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 New Adult: A New Category for a New Generation of Readers—I thought NA was already a thing (that really didn’t work out), but other than the use of “New” in the headline, I appreciate this call to use the category more. I think it’d help.
bullet A Beloved Children’s Book Author Said Most Children’s Literature Is “Crud.” It Has Not Gone Well.—I’d seen some people cursing Barnett’s name on Threads (and maybe other places), but didn’t see a lot of context, just mid-conversation screeds. The man’s got himself a point, I have to say. (and now I have to read the book…)
bullet Can Men Write Romance? The Problem With Assuming Men Can’t Write Women—Matthew Norman (who is a man who can) kicks off his substack with this lil’ essay. I wondered if I just spoiled the essay, but I’ve been saying it for years, so I don’t feel too bad.
bullet Tough Questions with Firsty Duelist—As a former subject/victim(?) of this, and appreciator of the series in general, I’m glad to see Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub dust it off. Particularly to focus on this particular blogger.
bullet My Top 40 Fantasy Series/Books—Peat Long revises and expands his list–which is a great big ball of inspiration and intimidation.
bullet Witty and Sarcastic Book Club wrapped up another great mini-series of posts this week, “Looking for the Helpers: Small Roles, Big Influence in SFF.” Its focus is “smaller roles in SFF books and how they can nonetheless play big parts.” You can go see last week’s Miscellany for more (or just go to the blog and find them yourself)
bullet …Featuring Ashley Cape
bullet …Featuring Joel C. Flanagan-Grannemann
bullet Announcing 20 Books of Summer – #20BOS26—AnnaBookBel is bringing it back again. For those who haven’t participated before, it’s a fun way to give your goals a little mid-year boost. I’ve almost got my list finalized (I need to trim two books from it, we’ll see if my May can help me with that)
bullet Are books really that expensive?—Nadezh Frank has a pretty convincing answer.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
bullet Perfect Family by H. Lovelyn Bettison—Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
bullet Giovanni Goes To Med School by Kathy Bryson
bullet Slow Burn by Ace Atkins
bullet The Old World by Roy M. Griffis
bullet Shadow Rites by Faith Hunter
bullet And I mentioned the release of The Vagrant by Peter Newman

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Robert B. Parker’s Booked by Alison Gaylin—”Boston PI Sunny Randall investigates a popular book critic on a mean streak . . . only for her to wind up dead.” It should be noted that I’ve only said good things about Gaylin’s work.

'Control yourself,' whispers the conscience. 'Stop,' whispers the wallet. 'Shut up, we're in a bookstore,' whispers the heart. Source: bookshelfbelle