Shelf Awareness for Tuesday, March 28, 2023


Quarry Books: Yes, Boys Can!: Inspiring Stories of Men Who Changed the World - He Can H.E.A.L. by Richard V Reeves and Jonathan Juravich, illustrated by Chris King

Simon & Schuster: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: Nightweaver by RM Gray

G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers: The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman

Overlook Press: Hotel Lucky Seven (Assassins) by Kotaro Isaka, translated by Brian Bergstrom

News

Indy Reads, Indianapolis Ind., Temporarily Closed After Bomb Threat

Indy Reads, a literary nonprofit and bookstore in downtown Indianapolis, Ind., closed temporarily after receiving a bomb threat on Sunday over its monthly drag story hours.

In a statement posted on the organization's Instagram page, Indy Reads CEO Ruba Marshood reported that everyone on the team is "fine," and that police "thoroughly investigated and found no indication of danger or threat onsite."

On Sunday morning, "several Indy Reads employees received an email from an unknown address which indicated that a bomb had been placed at our Fountain Square bookstore and threatened the lives of our team...."

Marshood noted that the bookstore will reopen as normal at 11 a.m. on Wednesday and, "as a safe and healing space for all our neighbors, Indy Reads will always provide programs that align with our core value of inclusivity," and it will continue "to hold space for all our neighbors."


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Republic of Letters Bookstore Opening in Wisconsin in April

On April 29, Keith Burrows and Leslie Damaso are opening Republic of Letters in Mineral Point, Wis., the Cap Times reported. The 1,200-square-foot store will specialize in "local authors, Asian American writers and classic fiction, as well as cookbooks and experimental contemporary novels." Burrows and Damaso anticipate having a mix of local and tourist customers and that summer tourist season will be the busiest time of the year.

Burrows is a scientist who used to work full-time at Cardinal Glass Industries but switched to part-time to devote more attention to Republic of Letters. In preparation for opening the store, he spent a year researching, talking with booksellers and devising a business plan.

Damaso owns and operates the nearby Buttonhill Music Studio, an educational and performance space where she offers voice and piano lessons. She told Cap Times that she sees the street as "a tiny corridor of hope for writers, musicians, artists, students, friends and neighbors in this rural community."

The couple lives across the street from the store and had been "mourning the town's lack of an indie bookstore for more than a decade," the newspaper wrote. Burrows commented: "An independent bookstore offers a third space, someplace you can go to find something new to read, to make a new connection, to take a break and find some peace."


GLOW: Berkley Books: The Seven O'Clock Club by Amelia Ireland


Notes from the Inaugural RISE Bookselling Conference

More than 200 booksellers representing some 25 nationalities convened in Prague, Czech Republic last week for the first ever RISE Bookselling Conference. The two-day program, aimed at fostering resilience, innovation and sustainability in the European bookselling sector, ran smoothly and featured author keynotes, panel discussions and plenty of coffee breaks for chatting with other attendees. The second RISE Bookselling Conference will take place next March in Lisbon, Portugal.

RISE attendees mingle at a reception.

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When Berkana Bookshop first opened in Madrid, Spain, roughly 30 years ago, "we didn't have books and we didn't have clients," said store owner Mili Hernandez, during a panel about diverse bookstores. 

Hernandez's bookstore was the first LGBT bookstore to open in Spain, at a time when homosexuality was heavily stigmatized and not discussed. The store's future clients "were in the closet" and in many cases "afraid to go to a bookstore," and most of the LGBT titles available in Spanish were translations from English. A few years after opening the bookstore, Hernandez founded a publishing house called Egales, which has gone on to publish some 400 titles. For a long time, it was the "only one" in Spain.

During the same panel, Mairi Oliver, manager of Lighthouse Bookshop in Edinburgh, Scotland, remarked that if Random House and Hachette can have a wine budget for events, they can have an accessibility budget for things like hiring a British Sign Language interpreter. And in response to an audience question about whether to have a dedicated LGBTQ section or to mix those titles into other sections, Oliver suggested thinking about your audience. If the goal is to get straight people to pick up an LGBTQ book, "folding it in makes sense." If you want to reach an LGBTQ audience, there's "no shortcut for having a section."

