Welcome
to June, and the start of what looks to be a long, hot summer. I'm not a
fan of heat, but I have air conditioning and a bunch of promising books
on my TBR, so I'm sure I will escape the ravages of radiation from the
sun this summer by reading indoors with a glass of sweet tea. Meanwhile,
here's some news and reviews.
I
was a huge fan of the Alienist about 3 years after it came out, and I
loved the mini-series. Brilliant writing and on TV, brilliant acting of a
story that was bizarre and horrific and somehow fascinating. RIP Caleb
Carr.
Obituary Note: Caleb Carr
Caleb Carr
https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQiJwb4I6a8xIRl2HQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nPW8D2poMLg-gVdw,
a military historian and author "whose experience of childhood
abuse drove him to explore the roots of violence--most famously in
his 1994 bestseller, The Alienist, a period thriller about the hunt
for a serial killer in 19th-century Manhattan," died May 23, the
New York Times reported. He was 68.
Carr was 39 when he published The
Alienist, a book he had first pitched
as nonfiction. It wasn't, but read that
way because of the exhaustive
research he had done into the period
and the historical figures who
featured as characters. The Alienist
was an immediate hit and earned
glowing reviews. Even before it was
published, the movie rights were
acquired, though the project never made
it to the big screen. In 2018,
however, a 10-episode mini-series was
released on TNT.
Magazine writers were captivated by
Carr's "downtown cool--he lived on
the Lower East Side of Manhattan, had
been in a local punk band, wore
black high-top sneakers and had
shoulder-length hair--and by his
literary provenance. His father was
Lucien Carr, a journalist who was
muse to and best friends with Beat
royalty: the writers Jack Kerouac,
William S. Burroughs and Allen
Ginsberg. Beautiful and charismatic as a
young man, 'Lou was the glue,' Ginsberg
once said, that held the group
together," the Times wrote.
"There's no question that I have a
lifelong fascination with violence,"
Caleb Carr told Stephen Dubner of New
York magazine in 1994, just before
The Alienist was published. "Part
of it was a desire to find violence
that was, in the first place, directed
toward some purposeful end, and
second, governed by a definable ethical
code. And I think it's fairly
obvious why I would want to do that."
His father had been sexually molested
by his Boy Scout master, David
Kammerer, who followed Lucien Carr when
he entered Columbia University.
In 1944, Lucien Carr killed his
longtime predator in Riverside Park,
stabbing him with his Boy Scout knife
and rolling him into the Hudson
River. Kerouac helped him dispose of
the knife. Carr turned himself in
the next day and served two years for
manslaughter in a reformatory.
Before The Alienist was published,
Caleb Carr had been writing on
military subjects, including a book
with James Chace about national
security and, on his own, a biography
of an American soldier of fortune
who became a Chinese military hero in
the mid-19th century.
"I have a grim outlook on the
world, and in particular on humanity," he
told Joyce Wadler of the Times in 2005.
"I spent years denying it, but I
am very misanthropic. And I live alone
on a mountain for a reason."
Working
was my favorite book of Studs Terkels, and I can hardly believe that
it's 50 years old already. I loved the TV version, and Terkel's
wonderful style of interviewing people was a big influence on me as a
journalist.
Image of the Day: Celebrating Working
This year, the New Press is celebrating
the 50th anniversary of the
publication of Working: People Talk
About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do,
Studs Terkel's classic oral history on the subject. Already, the New
Press has compiled quotations from Terkel and others about his
Working
https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQiJwb4I6a8xIRl2SA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nPW8D2poMLg-gVdw
as well as links to some of the many interviews Terkel conducted over
50 years on WFMT in Chicago of a range of people.
In addition, the New Press has
partnered with the North Figueroa
Bookshop in Los Angeles on a mural
honoring the book. (One of the building's outside walls is used for
murals.) Appropriately the publisher has a special work connection
with the store, which is a joint venture of Unnamed Press and Rare
Bird: Unnamed publisher and co-founder Chris Heiser was a New Press
intern in the 1990s, in the Press's early days.
