Merry Christmas (in a few days) to all my fellow booklovers! This upcoming year looks great for new titles and more sequels to books we've all become obsessed with. Meanwhile, I am really excited for what I hope will be gift cards to bookstores and actual books under the Christmas tree. This holiday season we're celebrating with my son's beloved Sylvie who hails from Canada. Nick and Sylvie are enjoying the sights in Seattle and all the fine dining they can get during the third wave of the pandemic, which has shuttered so many restaurants and venues in the area. They always bring something home for me, whenever they venture forth, so I am reaping the rewards of their culinary adventures! Anyway, here are a ton of tidbits and a few reviews.
I'm really looking forward to these movies, the first because I read and enjoyed the book, and the second because, though I abhor JK Rowling's transphobia, I loved her Harry Potter series in book form and on the screen.
Movies: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry; Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
David Arquette (You Cannot Kill David Arquette) and Scott Foley (Scandal) are joining the previously announced Kunal Nayyar, Lucy Hale and Christina Hendricks in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50696537, based on the bestselling novel by Gabrielle Zevin, Deadline reported. The film is now shooting on Cape Cod.
Hans Canosa is directing the film, which was adapted by Zevin. Nayyar plays Fikry, with Arquette as Lambiase, and Foley as Daniel Parish. BCDF Pictures' Claude Dal Farra and Brian Keady are producing alongside Kelsey Law, Canosa and Zevin. BCDF's Brice Dal Farra, Nayyar, Hale, and Hendricks are executive producers.
Warner Bros. released the first trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50696538, the third film in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter spinoff series, an April release. Directed by David Yates, the film "is set several years after the events of Fantastic Beasts sequel The Crimes of Grindelwald, and watches as beloved wizard Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) tasks magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and his allies with a mission, taking them into the heart of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald's (Mads Mikkelsen) army," Deadline reported. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was scripted by Rowling and Steve Kloves. The cast also includes Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Callum Turner, William Nadylam, Poppy Corby-Tuech and Jessica Williams.
This is so exciting, to see another bookstore opening in a small town...now if only someone would open one in Maple Valley, Wash!
Pacific Mist Bookstore Reopens in Sequim, Wash., After Seven-year Absence
Pacific Mist Bookstore, which closed in 2014, officially reopened https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50697609 last month at 22 W. Washington St., almost across the street from its old location. The Sequim Gazette reported that owner Vickie Maples "opened the bookstore for a test run on First Friday in November, which was a decade after buying the business from Marti McAllister Wolfe in November of 2011. Wolf ran the store for 18 years before selling it to Maples and retiring. In 2014 Maples had to close the business due to family health issues that she needed to attend to in California."
The bookstore carries titles in a variety of genres; cards, puzzles and other sidelines; local fudge and cashew brittle from WeDo Fudge; and journals, puzzles and other items made by local artist Jean Wyatt.
"People have been really supportive," Maples said. "Lots of people stopped by to give their support."
Sales associate Caitlin Knapple remembered Pacific Mist from her childhood. "It was very cozy," she said. "It had a great atmosphere. I enjoyed perusing it."
Maples noted that Knapple "comes with a lot of experience and knowledge," having worked for the the Good Book and Hart's Fine Books in Sequim, as well as the Purple Haze retail store.
"I've always loved books so anytime I'm in a bookstore I'm happy," Knapples added.
Maples also expressed a love of books since her childhood: "My father had a great love of books. He always had shelves after shelves of books which he built himself." She added that she is hoping to expand the hours after the first of the year, when a second employee will come on board
I read bell hooks work when I was a freshman in college and learning about women in literature, feminism and gender/race issues. I was completely blown away by her books, and I continued reading them throughout my undergrad years at Clarke College. RIP to a groundbreaking female author/activist.
Obituary Note: bell hooks
bell hooks, the renowned author, scholar, feminist and activist whose work examined race, class, gender and the ways they intersect, died on December 15 at the age of 69, the Lexington Herald reported https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50697633. She died at her home in Berea, Ky., surrounded by friends and family.
