Ah, the final day of freezing February! Welcome Bibliophiles and Readers, I hope this finds you all curling up somewhere cozy with a good book, a blanket and a nice hot cuppa tea (or coffee) I've just finished a great book and I will put my three reviews at the end of the post, so you can find out what I've been up to for the past 7 days. Spring weather is right on the horizon, so hang in there, and keep those eyes on the page!
I read and enjoyed this page-turning thriller by Penny and Clinton, and I loved that two such strong women wrote about what it is like to be a woman in politics who has to make hard decisions every day, and who's always held to a much higher standard than her male counterparts (while also being vilified for being a woman and a human being who makes mistakes) and dealing with misogyny at every turn. I just know that this will be a great movie, so I'm looking forward to it's premier.
Movies: State of Terror
Former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and co-author Louise Penny "are set to make their explosive blockbuster debut as producers of an upcoming movie adaptation of their novel State of Terror https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51309912," Entertainment Weekly reported. They will serve as executive producers and consultants on the project, in collaboration with Hell or High Water producer Gigi Pritzker's independent media company Madison Wells (The Eyes of Tammy Faye). A release date, as well as cast and crew details, have yet to be announced.
"I am thrilled that my production company, HiddenLight, and I will be working with Madison Wells on this project," Clinton said. "It's particularly exciting to be collaborating with such a talented team of women and we couldn't be more excited to see this story come to life."
Penny added: "Just when I thought co-writing State of Terror with my amazing friend Hillary could not get more exhilarating, along comes the remarkable opportunity to work with Gigi and Rachel at Madison Wells. Talk about badass women! Together we promise to create a production that will entertain, thrill, give pause for thought and perhaps even laughter, move the viewers, and break boundaries. Onward!"
I also enjoy adaptations of classic novels onto the big or, in this case, the small screen. I adore Olivia Colman, so I think this will be a wonderful series.
TV: Great Expectations
Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter, The Crown) has been cast as Miss Havisham in the FX and BBC limited series adaptation of Charles Dickens's classic novel Great Expectations https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51238975, Deadline reported, adding that Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk) will play Pip. The cast also includes Ashley Thomas, Johnny Harris, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Hayley Squires, Owen McDonnell, Trystan Gravelle and Matt Berry.
Great Expectations marks Knight's second adaptation of the writer's works, following A Christmas Carol. These are the first of a number of Dickens adaptations ordered by the BBC and FX, Deadline noted.
Hurrah! Another bookstore opens in Seattle! I would love to visit this store, which sounds utterly delightful, but COVID prevents me from going too far from my home for any non-medical reason. Still, it looks like a place that I could spend hours browsing in!Also, bonus points for being near the only vegan doughnut shop in the area, Mighty O Doughnuts, which is also located in Tangletown, just south of the Phinney/Greenwood neighborhood where my husband and I used to live when we first moved to Seattle in 1991. Yummy doughnuts and books...what could be better?!
The Wise Owl Books & Music Comes to Seattle, Wash.
The Wise Owl Books & Music https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51276984, a book and vinyl record store offering a mix of new and used titles, has opened a bricks-and-mortar store https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51276985 in Seattle, Wash., the Seattle Times reported.
Owner Christina Gilbreath opened the Wise Owl as an online and pop-up store in October 2020, and officially opened the physical store on December 4, 2021. There are sidelines, such as stickers, pins, candles and cards, in the front of the store, vinyl records in the back and shelves of books throughout. While Gilbreath sells books for children and adults across all genres, the store's used inventory has a definite lean toward science fiction and fantasy.
Gilbreath explained that her mother, who had always dreamed of owning a used bookstore and had been collecting used titles for years, was an avid reader with a particular fondness for SF and fantasy. When she died in 2019, Gilbreath inherited about "40 boxes of used books," many of them genre titles. Gilbreath had no idea about her mother's bookstore dream until after her death, and as a tribute to her decided to merge that dream with her own dream of owning a record store. It became a "legacy project.”
The store's name, she added, is a tribute to her mother, who "knew everything. You could ask her anything and she always had an answer."
The shop is located at 2223 N. 56th St. in Seattle's Tangletown neighborhood. Gilbreath was careful not to open too close to any existing bookstores, and she said the Tangletown community has been "lavishing" her book and record store with love. Her plans for events include author events, readings, game nights, live music and book clubs. She continues to host monthly pop-up appearances at Pilgrim Coffeehouse, where the Wise Owl got its start.
The success of the pop-up shops, she said, and the need for more storage and display space accelerated her plan to get a permanent storefront. "Everybody just kept asking, 'where's your storefront, where can we come visit you?' "
Another bookstore that has survived the vagaries of doing business in the PNW! Congrats!
