Obituary for Annie Dillard, Quote of the Day, Barnes and Noble Buys Levenger, The Summer Storms by Sarah Maclean, Tempest by Victoria Aveyard, Big Bad Wolf by Laurie Gilmore, A Summer of Stars by Liana Cincotti, and the Someday Garden by Ashley Poston

Welcome to the final week of September! We're headed right into spooky season, and all things pumpkin spice. I will celebrate my mother's 89th birthday posthumously, and my 29th wedding anniversary now that my abusive husband has been dead for almost a year. Still, I'm looking forward to the next three months, and hoping that my health will improve and my life become less solitary. Here's some tidbits and as many reviews as I can stuff onto the blog page.

I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek when I was 18 years old and on my way to graduating high school and entering Clarke College. I felt it was a profound book that had a beautiful outlook on the way we live our lives. I'm sorry that Annie Dillard has passed. She was a singular talent.

Obituary Note: Annie Dillard

Annie Dillard, "who as a young American writer walked into the woods and came out with a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the wonders and horrors of creation, the modern classic Pilgrim at Tinker Creek," died September 15, the New York Times reported. She was 81. The book, published in 1974, was an immediate success and won the Pulitzer for general nonfiction in 1975.

Dillard also published essays, meditations on religion, poems, a theory of literature, two novels, journalism, and the bestselling autobiography An American Childhood (1987).

Dillard's first book was the poetry collection Tickets for a Prayer Wheel, published a few months before Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Later titles include Encounters with Chinese Writers (1984); The Writing Life (1989); For the Time Being (1999); and her second novel, The Maytrees (2007), which was the last book she wrote.

Many reviewers of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek mentioned it as a 20th-century analogue to Henry David Thoreau's Walden, which was not coincidental given that Dillard had chosen Thoreau as the subject of her master's thesis at Hollins University.

"Though her writing could convey the sense of a solitary life in the wilderness, she was mostly a day-tripper. After her forays into the Roanoke Valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains--which was, after all, her neighborhood--she would return home to the suburban house she shared with Richard Dillard, a creative writing instructor she had married at the end of her sophomore year at Hollins," the Times wrote, adding that "in spite of her patient, unflinching observations on flora and fauna, she wasn't a nature writer, but rather a theologian looking high and low for God."

In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Dillard wrote: "I walk out; I see something, some event that otherwise would have been utterly missed and lost; or something sees me, some enormous power brushes me with its clean wing, and I resound like a beaten bell."

She moved to Washington State, dividing her time between Bellingham and the islands Waldron and Lummi. Her marriage ended, and in the Pacific Northwest, she regained the concentration essential to her work.

"The Cascade Range, in these high latitudes, backs almost into the water," she wrote in Holy the Firm (1977). "There is only a narrow strip, an afterthought of foothills and farms sixty miles wide, between the snowy mountains and the sea.... If the Greeks had looked at Mt. Baker all day, their large and honest art would have broken, and they would have gone fishing, as these people do."

In addition, she taught classes at Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University). Paul Lindholdt, a former student working on a biography of Dillard, recalled: "She was by turns disorganized and inspiring, prickly and brilliant. She required her students to foot-stomp aloud the meter of favorite poems, including 'God's Grandeur' by Gerard Manley Hopkins."

Dillard returned east in 1979, and from then until 2001 she taught at Wesleyan University. After her second divorce in 1988, she married Robert D. Richardson Jr., whom she had met after sending him a fan letter about his book Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind. He died in 2020.

Dillard's papers are held at the Beinecke Library at Yale University. She was last photographed in public in 2014, when she received the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama for her "profound reflections on human life and nature."

She spent recent years at her Cape Cod home, painting watercolors, the Times noted, adding that Dillard "had written with all her might, and had tried to light the same fire in others."

In Holy the Firm, she wrote about a day in her classroom: "How many of you, I asked the people in my class, which of you want to give your lives and be writers? I was trembling from coffee, or cigarettes, or the closeness of faces all around me.... All hands rose to the question. And then I tried to tell them what the choice must mean: You can't be anything else. You must go at your life with a broad-ax."

