Saturday Miscellany – 5/7/16

Before I get going today, I’d like to take a moment to say congrats to my oldest son, who is getting his AA today, well done, sir.

Now on to the odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• The Novel Still Exists — The Millions Interviews Don DeLillo
• The LA Times also has A rare interview with Don DeLillo, one of the titans of American fiction
• And lastly, Don DeLillo’s Total Art of Memory — Jonathon Sturgeon talks DeLillo himself, his new book, and connections to his old ones.
• What Two Forgotten Pieces Tell Us About Harper Lee — from the New Yorker
• Bestselling novelist Ace Atkins appears Wednesday for ‘Beer & Books’ — a nice profile on Atkins and his two series.
• Crime pays for crime-fiction writer Michael Connelly — a nice profile of Mr. Connelly
• Five Literary Worlds That Smacked Me in the Face — I’m not Charlaine Harris’ biggest fan, but she knows what she’s talking about.
• All Different Kinds of Strong, by Gail Z. Martin — this is just good.
• The 10 Fiercest Mothers in SF/F — a good list for Mother’s Day, and some of these are really good choices. BTW, hope the Moms out there have a good one.
• The Money of Dogs: A Conversation with The Dog Merchants‘ Author Kim Kavin — a book I almost don’t want to read, it’ll probably depress me.
• The 7 Stages of Hate-Reading — seeing this the week that I posted about Songs in Ordinary Time seemed really fitting.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon. I DO NOT HAVE time for all these:
• Zero K by Don DeLillo — It’s DeLillo, the very definition of a Must Read.
• Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo — wasn’t the biggest fan of Nobody’s Fool, but I don’t know that I’ve really stopped thinking about it in the 2 or 3 years it’s been since I read it. So yeah, will have to get to this one
• Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn by Ace Atkins — You know it’s a big week when Atkins is #3 on my list. This was another strong one — will try to get my post up next week about it.
• The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan — a new series in the Percy-verse. Apollo is sent to earth as a regular teen, trying to get back to Olympus.
• Blood Defense by Marcia Clark — the first of a new series by Clark. This time the hero’s a defense attorney.
• Double Down by Gwenda Bond — I enjoyed the first book about Lois Lane, teen reporter. Expect this one’ll be better.
• The Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde — don’t care what this novella is about, really. Fran Wilde’s Updraft earned her enough credit to just get whatever has her name on it for a year or two.
• Outriders by Jay Posey — Military SF with a synopsis that starts with the line, “Captain Lincoln Suh died on a Wednesday. And things only got harder from there.” How do you not give it a chance?

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to J. L. Gribble and Looseygoosey for following the blog this week.

(I looked and looked for a source on this one…would love to link to it)