I
can hardly wait for this movie, as I've seen long stretches of the
stage musical with Idina Menzel and Christin Chenowith, and loved every
second. It must be said that I was not the biggest fan of the cynical
novel which the musical was based on, but the addition of iconic songs
and wonderful actors helped smooth out the books rough edges, IMO. BTW, I
will watch anything that has Michelle Yeoh in it.
Movies: Wicked the Musical
A trailer has been released for Jon M.
Chu's two-part film adaptation of
the Tony award-winning Broadway musical
Wicked
https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQiJwb4I6a8xIRl0Hw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nPW8D2poMLg-gVdw,
which was based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and
Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Ariana Grande "is
returning to her child-star roots" to play Glinda the Good
Witch, with Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba (later known as the Wicked Witch
of the West), Jonathan Bailey as Prince Fiyero, and Jeff Goldblum as
the Wizard, IndieWire reported.
The cast also includes Michelle Yeoh,
Bowen Yang, Peter Dinklage, Adam
James, Keala Settle, Bronwyn James,
Ethan Slater, and Colin Michael
Carmichael. Wicked: Part One premieres
November 27 in theaters, with a
2025 holiday season release anticipated
for part two.
Chu directs the project, written by
Tony nominee Winnie Holzman. "We decided to give ourselves a
bigger canvas and make not just one Wicked movie but two!" Chu
noted. "With more space, we can tell the story of Wicked as it
was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to
the journeys for these beloved characters."
I
was a frequent buyer at the Issaquah B&N right after we moved here
in 1991, up until they closed in 2020. I want to be one of their first
customers when they reopen in October. This B&N was where I got my
first membership card and where I bought my first ebook reader, the
original Nook, which they stopped supporting years ago, so I had to buy a
Kindle Paperwhite in order to read ebooks.
B&N Opening New Store in Issaquah,
Wash.
Barnes & Noble will open a new
store in Issaquah, Wash., later this year.
Per the Issaquah Reporter, the new
store will reside in a
25,000-square-foot space in the
Issaquah Commons shopping center that
previously housed a Bed Bath &
Beyond. It will feature B&N's new store
design and a cafe. B&N had a store in Issaquah that
was in business for some 25 years. It closed in 2020 after its lease expired.
The company expects the new location to
be open by October or November.
The Comfort of Ghosts
by Jacqueline Winspear is the 18th and final book in the Maisie Dobbs
mystery series, which I've been reading, and loving, for decades. Though
the ending was tied up, I still was left with questions about the fate
of all the orphaned teens and children that Maisie rescued after WWII.
Here's the blurb: Psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs
unravels a profound mystery from her past in a war-torn nation grappling
with its future.
London, 1945: Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion—the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing. Psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group.
Maisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft. As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.
The award-winning Maisie Dobbs series has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers, readers drawn to a woman who is of her time, yet familiar in ours—and who inspires with her resilience and capacity for endurance. This final assignment of her own choosing not only opens a new future for Maisie and her family, but serves as a fascinating portrayal of the challenges facing the people of Britain at the close of the Second World War.
As usual,
Winspear's prose is elegant and beautifully renders her smooth and
swift plot right up until the end, when, as I've said, I was still left
with some questions. I liked the fact that the story outlined some of
the less talked about horrors of the second World War, like POW torture
in Japanese and Burmese prison camps, and the starving and broken
soldiers who returned to a starving and broken (and broke in a monetary
fashion) Europe, which was in dire need of help from the USA to get back
on its feet and provide housing and food to those displaced by bombs
and war...especially a high number of children left without parents.
Maisie, as usual, has some mysteries to solve, but is also intent on
helping some of these orphaned children find their place in post-WWII
Britain and America. I loved the fact that her best friend Pris, who
though upper class, has always had Maisie's back, is front and center in
this novel, helping with orphans and others and working hard to slay
her 'dragon' of alcoholism. All in all, wonderful, poignant stuff. I'd
give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who has read this
fantastic mystery series.London, 1945: Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion—the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing. Psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group.
Maisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft. As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.
