Fiction, Historical

The Lost Queen by Signe Pike

Sarah

I’m reading fiction again! Oh my gosh, it’s a shocker! First time in 2 years!!! Well, other than Dear Mrs. Bird, but that doesn’t entirely count…

Synopsis

From Advanced Reader Copy:
Already being compared to Outlander, Camelot, and The Mists of Avalon, this spellbinding debut introduces Languoreth – a forgotten queen of sixth-century Scotland and the twin sister of the man who inspired the legend of Merlin.

This tale of bravery and conflicted love has everything you could want in a lusciously big and bold novel: courage in battle, enchantment, a changing society at war with itself, passionate romantic love, treachery and betrayal, and beautiful evocations of the natural world. At the center of it all is a girl becoming a woman who can throw a knife, read her twin brother’s thoughts, and fall in love with one man and marry another, a woman who must take frightening risks and make unimaginable sacrifices to secure the future of her people. Written by an extraordinary new talent and born storyteller, The Lost Queen mesmerizes readers through to its heart-stopping ending, leaving them eager for Book 2 of the Lost Queen Trilogy.

Review

Oh my gosh. I am so embarrassed to admit that I sat on this book for so long it is now available in paperback in the US. As a bookseller, when you are given an advanced copy, you’re expected to read it prior to the hardcover publication. Not the paperback… failure on my part. Though to be fair, I’ve had absolutely no interest in reading fiction for the past two, almost three years. So there’s that… But I literally carried the book around Scotland in January and didn’t read it until I go back and was missing the country like crazy.

I’d move to Scotland. I became obsessed when I first visited Edinburgh in June of last year and again when my husband and I road-tripped from Edinburgh to Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands and back in January. I’d love to find a job that affords me to the opportunity to spend every January there – it is beautiful and breathtaking, and I’m, well, clearly a bit obsessed. I told our publisher reps at the bookstore, I’ll read fiction – but only if it’s historical, set in Scotland, and not Outlander. Though full disclosure, I started the television show and I don’t hate it.

The Lost Queen is what I hope my own novel will be – a fully realized story about an extraordinary woman whose story has become lost to history, or worse, bastardized by the men who decided to make it a parable of Christian morality. Languoreth is the Scottish Alfhild (Alfhild was a Viking princess and subject of my current novel-in-progress) and boy can she kick some misogynistic ass. The Lost Queen, narrated by our fierceass protagonist, is her story, one of many years (roughly ten to thirty-two) and spanning a time of great change in Scottish history. It is post-Roman, pre-Viking, and specifically focuses on the rise of Christianity in the Western part of the UK.

Langoureth is my favorite type of protagonist, fiercely outspoken and one who is usually quick to fight with her words before thinking through their consequences. Some of the finer plot points and character relationships can feel a bit off/rushed/not fully realized, but it is by far one of the best debut novels I have had the pleasure to read. I’m already heavily anticipating the sequel – due out next summer – and am eternally grateful to the publisher for both the character listing and pronunciation guide provided in the book. So if you’re looking to get lost in a sweeping historical novel with tinges of magic, The Lost Queen is the perfect summer read.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Edition: Paperback – $17.00 – 9781501191428 – 560 pages – originally published September 2018, this edition published June 2019 by Atria Books – average Goodreads rating 4.18 out of 5 stars – read June 2019

Non-Fiction, Psychology

Calm the F*ck Down by Sarah Knight

Sarah

I’ve always been a worrier, and in my adult life was diagnosed with anxiety and suffer from panic attacks. But, I try to find books to help me cope that are helpful, but not overly serious. Calm the F*ck Down seemed like it would fit the bill.

Synopsis

From the back cover:
Do you spend more time worrying about problems than solving them? Do you let unexpected difficulties ruin your day, and do “what ifs” keep you up at night? Sounds like you need to calm the f*ck down. Just because things are falling apart doesn’t mean YOU can’t pull it together. Whether you’re stressed about sh*t that hasn’t happened yet or freaked out about sh*t that already has, the NoWorries Method from “anti-guru” Sarah Knight helps you curb the anxiety and overthinking that our making everything worse. Calm the F*ck Down explains the four faces of freaking out – and their flipsides, How to accept what you can’t control, productive helpful effective worrying (PHEW), the three principles of dealing with it, and much more!

