Review: BlackTold: 33 Dynamic Essays from Andscape edited by Steve Reiss

25 November 2022 by Melissa

About the book, BlackTold: 33 Dynamic Essays fron Andscape

• Publisher: Hyperion Avenue (October 4, 2022)
• Hardcover: 304 pages

ESPN’s website, The Undefeated, publishes content that explores how race and identity impact American culture. This will be a collection of the best articles published on the site. Timely and relevant, BlackTold will cover current events such as the BLM movement, the Covid-19 pandemic, race and the NFL, and more.

Here’s a sample of some of the articles that will be included:

George Floyd’s mother was not there, but he used her as a sacred invocation. With his dying breaths, Floyd called for her as an assurance of memory.

The importance of Chadwick Boseman to African Culture
In many ways, Black Panther helped normalize African heritage and style in popular culture by truly celebrating it.

Naomi Osaka made sure Black lives mattered at the U.S. Open
She’s grown more sophisticated in how she discusses race, and more comfortable with doing so publicly

Can a black heroine fix the racist stereotypes infecting ‘King Kong’?
In new Broadway production, actress Christiani Pitts steps into the role first made famous by Fay Wray

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the editor, Steve Reiss

Steve Reiss is the Executive Editor for Culture and Enterprise at Andscape. He has held leadership positions at many of the leading journalism outlets in the U.S., including the Washington Post, the Miami Herald, Crain Communications, and ESPN. He has worked with several winners of the Pulitzer Prize and of numerous other awards. He is the editor of the New York Times bestseller The Fierce 44: Black Americans Who Shook Up The World.

My Thoughts

This collection of essays from Black writers should be required reading for all non-Black Americans. It is poignant. It is powerful. It is honest. And it is beautiful.

Each essay exposes a different aspect of life as a Black person in America. Some of the themes, such as the fact that everyone calls for their mother at their last hour – are universal, though the essay about George Floyd was not. It’s about more than just the facts of his murder at the hands of police, and it’s hardly the most difficult read in the collection, but it’s the first essay in the book, and that gives it extra impact.

Grouped into sections such as “Black Lives Matter,” “American History,” “Arts and Culture,” and “Sports” these essays run through every aspect of life, whether or not they’re about the Utah Jazz basketball players, identifying with Breonna Taylor, or talking about “Black Twitter” these essays are informative, thought provoking, and brilliant. As a recent emigre to Florida, the piece that struck me most was “The Gut-Wrenching History of Black Babies and Alligators, by Domonique Foxworth which not only discusses the way we weigh human life against animal life, but also talks about a particularly heinous piece of American history.

“Can you imagine an America when that was not true? Can you imagine an America when a child’s life was so insignificant that he was intentionally put into the pen of a dangerous zoo animal? An America when a child was intentionally placed at the edge of alligator-infested waters to lure the ferocious beast for hunters?” Foxworth writes, and then explains that using Black children – Black babies – as gator bait used to be standard practice.

Overall, this collection, carefully curated from ESPN’s website The Undefeated gives us a much-needed look into the truth of Black life in America. Hopefully, we will learn from it.

Check out the Other Participants on This Tour:

Wednesday, October 19th: Instagram: @amysbooketlist

Tuesday, November 1st: Instagram: @naturegracereader

Thursday, November 3rd: Instagram: @kelly_hunsaker_reads

Monday, November 14th: TikTok: @thelife0fbooks

Thursday, November 17th: Instagram: @turnxthexpage

Friday, November 18th: Instagram: @shook_sbooks

Monday, November 21st: A Bookish Way of Life

Monday, November 28th: TikTok: @storytimewithshelbs

Monday, November 28th: Instagram: @bathtubbookworm

TBD: Friday, November 25th: Bibliotica

Review: National Geographic’s Birding Basics by Noah Strycker

21 November 2022 by Melissa

About the book, Birding Basics

• Publisher: National Geographic (November 15, 2022)
• Paperback: 256 pages

Targeted to beginners and beyond, National Geographic’s fun, inspiring guide to the art, craft, and science of bird-watching combines practical know-how and expert knowledge. Browsable and bursting with helpful illustrations and photographs, Birding Basics offers new ideas for when, where, and how to get to know the birds in your world.

Not a field guide but a primer in best practices, authored by birding expert Noah Strycker, this breezy book features easy-to-follow advice on what to look and listen for, how to use field guides and birding apps, the best equipment to start with, and ways to engage with other birders around the world. Filled with fun facts and seasoned advice, this useful book will help you attract birds to your backyard, master bird identification, name a bird by its song, and witness the magic of migration. Sidebars feature fun facts, identification tips, and easy projects for exploring the world on the wing.