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Jessica Saenger, Anne Schiotz, Veronika Michalova, Anne Schroen

In a breakout session about the role of bookshops in controversial societal debates, Anne Schiotz of the Norwegian Booksellers Association reported that after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, there were, for the "first time in many, many years," discussions in Norway about whether to boycott books. Ultimately, the association's answer was no, with Schiotz noting that a boycott of Russian commercial goods is one thing, "but not art."

Veronika Michalova of Artforum Bratislava in Slovakia explained that in her country, publishing houses emerged that published "hoaxes and disinformation and Russian propaganda," and she and her colleagues decided "not to sell these books at all." It was a "hard decision," she noted, as after "40 years of communism," freedom of expression has become a "big value" in Slovakia. The decision was "a bit controversial," Michalova noted, but she doesn't consider it to be censorship but a "keeping of the gateways." She added that with the war going on "right behind the border," and the number of Ukrainian refugees in the country, the situation in Slovakia is a bit different.

Anne Schroen of the Dutch Booksellers Association mentioned an incident in the Netherlands that involved right-wing bloggers labeling a writer as a pedophile for a story he had written years ago about a student having a relationship with a teacher. Though the story was meant to show how easily young people can be manipulated by adults and taken advantage of, Schroen pointed out, the story was taken completely out of context and within 24 hours the writer saw "such immense death threats." The author went into hiding and other authors who supported him also received death threats, and employees at his publishing house "got police protection." It was "appalling," Schroen said, and five years ago she would not have believed that such a thing would happen in the Netherlands.

Jessica Saenger of Germany's Boersenverein (the association of publishers, booksellers and wholesalers) brought up the decisions made around last year's Frankfurt Book Fair. No "state actors" were allowed to attend, and though individual Russian companies would have been allowed, none did.

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Lana Bastašić

During one of the conference's keynote talks, author Lana Bastašić and journalist Maarten Dessing discussed Bastašić's debut, Catch the Rabbit, which won the 2020 European Union Prize for Literature and was an Indies Introduce pick in the U.S.

Bastašić, who is Serbian and grew up in Bosnia, was a child during the Yugoslav Wars and drew on that experience in writing Catch the Rabbit. So many books about those wars, she said, are told from the perspective of middle aged men, and she wanted to write about what it meant to "be a girl during and after the war," which was a "whole different part of the story that hasn't been told."

While writing and publishing the novel, she realized that a lot of people "don't consider us Europe," and "a lot of people don't know a genocide happened in 1995 in the heart of Europe." First it angered her, then it saddened her, and she found it "scary" how quickly Europe can bury its old trauma or willingly forget it. Her book "reminds people of this other Europe that sometimes they prefer to forget."

Asked about the reaction to her book in her home country, Bastašić said her hometown is now Orthodox Christian after "ethnic cleansing on a grand scale." That is a fact "still being denied" by the majority of Bosnian Serbs, and Bastašić is among a "small minority" of Serbian people who talk about it. After the publication of her novel, she was called "traitor," "self-hating Serb" and a "bad Serb." She has also been called a witch, saying she's "proud of that one." In Sarajevo, she noted, she has readers. In her hometown she does not.

Bastašić, who translated her novel into English, remarked that when she travels she frequently visits bookstores, and often what she sees is a preponderance of English-language books and American writers. While she does "adore" some of those writers, translated fiction can often be "pushed aside," and she asked booksellers to consider giving prominent display space to a more diverse range of authors.

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Nic Bottomley, Tereza Parizkova, Raluca Selejan, Aude Farès

Booksellers Tereza Parizkova, co-owner of the children's bookstore Zlata Velryba in Olomouc, Czech Republic; Nic Bottomley, co-owner of Mr. B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, England; and Aude Farès, owner of Le Chameau Sauvage in Toulouse, France, appeared on a panel to talk about innovative ideas they've implemented at their bookstores. Raluca Selejan of La Două Bufniţe Bookshop in Timisoara, Romania, moderated the talk.

Parizkova discussed a book club she started in her store that is meant for adults but focuses on children's books. She explained that she started the club because she feels it's "important for adults to read books intended for children." The club filled up fairly quickly, and it turned out that every adult who signed up for the club was a teacher. During the first meeting they talked about which schools they worked at and the age groups they taught. When they returned for the second meeting, Parizkova learned that they had all brought the book into their respective classes and they shared with the club how that went.

