Utah Bans Books from Schools, Quote of the Day, Hamnet Movie, Happy Place Comes to TV, Olivetti by Allie Millington, The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller, A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen, and Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch

YAY! We made it through the first week of August...lets head toward weeks 2 and 3 with all the confidence of the children of the Sun, astrology's LEOs. My dad and my two brothers were all Leos, so I grew up with a pride of lions, with my mother the Libra around to keep order as best as she could. I'm the lone Sagittarius who was always providing comic relief, if nothing else. Anyway, I've read some great books in the past 5 days, so without further ado, here are some tidbits and reviews for your perusal.

 

This just pisses me off something fierce. Banning books is one of the hallmarks of fascism, and it's repulsive and demeans us as a society. I believe that Utah's heavy Mormon population are using the tenants of their ridiculous religion to claim that books that have any LGBTQ characters or any sexuality in them are automatically porn, which is not the case at all. Trying to restrict Americas freedom of the press and speech goes against everything this country was founded on. So those conservatives who cloak themselves in the flag are being traitors, not patriots.

 

Utah Bans 13 Books From Public Schools Statewide

After passing one of the most restrictive book banning measures in the country, the state of Utah has released its list of books to be banned from schools across the state . The ban encompasses books that are deemed “objective sensitive material” or “pornographic,” (six of the 13 are romantasy titles by Sarah J. Maas), and the titles are, on average, 13 years old. As my colleague Kelly Jensen points out, this highlights the fact that “the so-called problem of pornography in schools appeared only when it was a convenient talking point.” Funny how that works.

The vast majority of Americans disagree with book bans and believe they infringe on parents’ rights, and that’s part of the point. This isn’t about the books; it’s about a small minority of extreme right-wing conservatives who know they are losing power in American culture and believe they should be able to restrict everyone else’s freedom. Go to your school board meetings, volunteer, and show up the polls in November, folks. Let’s remind them this is a losing issue, just like it was in 2022.

I also spend way too much time at bookstores. Libraries and bookstores are my happy place!

 

Quotation of the Day

'I Spend a Ridiculous Amount of Time at Indie Bookstores'

Indie bookstores are the places where I've developed as a writer and a

reader. I feel like I went to graduate school, a little underread in

contemporary literature. I used to spend a lot of time in class

listening to other students mention writers or books that they loved,

and I would dash off to the indie bookstore--in St. Louis that was Left

Bank Books--to see if they had it. They always did. I would buy it and

go home and read it in one sitting. It was like the experience of

reading as a child, where I was just constantly amazed by what I was

reading, and all the different types of writers that were out there and

always in these indie bookstores. That just set off my exploration of

all that was possible in fiction and who I wanted to be as a writer and

a reader.

I live in Providence now, and I spend a ridiculous amount of time at

indie bookstores, we have so many amazing ones--Riffraff, Twenty

Stories, Books on the Square, just to name a few. My friends and I were

actually just joking around that Riffraff has become our entire social

scene.... So, they're still a huge part of my life, and I'm extremely

grateful that booksellers and bookstore owners are out there making

these spaces for people.--Alison Espach, author

I can hardly wait to see this film adaptation!

Movies: Hamnet

Hamnet, the film adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's award-winning novel, has begun production in Wales, Screen Daily reported. Starring Paul Mescal and

Jessie Buckley, the project is being directed by Chloé Zhao

(Nomadland), who co-wrote the screenplay with O'Farrell.

Liza Marshall is producing Hamnet for Hera Pictures with Sam Mendes and

Pippa Harris at Neal Street Productions and Steven Spielberg's Amblin

Entertainment.

I read and enjoyed this book, so I hope that the TV streaming series will do it justice.

 

TV: Happy Place

Leila Cohan will co-write and showrun a Netflix series adaptation of

Emily Henry's bestselling novel Happy Place

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscVOPn-oI6a5iIU1xEw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6mUXZ6ipoMLg-gVdw,

Deadline reported, adding that the project remains in development at

Netflix. Jennifer Lopez is producing the series through her Nuyorican

label with Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Benny Medina.