For everyone who loves watching the birds, whether out the window or on the trail, this colorful, easy-to-use guide to better birding has everything you need.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

As with all books published under the National Geographic imprint, Birding Basics is a beautiful book with full-color photographs throughout. It could easily be a coffee table book, but it’s soft cover makes it a book that can more easily be used in the field. It is not a field guide, but a primer on birdwatching – where to start, what gear is essential or non-essential but nifty to have, and when the best birding is for various regions.

What I really appreciated was that this book included some useful tips on how to use actual field guides, and even recommended birding apps.

The language is accessible enough for readers of most ages, and I could easily see this book being at the center of family outings.

Goes well with: bottled water and trail mix.

Check Out the Other Participants on This Tour

Tuesday, November 15th: Instagram: @beachesandreads

Wednesday, November 16th: Books, Cooks, and Looks

Friday, November 18th: A Bookish Way of Life

Monday, November 28th: Instagram: @readinggirlreviews

Tuesday, November 29th: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Wednesday, November 30th: Stacy’s Books

Thursday, December 1st: Instagram; @delightfully.Brittany

Friday, December 2nd: Jathan & Heather

Friday, December 9th: Instagram: @thebookend.diner

TBD: Thursday, November 17th: 100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews

TBD: Monday, November 21st: Bibliotica

TBD: Tuesday, November 22nd: Instagram: @stumblingintobooks

Review: Dangerous Blues, by Stephen Policoff

16 November 2022 by Melissa

About the book, Dangerous Blues: Kind of a Ghost Story

• Publisher: Flexible Press (October 3, 2022)
• Paperback: 257 pages

Dangerous Blues explores a dark yet comic storm of family relationships laced with a buzz of the supernatural, where the fleeting light of the present must constantly contend with the shadows of the past.

Paul Brickner and his 12-year-old daughter Spring are subletting an apartment in New York City. They came to escape the sorrow of their empty house in upstate New York after Nadia, Paul’s wife and Spring’s mother, dies.

Spring quickly takes to her new Manhattan middle school life, including making a new friend, Irina. Through that connection, Paul meets Irina’s mother, Tara White, a blues singer, and perhaps just the spark Paul has been missing.
But Paul begins to fear that he is being haunted by Nadia, who appears to him in fleeting images. Is he imagining it, or is she real? Tara, who grew up in the inscrutable New England cult known as the Dream People, is haunted, too, hounded by her very real brothers to return to the family, and to give back the magical object—a shamanic Tibetan vessel—which they claim she stole from them.

Paul’s cousin Hank, a disreputable art dealer, becomes obsessed with this object. Meanwhile, Paul’s father-in-law, an expert on occult lore, tries to steer Paul toward resolution with Nadia’s ghost.

Driven by Paul’s new circle of odd and free spirited iconoclasts, Dangerous Blues asks the question: when do you let go, and what are you willing to let go of?

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Stephen Policoff

Stephen Policoff’s 1st novel, BEAUTIFUL SOMEWHERE ELSE, won the James Jones Award, and was published by Carroll & Graf in 2004. His essay about his disabled daughter’s experience in music therapy, “Music Today?” won the Fish Short Memoir Award and was published in FISH ANTHOLOGY 2012 (West Cork University Press, Ireland). It subsequently appeared in KINDLING QUARTERLY and has been widely republished on music therapy sites all over the world. His memoir, SIXTEEN SCENES FROM A FILM I NEVER WANTED TO SEE, was published by Monkey Puzzle Press in January 2014. His 2nd novel, COME AWAY, won the Mid-Career Author Award, and was published by Dzanc Books in November 2014. He teaches writing in Global Liberal Studies at NYU.

Connect with Stephen:

Website | Goodreads

My Thoughts

I love a good ghost story, and I love music, so Dangerous Blues was a great match for me. Going in, I didn’t realize this was a sequel to author Stephen Policoff’s earlier works, but it reads very well as a stand-alone novel. I didn’t feel like I had to play catch-up to understand what was going on because it was quite simple: Paul and his daughter Spring need to get away from the house where Nadia (his wife, her mother) died, so they sublet an apartment in New York. I loved the opening scenes showing their arrival in the apartment, and the mix of the owner’s be;longings and the emptiness, as well as the fact that said owner (Rose, Spring’s aunt) left them plates of food for their first night.

What really hooked me on this novel, though, were the details. Paul walks into Spring’s room to find that instead of choosing between two not-very-appealing bunks, she’s bundled up on the floor, early in the novel, and its the sort of scene only a parent would think to write. I also liked that Nadia’s ghost may or may not merely be a dream, a manifestation of Paul’s sadness, though her reality does not change the fact that both father and daughter must grieve and move on.