Review

Ugh. I like Sarah Knight, I like her sense of humor. And I broke my no bestsellers rule for this book. The entire book is summed up by its subtitle: “How to control what you can and accept what you can’t so you can stop freaking out and get on with your life.” Great – how do I do that? Sarah starts by talking about how she did it – moved to a Caribbean island. Thanks Sarah. Think I can pull that off? No.

Everyone’s anxiety is different, a point Sarah acknowledges. And I think if this book were my first trip to the anxiety self-help book subgenre, I’d react to what she’s writing a lot differently. I’d probably find bits and pieces of it helpful, but it really boiled down to the fact that everything she said I’d a, heard before, and b, contributed to making my anxiety worse, not better.

Sarah is not a fan of the current president of the US. That’s okay, I refuse to use his name and love Alyssa Mastromonaco so I think that should make my position quite clear. But please, I need help dealing with my anxiety over the disappearance of women’s basic rights and fear that we’re about to go to war with some of our most unstable enemies, I don’t need reminders of how much his presence in the Oval Office terrifies me. Don’t tell me to take a nap and deal with it tomorrow.

While Calm the F*ck Down reminded me a great deal of my all-time favorite self-help book, You’re Not That Great (But Neither is Anyone Else) and I appreciated Elan’s approach to dealing with disappointment and accepting that we are not all going to be the best at everything (especially when anxiety is triggered by a need for perfection). I feel like Sarah ran away from the causes of her anxiety, and then attempts to help other people from her tropical paradise, which undercuts her credibility in my eyes. Elan Gale might be a Hollywood producer, but I found his position much more relatable.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars

Edition: Hardcover – $19.99 – 9780316529150 – 304 pages – published December 2018 by Little, Brown and Company – average Goodreads rating 3.47 out of 5 – read in April 2019

Bookish Tuesday

5 Recent Book Stores Visited

Sarah

I love visiting all sorts of bookstores and below are just a few that I’ve visited since the start of the year.

Strand Book Store

Each and every time I visit New York, I make a point to stop by the Strand Book Store. A New York City institution, it is one of the largest independent bookstores in the country. My coworker Mary, who came to BookExpo with me on Thursday, had never been, so we took a short field trip away from the Javits Center to visit the 18 miles of shelves of books. While we always browse the books, we usually wind up walking away with non-book items as we don’t get our typical bookseller discount outside of the store we work at.
Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway at 12th Street, New York, NY 10003 – www.strandbooks.com

Oblong Books

In March I was invited to attend a book buyers retreat in Rhinebeck NY and while I was driving up, I kept thinking of how familiar the name of the town sounded. And it’s a small town, how could I have heard of it? It’s Lucy Knisley & Alyssa Mastromonaco‘s hometown! The store is awesome, and they happily let me pre-order/reserve 4 of Lucy’s books and Alyssa’s for their events and they had them personalized and sent to me! I now scour their website and emails for upcoming events to have books signed and shipped!
Oblong Books, 6422 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY 12572 – www.oblongbooks.com

Whistlestop Bookshop

My hometown has a bookshop! And it’s nearly as old as I am. And I didn’t discover it until last year. I blame my parents. I LOVE Whistlestop, though I may be slightly bias. There’s a bookstore cat (!!!!) named Mulan, it’s delightfully rustic and loved, the owner does every transaction without a computer, and his Agatha Christie is unrivaled – he has just about every title she wrote, something I’ve only seen at much larger shops in the UK. If you’re ever in the middle of Pennsylvania and want to talk mysteries with a knowledgeable bookstore owner, Whistlestop’s your shop!
Whistlestop Bookshop, 129 W High Street, Carlisle, PA 17013 – www.whistlestoppers.com

Watermill Bookshop

On our recent road trip through Scotland, I made my husband stop at countless bookstores, but I was most excited for Watermill. Owned by Monty Python alum Michael Palin, I had intended to pick up both his book, and Eric Idle’s. Unfortunately, while the shop is idyllic, it seems a bit stuck on the outside of the internet world. The inventory isn’t listed online, you cannot search for a title, and when you ask via the web multiple times for a title to be ready for you to pick up, well, no one looks at it. It’s a cute shop, but could use an online customer service presence.
Aberfeldy Watermill Bookshop & Cafe, Aberfeldy Scotland, UK – www. aberfeldywatermill.com

Reads & Company Bookshop

I work at the TOWNE BOOK CENTER in Collegeville, PA and live in Phoenixville, PA and the two towns are right next to each other. Reads & Company is a brand new bookstore that opened within walking distance of my house. While it’s exciting to have a hometown bookstore, it’s challenging to have one so close by. While we indies are known for supporting each other, sometimes it starts to feel a little close for comfort. Reads feels like a gallery space more than a bookstore, and I look forward to stopping by periodically once it feels more settled into the space.
Reads & Company Bookshop, 234 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460 – www.readsandcompany.com

History, Non-Fiction, STEM

The Lion in the Living Room by Abigail Tucker

Sarah

As my own little lion in the living room has been having a tough go of it lately (2 emergency trips to the vet in the past month…) my curiosity got the better of me (as it often does her) and I looked into why our house cats behave the way they do.

