Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag ’21

I’ve seen this on various blogs, but can’t seem to find the creator, so I can’t credit them. I’d like to, if anyone knows who did it. I lost a couple of links somewhere in the ether, but I did enjoy the posts I saw on Westveil Publishing, Reader Voracious, and The Orangutan Librarian

I tried, I really tried, not to mention certain books/authors over and over and over. But so many of these categories overlapped, I just didn’t know how not to.

1. The best book you’ve read so far this year?

Oh man…This is how we start? It’s just so hard. One? It’s a tie between:

Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby (my post about it), Born in Burial Gown by M. W. Craven (my post about it), Dead Ground by M. W. Craven, and The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson (my post about it)

2. The best sequel you’ve read this year?

I resisted this because of recency bias, but I think I’m going to have to go with Till Morning is Nigh by Rob Parker (my post about it). I thought the first two sequels to A Wanted Man were entertaining enough, but they didn’t live up to it—or what it promised. Till Morning is Nigh more than delivered on both fronts.

3. New releases you haven’t read yet but want to.

Dreyer’s English (Adapted for Young Readers): Good Advice for Good Writing by Benjamin Dreyer (just curious about how he adapts this), and to catch up on The Frost Files.

4. Most anticipated releases for the second half of the year.

There are just so many things I want to list here. And probably twice as many that I’d want to list if I knew when they were coming. But, let’s go with: Risen by Benedict Jacka (the end of the Alex Verus series—I’m not ready to say goodbye yet); When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire (great title for the book featuring Toby’s wedding, doesn’t make me worried at all); City on Fire by Don Winslow (the kick-off to a new trilogy); Gated Prey by Lee Goldberg (can’t get enough of Eve Ronin) and The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (probably a strong contender for favorite sequel of the year).

The Winslow book might get pushed back because I’m intimidated by size and scope, I’m going to get to Gated Prey and The Man Who Died Twice as quickly as I can, I might put off Risen for a few days due to what I think is going to happen. But I know that I’m going to drop everything for the Toby Daye book.

5. Biggest disappointment.

Red Widow by Alma Katsu (my post about it) there was some pretty good buzz around this espionage thriller by a former CIA Agent/bestselling author, and it was just….meh.

6. Biggest Surprise.

Moonlighting: An Oral History by Scott Ryan (my post about it). As long as Ryan didn’t spend half the book talking about how it didn’t reflect 2021 social values, like so many TV books I’ve read lately tend to do, I figured I’d enjoy this. But, I’m still suprised how much fun this book was. I really want to give it another read.

7. Favorite new to you, or debut, author.

Nadine Matheson or S. A. Cosby. They both blew me away—I knew within 20 pages of each book that they’d be new favorites.

8. Newest fictional crush.

Purvis is an eight-year-old bulldog and advisor to Det. P.T. Marsh in A Good Kill by John McMahon. (my post about it)

9. Newest favorite character.

This is another tough one…but let’s go with a three-way tie between: Avison Fluke from Born in a Burial Gown by M. W. Craven (my post about it), Madame Cormier from Chasing the Pain by Matthew Iden (my post about it), or DCI Okpara from Till Morning is Nigh by Rob Parker (my post about it)

10. Book that made you cry?

Huh…Don’t think I’ve read one this year. We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen (my post about it) might have in the right circumstance.

11. Book that made you happy?

Well, really, any book that I rated 3 Stars or higher (most of them for the year), made me happy. But I associate happiness with three in particular:
Dead Ground by M. W. Craven (Poe and Tilly just have that effect on me), The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter by Aaron Reynolds (my post about it), and Moonlighting: An Oral History by Scott Ryan (my post about it).

12. Favorite book to film adaption?

I don’t think I’ve watched many this year. I’m trying to remember when I watched the pretty decent C.B. Strike series—but I think that was in December. I guess it would have to be Amazon’s Invincible. I feel bad since it was the only one I think I watched this year, so it’d the default answer. But it was so good, it’d have to be in the running no matter what.

13. Favorite post/review you have done this year?

(I’ve seen the prompt both ways). I really don’t like to think of my posts about books as reviews, they’re too casual and brief, but I think my favorite post about one particular book is The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson: A Jaw-Dropping Debut.

My favorite non-review(ish) posts was These Dog Days Aren’t Over, a listing of books where the dog(s) live at the end, for those who are tired of all the dying dog books out there (it’s been revised and updated once this year, and will have at least one more coming), but a close second would be How Has Book Blogging Changed the Way I Read?, my musing’s from the 8th Anniversary of this thing.

14. Most beautiful book you have bought this year?

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Illustrated Edition by Douglas Adams, Illustrated by Chris Riddell (my post about it). I could—and have—spent a lot of time just flipping through and looking at it.

5. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

So, so, so many. I want to catch up on on the the Firefly novels from Titan Books, The Border by Winslow, Galbraith’s Toubled Blood, Blight of Blackwings, all the 20 Books of Summer books, AMORALMAN: A True Story and Other Lies by Derek DelGaudio…yeah, I’ve got too much to put here.

As usual, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with.