The entire novel had a very bluesy feeling to it, which tied nicely to the presence of Tara, blues singer, and mother to Spring’s best friend in New York. I felt like each character had a motif – Spring’s was bright and somewhat staccato, Paul’s was slow, told in long saxophone riffs, Irina was almost bop, Tara was the bass line, tying it all together. All four themes were distinct, but blended into something harmonious both with and without Nadia’s quiet melody weaving through it all, and eventually fading. It was this musicality that made me enjoy the book so much – the language, too, was very specific and evocative.

I was expecting a novel about grief to be relentlessly dark, but Policoff is more nuanced that that, and while there is sadness, there are also moments of joy and hope.

Overall, I felt the author’s storytelling was very organic and his characters were interesting and dimensional. I liked this book enough that I want to read the stories that came before it.

Goes well with a proper New York style hotdog, purchased from a sidewalk cart.

Visit the Other Participants on this Tour

Tuesday, November 1st: 100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews

Wednesday, November 2nd: Instagram: @on_a_sandbar

Thursday, November 3rd: Instagram: @feliciaisbooked

Tuesday, November 8th: Instagram: @readergirlie

Wednesday, November 9th: Instagram: @meghans_library

Thursday, November 10th: Instagram: @turnxthexpage

Friday, November 11th: Instagram: @pazthebookaholic

Monday, November 14th: Instagram: @abduliacoffeebookaddict23

Wednesday, November 16th: Bibliotica

Thursday, November 17th: Instagram: @enthuse_reader

TBD: Monday, November 7th: Instagram: @books_and_biewers

Review: National Geographic’s Stargazer’s Atlas

14 November 2022 by Melissa

About the book, Stargazer’s Atlas

• Publisher: National Geographic (October 25, 2022)
• Hardcover: 432 pages

Richly illustrated with luminous photographs and informative maps and graphics, this expansive book is the perfect guide for everyone discovering the wonders of the night sky, from those just learning the constellations to dedicated telescope observers.

Combining science, exploration, and storytelling, National Geographic Stargazer’s Atlas invites readers to roam the night sky for constellations, planets and moons, eclipses, comets and meteor showers, auroras, and deep-sky treasures including nebulae and galaxies—many visible to the naked eye and all with binoculars or a backyard telescope.

Beginning with basic space science and including a complete set of night sky maps for all four seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, this fascinating book guides the reader toward the most rewarding observations. A unique chapter on astrotourism highlights ancient observatories, dark-sky preserves, and other global destinations for the sky-seeking traveler; a final chapter details current and future space missions and what they might discover.

Richly illustrated with awe-inspiring imagery—including photos from space missions and telescopes, science-based artists’ interpretations, and explanatory graphics—the book also contains 170 maps and charts of planets, moons, and constellations, from Earth’s moon to moons of Saturn. Practical advice throughout helps readers see what they have been reading about, building key observational skills such as “star hopping” from easy-to-find stars to fainter deep-sky objects and focusing on “deep sky treasures:” areas rich in observable phenomena.

Approachable and authoritative, gorgeous and fascinating, National Geographic Stargazer’s Atlas will intrigue all who love to gaze up in wonder at the night sky—and find themselves wanting to know more.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Disney Publishing | Goodreads

My Thoughts

As with all National Geographic books, this coffee table-sized tome is a work of art, with gorgeous photographs and artist’s renderings. This book also includes one of my favorite features from the magazine: maps. In this case, they are maps of the night sky for each hemisphere in each season, so it’s really easy to go outside and compare your own starry night to the information provided.

The information in this book is well organized, and has tidbits of data that lead down wonderful rabbit holes of exploration. The astrotourism section was one of my favorites, but as a new telescope owner, I really loved being told where to go and how to point my device for the best results.

A young friend of mine leads star parties at his university, and I feel like this is a book he’d love to have in his personal library, but it’s by no means only for academics. Rather, it’s an easily accessible guide to the night sky, that presents science fact but leaves from for pure, unadulterated wonder. However, it should be noted that it’s sheer size makes it impractical as a field guide.

Goes well with: a clear night, an elevated location, and hard cider to toast with.

