Strand Bookstore in NYC Opens Cafe Fred, Lincoln in the Bardo Movie, Rival Radio by Kathryn Nolan, The Forgotten Book Club by Kate Storey, The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood and Fries and Alibis by Trixie Silvertale

The final week of a rough and tumble February has arrived...this means March and Easter and Spring are right around the corner. Time to fill your Easter baskets with chocolate and books, my fellow readers! I've been gathering lots of new and used books for my TBR, which now stands as a proud tower of tantalizing wordsmithing atop my bureau in my room, and in my bed and on my book cart. Though its been snowing on the East Coast, here in the PNW, its been chilly and raining, but so far, no snow. At the end of the week, my son leaves for Canada to visit his fiancee, and I will have to fend for myself for a bit. Still, books have been my constant friends, so they should see me through. I've got some interesting tomes to talk about, so listen up, amigos and amigas!

NYC has been on my bucket list for a long time, not only because of the wonders of Broadway, but also because of iconic bookstores like the Strand, which I would love to visit at least once in my lifetime. Now it looks like they not only offer a staggering collection of books, they also offer tea and pastries! Hurrah!

Strand Bookstore Opens Cafe Fred in Flagship Store

The Strand Bookstore, New York City, has opened a cafe in its flagship Union Square store. Named Cafe Fred in honor of Fred Bass, the late longtime second-generation owner of the Strand, this is the second Cafe Fred, which made its debut in the Strand's Lincoln Center store.

Cafe Fred serves coffee from La Colombe Coffee Roasters, pastries from Ole and Steen, and tea.

Nancy Bass Wyden, third-generation owner of Strand Bookstore, said, "Naming Cafe Fred after my dad felt like a natural choice. He loved books, people, and New York City, and he believed The Strand should always be a place where everyone is welcome. Cafe Fred is a tribute to his spirit and a way to honor the warmth and literary community he brought to the store every day."

I have to confess that I DNF'd this book (did not finish) but I should have given it another go and been more patient, as I'm told its one of those books that stays with you long after you've finished reading it. Now its coming out as an animation hybrid movie with Tom Hanks, which should be fascinating. So perhaps I don't have to grab another copy and try to read it again, I can just see the movie (I can hear you gasp, fellow "Books are always better than their movie adaptation" people). Sorry.

Movies: Lincoln in the Bardo

Tom Hanks will play Abraham Lincoln in Starburns Industries' live-action/stop-motion animation hybrid movie Lincoln in the Bardo, based on the 2017 Booker Prize-winning novel by George Saunders, Deadline reported.

Hanks is also producing through his Playtone label with partner Gary Goetzman. Production will take place in London. Saunders is adapting his novel with filmmaker Duke Johnson (Anomalisa), who will direct and produce.

Lincoln in the Bardo "will employ a unique blend of stop-motion animation and live action to explore one of the most intimate moments of Lincoln's life, centering on his relationship with his recently deceased 11-year-old son," Deadline wrote. "The movie will explore themes of love, empathy and human capacity in the face of grief as the story unfolds through an ensemble of characters, both living and dead, historical and invented."

Rival Radio by Kathryn Nolan is an enemies to lovers rom-com with lots of spicy action and witty banter. Because my husband was involved in radio for over 20 years, I'm always intrigued to read how others view what goes on behind the microphone at a radio station, when radio is becoming a dinosaur medium. Here's the blurb: All’s fair in love and radio…

Dr. Theodore Chadwick is an expert on everything that I hate. On air, he’s the charming host of “True Romance,” giving advice to lovelorn listeners searching for their soulmates.
But off air? We’re at each other’s throats 24/7.

My romance-obsessed adversary might be stupidly attractive—with unfairly broad shoulders—but his cocky arrogance and cool demeanor only lead to constant bickering. Which is just fine by me. I prefer arguments over candle-lit dinners anyway. My radio show, “Choosing Yourself,” is all about embracing being single. And since being left at the altar by my no-show groom, I’ve built a career out of rejecting love and romance.

