The second week of February, and Valentine's Day are upon us! Book Lovers should find a plethora of reasons to go shopping in bookstores for book genres we love. Along with some hot tea, coffee or cocoa, and a warm blanket and a peaceful place to read, with or without a beloved pet, this weekend is the perfect time to celebrate the love of books by snuggling in and reading and enjoying yourself. Ignore the horrors of the outside world, and read something uplifting and/or fun. Hugs to all of you, my fellow bibliophiles.
This is quite disturbing, as WAPO used to be a newspaper of record. I never, in my wildest dreams as a reporter, thought that all the community and city newspapers would disappear within a decade and that we'd only eventually be left with the Gray Lady, the NY Times, as our only newspaper in the US able to sustain real reporters/journalists doing their job everyday to enlighten, entertain and inform. The problem with internet news is that it is not fact checked or reliable, and usually has someone with an agenda behind it who is trying to sell you snake oil or propaganda, neither of which has a passing acquaintance with the truth or reality. So Bezos, who amasses a huge fortune everyday, could easily have sustained and supported the WAPO for decades to come, if he were at all community minded. Instead, he withdrew his support and has left them to the wolves. This breaks my heart. I sincerely hope that someday actual paper newspapers will make a comeback, and that someone will revive the art and science and craft of journalism and journalistic ethics. Please God....don't let the NYT fall prey to the oligarchs and evil politicians.
Washington Post Closes the Books Section Amid Layoffs
On Wednesday, the Washington Post, "at the behest of owner Jeff Bezos," cut a third of its workforce with layoffs affecting "every corner of the newsroom," including the Books section. NPR reported that "with the job cuts, the storied newspaper narrows the scope of its ambitions for the foreseeable future. It is a remarkable reversal for a vital pillar of American journalism that had looked to Bezos--one of the wealthiest people on Earth--as a champion and a financial savior."
Calling the move "a strategic reset," executive editor Matt Murray said the Post will shutter its sports desk, while keeping some sports reporters to write feature stories. It will also close its Books section and suspend the podcast Post Reports. The international desk will shrink dramatically.
The Associated Press noted that the Book World, "a destination for book reviews, literary news and author interviews, has been a dedicated section in its Sunday paper."
The Post Guild, which represents staffers, is planning a rally today outside the paper's headquarters. "These layoffs are not inevitable. A newsroom cannot be hollowed out without consequences for its credibility, its reach and its future," the union said. "If Jeff Bezos is no longer willing to invest in the mission that has defined this paper for generations and serve the millions who depend on Post journalism, the the Post deserves a steward that will."
The layoffs included Ron Charles, the highly respected longtime book critic for the Post. On his Substack, in a piece headlined "I've Been Laid Off. I'm Not Done," he wrote: "After 20 years at the Washington Post, I’m suddenly on my own--and still writing about books.... Wednesday morning, I learned that my services as a book critic at the Washington Post were no longer needed. My job, along with many others, was eliminated in the paper's latest effort to reinvent itself. How a major national newspaper will carry on without someone on staff to summarize the plots of midlist literary novels is beyond me. But I'll leave that challenge to the august managers who must now carry the Post forward."
Noting that in recent years, "there were plenty of warning signs at the Post that trouble was brewing--departing colleagues, shrinking sections, four horsemen in the heavens--but I vainly imagined I might hang on a few more years.... For book critics, getting laid off is practically a rite of passage--usually the last rite of the final passage. "Ironically, I received my layoff notice from Human Resources while I was eating one of the two remaining Harry & David pears that the Post sent to celebrate my 20th anniversary at the paper.... In any case, I'm not rich enough or tired enough to retire quite yet. So long as I can flip pages--and publishers send me galleys--I intend to keep nattering on about books, authors and our imperiled literary culture.