Synopsis

From the Back Cover:
The correct reaction to a house cat isn’t “awww.” It’s awe. We house and feed them, caress and obsess over them. How did these tiny creatures become so powerful? Science writer Abigail Tucker embarks on a remarkable adventure through history, evolutionary biology, and pop culture to discover the origins and consequences of our feline obsession. A tour de force of science writing, The Lion in the Living Room is the fascinating story of how cats conquered the world and the human heart.

Review

I have always heard that cats, unlike dogs, cannot be tamed or domesticated. And until I went to college and my roommate insisted on getting a cat, I was firmly a dog person. I’d grown up with a loving mutt, Sandiy (yes, that’s how we spelled his name), and was devastated when he died of cancer when I was 19. I firmly believed when I graduated college, I’d get another dog. Her name would be Hermione, and she’d be a pointer. I had it all planned. Senior year, my roommate Kelly brought home a male Russian Blue kitten whom we named Recchi and taught to play floor hockey. He was a delightfully playful cat, but a supreme troublemaker, and solidified my desire for another dog.

And then I met my future husband senior year, a tried and true cat lover who cold shouldered just about every dog he’s ever met. The summer after graduation he desperately wanted a cat. And, shockingly, a tiny little kitten showed up in his mom’s garage. I thoroughly believe he willed her into existence. Of course, we had to keep her. He nursed her and coddled her, while ensuring that I did the dirty work of taking her to the vet. Ben had just finished reading the five books of George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series and the show had just started airing, so we named her Arya. And she lives up to her name.

My cat has resting bitch face. She always looks like she’s plotting my murder and that’s her, now 8 years old, showing her face through the banister posts on the stairs. Hence, the curiosity – is my cat still a killer carnivore and hunter on the inside? The short answer, according to The Lion in the Living Room, is yes. Cats have evolved remarkably little since they first started to co-habitat with humans. They show some telltale signs of domestication, but for the most part, they still very closely resemble their larger wild cousins.

While parts of The Lion in the Living Room can get a bit repetitive, overall, it’s a neat book exploring the evolution and habits of house cats, as well as how different their lives are alongside humans compared to those cats who are still feral. From diet and exercise, to general demeanor, Abigail Tucker knows what her readers are most curious about. After every chapter, I’d look over at Arya, and see everything I read in her behavior. Overall, a very informative and often funny book, the perfect gift for the cat lover in your life, or for someone with the inexhaustible curiosity of a cat!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Edition: Paperback – $16.00 – 9781476738246 – 256 pages – originally published October 2016, this edition published September 2017 by Simon & Schuster – average Goodreads rating 3.61 out of 5 stars – read May 2019

Bookish Tuesday

Summer Reading Recommendations!

Sarah

One of my favorite parts about working at a book store is recommending books. One of the most rewarding parts, is when people tell me how much they love said books and then we get to fangirl/boy over them together! Below are some that I’ve picked for those two biggest reading seasons, summer and the winter holidays.

Summer 2019

At the store, everyone picks three summer titles, and they must be paperbacks (so people can enjoy more of them!) Mine are as follows:

Medium Raw is probably one of my all time favorite nonfiction books – and as it’s been a year since we, the people of the world lost our dear Tony, it felt like a good time to remind people of his brilliance. While many have commented in the store that Kitchen Confidential would be the “normal” pick, Medium Raw is my favorite of all of his books.
City of Dark Magic is probably my favorite fiction books – the perfect escape for a quick and light-ish summer read with a little bit of history, magic, and… smut.
And last but not least, The Lost Queen is my newest obsession, and the book I’m currently reading. It’s a sweeping historical novel set in Arthurian-era Scotland. After my recent trip to the country, it seems to be all I want to read about!

