Hello fellow people of the book! It's still saucy February, which, although it's the shortest month, has felt like the longest in our household. Thankfully, next week is the last of this chilly and gray month. I've managed to read some great works of fiction in the past 10 days, and I'm hoping to read a lot more next month in March.
Anyway, here's some interesting tidbits and 4 book reviews.
This is a great idea, as I recall when I was a theater major at Clarke College, the head of the dept had us read all kinds of plays, from classic Greek plays to Shakespeare and Harold Pinter to Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams. While it would have been impossible to actually mount all the plays we read (our dept was fairly small), just knowing what was out there, and sometimes going to see the plays produced by professionals was very educational and eye-opening for the drama junkies of Dubuque, Iowa.
Cool Idea of the Day: The Playreaders Club
American Theatre Wing is partnering with the Drama Book Shop in New York City to launch the Playreaders Club https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQTdlesI6a9hdhhzGw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nDD5SjpoMLg-gVdw, a monthly event that will offer both in-person and virtual programming to engage the theatre community across the U.S., Playbill reported.
"With the American Theatre Wing's focus on supporting and uplifting artists and creating experiences for the theatre community, and the Drama Book Shop's established history in hosting community events to promote readership and scholarship of theatre texts, the club aims to unite enthusiasts, professionals, students, and educators alike to read and discuss published theatrical works," Playbill noted.
Each play will be selected by a committee of theatre artists, experts and industry members from the American Theatre Wing Board and advisory members, including Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori (Kimberly Akimbo), Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), Tony Award-winning costume and scenic designer Clint Ramos (Once on This Island), theatre journalist and producer Ayanna Prescod (Pass Over), Tony Award-winning director Leigh Silverman (Violet), journalist and author Patrick Pacheco, and talent agent Ben Sands.
The Devil Wears Prada is one of those classic movies that, if you've seen it once or a thousand times, it's still always a blast to watch and quote, "Gird your loins, people!" So I'm delighted that they're making a musical version, because why not?! Especially with a score by the ever-fabulous Elton John.
The Diva Wears Prada
London theater-goers (or should that be theatre-goers?) will have a new show to enjoy this fall. A musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada will open in October featuring a score written by Elton John (!) and a brilliant piece of casting: Vanessa Williams will play the epically icy Anna Wintour avatar Miranda Priestly. One can only hope Stanley Tucci, who lives in London, after all, is available to reprise his work as Nigel,( Indeed!)
Amen to Mr Jardin! Paris wouldn't be the cultural icon that it is without books and booksellers!
Paris Booksellers Go for Gold
As Paris prepares to host the summer Olympics, booksellers who make up Europe’s largest open-air book market—more than 930 stalls line a two-mile stripe of the Seine—have notched the first big win of the year. Last summer, city police told the booksellers they would have to relocate during the Games because of security concerns, sparking an outcry from vendors and citizens alike. Now, with just a few months to go, French President Emmanuel Macron has reversed the order.
“The Seine, our main river, flows in between rows of books,” said Alexandre Jardin, a French writer who was among those who signed the column. “To think the bouquinistes are just booksellers is to understand nothing. They speak to the very identity of Paris and its profound ties to literature. Paris is a city born from the dreams of writers.”
YES, exactly, Doris Kearns Goodwin! Not since Barak Obama was in office have we had a leader with great integrity and character.
Great Quote from DK Goodwin at ABA Conference
Author Doris Kearns Goodwin speaking at the ABA conference: "What we need more than anything in leaders in this country is leaders with character. Character. What does that mean? What it means are people who are willing to acknowledge errors and learn from their mistakes. They have the humility to know that they will make mistakes and they can learn from them. We want leaders who have empathy, who can understand other people's points of view, who listen to other people, leaders who have resilience.
"Ernest Hemingway once said that everyone is broken by life, but afterwards some are strong in the broken places. We need people who've been through troubling times and can somehow come through with wisdom and reflection. We need people who are accountable, people who have a certain ambition that's not for themselves but for the country. We need people who have integrity. That's what character is."
Ahhh yes, the wild fashion show that is the Met Gala...this year should prove to be especially exciting, as people will be wearing fragile fashion, and there will likely be a few "wardrobe malfunctions" on the red carpet.
The Met Gala Gets Lit(erary)
Inspired by a 1962 short story by J.G. Ballard, the theme for the 2024 Met Gala will be “The Garden of Time.” <Miranda Priestly voice> “Florals? For Spring? Groundbreaking.” This being the Met Gala, though, and Anna Wintour being Anna Wintour, it’s not quite so straightforward. This year’s gala will celebrate an exhibition called “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” and the dress code calls for “clothing and fashion so fragile that it can’t ever be worn again.” Somewhere, there is a designer crafting a dress out of the pages of a very old book. Read the full text of Ballard’s story here, and tell me in the comments: what would you wear?
