Favorite Reads of 2021 - A Baker's Dozen

Fiction

The Proper Place by O. Douglas (1926): After Sir Walter dies, his family is forced to sell the family estate and move to a modest home in Fife.  Nicole adapts to her new life with maturity and grace while her cousin Barbara is unwilling to accept their change in circumstances.  This was my first five-star book of the year!   My review.

Bookshelf Traveling - July 25, 2020

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which is being hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness.   The idea is to share one of your neglected bookshelves or perhaps a new pile of books.   

After traveling with Eva Ibbotson last week, I reread her Magic Flutes and then decided I had never read The Star of Kazan so began that one.  Do you know sometimes you are so familiar with an author or genre so well that you recognize what is going to happen and then you think, wait, have I already read this?   It happens to me with Elizabeth Cadell and D.E. Stevenson’s books, most but not all of which I read years ago, and is definitely happening with The Star of Kazan.   We’ll see if I am right.  As it is an audiobook, I now realize I should have been pronouncing Eva as “Ava.”

Six Degrees of Separation: From Daisy Jones and the Six to This Song Will Save Your Life

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. Each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the one next to it in the chain.

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid is Kate’s starting book this month.  It got great reviews and I actually checked it out from the library over the summer but did not get around to reading it.  Still, I know it’s about a rock band so I stuck with the theme of rock music for my first book:

Till the Stars Fall by Kathleen Gilles Seidel (1994).  This book is about siblings in Minnesota, Krissa and Danny French, who realize one of them needs to make it out of their poor mining community. 

First Star I See Tonight (Book Review)

Title: First Star I See Tonight
Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Publication: William Morrow, Hardcover, August 2016
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Plot: A star quarterback and a feisty detective play for keeps in this sporty, sassy novel—a long-awaited new entry in the beloved, award-winning, New York Times bestselling author’s fan-favorite Chicago Stars football series.

Piper Dove is a woman with a dream—to become the best detective in the city of Chicago. First job? Trail former Chicago Stars quarterback, Cooper Graham. Problem? Graham’s spotted her, and he’s not happy.  Which is why a good detective needs to think on her feet. “The fact is . . . I’m your stalker. Not full-out barmy. Just . . . mildly unhinged.”

How I Met Ray Bradbury

Back in May 1995, I was working for Avon Books (since purchased by the News Corporation and now part of Harper Collins) which was in the midst of launching a hardcover imprint with many noteworthy authors.  That year the annual booksellers’ convention was in Chicago and it was a fun few days meeting authors and booksellers from all over the country.  I also managed to attend the Bulls NBA Championship game, thanks to my brother-in-law.  Another evening Avon senior management (and I) took author Susan Elizabeth Phillips out to dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant.   This was fun for me because I had read all her books and had been a big fan since Jennifer Enderlin gave me the manuscript of It Had to be You, the first in the Chicago Stars series (when she and I were both at NAL).  Susan was and is delightful.

The next night Ray Bradbury, who died earlier this month, was our guest of honor. For some reason, it was suggested that I as the sales manager for Barnes & Noble and Waldenbooks should sit next to this illustrious author. Although editors often relied on me, as an enthusiastic reader, not to let them down with authors, I am embarrassed to admit that I had never read any Ray Bradbury. I tried to explain this to my boss discreetly (not to mention that anyone in the group would have been honored to sit with Ray) but she was not someone who ever lost an argument. “Just don’t stop talking,” Debby admonished me, “I don’t want to see any awkward silences. Tell him what we are doing to sell his books.”

Ray was warm and very entertaining. He told us a couple stories, including one about a convention where an avid fan made so many trips back to his car for memorabilia for Ray to sign that other attendees were lingering just to see what this man had amassed over the years. He told us about his lifelong obsession with magicians. He also asked us lots of questions about the evolving book business. I took my instructions seriously and talked nonstop during dinner. Whenever I paused for a mouthful of food or something to drink, I could see my boss glaring at me from across the table. It was unclear if she objected to the topics or my occasional need for sustenance but I soldiered on until at last the nearly four hour dinner was over (I ate well at that job and it was a talkative group so meals were never speedy). As we made our adieus I (hoarse from my efforts) told Ray what an honor it had been to meet him and he twinkled at me and said, “Next time sit on the side with my good ear. I’m afraid I couldn’t really hear a word you said!”

Several years later, I saw that Ray had written a book for Morrow called Let’s All Kill Constance.  Startled, I asked his editor for a copy but there was no hidden message although Constance is running in fear from something she dares not acknowledge….  I wish I had met him again to get it autographed but it has a nice place of honor on my shelves next to Tolkien!