You would not believe how many times I’ve tried to get this posted today…I barely do, and I was there for all of them. But, life has interfered (as it so often does). But it’s still Saturday, so I can live with it (the two posts I also planned on scheduling today, on the other hand are going to wait a week or more for attention).

But you didn’t come here for my whinging. You came here for this:

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 Wisconsin libraries would have to notify parents about the books their kids check out under GOP proposal—I’m not fond of this, but I’m not sure it’s horrible. The other bill talked about in this story, on the other hand…
bullet When Your Own Book Gets Caught Up in the Censorship Wars—a little BTS action
bullet This Is Your Brain on Books
bullet The big idea: should we abolish literary genres?
bullet Webtoons and Webcomics Keep Scrolling into Print
bullet Do You Believe in Magic? On The Timeless Charm of Children’s Books 
bullet It’s getting to be that time of year, isn’t it? Libro.fm’s Top 10 Audiobooks of 2023
bullet S.A. Cosby lists His favorite books of the year—have read a couple of these and have several others sitting on a stack in my office, glaring at me
bullet And looking in the other direction, FFA’s Most Anticipated Reads of 2024
bullet Scaring Myself: The Story Behind How & Why I Wrote CALICO…—Lee Goldberg talks about the background to his latest novel (that I will write about ASAP, but you should read)
bullet The Case for Never Reading the Book Jacket—I thought this was interesting and had planned on putting it here in the first place, and then:
bullet Molly Templeton responded with What Do You Want to Know About a Book Before You Read It?—what are your thoughts?
bullet #R3COMM3ND3D2023 wrapped up this week, so I only have a few more TBR add-ons for you:
bullet …with Donna of Retirement Reflections
bullet …with Rae of Rae Reads
bullet …with Ayo Onatade of Shotsmag Confidential—
bullet …with Sarah Hardy of bytheletterbookreviews
bullet …with Jo of Jo’s Book Blog
bullet Announcing Solstitia: a Fiction Fans Magazine—the brains behind Fiction Fans are launching a zine/litmag. Looking forward to some good reads.
bullet Similarly, JCM Berne is starting up Grimdwarf Magazine—and is worth looking into
bullet Managing my TBR—The Narratess talks about getting her TBR slimmed down. No offense intended, but having read her numbers, I’m feeling better about mine. But still…
bullet Is It Easier to Write Negative Reviews?—Not for me, no. But I can see where Krsyta is coming from.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet The Joined Up Writing Podcast 204: S.A. Cosby—Cosby chats about All the Sinners Bleed and much more. I love listening to this guy.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Robert B. Parker’s Broken Trust by Mike Lupica—Lupica takes up the Spenser torch from Atkins, and is much better than I assumed. (I’d planned on finishing this today, but, life intervened). PI Fans would be smart to pick this up.
bullet Didn’t See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto—okay, a YA take on You’ve Got Mail with gamers and a private school, isn’t really my cuppa. But I really liked Sutanto’s style at first contact. So, I’m going to give this a shot (as I try to work older books into my schedule, too).

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Taylor @ Taylor Fenner’s Bookish World, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.
I am simply a book drunkard. - L.M. Montgomery