Reese Witherspoon is Named Most Influential Book Person, Forever Interrupted on TV, Sandman Season 2 on TV, Bookshop Typewriter Poetry, The Excitements by CJ Wray, Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L Armentrout, The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne, and Cut and Thirst by Margaret Atwood

Good day to you, fellow book lovers! It's already the final days of May, and as we head into June's summer days, a quick reminder that there are always new "beach reads" and "Summer reading lists" coming out this time of year, but don't be fooled by the marketing, they're just as much fun to read indoors, in air conditioned splendor without the suns damaging rays burning cancer into your skin as they are to read on a beach full of seagull poop and sand. I've got some interesting tidbits and four book reviews for your edification, so lets get started.

 

I really admire Reese W, and her ability to make books and reading more popular across the globe. I also enjoy her adaptations of specific novels and stories. 

 

Reese Witherspoon, 'One of the Most Influential People' in the Book Business

As Reese's Book Club approaches its 100th pick, the New York Times delved into what has made the book club leader "one of the most influential people" in the book business.

In a story called "Inside Reese Witherspoon's Literary Empire

https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQndlboI6a8yKxlySw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nOD5TypoMLg-gVdw," Witherspoon said her club's monthly choices need to be optimistic and shareable. "Do you close this book and say, 'I know exactly who I want to give it to?' " The picks also have to be books by women, with women

at the center of the action who save themselves. "Because that's what

women do," she said. "No one's coming to save us."

The club's effects have been striking: "Her book club picks reliably

land on the bestseller list for weeks, months or, in the case of Where

the Crawdads Sing [by Delia Owen], years," the Times wrote. "In 2023,

print sales for the club's selections outpaced those of Oprah's Book

Club and Read With Jenna, according to Circana Bookscan, adding up to

2.3 million copies sold."

Begun in 2017, the Reese Book Club made Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely

Fine by Gail Honeyman its inaugural pick. The novel "spent 85 weeks on

the paperback bestseller list. The club's second pick, The Alice Network

[by Kate Quinn], spent nearly four months on the weekly best-seller

lists and two months on the audio list. Its third, The Lying Game [by

Ruth Ware], spent 18 weeks on the weekly lists."

Witherspoon has found what the Times calls "a sweet spot between

literary and commercial fiction, with a few essay collections and

memoirs sprinkled in. She turned out to be the literary equivalent of a

fit model--a reliable bellwether for readers in search of intelligent,

discussion-worthy fare, hold the Proust. She wanted to help narrow down

the choices for busy readers, she said, 'to bring the book club out of

your grandma's living room and online.' "

A small group of people consider titles for the club, and "Nothing makes

her happier than getting something out in the world that you might not

see otherwise," Jon Baker, one of the group, said about Witherspoon.

One way Witherspoon aims to help create something you might not see

otherwise is through the club's Lit Up program, which helps "dynamic, unpublished, diverse women and nonbinary writers" develop their craft and hopefully get published. The program includes an all-expenses-paid retreat to develop a manuscript and learn about the business side of publishing, a

three-month mentorship with a published author, meetings with literary

agents, and a book launch marketing commitment from Reese's Book Club

when the book is published. This program itself is another great Reese pick.

This is another adaptation of a novel that I'm looking forward to viewing.

TV: Forever, Interrupted

Laura Dern and Margaret Qualley will star in and executive produce

Forever, Interrupted https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQndlboI6a8yKxlwSw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nOD5TypoMLg-gVdw,

a Netflix limited series based on the 2013 bestselling novel by Taylor

Jenkins Reid, Deadline reported. Julia Bicknell is writing the

adaptation and will serve as showrunner for the series.

The project "was taken out about a month ago. In a tough marketplace, it

generated interest from multiple buyers, ultimately landing at Netflix,"

Deadline noted.

I love, love, love the Sandman, from when I read it back in the 90s to the Netflix series that was marvelously cast and enacted. I can hardly wait for Season two, and I'm excited to see what the new cast members do with these iconic roles.

TV: The Sandman Season 2

Netflix "has rounded out the Endless Family" for season two of The

Sandman https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQndnugI6a8yKxEiTg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nOD5-gpoMLg-gVdw, based on Neil Gaiman's DC Comics series, Deadline reported. Esme Creed-Miles will play Delirium, Adrian Lester is Destiny, and Barry Sloane is the Prodigal. They join season one cast members Tom Sturridge as Dream, Kirby as Death, Mason Alexander Park as Desire, and Donna Preston as Despair, who are returning.

