Happy Valentines Day, a bit early! My loving thoughts go out to all my fellow bibliophiles and readers everywhere, and to my husband Jim and son Nick, who are the lights of my life. BIG hugs to you all!
This sounds fascinating, and I hope that they do an especially good job with Legendborn, which is a POC YA fantasy novel.
TV: Presumed Innocent; Legendborn
David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams are teaming up for a limited-series adaptation of Scott Turow's bestselling 1987 novel Presumed Innocent https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51109745 for Apple, which has ordered an eight-part series. Deadline reported that the project marks the first Apple series order for Kelley, who will serve as showrunner on the project and will exec produce alongside Castle Rock showrunner Dustin Thomason, Abrams and Bad Robot's head of television Ben Stephenson. The novel was previously adapted as a 1990 film starring Harrison Ford.
The Punisher and Gossip Girl writer Felicia D. Henderson will adapt Tracy Deonn's YA fantasy novel Legendborn https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51109746 after Black Bear Television acquired the rights, Deadline reported that Henderson will write and exec produce a series based on the book. She is currently showrunner of Netflix's Emma Roberts-produced YA vampire series First Kill.
I love that they chose a bookstore in Tennessee to do this particular segment of my favorite news magazine show, CBS Sunday Morning (I record it every week and watch it religiously).
Image of the Day: Parton and Patterson at Parnassus
On Facebook, Parnassus Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51110872, Nashville, Tenn., admitted: "Okay, so maybe we weren't closed for inventory on Thursday.... We were beyond honored to host Dolly Parton, James Patterson, and the crew from CBS Sunday Morning in honor of James and Dolly's upcoming book, Run, Rose, Run! [Little, Brown, March 7] Stream the companion album on March 4, watch for Parnassus' cameo on CBS Sunday Morning on March 6, and pre-order the book today!"
I've never heard of this book, but I am intrigued about the combination of great chefs and writers coming together to change the food world forever! I will have to keep an eye out for these delicious books.
Travel literature of the Past
Have you heard of Luke Barr? If not, you are in for a treat. A few years ago, he wrote the divine Provence, 1970 about the summer when Julia Child, Richard Olney, MFK Fisher, and James Beard all converged in France and changed the food world forever. Barr was MFK's nephew, and he had access to everyone's letters and papers so this sumptuous little book too reads like a novel. Provence has never had better representatives than these four. (Peter Mayle, please forgive me.) Their love of the countryside, the vineyards, the farmers and the markets comes shining through in every word they wrote. They were rapturous and so too becomes the reader. The smell of all those ripe grapes leap off the page and you can just imagine the farmer with his sheep cutting back the vines in the most ancient of ways. Also from Barr came Ritz & Escoffier: The Hotelier, The Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class.
This is another kind of travel lit. Here in turn of the century London, Monaco and Paris we learn about the beginnings of luxury travel. Chef Escoffier and hotelier Ritz created the idea of the luxury hotel experience where the ubiquitous "My pleasure" is just the beginning. It is sort of travel history but it is also rife with scandals and risk which keep it always on the right side of fun. And isn't that just what we need most in deep winter? --Ellen Stimson https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51139910
The Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder is a YA Fantasy retelling/reboot of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale with the sleeping beauty being a boy prince instead of a princess, and the grrls coming to save him are a lesbian and an adventurous bisexual young woman who just happens to be a bookworm/archeologist along the lines of Indiana Jones. It's a zippy, "can't put it down" read, with juicy prose and a tornado of a plot that will leave you breathless. Here's the blurb: Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones in this thrilling fairytale retelling for fans of Sorcery of Thorns
Fi is a bookish treasure hunter with a knack for ruins and riddles, who definitely doesn’t believe in true love.
Shane is a tough-as-dirt girl warrior from the north who likes cracking skulls, pretty girls, and doing things her own way.
Briar Rose is a prince under a sleeping curse, who’s been waiting a hundred years for the kiss that will wake him.
Cursed princes are nothing but ancient history to Fi—until she pricks
her finger on a bone spindle while exploring a long-lost ruin. Now she’s
stuck with the spirit of Briar Rose until she and Shane can break the
century-old curse on his kingdom.
Dark magic, Witch Hunters,
and bad exes all stand in her way—not to mention a mysterious witch who
might wind up stealing Shane’s heart, along with whatever else she’s
after. But nothing scares Fi more than the possibility of falling in
love with Briar Rose.