I LOVE this! I wish I'd been in a bookstore when my water broke, but considering my son was 2 months early, I think it was a good thing that it broke at home in Ballard in the middle of the night, and I was whisked away to downtown Seattle and the NICU at Swedish Hospital on Pill Hill, which was just far enough from the WTO riots to be unaffected by the protests, and my son could be born via C-section on November 27. He is now a tall and handsome 6ft2" adult who is employed at a tech company and has a partner, Sylvie, in Canada whom he plans to marry. These folks are so fortunate that the bookstore tracked them down and gave them presents for themselves and baby Leo.
Bookstore Baby: Monkey and Dog Books
Earlier this month, a mother went into labor while browsing at Monkey and Dog Books in Fort Worth, Tex., "setting off a chain of events that quickly captured the attention and hearts of the community," WFAA reported.
"It's just so exciting for the shop," said owner Seth Burt. "We've had people propose in the shop, people celebrate birthdays here. This was a first.... This lady comes out of the bathroom and tells our bookseller, 'I am so sorry--my water broke.' "
The parents rushed from the store to a nearby birthing center, leaving behind no names or contact information. Burt said he felt determined to find out how the story ended: "The mission was to figure out who the mysterious book baby was."
After Hurt posted a video on the bookstore's Instagram page explaining what had happened, people across the community became invested in learning the outcome and helping the owners find the couple. "That's what the post tried to do--bring people together," he noted.
Within 24 hours, the family was identified, and two weeks later the mother returned to Monkey and Dog Books with her newborn son, Leo. "I didn't expect to go into labor in a bookstore," she said. "I was just excited.... It was the way it was supposed to be."
The bookstore's owners "presented Leo and his mom with a gift basket and discounted books for life: a fitting perk for the so-called 'bookstore baby,' " WFAA reported, adding: "A story that began between the shelves now serves as a reminder that sometimes, the best stories are the ones no one sees coming."
I love this, too, and I remember visiting Decorah, Iowa, when I was a kid growing up in the suburbs of Des Moines. The passing of the torch to the next generation is a brilliant move, and I wish this lovely bookstore many more years of success in their community.
Happy 15th Birthday, Dragonfly Books and Its New Owners!
Congratulations to Dragonfly Books, Decorah, Iowa, which celebrated its 15th anniversary last week with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, 15% discounts through Saturday--and a toast to founder Kate Rattenborg Scott's 50th birthday, her retirement, and the passing of ownership to daughters Sarah Krammen and Rachel Rattenborg.
The store noted that "Sarah has been a familiar face at Dragonfly Books for most of the past 15 years and currently manages inventory, marketing, and events. Rachel has lived all over the country, always looking for a place to call home before realizing that northeastern Iowa was it. She has a strong history of customer service and retail experience in almost every kind of business, and manages accounting, staffing, and customer experience at Dragonfly Books."
Kate Rattenborg Scott said "It has been an honor to carry on my family's legacy in Decorah through Dragonfly Books. I have felt grounded and anchored through the small business community throughout the past 15 years. I am excited and proud to be passing the torch to the next generation. A big thank you to our customers and community for making my dream a reality!" She plans to remain an active board president of the Oneota Valley Literary Foundation, and will retain ownership of the Silver Birch, a Christian book and gift shop located four doors down from Dragonfly Books, which she purchased in 2019. She said she is most excited to spend more time with her husband, Paul, and travel, attend community events, build LEGO, work on jigsaw puzzles, and finally read a book for fun.
Dragonfly Books carries 15,000 individual books as well as gifts and educational items for customers of all ages and backgrounds, specializing in Scandinavian fiction in translation and regional nonfiction. The store also highlights authors from Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, many of whom have visited Decorah for book readings and signings.
In 2022, the store helped created the Oneota Valley Literary Foundation which supports Dragonfly Books' event series which included more than 80 author and community events last year. By partnering with regional schools, museums, public libraries, and other nonprofits, the foundation has given more than 9,500 books to the community since its inception.