Previous Summer Picks

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, A Discovery of Witches, The Bookshop on the Corner, Good Omens & A Court of Thorns and Roses

Diary of a Bookseller

The Role of the Book Buyer

Sarah

Right now, we are in the middle of one of my favorite times of the year at the bookstore – the fall buying season. The reps from the major publishers are stopping by the store to tell me all about the big books for the fall and I love it.

Diary of a Bookseller, Day 4

Meeting with Reps

As an established independent bookstore (we’ve been around 28+ years), we are fortunate to benefit from face-to-face meetings with sales representatives from all the major publishing houses, as well as some of the smaller ones. They stop by the store for sales meetings (that are really 1/4 sales, 3/4 “hey, how’s life”) and fill us in on all the top titles, as well as bring us Christmas, almost literally – most show up with boxes of advance reader copies for us to dig through – it is, the best. Looking for a job as a buyer? Good luck – it’s mostly luck getting into the role. There are roughly 500 positions in the country, most owners are also buyers. But if you happen to get the role, it’s probably my favorite job/role/position I’ve ever had.

Re-Ordering

There is nothing harder than trying to make sure that the store stays well stocked with both bestselling titles and lesser known titles. The hardest? Keeping the first of a series on the shelf. Wonder why your favorite store doesn’t carry particular books in there 1,000-100,000 book inventory? Odds are, they had so many other titles to worry about, it slipped through the cracks. Best way to ensure your favorite store has your favorite titles in stock? Support them! Buy a book there! I can promise you every book buyer is paying attention to what their customers are buying and they will tailor their backlist (re-order) inventory to their customers’ tastes!

Maintaining Balance

One of the hardest things to track and worry about is the balance of genres in the store. You may only have 3 romance readers that visit, but you want to make sure they have choices. Recently we tried branching out to support our customers who are interested in LGBT+ books, and it was received incredibly well. As section for millennials? Not so much. No one really knew what to do with it. We integrated Chick Lit into general fiction, and we’re constantly moving things around to, hopefully, help our customers find what they’re looking for. But it will occasionally backfire. It’s the best part of the puzzle, to figure out how to keep a 28+ year old store fresh.

Want to know more about working in a bookstore? Let me know!

Memoir/Autobiography, Non-Fiction, Travel

Second Wind by Nathaniel Philbrick

Sarah

This weekend my father came out to visit and stay with my husband and I in our new house to help us do some outdoor work. He was the first overnight visitor to the new abode, and he slipped and fell, injuring his shoulder. I blame myself, and was reminded of all the other times he’s told me not to worry about him, and one that stands out is when he flipped his little Sunfish sailboat over in the lake. I gave him Second Wind for Christmas last year and now that we’ve both read it, it felt time for a review.

Synopsis

From the Inside Flap:
In the spring of 1992, Nathaniel Phibrick was in his late thirties, living with his family on Nantucket. Feeling stranded, he longed for that thrill of victory he once felt after winning a national sailing championship in his youth. Was it a midlife crisis? It was certainly a watershed for the journalist-turned-stay-at-home dad, who impulsively decided to throw his hat into the ring, or water, again.

With the bemused approval of his wife and children, Philbrick used the off-season on the island as his solitary training ground, sailing his tiny Sunfish to its remotest corners, experiencing the haunting beauty of its tidal creeks, inlets, and wave-battered sandbars. On ponds, bays, rivers, and finally at the championship on a lake in the heartland of America, he sailed through storms and memories, racing for the prize but finding something unexpected about himself instead.

Review

My father has loved sailing for as long as I can remember. As a builder and contractor, he’s had the opportunity to build many houses, but the one that made him happiest was his own, lakefront house in south central Pennsylvania. And with said house, came the opportunity to sail. And for just as long, it’s been my favorite pastime of his, and one to share. Just don’t ask me to get in the boat with him – the aforementioned flipping was done for fun.

Second Wind seemed like a logical book to give him for Christmas, now that he’s starting to slow down with the building a bit (though this recent injury may lay him up for longer than he would like) and take some more time to pursue leisurely activities. The sailboat is no longer one of them (he no longer resides on a lake), but can vicariously live through Nathaniel Philbrick.

If looking for a leisurely story about one man’s journey to find himself and reclaim some lost youth by reconnecting with nature and the seemingly distant past of sailing, Second Wind is perfect. It’s not my favorite Philbrick, but it certainly like the breath of fresh air that powers his sails – the perfect recovery book – one to be read after heavier fare or finishing a long series. It asks little of the reader’s brainpower and seeks only to share a story. As I’m also reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, I can definitely recommend it to readers who enjoyed his adventure of the Appalachian Trail.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Second Wind

Blog Information

Blogiversary #2!

