Read 'Em Before You See 'Em! Some books into film

 

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller is set in a world where a pandemic has all but wiped out humanity.  The story revolves around Hig, an outdoorsman and pilot, his dog, and an armed ex-Marine neighbor. Directed by Ridley Scott, the movie stars Jacob Elrodi and Josh Brolin.

The Odyssey by Homer is a classic tale of Odysseus, trying to return to his home and kingdom after the Trojan War.  There are obstacles aplenty along the way, not to mention turmoil in the kingdom.  Christopher Nolan’s star-filled cast includes Matt Damon, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, and Anne Hathaway.

Verity by Colleen Hoover has a young woman being hired to work as a ghostwriter for a famous author who has been injured in an accident, but she soon discovers some notes the author has made that may reveal a very disturbing past. Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett star in the movie, due out in October.

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann (movie The Sheep Detectives) is one that sounds just a bit too oddball for some.  The main characters are a herd of sheep—yes, you read that correctly—who adore their shepherd, George, who reads mysteries to them.  When the sheep find George dead, they decide they are going to find his murderer.  Since they are, well, sheep, they are at a distinct disadvantage, but will see it through.  The movie features a number of big name actors, including Hugh Jackman as George and Emma Thompson, with sheep voices provided by Sir Patrick Stewart and Bryan Cranston.

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman is the sequel to the much beloved book and film Practical Magic. The Owens family has been cursed in love for centuries: falling in love is a death sentence for the one they love. Sally Owens’ two children have been shielded from learning about the family curse—until now. The Owens women come together in a last ditch effort to break the curse once and for all. Practical Magic 2 reunite, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman and is scheduled for release in September.

In Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, a young woman named Agnes falls in love with a poor tutor.  Agnes senses that the tutor has greatness within him and encourages him to follow his dreams, even if this means he has to leave for London. This rendition of Shakespeare’s family and life won great acclaim as a book and now is picking up awards as a film.

Nevermore Book Club

 

We refer to the Nevermore Book Club as our “free-form book club.”  Members read whatever they like and they talk about the book with the group.  Fiction, non-fiction, new books, old books, adult books, YA books, children’s books, picture books—you name it, they read it.  Just to give an idea of the breadth of the members’ choices, here is a list of recent books read.

 

The women  by Kristin Hannah

 

Al Capone does my shirts by Lisa Kurkov

 

How to hide an empire : a history of the greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr

 

The library of lost dollhouses : a novel by Elise Hooper

 

The girl who lived twice by David Lagercrantz

 

The girl who takes an eye for an eye by David Lagercrantz

 

The white dawn : an Eskimo saga by James Houston

 

The last gentleman adventurer [electronic resource] : coming of age in the Arctic by

Edward Beauclerk Maurice

 

The snake scientist by Sy Montgomery

 

Inside animal minds : the new science of animal intelligence by Mary Roach

 

The octopus scientists : exploring the mind of a mollusk by Sy Montgomery

 

Jayber Crow : a novel by Wendell Berry

 

Demon Copperhead : a novel by Barbara Kingsolver

 

The crystal cave by Mary Stewart

 

Shantaram : a novel by Gregory David Roberts

 

One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 

Missing sister by Joshilyn Jackson

 

Mrs. Nash's ashes by Sarah Adler

Book Bingo!

 

I was really excited to find out we were doing Book Bingo this year.  The first year I wasn’t quite sure about it, but signed up to be a good sport.  I ended up reading a lot of books I would not have read otherwise, and enjoyed them thoroughly.  Some were books I had meant to read but hadn’t until that “Read a Classic” square inspired me to pick up Emma by Jane Austen; other squares encouraged me to read outside my usual genres; and still others had me looking for debut novels or books set in exotic locales.  Even the ones I didn’t think I’d enjoy ended up being memorable in a good way. 

For those unfamiliar with the concept, it’s pretty straight forward.  Participants get a bingo like sheet except that instead of numbers, there are reading prompts, such as “read a translated book” or “read a book set in space.”  A few squares are somewhat specific to us (“read a book from the BPL gift shop”) but nothing that can’t be worked around.

While we do offer prizes to those who can come by the library to pick them up (our budget not extending to mailing things off), it’s not the prizes that attract me.  In fact, I’m not putting my name in for any of the big prizes at all. I won’t turn down getting a cute sticker for signing up, though! The satisfaction and enjoyment out of being encouraged to step outside of my comfortable reading niche is reward enough.