Born Gloria Jean Watkins in Hopkinsville, Ky., she published more than 30 books under the pen name bell hooks. She explained in interviews that it was her great-grandmother's name, and she wrote it in lowercase letters to focus attention on her words, not herself.
Her first book was the poetry collection And There We Wept, released in 1978. In 1981 she published the hugely influential Ain't I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism, which explores the impact of sexism and slavery on Black womanhood. In addition to Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984), All About Love: New Visions (2000), Feminism Is for Everybody (2000) and The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love (2004), hooks wrote scholarly articles, essays and children's books. Her first children's book, Happy to Be Nappy, was illustrated by Chris Raschka and published in 1999.
She defined feminism as "a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression," USA Today wrote https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50697634, and her early influences included James Baldwin, Sojourner Truth and Martin Luther King Jr. In a 2012 interview with Appalachian Heritage, hooks said of King: "He had a profound awareness that the people involved in oppressive institutions will not change from the logics and practices of domination without engagement with those who are striving for a better way."
She attended Stanford University and went on to earn a master's in English at the University of Wisconsin Madison and a doctorate in literature at the University of California Santa Cruz. She taught at Oberlin College, City College of New York and Yale University before joining the faculty of Berea College in Berea, Ky. In 2010 the school opened the bell hooks Institute, which "houses her collection of contemporary African-American art, personal artifacts and copies of her books published in other languages."
After news of her death spread Wednesday morning, authors, publishers and others in the literary world shared tributes to hooks.
"Oh my heart. bell hooks. May she rest in power. Her loss is incalculable," Roxane Gay tweeted, Ibram X. Kendi wrote "The passing of bell hooks hurts, deeply. At the same time, as a human being I feel so grateful she gave humanity so many gifts. Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism is one of her many classics. And All About Love changed me. Thank you, bell hooks. Rest in our love."
"I want my work to be about healing," hooks said in 2018. "I am a fortunate writer because every day of my life practically I get a letter, a phone call from someone who tells me how my work has transformed their life."
One of the first bookstores I visited when we moved to Seattle was Open Books, A Poem Emporium. Having been a fan of poetry my entire reading life, I was thrilled and astonished that such a place existed, filled with only books of poetry from all over the world. I remember feeling terrible that I couldn't buy a huge stack of books, but I did manage to buy three books of poetry, one from a long time favorite Nikki Giovanni and another from Seamus Heaney. I believe the third was from a poet I'd never heard of, but who came highly recommended by the very helpful clerk in the tiny store off of 50th Street in Wallingford, just a minute away from the University District. Now they're moving to a very nice old building in Pioneer Square, and I wish them every success. The world would be a better place if people read more poetry.
Seattle's Open Books: A Poem Emporium Moving
After 25 years in its current location, Open Books: A Poem Emporium https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50729108, Seattle, Wash., is moving into a new site, in the Good Arts Building in Pioneer Square, which the store described in an e-mail to customers as "one of Seattle's most accessible, beautiful, and historical neighborhoods, where we believe our beloved bookstore will not only persevere but thrive."
The historic brick storefront with "large, street-facing windows is a charming, warm, and inviting space sure to delight old friends and new passersby alike," Open Books continued. "The wider layout of the store will allow readers to roam between bookcases with ease, and a separate parlor space will enable intimate gatherings of poets for classes, workshops, craft talks, reading groups, submitting parties, individual studio time, and more. Add to all of this the close proximity of the light rail and a wonderful neighboring coffee shop and, well, we're still pinching ourselves to see if it's real."
Because the store has struggled during the pandemic "without event sales and with restricted in-store shopping," it's "not in a financial position to shoulder the myriad expenses of a move and the outfitting of an entirely new shop. We are calling upon our local community and lovers of literature far and wide to support us in taking this exciting next step."
Open Books hopes to raise $50,000 https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50729109 "to secure a long-term and sustainable future... Every gift will go toward building a new home and a new future for Open Books. Our poem emporium has been around for more than 25 years. And we'd love to be around for 25 more." As of yesterday, the store had raised more than $21,000 toward the $50,000 goal.