Additional returning cast members include Patton Oswalt, Vivienne

Acheampong, Gwendoline Christie, Jenna Coleman, Ferdinand Kingsley,

Stephen Fry, Asim Chaudhry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Vanesu Samunyai, and Razane Jammal.Developed and executive produced by Gaiman.

 

I love spontaneous poetry! This is great!

Bookshop Typewriter Poetry: Read It Again Bookstore

Posted on Facebook by Read It Again Bookstore, Suwanee, Ga.: "Found this lovely poem on the typewriter :

Independent bookstores

like lifelong friends

are there for you

in the hardest of times

in the harsh desert of

"what should I read?"

there is always a bookstore friend

to lend a helping hand

to point you to the perfect book

the one meant for you

the one destined to nestle between your hands

while you spend the night,

and wee hours of the morning

feverishly flipping pages

until the last parting word.

The Excitements by CJ Wray is a historical rom-com with a twist...it's protagonists are two women in their late 90s who served in World War II. It is rare to find any book with women over the age of 45, let alone in their "Golden Years." But this book upends that societal misogyny and shows that tough women from the greatest generation are still going strong, no matter how old they are. The funny, quirky sisters Josephine and Penny are so fascinating and charming, they'll have you turning pages into the wee hours! Here's the blurb: 

A brilliant and witty drama about two brave female World War II veterans who survived the unthinkable without ever losing their killer instinct…or their joie de vivre.

Meet the Williamson sisters, Britain’s most treasured World War II veterans. Now in their late nineties, Josephine and Penny are in huge demand, popping up at commemorative events and history festivals all over the country. Despite their age, they’re still in great form—perfectly put together, sprightly and sparky, and always in search of their next “excitement.”

This time it’s a trip to Paris to receive the Légion d’honneur for their part in the liberation of France. And as always, they will be accompanied by their devoted great-nephew, Archie.

Keen historian Archie has always been given to understand that his great aunts had relatively minor roles in the Women’s Royal Navy and the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, but that’s only half the story. Both sisters are hiding far more than the usual “official secrets”. There’s a reason sweet Auntie Penny can dispatch a would-be mugger with an umbrella.

This trip to Paris is not what it seems either. Scandal and crime have always quietly trailed the Williamson sisters, even in the decades after the war. Now armed with new information about an old adversary, these much decorated (but admittedly ancient) veterans variously intend to settle scores, avenge lost friends, and pull off one last, daring heist before the curtain finally comes down on their illustrious careers.

Though it was a cliche to have Archie the nephew be gay, I still enjoyed his dedication to caring for his aunties and making sure they weren't bored, though he doesn't realize that that isn't necessary, as both have things going on that he knows nothing about. the hostage crisis at the end was fun (something I thought I'd never say) and I find myself hoping for another fast-paced sequel. The prose was as clear and hard as a diamond, and the plot wooshed by like a runaway train. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys unusual protagonists in their novels.

 

Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L Armentrout is a romantic fantasy novel that is the first in a "flesh and fire" series, based in the world of the "blood and ash" books that came before it. I've been rather disappointed at the duplication and unoriginal plots and characters in nearly all of the "romantasy" books that I've read lately. They all have the same female protagonist, usually a young woman whose family has been killed while she was still a child, and she was taken by some grizzled battle veteran who trains her to be an assassin/warrior, though he can't train her out of her hatred of those who killed her family/friends, and he can do nothing about her internal flame of anger, vitriol and deep self-loathing. Of course, the one being she's supposed to stay away from and/or kill is always tall, dark and handsome, and turns out to be the one being who sets her stomach aflutter and opens her heart by rescuing her and helping others behind the scenes. So the "big bad" of the book is almost always just "misunderstood," and even though he's done some shady things, and he is kind of a charming asshat, she falls in love with him and thus has the dilemna of having to kill him but not wanting to kill him because he's hot and he "gets" her. The two spend a lot of time with witty banter and they kiss (and it's always a life-changing kiss that neither can forget!), but don't actually get down to pound town until the last quarter of the book. This sort of carrot and stick approach is supposed to keep readers going through vast amounts of turgid prose and limp plot devices. I can tell within 20 pages whether or not a book is following this exact same story line, and it's becoming so popular that it's like headlice among romantasy authors...once one discovered the formula and used it successfully its EVERYWHERE. Ugh. Here's the blurb: Born shrouded in the veil of the Primals, a Maiden as the Fates promised, Seraphena Mierel’s future has never been hers. Chosen before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people, Sera must leave behind her life and offer herself to the Primal of Death as his Consort.

