Month: March 2018

The flaw in Press Review announced by Theresa May

The flaw in Press Review announced by Theresa May

There are two ways of looking at the new Press Review announced by Theresa May, the UK prime minister: a genuine attempt to inject some badly needed funds into the failing business model of journalism, or another backhander to the mainstream corporate press to keep them sweet. Depressingly, history suggests the latter. The prime minister was effusive about the importance of journalism as a “huge force for good” – and anyone who has seen Spielberg’s The Post could scarcely disagree. That film encapsulated everything noble about great reporting and the vital importance of a free and independent press to a healthy democracy. May chose to highlight the crisis in local journalism – where the journalism may be less dramatic than that portrayed by Tom Hanks et al, but is just as vital: the leaders of local institutions such as hospitals, police forces, local courts or local councils can be equally susceptible to corruption or incompetence and also require the kind of scrutiny which keeps them accountable to local people. At a more mundane level, communities …

STARLIGHT, SHADOWS AND TEARS | Kirkus Reviews

STARLIGHT, SHADOWS AND TEARS | Kirkus Reviews

by Paul Lynch ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 5, 2023 Captivating, frightening, and a singular achievement. As Ireland devolves into a brutal police state, one woman tries to preserve her family in this stark fable. For Eilish Stack, a molecular biologist living with her husband and four children in Dublin, life changes all at once and then slowly worsens beyond imagining. Two men appear at her door one night, agents of the new secret police, seeking her husband, Larry, a union official. Soon he is detained under the Emergency Powers Act recently pushed through by the new ruling party, and she cannot contact him. Eilish sees things shifting at work to those backing the ruling party. The state takes control of the press, the judiciary. Her oldest son receives a summons to military duty for the regime, and she tries to send him to Northern Ireland. He elects to join the rebel forces and soon she cannot contact him, either. His name and address appear in a newspaper ad listing people dodging military service. Eilish is …

THE LAST PHONE BOOTH IN MANHATTAN

THE LAST PHONE BOOTH IN MANHATTAN

Avery Lawrence has everything she ever wanted: a penthouse on Park Avenue, a Tiffany engagement ring, and a fiance, Adam, who’s head over heels for her. Sure, she’s pushed her Broadway dreams to the wayside, but personalized flash mobs and $800 bottles of wine soften the blow. So nothing could have prepared Avery for the startling discovery that Adam is a fraud. One moment, Avery is relishing her good fortune, and the next, Adam and Avery are being carted out of their apartment on Christmas Day in handcuffs. It turns out that her future groom is an imitation Bernie Madoff and the towering rock on her finger is little more than shiny plastic. When she’s released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, shocked and penniless, Avery stumbles into a phone booth—the last phone booth in Manhattan, according to the prison guard who directs her there—in hope of calling a cab. When she calls the number on a business card the guard gave her, instead of reaching a car service, she hears a voice rattling off an …

POISON TOWN | Kirkus Reviews

POISON TOWN | Kirkus Reviews

by Ben Philippe ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 8, 2019 Despite some missteps, this will appeal to readers who enjoy a fresh and realistic teen voice. A teenage, not-so-lonely loner endures the wilds of high school in Austin, Texas. Norris Kaplan, the protagonist of Philippe’s debut novel, is a hypersweaty, uber-snarky black, Haitian, French-Canadian pushing to survive life in his new school. His professor mom’s new tenure-track job transplants Norris mid–school year, and his biting wit and sarcasm are exposed through his cataloging of his new world in a field guide–style burn book. He’s greeted in his new life by an assortment of acquaintances, Liam, who is white and struggling with depression; Maddie, a self-sacrificing white cheerleader with a heart of gold; and Aarti, his Indian-American love interest who offers connection. Norris’ ego, fueled by his insecurities, often gets in the way of meaningful character development. The scenes showcasing his emotional growth are too brief and, despite foreshadowing, the climax falls flat because he still gets incredible personal access to people he’s hurt. A scene where …