This year we have two different Bingo sheets.  I picked one and am already planning what titles to read to fit the squares.  The categories are broad enough to give me many choices, but also force me to take a look at what I’m reading.  It also gives me a good excuse to jump ahead and read something I really wanted to read but felt obligated to wait for one reason or another. I also am strangely excited about re-reading Jenny and the Cat Club for the “Read a book you loved as a child” square.  I own a copy of this book.  I can re-read this book at any time, but I often feel I should not re-read. There are too many books I’ve yet to read so I should only read something new.   

Book Bingo gives me permission to read this book, and that absolutely delights me.

As I said, we can only give out prizes to our patrons but if Book Bingo sounds fun and you want a sheet of your own, we can email one out to you.

If you are local, stop by the Reference Desk to sign up.  You get a sticker for registering and can choose either a note book (really cute notebook!) or coffee mug (charming mug!) for each bingo up to four.  Filling in the whole bingo card lets you draw for a special prize, and for each bingo and the blackout your name is entered into a drawing for grand prizes. 

Happy reading this summer!

Jeanne

New Books for June!

June

Abbot, Megan  El Dorado Drive

Armstrong, Kelley  Writing Mr. Wrong

Battles, Brett  Stuart Woods’ Finders Keepers

Brennan, Allison  Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

Burke, James Lee  Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie

Carr, Jack  Cry Havoc

Castle, Jayne  It Takes a Psychic

Coble, Colleen  Where Secrets Lie

Constantine, Liv  Don’t Open Your Eyes

Cosby, S.A.  King of Ashes

Freeman, Dianne  A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder

Harmel, Kristin  The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau

Housewright, David  Them Bones

Jackson, Lisa  It Happened on the Lake

Jewell, Lisa  Don’t Let Him In

Johansen, Iris  Death Mask (Eve Duncan)

Khavari, Kate  A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge

King, Laurie   Knave of Diamonds (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes)

Lamb, Wally  The River is Waiting

Lippman, Laura  Murder Takes a Vacation

Novak, Brenda  The Summer That Changed Everything

Patterson, James & Clinton, Bill The First Gentleman

Preston & Child  Badlands (Nora Kelly)

Reid, Taylor Jenkins Atmosphere:  A Love Story

Rosnay, Tatiana De  Blonde Dust

Sager, Riley  With a Vengeance

Schellman, Katharine  Last Dance Before Dawn

Shalvis, Jill  The Love Fix

Smith, Martin Cruz  Hotel Ukraine (Renko)

Steel, Danielle  A Mother’s Love

Stiefvater, Maggie The Listeners

Swanson, Peter  Kill Your Darlings

Thayne, RaeAnne  The Lost Book of First Loves

Weaver, Ashley  One Final Turn  (Electra McDonnell)

White, Randy Wayne  Tomlinson’s Wake  (Doc Ford)

Remainders of the Day: A Bookshop Diary by Shaun Bythell

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

When the local distillery closed, the small Scottish town of Wigtown found itself without a major industry to employ its residents and so Wigtown reinvented itself as a book town.  It was a move that proved successful enough to have Wigtown designated as “The National Book Town of Scotland,” complete with a book festival.  There are over a dozen bookstores, not to mention other book-themed or book related stores.

One of these is The Bookshop, the largest second-hand bookstore in Scotland.  Owned by Shaun Blythell, the shop boasts over 100,000 books.  While that might sound like a dream come true to most readers, the reality can be very different: leaks in the roof, wonky internet connections, obnoxious customers, and unreliable shop assistants. I know this because Mr. Blythell has written three books with his diary entries about the shop.

This is the sort of book that some people would pick up, scan a page, and put down.  My view is that they would be missing an absolute treat.  Blythell doesn’t suffer fools gladly but he doesn’t exempt himself. He also has quite the way with words and a deep love of books and literature.  He almost had me coveting a book of maps and I don’t know beans about maps.  He’s also very funny, in a cantankerous sort of way.  For example, a former employee asked for a reference.  Blythell noted that she “was idle, obstreperous and treated the shop as her own empire.  She was in many ways the perfect employee.”

