The second week of June has flown by, and I've been reading up a storm! I've read 6 or 7 books now, but since I always include bookish tidbits on my blog,I will just have to pick and choose books for review this round. Sorry! Still, since last week I've also binged the third season of Bridgerton on Netflix, and viewed some new episodes of a Star Wars series and watched some movies, most of which were either awful or forgettable. Thus I land back into my TBRs full of books, knowing that at least a few of them are going to be wonderfully satisfying to my mental palate.
I love Powell's City of Books in Portland, and I'm so glad that they're investing in their future! I'm so bummed that I missed their Warehouse Sale, but it sounds like it was standing room only, and I'm sure that everyone else would have gotten to the genres I like best and cleaned them out by the time I got there!
Powell's Books Has 'Bullish
Perspective'
Like many booksellers, sales at
Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., rose during the pandemic but are now
below pre-pandemic levels. Still, the bookseller is optimistic about
the future, and will soon introduce a new website and has taken out a
$4.5 million loan that will be used to make a variety of
improvements, according to the Portland Business Journal.
"We've got a bullish perspective
on where we're going," CEO Patrick
Bassett said.
Owner Emily Powell added, "We are
addressing deferred maintenance,
day-to-day needs, and working to
elevate the experience of our
bookstores for everyone. We are not
ready to discuss the details at this
time, but we welcome more discussions
in the future."
The revamped website will likely launch
this summer. Without revealing
details, Bassett told the Journal, "We
have been working for the last
couple years on re-platforming our
e-commerce... We've got a new website
hopefully coming out this summer, and
we think that's going to provide
customers a much better experience."
In the 1990s, Powell's was one of
the first booksellers to sell
extensively online.
The store's loan was secured by the
Powell's warehouse, which was the
site last weekend for a wildly popular
sale that aimed to clear out
extra inventory accumulated during the
pandemic. Deep discounts
attracted thousands of people, some of
whom waited for hours to get into
the building.
Bassett told the Journal: "We
wanted to clear the shelves [of] some of
the stuff that hadn't been selling over
the last handful of years and
make room for some good stuff... Close
to 40,000 units sold."
It was apparently the first time
Powell's opened its warehouse for a
sale, and so successful that Powell's
will likely repeat the event.
"With that kind of turnout, we'll
have to figure out some way of doing
something like this again,"
Bassett said. "We have certainly learned a
lot about how to make this a much
better experience for all, even if
there are long lines. We're excited for
next year already."
This is also a huge bummer...I used to love perusing the Costco book tables at my local Costco in Covington. They've changed a lot over the years, and now that they're insisting on having a membership just to buy a hot dog, and they're eliminating the book tables, I really have no reason to renew my membership or darken their doorstep ever again, which is sad.
Costco to Stop Selling Books Year-round
Costco plans to stop selling books
regularly
https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQiPwuoI6a5nIxh_Hw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nPXcOipoMLg-gVdw
at its stores around the U.S. beginning in January 2025, the New York
Times reported, citing four publishing executives who had been
informed of the warehouse retailer's plans. The company will instead
sell books only during the holiday shopping period, from September
through December.
During the rest of the year, some books
may be sold at Costco stores
occasionally, but not in a consistent
manner, according to the
executives, who spoke anonymously in
order to discuss a confidential
business matter that has not yet been
publicly announced, the Times
noted.
The company's shift away from books is
due in large part to the labor
required to stock them, the executives
said, noting both the constant
turnaround of books and the fact that
copies have to be laid out by hand
instead of rolled out on a pallet as
other products often are at Costco.
The decision "could be a
significant setback for publishers at a moment
when the industry is facing stagnant
print sales and publishing houses
are struggling to find ways to reach
customers who have migrated
online," the Times wrote, adding
that while the retailer isn't as
critical to the book trade as bookstore
chains like Barnes & Noble, "it
has provided a way for people who might
not otherwise seek out books to
see them.... Shoppers could also browse
books at Costco in a way that is
difficult to do online."
The change may also impact Costco's
customers, particularly those who
live in areas without a bookstore, the
Times added, noting that "because
many books at Costco were impulse buys,
some of those sales may not
shift over to Amazon or Barnes &
Noble. Instead, they might not happen
at all."
In recent years, Costco has noticeably
cut back on its book inventory.
Pennie Clark Ianniciello, who retired
in 2021 after 32
years with Costco, was the longtime
book buyer and a major force in the
book business. Her "Pennie's
Picks" column, which appeared in Costco
Connection, the monthly magazine that
goes to many Costco members, often
dramatically boosted sales of
highlighted books.
This movie looks fascinating. I am a fan of Crichton's books and movies, and I imagine this one will be just as thrilling as the first one of his that I watched, The Andromeda Strain.
