe Drake revealed the plans during the company's recent quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts, noting that the film's release would be in in either late fiscal 2023 or early 2024, and pre-production is "moving along really, really well."
Lionsgate had previously announced that Francis Lawrence, who directed the last three Hunger Games movies (Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1, Mockingjay Part 2), would helm The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Casting has not yet been revealed. Collins will be an executive producer and write the film's treatment, with Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine), who was one of the writers of Catching Fire, adapting the screenplay.
Movie: Animal
MGM and Plan B Entertainment have acquired the film rights to Lisa Taddeo's novel Animal https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz49468099>, "which she will adapt for the screen, marking her feature writing debut," Deadline reported. Plan B will produce the film as part of its overall deal with MGM.
"We call women crazy when they are angry," Taddeo said. "And we don't have enough art that reflects how basal and vibrant and important female rage can be. I'm thrilled and grateful to bring Animal to life with two iconic film partners."
This makes very little sense to me, since Amazon has sewn up the online retail market for most things, books and electronics included. Why so greedy, Amazon? Brick and mortar stores are struggling to survive after the quarantine of 2020, so Amazon trying to grab a piece of their IRL market is shameful, IMO.
WTF Report: Amazon Planning to Open Department Stores
In a move that is about as far from Amazon's online-only bookseller origins as can be, the company is planning to open "several" 30,000-square-foot locations https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz49470589 that will "operate akin to department stores," the Wall Street Journal reported. Some of the first stores will be in California and Ohio. The stores are intended to help Amazon "extend its reach in sales of clothing, household items, electronics and other areas," with Amazon's private-label goods featured. No mention of books has been made.
The stores would be significantly smaller than traditional department stores, which have had on average 100,000 square feet of selling space. But the Journal noted that these Amazon stores would be about the same size as newer stores opened by Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and other department store companies.
The department stores will enable Amazon to offer "consumers a bevy of items they could try out in person before deciding to buy," the Journal added. "That would be particularly beneficial in apparel, which can often be a guessing game for customers shopping online because of size and fit concerns. It would also give customers even more instant gratification than the quick shipping offered by Amazon for online purchases."
I would just love to see this beloved book as a stage play on Broadway with these fine actors/actresses. It's on my bucket list to go to NYC and go to several Broadway plays and musicals...ah, someday!
On Stage: To Kill a Mockingbird
The team behind To Kill a Mockingbird, the hit play adapted from Harper Lee's novel, has released a "Welcome Back" video https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz49470620 to celebrate the return of Broadway, which has been closed for over a year due to the pandemic. Playbill reported that the video "features a script written by playwright Aaron Sorkin, who penned the stage adaptation of the Harper Lee classic. Tony nominee and Emmy winner Jeff Daniels, who will return to the role of Atticus Finch beginning October 5 at the Shubert, narrates."
Sorkin said: "After well over a year of darkness, Broadway is roaring back to life. It's a historic moment for everyone who cares about this community, this city, or this ancient tradition of telling stories on stage. I feel deeply connected to all three, and I felt a strong desire to mark the occasion. This short film is the result, and I hope it helps galvanize the artists and audiences who fill Times Square eight times each week."
I think this fantastic series on AppleTV is going to set a new standard for Science Fiction adaptations. Lee Pace looks to be a huge stand out in the trailers.
TV: Foundation
Apple released a trailer for Foundation https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz49470624, Apple TV+'s "highly anticipated, epic saga" based on Isaac Asimov's trilogy, Deadline reported. The project stars Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Lou Llobell and Leah Harvey, Laura Birn, Terrence Mann, Cassian Bilton and Alfred Enoch.
Helmed by showrunner and exec producer David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Man of Steel), the first season of Foundation will exclusively hit Apple TV+ worldwide September 24, with the first two episodes available, followed by one new episode weekly on Fridays.
What an awesome legacy for the beautiful and brilliant Amanda Gorman, to have a poetry scholarship named after her! Wonderful.
PRH to Sponsor Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry
Penguin Random House has partnered with Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, to launch the Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz49470632, an honor that will recognize a public high school student for an original work of poetry in English; the winner will receive a $10,000 scholarship.
