Sultry and sweaty July is almost over! My brothers both had birthdays at the end of July, and my dad's birthday was August 1st, so this is a time of year that I've made many memories in...and now my younger brother is the only sibling I have left, and next year he's going to turn 60, which amazes me because it seems like just yesterday he was a pudgy bald kid who liked to eat ants and didn't really like to talk. Now he's a bald old guy with a big beard, who still prefers ranting and silence to actual conversation...so some things never change. Anyway, we've got a lot of reviews and tidbits to get through today, so here goes.
This is true!
Quotation of the Day
'Sometimes Books Can Help Us Find What We Need'
"We may be headed into the nominally sleepy month of July--a time for a pause and a deep breath, when the very air encourages us to slow down--but recent national and international events are weighing on many of us. How do you take care of yourself, and of the people you love, when the world feels heavy? Sometimes books can help us find what we need, whether we're looking for solace; or to share in anger; or for distraction in the form of some expert storytelling, or a beautifully-crafted sentence; or just looking to find the funny wherever possible. Books can also be a precious source of quiet-brain time and of deep focus amidst news and connectedness that can leave us feeling tired and jangled. We hope that you can find the time to read something that nourishes you this July."--Wellesley Books , Wellesley, Mass., July 6 newsletter
Though I'm not at all in line with "Christian missions/missionaries" pushing their religion on other people, I do appreciate another bookstore being added to the roster of already-great Iowa bookstores.
Bookselling News
Aslan's Square Opens in Dyersville, Iowa
Aslan's Square, a bookstore and coffee shop with titles for all ages, has officially opened in Dyersville, Iowa, the Dyersville Commercial reported https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAKBkO0I6ao0JBggHw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jFU5GlpoMLg-gVdw. Store owner Jacey Stanbro hosted a grand opening celebration on June 29.
"It is such a tight-knit community, and everyone is so warm and welcoming," Stanbro said. "It is such a beautiful area that is going to grow, so I thought it would be the perfect time to put in a coffee shop and bookstore."
The store carries new and used books across all genres, and a plethora of nonbook items such as candles, stationery and homemade pottery. There is Wi-Fi for customers and areas for shoppers to sit and read, as well as a children's area.
The coffee shop side of the business sells pour-over coffee, loose-leaf tea and a variety of baked goods. Each cup of coffee sold goes toward supporting Christian missions, and the tea is sourced from a Christian company in Washington. The baked goods, meanwhile, are made every day by a local named Shelly Rollins
Stanbro emphasized that while she is Christian, her store is not an exclusively Christian bookstore, as she carries general-interest books for everyone. Over the coming months, she plans to start hosting live music, wine and cheese tastings, book talks and Bible study groups.
I read and enjoyed this novel, so I can hardly wait for the Netflix version to debut! Plus, I loved Eleanor T in Poldark!
TV: One Day
Eleanor Tomlinson (The Outlaws, Poldark) has joined the cast of the Netflix romantic drama series One Day https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAKBkO0I6ao0JBt0SA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jFU5GlpoMLg-gVdw, based on the novel by David Nicholls. Deadline reported that she will play Sylvie, who in the novel forms a relationship with male lead Dexter Mayhew. Also in the cast are Ambika Mod (This Is Going to Hurt) and Leo Woodall (The White Lotus).
Shooting on One Day has begun this week in London, with production later moving to Scotland for further filming. The series comes from Doctor Foster producer Drama Republic, along with Universal International Studios and Focus Features.
This reminds me of the hilarious Monty Python sketch where they have a bunch of writers doing an Olympic style writing competition, complete with a play by play done by Michael Palin.
TV: America's Next Great Author
Author, poet and educator Kwame Alexander will be the host of America's Next Great Author https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscALaxrkI6ao0dxt0TA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jFCMfxpoMLg-gVdw, a reality television series "geared toward anyone who loves drama on or off the page," the organizers said. The first step will be nationwide tryouts in several cities to "show off amateur writers as they get one minute to pitch their book ideas to a panel of publishing experts."
After the tryouts, "six charismatic finalists from vastly different places and backgrounds enter the Writer's Retreat together for a month of live-wire challenges and spectacular storytelling. These talented amateurs have to start their books from scratch on day one of the Retreat and finish by the end of the thirty days. The climactic finale will reveal who made it to the finish line to become America's Next Great Author," ANGA noted.
The judges include author Jason Reynolds, FOX5 TV presenter Angie Goff and writer/performer Marga Gomez. Mentors are Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, co-founders of the Book Doctors. The pilot episode will be filmed in San Francisco. ANGA wrote that "hopefuls can pitch their books to a panel of judges and you could win $2,500! The judges critique everything from idea to style to potential in the literary marketplace and everyone comes away with concrete advice from publishing industry professionals."
ANGA noted that it "is dedicated to including writers who aren't normally given a seat at the table in mainstream publishing.... The series will feature writers from communities and cultures all across America who bring their unique voices to readers and the world of literature."