Sarah

It’s been 2 years since the launch of the present incarnation of Celebration of Books! And while the past 6 weeks have included a pitiful amount of reading, I’m still going to celebrate!

A Huge Thank You!

The fact that anyone reads anything I have to say still surprises me, so thank you to everyone who has taken even a passing glance at one of my reviews, every view means a great deal to me!

The Stats

From the beginning, we’ve grown in followers, likes, and views! Our nonfiction numbers are slowly but surely catching up with our fiction numbers, 107 fiction reviews to 85 nonfiction. And while my two year kick of nonfiction is still going strong, I have started jumping into fiction once more! My current read (and present favorite) is The Lost Queen by Signe Pike. The image above is from my favorite book of the past review year, In Extremis: The Life and Death of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum – I’m still obsessed these 9 months after reading it!

So once again, a big thank you, and I promise reviews will start again TOMORROW!

Bookish Tuesday

Moving 32 Boxes of Books…

Sarah

Last week was moving week – which meant all sorts of chaos ensued, including, the moving of many, many, many boxes of books. 32. I counted. It’s probably way too many and I haven’t even gotten them all out of our old apartment. Downside to moving, less time for reading. My new nonfiction book club met mid-week, which meant mid-move, and I was the embarrassed leader who hadn’t finished the book. But I promise, reviews and other bookish wonderfulness to follow upon completion of moving and cleaning! As well as a gorgeous shot of my new bookcase wall!

Essays, History, Non-Fiction, Sociology

Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism by Kristen R. Ghodsee

Sarah

Back in November I joined Libro.fm as they provide advance listening copies (ALCs) for booksellers. Libro.fm is the indie version of Audible with similar terms and selection. I finally put my free membership to good use and listen to Kristen R. Ghodsee’s book.

Synopsis

From the Inside Flap:
Unregulated capitalism is bad for women. If we adopt some ideas from socialism, women will have better lives – and yes, even better sex.

American women today are encouraged to lean in and pursue professional success, all while juggling relationships and the responsibilities of raising kids. But they face a rigged economic system that makes “having it all” impossible. What if there’s an alternative?

Kristen R. Ghodsee has spent years researching what happened to women in countries that transitioned from state socialism to capitalism. She found that, when done right, socialism can lead to economic independence, better labor conditions, and a better work-life balance.

Capitalism, it turns out, is the enemy. In the workplace, capitalism creates the wage gap between the sexes so that female employees are underpaid and overworked. it reinforces gender stereotypes at home, too, where women are tasked with a second shift as caregivers.

You are not a commodity. It’s time to improve women’s lives, and Ghodsee’s book is a spirited guide to reclaiming your time, emotional energy, and self-worth.

Review

I hate the title of this book, I ranted against it every night I read it to my husband. Who eventually decided to pick it up himself and start paging through it to see what had me so angry. And he said, “I thought you’d love this book.” And I do, goodness yes, I love this book. But I hate the title. I feel like the entire premise and point of the book is lost in the sensationalist nature of the title. It’s like a click bait-y headline in my newsfeed, not the title for a book about feminism and socialism.

While I cannot begin to understand what living under state socialism was really like, I doubt it was quite as rosy as Ghodsee paints it. But this book is not really about what Soviet socialism was like, but merely uses it to compare and contrast the experience of women in the west under capitalism (primarily in the USA) and that of women in the Eastern Bloc in the days of the Iron Curtain. And while the primary argument gets a bit repetitive, it is, at its basis, the root of feminism.

Capitalism is built on women’s unpaid labor. Because women work primarily in the home, they have consistently been dependent on male family members, especially spouses, for all their basic needs, from income to health care. Under socialism, when women work outside the home and receive a fair wage, more government and public funds are put into their support with public day cares, and other facilities to assist families in care taking responsibilities. The Scandinavian system of public welfare and socialism is held up as the supreme ideology that all nations should strive for.

Whether this is feasible or not in the US, I honestly don’t know. But it certainly and intriguing point and line of questioning that Ghodsee undertakes to explore and I would be interested to see how, after the next election cycle, our system of governance might change and evolve.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Edition: Hardcover • $22.00 • 9781568588902 • 240 pages • published November 2018 by Bold Type Books • average Goodreads rating 3.95 out of 5 stars • read in April 2019

Why Women