Good evening fellow bibliophiles! We're more than halfway through February, and it's still cold enough outside that I think it's best to curl up under a fuzzy blanket near a warm fireplace with a hot cup of tea or cocoa and a good book (also including your favorite fuzzy friend, whether they're a pup or a kitty, for lap-warming and petting purposes) and forget the world and its troubles for awhile. Herein are some troubling and tremendous tidbits, along with 4 reviews by yours truly.
Of course Florida, state of ignorance, racism and ridiculousness, has laws/policies requiring parental consent to learn the horrors of black history, so that a number of kids will just be able to opt out of learning the realities of systemic racism, so they'll be perpetuated for the next generation and the generation following that. Ignorance of history only causes it to be repeated, which is sad.
Black History Month Activities
IPrep Academy in Miami-Dade County, FL, has begun requiring parental consent for students to participate in Black History Month activities. A permission form asks parents if they want their kids to have access to “…class and school wide presentations showcasing the achievements and recognizing the rich and diverse traditions, histories, and innumerable contributions of the Black communities” and is a result of a policy that was enacted last fall in connection with the state board’s Parental Bill Of Rights.
Say it with me, folks: it was never just about the books. As Professor Marvin Dunn of Florida International University puts it, “this will create a generation of people who are miseducated when it comes Black history.” And that is precisely the point.
I'm so excited that another bookstore is opening in the capital city of Iowa! Many of the towns I grew up in were suburbs of Des Moines back in the 60s and 70s.
Grand Opening for The Little Book in Des Moines, Iowa
The Little Book <https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQTZwbgI6a9hJRF1Hw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nDC8DwpoMLg-gVdw> children's bookstore will celebrate its grand opening today at 520 Euclid Ave., Suite 102, in Des Moines, Iowa, We Are Iowa reported, adding that the event will also feature Nic Roth's mural unveiling and artist exhibition.
Bethany Fast, co-owner of the new bookshop with her husband, David, described her life as a series of "big life shifts," including cross-country moves, major career changes, and having kids before her most recent venture.
"There's children's sections at every bookstore, but there's not a store that's really predominantly aimed at children," Fast said. "It just felt like a niche we could fill."
Located in the city's historic Highland Park neighborhood, the Little Book is focused on creating a "child-inclusive" space for kids and families. "As caregivers of children... it's a lot of times hard to bring them into a space and feel like it's okay for them to make noise. It's okay for them to be their loud, chaotic little selves," Fast said. In a space that is intentionally child-focused, the "shelves don't tower over visitors, making it easier for kids and people with mobility aids to access books. When kids aren't browsing, they can sit in the reading nook or at a kid-sized craft table," We Are Iowa wrote, adding that even the bathrooms are designed for children and parents.
"We're just really trying to take the time to walk through what we go through as parents trying to wrangle kids," Fast said, adding that part of creating a child-inclusive environment is making sure every child is represented on the shelves: "We are seeing a lot of legislation and, you know, laws being put into place that really are affecting children in a big way in a way that they don't get a say in.... All kids and all families can come in and see themselves on the shelves, see themselves in the employees, see themselves in the art and feel like it's a place where they can be safe and be comfortable and be celebrated."
I read this book last year or the year before for my book group, and though it was well written, I don't think it deserved all the hype it received. Still, with Ewan McGregor as the Gentleman, I think this could turn out of to be real winner of a streaming series.
TV: A Gentleman in Moscow
Showtime has released first look photos and a premiere date announcement teaser video https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct pjJscQTZwbgI6a9hJRFwGA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nDC8DwpoMLg-gVdw have been released for A Gentleman in Moscow, the highly anticipated upcoming series based on the 2016 novel by Amor Towles. Vanity Fair reported that the limited-series adaptation, starring Ewan McGregor in the title role, will premiere March 29 on Paramount+ With Showtime, "which mounts Amor Towles's novel on an expansive, sumptuous scale."
Adapted by Ben Vanstone (The Last Kingdom) and largely directed by Emmy nominee Sam Miller (I May Destroy You), the project stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Ahsoka, Kate, Birds of Prey), Alexa Goodall (The Devil's Hour, Lockwood and Co.), Johnny Harris (Without Sin, This Is England '86), and Fehinti Balogun (Dune, I May Destroy You).
A Gentleman in Moscow is produced by Lionsgate Television in association with Paramount. Ben Vanstone serves as executive producer and showrunner on the series, with Tom Harper also executive producing alongside McGregor, Sharon Hugh, Pancho Mansfield, Moonriver TV's Xavier Marchand, and Towles.
I started reading Ellen Gilchrist in college, after she was recommended by an English Lit professor. I loved her Land of Dreamy Dreams and her novellas I Cannot Get You Close Enough. I had no idea she was about my mother's age, and I know the literature community will feel her loss deeply. RIP.
Obituary Note: Ellen Gilchrist
Ellen Gilchrist https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQTbwesI6a9hcEh-Hw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nDCcCjpoMLg-gVdw, "a Southern writer with a sharp, sometimes indulgent eye for her region's foibles and eccentricities," died January 30, the New York Times reported. She was 88. Gilchrist "had spent part of her childhood on a family plantation in the Mississippi Delta... and her fiction was populated by the gentry that came from that land, in both its urban and rural incarnations."