Cohan was nominated for an Emmy in 2021 for Bridgerton in the

Outstanding Drama Series category. Most recently, she served as co-exec

producer on the forthcoming Netflix thriller The Perfect Couple and

Hallmark+'s Chicken Sisters.

Olivetti by Allie Millington is a delicious magical realism novel that was beautifully, concisely written and produced. It was such a joyous relief to actually start a book knowing that it wasn't part of a series and that it was under 300 pages, which is bucking the ridiculous trend at the moment of huge 600-1,000 page tomes that introduce an at least 3 book deal with fat, under-edited volumes of paint-by-numbers "romantasy" or "epic fantasy" or, worse, "dark fantasy" (which is the new way to describe horror novels). Here's the blurb:

A heartfelt novel praised by Tom Hanks in the New York Times as including "a conclusion nearly impossible to divine and yet so perfect it includes that most tactile of memories..."

Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks. Surrounded by books (notorious attention hogs) and recently replaced by a computer, Olivetti has been forgotten by the Brindle family—the family he’s lived with for years. The Brindles are busy humans, apart from 12-year-old Ernest, who would rather be left alone with his collection of Oxford English Dictionaries. The least they could do was remember Olivetti once in a while, since he remembers every word they’ve typed on him. It’s a thankless job, keeping memories alive.

Olivetti gets a rare glimpse of action from Ernest’s mom, Beatrice—his used-to-be most frequent visitor—only for her to drop him off at Heartland Pawn Shop and leave him helplessly behind. When Olivetti learns Beatrice has mysteriously gone missing afterward, he believes he can help find her. He breaks the only rule of the “typewriterly code” and types back to Ernest, divulging Beatrice’s memories stored inside him.

Their search takes them across San Francisco—chasing clues, maybe committing a few misdemeanors. As Olivetti spills out the past, Ernest is forced to face what he and his family have been running from, The Everything That Happened. Only by working together will they find Beatrice, belonging, and the parts of themselves they’ve lost.

Though I do not believe that typewriters despise the books and letters they've written, I do believe, with all my heart, that they retain the memories of what they've written. I loved Olivetti, and his curmudgeonly soul and bracing wit. It was a relief to read a novel with prose that was spare and yet lyrical, that didn't waste a paragraph on every febrile emotion of the protagonists or descriptions of each days weather, woods, sunrise and sunset. The plot here moved swiftly and cleanly along, and happiness bubbled along under the surface of every line. I'd give this winning novel an A, and recommend it to anyone who loves the printed word, especially those of us who are dinosaurs and reminded of a time before computers when a good typewriter was essentially your best friend. 

 

The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller is an arch and wickedly fun YA romantic adventure fantasy that is somewhat loosely based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Though it is part of a series, this first novel is tightly written with elegant and light gothic prose, with a plot that dances through the 325 pages with a deftness that is delightful. Here's the blurb:“They’ve never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart. And they never will.”

Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power:
1) Woo the Shadow King.
2) Marry him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.

No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it.

But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen―all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?

“Tricia Levenseller’s latest, The Shadows Between Us, is a decadent and wickedly addictive fantasy, full of schemes and court intrigue, and delightful descriptions of food, which I am always a fan of.” ―Kendare Blake 

I loved Alessandra and Kallias's story, and their sparring, as well as the way that they learned to accept one another for who they really are. I look forward to the next book in the series. I'd give this debut novel an A-, and recommend it to those who enjoy the more adventurous side of romantasy.BTW, the cover of this book is gorgeous, and the second book in the series is even more elaborate.