Check Out the Other Participants on This Tour

Tuesday, October 25th: Instagram: @tarheelreader

Wednesday, October 26th: Instagram: @addictedtobooks86

Sunday, October 30th: Instagram: @kelly_hunsaker_reads

Tuesday, November 1st: Instagram: @mariasbookshelves

Wednesday, November 2nd: Instagram: @nurse_bookie

Thursday, November 3rd: A Bookish Way of Life

Friday, November 4th: Stranded in Chaos

Saturday, November 5th: Instagram: @thereadingchemist

Monday, November 7th: Instagram: @thebookend.diner

Tuesday, November 8th: Books, Cooks, and Looks

Friday, November 11th: Instagram: @bookbruin

Monday, November 14th: Bibliotica

Thursday, November 17th: Instagram: @pattyisbooked

Friday, November 18th: Jathan & Heather

Monday, November 21st: Write – Read – Life

TBD: Friday, October 28th: Instagram: @gracesbookblog2

TBD: Wednesday, November 9th: Instagram: @readinggirlreviews

Review: National Geographic’s Food Journeys of a Lifetime, 2nd edition

28 October 2022 by Melissa

About the book, Food Journeys of a Lifetime, 2nd Edition

• Publisher: National Geographic (October 18, 2022)
• Hardcover: 320 pages

Few experiences are as satisfying as a chance to explore the world through food. Compiled from the expert travel writers at National Geographic, Food Journeys of a Lifetime scours the globe for the world’s best dishes, markets, and restaurants that are worth traveling far and wide to savor.
In this fully revised and updated edition, find the best of the best, including:

• Tokyo’s famed fish market and its 226 Michelin-starred restaurants–the most of any city in the world
• The ultimate Philly cheesesteak from the city of brotherly love
• The perfect cup of tea in China
• The spice markets of Marrakech
• The juiciest cuts of beef in Argentina
• The freshest pasta in Italy
• And the ultimate Swiss wine route

Featuring more than 60 new bites and destinations, this book is the key to building a foodie traveler’s ultimate bucket list. Within the flavors and tastes of every cuisine, you’ll find unique stories about the places, cultures, climates, and chefs that produce these extraordinary dishes. A wide selection of recipes invite you to try new cooking techniques and obtain flavors from abroad at home; top 10 lists offer side trips from chocolate factories to champagne bars.

Filled with a dazzling array of diverse recommendations, each page of this inspiring book will make your mouth water–and spur your next gourmet vacation.

Purchase and discussion links for this book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Disney Books | Goodreads

My Thoughts

I love these “coffee table” books from National Geographic, because they’re not only incredibly informative they’re also just beautiful. After all, they feature photographs from some of National Geographic’s best photographers, and articles from some of their best writers. This book, the second edition of Food Journeys of a Lifetime, is no exception. The photographs are not just of food – although many of them are – but also of fabulous food markets and unique restaurants. All are eye-catching. Some are mouth-watering.

But this book is more than just pictures. It has pages that describe the best-know foods from individual U.S. states, and various countries around the world and has fascinating supportive text. Did you know that real wasabi (not the fake stuff we Americans get most of the time) has antibacterial benefits? I didn’t until I read this book. No, it won’t kill all the parasites in raw fish, but sashimi fish isn’t truly raw in the sense that it’s untouched. It’s just not cooked. (Also parasite-ridden fish isn’t served.)

The other thing I loved about this book is that, as much as it’s a work of art, it’s also a reference guide. I would rank it right next to one of my favorite foodie resources, The Flavor Bible, in its usefulness to anyone who wants to improve their home cooking. Health experts tell us to “eat the rainbow.” With Food Journeys of a Lifetime you can broaden the number of colors, and enjoy vicarious travels at the same time.

This book is great if you read it from cover to cover, but perfectly suited to pick up now and then, or skip around in.

Goes well with: eggplant caponata and crusty sourdough baguette.

Visit the Other Great Stops on this Tour

Tuesday, October 18th: Instagram: @kelly_hunsaker_reads

Wednesday, October 19th: Instagram: @jessicareadsrunbooks

Thursday, October 20th: A Bookish Way of Life

Monday, October 24th: Instagram: @nurse_bookie

Tuesday, October 25th: Instagram: @readingfortheseasons

Wednesday, October 26th: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Thursday, October 27th: Books, Cooks, and Looks

Friday, October 28th: Bibliotica

Thursday, November 3rd: Instagram: @itsbibliotherapy

Friday, November 4th: Jathan & Heather

Friday, November 4th: Instagram: @thereadingchemist

Sunday, November 6th: Instagram: @addictedtobooks86

Sunday, November 6th: Instagram: @thebookend.diner

TBD: Friday, October 21st: Instagram: @mariasbookshelves

Review: A Man of the World, by Gilbert M. Grosvenor with Mark Collins Jenkins

18 October 2022 by Melissa

About the book, A Man of the World

Publisher ‏ : ‎ National Geographic (September 13, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages

The captivating inside story of the man who helmed National Geographic for six decades is a front-row seat to audacious feats of exploration, from the successful hunt for the Titanic to Jane Goodall’s field studies. Offering a rare portrait of one of the world’s most iconic media empires, this revealing autobiography makes an impassioned argument to know―and care for―our planet.

