Sponsored by Early Bird Books.
Book Riot is teaming up with Early Bird Books to give away a 1-year subscription to Scribd!
Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed—and greetings from my first real snow experience! The Pacific Northwest is one of the regions of the US that got slammed by a snow storm that aren’t used to getting slammed by snow storms (Texas, I see you!), so we effectively shut down as a city. I spent the better part of four days inside a blanket fort with tea and books on hand, and it was kind of glorious? There’s something about the snow and the cold that made doing so less depressing and more fun, at least for me. I embraced the cozy, though I’m aware we had it easy compared to a lot of other places. I hope you too have found some way to be cozy and safe wherever you are.
To the club!!
Nibbles and Sips
 |
I perhaps over-prepared for Snowpocolypse PDX with flashlights and matches (or perhaps not, because a ton of people lost power!), but I’m the most glad I stocked up on groceries. My car remains buried under a mountain of snow and I probs wouldn’t drive it even if it weren’t, and all it took was the sensation of my boot slipping when I placed one toe on an icy sidewalk for me to say “nope!” to an extra grocery run. I made a snow angel instead.
So today’s recipe is one I threw together from the odds and ends of other meals, and it is delicious! I mixed some orecchiette pasta (use whatever you have) with some sautéed mushrooms and spinach that I’d seasoned with salt and red pepper flakes, then tossed all of that with a healthy portion of sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, a little bit of pasta water, and some crumbled goat cheese. Easy, quick, delicious. If I hadn’t scarfed down the leftover spicy Italian sausage bits I had as a “snack” earlier that day, I’d have tossed that in too.
Faithful Schmaithful
You may have heard that Zack Snyder is working on a “faithful” retelling of Arthurian legend—you know, the dude who directed 300. That guy. I…read that and immediately wanted to make the subject of this newsletter “LOL Wut?” because, dear readers: que!? What in the rooty tooty fresh and fruity f*ck is a “faithful” retelling of a legend that is, in and of itself, a mish-mash of British lore, Welsh and Celtic mythology, and a whole bunch of other influence that’s been told and retold for centuries? (I really enjoyed that Twitter thread).
I am not actually dissing 300; in fact, I’ve never seen it. I’m just saying that a guy who made a movie like 300 about the Battle of Thermopylae and the Persian Wars should be intimately familiar with the way legends and mythology work and is clearly okay with some creative license. And you know what, it’s still fine to want to make a film that doesn’t veer so much from you perceive to be the “canon.” But the explosion of people on the internet being like, “Finally! All these retellings have bastardized the original!” are what made me scratch my head.
So today we’re going to revel in Arthurian retellings, versions that are creative and subversive and would certainly ruffle the feathers of Arthurian purists. Two of these are YA, but don’t let that deter any of you who don’t normally read young adult fiction. There is such good potential for book club talk with all three of these interpretations of this age-old legend.
By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar
Lavie Tidhar said “$@^& your Arthurian feelings” with this book. He took the legend, chopped it into pieces, poured on some gasoline, and lit. that. match. To call this work subversive is not enough. It nocks an arrow with a white-hot tip right at the whole idea of Arthurian legend as a noble, virtuous tale of English conquest (can conquer be noble?) and his aim is true. No one, and I do mean not one single soul, is likable in this version: the Knights of the Round Table are a band of selfish misanthropes, Merlin is a lying jerk and an instigator who feeds off conflict, and even the Lady of the Lake is a shady arms dealer. No one is safe! Woven into lots of violence and some dark & twisty humor is a searing critique of Brexit and British nationalism in general. That is where this book hooked me. Make sure to read the afterword: it explains how and why Tidhar twisted this beloved story to point out the hypocrisy of zealous nationalism.
Book Club Bonus: It’s uncomfortable conversation time! Let this book be a jumping board for a chat about how many classic stories aren’t all that virtuous and actually glorify some pretty trash behavior. Maybe that behavior is imperialism, or ableism, or white supremacy; maybe it’s the vilifying of women as evil temptresses and monsters at every turn. Don’t limit the conversation to literature either (American history taught in schools, I’m looking at you); cast that net wide and talk about it!
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (Legendborn #1)
My months-long hold on this book came and went for a second time because I was reading too many other books! I will get my hands on it soon though, especially in light of this whole kerfuffle. Tracy Deonn combines Southern Black Girl Magic with a modern-day twist on Arthurian legend. After her mother dies in an accident, 16-year-old Bree Matthews needs an escape from family memories and her childhood home. She enrolls at a residential program for bright high school students at UNC Chapel Hill thinking it’ll be just the thing to bring her back to life, but then…. she witnesses a magical attack on her very first night on campus, as one does. She’s hit with an avalanche of revelations: Bree possesses a unique magic of her own that she never knew about, a magical war is coming, and there exists a secret demon-fighting society known as the Legendborn whose members are descendants of King Arthur’s knights. This is just the sort of adventure I need and crave!
Book Club Bonus: We need more retellings that make space for people that don’t fit the white, cis-het, able-bodied norm. “But Vanessa, you’ve already told us that representation matters!” And I’m gonna tell you again, because it does! How does the southern setting and inclusion of Black characters deepen a legend that was previously super not inclusive? Discuss.
The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White (Camelot Rising #1)
**taps mic** The women are the most interesting parts of Arthurian legend. I said what I said. **drops mic**
Now that we have that out of the way, I can tell you about a YA series I have gleaned so much joy from in the last couple of years. Guinevere is front and center in this series, as you may have imagined, but get this: Guinevere isn’t really Guinevere. She’s a changeling! Not-Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed King Arthur in a plot devised by Merlin (spoilery! things! I can’t! tell! you!) to protect him from dark magical forces. Maybe? Gah. I love when a story you think you know still manages to make you go, “Oh word?!” There’s queerness and gender-flipping and all kinds of fun stuff in both this book and it’s sequel, The Camelot Betrayal. I haven’t seen a release date announced for the third book in the trilogy yet and that second book ends on SUCH a cliffhanger. You’ve been warned!
Book Club Bonus: I can’t suggest too much without going into spoiler territory, but I think you’ll come to that part on your own. So here’s this: talk about the symbolism of Guinevere as a changeling and the reframing of villainous women’s arcs in this story. Go!
Suggestion Section
Read all about the Moms Demand Action Book Club, a discussion group open to the organization’s six million (!!) supporters who advocate against gun violence via their state chapters. Love to see that!
More news from Reese’s Book Club: it’s set to launch a digital cooking series hosted by Christina Milian. If you were born in the 2000s or after, this next bit ain’t for you: I desperately need this series to be called Cook It Low, Mix It Up Slow. (insert body roll with spatula here)
Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter and catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast.
Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa
You could win a 1-year subscription to Scribd! Book Riot is teaming up with Early Bird Books for this awesome giveaway. Enter here!
 |