Happy 50th Birthday, Edmonds Bookshop!
Congratulations to Edmonds Bookshop https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51278207 in Edmonds, Wash., which is turning 50 years old next month.
The bookstore will celebrate with an anniversary party on March 5. Per the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51278208, the anniversary event will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and feature prize drawings, a bookmark design contest for children, commemorative tote bags and T-shirts and recognition of past owners, longtime customers and some of the store's favorite authors.
Store owner Michelle Bear said: "Edmonds Bookshop is thrilled to mark fifty years of continuous service to our local community, and to be part of the thriving downtown Edmonds scene."
These are hilarious, but completely understandable, knowing how books often fall onto bibliophiles from their overstuffed shelves.
Deeper Understanding
Robert Gray: #ComedyBooksellingInjuries--It Only Hurts When I Read
"Booksellers! What's your most comedy bookselling injury? https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51278247" the Gutter Bookshop <https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51278248 in Dublin, Ireland, tweeted on Monday. "I'm asking this question because I have (yet again) strained the webbing between thumb & forefinger due to over-zealous use of a tape gun... #BooksellingInjuries."
Part of a bookseller's job description is to be like a duck, appearing to float serenely on the water's surface while paddling like hell underneath. A bookshop's magic depends upon not letting patrons see too far below the surface, where the muck and weeds lurk, as well as the ever-present threat of comedy bookselling injuries.
Gutter Bookshop's tweet prompted an entertaining and enlightening thread. Buffalo Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51278249 in Buffalo, Minn., responded: "Honestly, there are so many to choose from, my assistant keeps track '2 days since Shannon's last accident'. I once tried to scoot sideways on an IKEA kids 3legged stool (they do NOT scoot) fell off on my bum and banged my head on the shelf behind me."
Other highlights:
* As a young bookseller many years ago, I lived in fear of injury inflicted by the terrifying 'Donleavy Nail'--a vicious 2in sharp nail projecting from the back of the shelf housing the orange-spined Penguin editions of JP Donleavy. No-one ever thought to just hammer it back in.
Emotional and psychological injuries are also quite common among booksellers: "I have sustained frequent and traumatic blows to my patience," someone noted, while another tweeted: "Emotional rather than physical injury, but I was called out (and misquoted) by a famous author in his national newspaper column for not recognising him when he offered to sign his books."
We've all been conked on the noggin by mysteriously plummeting tomes. It might be the most common bookseller injury, which makes sense. Bookstores are haunted after all. You can look it up... in books ranging from Christopher Morley's The Haunted Bookshop ("This shop is haunted by the ghosts/ Of all great literature, in hosts") to Louise Erdrich's The Sentence, where a spectral former customer named Flora torments bookseller Tookie ("I ran the scene over and over in my head. Not only had she thrown down the books, but she really might have tripped me.").
It now occurs to me that all those books assaulting us from on high over the years weren't the work of ghosts, or at least not human ghosts. Have we considered the possibility that bookshelves, bookcases and books, all deceased remnants of once magnificent living trees, might just be eking out their subtle revenge on convenient representatives of the species that killed them? Now that would be a comedy bookselling injury for the ages.
Finder (Watchers book 6) by Lilith Saintcrow is a great addition to this paranormal/urban romance series, which I've read all the way through. Saintcrow is an expert storyteller, and her prose is deft and deliciously arch. Her plots have just enough twists and turns to keep readers reading long after their bedtimes, and, because she's so prolific, it seems like you can never run out of her series books to read. All the books in the Watchers series involve a witch/lightbringer of some type (healers, fire witches, etc) who falls in love with their protectors, called "watchers" who must use their symbionts to protect the witches from dark and dreadful monsters who seek to kill them and absorb their light. Here's the blurb:
He’s not the only one watching her…
For years Jorie Camden has been quietly helping her police friends pursue cold cases, and she’s paid the price over and over again, her talent for Finding stretched to the limit. Now something different is stalking the streets, taking children—something old, and foul, and Dark. The cops won’t admit there’s a problem, so what can a Lightbringer do but solve the mystery on her own?
Caleb is a Watcher of Circle Lightfall, and his mission is simple: protect the witch he’s assigned to—the witch who just happens to be able to touch him without causing agonizing pain. It’s his one shot at redemption, and it’ll take every weapon he has, plus his willingness to play dirty. Even if his witch seems to be chasing something no one can see.
