Happy Easter Sunday and Solstice and Passover for all who celebrate the coming of Spring! I've been busy with my husband's declining health and my own health problems, but fortunately I've found more than a few books on my TBR to be distracting and engrossing enough to keep me from tearing my hair out. So here's some great tidbits and some book reviews for all my fellow book dragons!
Quotation of the Day
'They Have to Be Able to Read, to Question'
"I came through the '80s when book banning was really at its height. And it was terrible. And then libraries and schools began to get policies in place and we saw a falling off of the desire to censor books.... Now it is back, it is back much worse--this is in America, it is back so much worse than it was in the '80s. Because it's become political.... I mean, that's crazy, that is so crazy. And it is so frightening that I think the only answer is for us to speak out and really keep speaking out, or we are going to lose our way.
"There's a group of mothers now going around saying that they want to protect their children. Protect them from what? You know, protect them from talking about things? Protect them from knowing about things? Because even if they don't let them read books, their bodies are still going to change and their feelings about their bodies are going to change. And you can't control that. They have to be able to read, to question."--Author and bookseller Judy Blume
Book Review: Chita
In most showbiz memoirs written when the star is in, shall we say, her third act, the early- and mid-career highlights tend to dominate. Not so with Chita, a showstopping retrospective by musical theater legend Chita Rivera, written with Patrick Pacheco: the 10-time Tony Award nominee and possessor of multiple theater trophies was being courted by awards into her 80s. Steady work across the decades has brought Rivera so many places that, as she writes, she can't relate to Broadway's survivor anthem "I'm Still Here": "It's brilliant, like all of Steve Sondheim's work. But where was 'here'? Not any place I'd been. So how could I still be 'here'?"
Rivera didn't start out much of anywhere. Born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in 1933, Rivera grew up in a bustling Catholic household in Washington, D.C., the daughter of a Scottish-Irish mother (or so Rivera thought; the truth is more complicated) and a Puerto Rico-born musician father, who died when she was seven. In hopes of redirecting her tomboy daughter's thrill-seeking energies, Rivera's mother signed her up for ballet lessons. Scouts spotted Rivera as a teenager and lured her to New York's School of American Ballet with a scholarship. Several years of dues-paying later, Rivera found herself originating the role of Anita in the 1957 Broadway production of West Side Story. Suddenly, being "shorter, darker, and more Puerto Rican" than her dancing peers was a career asset.
Chita is awash in stories about Rivera's encounters with leading lights of Old Broadway, among them Elaine Stritch, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr. ("a friend and one-time lover"). There's an indispensable chapter devoted to her experience originating the role of Velma Kelly in 1975's Chicago, which involved collaboration with her dancer friend Gwen Verdon and Verdon's husband, the director, choreographer and incurable womanizer Bob Fosse. ("He never tried anything with me, and I'm not sure I'm not a little upset by that.")
Chita is notable for its spirit of unflagging fellowship in a famously competitive and backstabby business. Rivera has no time for the press's manufactured rivalries (Rivera versus Verdon; Rivera versus Rita Moreno, the first West Side Story movie's Anita), although she allows her alter ego, Dolores, the odd diva moment ("What's up with all these actresses winning Oscars for playing roles I created?"). How fabulous for readersthat Rivera is still here--and that they now have her knockout memoir.--Nell Beram, author and freelance writer
I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie. I loved Butler in the movie Elvis, and I think he'll do a great job on this project as well.
Movies: City on Fire
Austin Butler (Elvis) will star in City on Fire https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFPbkr0I6akzK0xzTA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iUCZP1poMLg-gVdw, a film adaptation of Don Winslow's 2022 novel from Sony 3000 Pictures.
Deadline reported that the project marks Butler's first film as producer, alongside David Heyman and Shane Salerno, and the "studio has made this a high priority and will be meeting with writers and filmmakers immediately." Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva are overseeing for the studio. City on Fire is the first installment in a trilogy that will include City of Dreams, to be released April 18 by HarperCollins.
"We are elated that venerable producer David Heyman, alongside Austin Butler, will join forces with Shane Salerno to make Don Winslow's spectacular trilogy, starting with City on Fire," said Gabler. "Don is an iconic novelist and a true master of the genre of suspenseful crime fiction and has created one of the most memorable modern-day heroes in Danny Ryan, the complex and compelling protagonist of this trilogy. It is a dream come true to envision Austin, with his uniquely brilliant and charismatic talent, bringing this character and story to cinematic life."
