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 Kinky Friedman, Alt-Country Musician and Celebrated Humorist, Dies at 79—from his mysteries to his music and beyond, Friedman was a unique voice (that should’ve been heard by more)
bullet How the ‘Owner’s Guide’ Became a Rare Book
bullet How to Tell a Great Campfire Story
bullet The Literary Power of Hobbits: How JRR Tolkien Shaped Modern Fantasy
bullet Rob Hart on ‘Assassins Anonymous’ and the Dark Appeal of the Assassin Genre—Nick Kolakowski chats with Hart about his latest book, the genre, and the sequel (squee!!!!)
bullet The Joy of Reading Books You Don’t Entirely Understand: It really should be acceptable and normal to say “I don’t entirely understand what I just read, but I loved it.”—There’s a few books I’ve read in the last few years that fall under this category. Glad to see I’m not alone (and I know that I really should read more things like this, but do enjoy the comfort of understanding things)
bullet Traditional publishing vs. Self-publishing: Should There Be A Conflict?—I haven’t finished this yet, but there’s some good stuff to chew on in this conversation
bullet 2000th Post and 6 Years Blogiversary Q&A—Sifa Elizabeth Reads celebrates two landmarks with a Q&A (and some decent advice)
bullet Bookmark Chat: Organization
bullet Idle Thoughts on Fantasy Stereotypes: The Big Man—a good follow up to the Idle Thoughts on The Mentor

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Little Tiny Teeth by Aaron Elkins—Gideon Oliver and John Lau enjoy an Amazon River cruise (until the obligatory dead body shows up)
bullet The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy—the second in this very fun MG Fantasy series
bullet Dead Connection by Alafair Burke—I remember really liking this first Ellie Hatcher book (and, sadly, almost nothing else about it).
bullet I also noted the release of The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Don’t Let the Devil Ride by Ace Atkins—”A Memphis woman hires a PI to find her missing husband, only to discover that he is involved in a dangerous web of international intrigue–and she and her children are now at risk.” I think the promo line, “S.A. Cosby meets Don Winslow,” is a bit odd (kinda seems like using too many words to say “Ace Atkins”), but eh…it is catchy.
bullet The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman—Galva’s backstory in “set during the war-torn, goblin-infested years just before The Blacktongue Thief.” The prequel nature of this really doesn’t intereste me. But I do like the concept, I really enjoyed my first exposure to Buehlman early this year, and that podcast I featured last week did pique my curiouslty. Which is me using too many words to explain why I’ll be listening to this soon (probably explaining to myself more than anyone…)
bullet Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell—”An aimless young woman starts writing to an accused serial killer while he awaits trial and then, once he’s acquitted, decides to move in with him and take the investigation into her own hands.” If this wasn’t described as a black comedy, I’d stay far away from it (while understanding why others race to it). But I gotta admit, I’m intrigued…

'Reading a book is like binge watching words.' - Miguel, 9 years old @LiveFromSnackTime