Though his career path had been paved by four generations of his family before him, Gilbert M. Grosvenor left his own mark on the National Geographic Society, founded in 1888 and recognized the world over by its ubiquitous yellow border. In an unflinchingly honest memoir as big as the world and all that is in it, Grosvenor shows us what it was like to “grow up Geographic” in a family home where explorers like Robert Peary, Louis Leakey, and Jane Goodall regularly crossed the threshold. As staff photographer, editor in chief and then president of the organization, Grosvenor oversaw the diversification into television, film, books, as well as its flagship magazine, which under his tenure reached a peak circulation of nearly 11 million. He also narrates the shift from a nonprofit, family-focused enterprise to the more corporate, bottom-line focused world of publishing today.

For Grosvenor, running National Geographic wasn’t just a job. It was a legacy, motivated by a passion not just to leave the world a better place, but to motivate others to do so, too. Filled with world travel, charismatic explorers, and the complexities of running a publishing empire, A MAN OF THE WORLD is the story of one man, a singular family business, and the changing face of American media.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | Goodreads

About the author, Gilbert. M. Grosvenor

Gilbert Melville Grosvenor is the former president and chairman of the National Geographic Society, after having served as the editor of National Geographic magazine from 1970 to 1980. The great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell and the third Grosvenor to serve as editor-in-chief of the magazine, Grosvenor has received 14 honorary doctorates and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 for his leadership in geography education.

My Thoughts

Like the author who, according to some biographies, “grew up Geographic,” the familiar yellow rectangle that represents the National Geographic magazine has been part of my entire life. Once, I was even on a plane to La Paz, BCS, Mexico when I realized most of the men on the plane were wearing black baseball caps with that logo. It took me a moment to realize they were all photographers on their way to meet the National Geographic Society’s boat for a photography excursion. My point in relating this is that reading about one of the men “behind the scenes” of one of my favorite institutions was a natural choice for me. I love biographies. I grew up on National Geographic magazine and the TV specials and I even had a subscription to National Geographic World, which was designed for kids, when I was ten. When something is imprinted with that yellow rectangle, you know you can trust it.

Gilbert M. Grosvenor is more than just a former president of the National Geographic Society. He’s a traveler, an explorer, a photographer, and educator, and a storyteller in the grandest sense of the word. In this book, with the help of the Society’s archivist Mark Jenkins, he tells his own story – how National Geographic literally runs in his veins, as his grandfather was a founding member and his father ran things before him. (He shares that he’s also a descendant of Alexander Graham Bell, but that’s really just a factoid thrown in to give context to his family history.)

Having read the book and listened to the audiobook, I feel like I’ve been steeped in Mr. Grosvenor’s story, but that’s not a bad thing. This book is well-paced and has a nice balance of adventures in the world (spending part of his army service as a photographer) and behind a desk (he was instrumental in creating that kids’ magazine, meant to be child-friendly without dumbing things down) . He shares anecdotes about meeting Jane Goodall and Robert Peary, but also tells how they managed to get inside photos of the Apollo missions even though Life Magazine had an exclusive contract with the astronauts. His writerly voice is full of wonder when he talks about Robert Ballard’s discovery of the sunken Titanic, and full of poignance when he discusses Koko the Gorilla and her use of language. While this book is very much the story of the magazine as we know it today, it’s equally the story of the man, Gilbert M. Grovesnor, who was instrumental in making it into the entity we all know and love.

Reading A Man of the World is like having the author sitting in your living room regaling you with tales of his adventures and experiences, and while it was a satisfying read, I felt myself wanting more, just because I enjoyed it so much.

Goes well with: a juicy streak, a baked potato, a simple salad, and a glass or two of Shiraz.

Visit the Other Stops on This Tour

Thursday, September 29th: Books, Cooks, and Looks

Friday, September 30th: A Bookish Way of Life

Monday, October 3rd: Instagram: @kelly_hunsaker_reads

Tuesday, October 4th: Write – Read – Life

Thursday, October 6th: Instagram: @jenniaahava

Thursday, October 6th: The Bookish Dilettante

Sunday, October 9th: Instagram: @megsbookclub

TBD: Instagram: @books_with_bethany

TBD: Instagram: @nurse_bookie

TBD: Instagram: @mariasbookshelves

TBD: Thursday, September 22nd: TikTok: @stephreadsalot

TBD: Tuesday, September 27th: Jathan & Heather

TBD: Thursday, September 29th: Bibliotica

Book Review: Big Bad, by Lily Anderson

14 October 2022 by Melissa

About the book, Big Bad

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hyperion Avenue (September 27, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
Also available in audio and digital

Demondale, Callifornia, 1999…Like Sunnydale, but whole lot more evil.

Step into this alternate reality, where chaos reigns supreme. The Mayor’s sun-shade has created permanent darkness over Sunnydale, fully opening the Hellmouth once and for all. Now the newly christened Demondale has become a safe haven for vampires, beasts, and all types of ruffians. It’s never been better to be bad.