Winslow added: "Like so many people around the world, I was amazed by Austin Butler's Oscar-nominated performance in Elvis. I've had a number of conversations with Austin about this trilogy that I've been working on for almost 30 years of my life, and I have been deeply impressed by his commitment to playing Danny Ryan as well as his passion to also produce the three films with David and Shane and Elizabeth and Marisa."
In this dauntless, cannily reasoned and
barn-burning inquiry, Claire Dederer asks: Is it
okay to hate the artist but love the art? I, myself have struggled with this question, since I was a huge fan of the Harry Potter books and movies, but horrified by the author JK Rowlings stance on Trans people (She's a TERF) and blatant anti-semitism in her movies.
Book Review: Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma
How do you solve a problem like Roman Polanski? This is how Claire Dederer (Love and Trouble: A Midlife Reckoning https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFPbkr0I6akzK0xwEg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iUCZP1poMLg-gVdw) distills the conundrum in the dauntless, cannily reasoned and barn-burning Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma: "Polanski made Chinatown, often called one of the greatest films of all time. Polanski drugged and anally raped thirteen-year-old Samantha Gailey. There the facts sit, unreconcilable. How would I maintain myself between these contradictions?"
It's not lost on Dederer that the question has long been percolating: people can just as easily (and did, and do) ask how it is possible to appreciate the work of the virulently antisemitic but irrefutably brilliant German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). With a historian's commitment to taking the long view and with fire under her feet from the #MeToo movement, she makes a thoroughgoing inquiry into the vexing question of how to reconcile bad people with their good art.
Dederer considers the work and controversial remarks and behaviors of a good dozen artistic luminaries. She revisits, with some trepidation, two canonized works that, since her initial encounter, have come to be commonly viewed as morally sketchy: Woody Allen's Manhattan and Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, both of which are centered on a sexual relationship between a female minor and a decades-older male. And yet Dederer would caution against presuming an allegiance between, say, a male author and a predatory male protagonist: "Did [Nabokov] feel the things Humbert felt, think the things Humbert thought?" And should this matter when assessing Nabokov's art?
Dederer's feminism won't allow an essentialist view that monstrousness is exclusively the province of men, but the research she does, as into Doris Lessing, Joni Mitchell, and Sylvia Plath, all of whom in one way or another relinquished a child or two, uncovers a double standard: "This is what female monstrousness looks like: abandoning the kids. Always."
As for the question that launches her book: it doesn't give everything away to say that Dederer has come to see that asking "What do we do with the art of monstrous men?" is the narrowing of the more foundational question "What do we do about the monstrous people we love?" Monsters isn't just the book that art-loving feminists have been waiting for; it's the book that anyone determined to live an intentional life owes it to themselves to read. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a re-telling of the Greek Legend with a LGBTQ spin that makes complete sense from the point of view of the characters, gods and titans we've read about over the centuries. Here's the blurb:
A thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War from the bestselling author of Circe
A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.
“A captivating retelling of The Iliad and events leading up to it through the point of view of Patroclus: it’s a hard book to put down, and any classicist will be enthralled by her characterisation of the goddess Thetis, which carries the true savagery and chill of antiquity.” — Donna Tartt
The love story of Achilles and Patroclus is so elegant and poignant that I dare anyone to get to the end of the tale with dry eyes. The portrayal of Achilles as something of a privileged douchebag is spot on, and yet his life-long relationship with Patroclus softens his character enough to make him palatable. I must also point out that Millers prose is elegant and glorious, while her plot is tightly woven and wonderfully rendered, making this a book that you can't put down, because it enfolds you into a dream-like state right from the first chapter. Well done, Ms Miller! I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys reworkings of classic legends.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is a witty and well-written British murder mystery written by a man who is a well-known TV producer/creator/presenter in England. I've seen him on the Graham Norton show more than once, and he's also a great comedian, so he reminds me a lot of the amazing Stephen Fry, who is also an actor/producer and author of a number of books. This appears to be not uncommon in Britain, for some reason...I assume that there are a number of very creative people there who move in the rarified circles of multi-talented people. Anyway, here's the blurb:
Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to...
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB
In
a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the
Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves
the Thursday Murder Club.
When a local developer is found dead
with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder
Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.
As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?
