Saturday Miscellany—1/20/24

Short list this week, but plenty of good things to read.

I picked a bad week to start, but I’m trying something new for these posts today, too. We’ll see if it survives until March (and if it does, what it’ll look like)…

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:
Why is March 2024 the Best Month in Years For Books?—a look into book promotion, publishing schedules, and “the existential pain of knowing that you will never get to read even a small percentage of” the books you want to read.
Shelf-absorbed: eight ways to arrange your bookshelves – and what they say about you—fun, but not without it’s problems. (I am not a “try-hard.” Probably.)
Small Press Economies: A Dialogue—If reading this doesn’t make you love those in Small Press/Indie Press Publishing all the more…
MWA Announces 2024 Edgar Award Nominations—here’s a ready-made reading list full of sure-fire winners for you.
YA Isn’t Just for Young Adults—from The Millions.
Out With Book Clubs — In With Book Trades!—Cole Rush has a good alternative to buddy reads, book clubs, etc.
Why Authors Need Cover Reveals—David W nails it. (they’re good for lazy book bloggers, too! Consider this an open invitation)
Seven Science Fiction Novels to Expand (and Blow) Your Mind—a good dose of temptation from John Mauro over at Before We Go Blog.
Books With the Best Beginnings!—A great collection of opening lines from the Organutan Librarian.
Reviews: Subjective or Objective? Can we do both—one would think we could.
Reading: To Track or Not to Track?

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Whoops, this was a bad week to start this feature…I only posted a Saturday Miscellany in the 3rd week in January, 2014. But I’m sticking with this plan so I don’t forget about it…
2014 The Edgar Awards nominees—what a coincidence!
A Snapshot of Reading in America in 2013—I’d look to see if the Pew Research Council has done another one like this, but I think the results would depress me too much
The Top Ten Books People Lie About Reading
I talked about the releases of: The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley (this is where I derailed on the series…I just never got around to reading it), He Drank and Saw the Spider by Alex Bledsoe (such a good one!!), Switchblade by Michael Connelly, and The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley
…and that’s it. It was a short Miscellany to follow a quiet week on the blog.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Dream Town by Lee Goldberg—Eve Ronin investigates the murder of a Reality TV star.
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett—Emily’s off to the Australian Alps (and to the fae lands beyond) in this great-looking follow-up. Go read what Witty & Sarcastic Book Club said.
Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes by Moshe Kasher—”A ‘hilarious’ (Dax Shepard), ‘surprisingly emotional trip’ (The Chainsmokers) through deep American subcultures ranging from Burning Man to Alcoholics Anonymous, by the writer and comedian.” After Kasher in the Rye, I’m reading anything vaguely memoir-ish from Kasher.