What are some of the books this new season brings?
Well, yeah, we're in a new season. It's hard to believe, and it's funny sometimes when I think about the spring season in Ashland, I think about the shoes you have to keep by the door, like you have to have your flip flops and your rain boots and your snow boots and your walking shoes, because you never know what's going to happen. And I kind of feel that way about the books that you need to have on your book stand, because it's not such a cozy season like winter, but you just never know. So you have to keep your lighter reads and your darker reads. So that's how I think about the books that I want to read during the springtime.
We have such a great staff at , so I have picked their brains for their recommendations, but the book that I am almost done with, which I am just riveted by, is called . It's a novel about a family of four who lives on a tiny island near Antarctica that's home to the world's largest seed bank.
And I must admit, the reason I haven't finished the book is because I went down a rabbit hole of what is a seed bank. And it's fascinating. It's kind of like a Jurassic Park vault of all of the seeds of the world that want to be preserved in case something were to happen. And it's like this bunker for our food supply. So this family lives on this tiny island, but since sea levels are rising, they now have to pack themselves up and the seeds to transport the seeds to a higher ground - or to safer ground, I should say. And then, a horrible storm hits the island, and a woman washes up on shore.
So this family nurses her back to life, and they all grow very close. But then dark secrets start to surface, and the characters have to decide if they can trust each other enough to protect these precious seeds before it's too late. So it's this standoff between our interconnectedness between humans and nature and family and secrets and climate change, and new life with seeds. So it, to me, wraps up spring in a very compelling way, right?
"I love to read memoirs during spring. It reintroduces me to other people's stories that help me make sense of my own."
How timely. I like how you mentioned going down the rabbit hole, because I always think the best reading, the best storytelling, inspires more research, and that is something that you have the luxury of doing with the book, as opposed to watching films, which I also love. But you know, you can just put the book down and go learn, and then come back with this bigger understanding. I think it's so interesting that this is set on a remote island, because this author has kind of made a name for herself for these romantic thrillers in remote wild places. She did 鈥�.鈥� That was her first literary fiction, about a woman catching a fishing boat to Greenland. And she also - just doing my own research for this interview - she has a master's in screenwriting, so I think, Oh, she must really set a scene well, right?
And character development. And I've listened to interviews with her, and she does imagine the actors that she wants to play her characters, which is very unique. She definitely has a knack for narrative arc and character development, but she also has this science background where she loves to explore biodiversity and how the environment affects all of us.
I notice on your list there are at least a couple that are set during the pandemic, so that's another trend we're seeing in some way. I don't know if we can call it a genre, 鈥減andemic literature,鈥� because they're across all genres, but you have two stories on your list where the pandemic was the context and in some way, it has an impact on the story. Let's hear about the memoir 鈥�.鈥�
Yeah, I noticed that too. We can't ignore that it's been five years since the start of the pandemic, and I was reflecting that it started during spring, which is normally the time of rebirth, and yet we were all forced to turn our lives upside down. And so I think it's very telling that there are some books coming out right now that do focus on the pandemic. Another genre I love to read in spring is the memoir genre, and that's because I feel like during the wintertime, we tend to disappear. We don't see our neighbors as much. And I know I'm craving human connection and stories, and so I love to read memoirs during spring. It reintroduces me to other people's stories that help me make sense of my own.
So there's a story called 鈥淩aising Hare鈥� by , and it's fascinating. I mean, she's a speechwriter and a foreign policy advisor. And during the pandemic, she moved to the countryside of England and far away from her usual busy London life, and she unexpectedly decided to foster a wild baby hare. It almost sounds like something out of a children's book, but it actually happened. I mean, imagine if you could hold a baby hare and bottle feed it and it lived under your roof and lollopped around your bedroom at night. Well, this actually happened to her. And she learned so much about baby hares and the idea of letting something wild go and come back. And I think it also helped her reconnect with parts of herself that she realized she had lost to her busy life as a speechwriter, and something I think we could all relate to that happened during COVID. We all just reflected on ourselves in new ways.
Definitely, and it was interesting that this was her first book, and she won so many awards for it, so definitely a lot of reflection. I noticed that part of what she tells in the story, apparently - I haven't read it yet, but I'm interested - is learning to let go. Because she's caring for this thing from babyhood, but she's not confining it, that would be terrible for it. And my mother actually brought home baby ducks, raised them, and she lets them out in the pond, in the wild all the time. They do tend to come home to her whistle, but she has to trust, you know? Something could happen to them out there. And the author goes through a similar thing in 鈥淩aising Hare,鈥� right?
She lets the hare go, and it comes back. And that is really such a lesson of life, being able to let go.