Movies: Eruption
Oscar winning directors Jimmy Chin and
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (Free
Solo, Nyad) have come aboard as part of
the package to helm an
adaptation of Eruption
https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQiPwuoI6a5nIxglEg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nPXcOipoMLg-gVdw,
the new novel by Michael Crichton and James Patterson. Deadline
reported that Chin and Vasarhelyi "will be in the center of
meetings to be held next week in which they'll pitch the book, a
large scale earth-threatening thriller about a volcano explosion in
Hawaii.... The
aim is to pitch studios and financiers
with the expectation that a deal
will be made before a screenwriter is
hired." They might also be
directing a documentary on the life of
the late Crichton.
Eruption "will be their biggest
challenge to date, but their background
in extreme sports makes them an
intriguing choice, which prompted
producers Sherri Crichton, James
Patterson and Shane Salerno to choose
them over numerous other helmers,"
Deadline wrote.
I loved meeting the fabulous ULG, back in the 90s, and I really miss her spitfire presence in the book world now that she has passed on. I imagine she would love knowing that her home is to become a writer's residence, spawning new fiction every day.
Ursula K. Le Guin’s Home
to Become Writers Residency
Grab your favorite notebook and start looking at flights to PDX.
Ursula
K. Le Guin’s family have donated the Portland, Oregon home
where the beloved writer composed many of her novels to local
nonprofit Literary
Arts , which will transform it into a writers residency.
Literary Arts executive director Andrew Proctor said in a statement
that Le Guin “had a clear vision for her home to become a creative
space for writers and a beacon for the broader literary community.”
The building’s function will be changing, but elements from its
former resident’s life, including her books and rock collection (!)
will likely be left for visitors to enjoy.
Happy Medium by Sarah Adler is a rom com with a fantasy bent that will leave you smiling for hours after you've finished it. Here's the blurb: A clever con woman must convince a skeptical,
sexy farmer of his property's resident real-life ghost if she's to
save them all from a fate worse than death, in this delightful new novel
from the author of Mrs. Nash's Ashes.
Fake spirit medium Gretchen Acorn is happy to help when her best (read: wealthiest) client hires her to investigate the unexplained phenomena preventing the sale of her bridge partner’s struggling goat farm. Gretchen may be a fraud, but she'd like to think she’s a beneficent one. So if "cleansing" the property will help a nice old man finally retire and put some much-needed cash in her pockets at the same time, who's she to say no?
Of course, it turns out said bridge partner isn't the kindly AARP member Gretchen imagined—Charlie Waybill is young, hot as hell, and extremely unconvinced that Gretchen can communicate with the dead. (Which, fair.) Except, to her surprise, Gretchen finds herself face-to-face with Everett: the very real, very chatty ghost that’s been wreaking havoc during every open house. And he wants her to help ensure Charlie avoids the same family curse that's had Everett haunting Gilded Creek since the 1920s.
Now, Gretchen has one month to convince Charlie he can’t sell the property. Unfortunately, hard work and honesty seem to be the way to win over the stubborn farmer—not exactly Gretchen's strengths. But trust isn’t the only thing growing between them, and the risk of losing Charlie to the spirit realm looms over Gretchen almost as annoyingly as Everett himself. To save the goat farm, its friendly phantom, and the man she's beginning to love, Gretchen will need to pull off the greatest con of her life: being fully, genuinely herself.
Fake spirit medium Gretchen Acorn is happy to help when her best (read: wealthiest) client hires her to investigate the unexplained phenomena preventing the sale of her bridge partner’s struggling goat farm. Gretchen may be a fraud, but she'd like to think she’s a beneficent one. So if "cleansing" the property will help a nice old man finally retire and put some much-needed cash in her pockets at the same time, who's she to say no?
Of course, it turns out said bridge partner isn't the kindly AARP member Gretchen imagined—Charlie Waybill is young, hot as hell, and extremely unconvinced that Gretchen can communicate with the dead. (Which, fair.) Except, to her surprise, Gretchen finds herself face-to-face with Everett: the very real, very chatty ghost that’s been wreaking havoc during every open house. And he wants her to help ensure Charlie avoids the same family curse that's had Everett haunting Gilded Creek since the 1920s.
Now, Gretchen has one month to convince Charlie he can’t sell the property. Unfortunately, hard work and honesty seem to be the way to win over the stubborn farmer—not exactly Gretchen's strengths. But trust isn’t the only thing growing between them, and the risk of losing Charlie to the spirit realm looms over Gretchen almost as annoyingly as Everett himself. To save the goat farm, its friendly phantom, and the man she's beginning to love, Gretchen will need to pull off the greatest con of her life: being fully, genuinely herself.
