Reese Co-Writes with Coben, Publishing Jobs Decrease by 40 Percent Over Past 30 Years, October Book Club Pick is Society of Lies, Rimbaud Movie, Hackers Create More Problems for Libraries, The Booklover's Library by Madeline Martin, The Best Life Book Club by Sheila Roberts, Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune and Wisteria by Adalyn Grace

Good evening my fellow readers and writers and general book beasts! It's the second week of October, and while we're still experiencing warm temps (thankfully it gets much cooler at night), the smell of smoke from home hearths and dried leaves and cinnamon spice is in the air! It is nearly time for the harvest moon and Halloween, or Samhain to arrive and bring joy and candy to children everywhere. Meanwhile, since there hasn't been any good television shows on for awhile, I've been reading about 4-5 books a week, so I have a lot to review here, after these regularly scheduled tidbits about the world of books.

It's great that RW is teaming up with authors to write fiction, but I would hope that this won't keep her from taking good books and adapting them into streaming series, because she's been so successful at that so far.

Reese Witherspoon Announces First Novel, Co-Written With Harlen Coben

I have long wondered why Witherspoon didn’t have her own imprint…or house. But after the spate of high profile celebrity thriller collaborations (Viola Davis, both Clintons, etc), I should have seen something like this coming . (I know you will be shocked to hear that this will be a thriller.) I am surprised that she didn’t choose to team up with a woman, since most of her book club selections are by women and she has stated clearly that her bookish enterprises are geared toward women. I also would pay folding money to see the terms of the deal (advance, royalty split, etc etc). Vegas is not taking bets that one of the main characters will be a 40ish blond woman.

The publishing industry is having a rough go of it these days, just like journalism has had over the past nearly 20 years now, with so many papers closing or consolidating, so now there are few reputable newspapers in existence. It wouldn't surprise me, with the expense of paper, ink, etc, if this trend continues into the next 5-10 years. I pray that I'm wrong.

Over 30 Years, 40% of Publishing Jobs Disappeared. What Happened?

Good look at labor data and the publishing industry from Thad McIlroy and Jim Millot that considers the whole board. The top line is pretty striking –almost half of the book gigs that existed when I was in high school don’t exist. This is bad, right? Right? Well, productivity improvements happen. Consolidation happens. Self-publishing might account for half of all dollars that go toward buying books, and that activity isn’t captured here. And what of Audible originals etc? Sub-groups of tech companies that produce books much like a traditional publisher. Layoffs continue, this year faster than in any year that I have paid close attention to the industry, even as profits rise. Welcome to capitalism, kids. 

I'm going to try to get a copy of this book ASAP, as it sounds fascinating.  

Reese's October Book Club Pick: Society of Lies

Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown (Bantam) is the October pick for Reese's Book Club https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscVWMw7gI6a42Ix93Hg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6mSXsLwpoMLg-gVdw, which described the novel as: "In this twisty thriller, Maya returns to her alma mater to solve her younger sister's murder and is forced to confront the dark secrets of her past, including her involvement in an elite secret society. Lauren Ling Brown's debut explores collegiate scandals, the bonds of sisterhood, and how far some people will go in the name of power. Witherspoon wrote: "If you're looking for a page-turner that keeps you on the edge of your seat this spooky season, this one is a must-read."

I remember reading poems by Rimbaud and other French poets when I was in high school and college, and being thrilled at how easily they incorporated sensuality into their works. I can hardly wait for the debut of this film.

 Movies: A. Rimbaud

Blake Draper (Prom Pact, Clickbait) will star as the sole actor in A. Rimbaud https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscVWNlLoI6a42I00gTg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6mSX5XypoMLg-gVdw, a film about French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Variety reported that the project, which recently wrapped production in Winnipeg, "follows the writer from his schoolboy days in Charleville to his final years in Africa. As Rimbaud explored and broke with traditional forms of poetry, the movie likewise escapes the confines of a biopic." Writer-director Patrick Wang, said, "The only way to keep up with Rimbaud is to be as playful and as inventive as Rimbaud. We have the team of rogues ready to do this. At the center of it all is a young actor who is lightning in a bottle."

This is sad and disgusting that librarians have to deal with so much evil in today's society, especially all the threats to freedom to read and write whatever you choose, with book bans, and deplorable hackers demanding ransoms to unlock computers and keep hackers from sharing patron data publically.

