Author: HCNewton Page 233 of 623

WWW Wednesday, June 13, 2022

On July 13, 2022

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

Yesterday, we hit triple digits for the first time this year—and should exceed that at least twice this week. This just means it’s the perfect time to stay inside with a book—away from the impact of that ball of fire in the sky. On this WWW Wednesday, we’ll see what I’ve been using to help me stay inside.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

Today, I started reading Condemned by R.C. Bridgestock and listening to Breaking Point by C.J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator) on audiobook. Good to be back in both of these series.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

Yesterday, I finished Derek DelGaudio’s AMORALMAN: A True Story and Other Lies and How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior, read by: Helen Lloyd, Andrew Fallaize, and Mandy Williams on audio. I enjoyed them both, but beyond that…I’m not sure yet. They both feel like the kind of thing I need to write about to figure out what I think.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be With Grimm Resolve by Jeffery H. Haskell, I’m eager to see what Haskell’s next move is. My next audiobook should be The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell, Robin Laing (Narrator), memoirs of a used bookstore owner? How can that be anything but enjoyable? (I know, that’s a question I shouldn’t ask)

Blank Space

What are you using to avoid that heat?

PUB DAY REPOST: An Explorer’s Guide to John Calvin by Yudha Thianto: Calvin 101

By HCNewton

On July 12, 2022

In Uncategorized

An Explorer’s Guide to John Calvin

by Yudha Thianto

DETAILS:
Series: Explorer's Guides Series 
Publisher: IVP Academic
Publication Date: July 11, 2022
Format: eARC
Length: 256 pg.
Read Date: June 12-19, 2022

What’s An Explorer’s Guide to John Calvin About?

IVP Academic’s website describes the Explorer’s Guide Series as:

Anyone who has ventured into new territory knows the importance and benefit of having an experienced guide. Discovering the classics of Christian theology is no different.
The Explorer’s Guide Series acts as a guide for those who are exploring some of the great Christian texts and theologians from the church’s history.
Written by scholars with years of expertise, these volumes will acquaint readers with the sometimes unfamiliar context in which these classic texts were written and help readers navigate the rich yet often complex terrain of Christian theology. New and experienced readers alike will benefit from these volumes as they continue on their journey of faith.

This volume focuses on John Calvin, the Genevan Reformer. Yudha Thianto has been introducing students at Trinity Christian College to Calvin for years. Now he aims to bring an accessible overview of his life and thought through this book.

Part One: Calvin the Man

The first part of this book focuses on the historical context and the person of Calvin. Why do people still read him today? Why is he so important—or at least why is he regarded as such?

After sketching out why Calvin’s worthy of study, Thianto gives a brief (34 page) biography of Calvin. I’ve read a handful of full-length biographies of John Calvin, and I learned a thing or two from this.

Thianto follows this biography with a FAQ about Calvin—addressing several important questions and controversies about him and his teaching. Several parts of that FAQ were impressive, and I appreciated his approach to it (he did duck a couple of typical controversial points that are brought up—but it’s safe to argue that those are for less introductory works). Then he spends a chapter focusing on Calvin as a pastor. It covers some of the material from the biography, but from a different angle—and it covers a lot of additional material, too. Whatever Calvin’s legacy may be, this chapter addresses what was likely the most important part of his life to him.

Part Two: A Guide to The Institutes of the Christian Religion

A little more than half of the book is spent on the book Calvin’s best known for. Thianto spends a chapter talking about the different editions the book went through, where Calvin was in his career when each was written, and discusses some of the major differences between editions.

The final version was the 1559 edition, which is composed of four books/parts. Thianto spends one chapter on each book—describing the flow of thought, some important arguments made, and the major doctrinal teachings.

This is not an easy work to summarize and condense into a little over 100 pages, and I’m sure some will say Thianto glossed over or skipped something important—he undoubtedly did. But he also covered most (if not all) of the essentials). Something like this part of the book would be great to have for someone diving into the book for the first time.

So, what did I think about An Explorer’s Guide to John Calvin?