Or when unexpected (okay, they WERE expected, he just forgot) guests stop by for lunch, all he has is stale bread (he did scrape the mould off first while they weren’t looking) and some pate. He noted they probably expected better but that the best they could realistically expect “from their culinary experience above The Bookshop is that they’ve dodged a case of listeria.”

He also buys books, often going to people’s homes to evaluate the volumes. Sometimes there are wonderful gems, but just as often most of the offerings are popular fiction with little value.  I enjoyed reading about the things he looks for in a book, how the book trade has waxed and waned, and how the advent of the internet has changed book buying for both buyers, and sellers. I also have a very different view of Amazon and certain other online used book outlets.

I’ve taking my time with this book, reading a few entries each night to make it last.  I’ve already read the two previous books (Diary of a Bookseller and Confessions of a Bookseller) and so far there isn’t a fourth.  I’m making do by following The Bookshop online but may just have to start re-reading at night.

Remainders of the Day is the third in the series but you needn’t have read the others to enjoy it.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

Reviewed by Jeanne

Rintaro Natsuki is a shy, introverted high school student who lives with his grandfather. Now, however, his grandfather has died, leaving Rintaro his shop, Natsuki Books. As Rintaro notes, it isn’t much of an inheritance: the shop doesn’t make much money.  It seems the only thing to do is to sell the shop and move in with his aunt.

Rintaro’s plans are sidetracked by the appearance of a talking cat.  More specifically, an orange cat who says his name is Tiger the Tabby and who also informs Rintaro that he needs the boy to rescue books.  This all seems too odd for Rintaro—or “Mr. Proprietor” as the cat insists on calling him, as if he is going to take over the bookshop. He asks the cat if he can refuse to help and the cat says that he can, but the cat will be bitterly disappointed.

So Rintaro agrees to follow the cat. Rintaro embarks on a series of quests that will help define what it really means to love books and to be a reader.  He encounters a series of folk who claim to love books and present arguments for what they do, and it’s up to Rintaro to see if there is a flaw in their logic.

This may not sound very exciting but as a reader, I loved it.  It made me stop and think about why I read and how I read.  The arguments all sound quite good—for example, one man wants to encourage people to read classic literature so he is trying to make books more accessible and easier to read.  Sounds good, right?  What’s wrong with that?  It’s up to Rintaro to see if there’s a problem.

Rintaro is a sweet protagonist, if a bit defeatist at the start.  He doesn’t really feel connected to anyone but his grandfather.  In finding who he is as a reader, he’ll also find that he has people he cares about and who care about him. I found the book to be inventive and playful, with well-described fantasy scenes and a sense of playfulness along with the serious topics under discussion.

Of course, I loved all the literature references, most of which were to Western books like The Three Musketeers and Chronicles of Narnia.  I found the book to be most inspiring; sometimes I do get in a reading rut and this was the perfect tonic. Now I really want to pick up one of those classics I’ve put off reading and give it my full attention. Mansfield Park, you may be next!

Note:  I recommend reading the translator’s message at the end of the book before reading the book.  I found it most helpful.  For example, Rintaro is described several times as a hikikomori, a term I didn’t know. Translator Louise Heal Kawai explains that it is a Japanese term that means people who “have consciously decided to shut themselves away from society” and who rarely go out.  She goes on to say the term appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2010 so she thought it was in wide enough usage in English that it didn’t need translation.  Gee, I must have missed that update!  Still, I was able to gather some of the meaning.  I mention it here because I think it would have helped as I read if I had known more about the term.  You’re welcome. 

Actually, I found all of the translator’s notes very interesting. I felt it explained the sometimes stilted feel to some of the other translated books I’ve read.  

The Vanishing Type by Ellery Adams

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

When the weather turns cold, my thoughts turn to cozy books.  While Ellery Adams’ Secret, Book, and Scone Society novels are murder mysteries, they’re also about as warm and cozy as they come.  Set in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, the stories revolve around four friends:  Nora, who owns a bookshop; Hester, who is a baker; Estella, the hairdresser; and June, who is a manager at the Miracle Springs Spa.  All these women have suffered tragedy and trials, but they band together to uplift one another and form a chosen family.

In The Vanishing Type, Nora is shocked to find that someone has taken a knife to all the copies of A Scarlet Letter. While it could be a high school student unhappy with having to read Hawthorne, somehow this seems a little more personal—especially since the vandalism targets the name Hester.  Nora keeps this to herself as Hester’s personal life is on the upswing: her longtime beau is ready to pop the question, and Nora and the other Society members are helping him to make the moment perfect.