However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania—she’s not the well protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission—one target. Make the Primal of Death fall in love, become his weakness, and then…end him. If she fails, she dooms her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot.

Sera has always known what she is. Chosen. Consort. Assassin. Weapon. A specter never fully formed yet drenched in blood. A monster. Until him. Until the Primal of Death’s unexpected words and deeds chase away the darkness gathering inside her. And his seductive touch ignites a passion she’s never allowed herself to feel and cannot feel for him. But Sera has never had a choice. Either way, her life is forfeit—it always has been, as she has been forever touched by Life and Death. 

 

Of course there's the cliffhanger ending, along with a "happy for now" scene, that is supposed to lead readers to the next overblown 600+ page book in the series, but to be honest, I'm just not motivated to read the same plot rehashed over and over. The plane always lands with the main couple together, ruling the kingdom or working together in harmony, after seriously boning, of course. YAWN. I'd give this huge tome (which needed a good editor) a B-, and recommend it to those who like their romantasy to follow the same color by numbers that all the other YA and adult fantasy novels do.

 

The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne is a YA scifi/romance novel that seems to be trying to turn Bridgerton into a space opera. While the prose was spritely and the plot fairly quick until the final few chapters of the book, where things got a bit twisty and messy, I still found the last few chapters to be too good to be true and naive.

Here's the blurb: 

The Bachelorette meets sci-fi in this gripping story about a young girl caught in a world of royal intrigue and lost love in her quest to save her family from ruin.

Engagement season is in the air. Eighteen-year-old Princess Leonie “Leo” Kolburg, heir to a faded European spaceship, has only one thing on her mind: which lucky bachelor can save her family from financial ruin? 

But when Leo’s childhood friend and first love, Elliot, returns as the captain of a successful whiskey ship, everything changes. Elliot was the one who got away, the boy Leo’s family deemed to be unsuitable for marriage. Now he’s the biggest catch of the season and he seems determined to make Leo’s life miserable.

But old habits die hard, and as Leo navigates the glittering balls of the Valg Season, she finds herself falling for her first love in a game of love, lies, and past regrets.

Fans of Katharine McGee and Kiera Cass will be dazzled by this world of lost love and royal intrigue. 

I can't believe the blurbers compared this book to the awful train wreak that is "reality" TV's The Bachelorette. Reality TV shows, which are poorly scripted, are the pustules on the arse of TV. This book, though too easy and immature to be great, doesn't deserve to be rated with horrific reality TV, the lowest of the low in cheap television programming. Still, it was distracting and "cute" for a YA novel, and I rooted for Leo to find a way forward with the criminal bad boy Elliot, who of course she can't get enough of (because, see above, the "misunderstood" bad boy is always the one who captures the female protagonist's heart, though he's often a jerk to her and not really worthy of her). All in all, a solid B performance, and I would recommend it to those who like their books easy and fun and fashionable.

 

Cut and Thirst by Margaret Atwood (*yes, THAT Margaret Atwood, author of the Handmaid's Tale) is a gorgeously written short story that I gobbled up in one sitting. Here's the blurb:

Three women scheme to avenge an old friend in a darkly witty short story about loyalty, ambition, and delicious retribution by Margaret Atwood, the #1 bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Myrna, Leonie, and Chrissy meet every Thursday to sample fine cheeses, to reminisce about their former lives as professors, and lately, to muse about murder. Decades ago, a vicious cabal of male poets contrived—quite publicly and successfully—to undermine the writing career, confidence, and health of their dear friend Fern. Now, after Fern has taken a turn for the worse, her three old friends decide that it’s finally time to strike back—in secret, of course, since Fern is far too gentle to approve of a vendetta. All they need is a plan with suitably Shakespearean drama. But as sweet and satisfying as revenge can be, it’s not always so cut and dried.

This is one of those perfect-pitch stories that will have you laughing and crying for completely different reasons. Atwood is such a brilliant feminist, she never makes a wrong move, ever, in her work, and I love the fact that her characters reflect what real women go through on a day to day basis. I couldn't wait to read about each revenge scene..and though it was well-deserved, Atwood makes the reader think about the consequences of the character's actions. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just give this delicious tale an A, and recommend it to any and every woman who has ever felt the sting of societal misogyny (and that's all of us, whether you recognize it or not).