Okay, I will admit that I do buy books that are on special discount on Prime Day, but I still also buy books from Independent bookstores and other websites all the time. I also go to my local library for a book once a month for bookgroup, so I still believe in places that have books for people to enjoy who aren't under the sway of Amazon and billionaire Jeff Bezos. Here's just a few reactions from Indie Booksellers on Prime Day:
Indie Bookstores Lash Out Against Amazon’s Prime Day
Wishing Tree Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscALbke4I6ao0d0h_Gw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jFCZCmpoMLg-gVdw, Spokane, Wash.: "A certain online mega-retailer owned by the 2nd richest person on earth is promoting some 'epic deals' in the next couple days, but those savings in the moment have a bigger cost down the line--to workers, small businesses, local economies, and the environment. We urge you to #shopindie.... Choose local shops & put your $$ back into your community. We appreciate you!"
Raven Book Store https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscALbke4I6ao0d0h_GA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jFCZCmpoMLg-gVdw, Lawrence, Kan.: "Happy Prime Day, remember that Amazon supports the politicians that are overturning abortion access.
Fact and Fiction Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscALbke4I6ao0d0h_GQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jFCZCmpoMLg-gVdw, Missoula, Mont.: "Because we live in Missoula, work in Missoula, and pay taxes in Missoula. Because we are more about decolonization than colonizing the moon. Because humans give better reading recommendations than robots."
Good Neighbor Bookstore https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscALbke4I6ao0d0h_Hg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jFCZCmpoMLg-gVdw, Lakewood, N.Y.: "While you may feel like you are getting a great deal, the cost that we are all paying is the continued destruction of our small business communities. And not just the business community. But... the community as a whole. For every business Amazon destroys, it is one less business that is donating to your organization, sponsoring a local youth sports team, paying taxes that stay within our county, the list goes on."
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston is a delightful supernatural romantic comedy that I'd read dozens of reviews and interviews about, and I was finally swayed to purchase a copy when another favorite author of mine mentioned how lovely it was to read, and that it left her smiling. In these troubled times, anything that leaves you smiling is a good deal. Here's the blurb: A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who,
quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back
home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author
Ashley Poston.
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for
one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a
problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s
as good as dead.
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of
a man, won't give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence
prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she
never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a
decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
For ten
years, she's run from the town that never understood her, and even
though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric,
loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay.
Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has
changed. And she hates it.
Until she finds a ghost standing at
the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly
handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she
is.
Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new
editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing
everything she’s ever known about love stories.
The prose is tingly and fizzy and wonderful, and like good champagne, the plot goes down a treat, especially when so many supernatural/paranormal romances go "dark" and morbid and add in senseless violence and gore, usually toward the female characters. There was none of that here, though the protagonist, Florence, has a family owned funeral home to return to, and she sees and speaks to ghosts. It was kind of Addams Family meets The Ghost and Mrs Muir, with some of the 80s flick "Ghost" thrown in for sexy atmosphere. I couldn't put it down, and I'd give it an A, though it was a bit too predictable and breathlessly "innocent" and "blush inducing" about sex. Seriously, adults should never be so child-like and scared about a bodily function, especially women over the age of 14. Still, I'd recommend this as a summer vacation/beach read for anyone who enjoys rom-coms and ghost stories.
Chief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name: The Change of Worlds for the Native People and Settlers on Puget Sound by David M Buerge is a historical non fiction book that is very well researched and full of intricate footnotes and untranslatable Native American names for people, places and things around Puget Sound. It's the Native American history of the early days of this area, and what followed when white people came and began to steal the forests and lands (and their women) from the Natives. Though everything proceeded as you might expect, there was some really good information about Chief Seattle and his daughter Angeline and his grandchildren that I was completely unaware of. Here's the blurb: This is the first thorough historical account of Chief Seattle and
his times--the story of a half-century of tremendous flux, turmoil, and
violence, during which a native American war leader became an advocate
for peace and strove to create a successful hybrid racial community.
When
the British, Spanish, and then Americans arrived in the Pacific
Northwest, it may have appeared to them as an untamed wilderness. In
fact, it was a fully settled and populated land. Chief Seattle was a
powerful representative from this very ancient world. Historian David
Buerge has been researching and writing this book about the world of
Chief Seattle for the past 20 years. Buerge has threaded together
disparate accounts of the time from the 1780s to the 1860s--including
native oral histories, Hudson Bay Company records, pioneer diaries,
French Catholic church records, and historic newspaper reporting. Chief
Seattle had gained power and prominence on Puget Sound as a war leader,
but the arrival of American settlers caused him to reconsider his
actions. He came to embrace white settlement and, following traditional
native practice, encouraged intermarriage between native people and the
settlers, offering his own daughter and granddaughters as brides, in the
hopes that both peoples would prosper. Included in this account are the
treaty signings that would remove the natives from their historic
lands, the roles of such figures as Governor Isaac Stevens, Chiefs
Leschi and Patkanim, the Battle at Seattle that threatened the existence
of the settlement, and the controversial Chief Seattle speech that
haunts to this day the city that bears his name.