First, I really like the idea for this series, and hope to get my hands on other volumes. Naturally, I think someone as ill-understood and intimidating as Calvin is a good subject for this kind of book.

I appreciated Thianto’s approach to Calvin, the misunderstandings surrounding him (although he doesn’t cover all of them), and his writings. His experiences in the classroom have given him a solid understanding of those things that need to be covered for someone’s initial/early exposure to the Reformer, and it shows.

As this is supposed to be a guide for those with little-to-no exposure to Calvin, I can’t complain about the lack of depth displayed on some issues—and I really wouldn’t want to, anyway. The only thing that jumped out at me to make me wonder about the book is a point in the conclusion where he suggested that different beliefs about the Trinity are equivalent to differences regarding sacraments or predestination and that Calvin would see them as such. It was a minor point in the conclusion, and I think the overall point was sound—but the Trinity isn’t something Calvin would put on the same level as a debatable point of doctrine.

This is a great resource—a fantastic introduction to Calvin and a handy guide to reading the Institutes for yourself. If you’re curious about Calvin and don’t want to do the heavy lifting required by a full biography and/or reading his Institutes, I’d strongly recommend picking this up and giving it a read (and hanging on to it for future reference).

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from InterVarsity Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Book Blogger Hop: Monthly Book Purchases

By HCNewton

On July 12, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

How many books do you buy per month?

I’m not sure I really want to think about this. It’s hard to stay in denial if I produce receipts.

I didn’t do a good job tracking this in the past (it’s easier to live in denial if you don’t track it). But I have pretty decent records for the last two years, and I’m averaging out at 12 a month.

I have to say that’s better than I feared (I am at 10 already for July, but 8 of those came in a set, so I’m not out of control. Really. Right? Please say I’m right.).

That’s a combination of audiobooks, e-books, and physical books. The breakdown for each medium varies from month to month—it’s probably safe to say at least 2 per category and then a mixed bag for the other six.

What about you—how disciplined are you?

The Botanist by M. W. Craven: Nothing is Without Poison

By HCNewton

On July 11, 2022

In Fiction, M. W. Craven, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Washington Poe

The Botanist

by M.W. Craven

DETAILS:
Series: Washington Poe, #5
Publisher: Constable
Publication Date: June 2, 2022
Format: Hardcover
Length: 429
Read Date: July 5-6, 2022

Poe nodded. ‘I hate locked room mysteries,’ he said.

What’s The Botanist About?

There’s little that mystery readers/watchers enjoy more than a locked-room mystery, but you can understand why someone who actually has to solve mysteries for a living isn’t quite a fan.

And that’s not good for him because there are two cases in this book involving locked room mysteries—one Poe and Tilly are assigned to, one they take because they’re asked (and would take on even if they weren’t).

It occurs to me that I should probably define the term I keep using, just to be careful. Last year, Gigi Pandian (no slouch when it comes to locked-room mysteries) provided one on CrimeReads:

Locked-room mystery: A crime has been committed in a room or other location that’s been sealed from the inside, with no way out. An example is a dead man found inside a windowless room that’s been sealed from the inside, dead from a gunshot wound that people outside the room heard fired, yet inside the room there’s no gun and no way for the culprit to have escaped. Thus a locked room is only part of the equation; the key is that the situation appears impossible.

And Poe has two cases to work through. Should be easy, right?

Case #2 (Chronologically, Anyway)

Back in 2020, when I posted about The Curator, I said: “I know it’d be pushing things to have [Estelle Doyle] play a larger role in these books than she does, but the few scenes we have with her are just not enough to satisfy.” I’m so glad to be wrong—Doyle does play that larger role here, and it’s as good as I’d hoped it’d be.

Doyle, I should probably say, is a forensic Pathologist—one of the best around. She’s Poe’s go-to person any time he had questions about something wet and organic.” She shamelessly and aggressively flirts with him, going out of her way to make him uncomfortable—we’re told that “Poe was terrified and bewitched in equal measure.” Some things never change—in 2018’s Black Summer, Poe thinks she’s “incredibly sexy and utterly terrifying.”