Hackers Create More Problems For Libraries

Along with bomb threats and book challenges, we’re seeing an increase in the number of libraries dealing with ransomware attacks, where hackers gain access to a library system’s data, encrypt the files, and then demand a ransom in exchange. (The Seattle Public Library system recently went through an enormous ordeal earlier this year that has already cost the library over $1 million  in technology upgrades and legal fees.) But now Delaware libraries across the state have closed their computer labs after being hacked last week. The ransom demand is allegedly around $1 million, although typically, organizations rebuild in the wake of a ransomware attack, rather than pay the ransom. Thankfully, patron data has not been affected in Delaware.

 

The Booklover's Library by Madeline Martin is a historical romance set before, during and after World War 2, that has a strong feminist through-line about societal misogyny that kept women from getting a job if they were married or widowed and had children. Though it takes place in Nottingham and London, England, I would bet that women all over the world experienced much the same in their struggle to survive and provide for their children. Here's the blurb: A heartwarming story about a mother and daughter in wartime England and the power of books that bring them together, by the bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London.

In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter Olivia have always managed just fine on their own, but with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her with a job.

When the threat of war in England becomes a reality, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In the wake of being separated from her daughter, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbors and coworkers, and a renewed sense of purpose through the recommendations she provides to the library’s quirky regulars. But the job doesn’t come without its difficulties. Books are mysteriously misshelved and disappearing and the work at the lending library forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.

As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.

One of the things that bothered me about this book was Emma's inability to listen to the pleas of her daughter Olivia, who was evacuated THREE times because the government kept telling mothers that children were not safe from German bombs in London or Nottingham or anywhere else where there were munitions factories. Though her daughter writes her and is miserable every time she's placed on some grim farm somewhere (on her second evacuation, she's starved and abused, with other children, and her caretakers squeeze money from all the parents for things for themselves, not for the children at all...its horrific, and I can't imagine ever wanting to evacuate my child again after they've suffered such an experience. But no, Emma the idiot sends her away once more to her grandparents, who despise her because their son died when she was still pregnant), Emma keeps sending the poor kid away, until Olivia finally takes matters into her own hands and runs away, only to have them rescue her after she has walked miles to get back to her mother. Why she wants to come back to her spineless and weak-willed mother who consistently acts against her child's health and safety is beyond me. Emma has a good time romancing a man who, due to injury, can't be conscripted into the military, and she also has no problem lying to as many people as possible so she can keep her job at the subscription library (meaning patrons have to pay to check out books, and only class A patrons, ie rich people who can afford to pay more, get to check out the best and most recent volumes, curated by the staff of women) and read all the latest books so she can recommend them to a quirky line up of ridiculous subscribers who often steal or misplace books to cover it up. I'd give this decent prose and snappily plotted book a B-, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the plight of widowed women with children during WWII.

The Best Life Book Club by Sheila Roberts is a romantic comedy set in the Gig Harbor area of the PNW, with lots of quirky side characters and their stories and not a whole lot of book discussions. The only place that the name of the book club is mentioned is in the title, BTW. Here's the blurb:It started as a book club. It became a way to build a better life together.

Karissa Newcomb is ready for a new start in a new neighborhood, as far away as she can get from Seattle, where her husband cheated on her with the neighbor who was supposed to be her best friend. She and her nine-year-old daughter are moving on to the city of Gig Harbor on the bay in Puget Sound. She even has a new job as an assistant at a small publishing company right in Gig Harbor. Her new boss seems like a bit of a curmudgeon, but a job is a job, she loves to read, and the idea of possibly meeting writers sounds fabulous.

Soon she finds she’s not the only one in need of a refresh. Her new neighbors, Alice and Margot, are dealing with their own crises. Alice is still grieving her late husband and hasn’t been able to get behind the wheel of a car since a close call after his death. Margot is floundering after getting divorced and laid off in quick succession. They could all use a distraction, and a book club seems like just the ticket. Together, the three women, along with Alice’s grumpy older sister, Josie, embark on a literary journey that just might be the kick start they need to begin building their best lives yet.