 

A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen is an historical mystery/romance that is also loosely based on a Shakespeare romantic comedy called Twelfth Night. The female protagonist is a resourceful middle aged woman caught in a no-win situation, who makes her own luck by dressing as her horrible dead half-sibling. Here's the blurb:

Bridgerton meets Deanna Raybourn in this cozy historical mystery of crime, love, and mistaken identity in 18th-century England.

When librarian Miss Tiffany Woodall assumes the identity of her late half-brother, she realizes she isn’t the only one with a secret to hide.

1784 London.Miss Tiffany Woodall didn’t murder her half-brother, but she did bury him in the back garden so that she could keep her cottage. Now, the confirmed spinster has to pretend to be Uriah and fulfill his duties as the Duke of Beaufort’s librarian while searching Astwell Palace for Uriah’s missing diamond pin, the only thing of value they own. Her ruse is almost up when she is discovered by Mr. Samir Lathrop, the local bookseller, who tries to save her from drowning while she's actually just washing up in a lake after burying her brother.

Her plan is going by the book, until the rector proposes marriage and she starts to develop feelings for Mr. Lathrop.  But when her childhood friend, Tess, comes to visit, Tiffany quickly realizes her secret isn’t the only one hidden within these walls.  The body of a servant is found, along with a collection of stolen items, and someone else grows mysteriously ill. Can Tiffany solve these mysteries without her own disguise being discovered? If not, she’ll lose her cottage and possibly her life.

I loved that Tiffany was persistent in solving the mystery of who was poisoning servants and her half brother, and that she doesn't allow her lower station in life to keep her form the truth. The depiction of the local Vicar was particularly astute, and his hideous misogyny that was part and parcel of religion for centuries (and still is, to an extent), was chilling. I also liked Samir and his bookstore, and his defense of Tiffany during her "trial." The prose was somewhat immature, and but the plot was sturdy and made sure that the story arc met it's HEA ending. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to fans of Bridgerton and of Sense and Sensibility or Emma.

Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch is a fictional memoir of an old Hollywood gossip columnist, the kind who used to have influence at all the major movie studios in California. Here's the blurb: 

A scintillating debut novel that brings the golden age of Hollywood to glittering life, from star-studded opening nights to backlot brawls, on-location Westerns to the Hollywood Canteen. Through character actress turned gossip columnist Edie O'Dare's eyes, Lindsay Lynch draws back the curtain on classic Hollywood’s secrets.

As character actress Edie O'Dare finishes the final year of her contract with FWM Studios, the clock is ticking for her to find a new gig after an undistinguished stint in the pictures. She's long supplemented her income moonlighting for Hollywood's reigning gossip columnist, providing her with the salacious details of every party and premiere. When an up-and-coming starlet hands her a letter alleging an assault from an A-list actor at a party with Edie and the rest of the industry’s biggest names in attendance, Edie helps get the story into print and sets off a chain of events that will alter the trajectories of everyone involved. 

Now on a new side of the entertainment business, Edie’s second act career grants her more control on the page than she ever commanded in front of the camera. But Edie quickly learns that publishing the secrets of those former colleagues she considers friends has repercussions. And when she finds herself in the middle of the trial of the decade, Edie is forced to make an impossible choice with the potential to ruin more than one life. Full of sharp observation and crackling wit, debut novelist Lindsay Lynch maps the intricate networks of power that manufacture the magic of the movies and interrogates who actually gets to tell women's stories.

This was a rather cynical, bitter novel, where no one comes off as a decent person, unscathed by ruthless ladder climbers and actors trying to make their way to stardom. The prose was standard, sort of beige, and the plot seemed to slow down every chapter or so, enough for the back-biting and manipulation to become tedious. I loathed that Edie never had the courage to help the young woman who was raped by the major star. It was "every man for himself" at that time, apparently, and if you were a woman you were expendable. I was wishing for a more hopeful ending, but it wasn't to be. I'd give this depressing fake memoir a C, and only recommend it to those who wonder what life was like for those behind the scenes in the 40s and 50s in Tinseltown.