And she’s been arrested for her father’s murder. Her comment to the police? “Tell Washington Poe.” That’s all she has to say to get Poe on the case, subverting the work that the DCI (and the rest of the Northumbria police) have done on the case.

There’s no evidence that anyone but Estelle or her father was in the house the day he was shot. There’s also no gun. Is it any wonder that Poe hates locked room mysteries?

Case #1

So the case that DS Washington Poe is supposed to be working on is hunting down a poisoner that the press has dubbed The Botanist.

His victims are high-profile figures, generally in the news for less than admirable activities/views (a racist political analyst, etc.). He mails them a poem and a pressed flower, and then they die a few days later. It doesn’t matter what precautions they take, how involved the police are, how secure their living space is…they die. It’s that simple.

Because these are notorious figures, The Botanist quickly develops a fan base—people are celebrating him, making him into a folk hero of sorts. There’s a lot of pressure on Poe and the other detectives working the case to put an end to his career before he inspires copycats/disciples. The dynamic of a large degree of public sympathy for the killer is a new angle for this series, and I really appreciated it.

A Quick Word About Tilly

I’ve been anticipating what Poe might need next and I have a program running. It’s called RipplePlace and I expect the results in approximately ninety seconds.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘It’s a search and merge algorithm, sorting key data into lexicographical order,’ Bradshaw explained, explaining nothing.

And with that she left the room. Doyle looked at the empty doorway in amusement. ‘I think she may be my favourite person ever,’ she said.

Poe nodded. ‘You understand any of that?’ he asked.

‘Not a word.’

Tilly Bradshaw isn’t as prominent in this novel as readers are used to—and really couldn’t be, because of all the other characters running around, and the way that the story had to be paced. But even when she wasn’t “on camera” (if you will), she was a presence—people were sharing some tidbit about her, using something she’d dug up, etc.

And when she was “on camera”? It was gold. She’d pull off some sort of wizardry with tech, get some sort of data put together in a way no one else would, or would say/do something to make you grin (at least). She really is a great character. It’s hard to disagree with Doyle, she just might be my favorite.

So, what did I think about The Botanist?

Poe had seen people die before. Too many times. Perceived wisdom was that police officers became desensitised to death, but he wasn’t sure it was true. It certainly wasn’t for him. The dead stayed with him. Haunted his dreams and occupied his waking thoughts. They were the soundtrack to his life and the day he couldn’t hear them would be the day he handed in his warrant card. Poe needed to live among the dead. It was how he protected the living.

One of my favorite days the last few summers have been the day the new Washington Poe/Tilly Bradshaw book arrives—topped only by the day I get to start it. This year has been no exception—I finished it five days ago, and am still riding the high.

Time with these characters is like walking into Cheers—you know everyone, you enjoy their company, the only thing you don’t know is what escapade they’re in the middle of. Sure, Sam and the gang were never on the hunt for a serial killer,* but you get my point. Craven takes some of the relationships in new directions here, brings in some new figures, and generally keeps them from being stale—but Poe, Tilly, Flynn, and Doyle are who we’ve come to know and love(?) over the last four novels.

* Or did they? I don’t know—they got into some strange areas there in Season 11.

The cases were just great. Estelle’s case was on the easy side for the reader to suss out (and I was close to right on the motive, as right as Poe was)—but that didn’t make it any less satisfying to read. And the reveal (and the events that led to it) were pulled off so well that I’m not going to complain a bit.

The solution to The Botanist case, on the other hand, was brilliant. I don’t want to say more than that so I don’t tip off anyone, but when the pieces started fitting together enough that you could see the solution coming? I had to stop for a minute to laugh at how perfect it was—but it’s one thing to figure out how the killer’s doing something, it’s a whole nother thing to catch him. Craven’s ending was fantastic—when I was finished, I wrote my last note: “the last 30 pages made me happier than almost anything else this year.”