Bottomley described his store's Reading Spa program, which the team came up with about two years after the store opened. Customers book a Reading Spa appointment either for themselves or as a gift for someone else, and the recipient then goes to the bookstore for a one-on-one talk with a bookseller. Over tea and cake they discuss books, and after chatting, the bookseller gathers some 15-20 books and presents them to the customer. The appointments come with a voucher that will cover several books, as well as a voucher for a future visit to the store, and Bottomley noted that most customers leave the shop with "more books than they bargained for." The service has proven so popular that they have a waiting list "in excess of seven months."

Farès talked about the variety of unconventional nonbook events she hosts at her bookstore. Her store has held ukulele lessons, comic strip workshops and lectures on Chilean politics, and Farès said she hosts these sorts of events because she knows there is a portion of the community that might feel intimidated to enter a bookshop or might not think it is a space for them. The events help draw in those community members, and often they "come back to us after that." --Alex Mutter


Obituary Note: John Hale

John Hale

John Hale, publisher of the independent Robert Hale publishing house in London for more than 50 years, has died, the Bookseller reported. He was 92. Hale was in his 20s when he took over the company in 1956, after the sudden death of his father, Robert Hale, who had founded the firm in 1936. John Hale subsequently expanded the list, adding genre fiction alongside nonfiction and general fiction.

At its height, the company was publishing many hundreds of genre titles a year. Authors on the fiction list include Jean Plaidy, John D. MacDonald, James M. Cain, James Hadley Chase, Robert Bloch and Harold Robbins. Hale was the first to publish Robert Goddard and C.J. Box in the U.K. He later acquired equestrian publisher J.A. Allen and NAG Press, which published gemological and horological titles.

Noting that Hale was always interested in niche areas, Gill Jackson, former managing director at the publisher, said Hale maintained there was no subject he hadn't touched and "if there's a gap, that's what I'm interested in."

Hale retired from active publishing in 2010 but remained "a benign presence as chairman" until the company was closed in 2015 and the list was transferred to the Crowood Press.

Jackson said: "I worked for John on and off for 45 years and during that time we never had a cross word. He was the ultimate gentleman: kind, patient but demanding of one's best at all times.... He relied to a very large extent on his own judgement, maintaining a policy that every letter received should be answered that day, submissions answered within a fortnight or three weeks at the most."

Lesley Gower, publisher at J.A. Allen, added: "I remember Mr. Hale, never referred to by staff as John, as a particularly shrewd London publisher and respected businessman. His eclectic list included a plethora of fascinating authors and titles. He always kept a close eye on the balance sheet and still drove to his Clerkenwell office in his eighties. On a personal note, while I was managing his equestrian imprint, J.A. Allen, Mr. Hale would often ask me if certain horse-related details were correct in some of the Westerns that he still, in his later years, loved to read himself. This was something that amused us both."


Notes

Image of the Day: Nic Stone at Anderson's

Author Nic Stone poses with the crowd at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Ill., a stop on her six-city tour for her YA novel Chaos Theory (Crown Books for Young Readers).


Personnel Changes at Holiday House, Peachtree and Pixel+Ink

Alison Tarnofsky has been promoted to marketing manager, trade, at Holiday House, Peachtree and Pixel+Ink. She was formerly associate marketing manager, trade.


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Dr. Arline T. Geronimus on Fresh Air

Today:
Fresh Air: Dr. Arline T. Geronimus, author of Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society (Little, Brown Spark, $30, 9780316257978).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Tabitha Brown, author of Seen, Loved and Heard: A Guided Journal for Feeding the Soul (Morrow, $19.99, 9780063286092).

Today Show: Hilton Carter, author of Living Wild: How to Plant Style Your Home and Cultivate Happiness (CICO Books, $45, 9781800652125).

Also on Today: Miroslav Volf, co-author of Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most (The Open Field, $29, 9780593489307).


Movies: Killers of the Flower Moon

Apple Original Films and Paramount shared release plans for Killers of the Flower Moon, the Martin Scorsese-directed adaptation of David Grann's 2017 book that stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. Deadline reported that the film will open limited Friday, October 6, and go wide Friday, October 20, before it moves to streaming globally on Apple TV+. It "is expected to be a frontrunner in the next Oscar race."

Directed by Scorsese and written for the screen by Eric Roth and Scorsese, the film's cast also includes Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion and Tantoo Cardinal. 