Until a budget crisis at our radio station forces us into the same sound booth, answering listener calls about love, sex and romance…together. Sure, our opinions are diametrically opposed. But if we can manage to keep it friendly on the air, our combined popularity might just save the station.
If we can keep it friendly.

And in the close quarters of the sound booth, it gets harder and harder to remember that Theo and I have sworn to hate each other.
I've always found good, rich voices to be terribly sexy, (Thurl Ravenscroft's rendition of "You're a mean one, Mr Grinch" used to thrill me as a child, before I even knew what sexual attraction was), so I totally get romantic attraction to men on air hosting radio shows. My husbands witty and funny demeanor the times he was on air drew me to him like a moth to a flame. So I get where Daria's coming from in her attraction to handsome Theo. Still, I found his overly sentimental attitude toward "romance" and "love" to be immature and grasping, because he was seeking to replace the parental warmth and acceptance he didn't receive with love and passion from a "romantic" mate, to whom he then becomes possessive and clingy, so he won't be abandoned again. Waaahhhhh. What a big baby. So NOT sexy, and a big red flag, but our heroine, who was abandoned and humiliated at the altar also is seeking someone to love her and stand by her as a stalwart mate, though she claims to be more interested in learning to love herself, which I fully support as a message for women. They do eventually come to realize that the other has a point, and once they start an affair, of course Daria immediately becomes accommodating and stupid, willing to do whatever it takes to get dick from handsome Theo. UGH. I hate it when women abandon all their principles and career for a man. Its so infantilizing and sexist. At any rate, the book's prose was smooth as silk, and I enjoyed the plot, which was straightforward, for the most part. I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone who is enamored of When Harry Met Sally.

 

The Forgotten Book Club by Kate Storey is a "women's fiction" story about friendship and grief and renewing your love of a reading a good cracking yarn. Here's the blurb: 

Life can begin with a single story. You just have to Bring Your Own Book…

For three decades, Grace supported her husband Frank’s passion for books, despite not being a reader herself. Since his passing, their shelves echo longingly, and Grace’s heartache has only grown.

When Grace’s grandson suggests joining Frank’s old book club to feel closer to him again, Grace reluctantly agrees. Yet, upon arrival, she discovers this isn’t a typical book club: here, members settle in for an hour of reading… in silence.

Disappointed by the sparse attendance and confused by the lack of chatter, Grace flees. But when fellow member, Annie, convinces her to stay, Grace is determined to ensure that neither Frank – nor his beloved book club – are forgotten.

And as she breathes new life into the group, Grace might just find this is where she truly belongs. Because this next chapter of life could just be the beginning of her story…

The perfect story for book lovers everywhere.

This is one of those books that you pick up because you think its going to be about one thing, aka bibliophiles, and then discover that it's actually about moving beyond grief and depression to start life anew. Being a bibliophile myself, I expected to love this book about a book group, but was then caught up in Grace's story of isolation and depression after the death of her husband Frank, and her discovery of his friends in the group and his journals reviewing all the books he was excited to read. Slowly she climbs out of the pit of despair and becomes a big part of the group, infusing it with her new ideas and energy, and in the process discovers her inner bibliophile who is ready to take on life again. Having just lost my husband, though he wasn't a nice reader like Frank (he was an abusive alcoholic), I could empathize with Graces feelings of fear and her isolation making her feel safe from the loud and cruel world. I've also lost my library book group that I lead for over a dozen years, and I dearly miss it. So I understood Grace's cowardice and cringing away from social interaction. I was glad that she allowed people in the book club to help her get back in the groove, and regain a full life. I sincerely wish that I could find a group to do the same for me, but I am fortunate to have my son to keep me from being a complete hermit since his father's death. I'd give this sweet novel a B+ and recommend it to anyone who has lost someone important to them and become isolated in their grief.

 

The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood is a ghostly/paranormal romcom about a young woman who only realizes how she's wasted her life once she's dead. Here's the blurb: A recently deceased woman meets “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on earth before ten days are up.