I have always loved Little Women, it's one of those classic novels that never gets old...Jo and her sisters speak to this generation as much as they did to girls 156 years ago. I'd love to see this musical when it debuts.
On Stage: Jo--The Little Women Musical
JoAnn M. Hunter, who choreographed Broadway's Bad Cinderella, School of Rock, Disaster!, and the 2011 revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, has been named the director of the Broadway-aimed Jo--The Little Women Musical https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQeIkOgI6a9gJkx1GA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nAWpGgpoMLg-gVdw, Playbill reported.
"The creative team has written a piece about an iconic character in literature with a lovely freshness to it," said Hunter. "Jo speaks to me because of the will and commitment of this family, even when it means, maybe not giving up on yourself and the selflessness of love. Whatever that love is for you."
I was once a part of the Liaden Universe fandom, but after giving a mixed review to an anthology that they edited, (and they asked for a completely honest review, but apparently they only wanted a positive review) and being lambasted for being honest about many other things that Sharon and Steve did that I didn't think were completely kosher, ( like constantly asking fans for money), I left their fandom and vowed to not read or review their books ever again. I've kept that promise, but now that I found out that Steve Miller has passed, I felt it was important to include his obit on my blog. The Liaden Universe is a highly recommended space opera series, and without Steve, I'm not sure that Sharon will keep it going. Sharon had a fantasy series that she'd written separately from her husband, (that I read and enjoyed), and I hope she will continue on with her own projects in the future.
Obituary Note: Steve Miller
Steve Miller who, with co-author and wife Sharon Lee, wrote more than 30 novels, including 20 in their Liaden Universe series, died February 20, File 770 reported. He was 73. Announcing his death on the pair's website https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQeIw-QI6a9gJR0nGA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nAWsKspoMLg-gVdw, Lee noted: "We had known his health was failing, and he told me a couple months ago that he'd written an obit. I found it on his computer last night."
Miller wrote that in pursuing his life-long interest in writing and science fiction, he attended the Clarion West writing workshop in 1973 where he studied with genre greats Peter Beagle, James Sallis, Harlan Ellison, Terry Carr, Vonda McIntyre, Ursula LeGuin, and Joanna Russ, shortly after which he joined the University of Maryland Baltimore County's Albin O. Kuhn Library staff as the founding Curator of Science Fiction. Following his stint as a library curator, he worked as a freelance writer for many Baltimore region weekly and monthly newspapers.
In 1978, he and Lee declared themselves partners in life and in writing, Miller wrote in his obituary, adding: "In the next while they opened Dreams Garth and Book Castle, a science fiction themed used bookstore and art gallery business. They married in November 1980, and moved from Maryland to Skowhegan, Maine, in October 1988 after the publication of their first joint novel, Agent of Change, the first in what was to become a long series of space opera novels and stories set in their original Liaden Universe. In 1992, they moved to Winslow; and to Waterville in 2018."
After the move to Maine, Miller continued to pursue his writing career and also became increasingly involved in computers, starting Circular Logic BBS, which became one of the state's largest independent BBS systems, and joining the Oakland Public Library as children's librarian and IT specialist, a part-time position. He eventually became internet librarian for Unimation, a startup in Unity that folded in 1995 during the dotcom winnowing. After that he transitioned to publisher and writer, a career he continued until his death.
Last summer, the Portland Press Herald profiled Miller and Lee https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQeIw-QI6a9gJR0nGQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nAWsKspoMLg-gVdw, noting that they "still write science fiction novels together, but with the luxury of time and space. Both write full-time and each have their own writing office, at opposite ends of their ranch house in Waterville.
The co-authors told the Press Herald that one of the reasons their writing collaboration had worked so well was that neither was concerned with getting credit for a well-written chapter or particularly imaginative plot twist. "I think what helps keep our process, and therefore our marriage, relatively peaceful is that we're each committed to achieving a correct outcome," said Lee. "The story has to be right. The story isn't about me, and it isn't about Steve. It's about the characters who live in the book."
I've been saying this for years now, but I think writers whose work is adapted to film or streaming series/TV don't get enough credit for being a huge creative engine for Hollywood/the Film Industry in general. At the Academy Awards, for example, the person who adapts the book to film/TV is lauded, but the actual author of the work is generally forgotten or overlooked. It wasn't always this way, for example, everyone lauded Harper Lee when To Kill a Mockingbird became a famous movie, but the same can't be said for the 3rd iteration of Dune, for example, perhaps because Frank Herbert is long dead, though his son Brian has taken on the mantle of keeper of the Dune flame. During pre-premier press, the cast has spoken glowingly of the director and the cinematographer, the other actors and the special FX, but I have yet to hear any of them speak highly of the source material, the Dune series, or Frank Herbert (the author's) vision of the future. I feel that especially now, with the many films and series coming out based on books, that this is an oversight that needs to be addressed. See below.