So this next pandemic set book is by a heavyweight author. Tell us about that.
is an author who has been around for a very long time but hasn't written a novel in 10 years. So this is a long-anticipated novel called 鈥�.鈥� I've heard interviews with her, and the reason she couldn't write for 10 years, is that nothing was coming to her. So finally, something came, and I think everyone was very eager to see what that story would be, and it was inspired by her mother, who passed away. I haven't read it yet - it鈥檚 on my nightstand - but it's a story about four women whose lives are interconnected in very different ways. And it's about being a woman, a daughter, the trials and tribulations of the things that we go through and about our dreams - the dreams that we hold on to, the dreams we lose, and the dreams that are shattered. And she's become such a cultural icon, and her writing is so powerful, I can't wait to read this one.
You mentioned cultural icon. Part of that - I mean, she was doing plenty well on her own: Fortune Magazine even named her one of the world's 50 greatest leaders, not just authors - but she got a Beyonce bump.
She did. So, she has a TED Talk, and Beyonce actually took a sample from her TED Talk and put it in one of her songs. And so she's become a cultural icon in new ways from that, and now she has a new novel.
And do you happen to know what that TED talk was? Was it 鈥�," or something like that?
That's right.
Okay, so from Chimamanda to 鈥�.鈥� This is a magical novella.
Right. Yes, it's only 144 pages. I'm noticing a big trend in novellas, which can be great during the spring because it's not like we have these long stretches of vacation. It's nice to have short books, too. So this is a hugely anticipated solo debut of New York Times bestselling and Hugo award-winning author , who is actually half of the author duo who wrote "This is How You Lose the Time War,鈥� which was wildly popular in 2019. So this was recommended to me by one of our staff members at Bloomsbury, Riley. It takes place in the small town of Thistleford on the edge of Ferry, where a mysterious family named the Hawthorne family dwells. And there they tend and harvest enchanted willows and honor an ancient compact to sing to them and give thanks for their magic. So it's a very magical place. But then the sisters Esther and Isabel, they have some conflict that arises while they're trying to care for their land.
No spoilers.
That's right.
One thing that I thought was interesting with this author is that she's the New York Times science fiction and fantasy columnist. I didn't even know that position existed.
I mean, but it should.
These days, we create our own jobs, whatever we're specializing in. And we have a horror. This is a former NEA fellow, . Tell us about this.
Stephen Graham Jones, who has apparently been around for a very long time and is very prolific, writes a novel a year, it seems. This book is called 鈥�,鈥� and Cody and Greg at Bloomsbury highly recommend this book. It's also much anticipated. It's part historical fiction and part horror, which I would say is what drives the best horror, is you can use historical fiction as a way to bring about truths in a very absurd and often graphic way. But it's based on an actual massacre of 1870 where the US Army murdered over 200 innocent Blackfeet, but this is a story within a story, much like 鈥淒racula鈥� was. It's written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor who discovers a journal in a wall, and it unveils this slow massacre and a chain of events that goes back to this actual massacre. So it's told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his particular life over a series of confessional visits.
Okay, and let's see, Jones's previous book was 鈥淭he Only Good Indians,鈥� so he seems to keep circling around this topic.
That's right, it's an American Indian revenge story.
And we come to the fifth Hunger Games book.
Yes, we can't not mention 鈥�.鈥� I can't tell you the amount of smiling faces I see at Bloomsbury who are eagerly anticipating this fifth Hunger Games book by , and it's actually a prequel set 24 years before the original trilogy. So it's focusing on the 50th Hunger Games and it's narrated from Hamish Abernathy's perspective. And I just discovered this new genre called, I guess you would say, scholomance, which is academic, dark academia, fantasy.
This is breaking news, ladies and gentlemen, I've never heard of that genre. It鈥檚 funny because she has a background in very tame children's entertainment. She worked for Scholastic Entertainment, Nickelodeon鈥�.you know, she went from 鈥淐lifford the Dog鈥� to these dystopian novels. So what a journey. She's helping carve out a new genre.
She is, and people love it.
You also have live author events every Monday at Bloomsbury. Why don't you tell us at least about the one coming up on March 24?
Absolutely. So yeah, Monday, March 24 from 7 to 8pm we have Allie Davidson, who is coming to chat about her new book, 鈥淏orn of Betrayal,鈥� which is a true life story of how one woman suffered the devastating loss of a marriage, home and community she counted on, and how she learned to create a new beginning.
Lovely. And what about the one on March 31?
Monday, March 31 from 7 to 8pm is with Joshua Savage, who wrote a new book called 鈥淪ecret Bend Oregon, A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure.鈥� So it weaves together all of the fascinating stories that make up this part of our state.
And are these both local authors?
Yes, they're both local authors.
It's great you guys are providing a platform for that.
We love it, and come on by. It's free, it's upstairs, and it should be a great time.
You actually have some other exciting news you want to share.
Yes, we are in the final stretch of becoming the new owners of Bloomsbury Bookstore, my husband, Dave Isser and I. So on March 31, you'll hear an interview on JPR with us and the current owner, Sheila Burns, to talk more about how that all transpired.