The Cliff's Edge by Charles Todd is a historical mystery that takes place after the Great War (WW1) and features protagonist Bess Crawford, amateur sleuth and former nursing sister during the war. I've read the previous dozen Bess Crawford mysteries, and this one is a real corker that starts out slow, but begins to gather steam and comes to a roaring ending that will leave readers breathless. Here's the blurb: In
the aftermath of World War I, nurse Bess Crawford is caught in a deadly
feud between two families in this thirteenth book in the beloved
mystery series from author Charles Todd, (a mother-son writing team).
Restless
and uncertain of her future in the wake of World War I, former
battlefield nurse Bess Crawford agrees to travel to Yorkshire to help a
friend of her cousin Melinda through surgery. But circumstances change
suddenly when news of a terrible accident reaches them. Bess agrees to
go to isolated Scarfdale and the Neville family, where one man has been
killed and another gravely injured. The police are asking questions, and
Bess is quickly drawn into the fray as two once close families take
sides, even as they are forced to remain in the same house until the
inquest is completed.
When another tragedy strikes,
the police are ready to make an arrest. Bess struggles to keep order as
tensions rise and shots are fired. What dark truth is behind these
deaths? And what about the tale of an older murder—one that doesn’t seem
to have anything to do with the Nevilles? Bess is unaware that when she
passes the story on to Cousin Melinda, she will set in motion a
revelation with the potential to change the lives of those she loves
most—her parents, and her dearest friend, Simon Brandon.
The problem with that blurb is that Simon Brandon is on the outs with Bess at the opening of the novel, and by the end, he's not aware (Bess hasn't had the time to tell him) of the devastating news that Bess has uncovered about his heritage and parentage that he's been long seeking. Meanwhile, though, there's a lot of blood, bruises, death and mayhem in this installation of the series, which, since half of the Todd writing team (the mother) has passed on, makes me wonder if the co-writer son would prefer to write manly gore-infested thrillers and is now infusing Bess's stories with violence because there's no one left to say him nay. At any rate, I felt that the more compassionate notes were missing from this installation of the Bess stories, so I'd give it a B-, and recommend it only to completists who feel the need to read all the books in any given series, the good, bad and ugly.
The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland by Rachael Herron is a magical fantasy that charms the reader into believing in magic. I was engrossed in this book, which takes place on an Island in the PNW (my neck of the woods) from about the 25th page onward. I was surprised by the toughness and disbelief of the narrator/protagonist, who clings to her belief in "non magical reality" with a ferocity that I found to be somewhat OCD or autistic. Beatrice is an accountant who only believes what she can count, see, feel or touch. Anything out of the ordinary sends her into a tailspin of research to find a plausible scientific or mathematical explanation. When she finds herself in a situation where the existence of magic cannot be denied, she nearly has a nervous breakdown, and predictably, has a panic attack. Here's the blurb:
The instant bestseller that is a "warm, witchy, and wonderful" family story that is the queer love-child of Practical Magic and The Parent Trap as one woman is about to discover that she's a witch with powers beyond her understanding.
Beatrice Barnard doesn’t believe in magic. She definitely doesn’t
believe the predictions of the celebrity psychic who claims that she
will experience seven miracles and that she will die. And as it turns
out, her husband is cheating on her. Bea, now in desperate need of
solitude, flees to Skerry Island, off the Pacific Northwest coast.
Immediately upon arrival, she finds her life on the line as a rogue
woodchopper blade almost kills her. Her survival is almost like a
miracle.
And then things get more miraculous when she discovers
her twin sister, Cordelia, and her mother, Astrid, who supposedly died
when Beatrice was two years old. Astrid and Cordelia reveal that
Beatrice (given name Beatrix) is an immensely powerful witch who can
commune with the dead. When Cordelia and Beatrice’s twin magic is
joined, it shines like a beacon on the malevolent spirits who are locked
in an age-old struggle for magical dominance over the Hollands.
Beatrice doesn’t know what to believe, but she begins to fear that the
seven predicted miracles may occur and that her death is near. But when
her niece, Minna, goes missing, Bea’s own life suddenly seems much less
important. Beatrice must join her mother and her sister to save Minna
even if she dies in the process.