Aspiring supervillains (and super nerds) Jonathan and Andrew attempt to hold their own in a town full of monsters, while three-hundred-year-old vengeance demon Anya is just looking for something to give her life purpose again, spending her days working at an evil juice bar. But soon word gets out that there’s a new Big Bad on the scene, one more powerful and more destructive than anyone who has come before. She, of course, is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And she’s hell-bent on rooting out all of this reality’s evil by any means necessary.

Now Jonathan, Andrew, and Anya must recruit a team of Demondale’s most notorious villains—including Angelus, Spike, Drusilla, and even Ripper the malevolent magic shop owner—in order to save their world. But it’ll be no easy feat to put their pride and differences aside and stop the worst thing that has ever come to town: good.

Written by acclaimed author and Buffy super fan Lily Anderson, this novel brings together Buffy’s most devious and beloved villains from the Trio to the Whirlwind to Anya, Glory, and Vampire Willow. This is one apocalypse Buffy fans are not going to want to miss!

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Lily Anderson

Lily Anderson is the author of THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN ME IS YOU, NOT NOW NOT EVER, and UNDEAD GIRL GANG. A former school librarian, she is deeply devoted to Shakespeare, fairy tales, and podcasts. Somewhere in Northern California, she is having strong opinions on musical theater.

Connect with Lily:

Website

My Thoughts

“I wish!”

They’re the words required to invoke the “genie rules” and as with most fairy tale lore, they’re loaded with more danger than the wisher ever expects.

They’re also the device that gives us this novel. A wrong wish, a misplaced word, and suddenly everything is… other.

It’s often said that every villain is the hero of their own story. In Lily Anderson’s new novel Big Bad, the villains aren’t only the protagonists of the story, they’ve got their own universe, and the “big bad” coming after them is none other than Buffy, the vampire slayer.

Set in an alternate version of the BuffyVerse where the Mayor completed his ascension, popped a sun-shade over the town, and renamed Sunnydale to Demondale, this novel is a romp through the universe we all love, but with a twist. In this town, the Hellmouth is completely open, vampires and demons roam freely, and “there’s never a line at Starbucks because almost everyone in town drinks blood.” It’s a monster free-for-all, with the Evil Trio of Warren, Jonathon, and Andrew among the few remaining human residents, and even that was meant to change until a small blonde girl crashed their Ascension Day party and “makes” Jonathon aim his shrink ray at Warren.

Revenge, of course, must be had. And that’s where the fun begins.

It’s also where author Lily Anderson shows how much of a fan she really is, because not only does she offer details about the trio that feel official – they were Sunnydale High School’s inaugural Klingon club – but she nails the portrayal of every other character who shows up: Anya is blunt and loves money, Spike is jealous every time Drusilla focuses her attention, Angellus is a habitual flirt, Drusilla is still as a mad as birds, and Vamp!Willow is as badass and chillingly evil as she ever was in the television show. Even better, this motley crew works really well as a group, grudgingly united to protect their town – and themselves -from the Slayer. (It’s worth noting that Buffy, herself, is a bit off in this story, as she’s basically Quantum Leaping from Hellmouth to Hellmouth in a desperate quest to rid the multiverse of enough evil that she’ll be sent home.)

Aside from characterization, author Anderson excels at making this dark-mirror version of Sunnydale its own entity. In Demondale, the only birds left are owls, and the perpetual nighttime means the town is also over-populated with bugs. This is a world that is as rich with detail as it is with blood and danger.

Well-paced, with a good balance of nostalgic references and original concepts, Big Bad is a big treat for anyone who loves the BuffyVerse, and the perfect story for a crisp October evening.

Goes well with: red wine and an onion blossom.

Tour Stops

Check out the other great participants on this tour.

Wednesday, September 28th: Instagram: @meghan_readsbooks

Saturday, October 1st: Instagram: @thereadingchemist

Monday, October 3rd: Instagram: @everlasting.bookworm

Tuesday, October 4th: Instagram: @biblio.jojo

Thursday, October 6th: Instagram: @teasipsandpageflips

Monday, October 10th: TikTok: @jennthemoodyreader

Tuesday, October 11th: Instagram: @harlequinjunkie

Wednesday, October 12th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Thursday, October 13th: A Bookish Way of Life

Friday, October 14th: Bibliotica

Monday, October 17th: Write – Read – Life

Tuesday, October 18th: Instagram: @itsbibliotherapy

Thursday, October 20th: Instagram: @livingmybestbooklife

TBD: Wednesday, October 5th: TikTok: @secullabooktok

Book Review: Backyard Witchcraft by Cecilia Lattari

20 September 2022 by Melissa

About the book, Backyard Witchcraft

• Publisher: Ixia Press (September 14, 2022)
• Paperback: 160 pages

Embark on an exploration of modern-day witchcraft, embracing the green path, which connects us to nature.