For me, one of the best parts was how much of this book is dependent on characters other than our protagonists. Absolutely, the cases don’t get solved without Poe and Tilly—their investigations, research, bold moves, etc. are essential. But the secondary characters are are who provide the brilliance, the plans, and the insights that stop the Botanist and set up the dynamite conclusion. The day isn’t saved without our hero, but Poe doesn’t save the day. Fans of the series aren’t going to mind it because of the way that Craven has constructed this universe—he’s set up the other characters to be the kind of people that operate at Poe’s level (if not beyond it), so by all means, let them shine. Also, it makes the whole series more grounded, more believable if it’s not always Washington Poe who solves everything.

Clearly, I loved this. I strongly recommend it—and everything Craven’s written. Now it’s time for me to start waiting for my favorite day of the summer of 2023.

5 Stars

Highlights from June: Lines Worth Repeating

By HCNewton

On July 11, 2022

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations

Highlights from the Month
Whoops! Knew I forgot something last week.

I’m citing more audiobooks here than I usually do. So, let me again stress that punctuation, sentence/paragraph breaks, and so on are guesswork on my part.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Lincoln checked out the kitchen. The fridge was new, but the rest of the room did indeed know the differene between Red Skelton and Red Buttons.

“I don’t know if I even believe in that anymore. The fith guy. The perfect guy. The one. I’ve lost faith in ‘the’.”

“How do you feel about ‘a’ and ‘an’?”

“Indifferent.”

“So you’re considering a life without articles?”

“I’m sort of…coming off a bad relationship.”

“When did it end?”

“Slightly before it started.”

Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman

“I know it’s hard to imagine right now, but Los Angeles does have different seasons. There are three days of spring every May, an unpredictable and unpleasantly hot summer from then until three days of crisp and lovely fall sometime in November, then an unpredictable and unpleasantly chilly winter until the three-day spring rolls around again.”

Laura laughed. “Well, New York isn’t much better: Spring and fall last a month each and make you certain there’s no better city on earth, then summer and winter are brutal and exhausting. Precisely when you decide it’s time to leave once and for all, spring or fall shows up and you forget the pain all over again.”

When the body experiences a sudden shock, it actually freezes for one twenty-fifth of a second and then deploys intense psychological curiosity, mobilizing every neuron and nerve, every sense, every possible input to work out exactly what just happened. In a microsecond or two the brain gathers the intel, sorts it, analyzes it, cross-references it, and is ready to issue directions for what to do next. It’s a miracle, really, and while it might not definitively prove the existence of God, it certainly deserves an enthusiastic round of applause.

How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain by Author

Are Shakespeare’s plays truly the greatest in the English language? Shakespeare scholars certainly think so. But I’ve actually read some of them, so I speak with authority when I say that his plays are okay, I guess? But it’s hard to argue they couldn’t be improved upon. For example, did you know that not once in Shakespeare’s works does even a single character gain access to a giant robot suit, much less employ it to lay waste to their enemies? Academics will argue that their beloved Bard captures the very heart of the human condition with sublime nuance and rapturous magnificence, but any conception of humanity that excludes the ever-present desire to possess a robot large enough to climb inside and which also fires lasers out of its eyes and missiles out of its hands is one that feels somewhat blinkered.

Crazy in Poughkeepsie by Daniel Pinkwater

“Tell me if I get this right. The way to get there is just to drive along without any kind of plan, taking various turns on the spur of the moment.”

“With the right attitude.”

“And the right attitude is…”

“Assuming we’ll arrive.”

“Shouldn’t we consult the global positioning thingie?” Vern Chuckoff asked.

“We don’t have one,” Maurice said. “This car is pre-digital, but there’s a blue light that comes on when we are on the Interstate.”

“The Interstate Highway System, which was just being completed when this car was built?” Vern asked.

“I think it’s more likely to be the system of virtual or quasi-imaginary roads or routes that exists in between the state of so-called reality in which we operate and some other states of existence of which we are ordinarily unaware,” Molly said.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor

We took a minute to enjoy the joke. Belly laughs are one of the best things about sentience and you should never miss the chance for one.

Against All Odds by Jeffrey H. Haskell

Being blown out into space was on the top of every spacer’s list of “how not to die.”

Back on the O-Deck, he stopped next to Jennings before entering the bridge. He gave her a nod and she snapped to attention.
“Captain on deck,” she bellowed. In his experience, Marines loved yelling at anyone, especially the Navy. It didn’t surprise him at all to see her grin as he stepped through.

