Students File Suit Over Book Bans, Obituary for PJ O'Rourke, The Color Purple Musical Film, The Beekeeper's Promise by Fiona Valpy, Summer Island by Kristin Hannah, and An Impossible Impostor by Deanna Raybourn

I can hardly believe that February is almost over! This month zoomed by! I've been busy with Doctors appointments and tests, plus binge-watching several shows (Star Trek Discovery is back! Hurrah! ST Picard is going to start its second season on March 3, even more hurrah!) and getting letters ready to send out, while also buying lots of books to read in every spare moment. So here's some tidbits and reviews to keep you going over the late winter slump and snow.

There's been a huge increase in the number of banned books and challenged books this year in schools across America, which is worrying. Especially considering that many of these books contain POC characters/authors and LBGTQ+ characters/authors. Anything even remotely sexual in any books is being challenged, when I don't think many of these parents realize that the internet is full of pornography and graphic sexual images that any student with a phone can find in an instant. Plus, as has always been the case (even from when I was in school in the stone age) when you ban a book, kids will go out of their way to find that book and read it because they're curious as to what the fuss is about (and most kids like thumbing their noses at their parents, too) So parental bans don't have the effect of keeping students in the dark, or innocent of real life as they're supposed to. So many kids also need to read about kids like themselves, whether they're kids of color or a student on the LGBTQ spectrum and want help sorting out their feelings about their sexuality. Hence I laud these students for suing the school district. 

Students File Suit over Wentzville, Mo., Book Bans

A pair of Missouri high school students have sued the Wentzville School District https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51205771 over its decision to ban certain books, including Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Kiese Laymon's memoir Heavy, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Represented by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, the students filed the suit in federal court on Tuesday. According to the suit, the Wentzville School District's book bans violate their civil rights by threatening their ability "to learn and engage with a diversity of ideas and information, including seeing their own experiences reflected in the books and developing greater understanding of the experiences of others."

The Wentzville School Board voted 4-3 to ban The Bluest Eye from high school libraries late last month. In addition to The Bluest Eye and Heavy, the district also banned All Boys Aren't Blue by George Johnson, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell, Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison and Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari.

My husband and I used to be big fans of the hilarious PJ O'Rourke and his satirical columns in places like Rolling Stone or the Atlantic Monthly. While I didn't agree with his stance on many things (he was an old white conservative), I did enjoy his "willingness to mock everyone who deserved it." RIP, PJ.

Obituary Note: P.J. O'Rourke

P.J. O'Rourke https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51205794, "the conservative satirist and political commentator who was unafraid to skewer Democrats and Republicans alike in bestselling books like Parliament of Whores, in articles for a wide range of magazines and newspapers, and on television and radio talk shows," died February 15, the New York Times reported. He was 74. Although a proud conservative Republican, O'Rourke "was widely admired by readers of many stripes because of his fearless style and his willingness to mock just about anyone who deserved it, including himself."

In addition to his 20 books, O'Rourke wrote a column for the Daily Beast for a time and appeared regularly in the Atlantic, the American Spectator, Rolling Stone and the Weekly Standard, where he was a contributing editor. He was the conservative side of a point-counterpoint segment on 60 Minutes in the mid-1990s, opposite Molly Ivins, and a guest on many talk shows. He was also known for appearances on NPR's comedy quiz show Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me.

O'Rourke's first book was Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People, published in 1983 (and reissued in 1989). Perhaps his best known work was Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government. Other books include How the Hell Did This Happen? The Election of 2016; Republican Party Reptile: The Confessions, Adventures, Essays and (Other) Outrages of P.J. O'Rourke; All the Trouble in the World; Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics; Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut; and Holidays in Hell.

"P.J. was one of the major voices of his generation," wrote Morgan Entrekin https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51205795>, CEO and publisher of Grove Atlantic, in a statement. "He was also a close friend and partner for more than 40 years. P.J.'s loyalty and commitment to first Atlantic Monthly Press and then Grove Atlantic enabled me to keep the company independent. For that I will be forever in his debt. His insightful reporting, verbal acuity and gift at writing laugh-out-loud prose were unparalleled.... His passing leaves a huge hole in my life both personal and professional.""