Then a body turns up, and it appears that a secret from Hester’s past may be about to catch up with her.

The coziness of Adams’ series comes not from the delicious-sounding baked goods, delicious coffees and teas, the love of books—authors and titles are name-dropped regularly—but also from the warmth of the women’s friendship.  I like that all the women have overcome hardships in their lives, so that they face difficult times and situations with courage.  It also makes them empathetic toward others.  Adams does a wonderful job with descriptions.  The food sounds wonderful, but in this book I was enchanted by the descriptions of the artwork in some old novels—I could almost see the book covers.  Actually, I also wanted to read the (non-existent) books.  There is an interesting mix of supporting characters, including some romantic interests for the leading ladies but I also like that Adams doesn’t make every relationship a certainty. 

While this is fifth book in the series, it reads well as a standalone.  If you’re in the market for a comforting, feel-good read with resilient women characters, this would be an excellent choice.

The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Olivia Green is a married mother of two who works three jobs as a cleaner. Her husband Jake works at his family’s struggling printing business and with both sons about to be in college, money is very tight.  That’s why Liv puts up with the influencer parents who expect her not only to clean but to look after their children and the office workers who think nothing of throwing trash on the just cleaned floor. The third cleaning job is for Essie Starling, the reclusive author of the Georgia Rory series, which should have been a dream job.  Liv loves Georgia Rory; the plucky, adventurous heroine has inspired Liv for years and seen her through many difficult times in her life. 

Essie, however, is not the easiest person to work for.  She’s not an ogre, but she IS very exacting and she pretty much ignores Liv—except for the occasional note.

So when Essie dies unexpectedly, the last thing Liv expects is that Essie wants her to finish her book—the final Georgia Rory story.  Can Liv give Georgia the happy ending her fans expect? And why would Essie choose her to write this book?

I had read other titles by Phaedra Patrick and enjoyed them, so I had an idea of her writing style.  She tends to write about women who are unappreciated or who don’t have an idea of their own worth, but then they take a voyage of self-discovery.  Actually, they sound a lot like Essie’s Georgia Rory, but that’s probably the point.  Liv’s husband keeps her in the dark about problems with the family business, her sons still expect her to pick up after them and solve their problems, and Liv herself has given up on her childhood dream of being a writer.

To write the book, and to find out why Essie chose her, Liv is going to have to step out of her comfort zone.  What she learns is both freeing and painful, and she is going to have to decide who she is going to be.

I enjoyed the book. I was ready for an uplifting tale and Patrick delivers.  Liv is a reader, so I loved hearing what she was reading (I was thrilled when she read Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen) but also I liked the way that Essie became more and more of a real character after her death.  I also liked the English setting and the supporting cast (though I did get very annoyed at Liv’s sons and the influencer parents) and I liked the discussions about books—structure, character arcs, etc.—that informed Liv’s struggles as an author but never bogged the book down. And I especially loved that this book is about book people, not just authors and editors, publishers and promoters, but about readers.

This is a cozy read for a chilly season!

Happy National Library Week!

In celebration of National Library Week, here are some books about libraries and librarians!

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig imagines is a library with books for an individual. One book tells the story of the person’s life as it is, while an infinite number of others tell the person’s life if other choices had been made.  Nora Seed has found the library and now she has the chance to experience her other lives—and to decide which life is worth living.

The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander: Librarian Jess Metcalf moves to the English countryside after the death of her beloved grandmother.  She discovers she’s the owner of an old red phone box, which turns into the littlest library in England with heart-warming results.

The Last Chance Library by Freya Samson follows June Jones as she emerges from her shell to fight for her beloved local library, and through the efforts and support of an eclectic group of library patrons, she discovers life-changing friendships along the way.

The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu: Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghost talker, and she now speaks to Edinburgh's dead - carrying messages to the living - but when she learns someone is bewitching children she investigates and discovers an occult library, a taste for hidden magic, and a wealth of Edinburgh's dark secrets.

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick is the story of a shy librarian whose kind heart is often exploited receives a mysterious book of fairy tales from the beloved grandmother she believed dead and embarks on a perspective-changing journey of astonishing family secrets.

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman is a fantasy adventure series about librarian agents who must collect books from various realities.  Readers have praised it for its humor, imagination, and wordplay.