YES! Books do save the world, and I know that for me, I would not be able to face the day to day of getting older and dealing with the pain of all my inflammatory diseases without the comfort and beauty of books and stories.

Quotation of the Day

"But what I think is beautiful is people open bookshops anyway, and it's always because those people really love books. Books are being generationally devalued, but they're actually one of the most precious resources in the world. We're all in the businesses of conservation, and keeping bookshops open makes books accessible and keeps reading relevant. The survival rate of bookshops is a real snapshot of our most creative, curious and hopeful society, so in terms of changing people's perspective about the world of books--would it even be too bold a claim to make that books really might be saving the world?"--Katie Clapham, author of Receipts from the Bookshop and co-owner of Storytellers Inc.

I've been a huge Levenger fan since I got ahold of my first catalogue in 1987, when I was living in St Petersburg Florida and working at a magazine that I would eventually edit. Being a lifelong fan and collector of pens and paper and swank office supplies, Levenger's pages looked tailor-made for me, and over the years I saved up to buy several items, among them pens from Germany and Circa papers and office organizers. I longed to buy furniture from them, but everything Levenger offered was very high quality and built in exotic locales, so most of it was beyond my price range. I still have some pencils and a caddy with my initials on it from all those years ago, but many of the items I purchased were taken by my boyfriend/fiance, and he eventually sold much of my inventory for beer money (he was an alcoholic).  Still, this news that B&N is going to offer Levenger items in their store is thrilling, and I am looking forward to perusing their stock, once it comes in.

Barnes & Noble Buys Levenger

Barnes & Noble continues on a buying spree. After indicating early last week that it will acquire Joseph-Beth Booksellers, it announced on Friday that it has bought Levenger, known for fine writing instruments, premium paper and stationery, leather goods, desk accessories and furniture, as well as Circa, its customizable discbound notebook system.

Founded in 1987 by Steve and Lori Leveen, Levenger has been privately held. B&N said that Levenger, with headquarters in Delray Beach, Fla., "will continue to operate from South Florida, with its existing employees remaining in place." The Levenger.com website will continue to offer all Levenger's products, with "a curated assortment to be made available in select Barnes & Noble stores this fall. In due course, an assortment will be offered in most Barnes & Noble and Paper Source stores." 

Levenger CEO Margaret Moraskie said, "Levenger has always been about more than the products we create. It is about a belief in the power of reading, writing and ideas, and the remarkable community that has grown around that belief. Steve and Lori Leveen built something truly special nearly 40 years ago, and our team has worked with tremendous care to carry that legacy forward. Joining Barnes & Noble is an exciting next chapter for Levenger, bringing together two brands with a shared love of books, the written word and lifelong learning. I could not be more proud of our team, nor more excited about the opportunity ahead to introduce Levenger to more people while preserving everything that makes this brand so distinctive."

B&N CEO James Daunt said, "Levenger has created something truly special. For nearly four decades, Steve and Lori Leveen and the Levenger team have established a distinctive brand created specifically for readers and writers. Levenger is an exceptional complement to Barnes & Noble and Paper Source and we look forward to introducing these wonderful products those of our customers who are not already their fans."

The Summer Storms by Sarah Maclean is a contemporary family life novel with a thread of dreadful romance woven throughout. The women in the novel do NOT make good choices, and they use their privileged childhoods as the children of a billionaire who was an evil asshat (but what billionaire isn't an ass?) to point to why they can't grow a backbone and have their own lives, instead of allowing their father to control them even after his death. Here's the blurb: From author Sarah MacLean, a razor-sharp, wildly sexy novel about a wealthy New England family’s long-overdue reckoning . . . and the one week that threatens to tear them apart.

Alice Storm hasn’t been welcome at her family’s magnificent private island off the Rhode Island coast in five years—not since she was cast out and built her life beyond the Storm name, influence, and untold billions. But the shocking death of her larger-than-life father changes everything.

Alice plans to keep her head down, pay her final respects (such as they are), and leave the minute the funeral is over. Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his family a final challenge—an inheritance game designed to upend their world. The rules are clear: spend one week on the island, complete their assigned tasks, and receive the inheritance.

