Saturday Miscellany – 4/14/18

Worked over 50 hours this week (including today), there were only a few hours of that where I wasn’t going full steam ahead. Which meant I came home and pretty much collapsed. Leaving drafts for posts on multiple books in mid-stream. Next week will likely be the same, but I’m trying to get things done. Did manage to read a bit — some very strong stuff, which helps tremendously.

Anyhow, here are 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:

• Crime pays: thrillers and detective novels now outsell all other fiction — I bet the numbers are similar on this side of the pond.
• What Are the Rules for Lending Your Books to Friends?: We asked librarians, since they’re the experts — there’s some wisdom here
• Alex Bledsoe on Finding a Genre That Fits — Bledsoe discusses the difficulty of labeling the genre for the Tufa novels.
• My Favorite One-Star Reviews of My Books — Lee Goldberg shares some real, er, gems?
• Why Do Fantasy Novels Have So Much Food? — I think we’ve all asked this question
• Why You Should Be Watching Bosch, Amazon’s Under-the-Radar Noir — yes
• Rant: It’s MY Review and There Aren’t Laws!
• Can You Trust Book Reviews? — blah
• E-Readers vs Print Books. — not really adding anything new to the debate, but The Tattooed Book Geek’s post is plenty of fun.
• The 20 Best Insults in Fiction, RANKED — should memorize a couple of these for future use

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Fairies of Sadieville by Alex Bledsoe — Apparently, April is a month of good-byes. First, the Iron Druid. Now, the Tufa. This is one of the best series I’ve read the last few years — now, you can read them all. Do so.
• Madam Tulip and the Bones of Chance by David Ahern — Madam Tulip makes a movie in Scotland and, shockingly enough, becomes embroiled in murder and mayhem. I thought it was plenty of fun, as you can read here.
• Skyjack by K. J. Howe — Kidnap and Ransom specialist, Thea Paris, is back in this tale of secret armies, skyjacking, divided loyalties and impending doom. Here’s my post about it.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to savageddt for following the blog this week.