Yet something Dark is indeed in their city. And now that it’s aware of pursuit, it has plans for Jorie and her talent—plans not even Caleb might be able to stop…
“Darkly compelling, fascinatingly unique. Lilith Saintcrow offers a breathtaking, fantastic ride.”—NYT bestselling author Gena Showalter
Each of the books in the series focuses on a different watcher and witch combo, often pointing out how different they are from each other before showing how perfectly the two mesh with one another. All the watchers are men who have either a police or military background, who have done terrible things in their lives before they were given the symbiont and turned into a secret service style protector who watches over a lightbringer witch. The witches are always petite and delicate (A trope that I despise) and beautiful, self-sacrificing young women who want to help others with their powers to the detriment of themselves (they've all got real self esteem issues and don't see their value). All of these witches are reluctant to allow a watcher to take a bullet for them. Of course the lusting watcher eventually saves the lightbringer and the two reassure one another of their value and love. While I enjoyed this installment of the series, I knew where the plane was going to land, so to speak, so the book felt a little rote at some point. Still, I'd give it a B+ and recommend it to anyone who has read the other books in the series.I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel is the book that we're reading for my library book group, meeting soon in March. This slender volume is a delight for readers and bibliophiles everywhere, as it covers all the bases of bookworm dilemmas and joys, from "literary sins" to 'how to organize your bookshelves." Each chapter is a jewel of wit and wisdom. Here's the blurb: For so many people, reading isn't just a hobby or a way to pass
the time--it's a lifestyle. Our books shape us, define us, enchant us,
and even sometimes infuriate us. Our books are a part of who we are as
people, and we can't imagine life without them.
I'd Rather Be Reading is
the perfect literary companion for everyone who feels that way. In this
collection of charming and relatable reflections on the reading life,
beloved blogger and author Anne Bogel leads readers to remember the book
that first hooked them, the place where they first fell in love with
reading, and all of the moments afterward that helped make them the
reader they are today. Known as a reading tastemaker through her popular
podcast What Should I Read Next?, Bogel invites book lovers into
a community of like-minded people to discover new ways to approach
literature, learn fascinating new things about books and publishing, and
reflect on the role reading plays in their lives.
The perfect gift for the bibliophile in everyone's life, I'd Rather Be Reading will command an honored place on the overstuffed bookshelves of any book lover.
I can't really find much to critique about this book, because it was like reading a memoir about my favorite subject, written by an expert. Anyone who reads over 100 books a year, as I do, will recognize themselves within these pages, and find themselves nodding in agreement, laughing or even shedding a tear at Bogels deft reflections on the joys and sorrows of the reading life. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who loves books. Bogel is one of us.
The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan is a contemporary romance with a twist, and surprisingly poignant and wise. I was expecting a light read, but found myself highlighting passages like this "There's this Hebrew meditation that I read about...it's called husa, and it means, roughly, 'compassion for something that is flawed.' Husa is acceptance, devoid of judgement. The kind of love an artist has for their creation, even as they recognize it's imperfection. To practice the meditation, we ask God for husa in prayer. 'The soul is yours, the body is your creation, husa, have compassion for Your work.' What I'm trying to articulate is that you're precious, not in spite of, but because of, all the ways you believe you're broken." That touched my heart, because I think many of us, especially women, see ourselves as broken, flawed, not acceptable or good enough. Anyway, there are several paragraphs like this one sprinkled throughout a very thoughtful, well written text. Here's the blurb: Naomi and Ethan will test the boundaries of love in this provocative romance from the author of the ground-breaking debut, The Roommate.
Naomi
Grant has built her life around going against the grain. After the
sex-positive start-up she cofounded becomes an international sensation,
she wants to extend her educational platform to live lecturing.
Unfortunately, despite her long list of qualifications, higher ed won't
hire her.
Ethan Cohen has recently received two honors: LA Mag
nominated him as one of the city's hottest bachelors and he became
rabbi of his own synagogue. Low on both funds and congregants, the
executive board of Ethan's new shul hired him with the hopes that his
nontraditional background will attract more millennials to the
faith. They've given him three months to turn things around or else
they'll close the doors of his synagogue for good.
Naomi and
Ethan join forces to host a buzzy seminar series on Modern Intimacy, the
perfect solution to their problems--until they discover a new
one--their growing attraction to each other. They've built the syllabus
for love's latest experiment, but neither of them expected they'd be the
ones putting it to the test.
The plot was much deeper than the blurb would have you believe, because it discusses not just the physical attraction of two "hot" people, but their mental and spiritual journey as well. Even the characters are delightfully maudlin-mush-free, and the dialogue is realistic and intelligent. This book would make a great short series for Netflix, or a movie for Apple+. Though it has the inevitable HEA, it's not overly sweet or sentimental, and it was one of the few romances I've read that I was sad to see ending, because I'd fallen in love with the well rounded characters. I'd give this book an A, and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a more realistic love story with a female protagonist who has a past, but is also strong enough to forge a better future for herself.
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