Herbalist Cecilia Lattari guides readers to reawaken their inner witch by tuning in to the magic and sacred energies of their everyday lives, using the hidden powers of nature to foster positive connections between mind, body, spirit, and living spaces. Filled with colorful, compelling illustrations, this handbook introduces green, hedge, and kitchen witches. Readers will learn how to create their own witch’s tool kits, purify their homes, work with the four natural elements, build magic laboratories, and discover the path that encourages a harmonious transformation.

The green witch is a manifestation of Mother Earth, who nurtures, cares, and observes. She practices with herbs, flowers, plants, and remedies, and surely has volumes upon volumes of plant books on her bookshelves.
For the kitchen witch food is a gift from Mother Earth. The kitchen is this witch’s sacred space, involving spells of tradition and creation. She works with ordinary tools and knows that cooking reveals our true nature. The kitchen witch understands the sacred aspects of everyday life as she prepares recipes for sacred foods.
The eclectic path of the hedge witch includes herbalism, healing, and shamanistic actions. Her focus is the home, and she knows the power of fables and preserves popular knowledge.
Take a guided tour of herbs, flowers, plants, poisonous plants, potions, oils, teas, tinctures, and remedies.
Learn the magical practices of purification using herbs, bells, candles, and incense.
Get in touch with nature by preparing a sacred outdoor space and centering yourself.
Learn to grow, harvest, and dry herbs and understand the difference between air, fire, land, and water plants.
Observe how the four elements of air, earth, fire, and wind carry messages from nature through various types of plants.

For the modern-day Wicca, backyard gardener, and naturalist, this indispensable guide offers an exploration of the intimate relationship between humans and Mother Earth.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Cecilia Lattari

Cecilia Lattari is a professional actress who graduated from the School of Theater in Bologna and has a degree in Herbalist Techniques. She works in the field of relationships, stimulating people to know the most authentic part of themselves using theatrical practices and sensorial experiences in the world of plants.

My Thoughts

I have friends who identify as kitchen witches and hedge witches, but I’ve never really known the difference or how those terms apply in the contemporary world. This book, Backyard Witchcraft, is an easy but interesting read that explains the different terms and also introduces people to some of the traits that all witches have, even before they self-identify as such. “All witches have a garden,” is one of the things that really struck me, because while no one in my family practices Wicca, we all have gardens of some kind. Mine is mainly in pots, but apparently that counts. Even having a stash of seeds you intend to plant some day (hi, guilty) counts according to this book.

More than just quietly identifying latent witches, though, Backyard Witchcraft is part manual, part love letter to anyone who wants to get closer to the natural world. Understanding how the elements – fire, water, air, land – work may seem like magic, but it’s really applied science and observation. Sun-loving plants have different needs from those which prefer shade, after all.

This is one of those books that you can read from cover to cover, but that may be more useful stashed among your cookbooks (especially if you’re a kitchen witch) or herbals (if you’re a green or hedge witch) for reference whenever you need it.

With beautiful pages and clear, concise prose, Backyard Witchcraft is a beautiful addition to anyone’s library, whether they’re a witch or not.

Goes well with: hot herbal tea laced with local honey.

Visit the Other Great Stops on This Tour:

Wednesday, September 14th: Instagram: @drcreadsbooks

Tuesday, September 20th: Bibliotica

Wednesday, September 21st: TikTok: @jessbeyondthepages

Friday, September 23rd: Instagram: @oddandbookish

Monday, September 26th: Stranded in Chaos

Wednesday, September 28th: Instagram: @bookedwithheather

Thursday, September 29th: Kahakai Kitchen

Monday, October 3rd: Instagram: @parksidereads

Tuesday, October 4th: Instagram: @webreakforbooks

Wednesday, October 5th: Instagram: @jypsylynn

Thursday, October 6th: Instagram: @just_another_mother_with_books

Friday, October 14th: Instagram: @books_bulldogs_booze

TBD: Stacy’s Books

TBD: Instagram: @a_bookish_dream

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Review: In Search of the Magic Theatre, by Karla Huebner

21 June 2022 by Melissa

About the book, In Search of the Magic Theater

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Regal House Publishing (June 1, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 254 pages

Why, the rather staid young cellist Sarah wonders, should her aunt rent their spare room to the perhaps unstable Kari Zilke? Like the nephew in Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf, Sarah finds herself taking an unexpected interest in the lodger, but she is unable to stop at providing a mere introduction to Kari’s narrative of mid-life crisis and self-discovery, and develops her own more troubled tale of personal angst and growth, entwined with the account Kari herself purportedly left behind. Generational tensions, artistic collaborations, and even a romance steeped in Greek myth follow as Kari and Sarah pursue their very different creative paths in theater and music. And while Kari seems to blossom post-divorce, Sarah must grapple with the question of what the role of mothers, fathers, aunts, mentors, and male collaborators should be in her life as a young musician.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Goodreads

About the author, Karla Huebner

Karla Huebner has lived on a boat and worked in factories, offices, theater, publishing, oil refineries, private investigation, and drug rehab. Her fiction has appeared in many literary and genre magazines and her collection Heartwood was a finalist for the 2020 Raz-Shumaker award. She teaches Art History at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and her book Magnetic Woman: Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic is available from University of Pittsburgh Press.