I won't lie, this book took me an entire month to read because it was overly detailed, written in a very DRY textbook manner, and overall tremendously boring. We read this for my library book group and most of the participants were unable to finish it because it was so deadly dull. Though we did have a good discussion about it, most everyone agreed that the author, who came off as arrogant about his writing and research, could have had an editor go through and trim out a lot of historical information that had nothing to do with Chief Seattle or his descendants. Still, I found the fact that we still have so many native tribes still living and working in the Puget Sound area, heartening, especially after so many Europeans tried to kill them back in the 19th century. As I said the prose is dry as dust and the plot mired in footnotes and tiddly historical detail, but I would still give it a B- and recommend it to history buffs who love lots of details.
Girl Unframed by Deb Caletti is a YA thriller/romance with a lot of misogyny and Hollywood weirdness as background. I felt the characters were cardboard cutout cliches (ie the famous weak actress who is drawn to wealthy men who are thugs and abusers because her father was an abusive thug who abandoned the family when she was young) and the situations were common to enough thrillers/mysteries that you could see the beats of the book coming a mile away. Here's the blurb: A teen girl’s summer with her famous mother
turns sinister in this gripping thriller inspired by a real-life
Hollywood murder from Printz Honor–winning and National Book Award
finalist author Deb Caletti
Sydney
Reilly has a bad feeling about going home to San Francisco before she
even gets on the plane. How could she not? Her mother is Lila Shore—the Lila Shore—a film star who prizes her beauty and male attention above all else…certainly above her daughter.
But
Sydney’s worries multiply when she discovers that Lila is involved with
the dangerous Jake, an art dealer with shady connections. Jake loves
all beautiful objects, and Sydney can feel his eyes on her whenever he’s
around. And he’s not the only one. Sydney is starting to attract
attention—good and bad—wherever she goes: from sweet, handsome Nicco
Ricci, from the unsettling construction worker next door, and even from
Lila. Behaviors that once seemed like misunderstandings begin to feel
like threats as the summer grows longer and hotter.
But real
danger, crimes of passion, the kind of stuff where someone gets
killed—it only mostly happens in the movies, Sydney is sure. Until the
night something life-changing happens on the stairs that lead to the
beach. A thrilling night that goes suddenly very wrong. When loyalties
are called into question. And when Sydney learns a terrible truth:
beautiful objects can break.
Of course Lila is a weak and wimpy woman who is always after a "big strong man" to take care of her and pay her bills, while her daughter Sydney longs for a romance of her own, and falls into the same trap of helping her wimpy mother out every time another abusive boyfriend breaks her body and her heart. Ugh, what a stereotype and trope. Sydney wasn't really that strong either, until the end when she finally tells one of the sexually harassing construction workers that she's only 16 and he needs to stop with the creepy comments and unwelcome attempts at seduction. Still, when it comes down to the wire, she takes a hit for the sake of her wimpy, worthless mother who actually allows her child to sacrifice her life for her own, which is shamefully bad parenting. I don't think I will ever understand women who have children just to use them for their own gain...disgusting. The prose is slick and the plot easily figured out, though I suppose readers are supposed to be surprised by the "twist" ending (I wasn't). I'd give this book a C+, and recommend it to people who like simple Hollywood Noir mystery/thrillers.
The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart is an early YA romance that is rather lightweight and silly, and has a very unsatisfying ending. Here's the blurb:
Normally I enjoy the freshness of YA romance novels, but this particular book was full of immaturity in the writing, the characters and the plot. It felt like it was written by someone who was childish and yet still jealous of the young women they were writing about, and also felt the need to sneer in superiority at the characters for their youth and stupidity. I don't like people who are bullies, and this book read like it was written by a mean girl/bully. That said, Ruby, called Roo, is a horrible brat, an entitled teenager who constantly worries and is after boys and yet seems to despise them at the same time. Even after she treats her boyfriends terribly, she expects them to stick around with her forever, though she's only a teenager, and at this stage, it's mostly hormonal and not really "love" in the true and fullest sense of the word. Her friends aren't much better, and all of them hold grudges for the most minute details and shun each other repeatedly. I can't remember being this boy crazy or this much of a mean, petty person when I was a teenager, but that was a long time ago, so perhaps I've forgotten. The book certainly made me glad I was no longer a spiteful teenage girl surrounded by smug, abusive and shitty teenage boys. I was glad that I spent 99 cents on this ebook, and not a penny more. I'd give it a C, and only recommend it to those who like reading about the therapy sessions of entitled and mean teenage girls.
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