All Booked | Last Vacation of Summer
The original version of this newsletter was sent out on Tuesday, September 10.
Sign up for All Booked, our bi-monthly newsletter exclusively for book lovers.
Hello, fellow bookworms!
If you’re feeling the same way I have been lately and are not ready to let go of the hazy days of summer, you’re in luck! This week, my colleague Nathan Vived comes through for us with three recommendations sure to deliver a delightful dose of fantasy and escapism.
Luckily for those of us who wish we could squeeze in just one more vacation, getaway, or spa day before the school year starts and the long days leave us, there are always books to take us to another world.
Happy reading!
—Tessa, allbooked@independent.com
Hello again, book lovelies! I have a couple of recommendations for you today, both of which stray more fantastical than scientific, one a window into the past and the other two a glimpse into the very driving forces behind the stories we tell. I’m mixing things up a bit this week in the composition as well with two books by the same author (there are key differences, I assure you!), and a poem. I hope you take the chance on any of these three tales; it would be well worth it, I assure you.
Homer’s The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagles
If you are a musical theater nerd, like I am, and perpetually online, like I am, then it is highly likely that you have heard of a little thing called EPIC: The Musical, by Jorge Rivera-Herrans. If you haven’t, a little rundown. It is a musical version of the classic The Odyssey, following the hero Odysseus’s struggles and trials as he tries to return home to Ithaca from the Trojan War. I’ve been obsessed with the musical, and it has inspired me to finish the original Odyssey, which I had started several times over the years. A word of warning: This is an epic poem — the genre, not in scope, though it is that too — and as such, be prepared for poetry! If that’s not your style, like it isn’t mine, I would recommend finding a good audio version of it. I listened to one I found on Audible, read by the venerable Sir Ian McKellen. If Gandalf reading about the gods isn’t enough of a selling point, the entire work is a fascinating snapshot of the literary and poetic themes and tropes that existed back in Hellenistic Greece, and it should be surprising which storytelling methods and techniques have survived across the millennia and cultures that separate us from them. To quote Hermes from Hadestown, “It’s an old song / It’s an old tale from way back when … and we’re gonna sing it again!”
The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski
Technically the first chronological book in the Witcher series, The Last Wish is a collection of short stories following the titular Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, as he heals in a temple from injuries sustained on his latest job and remembers the trials and tasks he had accomplished before when evil was always lesser, greater, or middling and he was forced to choose. In contrast to the acclaimed novels or video game series, the throughline plot is more of a vessel for telling the short stories, framed as Geralt’s memories, than creating anything compelling on its own. These short stories, however, are brilliant. With a heavy infusion of the author’s native Polish mythology and a not-so-small amount of his distaste of classic fantasy tropes, the various tales in The Last Wish are retellings and reimaginings of classic fairy tales. There’s a far darker “Snow White” (eat your heart out, Disney!), a fantastical twist on the already fantastical “Hans My Hedgehog,” and an entirely morally gray “Beauty and the Beast,” among others. Sapkowski demonstrates a deft hand at crafting a narrative that is at once unique and interrogative of its own derivation, threading that needle with aplomb. If you’re looking for a good place to start in this incredible world or just a new retelling of an old favorite, I cannot recommend this book enough.
The Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
For the second mix-up of this All Booked, I am recommending a second book by the same author. Also in the Witcher series, Blood of Elves is the first novel that stars Geralt of Rivia. Politics, war, monsters, fighting, magic, a magical school, betrayal, love, heartbreak — this book has got everything, and it’s just the first one! By virtue of that, it does spend a lot of time setting up for plot points that won’t make an appearance until later entries, but it sidesteps all of the inherent pitfalls of such by being terribly entertaining. The characters are vivid, fun, and complicated; I found myself disagreeing with some of my favorites’ decisions even as I understood how they had arrived at them. If you have only ever played the games (likely only Witcher 3, to be honest) or watched the rightly maligned Netflix series, I would be remiss to not push this tale at you with all the enthusiasm of a bold fan of Dandelion’s. And if you don’t get that reference, read either this or the entry above!