But a whole week on Storm Island is no easy task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting with chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s unyielding arrogance. Her younger sister’s constant analysis of the vibes. Her mother’s cold judgment. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s intriguing and too-handsome second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape unscathed.

A smart and tender story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel explores past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms.  

 

UGH, once again, we have a female protagonist who starts out strong, eschewing her family's wealth and her fathers iron control over their lives, (and making a good life of her own), and once she's met the lying jerk who is her father's second in command fixer, she instantly becomes a fragile flower who only wants to have sex with him, and of course instantly forgives him for lying to her and manipulating her, because, gosh, he's just so darned handsome and good at sex! She just can't control her libido around him! (insert eye roll here). And of course, Jack repeatedly tells her that he loves only her, and even though he's seduced her and manipulated her on her father's orders, she needs to be with him forever. Personally, I would have told this bozo to pound sand, though Alice gets off on his continued ability to "rescue" her when she is actually fine, and his desire to protect her, which only goes as far as her father's instructions prior to his demise. The other sisters (and brother) are equally venal, stupid and greedy, and make a lot of loud proclamations about how "necessary" their large inheritance is (when its not), because none of them apparently have any talents or skills to get a job in the "real world." Their mother is a cold as ice viper who seems to hate them (how is that possible?), so they get no help from her, and in the end, after they've all basically done what their father wanted them to do, they only receive (SPOILER) a little over a thousand dollars each...so it was all for nothing anyway. But Alice walks off into the bedroom/sunset with Jack, so I guess the author could consider this an HEA. I'd give this annoying novel about horrible 1 percenters a C, and only recommend it to people who are fascinated by Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.

 

Tempest by Victoria Aveyard is a seafaring romantasy that mainly revolves around a woman who lives in a society much like 19th century England, where women's choices were severely limited and those who tried to build an unusual life down a different path were often jailed, or destroyed along with their impoverished families. Here's the blurb: 

This limited deluxe hardcover edition features gorgeous sprayed edges, full-colored endpapers, a foil stamped case, and jacket effects—available while supplies last, so order now!

From Victoria Aveyard comes a romantic fantasy epic like no other in which a fallen noblewoman faces off against her former love—the last great pirate captain—amid a brutal war for the high seas.

Cat Rose knows what it is to live in two worlds, in two times. Before—as Lady Catrine Rose of the Meridian Empire, chained to a loathsome lord with a dwindling fortune. And after—as the Widow Rose, queen of a pirate tavern in the Lyrian Sea, determined to be the master of her own fate.

But tides turn and winds change. The Meridian Empire looms on the horizon, the full weight of her navy falling on the Lyrian, bent on reclaiming the wealthy colonies and crushing the pirate republic once and for all. Ship after ship is captured, save for one, captained by a pirate who continually evades both noose and blade: the legendary Valerian Kane.

With his fearsome ship and uncanny connection to the song of the sea, Valerian is the only man who might rally the pirates who remain. The only man who threatens the Empire. And the only man Cat has ever loved, blazing in and out of her life like a star.

Desperate for victory, the Empire offers Cat a devastating choice: bring them Valerian or hang. In truth, no choice at all.

But Cat Rose is nothing if not a survivor. A storm is rising on the Lyrian. What will it leave in its wake?

 Cat's  mantra is "If not their necks, mine" as she navigates the Kings power vs the pirates who freely roam the seas. Of course, being a strong woman, its inevitable that she will fall in love with a handsome pirate captain, and eventually, once she is captured, give him and the fellow pirates up to the authorities to be hanged, lest she be hanged herself for having been a free woman who chose her own path (and killed, thank heaven, her abusive toad of a husband). This book was well written, and the plot flew by on swift sails, but the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying. I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys seafaring stories and stories of strong women trying to survive in a society determined to cage and control them.

 

Big Bad Wolf by Laurie Gilmore is a funny (not intentionally) retelling of the Little Red Riding H0od fairy tale, but placed in contemporary society with a "furry" loving duo....so there's some strange erotica herein...just a warning. Here's the blurb: 

The darker the woods, the bigger the secrets…

Ruby Bellerose lives on the edge of the woods, in a cottage more akin to a fairy tale than modern day life. Her love life is practically non-existent, and she keeps away from the whispered gossip that travels through Maple Hollow.