I love that the character who is the most effective and brilliant is (former??) MI5 agent/spy Elizabeth, who seems to have something on everyone and can use her contacts to get information from any given person or organization. She's sly and relies on people underestimating her as a "little old lady" when she's more lethal than the lot of them. But the other members of the Thursday Murder Club are also fascinating and very intelligent, and though Joyce comes off as a bit daffy and naive, she, too, manages to do what the police can't and ferret out the right information. the prose is shiny and the plot slick, and I'd give this delightful book an A-, and recommend it to anyone who likes older sleuths solving mysteries in classic British fashion.
The Other Merlin by Robyn Schneider is a YA romantic comedy retelling of the Arthurian legend of Camelot. There's some LGBTQ characters and a lot of fuss about Emry Merlin being bisexual (though she falls for a male character right away) but that doesn't stop the sparkle of this funny and fun novel. Here's the blurb: Channeling the modern humor of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue,
bestselling author Robyn Schneider creates a Camelot that becomes the
ultimate teen rom-com hotspot in this ultra-fresh take on the Arthurian
legend.
Welcome to the great kingdom of Camelot!
Prince Arthur’s a depressed botanist who would rather marry a library
than a princess, Lancelot’s been demoted to castle guard after a
terrible lie, and Emry Merlin has arrived at the castle disguised as her
twin brother since girls can’t practice magic.
Life at court is
full of scandals, lies, and backstabbing courtiers, so what’s a
casually bisexual teen wizard masquerading as a boy to do? Other than
fall for the handsome prince, stir up trouble with the foppish Lord
Gawain, and offend the prissy Princess Guinevere.
When the truth
comes out with disastrous consequences, Emry has to decide whether
she'll risk everything for the boy she loves, or give up her potential
to become the greatest wizard Camelot has ever known.
The prose was fresh, but somewhat simplified, and the plot was rather easy to follow, yet the characters made the book worthwhile anyway. I'd give this quick read a B, and recommend it to anyone who is into rewritten/modernized legends.
The House Witch by Delemhach is a romantic fantasy that reads like a middle-grade or YA fantasy written by someone whose only writing experience is with fan fiction. The prose is amateurish and the characters border on goofy or ridiculous cartoons. The plot is paint-by-numbers simple and the HEA is overly sweet. Here's the blurb:
A heartwarming and humorous blend of fantasy, romance, and mystery featuring a witch with domestic powers and the royal household he serves . . . dinner.
When Finlay Ashowan joins the staff of the King and Queen of Daxaria, he’s an enigma. No one knows where he comes from or how he came to be where he is, which suits Fin just fine. He’s satisfied simply serving as the royal cook, keeping nosy passersby out of his kitchen, and concocting some truly uncanny meals.
But Fin’s secret identity doesn’t stay hidden for long. After all, it’s not every day a house witch and his kitten familiar, Kraken, take to meddling in imperial affairs. As his powers are gradually discovered by the court, Fin finds himself involved in a slew of intrigues: going head-to-head with knights with less-than-chivalrous intentions, helping to protect the pregnant queen, fending off the ire of the royal mage, and uncovering a spy in the castle. And that’s only the beginning—because Fin’s past is catching up with him just as his love life is getting complicated . . .
Filled with fascinating characters, courtly intrigue, political machinations, delicious cuisines, cuddly companions, magical hijinks, and will-they-won’t-they romance, The House Witch is the first in a captivating new series, guaranteed to satisfy the tastes of any reader.
I got this book for free on my e-reader, and I was glad that I'd not spent any money on something that was obviously self published. I didn't find it satisfying so much as silly. Every beat of the story felt forced, or like a generic fantasy plot that you only need to fill in with your specific characters. Though I did like Fin and his kitten Kracken, most of the other characters weren't more than cardboard cut outs. Whomever Delemhach is, I hope they will continue to grow and learn in their writing, but meanwhile, I can't give this bit of whimsy more than a C+, and a recommendation to very young people to read and enjoy it (like preteens and young teenagers).
Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa is a "dark" fantasy romance that could be considered YA if you only allow older teens and 20-somethings to read that genre. This book contains a lot of torture and abuse of the female protagonist (because we can't have anything like that for the strong and manly male protagonist whose job is to yearn for her and be possessive and protective of this fragile female...ugh) and a lot of redundancy in going over how she's been sexually abused and tortured because she's just so beautiful and irresistible to the male sex, they can't seem to help themselves around her (again, ugh. This is such a misogynist cliche it makes me want to vomit). Anyway, here's the blurb:
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