She hadn’t really known Commander Stanislaw that well but having him react so was surprising, even though doctors had a long history of acting like they knew better than everyone else.

Movieland by Author

“The ME called with her autopsy report on [name withheld],” he said. “I learned that getting a shotgun blast in the face and driving off a cliff can kill you.”

“Did you reach them?”

“Yeah, an ADA named Joel Goldman, I got his take on the possibility that Honig hired a gunsel to take out Kim Spivey.”
“A gunsel?”

“It’s the same as a gunman, but more fun to say.”

The Border by Don Winslow

It’s funny, he thinks, how the big decisions in your life don’t always follow a big moment or a big change, but just seem to settle on you like an inevitability, something you didn’t decide at all but has always been decided for you.

Barrera made billions of dollars, created and ruled a freaking empire, and what does he have to show for it?

A dead child, an ex-wife who doesn’t come to his wake, a young trophy widow, twin sons who will grow up without their father, a baseball, some smelly old boxing gloves and a suit he never wore. And no one, not one of the hundreds of people [at his funeral], can think of one nice story to tell about him. And that’s the guy who won.

EI Señor. El Patroón. The Godfather.

In a better world, the movies that play on the inside of his eyelids would be features, the product of a screenwriter’s imagination and a director’s style, but in Chuy’s world they are documentaries; memories, you could call them, except they don’t flow like remembrance but are choppy cuts, flashes of surrealism that are all too real.

They are of flayed bodies and severed heads.

Dead children.

Corpses mutilated, others burned in fifty-five-gallon drums, and the memories reside in his nose as well as his eyes. And in his ears, as he can still hear—can’t stop hearing, really—the screams, the pleas for mercy, the shrill taunting laughter that was sometimes his own.

“You got kids?”

“No,” Cirello says. “You missin’ out.”

“I figure I got time.”

“We all figure we got time,” Darnell says. “Ain’t true. Time got us. Time undefeated, man. You never beat it. You wanna know about time, ask a convict. We experts on the subject of time.”

Eddie Ruiz stayed in the witness protection program for about thirty-seven minutes.

Which is about the time it took him to scope out St. George, Utah, and say, “I don’t think so.”

Yeah, a lot of the homeless are addicts, but most addicts aren’t homeless.

Jacqui has learned this on the blocks and in the parks and housing projects where she scores and shoots up. Most of the junkies out there with her have jobs—they’re roofers and carpet layers, or auto mechanics, or they work at one of the few factories that survived after IBM pulled out. There are housewives shooting up because it’s cheaper than the Oxy pills they got hooked on, there are high school kids, their teachers, people who drive down from even smaller towns upstate to score.

You have homeless like her who stink of body odor and you have suburban queens who smell of Mary Kay products and pay for their habits from their Amway earnings, and you have everything in between.

Welcome to Heroin Nation, 2016.

One nation, under the influence.

With liberty and justice for all.

Amen.

(Image by DaModernDaVinci from Pixabay)

REPOSTING JUST CUZ: Grace Alone–Salvation as a Gift of God by Carl R. Trueman

By HCNewton

On July 10, 2022

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Grace Alone–Salvation as a Gift of God: What the Reformers Taught…and Why It Still Matters

by Carl R. Trueman
Series: The 5 Solas Series
Paperback, 243 pg.
Zondervan, 2017
Read: October 8 – 22, 2017

After struggling through three books in this series, I will admit to some trepidation about this one — thankfully, Carl Trueman is an author I have a bit of experience with, so I figured it’d be worth the effort. Thankfully, there wasn’t that much effort, and the book was absolutely worth the time.