Though this was a well written, scintillating novel, I found that the protagonist did and said a number of things that didn't add up for me...like falling in parental love with her niece, who is a real piece of work. Manipulative, spoiled and cruel in her disregard for anyone else's life or for anything that doesn't serve her agenda, Minna is one of those characters that I know we're supposed to find lovable and adorable, when I just wanted to punch her in the face and send her off to boarding school in the Swiss Alps. No one, including her mother, seems to have the guts to tell her NO, and thus she's a monster with no boundaries, wreaking havoc wherever she goes. I also found it hard to believe, and sad, that Bea's mother and sister didn't have the spine to tell her of their existence, nor did her father, whom she worshipped, though he LIED to her her entire life. For shame! And she finds it difficult to not forgive him, though again, I wanted to throat punch the lying asshat. The same goes for her husband and best friend, who have been screwing one another for years, even before he married Bea. Who are all these sh*tty people?!? Bea was much better off by herself on the Island, until she went all mom-gaga over her niece and decided to sacrifice everything in order to protect Minna from her evil father, who wanted to syphon off her power and then kill her. Ugh. I won't spoil the weak ending, but I will say that this book, though engrossing in its swift plot, doesn't deserve better than a B-. I'd recommend it to anyone who is OCD enough to believe that there is no magic or miracles left in the world.
The Gingerbread Bakery by Laurie Gilmore, is the 5th romantasy novel of hers that I've read. These books are cozy enough to represent small town life in the shiniest way possible, kind of like the Hallmark Channel films in book form. Here's the blurb: As owner of her beloved Gingerbread Bakery, Annie Andrews
should have a love life to match her business; sugary and sweet. But
instead, she’s locked in a game of words with the irritatingly upbeat
bar owner down the street.
Mac Sullivan
has everything he wants, except the girl he dreams of. It’s easier to
argue with Annie than get her to talk to him but with Jeanie and Logan’s
wedding coming up, they're about to spend a lot more time together.
As
the snowflakes fall and with romance in the air, will Annie see that
the one she loves to hate might just be her perfect match after all?
The Gingerbread Bakery is a cozy romantic novel with an enemies to lovers dynamic, small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!
'The atmosphere of the small town of Dream Harbor envelops you from the very first pages: snow-covered streets, the aroma of freshly baked gingerbread, and a sense of community that only exists in a close-knit and friendly community’
There are a lot of reasons to love this series...its prose is sweet and funny and easy to read, the plot is clean and straightforward with little to no surprises and nary a plot-hole in sigh, and the characters are predictable but lovable, so you feel welcomed into their town immediately. That said, something that is a bit cookie-cutter from book to book can become boring when you know what's going to happen in nearly every chapter. Still, I found it soothing and heartwarming in these troubled times for our nation, to read about a place where very little changes from day to day and year to year. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who just wants the distraction of a sweet tiny town romance where nothing horrible ever happens and there's a lid for every pot.
Daisy's Run by Scott Baron is a science fiction haunted house novel that is reminiscent of Outlander or Gravity or Legend...SF movies meant to discomfit you with the reality of a dystopian future for mankind. Of course, because this book was written by a man, as most science fiction traditionally is, the main character, Daisy, is lusty and enjoys frequent sexual escapades with another (male) crew member, and the illustration of her on the cover is a misogynistic representation of a busty woman in a space suit that emphasizes her breasts, which seems to be a theme with male SF authors, even the gay ones. Of course Daisy's smart as a whip, but not smart enough to figure out, until halfway through the book, that her lover is a "Terminator" style hybrid of flesh over machine parts. Here's the blurb: Life in deep space could be a drag sometimes, but Daisy supposed
things could have been worse. They were still alive, after all, which
was always a plus in her book. Now if only she could figure out who, or
what, was endangering her return home, things would be just peachy. It
had been one hell of a way to start the day––being rudely snapped from a
deep cryo-sleep, and in the middle of a ship-wide crisis to boot––but
Daisy was pleased to note that the ship had not decompressed, the crew
hadn’t been blasted into space, and, most importantly, they hadn’t
simply blown up. At least not yet. So, they had that going for them, but
being stuck on a damaged ship in the inky depths of space as it limped
toward Earth was not exactly the relaxing trip home she’d imagined. With
the powerful AI supercomputer guiding the craft beginning to show some
disconcerting quirks of its own, and its unsettling cyborg assistant
nosing into her affairs, Daisy’s unease was rapidly growing. Add to the
mix a crew of mechanically-enhanced humans, any one of whom she
suspected might not be what they seemed, and Daisy found herself with a
sense of pending dread tickling the periphery of her mind. Something was
very much not right––she could feel it in her bones. The tricky part
now was going to be figuring out what the threat was, before it could
manifest from a mere sinking feeling in her gut into a potentially
deadly reality.