"I'm honored to be partnering with Penguin Random House on their poetry award for high school students," said Gorman. "As someone who found my love of writing at a young age, I want to continue to foster that same love in the next generation of great poets."
Penguin Young Readers president Jen Loja added: "As Amanda Gorman's publisher, we see first-hand the incredible impact her poetry has on readers. We are thrilled that her work will now be a further inspiration to student poets across America through the Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards' newly established annual Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry scholarship competition."
The new prize is one of five creative writing awards given by PRH. Other categories include fiction/drama; personal essay/memoir; and the Maya Angelou Award for spoken word. In recognition of the Creative Writing Awards previously being centered in New York City, the competition will award an additional first-place prize to the top entrant from the NYC area.
The 2022 competition launches October 1 and closes on February 1. Current high school seniors who attend public schools in the U.S., including D.C. and all U.S. territories, and are planning to attend college--either a two-year or four-year institution--in the fall of 2022 are encouraged to apply. Winners will be announced in June 2022.
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok is the September book for my library book group. This is one of a whole batch of new thrillers/mysteries/coming of age stories written by second generation immigrants (sometimes first generation immigrants) about their experiences growing up and trying to "make it" or "live the dream" here in America. In this instance, the immigrants are from China, and have family settled in Amsterdam and in the US, with two generations of the family vying with each other and with holding secrets that could unite or tear the families apart. Here's the blurb:
A poignant and suspenseful drama that untangles the
complicated ties binding three women—two sisters and their mother—in one
Chinese immigrant family and explores what happens when the eldest
daughter disappears, and a series of family secrets emerge, from the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Translation
It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful
older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final
visit with her dying grandmother—and then vanishes.
Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn’t rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love.
But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it’s Amy’s turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister’s movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets . . . secrets that will reveal more about Amy’s complicated family—and herself—than she ever could have imagined.
A deeply moving story of family, secrets, identity, and longing, Searching for Sylvie Lee is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive portrait of an immigrant family. It is a profound exploration of the many ways culture and language can divide us and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone—especially those we love.
Though the prose was proficient, I felt that the parts narrated by Amy and Sylvie's mother were awkward and hard to read because the English was purposely "broken" and felt poorly translated, so it slowed the plot considerably by making the reader try to figure out what "Ma" was actually saying (or what grandma was musing about...it was just not necessary to the characters to make it so hard to understand them...I mean, we get it that they don't speak English well). Still, the story itself builds the suspense as the secrets come out through flashbacks, and readers will find themselves turning pages long into the night. I just HAD to know what happened to Sylvie in the end, so I read this book in one sitting. Therefore I'd give this book a B+, mainly because it was so engrossing. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers and mysteries about immigrants and their American experience.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston is a YA LBGTQ romance/ghost story that will capture your heart and mind from the first chapter onward. The two main characters, August and Jane, are amazing and their chemistry is off the charts hot. Here's the blurb: For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is
supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love
stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone.
She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and
moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And
there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more
than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.
But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.
Jane.
Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough
edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to
save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes
the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one
big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker.
She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to
have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her.
Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.
Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is
a magical, sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes
possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in
time.
I loved the old diner/pancake house that Jane and August share, though Jane was there during another time period. Even the peripheral characters are fun and fascinating in this big hearted romance. I thought the ending was a bit too "perfect," though, especially since SPOILER ALERT Jane comes into the present as still a young person, though she should be in her 60s. Logically, time travel wouldn't work like that, and Jane would have wrinkles and gray hair, at least. Still, I loved the blustery and sizzling prose that moved the swift plot right along those 400 pages (which could have been edited down to about 350, but still). I'd give this quirky lesbian love story an A, and recommend it to anyone interested in diversity in YA romance novels.