I have been a huge fan of Mary Stewart's books since I was about 12-13 years old, and developed a penchant for novels with romantic themes. I gobbled up stories like This Rough Magic and Airs Above Ground, Thornyhold and Nine Coaches Waiting, not to mention the gorgeous Merlin Trilogy, which enchanted me so much I re-read it for years afterward. I remember the Moon Spinners and The Gabriel Hounds and Touch Not the Cat...in fact, I think I read everything that she wrote, and I loved them all. So I totally agree with Ellen Stimson that Stewart was that rare creature, a natural storyteller who could spin any word-straw into gold. I also recommend Rumpole of the Bailey because my late friend RM Larson was a huge fan of the Rumpole series, and she would be elated to know that his books had made a comeback.
Get Cozy: Highlighting Backlist Treasures
I doubt many book people watch Hallmark movies during the holidays. But
that doesn't mean we're anti-holiday. My own version of binge-watching
Hallmark Christmas movies was reading gobs of British novels, hopefully set at Christmastime, like Nancy Mitford's Christmas Pudding. I want to sit by the fire with my pile of dogs and read about quaint old houses with big fireplaces. This year, maybe more than ever, I want quirky village characters, a vicar, a local gossip, and a cranky cook. Luckily there are plenty of them.
I have never admitted this in public, but I love Mary Stewart. She got a bad rap being described as a romantic suspense writer. What even is that? It sounds like men on horses and swanning women. No, Mary Stewart is instead a great storyteller. Stewart writes stylish mysteries with clever dialog that are a little like Nancy Drew for grown-ups. Her books are set in lush locales, and she has a travel writer's gift for geographical description. As for romance, there is usually a plucky heroine who pairs up with someone, but this is a minor byproduct of some mutual sleuthing. Her books have all been rereleased by the Chicago Review Press as part of its Rediscovered Classics imprint, so they have more traditional fiction covers. These books are perfect for 30- or 40-somethings (or 20- or 60-, come to think of it) who want a cozy escape this winter. Airs Above Ground, set in the Austrian countryside, has one of the most heart pounding train scenes in literature, and This Rough Magic set on the Greek island of Corfu takes its title, its geography, and its themes from Shakespeare's Tempest. These are both good places to start. I promise you will remember this holiday season as one of your cheerfullest ever if you dig into Mary Stewart.
John Mortimer created Rumpole of the Bailey just for the Christmas season. He said he'd been to so many parties he needed cheering up. He'd been a member of the bar long enough by the time he started writing these charming books to know that even the worst criminals have redeeming points, and the best lawyers have their own little evil streaks. He could make you laugh about all of them.
Horace Rumpole is one of the most beloved characters in modern literature.
The Penguin Reprints have friendly beautiful covers. Do your kids know about them? Then neither do your customers, and we need to change that fast because Horace Rumpole can probably save us. He's an ample lovable man. He swigs claret, quotes Wordsworth, goes to the theater, defends men accused of rape, and gets a little brokenhearted when a friend turns out to be an embezzler. He stands for all the right things, per Mortimer himself, "for our great legal principles--free speech, the idea that people are innocent until someone proves them guilty to the satisfaction of twelve ordinary members of a jury, and the proposition that the police should not invent more of the evidence than is absolutely necessary." The dialog is quick, and all the stories are good. This time of year, we can all use a little more Rumpole. --Ellen Stimson
This is so exciting! Former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat is adapting The Time Traveler's Wife! I imagine he will do a better job of bringing this story to the small screen that the 2009 film with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams.
TV: The Time Traveler's Wife
"If anyone was going to adapt Audrey Niffenegger's bestselling 2003 novel, The Time Traveler's Wife https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50727575, it makes sense it would be Steven Moffat--the man who, alongside Russell T. Davies, helped reinvigorate the Doctor Who franchise and get a new generation obsessed with time travel," Entertainment Weekly reported in a q&a with Moffat.