Connect with Karla:

Twitter

My Thoughts

In Search of the Magic Theater is a sort of left-handed coming of age story in which Sarah’s young adulthood is influenced by her observations of her aunt’s boarder, Kari, and older woman who arrives with a box of LPs (odd when almost all of us switched to CD’s decades ago) and a record player to listen to them with.

Told in alternate POVs we see Sarah, who “plays the cello and reads books like Jane Eyre,” broaden her own world view as she watches the older woman, Kari’s, interactions with a younger man and experimental theater change her as well.

Sarah’s story really resonated with me, as I was once a young woman who read classic novels (I still do) and played the cello (I only noodle at home now). I didn’t have a Kari in my life, but my mother, only twenty years older than I am, has always been freer and bolder than me.

I enjoyed the author’s writing voice a lot, and appreciated the contrast between both women.

This is a fast read, but a surprisingly meaty one, with lots of details about Greek mythology and art history.

Goes well with: baked brie and hard cider.

Visit the Other Participants on This Tour

Monday, June 6th: Instagram: @imbookedtonight

Tuesday, June 7th: Instagram: @wovenfromwords

Wednesday, June 8th: Instagram: @audreyoaksreadseverything

Thursday, June 9th: Instagram: @whatlizziereads

Thursday, June 9th: Stacy’s Books

Friday, June 10th: Instagram: @jessicamap

Monday, June 13th: Instagram: @everything.is.words

Wednesday, June 15th: Instagram: @bookish_and_cookish

Thursday, June 16th: Instagram: @hillysreads

Thursday, June 16th: Instagram: @jenniaahava

Friday, June 17th: Instagram: @thereadinggargoyle

Monday, June 20th: Bibliotica

Wednesday, June 22nd: Instagram: @literaryladyreviews

Friday, June 24th: Instagram: @mamabookwormreads

Monday, June 27th: Instagram: @erynereads

Tuesday, June 28th: Instagram: @pocketsized_pageturner

Review: Remember Whose Little Girl You Are, by Ellen Nichols

16 June 2022 by Melissa

About the book, Remember Whose Little Girl You Are

• Koehler Books: May 3, 2022
• Paperback: 128 pages

Remember Whose Little Girl You Are captures the flavor of the Deep South like no author since Eudora Welty or Flannery O’Connor. Ellen Nichols captures the tenor of small-town Southern life in the fifties and sixties, with its vicissitudes and hilarity. One is captured with her openness and drawn deeply into the dialogue-so much as to, according to one reader, sometimes feel guilty of spying.

Read it and see if you want those times back-or are just relieved they’re gone.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

IndieBound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Ellen Nichols

Ellen grew up in the American Deep South, but with a spirit of adventure, she went up to Toronto, Canada, to go to graduate school, and stayed 50 years.

No, she wasn’t a slow student, she just ended up getting married, raising a family, and building a successful career in charitable fundraising. She has been writing for a living for years, but was always writing for someone else. Her grant proposals, direct marketing letters, and especially her thank you letters, are legend. Her persuasive writing skills raised millions of dollars.

Those Canadians loved her tales about her southern life so much, she decided to write them down and they became Remember Whose Little Girl You Are.

Recently, she moved back down south where she lives on Santa Rosa Sound near Pensacola. And yes, she is now writing about all her Canadian adventures.

You can learn more about Ellen on her website.

My Thoughts

At only 112 pages Remember Whose Little Girl You Are, with it’s cute cover of a girl in knee-socks, is deceptive. It seems like a light, fluffy read – and parts of it are light (though none of it is fluffy) but it’s really a very rich collection of memories and anecdotes, mostly from the author’s childhood, and early adulthood.

Born a preacher’s daughter in America’s deep South, Nichols grew up during the Civil Rights movement, and was a supporter. Her stories from that time are the strongest in this collection – which really reads more like a an anthology of essays than a single cohesive piece. That’s not a bad thing, but the structure feels a little bit unintentional.

What really sings is the author’s writing voice. The conceit of her book is that she’s sharing memories of her life after losing a parent, and you can hear her Southern identity and her Canadian one in the language she uses, in her phrasing, and in her descriptions, which are vivid and compelling.

I look forward to more from Ms. Nichols.

Goes well with sweet tea and poutine.