Paper & Blood (book 2 of the Ink & Sigil series) by Kevin Hearne is a wild ride of a book, full of booze and fae creatures and, as one blurb said "a grimy journey through Glasgow." Be warned, there's a ton of rude swearing and very inappropriate jests from the mouth of the gross Hobgoblin, (Al's apprentice) Buck Foi. While I understand we are meant to think that Buck's sexist/racist/foul mouthed dialog is somehow charming and an integral part of his character as a Scottish male creature, I found it tedious and, by the end, somewhat nauseating. There wasn't any purpose to it, other than "shock value", IMO. Here's the blurb: There’s only one Al MacBharrais: Though other Scotsmen may have dramatic
mustaches and a taste for fancy cocktails, Al also has a unique talent.
He’s a master of ink and sigil magic. In his gifted hands, paper and
pen can work wondrous spells.
But Al isn’t quite alone: He is
part of a global network of sigil agents who use their powers to protect
the world from mischievous gods and strange monsters. So when a fellow
agent disappears under sinister circumstances in Australia, Al leaves
behind the cozy pubs and cafes of Glasgow and travels to the Dandenong
Ranges in Victoria to solve the mystery.
The trail to his
colleague begins to pile up with bodies at alarming speed, so Al is
grateful his friends have come to help—especially Nadia, his accountant
who moonlights as a pit fighter. Together with a whisky-loving hobgoblin
known as Buck Foi and the ancient Druid Atticus O’Sullivan, along with
his dogs, Oberon and Starbuck, Al and Nadia will face down the wildest
wonders Australia—and the supernatural world—can throw at them, and
confront a legendary monster not seen in centuries.
It was delightful to see Atticus and Oberon make an appearance, albeit briefly, in this fantasy novel, giving us a respite from disgusting Buck and Weird Al. But even though the prose was clean and mostly clear (though all the "Scottish accent" dialog became ridiculously tedious by the end) the plot stalled a couple of times and I felt that the women/female characters were portrayed in a very sexist fashion throughout the book. This made me sad because I fully believe that this wasn't Hearne's intention. I've met the man, and he's a big sweetie in person, like a Care Bear mixed with a Sontaran (from Doctor Who). So I'd give this sophomore effort a B, and recommend it to anyone with a strong stomach for rudeness and swearing, and who might have read the first book in the series.
To Kill A Fae by Jamie A.Waters was a cheap ebook that I bought for my Kindle Paperwhite. It's a fantasy romance that takes place in a far away time and land where demons and the fae mix with witches and regular people, often to bad result. The prose is uneven and the author could use some training, but the plot was swift and sure, right up until the ragged and unsatisfying ending. Here's the blurb:
The darkness holds more than just secrets...
Marked for death, Sabine escaped from her home more than ten years ago.
But the Wild Hunt will never give up.
It should have been easy to stay hidden. All Sabine had to do was keep her head down, avoid telling anyone about her past, and above all else -- not let her glamour drop.
Even the best-laid plans eventually fall apart.
When a charismatic stranger arrives in the city, Sabine finds herself unwittingly drawn to the power she can sense hidden within him. Keeping her distance is nearly impossible, especially after a life debt is called due and she’s tasked into helping steal a rare artifact.
Sabine is the only one who can break the magical barriers protecting the item, but that means revealing the truth about her identity and exposing her darkest secrets. Unfortunately, the Fae aren’t the only ones hunting her.
And the most dangerous monsters aren’t always confined to the dark.
This was one of those books that reads like it was written by a first time author or an amateur who follows the "paint by numbers" school of how to write a fantasy romance novel. Cliches and tropes of the genre abound. The female fae protagonist is perfect, of course, so petite and blonde and beautiful that every single male character in the book is madly in love with her. Of course, they're all huge demons and dragons who are possessive and want to chain her up or lock her in a room "to protect" her, (when what they actually want is to control and rape/have sex with her, of course, since they're hyper-masculine characters) and she goes along with all this because she's the only one who can control their rages and baser instincts, which is total BS. It's that old stereotype of men/boys not being able to control their sexuality around women, so women have to work to control it for them, or face the consequence of being raped. This perpetuates rape culture and is a lie of misogyny that allows men to get off scott free for abusive and criminal behavior. SHAME on this author for perpetuating this BS. Still, the plot moved fast enough that I didn't die of boredom halfway through, so I'd give this book a C+ and recommend it to those who like their fantasy to be plain, unimaginative and very easy to read and follow. This is not a work that will challenge your imagination.
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