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan:  Nina, a "literary matchmaker" who takes joy in pairing readers with perfect books moves from the city to a sleepy village where she becomes a bookmobile driver and rediscovers her sense of adventure while searching for a happy ending of her own.

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

The Hatori Community House is a place where people can do many different things, such as attend a class on computers or learn to play Go.  It also has a handy library and an even handier librarian in Sayuri Komachi.  She is a large lady, very white, and her book recommendations are always on point—even if some of the choices may seem a bit odd. Her hobby is felting animals and objects and she always gives one of these to her patron as a bonus gift.

As with several Japanese books I’ve read recently, the novel is a series of stories with something in common. There are five stories, each featuring a different character who is at some sort of cross road.  He or she is unhappy or bored with life and wants to make a change.  They end up at the library where they are given what they ask for and a little extra.

Each story is a little gem, and each has something to say about books, readers, the power of story, and yes, libraries.  I admit I wasn’t quite on board at first, in part because of some cultural differences but one of the pleasures of books is seeing different viewpoints. For example, the librarian is a very large, very pale woman, something that each character notes in some way: she’s a polar bear, the Michelin man, a ball of rice. She’s also a bit otherworldly, like an oracle, though one patron thinks of Kwan Yin, the goddess of mercy.  Some readers found that off-putting, but I saw it as more a way of conveying an otherness about her.

All the stories make the character reassess what they want out of life, which can lead to some reader introspection. Sometimes we become fixated on one outcome and don’t allow that circumstances change and perhaps some of our goals should as well.

Most of all, there are so many wonderful quotes about books!  I am going to buy my own copy and a highlighter to note passages* like this one:  “Readers make their own personal connections to words, irrespective of the writer’s intentions, and each reader gains something unique.”

I could go off on a whole spiel about that, but I’ll refrain except to say that books and readers are as alchemy that creates unique experiences.  No two people read a book the exact same way.

 

*Sarah Addison Allen gave me permission to do this in her wonderful book Other Birds.

2024 Radio Bristol Book Club

 

Have you caught the Radio Bristol Book Club?  Each month the Birthplace of Country Music and the Bristol Public Library come together to discuss a book which reflects Appalachian culture, music, heritage, or history. The show airs the 4th Thursday of every month at 12 p.m.  You can listen online or over the radio; archives of past programs are available online.  Check it out at Radio Bristol Book Club!

On December 28, at noon you can hear the discussion of Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery.

Want a sneak peek at next year’s line up so you can read ahead?  Here’s the schedule:

January 25, 2024
A Place Called District 12: Appalachian Geography and Music in the Hunger Games by Thomas W. Paradis

February 22, 2024
Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall

March 28, 2024
Tales from the Moonshine Trade by Kathy Shearer

April 25, 2024
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

May 23, 2024
Linthead Stomp: The Creation of Country Music in the Piedmont South by Patrick Huber

June 27, 2024
Burning Bright by Ron Rash

July 25, 2024
Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions by Francesca T. Royster

August 22, 2024
Stories I Ain’t Told Nobody Yet by Jo Carson

September 26, 2024
Missing May by Cynthia Rylant

October 24, 2024
The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg

November 21, 2024
Even as We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle

December 19, 2024
Coal Miner’s Daughter by Loretta Lynn

But Have You Read the Book? 52 Literary Gems that Inspired Our Favorite Films by Kristen Lopez

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

In her foreword, Lopez writes that she likes reading the book before seeing the movie because she enjoys feeling as if she has the “inside track” on what’s going to happen. Of course, sometimes the movie makes a lot of changes between page and screen!

This book carries the TMC imprint and while it does feature a lot of classic movies, there are some newer versions included as well. The book is arranged chronologically by movie, so it starts with Frankenstein in 1931 and ends with 2021’s Passing, based on the 1929 book by Nella Larsen. Titles are the ones used for the movie, but book title and author are included with each entry, along with the names of the director and the writer of the screenplay.  Each entry is about four pages long, with brief but insightful comparisons between book and film. The tone is light but informative, and the book never bogs down.   The introduction warns “Spoilers Ahead,” as important plot points and even endings may be discussed. Lopez sometimes drops in little tidbits about the production and filming or else about the original book author.