I actually disliked Daisy's smart mouth and her rude attitude toward everyone else on the cryo ship, only to discover that she should have been even more angry and ruthless toward a crew full of mecha-humans who lied to her and didn't explain that she's the last of the humans left after a devastating alien attack wiped out life on earth over 100 years ago. So everything's moving along and Daisy's solving the mystery of why her ships falling apart, when suddenly, plot twist, she is told and discovers that everything and everyone she's ever known on her home planet is a pile of dust, and the aliens are stripping her world of resources before they blow it up once it has nothing left to give them. Quelle suprise! And readers are supposed to just laugh this off and go "okay, we're screwed but perhaps there's something we can do to get these greedy alien bastards off our planet" end of story. Since this is the first book in a series, I guess that was to be expected. Still, I was disappointed that the book devolved into the dystopian horror genre so quickly. And as everyone knows, I dislike horror novels. Baron's prose is straightforward and unembellished, and his plot strides along like a gladiator, until the bitter end. I'd give this tough SF novel a B- and recommend it to anyone who likes their SF horrific and painful.
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo is a YA epic fantasy and the second book in the King of Scars duology. This nearly 600 page behemoth is full of all the intrigue and political manuvering that many came to love in the Game of Thrones series. Bardugo is a better, cleaner writer than GRRM, however, so readers will be delighted to know that they won't have to wade through half as many political discussions and infodumps as they would reading any other epic fantasy. Here's the blurb: Discover what comes next for the daring rogue Nikolai in the riveting sequel to King of Scars from Leigh Bardugo.
The Demon King.
As Fjerda’s massive army prepares to invade, Nikolai Lantsov will
summon every bit of his ingenuity and charm―and even the monster
within―to win this fight. But a dark threat looms that cannot be
defeated by a young king’s gift for the impossible.
The Stormwitch. Zoya
Nazyalensky has lost too much to war. She saw her mentor die and her
worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury another friend. Now
duty demands she embrace her powers to become the weapon her country
needs. No matter the cost.
The Queen of Mourning. Deep
undercover, Nina Zenik risks discovery and death as she wages war on
Fjerda from inside its capital. But her desire for revenge may cost her
country its chance at freedom and Nina the chance to heal her grieving
heart.
King. General. Spy. Together they must find a way to forge a future in the darkness. Or watch a nation fall.
I disagree with the blurb in that, though the prose is striking, its not really riveting stuff. In fact, I found myself falling asleep after reading a chapter or two, which is not usual for me. Though I've loved Bardugo's other novels in the Grishaverse, mainly because they didn't require you to read all the books that came prior to enjoy the book you're currently reading, I was shocked by how the plot stalled more than once for explanations and unnecessary detours that anyone who has read any of the Grishaverse books would already know about...though of course, as I said, its great to know that all the other novels aren't required reading. Just the first book in the duology, so you're primed and ready to go for this big tome. What I loved about this book was the often funny dialogue and the banter that characters set up with one another. I'd give this beast of a book a B, and recommend it to anyone who wants to know how it all ends up, and storylines converge.