Peter Sagal, host of Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me, tweeted "a few words about P.J. It is very rare in life to be a fan of someone and then become their friend, but it happened to me with P.J., and I discovered something remarkable: Most well known people try to be nicer than they are in public than they are in private life. P.J. was the only man I knew to be the opposite. He was a deeply kind and generous man who pretended to be a curmudgeon for public consumption. He told the best stories. He had the most remarkable friends. And he devoted himself to them and his family in a way that would have totally ruined his shtick had anyone ever found out."

I will be so excited to see this film, as I have heard that the musical was wonderful. I read the book ages ago, and I've always wondered what a new adaptation would be like. 

Stage to Screen: The Color Purple Musical

Oprah Winfrey, who made her acting debut as Sofia in Steven Spielberg's 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz51206727, "is returning to the story in a new role as one of the producers, joining forces with Spielberg, Quincy Jones, and Scott Sanders, producer of the Broadway musical," Oprah Daily reported. Winfrey, who will help bring The Color Purple musical--which first premiered on Broadway in 2005--to the screen, said: "To reinvent the movie at this time is to reinvent a phenomenon."

The film will be directed by Blitz Bazawule from a script by Marcus Gardley (The Chi). According to Warner Bros., The Color Purple will hit theaters on December 20, 2023.

Winfrey, who played Sofia in the 1985 film, personally delivered the news to Danielle Brooks that she had been cast in the role for the new movie, as she had in the 2015 Broadway production. Winfrey chose to tell Brooks the news because of the powerful impact playing Sofia had on her: "I wanted to be the one to tell you because I have such love of this character and everything she represents, everything she brought to my life. What I'm hoping is that she does the same thing for you."

Winfrey did not personally deliver casting news to every performer as she did with Brooks, but "she was deeply invested in choosing the perfect person for each role," Oprah Daily wrote. The cast also includes Fantasia Barrino as Celie, Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery, Corey Hawkins as Harpo, Colman Domingo as Mister, H.E.R. as Squeak, and Halle Bailey as Nettie

 

The Beekeepers Promise by Fiona Valpy is a historical romance novel set in the countryside of France during WWII. I've read several other Valpy novels, and while I appreciate her research and ability to take readers into the heart and emotions of a particular time period, I always long for an editor to cut out some of her more flowery paragraphs that stop the plot cold, or at least slow it to a snails pace. Fortunately, it doesn't take long for things to get back on track, and I found myself reading into the wee hours to see what happened with the main characters. Here's the blurb:

Heartbroken and hoping for a new start, Abi Howes takes a summer job in rural France at the Château Bellevue. The old château echoes with voices from the past, and soon Abi finds herself drawn to one remarkable woman’s story, a story that could change the course of her summer—and her life.

In 1938, Eliane Martin tends beehives in the garden of the beautiful Château Bellevue. In its shadow she meets Mathieu Dubosq and falls in love for the first time, daring to hope that a happy future awaits. But France’s eastern border is darkening under the clouds of war, and history has other plans for Eliane…

When she is separated from Mathieu in the chaos of German occupation, Eliane makes the dangerous decision to join the Resistance and fight for France’s liberty. But with no end to the war in sight, her loyalty to Mathieu is severely tested.

From the bestselling author of Sea of Memories comes the story of two remarkable women, generations apart, who must use adversity to their advantage and find the resilience deep within.

The one chapter in the past and the next in the present trope has become well worn ground nowadays in historical romance novels, so much so that I've become a bit tired of seeing it at all. That said, Valpy handles Abi and Eliane's stories with equal deftness, and I enjoyed reading about how the resistance played out in farms across France, where Paris was almost a fairy tale land, far away from the hardships of working the land. I also enjoyed learning more about beekeeping, and the different kinds of honey that you can get from various areas with different foliage. At any rate, I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone looking for an emotional immersive historical French romance.

Summer Island by Kristin Hannah is one of her earlier romantic novels, and it's a snapshot of the 90s in the Islands of Puget Sound in Washington state. You can tell that Hannah has grown as a writer, as she uses less religious references in this novel than she does in her really early efforts. Her current novels have nearly zero religious references in them, so I gather that she's found her niche outside of Christian lit. This particular book references places in the Seattle area that are familiar to me, from the radio stations that my husband worked at when we first landed here in 1991, to the restaurants, cultural spots and neighborhoods that make Seattle such a special place to live. My husband and I also had the chance to visit Bainbridge, Lopez and Vashon Islands, all of which are referenced in this novel, so that was awesome, too. Here's the blurb:

The author of the cherished bestseller On Mystic Lake returns with a poignant, funny, luminous novel about a mother and daughter--the complex ties that bind them, the past that separates them, and the healing that comes with forgiveness.

Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. She has since become a famous radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist beloved for her moral advice. Her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedienne who uses her famous mother as fuel for her bitter, cynical humor. When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora's past, their estrangement suddenly becomes dramatic: Nora is injured in an accident and a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. Under false pretenses, Ruby returns home to take care of the woman she hasn't spoken to for almost a decade.

Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island in the San Juans, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up, a place filled with childhood memories of love and joy and belonging. There Ruby is also reunited with her first love and his brother. Once, the three of them had been best friends, inseparable. Until the summer that Nora had left and everyone's hearts had been broken. . . .

What began as an expose evolves, as Ruby writes, into an exploration of her family's past. Nora is not the woman Ruby has hated all these years. Witty, wise, and vulnerable, she is desperate to reconcile with her daughter. As the magazine deadline draws near and Ruby finishes what has begun to seem to her an act of brutal betrayal, she is forced to grow up and at last to look at her mother--and herself--through the eyes of a woman. And she must, finally, allow herself to love.

Summer Island is a beautiful novel, funny, tender, sad, and ultimately triumphant.

This was a beautifully written tear-jerker of a novel that would be perfect for a made for TV/Streaming movie, if anyone had a mind to do so. Though I would find it very hard to forgive most of the really SH*TTY behavior of Nora and Ruby (and Ruby's wimpy sister) I could empathize with being married to someone who has serious alcohol problems and being overwhelmed by work, children and family life. It does suck the soul from you when you have to "do it all" and your partner is a liability with a host of mental/physical problems. There are many women who face these problems, and the loss of time for self care, every day, all around the world. Add to that hospice care, (caring for those at the end of life) or caring for elderly parents, and I don't blame any woman for wanting to run away and find themselves again...however, I would plan to have someone help in my stead, and I would come back, because abandoning a child has horrible repercussions in their future. So, I would give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who has a difficult relationship with their parents.

An Impossible Impostor by Deanna Raybourn is the 7th book in the Veronica Speedwell mystery series that I've become thoroughly addicted to in the past several years. These Steampunkish romance mysteries are always a treat, and this one is no exception. Once it landed on my doorstep I was unable to put it down, and read it through in one sitting. Here's the blurb:

While investigating a man claiming to be the long-lost heir to a noble family, Veronica Speedwell gets the surprise of her life in this new adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

London, 1889. Veronica Speedwell and her natural historian beau Stoker are summoned by Sir Hugo Montgomerie, head of Special Branch. He has a personal request on behalf of his goddaughter, Euphemia Hathaway. After years of traveling the world, her eldest brother, Jonathan, heir to Hathaway Hall, was believed to have been killed in the catastrophic eruption of Krakatoa a few years before.
 
But now a man matching Jonathan’s description and carrying his possessions has arrived at Hathaway Hall with no memory of his identity or where he has been. Could this man truly be Jonathan, back from the dead? Or is he a devious impostor, determined to gain ownership over the family's most valuable possessions—a legendary parure of priceless Rajasthani jewels? It's a delicate situation, and Veronica is Sir Hugo's only hope.
 
Veronica and Stoker agree to go to Hathaway Hall to covertly investigate the mysterious amnesiac. Veronica is soon shocked to find herself face-to-face with a ghost from her past. To help Sir Hugo discover the truth, she must open doors to her own history that she long believed to be shut for good.

So Veronica's con-man and thief of a husband, whom she assumed dead in a volcano eruption, is back and blackmailing Veronica to keep quiet while he attempts to get his hands on a huge diamond. Evil and manipulative, her ex soon has Veronica neatly trapped and helping him dupe these wealthy people. Veronica seems to weaken and show more vulnerability in this book that in previous novels, and I found it irritating that she allowed Harry to run roughshod over her and her relationship with Stoker. Thus the ending of this book wasn't as happy as previous volumes, though I love that Veronica is finally free. Still, I felt she gave too much rope to Harry, and allowed him to steal and manipulate her repeatedly. I can only hope that in the next volume, she and Stoker will be back together and perhaps marry so that nothing can come between them ever again. As with previous works, Raybourn's prose is lush and lovely, and her plots never flag. I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone who has read any of the other Veronica Speedwell mysteries.