The award-winning Maisie Dobbs series has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers, readers drawn to a woman who is of her time, yet familiar in ours—and who inspires with her resilience and capacity for endurance. This final assignment of her own choosing not only opens a new future for Maisie and her family, but serves as a fascinating portrayal of the challenges facing the people of Britain at the close of the Second World War.
Funny Story
by Emily Henry is fun and funny contemporary adult romance, though I
believe it could easily work for those YA readers on the mature end of
YA, like 18-22. Though I've read some of Henry's other romances, which
were okay, but nothing that stood out, this novel had me engrossed and
in stitches right from the get-go. Here's the blurb: A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from author Emily Henry.
Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.
Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.
Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?
But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?
Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.
Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.
Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?
But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?
Miles
and especially Daphne are hilarious together, and their plan to show up
their ex's by pretending to be involved is rife with twist and turns,
and of course the inevitable falling in love part, which everyone but
them sees coming. There's tons of witty dialogue and quips like "You
lubed my zipper" that lead to I Love Lucy levels of sketch comedy.
Though I totally get why Daphne falls for Miles, Miles is such a great
guy, warm and kind and genuinely nice (and outgoing/extroverted) that I
kind of wondered what he saw in Daphne, who is ridiculously
shy/introverted, and who can't seem to stop blushing, which, along with
giggling, is something that I think girls beyond the age of 10 should
never do, ever. Still, there's serious chemistry between the two, and
the love scenes are just spicy enough without veering into soft porn
territory. All in all, an engrossing read that I couldn't put down and
enjoyed tremendously. I'd give it an A, and recommend it to anyone who
liked the Gilmore Girls, or Moonlighting, or His Girl Friday, or any
other bantering couple romance.
Infinity Alchemist
by Kacen Callender is a YA LGBTQ+ romantic fantasy (ie romantasy) that
features a quest and a triad of lovers who must figure it all out before
everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Here's the blurb: For Ash Woods, practicing alchemy is a crime.
Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic—so when Ash is rejected by Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, he takes a job as the school’s groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret.
When he’s discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested—but instead of calling the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an offer: Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power.
As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists—Ash’s estranged father included. Ash’s journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.
Featuring trans, queer, and polyamorous characters of color, Infinity Alchemist is the hugely anticipated young adult fantasy debut from the extraordinary author of Felix Ever After, King and the Dragonflies, Queen of the Conquered and more.
Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic—so when Ash is rejected by Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, he takes a job as the school’s groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret.
When he’s discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested—but instead of calling the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an offer: Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power.
As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists—Ash’s estranged father included. Ash’s journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.
Featuring trans, queer, and polyamorous characters of color, Infinity Alchemist is the hugely anticipated young adult fantasy debut from the extraordinary author of Felix Ever After, King and the Dragonflies, Queen of the Conquered and more.
I
must admit that I had a hard time following who was what
gender/sexuality and what that meant for the main character for the
first 1/3rd of this book. Once I figured out that Ash was a female
transitioning to male, and that Ramsay was of a fluid gender who could
be male one day and female the next, and that the final member of their
triad is gay, then all their sexual dynamics fell into place, and the
plot started to fall into place as well. There's a throughline woven
into the story on the meaning of power, and who is worthy of it, what
their motivations are for having it, and who isn't worthy of power and
its responsibilities. The fact that most of the adults are willing to do
anything and sacrifice anyone to get it speaks volumes for how todays
young people see the world and societies structural dynamics. Though
I did enjoy the main three characters, I have to say that Ash's
wide-eyed optimism and peace-loving ways, along with their naivete,
began to grate on my nerves. Still, it was a good read, if slow in
spots, and I'd give it a B, and recommend it to those looking for
diverse stories with LGBTQ protagonists.
Out on a Limb
by Hannah Bonham-Young is a contemporary romance featuring
differently-abled protagonists and lots of spice. I was actually not
expecting the sex scenes to get progressively more "spicy" as the book
went on, but I do think from a representation point of view, its
important to see people with prosthetics or shrunken limbs unabashedly
enjoying one another's bodies and falling in lust/love with one another.
Here's the blurb:
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