Books & Authors

Awards: Christopher Winners

The Christopher Awards, which celebrate writers, producers, directors, authors, and illustrators whose work "affirms the highest values of the human spirit" and reflects the Christopher motto, "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness," include 12 books for adults and young people:

Books for Adults:
American Sirens by Kevin Hazzard (Hachette Books)
And There Was Light by Jon Meacham (Random House)
Father Ed by Dawn Eden Goldstein (Orbis Books)
The Other Side of Yet by Michelle D. Hord (Atria Books)
Sisters of Mokama by Jyoti Thottam (Viking)
Wild Ride by Hayley Arceneaux (Convergent Books)

Books for Young People:
Feathers from Above by Kathleen Davis, illustrated by Martyna Nejman (Kathleen Davis Books)
Wolves Aren't Welcome by Cheryl Benner, illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler (Wild Iris Publishing)
Remember Us with Smiles by Grace and Gary Jansen, illustrated by Barbara Bongini (Loyola Press)
Growing an Artist by John Parra (A Paula Wiseman Book/Simon & Schuster)
Alias Anna by Susan Hood with Greg Dawson (HarperCollins)
Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism and Friendship (Young Readers Edition) by Adam Makos (Delacorte Press)


Top Library Recommended Titles for April

LibraryReads, the nationwide library staff-picks list, offers the top 10 April titles public library staff across the country love:

Top Pick
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune (Tor, $28.99, 9781250217448). "Clearly if you need a book about a robot that's guaranteed to have you break out into heaving sobs, this is the novel for you. Klune's masterful retelling of Pinocchio--a little bit science fiction, a little bit dystopian, and a little bit book-clubby--is a sure-fire winner with so much appeal on so many levels it should prompt readers of all genres to step into something new and original. For fans of The Maker of Swans and The Night Circus." --Douglas Beatty, Baltimore County Public Library, Baltimore, Md.

Dirty Laundry: A Novel by Disha Bose (Ballantine, $27, 9780593497388). "Ciara is a perfect mom and influencer who knows what to do, buy, and promote in her small Irish town. Ciara also is an irresponsible woman who plays friends against each other, eats up and spits out all the town husbands, and seals her own fate with her reprehensible behavior. An Orient Express-like cast shines in this twisty domestic thriller about secrets and lies." --Donna Ballard, East Meadow Public Library, East Meadow, N.Y.

The Haunting of Alejandra: A Novel by V. Castro (Del Rey, $28, 9780593499696). "Alejandra is a stay-at-home mother. Depressed because her life isn't what she thought it'd be, she consults a curandero: a folk healer and licensed therapist. She soon discovers the visions she's been having are tied to her ancestors' experiences. Castro has an innate ability to get into the head of her characters, while weaving together multiple plotlines and time periods." --Chloe Waryan, Chicago Public Library, Chicago, Ill.

Homecoming: A Novel by Kate Morton (Mariner, $32, 9780063020894). "Set in Australia, this novel examines the mysterious circumstances of a family tragedy on Christmas Eve in 1959. In the present day, a woman delves into her own past to uncover the secrets that impacted her life in ways she doesn't yet understand. Morton's books often contain well-developed characters, twisty plots, and family secrets, and this is no exception." --Lesley Williams, Claymont Public Library, New Castle, Del.

Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge (‎Kensington, $26, 9781496739599). "In Paris after WWII, Julia Child, her husband Paul, sister Dort, and Tabitha, a half French American ex-pat, are all recent arrivals. The romance, sights, sounds, and food of the city are delightful enough; add a murder committed with one of Julia’s knives, and a wonderful series is born. For fans of culinary mysteries, historical mysteries, and City of Light." --Jennifer Winberry, Hunterdon County Library, Flemington, N.J.

Moorewood Family Rules: A Novel by HelenKay Dimon (Avon, $30, ‎ 9780063297142). "Jillian Moorewood is out of jail after covering for the crimes of her grifting family. She heads home to the family mansion to take back control of the business and force them into legitimate jobs, but none of her extended family wants to change. Quirky characters, a hot bodyguard, attempts on her life, and a battle worthy of Succession keeps readers engaged to the end." --Linda Quinn, Fairfield Public Library, Fairfield, Conn.

Natural Beauty: A Novel by Ling Ling Huang (Dutton, $27, 9780593472927). "This hauntingly beautiful and chilling novel showcases the otherwordly experience the main character goes through at the expense of her health and beauty, and how damaging it can be. It was bleak, but atmospheric and luminous in a weird way. The descriptions were interesting and drew me in further and further. A mind-bender that readers will plow through in a day or two!" --Erin McLaughlin, Librarian in Austin, Tex.