I loved that Everett the ghost was an arrogant jerk and kind of a pain for most of the book, and that Gretchen, though she's supposedly been talking to dead people for years, struggles to handle him and still deal with the hottie goat farmer she's inexorably falling for. There are some real LOL moments in the book, and there are an equal number of head-scratching moments when it's so annoying that she can't seem to be honest with Charlie the farmer or express her feelings to him, and you just want to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until her teeth rattle. Still, the prose is steady and smart, and the plot is like a bullet train on steroids, so you will likely finish this book in one sitting. I'd give it an A-, and recommend it to anyone who likes an anti-heroine turned hero.
Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore is an adventure/fantasy/romance novel set in the world of her popular series Graceling (I've read all the books in that series). Though the book is way too long (where are the good book editors these days?!), I enjoyed reading about some side characters and others who finally get their day in the sun (or, in this case, their time on a ship in a storm). Here's the blurb: Cashore's prose is ornate but sturdy, and it helps when the plot, which moves at a trot for the most part, flags due to some fanciful puffed up descriptions of things like storm clouds or a freezing sea, or icy lake...personally, I had no idea that there were so many metaphors for miserable cold and its effects on humans and animals. The blue foxes get a lot of ink in this book, so if you're not an animal/pet fan, you might want to skip this one. I had a hard time with the female protagonist's unresolved hatred of herself and her inability to deal with parental abuse, while also wanting to constantly "disappear" and be invisible (which is part of her "grace" or magical powers) whenever she's in a room with more than one or two people. I understand that there are introverted people, but Hava takes the trope one step beyond that into self-anihilation. These feelings of self loathing are unresolved by the end of the novel, just as a warning. Anyway, I'd give this book a B- and recommend it to those who like fantasy pirate ship stories and don't mind reading about the horrors of being ship wreaked.
Emmaline Waters, This is Your Life by Maggie Bloom, is a newly adult YA rom-com with a female protagonist who defines the words "dumpster fire." The protagonist is not at all charming, but rather pathetic and promiscuous, and a disaster as a parent and a person (why haven't young women like these heard of "the morning after" abortion pills or just abortion in general?) Here's the blurb:
I had numerous problems with this book, first being that it was poorly written. The prose was murky at best and the plot hopped and stopped, like a lame bunny rabbit. The main character seemed to be some men's idea of the perfect woman, a slut who can't control her libido after even one drink or one kiss from guys like her sleazy, married boss. Em can't then take responsibility for her bad choices, like not using birth control, and instead saddles her aging, ill parents with her illegitimate child, whom she refers to as her "sister" until the child is 5 (!!) when her father's heart attacks finally clue her into the fact that she's going to have to raise her child herself and grow the F up. She drinks too much as well, and makes more bad choices, and eventually we're supposed to believe that her daughter takes the news of her "real" parents in stride, which borders on the unbelievable. The ending is cutesy and stupid, and I felt cheated. I'd give this ridiculous novel a C, and I can't think of anyone I'd recommend it to.
The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson is a hilarious fantasy/adventure novel ala the late, great Terry Pratchet that will have you in stitches the whole way through it's daunting 375 pages. Here's the blurb:
Go As a River by Shelley Read combines gothic romance with historical fiction to create an unforgettable, if sad, coming of age novel. Here's the blurb:
Seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash runs the household on her family’s peach farm in the small ranch town of Iola, Colorado—the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Wilson Moon is a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land and determined to live as he chooses.
Victoria encounters Wil by chance on a street corner, a meeting that profoundly alters both of their young lives, unknowingly igniting as much passion as danger. When tragedy strikes, Victoria leaves the only life she has ever known. She flees into the surrounding mountains where she struggles to survive in the wilderness with no clear notion of what her future will bring. As the seasons change, she also charts the changes in herself, finding in the beautiful but harsh landscape the meaning and strength to move forward and rebuild all that she has lost, even as the Gunnison River threatens to submerge her homeland—its ranches, farms, and the beloved peach orchard that has been in her family for generations.
Inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola in the 1960s, Go as a River is a story of deeply held love in the face of hardship and loss, but also of finding courage, resilience, friendship, and, finally, home—where least expected. This stunning debut explores what it means to lead your life as if it were a river—gathering and flowing, finding a way forward even when a river is dammed.
This novel, like the Grapes of Wrath, is about struggling to live in hard times, and dealing with prejudice and deep loss. I love that Victoria is able to save her peach orchard and her soul, and move on with her life when it becomes clear that her town will be flooded by the installation of a dam. Though the subject matter is almost stifling in its pain, the delicate and lush prose moves the story's plot along at a swift pace towards a satisfying ending. I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone who has read and enjoyed Ivan Doig or William Kent Krueger's novels.
No comments:
Post a Comment