Trueman organizes this book differently than the others — in Part 1, he considers Sola Gratia in Scripture and Church History. Trueman surveys the idea of grace alone through both Testaments (it’s easier than some would lead you to think to find it in the Old Testament), looking at individual texts as well as themes throughout the books. I would have liked this to be a bit longer — but I really can’t complain about it. Following that, Trueman focuses on the teachings of the Church throughout history about Grace — starting with the early church, focusing on Augustine and his Confessions as emblematic of the first centuries of the church. Then he continues to focus on Augustine but shifts the focus to the controversies sparked by the Confessions with Pelagius and his followers as the prism through which the (Western) Church discusses and teaches Grace since those days. In the next chapter, Trueman focuses on Medieval theology about grace using Aquinas as the example. Following that we get chapters on Luther and Calvin (and those who’d be allied to Calvin’s branch of the Reformation), shaking off the accumulated tradition and misunderstandings to get back to the core of Scriptural and Augustinian teaching (with help from Aquinas). Would I have appreciated another chapter or two about post-Reformational history? Sure. But they weren’t necessary to fulfill Trueman’s aims, and we get a taste of what they’d offer in Part 2.

Part 2 is titled “Sola Gratia in the Church.” Grace is communicated to Christians via The Church, Preaching, Sacraments, and Prayer and so Trueman a. defends that idea and then proceeds to discuss how God goes that in chapters devoted to each of those. For those of the Reformed tradition, there is nothing ground-breaking or controversial here, although Protestants from other traditions might find some of the ideas challenging. These are solid chapters of the kind of teaching I expected from this series, and I appreciated them.

In the book’s Conclusion, Trueman attempts to address the questions: “What would a ‘grace alone’ church look like today? What would characterize its life as a church? How might we recognize such a church when we see it?” The answers to these questions are a mix of doctrinal and practical ideas that he lists in ten points showing the interconnections between them. This conclusion (in building on what came before) is worth at least half the price of the book — just fantastic stuff.

I still have one to go in the series, so I may have to modify this, but this one is by far the best of the bunch — accessible, pastoral, and thorough without sacrificing depth. Trueman doesn’t seem to get distracted by pet details, nor to just beat the same obvious deceased equines on this topic. If you’re going to read just one of the five, let this be it. Alternatively, if the some of the others have left you wanting, give this one a shot, I think you’ll appreciate it.

—–

4 Stars

Saturday Miscellany—7/9/22

By HCNewton

On July 9, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

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 How to read: a guide to getting more out of the experience: Most of us can read, but is there a way to do it better? Faster? With more comprehension or even … joy?—This kind of thing typically comes out in January, but I’ll take it now. 🙂
bullet Publishers, Internet Archive File Dueling Summary Judgment Motions in Scan Suit
bullet ‘There’s obviously a market’: why are there so many children’s books about anxiety?—Pretty sure the fact that there is a market says a lot about the state of…everything?
bullet Song Exploder Is Exploding Books Now—I’ve never listened to an episode of Song Exploder, but I’m about done with Hrishikesh Hirway’s West Wing Weekly podcast, and if he approaches books with the same kind of analysis, I’m in…
bullet Exclusive Cover Reveal + Excerpt: Vampire Weekend Is a Punk Rock Tale of Found Family—Chen’s tackling vampires next? Color me excited.
bullet Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London novels are set for TV adaptation—I’ll believe it when I see it (and I think Aaronovitch said something similar in an interview I heard a couple of months ago). Still, I want to believe—and see it.
bullet Rex Stout: Logomachizing—a great essay on Stout and Nero Wolfe.
bullet Why We Love Horror—I mean, I don’t love horror, but for those who do…
bullet Book Blogger Stats Survey Results: 2022—a good look at the state of book blogging
bullet Book Relaxation—on rediscoveringreading

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Law by Jim Butcher—a new Dresden Files novella dials down the magic to remind everyone that it doesn’t take a lot of power to ruin someone’s life. I had a couple of things to say about the audiobook
bullet Holy Chow by David Rosenfelt—Andy Carpenter defends the accused murderer/step-son of a friend I wrote about it a couple of weeks ago.
bullet The Ballad of Hanging Lees by David Nolan—1. Buy this for the cover alone. 2. It’s the third in Nolan’s “Manc Noir” trilogy. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit intimidated going in. Nolan pulls no punches, and if this is the end? A lot of nasty things could happen.
bullet Celebromancy by Michael R. Underwood—the second Ree Reyes novel gets the reissue treatment by Underwood, and it looks snazzy. If you missed this series the first time through, get on it now.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to a new follower Sheri Dye (who I think has a blog I should link to here, but I can’t seem to find it). Don’t be a stranger!