Although the novel has been adapted to the screen before, as a 2009 film starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, in the new series for HBO, Moffat "is trying to honor the book he fell in love with so much that he even loosely based a Doctor Who episode, 'The Girl in the Fireplace,' on it," EW noted.
"I read the book and loved it," Moffat recalled. "It wasn't long after it came out. I remember saying to Russell who was running Doctor Who at the time, 'We should do a Doctor Who story like that.' And so, I did, which was 'The Girl in the Fireplace.' But all I'd done in Doctor Who was use the wonderful, fantastical element of an out-of-sequence relationship. That's not really doing The Time Traveler's Wife; that's running with one of the ideas from it. In terms of the film, by the time I had read the book, the film rights were gone. At that stage, I wasn't in the position to be the person who wrote it. Although, I remember thinking about it back then, and my immediate instinct was a TV show. A film is too short. If you know the book, it rambles a bit because it's not a jeopardy-driven, plot-driven piece. It's a prose poem about love, longing, and loss. It doesn't shrink well into the three-act structure of a conventional movie. If you reduce it to what happens, you've boiled away everything that's interesting about it.
"We did chase it. When I was coming off Doctor Who back in the day, three or four years ago, my co-exec on that said, 'I've been looking into the rights for The Time Traveler's Wife, and I know where they are and I think we could get them.' And I was very interested."
This year's Hugo Awards saw an unprecedented number of women authors,which is long overdue. I am also a huge fan of Martha Wells Murderbot, who, despite it's name is a really sweet character who reminds me a bit of Data from Star Trek The Next Generation. Congratulations to all the award winners.
Awards: Hugo Winners
The winners of the 2021 Hugo Awards https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50727579, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book and Astounding Award for Best New Writer were announced on Saturday at the 79th WorldCon--called DisCon III--in Washington, D.C.:
Best Novel: Network Effect by Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
Best Novella: "The Empress of Salt and Fortune" by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
Best Novelette: "Two Truths and a Lie" by Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)
Best Short Story: "Metal Like Blood in the Dark" by T. Kingfisher
(Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
Best Series: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
Best Related Work: Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley
Best Graphic Story or Comic: Parable of the Sower: A Graphic NovelAdaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Abrams)
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Netflix/Skydance Media)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: The Good Place: "Whenever You're Ready," written and directed by Michael Schur (Fremulon/3 Arts Entertainment/Universal Television)
Best Editor, Short Form: Ellen Datlow
Best Editor, Long Form: Diana M. Pho
Best Professional Artist: Rovina Cai
Best Semiprozine: FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction
Best Video Game: Hades
Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston is a YA romantic retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, done in modern day LA/North Carolina with a badly behaved television actor squaring off against a science fiction book nerd from a small town. There are a number of intersectional characters, among them the SF nerd's father, who is a hot bisexual librarian and single dad, and the female protagonist's friends, one of whom is a gender neutral/trans person. Here's the blurb: A tale as old as time is made new in Ashley Poston's fresh, geeky retelling of Beauty and the Beast—now with a bonus Starfield story!
Rosie
Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small
town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at
ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s
death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield
novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital
bills.
On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty
for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that
entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide
out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town
USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.
When
Vance’s and Rosie’s paths collide, sparks do not fly. But as they
begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and
they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out
than in opening their hearts.
Though I know that child stars often have terrible parents and they react to money and fame by acting out in public and being asshats to get their parent's attention (or to work out their grief at the loss of a parent), I don't buy the trope that the love of a good man/woman somehow matures them overnight into behaving like a normal adult. I also do not buy that bad behavior can be excused by the rich/famous person because of their guilt/grief/terrible parenting trauma. Are therapists in SoCal that inept? The other thing I didn't like about the book was that the final chapter was actually a fanfic story from a fictional science fiction TV series that Rosie's a big fan of, and that Vance stars in. How disappointing that the story couldn't just have had a decent ending, without the long extra chapter that makes no sense to someone who hasn't read the other books in the "Once Upon a Con" series. What I liked about the book was the clean and strong prose and the engaging plot that moved along at warp speed. The characters were well drawn but a bit too stereotypical. Still, I'd give this book, which my son bought me as an early Christmas present at the Sequel Bookstore in Enumclaw, a B, and recommend it to anyone who likes modern retellings of Beauty and the Beast.
