Wowbrary Wednesday

Folks, we have some amazing-sounding books coming our way very soon.  I don't know how I'm going to keep up! (Well, I know I'm not--I still have books from a year or so ago that I want to read, and keeping up with the children's/YA collection is more important.) As a historical fiction fan (hold the Tudors, though) and fan of novels (and nonfiction) set in foreign countries, this latest Wowbrary yielded some delectables.

John Saturnall's Feast


Excellent--a foodie historical fiction novel.  This is about an orphaned kitchen boy who becomes the greatest chef of his generation.  When Lucretia, daughter of the lord of the manor, goes on a hunger strike to protest her unwanted engagement, it is up to John to tempt her with delicious foods. Oh, yum. Takes place in 17th century Britain.

Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures


After reading The Chaperone, I'm definitely in the mood for another historical fiction set during the early days of Hollywood (although this seems to be more focused on the movie industry than was The Chaperone). Midwestern girl makes good in Hollywood and struggles to stay true to herself in the heady days of 1920s/1930s.  Oh, goodie.

The Casual Vacancy


Hmm,  what's going to be one of the biggest-if not the biggest-stars of the fall publishing season? This one, right here. JK Rowling's first novel for adults.  And it's not a fantasy novel. The Casual Vacancy deals with the many conflicts of a small English town that surface after the death of a councilman.  Anticipation is sky-high because this such a 180 turn from Potter.   Kudos to Rowling for really putting herself out there.  Shall be interesting--not just to read, but to read the reaction (expect an embargo and expect some papers and/or online news sources to break the embargo).

The People of Forever Are Not Afraid


I'm fascinated by the premise of this novel, which is centered around a group of young women in the Israeli army.

But, wait! There's more!


A doggy memoir:

Wallace: The Underdog Who Conquered a Sport, Saved a Marriage, And Championed Pit Bulls-One Flying Disc at a Time


When Jim Gorant (author of the excellent The Lost Dogs) adopted shy and unsure Wallace from the shelter, he had a feeling that Wallace would be something special.  Even he couldn't have guessed that Wallace would be a World Champion competitive frisbee dog.  You wouldn't think a stocky, stubby pitbull would be one, either.  But Wallace apparently was born to change expectations and assumptions.  Awwww. 


Aaaaand....for all you fans of 80s music:

My grandmother lives in a senior citizens apartment community, and the staff regularly schedules entertainment and activities for the residents. Several months ago, they offered an evening of World War II era songs--big band era stuff. She had a great time and said that she even remembered the lyrics to many songs (she turned 90 this month). All the Gladyses, Bettys, Dorothys, and Mildreds had a blast singing and bopping along to songs by Glenn Miller and the Andrews Sisters. When it's time for the Jennifers, Heathers, Ashleys, and Stacys to ship off to the senior apartments, we're going to be scooting our walkers to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" at 80s Fun Night. All the staffers (born around 2017) will think we are just adorable.  Because when you think of the soundtrack to the 80s, you have to include Cyndi Lauper. Since she more or less left the Top 40 pop scene in the late 80s/mid 90s, and since the only biography I've read of her was some teeny-bopper hagiography my mother ordered from 16 Magazine when I was 9 or so, I'm eagerly anticipating reading her memoir.  In interviews I've seen of her in the past several years or so, Lauper seems to have a sense of humor about herself that some other pop princesses from the 80s seem to have lost (not naming names), so this should be entertaining.

One of my iTunes playlists is "Cheesy 80 songs."  You better believe that Heart figures prominently on that list (Cyndi Lauper's there, too!) . Now, calling Heart's songs "cheesy" is not really fair, because their songs are better than the other songs on that list (like....nope, not going to say).  Okay, maybe some of their later songs are a bit *yeesh*. But, who cares.  These sisters rock, they wrote their own songs, and now they've written a memoir. 


Terrific. If this is the music you grew up listening to, you should read Belinda Carlisle's memoir while you're waiting for these books to arrive.  There's also the recent Bruce Springsteen biography, if you want to balance this out with music from the Y chromosome side.



Whew!  If you don't subscribe to Wowbrary, you are missing out, because there are plenty of other books that I didn't highlight that might interest you.