 

Inevitably, everyone's problems are solved, because they meet up and become friends with one another, and give each other courage to try to move out of their comfort zones, by the end of the novel. Of course the female protagonist falls for her new boss at the publishing company, because he's not only rich, he's gorgeous, and though she's shy and demure and allergic to cosmetics (really? Could the author have tried any harder to make her "unassuming" and non-threatening to other women? Sad, that she had to use a tired old trope of, "little caterpillar becomes a butterfly when she gains the attention of a wealthy man"). The other thing that was like nails on a chalkboard-level irritating about this book was the drive-by religious scenes, like when Karrissa talks about her daughter praying at night before bed, and how she "blesses" the nasty twat who claimed to be Karissa's friend and then stabbed her in the back by having an affair with her husband. Karissa feels bad that she doesn't want her daughter mentioning the back-stabber in her prayers, but personally, I felt like that was just a smokescreen to try and wedge some Christian religion into an otherwise pleasant little beach book. Later on there's a scene of Karissa going to church, which was, again, disingenuous. I feel strongly that the editor should have taken these scenes completely out of the book, as they were jarring to an otherwise smooth plot. I'd give this cheesy rom com a C+, and only recommend it to those who like trope and religion filled novels.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune was the much-anticipated sequel to Klune's bestselling "House on the Cerulean Sea," which was utterly magnificent and delightful. I didn't think that it was possible to love a book more, and then I read through "Beyond the Sea" in one sitting and was utterly captivated and engrossed. Here's the blurb: Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely-anticipated sequel to TJ Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best-loved and best-selling fantasy novels of the past decade.

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.
He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there's the island's sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.Welcome back to Marsyas Island.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it. 

I have nothing negative to say about this book...Klune creates characters so rich and full bodied that you find yourself hoping to run into them on vacation or in the grocery store. I loved Arthur and Linus and their continued love story, of course, but the growth and change and love that the children had for each other and for their caretakers was just heart-breakingly beautiful. The story itself was written in evocative prose with a glorious plot that danced along on fairy feet. Reading this book was like listening to the music of the spheres, or seeing a painting by a master artist, or eating a meal that is unrivaled in a variety of flavors and textures and colors that make you wish you could continue to eat such ambrosia forever. Of course this book deserves an A+, and I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone. One more thing...if you've ever finished a book and loved it so much you want to hug it to your heart, that would be this sweet novel. Having read everything he's published, I can only hope that TJ Klune continues to write books like this, which make the world a better place by having such a wonderful story & characters in it. Mr Klune, wherever you are, you have my profound thanks for being the anti-JK Rowling. 

 

Wisteria by Adalyn Grace is the third and final book in the Belladonna series of YA romantic fantasy, also known as romantasy, which are all three encased in such beautiful cover art that the books nearly sell themselves on sight. Here's the blurb: Bestselling author Adalyn Grace delivers a sensational conclusion to the deathly and decadent Belladonna trilogy, with dramatic twists and a seductive new romance that will set readers' hearts ablaze.

Blythe Hawthorne has never let anyone tell her what to do—not society, not her overprotective father, and certainly not the man she’s bound herself to, no matter how rude and insufferable he is. In fact, she’s determined to be a thorn in his side for the rest of her days, even as he ensures that her life in his palace is anything but a fairytale. But as Blythe discovers a new side of herself linked to his past, she’ll have to decide if she’s willing to let an unexpected spark ignite…and to discover the truth about who she really is.

 

The world building that Grace uses is always enchanting, and her characters are top notch fantasy beings, with plenty of heart and emotional growth to get through before the end of the novel. I also enjoy the prose, which sparkles with banter and wit, and the staunch and determined plot, which marches along no matter what happens with the traumatic relationships and reveals. What surprised me most about this book was that Chaos didn't get in trouble for her misdeeds, but instead just disappeared and, one imagines, will reappear at the worst possible time to wreak havoc on whatever time or situation she lands in. Her malevolent behavior was accepted by the other characters as "just the way she is" and, because like Death and Fate and Life she never actually dies, I gather they all felt it was just a relief to not have to deal with her or try to kill her for a short time. There was a nice twist at the end that I won't spoil for you, but I will say that it spiced things up a bit in this B+ book. I'd recommend it to any YA who enjoys myths and legendary characters brought to life in a somewhat contemporary fashion.