The Big Reveal by Jen Larsen is a YA romance and "learning to love yourself/coming of age" story that I couldn't put down, though it was on my Kindle Paperwhite. This is the story of Addie, who is a larger young woman who can dance beautifully, though she doesn't have the traditional ultra thin dancer's body. Anyone who has been in the performing arts (having been a chorus/theater major when I was a young larger woman, I totally know how Addie feels) knows that those who are People of Color and/or larger sized people have to work twice as hard to get any roles or spots in performing arts schools, because we're not the stereotypical societal ideal of beauty. Things have opened up and gotten better in the last 10-20 years, but even so, there will always be backlash and misinformation about fat people that allows others to be prejudiced against larger women and POC/LGBTQ folks, which is a crime, IMO. Here's the blurb: Addie is a talented dancer, a true-blue friend, and a fat, fierce, and
driven young woman. When she's accepted into the prestigious dance
company of her dreams, she thinks nothing can bring her down—until she
realizes she doesn't have enough money to go. Refusing to give up, Addie
and her friends decide to put on a top-secret, invitation-only
burlesque show to raise funds. But word soon gets out, and the slut- and
body-shaming begin. Has Addie been resisting the patriarchy, or playing
right into its hands?
The Big Reveal asks hard-hitting
feminist questions while reveling in some of life's greatest joys:
chasing your passions, falling in love, and embracing yourself exactly
as you are. "Though bigotry against fat people batters against Addie’s
self-confidence (from the gross boys who neg her to her mother’s
well-meaning but abusive obsession with diets), her determination to
love herself and claim her fatness are empowering. There’s no hidden
message of avoiding food, no incidental weight loss paralleling Addie’s
growth, just the conviction of one girl and her excellent friends that
they are awesome and powerful and sexy. Unabashedly, determinedly positive, with truly comical banter and the heroic climax of a teen movie." ―Kirkus Reviews "Addie is a compelling narrator, witty and dramatic and bold.
. .There’s a definite Julie Murphy energy to the story, so her fans
will appreciate Addie’s vitality: “I want it all. I want to wrap my arms
around it and jump up and down. I want to see what’s next.”
The prose is stellar and the plot swift and delightful. I loved every minute of it, and was cheering Addie on right until the very last page. The fact that she takes on the school administration's sexist/misogynistic dress code and wins is just icing on the cake. I'd give this utterly brilliant novel an A, and recommend it to any and every young woman out there who has body image issues. You will fall in love with fierce feminist Addie, trust me!
The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor is January's book for my library book group. The fastest and cheapest way to get the book was via download from the library, so I read this book on my Kindle Paperwhite. Like many historical fiction novels based on actual people and their defining moments, the author felt the need to add a more contemporary heroine whose story is told in every other chapter, 100 years after the story of the original heroine who was a real person. At first I found this a bit confusing, but I eventually got the hang of it as the story progressed. The prose was a bit florid and overblown, but the characters carried the drama through a stout and sturdy plot that kept the metered pace. Here's the blurb:
I know that things were difficult and restricted for women in the 19th and early 20th century, so I know that women who were pregnant out of wedlock were treated terribly, often abusively, and that they had little chance of survival without some kind of support system. It's frankly a miracle that either Grace or Matilda were able to have some independence and live their lives on their terms in the lighthouses they lived in. That said, the romance that was interjected into both women's stories seemed forced and an effort to misdirect readers from the possibility of lesbian romances or of no romance with men at all, which I have a suspicion that the publisher felt would alienate too much of the cis-heterosexual white audience. Historical romantic novels need not be white-washed with hetero-normative relationships between men and women, because people of color and gays/lesbians have existed for centuries, and their stories need to be told, too. All that said, this was still an interesting story that highlighted the bonds between mothers and their babies, as well as women grieving the loss of their children, which was much more common in the last 200 years. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the history of female lighthouse keepers.
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