Much love,
Nathan Vived
UPCOMING BOOK EVENTS
Below, you will find a few bookish events coming up in Santa Barbara. If you are hosting a bookish event in Santa Barbara, be sure to submit the event to our online events calendar.
Storytime at Solvang Library
Tuesday, September 10, 10:30 a.m. | Solvang Library
Baby & Me Storytime
Wednesday, September 11, 11 a.m. | S.B. Central Library
Bilingual Songs & Stories for Kids
Wednesday, September 11, 11 a.m. | Franklin Elementary School
Romance Book Club
Wednesday, September 11, 5:30 p.m. | Virtual
Mary Jane McCord Planned Parenthood Annual Book Sale
September 12-22, varying hours | Exhibition Hall, Earl Warren Showgrounds
Wiggly Storytime
Thursday, September 12, 5 p.m. | S.B. Central Library
Book Signing: James L. Broderick, PhD
Thursday, September 12, 6 p.m. | VOICE Gallery
Baby & Me Storytime
Friday, September 13, 10:30 a.m. | Solvang Library
Book Talk and Signing: Ilona Joy Saari
Saturday, September 14, 1 p.m. | Barnes & Noble, Ventura
Book Talk and Signing: Teddi Lynn Chichester
Sunday, September 15, 2 p.m. | Chaucer’s Books
Preschool Story Time
Monday, September 16, 10 a.m. | Carpinteria Community Library
Storytime at Solvang Library
Tuesday, September 17, 10:30 a.m. | Solvang Library
1,000 Books Party
Tuesday, September 17, 3 p.m. | Central Library
Book Talk and Signing: Alycia Vreeland
Tuesday, September 17, 6 p.m. | Chaucer’s Books
Storytime at Solvang Library
Wednesday, September 18, 10:30 a.m. | Solvang Library
Bilingual Songs & Stories for Kids
Wednesday, September 18, 11 a.m. | Franklin Elementary School
Baby & Me Storytime
Wednesday, September 18, 11 a.m. | S.B. Central Library
Wiggly Storytime
Thursday, September 19, 5 p.m. | S.B. Central Library
Book Talk and Signing: Jim Buckley
Thursday, September 19, 6 p.m. | Chaucer’s Books
Baby & Me Storytime
Friday, September 20, 10:30 a.m. | Goleta Library
Book Release Concert and Mixer: Artistic Fusion: Where Music, Poetry, and Visual Arts Converge
Saturday, September 21, 4 p.m. | Community Arts Workshop
Preschool Story Time
Monday, September 23, 10 a.m. | Carpinteria Community Library
LOCAL BOOK SPOTLIGHT
We at the Independent get many books sent to us by local authors, sometimes too many! It’s practically impossible for us to read and review them all, but just because we are busy bees does not mean that they aren’t worth the attention. In an attempt to not completely drop the ball, we have compiled a list of books here that have a local spin. They are all either written by a local author, feature someone in our community, or have another tie to Santa Barbara. I urge you to look through this list. Perhaps you will find your new favorite read!
The following are the most recent titles that have been sent to us. Click here for a more comprehensive list.
Winston Hewett’s Impotence by PJ Blumenthal
Parents & Teachers in a Changing World by Andrés J. Versage
Nature on the Edge: Lessons for the Biosphere from the California Coast by Bruce A. Byers
Welcome Home—The Poetry Book by Esteban Ramirez
If you are a local author and would like us to feature your book in this section, please email allbooked@independent.com with the subject line “Local Author Spotlight.”
Book Reviews Courtesy of CALIFORNIA REVIEW OF BOOKS*
Thanks to the generous contributions of David Starkey, Brian Tanguay and their team of reviewers at California Review of Books, we are able to provide a steady stream of book reviews via our content partnership. Recent reviews at Independent.com include:
That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones; review by Brian Tanguay
The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of The Village Voice, the Radical Paper ThatChanged American Culture by Tricia Romano; review by George Yatchisin
*At the present time, all of the Independent’s book reviews are provided in collaboration with California Review of Books (calirb.com).
You must be logged in to post a comment.