Short Tails by Spencer Quinn: Too Short, but a Lot of Fun

By HCNewton

On July 8, 2022

In Chet and Bernie, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Spencer Quinn

Short Tails:
Chet & Bernie Short Stories

by Spencer Quinn

DETAILS:
Series: Chet and Bernie
Publisher: Forge Books
Publication Date: June 28, 2022
Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 90 pgs.
Read Date: July 7, 2022

I grabbed him by the pant leg, which was how we closed our cases, me and Bernie.

“Aieee! Aieee!”

Oh, come on, Chuckie! Suck it up. My teeth were barely engaged at all. But the funny thing is that when that Aieee sound is in the air, they—meaning my teeth—get this sort of…urge.

“AIEEE! AIEEE!”

What’s Short Tails About?

This is a collection of short stories from the Chet & Bernie series. I don’t normally do this for short story collections, but the collection is brief enough that I can get away with it, let’s take a quick look at each.

Upper Story

I want to say that this takes place during Scents and Sensibility, but I can’t swear to it (if it didn’t, I might as well have). Bernie’s in the hospital, so Chet’s staying–and working with–their friend, Rick Torres. This story is heavy on Chet’s actions and his contrasting appraisal of working with Bernie vs. Rick. As you’d expect, the comparison does not go in Rick’s favor (no matter that he’s freer with the Slim Jims).

It’s a very short story with a great emotional punch and some good chuckle-inducing lines. I’d have honestly expected this to be last in the collection because of that–but what do I know?

The Iggy Papers

This is probably the most satisfying story in the bunch. Like with The Iggy Chronicles, this focuses on something to do with Mrs. Parson’s medical care. Bernie gets to flex his investigative muscles here a bit more than in the other stories from the book, and Chet’s major contributions come from his commentary and interaction with Iggy.

This is everything that a Chet and Bernie short story should be.

The Numbers After Two

It’s been a bit since we got to see Bernie’s head for finances on display (more accurately, total lack of one), this story gives us a tale about an interrupted vacation for the detectives and a chance to see Bernie’s gullibility on display.

I know that it’s good to see Bernie’s fallibility–Chet tends toward hagiography when he describes Bernie. We need to see him stumble outside of his romantic relationships–but I have such trouble buying that he can be as gullible as he so often is when it comes to financial schemes and yet be such a good detective. Still, this is who he’s been since Day 1 of the series, so we need to see it every now and then.

The story isn’t all about watching the train wreck of Bernie making a bad investment*, but it’s the heart of it–the rest of the story makes up for that part of it, and it ends on a good note (as it started).

* That feels like a spoiler, but if you don’t know what’s going to happen the instant that Bernie gets a wad of cash, you haven’t been paying attention.

So, what did I think about Short Tails?

These were cute stories, but there were too few of them. If this collection was 2 or 3-times as long? I’d have been as happy as a dog with a new Kong. I had fun with this, but it was just enough to satisfy me. But not much more than that.

Still, I’ll take any excuse to read a Chet & Bernie story, and I figure most of Quinn’s readers will, too. So yeah, I recommend it.

3 Stars

Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag ’22

By HCNewton

On July 8, 2022

In Book Tag, Books, News/Misc.

Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag
I’d intended on getting this posted Tuesday, you’ll see how well that worked out for me. I’ve done this tag the last couple of years, and have had a lot of fun with it. This year, I found myself overthinking the answers for some reason—which took some of the fun out of things, but I’m really enjoying being done with it. I have really enjoyed reading the posts that several others have put up over the last week or so, hopefully, this is half as entertaining.

I think I did okay at not mentioning some titles too often—but I had to repeat some. When a book is good in one category, odds are it’ll be good in others.

1. The best book you’ve read so far this year?

Either Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor (my post about it) or Reconstruction by Mick Herron (my post about it). My immediate reaction was Don’t Know Tough, Cranor’s work is just gut-wrenching, beautiful, and powerful. But when I was looking over titles for another prompt, I was reminded of Reconstruction and I can’t talk myself out of ignoring it, it was too well constructed (pun unintended but embraced and flaunted).