Set in a lush world inspired by beloved fairytales, The Bone Spindle is a fast-paced young adult fantasy full of adventure, romance, found family, and snark.
I loved this book right up until the last few pages, when the ending fell apart and was unsatisfying as heck. Why fantasy authors feel the need to make endings wishy-washy so they can start the sequel from that crappy end point is beyond me. Still, it was a pretty exciting and humorous adventure up until that part. I'd give this book an A-, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys modern retellings of legends and fairytales. BTW, the cover design for this novel was exceptionally beautiful.
The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury another YA fairy tale retelling of Aladdin and the magic lamp. It's got sparkling prose, a whirlwind plot and some nice twists and turns in a well-worn plot path that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. I was particularly glad to see that a lot of the cultural cliches about middle eastern people had been removed from the narrative, and in its place was some serious background that "unDisney-fied" the decades of racist and sexist storytelling that has seeped into our cultural subconscious. Here's the blurb: She is the most powerful Jinni of all. He is a boy from the streets. Their love will shake the world. . . .
When Aladdin discovers Zahra's jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a
world she hasn't seen in hundreds of years—a world where magic is
forbidden and Zahra's very existence is illegal. She must disguise
herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new
master has selected his three wishes.
But when the King of
the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she
seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with
Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once
and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?
As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended
between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of the Aladdin
story from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury.
This was another page turner that I read in a day, because I found it hard to leave this imaginative world once I entered it. The cover art was another winner, lovely and discreet, and that made me want to delve into this desert world even more. A solid A, with the recommendation that all those who love the Aladdin story give this one a peek. It's well worth the time to get to meet Zahra the Jinn, who proves that love is the greatest power in the universe.
No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado is a YA fantasy novel about a young biracial fat woman who learns the hard way that building a life out of lies is a way to build yourself a house of hurt. Though I loved the author's previous book, this book set me back on my heels, because the protagonist, Kat Sanchez, lies so easily and makes excuses for lying without compunction that I couldn't fathom how she would even begin to redeem herself by the end of the book. Not only does she commit an illegal and immoral act by "catfishing" two young women, (using the photos of one white girl to engage the attentions of another white gay girl), she allows her parents to treat her like trash and says nothing when her reprehensible mother tries to pretend she doesn't exist in the family, or is, at best, an afterthought. Having crappy parents (and wonderful, supportive grandparents, with whom she lives) is no excuse for sh*tty behavior, though, and when it all comes crashing down, as it inevitably does, Kat loses a friend and a girlfriend/partner, and while she does get her father to recognize that she's been treated shabbily by her family, her mother remains a nasty piece of work, and she still isn't invited to actually live with her brother and parents in their home...I mean, WTF, people? Some folks should NOT be allowed to become parents, because they don't see their children as the precious gifts that they are. Here's the blurb:
You should know, right now, that I’m a liar.
They’re usually little lies. Tiny lies. Baby lies. Not so much lies as lie adjacent.
But they’re still lies.
Twenty
one-year-old Max Monroe has it all: beauty, friends, and a glittering
life filled with adventure. With tons of followers on Instagram, her
picture-perfect existence seems eminently enviable.
Except it’s all fake.
Max
is actually 17-year-old Kat Sanchez, a quiet and sarcastic teenager
living in drab Bakersfield, California. Nothing glamorous in her existence—just
sprawl, bad house parties, a crap school year, and the awkwardness of
dealing with her best friend Hari’s unrequited love.
But
while Kat’s life is far from perfect, she thrives as Max: doling out
advice, sharing beautiful photos, networking with famous influencers,
even making a real friend in a follower named Elena. The closer Elena
and “Max” get—texting, Snapping, and even calling—the more Kat feels she
has to keep up the façade.
But when one of Max’s posts goes
ultra-viral and gets back to the very person she’s been stealing photos
from, her entire world – real and
fake — comes crashing down around her. She has to figure out a way to
get herself out of the huge web of lies she’s created without hurting
the people she loves.
But it might already be too late.
Though the prose here is wonderful and bright, and the plot measured and even, I didn't like the protagonist at all, even when she comes clean about her lies. I felt she should have been jailed for using someone elses image to pretend that it was her own, and she should also have lost some of her circle of friends when it became apparent what a narcissistic crappy person she was, and how she made everything all about her, while ignoring the harm she was doing to her friends. So I'd give this book a B-, and only recommend it to those who can stomach a sh*tty protagonist who is a self-centered jerk for most of the book.
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