It seems like half of the things I found for this post this week were links I already posted this year. I guess everyone was having a holiday week. Maybe there’s not a lot, but I like what I did see.
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:
- Death of the novel is greatly exaggerated, say UK booksellers
- Adam Hamdy (@adamhamdy) summarizes the case for Books being Cool in this twitter thread, lots of good points in one handy place
- No need to feel guilty about the pleasures of mystery books — this applies to other genres as well.
- My Summer Reading by Michael Connelly — Well, this could easily fill up the rest of a summer.
- About half the book bloggers this year seem to be doing a mid-point best-of lists (I have a hard enough time doing these annually, doing them bi-annually? Fuhgeddaboudit.) A couple of my favorite bloggers have posted theirs — some good things to read here. Check out The Tattooed Book Geek’s My Favourite Books of 2019 (so far). and Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub’s 2019 Mid-year check-in
- Tom Gauld on literary fiction nursery rhymes
- This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
- Ink To Ashes by Russell Day — technically, one of last week’s new releases — but I somehow missed the news. Doc Slidesmith (possibly my favorite new character of 2019) and Yakky are back for more Miss Marple-y action (if Miss Marple was a voodoo-practicing, motorcycle riding, tattoo artist with a PhD).
- Heart of Barkness by Spencer Quinn — It’s been four long years since the last Chet & Bernie novel, I’m so looking forward to this new one. Don’t know what it’s about yet — don’t care.
Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to karishmarele Aurore-Anne-Chehoke, Sovely Matters and chapterinmylife for following the blog this week.
Bookstooge
Congrats on getting this posted before 11:59pm! I guess this week wasn’t as busy as previous ones?
Considering how much you write in your reviews I bet if you did a half-year wrap up that it’d be a monster! And speaking of writing, I just don’t know how you do it. I’m working my way through a manga series and I’m having to write a small review almost every day. My brain is getting toasted 😀 So you doing reviews that are 3-4 times as long as mine and as often as you do, plus all the reading, where do you find the “oomph”?
HCNewton
What a nice way to ask if I don’t know how to shut up 🙂 I get my oopmph from a mail-order supply company based in Wichita.
It was great to be back on schedule — it’s been so long since I was that organized on a Friday night. I was surprised as anyone.
Going through a series like that is brain-toasting, there’s something about returning to a well often that ups the difficulty level. I’m only skimming those, because manga is a pool I’ve never dipped into (and I’m afraid that if I did, I’d be there so long I’d forget what way pages normally go) — but they’re coming often enough I know what a struggle it is.
Bookstooge
😀
My issue has been actually starting to write. Once I get over that hurdle, I can power through 3 or 4 reviews at once. Sometimes I amaze myself 😉 But getting started, that’s what is absolutely killing me.
Honestly, after this manga series I think I’ll be done with it for quite some time. It is aimed at a younger crowd and while there are some that transcend that (Akira is one of them), those are few and far between. You’re making the right choice to stick with your crime fiction 😉
Paul's Picks
Great thread my Hamdy!