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown (Tor Nightfire, $16.99, 9781250834683). "Jacklyn 'Jack' Albright is first mate of the ship Calypso, en route back to earth after a failed attempt to colonize another planet. Jack's father is the captain, but he sealed himself in private quarters weeks ago as things are breaking down. The pacing and growing insidious dread in this novella are awesome. The crippling fear of the unknown makes for a delicious read." --KatieLee Sliger, Boise Public Library, Boise, Idaho

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina (Berkley, $27, 9780593546857). "Anna Horn wants to know why young girls are disappearing on the reservation. When Anna's sister Grace goes missing, Anna and the tribe seek answers to the disappearances and discover that the tribe's difficulties are linked to the past. This mix of mythology and horror that deals with unsolved disappearances of Indigenous girls and tribal lore is a gripping read." --Theresa Coleman, Indianapolis Public Library, Indianapolis, Ind.

Symphony of Secrets: A Novel by Brendan Slocumb (Anchor, $28, 9780593315446). "In 1920s New York City, Fred Delaney is about to be kicked out of his jazz combo when he meets Josephine Reed, who helps him improve. In the present day, Bern Hendricks, an expert on composer Delaney, is asked to look over a manuscript of a lost symphony. However, questions about attribution arise. This is a suspenseful book that will be fantastic for discussion." --Joan Hipp, Florham Park Public Library, Florham Park, N.J.


Book Review

Review: Hestia Strikes a Match

Hestia Strikes a Match by Christine Grillo (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28 hardcover, 400p., 9780374609979, April 18, 2023)

Christine Grillo's debut novel, Hestia Strikes a Match, is sure to strike a chord with its pinpoint take on political polarization, modern love and generational divides, all delivered in a quick-witted and big-hearted narrative that will captivate readers with its wry vulnerability.

Hestia Harris is looking for love again after losing her husband to the American Civil War--no, not that Civil War, and not that kind of lost, either. The year is 2023, and a new civil war has arisen in the U.S. following the death of President 46. Twelve states have seceded. Instead of bloody battles between formal militaries, the war happens via digital misinformation and guerilla attacks on citizens and infrastructure. Hestia's husband suddenly discovered his sense of patriotism, joined a pro-Union paramilitary group, and hasn't contacted her in more than a year. Sort-of single in Baltimore, Md., a border state prone to infrastructure attacks, former journalist Hestia works at a retirement home where she leads residents in recording their lived history. Divorce paperwork would be "such an ass-ache," so she hits the dating apps while still technically married. Her suitors include a high school ex who turns out to be a confederate sympathizer, her husband's widowed brother-in-law, and a puppeteer/mime/clown wanting to take his act to the seceded South. Walking with Hestia on the rocky road of love are younger coworker Sarah, who informs her that "Happiness is an inside job," and Mildred, a wise, no-punches-pulled octogenarian at the retirement village who refers to men as "trifling little boys." Underlying Hestia's quest for companionship is a growing fracture in her family as her emotionally distant parents relocate into confederate territory.

The political becomes painfully personal for Grillo's heroine in this neatly tweaked version of the modern U.S., where holiday table arguments have blossomed into bloodshed. Mildred sagely explains, "America's polarized because some people like change, and some people don't. And everything is changing." Hestia's first-person narration sparkles with humor and glimpses of sudden softness as she faces down all the expected trials of online dating while wondering if the tap water is safe or poisoned today. Her intergenerational friendship with Mildred provides a heartwarming aspect to the story that plays well against conflicts with her family. Grillo will hook readers with her wit and leave them reeling in a shocking ending that brings home the story's considerable emotional heft. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Shelf Talker: The titular heroine attempts to navigate dating, friendships and family dynamics during a modern U.S. civil war in this witty but heartfelt novel.


The Bestsellers

Top-Selling Self-Published Titles

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Stand Alone by Sabrina Lloyd
2. Clinic Launch Secrets by Jason A. Duprat
3. For Never by Aurora Rose Reynolds
4. Right Man, Right Time by Meghan Quinn
5. The Fae Princes Vicious (Lost Boys Book 4) by Nikki St. Crowe
6. Things We Hide from the Light by Lucy Score
7. The Inmate by Freida McFadden
8. Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score
9. My Dark Romeo by Parker S. Huntington and L.J. Shen
10. The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]


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