This is a wonderful little book, whether you decide to read it straight through or if you pick and choose which selections to read. Some of the titles included are Psycho, Lord of the Rings, Children of Men, Rebecca, Joy Luck Club, Remains of the Day, Dune, The Godfather, Fight Club, Clueless, Jaws, and Coraline.  There is no index, alas, but that’s a minor quibble.  The book is illustrated with some charming color line drawings by Jyotirmayee Patra. 

 The author limited herself to 52 selections, so at times I wondered what criteria she used.  I’ll admit that this is in part because I was greedy for more: not only more titles, but she could easily have doubled the length of the entries.   Then again, it is a showbiz adage to “always leave them wanting more!”

Hillerman & Dark Winds

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

 

Although Tony Hillerman wrote his first Navajo police mystery in 1970, I didn’t encounter his work until the ‘80s but I quickly became a fan.  He introduced me to a beautifully complex culture and people, about whom I knew very little.  His settings were so vivid I could almost see the canyons.  I loved his two main characters:  the “legendary lieutenant” Joe Leaphorn whose calm demeanor and sharp intellect made him more than a match for any wrong doers;  young Jim Chee, still learning the ropes in the early novels, sometimes making mistakes, but a good man.  I liked that these characters changed and grew over the course of the series. 

Some years after Tony Hillerman’s passing, his daughter Anne took up the series.  She has since written eight more books in the series, with a ninth to be published in 2024. 

Such rich source material led to several different filmed versions of Hillerman’s books, including The Dark Wind with Lou Diamond Phillips as Jim Chee and Fred Ward as Joe Leaphorn and a three-episode PBS series called Skinwalkers:  The Navajo Mysteries starring Wes Studi as Leaphorn and Adam Beach as Jim Chee. 

The most recent version is AMC’s Dark Winds, with Zahn McClarnon as Leaphorn and Kiowa Gordon as Chee, and Jessica Matten as Bernadette Manuelito, a character who was introduced near the end of Tony’s books but who is a major character in Anne’s series. There have been two six episode seasons of the show to date.

The library was able to buy the first season of Dark Winds when it became available on DVD this summer, so I had to check it out. Visually, it’s amazing, both in terms of the people and the country. It was worth watching for the scenery and costumes alone.  It’s set in the 1970s, when Hillerman wrote the first books, which added to the ambiance as far as I was concerned.  Many in the cast and crew have Native American ancestry, but not necessarily Navajo.  (McClarnon, for example is Lakota while Gordon is Hualapai.)  There were some jumps back and forth in time which could be a little confusing, but that is a minor quibble. The other reviews on it have been glowing so a lot of people have enjoyed it, including other Hillerman fans.

I liked it, but to be honest I was bothered by some of the changes and themes in the series.  Mostly I didn’t like what was to me a very different version of Jim Chee and some other changes to characters’ backgrounds.  Other Hillerman fans didn’t find it a problem, so don’t let that deter you!  Anne Hillerman wrote at her website (www.annehillerman.com) about the series, listing all the things she liked but adding, “While these adaptations aren’t part of Dad’s and my stories, they are creative and entertaining.” (Among the things she says she likes is that the show “portrays the essence of Joe Leaphorn and Bernie [Manuelito] in a way that makes me proud.  I know my Dad would be happy, too.” I noted that she did not include Jim Chee in that statement.

Season two of the series just aired, but there is no word as to whether there will be a season three.

The library does hold copies of both of the Hillermans’ books as well as a DVD of the first season of the new series.  If you watch the series, I would be interested to know what you think!

If you haven’t read Hillerman’s books, here’s a list in order of publication:

1.       The Blessing Way

2.      Dance Hall of the Dead

3.      Listening Woman

4.      People of Darkness

5.      The Dark Wind

6.      The Ghostway

7.      Skinwalkers

8.     A Thief of Time

9.      Talking God

10.  Coyote Waits

11.   Sacred Clowns

12.  The Fallen Man

13.  The First Eagle

14.  Hunting Badger

15.  The Wailing Wind

16.  The Sinister Pig

17.   Skeleton Man

18.  The Shape Shifter

Books by Anne Hillerman:

1.       Spider Woman’s Daughter

2.      Rock with Wings

3.      Song of the Lion

4.      Cave of Bones

5.      The Tale Teller

6.      Stargazer

7.      The Sacred Bridge

8.     The Way of the Bear

9.      Lost Birds (due out 2024)