It’s been a quiet week on the blog, I know. I’m going through one of those spells where I just have no energy and fall asleep at my keyboard while writing. I managed to get 1/3 of my planned posts for the week up. So now I have no energy and a paralyzing anxiety about things that pretty much only I care about. It’s a fun combination, I highly recommend avoiding it🙂 I trust that I’ll shake it off (I always have before), but in the meantime, expect things to be slim around here.

Meanwhile, I’m hoping that the people who keep Twitter going are able to stabilize that ship, because despite all the helpful posts about going to Mastadon, I just don’t feel smart enough to figure it out (and yes, I’m this close to hiring one of my kids to do set it up for me…I can’t believe I’m at the age where I’m relying on my kids to do this for me). I hope I don’t lose track of all of you in the seemingly-immanent collapse.

But for now, here’s a quick miscellany to wrap up the week!

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet 125 Most Borrowed Books—In honor of its 125th Anniversary, the Brooklyn Public Library posted a list of its 125 most-borrowed books. It’s a fun list and one that gives a pretty clear view of their primary borrowing demographic.
bullet Author Sarah Maclean shared a handy-dandy thread on how to keep up with favorite authors in a post-Twitter world
bullet Behind the Blue Wall: How my time in the LAPD Academy helped Shape My Series—Aaron Philip Clark gives some background for his series
bullet Damppebbles’s annual recommendation-fest, #R3COMM3ND3D keeps chugging along and the hits keep coming—some great-looking reads this week (as per usual).
bullet …with #BookBlogger Carol
bullet …with #BookBlogger HC Newton (what does he know, anyway? Guy can’t even handle social media platforms)
bullet …with #Author Joy Kluver
bullet …with #BookBlogger J – LoveBooksReadBooks
bullet …with #Bookstagrammer Zoebeesbooks
bullet …with #Bookstagrammer Lynda Checkley
bullet …with #BookBlogger Namrata Ganti
bullet ’Tis the Season to Buy Books … for Other People—a guide to giving books as gifts. Not just for the upcoming season, these suggestions apply year-round.
bullet Christmas gift ideas for book lovers – edition 2022-2023—even for those of us not big on certain seasonal observances, I enjoy looking at this kind of posts (and really like #3)
bullet The Six Stages of Having Too Many Books—I can relate to this—also, I think it’s amusing enough to justify putting up with The New Yorker trying to sell a subscription.
bullet Is listening to an audiobook, reading?—Are we all fed up with this question yet? Delany makes his position clear early on.
bullet In Defence of Nasty Reviews—preach it! That line from Joanna Russ is one I’m going to employ at every opportunity.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Page Break with Brian McClellan Ep 55 – Nicholas Eames – Epic Fantasy Author—a fun chat, and a little glimpse at the next book in the trilogy

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet title by Cherie Priest—everyone’s favorite Travel Agent/rookie psychic is back in this strong follow-up. I opined about it a couple of weeks ago (back when I seemed to be able to write things).
bullet Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember by Lauren Graham—I find Graham’s writing as least as charming as her acting, so I can’t wait to dive into this jog down memory lane. (Also, it’ll check off one of the last book challenge items I have this year.)
bullet The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz—Horowitz himself (well, the fictional one) is the prime suspect in this book’s murder—will Hawthorne be able to help him? More importantly, will he want to?
bullet Welcome to the Game by Craig Henderson—I can’t resist a good high-speed car scene in print or in film, this one looks like it should have a few (and probably some other gripping material).
bullet How to Survive Everything by Ewan Morrison—An estranged father kidnaps his teenaged children to help them survive an impending pandemic that he’s certain is around the corner (even if no one else is).

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to yvonnembee, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.