If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie would be dying of embarrassment. Not only did she just die by choking on a microwaveable burger, but now she’s standing in her ‘shine like a star’ nightie in front of the hottest man she’s ever seen. And he’s smiling at her.

As they start to chat, everything else becomes background noise. That is until someone comes running out of a door, yelling something about a huge mistake, and sends the dreamy stranger back down to earth. And here Delphie was thinking her luck might be different in the afterlife.  

When Delphie is offered a deal in which she can return to earth and reconnect with the mysterious man, she jumps at the opportunity to find her possible soulmate and a fresh start. But in a city of millions, Delphie is going to have to listen to her heart, learn to ask for help, and perhaps even see the magic in the life she’s leaving behind. 

What's interesting about this book is that the whole "afterlife angel gives you a deadline, literally, to find your random soul mate" trope is a total set up, (SPOILER) courtesy of the male protagonist, Cooper's dead twin sister. Yes, you read that right, the guy who Delphie actually falls for, her grumpy neighbor, has a dead twin sister whom he misses terribly, and who plots in the afterlife to find him a mate by sending Delphie on a wild goose chase back down on earth for 10 days of life...the only thing she has to do to get her life back is to have this red herring guy kiss her first, and then she can live out the rest of her life and have a lot of do-overs because she botched it the first time around. So this is really something of a "grumpy meets sunshine/manic pixie dream girl, all clumsy and adorably childlike" story that is so common in romance novels it needs its own genre, or sub genre. Gah. There's some good humor here, and witty bits that keep the plot moving, but I felt the prose needed cleaning up by a hardened, experienced editor. Still, it was a fast read, and I've give it a B-, and recommend it to anyone whose favorite old movies are The Ghost and Mrs Muir and It's a Wonderful Life.

 

Fries and Alibis by Trixie Silvertale is a self published large print trade paperback paranormal cozy mystery that was written, I believe, under a pseudonym (the author's name reminds me of a line from the wonderful TV series Lucifer: "Trixie's a hooker's name." Trixie, a child, responds, "What's a hooker?" Lucifer says "Ask your mother."). Mitzy Moon, the protagonist, inherits a magical bookshop, complete with a caracal cat (native to Africa and parts of Asia) and her grannie's ghost, to help her navigate her new home and her new reality, as she learns that she's not an orphan after all, and she's certainly not a murderer. Here's the blurb: 

A gift that’s too good to be true. A murder she didn’t commit. A barista in a latte trouble…

Mitzy Moon believes she’s an orphan, so she’s dumbstruck when a special delivery to her low-rent apartment reveals a family. But her shock turns to awe when she discovers her grandmother left her a fortune and a bookshop of rare tomes brimming with magic.

No sooner does she set foot in the quirky village of Pin Cherry Harbor to claim her inheritance, than the handsome sheriff catches her standing over a corpse. Desperate to prove her innocence, she’s forced to accept help from her granny’s entitled cat and a spirit from beyond the grave.

Can Mitzy and her otherworldly helpers uncover the real killer before the long, sexy arm of the law hauls her to jail?

Fries and Alibis is the first book in the hilarious paranormal cozy mystery series, Mitzy Moon Mysteries. (Complete series available now!) If you like amateur sleuths, small town intrigue, and a dash of the supernatural, then you’ll love Trixie Silvertale’s twisty whodunit.

There's a lot of hijinks in this story, and a wild ride tone that keeps the prose light and the plot swift and zingy. Still it reads as if it were written by someone immature, or inexperienced and trying too hard to be Travis Baldree or Lillian Jackson Braun. And while everyone's got to start somewhere, I believe that young and/or inexperienced writers should team up with writing mentors or experienced editors who can teach them how to frame a story and add depth. That said, I did like Mitzy and the town and bookstore, and I feel that within a few books, Ms Silvertale will probably hit her stride (at least I hope so). I'd give this freshman effort a B-, and recommend it to anyone just starting the cozy paranormal mystery genre, and looking for something light and playful.