It Feels Like a Lot Because It Is a Lot
If your latest scroll through the Netflix menu left you feeling like every other option was based on a book, you’re not super wrong. Nearly one-third of the English-language shows Netflix has released so far this year are adapted from existing IP. Leading the way are the limited series Fool Me Once, based on the novel by Harlan Coben, and One Day, adapted from David Nicholls’s 2009 novel, which was previously adapted for film in 2011. When we look beyond Netflix, 7 of the 10 highest-grossing movies of last year were based on existing work, and—here’s the real stat—the last time the highest-earning film of the year was not adapted from existing IP or part of a franchise was 1998 when Titanic raked in the equivalent of $600 million (equivalent to $1.2 billion today) in the U.S. alone. That’s a full quarter-century of adaptation domination, and there’s no slow-down in sight.
System Collapse by Martha Wells is the 7th book in her Murderbot Diaries series, and, having read them all, I can honestly say that this one was just as much fun, yet it packed a real punch. This SF series has a sly mystery/thriller feel to it, and by the time you get past the first chapter's scientific info dump, you can't put it down. Here's the blurb: Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells's bestselling and award-winning Murderbot Diaries series.
Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.
Following the events in Network Effect,
the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a
newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if
there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it,
and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not
leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.
But
there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal
operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are
doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with
Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have
to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!
Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.
As with the previous Murderbot books, I was excited to read about Murderbot's latest growth in understanding not just of itself, but in figuring out the other human/AI interactions and finding ways to subvert the BE corps nefarious plans to enslave unwitting human beings, as they've done with their SecUnits. I especially like ART and Murderbots interactions. In the end, finding and rescuing some wayward humans through honest communications and a film Murderbot helped to create, all was well and there was a nice tidy HEA. I'd give this book a B+ and recommend it to anyone who has read any of the other Murderbot diaries, and enjoys the unique perspective and dry wit of Murderbot and his fellow AI's, like ART.
Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls is a historical literary novel with some weird romantic subplots interwoven throughout. Since this is my book group's book for March, and my final appearance as book group leader (no good deed goes unpunished, I've discovered), I felt that I needed to read this book with special attention, so I could discuss its ins and outs with my group. Here's the blurb: From the bestselling author of The Glass Castle, the instant New York Times bestseller a “rip-roaring, action-packed” (The New York Times) novel about an indomitable young woman in prohibition-era Virginia.
Sallie
Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the
charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a
life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother
who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just
eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While
Sallie is her father’s daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is
his mother’s son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young
Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an
accident, and Sallie is cast out.
Nine years later, she returns,
determined to reclaim her place in the family. That’s a lot more
complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and
lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the
shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and
town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless
bootlegger.
“You’ll fall in love with Sallie on the very first page and keep rooting for her all the way through to the last
in this thrilling read that “goes down easy…like the forbidden whisky
that defines the life of Sallie Kincaid” (Associated Press).
This book reads like a combination of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Bonnie and Clyde, if the latter were written by Flannery O'Connor. While I always enjoy some good Southern potboiler stories, this book took that trope as far as possible, straining credulity, with each nasty, lying, cheating man and the pregnant women and abandoned children that they leave behind. There's always a "Big Daddy" character in these stories, someone who is a big fish in a small pond, who makes money running whisky or drugs and who can't keep it in their pants and has illegitimate children all over the county. There's also the "second in command" legitimate child of Big Daddy, (in this case it's a rare young woman) who sets out to prove they're worthy of being the scion of the ruthless kingpin of the family business, similar to the siblings in the Godfather. My main problem with this genre and the tropes of Southern fiction is that the bad guys are always lionized by everyone in the town and in their household, though it's obvious that they are uneducated, greedy, vicious and corrupt. Duke's string of impregnated women keeps getting bigger the further along you are in the novel, but his daughter Sallie just keeps idolizing her father as being wonderful, when it's apparent that he's not, and is in fact despicable. It's no wonder then that by the time Sallie has finally fallen in love, she discovers that her fiancee has had an affair with her half sister, producing a child that he inevitably wanted nothing to do with. So in the end, Sallie is left raising several illegitimate children with her illegitimate sisters and other family members and making peace so that she can rebuild the mansion after it was burned down during a feud with another hillbilly family. The prose was clean and the plot slick and swift, making this page turner readable in a day. I'd give it a B, and recommend it to those who like books like Gone with the Wind, or the Godfather, or Flannery O'Connor's sterling short stories.
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent is a "dark magic fantasy romance," which in this case means it's a horror novel with fantasy trappings, so you'd better have a strong stomach before you sit down to read it. As everyone who knows me realizes, I'm not a fan of horror fiction (or most horror movies), so this book, with death and dismemberment and disembowelment on nearly every page had my "ick, gross" factor set to high. Here's the blurb:
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