A disciple of Eudora Welty, with whom she studied at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., in the 1960s, Gilchrist published more than 25 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry and memoirs.
She won the National Book Award in 1984 for her collection Victory Over Japan, but it was her first collection, In the Land of Dreamy Dreams (1981), "which depicted in large part the fissures and pathologies of the New Orleans upper class, that was in some ways most characteristic. She considered it her best work," the Times noted.
First published by the University of Arkansas Press, In the Land of Dreamy Dreams was an unexpected hit for a university press. "It was this huge success and sold all the copies in about a week, and then he kept printin' 'em," Gilchrist said in her interview at the university, where she taught English and creative writing for 25 years. The book sold more than 10,000 copies in its first 10 months; was republished by what became her principal publisher, Little, Brown; and earned critical acclaim.
Gilchrist's other books include Drunk With Love (1986), Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle (1989), I Cannot Get You Close Enough: Three Novellas (1990), Collected Stories (2000), Nora Jane: A Life in Stories (2005), Acts of God (2014), Falling Through Space: The Journals of Ellen Gilchrist (1987), The Writing Life (2005), and Things Like the Truth: Out of My Later Years (2016).
My brother and I share very little other than parents and a love of the books of our fellow Iowan, Bill Bryson. I can hardly wait to see this animated TV series, which will be hilarious.
TV: A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bill Bryson's bestselling book A Short History of Nearly Everything "is being reimagined" as an animated TV series by former The Simpsons showrunner Josh Weinstein and Paddington screenwriter Jason Hazeley, with Richard Ayoade narrating. Deadline reported that Altitude and Brouhaha Entertainment "are developing the series version of a book that has sold 15 million copies worldwide and been translated into 50 languages, with a view to turning it into a long-running entertainment franchise."
"I feel very lucky to have such a gifted and distinguished group of creative talents turning my words into screen magic," said Bryson.
Altitude co-CEO Will Clarke commented: "Bill's brilliant mind expands beyond the hugely impressive number of books he's sold and is arguably a global brand in its own right. We know from broadcasters and streamers that audiences are hungry to explore and learn more about our universe whilst being entertained and our series--which we envisage as a long-running entertainment franchise--is the perfect way to deliver that."
There was a TV series based on Shogun back in the 70s that I watched with my brothers. I will be curious to see how they update it. I was the only member of my family to read the book that it was based on, though.
TV: Shōgun
FX has released an extended trailer for Shōgun https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQTckrgI6a9hdxtwHw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nDDpPwpoMLg-gVdw, its original series adaptation of James Clavell's 1975 novel, Deadline reported. The 10-episode series premieres February 27 on Hulu in the U.S. with the first two episodes, followed by a new episode each week. The project was created for television by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks.
The series stars Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne, and Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko. Shōgun features a Japanese cast, including Tadanobu Asano, Hiroto Kanai, Takehiro Hira, Moeka Hoshi, Tokuma Nishioka, Shinnosuke Abe, Yuki Kura, and Fumi Nikaido.
Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents—who frequently leave her behind.
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and a golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.
With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.
What the River Knows is the first book in the thrilling Secrets of the Nile duology.
I must mention how lovely the cover art is for this novel, and the sequel, which doesn't come out until November, looks to be just as beautiful. While I enjoyed the mystery of where Cleopatra's tomb is in Egypt, and where Inez's parents were, or what/who actually killed them, I was distraught to note that Inez didn't seem to mature at all through the book, falling for one lie and trick after another, right up to the end, which was left unresolved and wide open. I have a problem with authors who can't seem to write a decent ending, just stopping their work in mid-scene, so readers are left wondering what happened?! It's a manipulative way to get readers to buy the next book in the series, and I don't appreciate it. That said, the tension and roller-coaster ride thrills of the book kept me turning pages until the book was finished. I'd give it a B+, and recommend it to those who are fans of Deanna Raybourn's Veronica Speedwell series or Indiana Jones movies.
A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft is a Regency romantic fantasy about a magical seamstress who is assigned with creating the wardrobe for a royal wedding, only to discover that the groom is only marrying out of a sense of duty. This, like several other hardback books I've acquired lately, has glorious cover art that will intrigue casual readers into taking a second look. Here's the blurb:
There was a definite "Bridgerton" vibe within this book, especially between the lowly seamstress Niamh and the royal groom Kit, who was kind of a pain in the tuchas for the first half of the novel, (fortunately he grows on you as the novel goes on). I also noticed some redundancies during the second half of the book, but they were small, and so they didn't derail the plot, which dances along on velvet slippers. Saft's prose is deft and sweet, and her world building isn't at all clunky, but adds to the character's lives to make them seem all the more realistic. I'd give this book an A-, and recommend it to fans of Bridgerton and other magical fantasy romances.
On The Plus Side by Jenny L. Howe is a size-positive romantic comedy that feels like "You've Got Mail" combined with "When Harry Met Sally" and reality TV shows like the Bachelor/Bachelorette. Though the first 22 pages give the book a slow start, once Everly gets onto the set of the makeover for fat girls show, On the Plus Side, things really start to move at a lightening pace, right to the end. Here's the blurb:
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