Saturday Miscellany—7/29/23

I really didn’t think I took the time this week to do much online to provide fodder for this post—looks like I was wrong about that. Which is kind of cool.

It’s been a strange week in general—as anyone who subscribes to/follows this blog in any form has noticed—I have been busy with the posts. Also, my big plan for getting all of those posts prepped early to give me a catch-up week was derailed by forces outside my control (including a bonus day with the grandcritter, in which I could care less about this space). So instead of catching up on everything these last five days, I’ve managed to dig a bigger hole for myself. At this point, I’ve given up on the notion of catching up. (or so I tell myself)

I also received my first offer to get paid for reviewing books this week, so I feel like I’ve truly arrived (no, not by a magazine or anything, but by one of those scam-my groups).

I promise that next week will be quieter on the posting front. I think I’ve overwhelmed everyone. (hope you all found something you like, though!)

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:
The untold story of California’s most iconic outdoor bookshop—I’ve gotta check this place out
Gotta get back in time: The current explosion of time travel novels goes beyond sci-fi and fantasy
10 Novels that Borrow, Sample and Remix Found Texts: Tom Comitta, author of “The Nature Book,” recommends literary supercuts
Weird, funny, dark children’s books that I can recommend (as an adult, however).—this is a shopping list I didn’t need (but will likely start working on soon)
How to Assemble the Perfect Cozy Mystery Meal—Olivia Blacke demonstrates her knowledge of Cozy Mysteries with this fun post.
Read W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring.—to commemorate the anniversary of Fellowship‘s publication, LitHub revisited Auden’s review of the book. Because who else would you turn to? Anyway, I love reading this poet in the 50s sound like a fanboy/fangirl blogging today.
Fictional World We’d Love to Be A Part Of—Bookstr has a nice listicle of places that sound better to live in than this oven of a planet
What Do We Want From the Bookish Internet?—I think Templeton asks all the right questions here…who is going to answer them?
In case you hadn’t noticed, this week was Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week—Most/All of the posts are listed here—if you missed any, here’s the way to fix that.
I’m tempted to post links to all the entries, but no one has time for that (although most of them deserve it). So I’ll just pick one post that I want to focus on from that series is Bookblogger Novel of the Year and Self-Published Books—a listing of all the self-published entries in the competition
Five Year Blogiversary!—Congrats to Sifa Elizabeth Reads for the achievement—I enjoyed this way of commemorating it, too.
Blogiversary #6—Reading Ladies Book Club also just hit an anniversary. This mix of lessons learned, advice, and stats is the kind of thing I can dig deep into.
How and Why I Built a Bookselling Monster—you gotta check this out. I love it (and really don’t want to see it IRL (both can be true)).
Meet The Bloggers: Beth from Before We Go
Guest Post: Insiders by Shannon Knight—to commemorate the book’s 6 month anniversary, Knight dropped by The Shaggy Shepherd to talk about Insiders

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Crime Time FM VERN SMITH In Person With Paul—they talk about Jacked (a favorite anthology), Scratching the Flint (that fantastic read), writing in general, and so much more.
Fiction Fans podcast marks its 100th episode by looking at The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien—which didn’t inspire me to re-read the book/series only because I went through them last year. Otherwise, it would’ve.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
I apparently was so excited about this one that I mentioned it last week. Whoops. For the sake of accuracy: Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn—A septuagenarian heads to Romania to get her money back from phone scammers. That premise and Quinn’s knack for writing has to make this a winner.
Not Prepared by Matthew Hanover—A bachelor takes in his eleven-year-old-goddaughter when her mother skips town, and maybe finds love, too. This’ll steal your heart. I enthused about it recently (and will at the drop of the hat). =
Light Bringer by Pierce Brown—the sixth installment in the Red Rising saga is out, and will surely get me overusing the word “brutal” when I think about/write about it. I really want to read it, and am stressed out about it, too. (no joke)
A Fatal Groove by Olivia Blacke—involves no stress at all—it’s simply a fun time looking into the murder of a town’s mayor and trying to solve a decades-old bank robbery. Okay, that sounds like it should be stressful, but Blacke wouldn’t do that to her readers. I talked about it some last week.
Death on the Beach by Steph Broadribb—the Retired Detectives are back to prove that a realtor was murdered (and uncover the killer) while dealing with internal stressors of their own.
Speech Team by Tim Murphy—”a literary mashup of The Breakfast Club and The Big Chill.” “A funny, gossipy and ultimately poignant novel about four Gen X teen friends turned 21st-century adults who awkwardly come back together to confront an influential teacher whose brutal remarks have haunted them all for years.”