THE AMISH WIFE | Kirkus Reviews

THE AMISH WIFE | Kirkus Reviews

by Britney Spears ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 24, 2023 Spears’ vulnerability shines through as she describes her painful journey from vulnerable girl to empowered woman. Likes 11 Our Verdict GET IT New York Times Bestseller A heartfelt memoir from the pop superstar. Spears grew up with an alcoholic father, an exacting mother, and a fear of disappointing them both. She also displayed a natural talent for singing and dancing and a strong work ethic. Spears is grateful for the adult professionals who helped her get her start, but the same can’t be said of her peers. When she met Justin Timberlake, also a Mouseketeer on the Disney Channel’s updated Mickey Mouse Club, the two formed an instant bond. Spears describes her teenage feelings for Timberlake as “so in love with him it was pathetic,” and she’s clearly angry about the rumors and breakup that followed. This tumultuous period haunted her for years. Out of many candidates for villains of the book, Timberlake included, perhaps the worst are the careless journalists of the late 1990s and …

TA-DA, KOALA! | Kirkus Reviews

TA-DA, KOALA! | Kirkus Reviews

by Mo Willems ; illustrated by Mo Willems ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2023 A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus. This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this …

JUST US, PLATYPUS! | Kirkus Reviews

JUST US, PLATYPUS! | Kirkus Reviews

by Mo Willems ; illustrated by Mo Willems ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2023 A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus. This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this …

THE POWER OF ART | Kirkus Reviews

THE POWER OF ART | Kirkus Reviews

by Christina Sharpe ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2023 An exquisitely original celebration of American Blackness. Our Verdict GET IT Kirkus Reviews’Best Books Of 2023 National Book Award Finalist A potent series of “notes” paints a multidimensional picture of Blackness in America. Throughout the book, which mixes memoir, history, literary theory, and art, Sharpe—the chair of Black studies at York University in Toronto and author of the acclaimed book In the Wake: On Blackness and Being—writes about everything from her family history to the everyday trauma of American racism. Although most of the notes feature the author’s original writing, she also includes materials like photographs, copies of letters she received, responses to a Twitter-based crowdsourcing request, and definitions of terms collected from colleagues and friends (“preliminary entries toward a dictionary of untranslatable blackness”). These diverse pieces coalesce into a multifaceted examination of the ways in which the White gaze distorts Blackness and perpetuates racist violence. Sharpe’s critique is not limited to White individuals, however. She includes, for example, a disappointing encounter with a fellow Black …

OLIVIA STRAUSS IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME

OLIVIA STRAUSS IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Olivia Strauss is turning 39. It’s not quite the big one but she’s beginning to realize that all the things she’s always said she would do, like getting back into writing poetry and spending more time in the city with her best friend, Marian, keep getting pushed behind more immediate needs, like caring for her 5-year-old son and teaching at the local high school. When Marian takes Olivia to a spa that uses genetic tests to tell you when you’re supposedly going to die, however, time becomes a lot more precious and Olivia must truly contend with her mortality to answer the question: If you’re going to die sooner than you thought, what would you change? Brown’s exploration of a modern woman’s midlife crisis is refreshingly mixed with a quasi-science fiction plot in which even the characters don’t know how much they should believe. There’s a little bit of mystery, a little bit of drama, and a lot of people finding themselves, with all the mess that involves. Olivia’s husband, Andrew, and son, Tommy, are …

THE LIES YOU WROTE | Kirkus Reviews

THE LIES YOU WROTE | Kirkus Reviews

by Michael Connelly ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023 The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot. Harry Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer team up to exonerate a woman who’s already served five years for killing her ex-husband. The evidence against Lucinda Sanz was so overwhelming that she followed the advice of Frank Silver, the B-grade attorney who’d elbowed his way onto her defense, and pleaded no contest to manslaughter to avoid a life sentence for shooting Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Roberto Sanz in the back as he stalked out of her yard after their latest argument. But now that her son, Eric, is 13, old enough to get recruited by local gangs, she wants to be out of stir and at his side. So she writes to Mickey Haller, who asks his half-brother for help. After all his years working for the LAPD, Bosch is adamant about not working for a criminal defendant, even though Haller’s already taken him on as an associate …