Until a chance encounter with Rafe.

As mysterious as he is brooding, Ruby is drawn to the woodsman, curious to find out about the stranger who lives deep within the woods.

But Rafe is hiding a secret. And with something lurking in the shadowy forest, will Ruby find that Rafe is her knight in shining armor, or something altogether more dangerous.

 While this book starts out atmospheric and intense, it devolves into some weird beastiality territory when Ruby discovers that Rafe is a werewolf, and she digs it...in a sexual way. So the two develop a "Good boy" relationship, where Ruby treats Rafe like a pet, and allows him to chase her down and then ravish her. Yikes. Freaky sex aside, I've read a lot of Gilmore's cozy romances, and her prose is light and evocative, and her plots glide along beautifully. So I read the book all the way through, though by the end I was chuckling at their doggie foreplay. I'd give this odd novel a B- and recommend it to anyone who enjoys retold fairy tales.

 

A Summer of Stars by Liana Cincotti is an enemies to lovers YA romance that plays with the trope of sports star who embarks on a fake relationship with a Hollywood celebrity to help revitalize both their careers. Here's the blurb: 

 

A fake relationship between a tennis pro and a Hollywood celeb—who happen to be sworn enemies—slowly simmers into something more in this romance from the author of the viral Booktok book, Picking Daisies on Sunday
Fake relationship terms and conditions: do not fall in love.

After a messy breakup, it feels like the entire world hates tennis superstar Luna Aldridge. With her reputation ruined and her career at risk, the only way to repair it is a PR stunt: fake-dating Hollywood’s golden boy, Kieran Alexander. There’s just one problem ... Luna can’t stand him.

For Kieran, the feeling is mutual. He’s about to lead a big-screen love story, but his dating history is jeopardizing the film’s success. His team believes the world needs to see him wildly in love. And who better than Luna, the person he loathes most?

Soon, Luna and Kieran spend the summer posing for cameras, sharing red carpets and flying around the world for the tennis circuit. But the more they pretend, the more they question if they can keep their hearts, and their careers, together. Especially with everyone watching  

 

Their fake hatred and eventual love for one another never came off as real to me, it seemed forced. The prose was heistant and often transparent, making the plot wobble almost off the rails. I'd give this beach read a C, and recommend it to anyone who wants a read that is really easy and doesn't require much brain power.

 

The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston is an odd paranormal romantasy that, while it starts strong and becomes fascinating, gets confusing aroung 2/3rds of the way through the book, with time travel that is never quite explained. Here's the blurb: The new head gardener at the enchanting Lilymoor House stumbles upon a secret garden . . . with a mysterious man trapped inside, in the next magical novel from Ashley Poston.

 
When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer—for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House—she doesn’t expect to fall in love.

But she does: With the beguiling land, the fragrant flowers, and the towering hedge maze. With the quirky staff and the enigmatic woman who owns the place.

And then, the door appears. Never in the same place twice, it leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside.

This mysterious garden is not the only sign that the future of Lilymoor is unstable: the foliage resists Sophie’s careful nurturing, vines threaten to strangle the hedges, and the manor’s owner has wild ideas about who will take over when she retires—including her inconveniently attractive nephew who is also there just for the summer.

Despite herself, Sophie has come to care for the residents of Lilymoor just as much as she cares for its grounds. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more. 

 

I feel like Poston (I've read several of her other romantasies) was trying to channel either Alice Hoffman or Doctor Who here, by having a man who was alive outside the secret garden appear inside the garden, but only when Sophie finds a blue door and is able to access it. The two talk and garden and fall in love, but of course time works differently inside the garden, where only an hour goes by, while days and weeks go by on the outside. Also, Sophie doesn't meet the inside man in real life until near the end, and of course he doesn't know who she is...and Poston doesn't handle this conundrum with any grace or sense. I'd give this pretty, but confusing book a B, and recommend it to anyone who loves movies like The Ghost and Mrs Muir.