Oof. And The Border (my post about it) needs to be included, too. I’ve got to stop thinking about this question and move on.

Don't Know Tough Reconstruction The Border

2. The best sequel you’ve read this year?

I think S. J. Rozan’s Family Business (my post about it) leads this by a nose, but I can’t rule out or Lee Goldberg’s Movieland (my post about it). Movieland is the best Eve Ronin novel yet—Eve’s developing into a more interesting and complex character, and she started off great. Family Business does everything the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith —series does best—you’ve got Chinese gangs and the subculture around Chinatown, you’ve got Lydia and Bill’s relationship (professional and personal) firing on all cylinders, some great stuff involving Lydia’s mother, some action, some clever detective work, with everything in the novel occurring withing multiple layers of tradition, family, and secrets. Man…I want to go read it again instead of finishing this post.

Family Business Movieland

I need to exercise some self-control and muster up a little decisiveness soon, two ties in two questions? Pfui.

3. New releases you haven’t read yet but want to.

Sure, I say something about getting in ship shape right before a question that allows plurals. The Botanist by M.W. Craven and The Self-Made Widow by Fabian Nicieza (hopefully I’ll read both this week). The only other one that I can think of is Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air by Jackson Ford (but I need to take care of at least part of prompt #5 first). There are probably a dozen others that belong here, but I’m drawing a blank.

The Botanist The Self-Made Widow A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers

4. Most anticipated releases for the second half of the year.

Hmmm. Well, there’s Final Heir, the last Jane Yellowrock book. I’ve avoided all knowledge of the next Toby Daye novel, Be the Serpent, but I bet it’ll be a humdinger—McGuire was too nice to Toby last year, there must be blood (well, okay, that’s a given…but you know what I mean). Sure, there’s also the next Thursday Murder Club, The Bullet That Missed, and Noelle Holten’s 6 Ripley Avenue—I’m really excited to dive into that. Since it’s the end of the trilogy, I’m really looking forward to A Hard Day for a Hangover by Darynda Jones, and I can’t forget Racing the Light by Robert Crais—he spends longer than most between books, so there’s a lot of anticipation for a new one.

Final Heir Be the Serpent The Bullet that Missed

6 Ripley Avenue A Hard Day for a Hangover Racing the Light

5. Biggest disappointment.

I feel like I’m picking on books here, but…Rosebud (my post about it)—just because I’m used to really liking Paul Cornell’s books. But I think it’d be The Lost Discipline of Conversation: Surprising Lessons in Spiritual Formation Drawn from the English Puritans by Joanne J. Jung (my post about it)—this is precisely the kind of book that I’d typically lap up. But I think Jung missed the point of what the Puritans were going for and ended up distorting them (IMO) and the book was kind of “blah” regardless.

Rosebud Lost Discipline of Conversation

6. Biggest Surprise.

The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson (my post about it). I’d heard nothing but good things about this, but I wasn’t prepared for this level of silliness. The funniest thing I’ve read this year.

The Part About the Dragon was True

7. Favorite new to you, or debut, author.

Eli Cranor. You don’t often come across a writer like this. He’s a crime writer, through-and-through, but he’s the kind you can give to your “Literary Fiction” snob relative/friend and they’ll actually read it.

(although, if I’d waited a couple of weeks last year to read Elizabeth Breck for the first time, it’d be her. No contest. Cranor’s work is better, but Breck’s stuff feels like it was written for me and maybe a couple of other people).

Don't Know Tough

8. Newest fictional crush.

Daisy the pug in Adult Assembly Required (my post about it) would be my new fantasy dog. Daisy’s antics around food remind me of the pug/beagle mix snoring nearby, and the way she gets the humans in the house to fight over her? It’s brilliant, she won me over right away that the other animals in the book (who were great, too) just couldn’t.

Adult Assembly Required

9. Newest favorite character.

See what I said above about the new-to-me author, the same goes for Breck’s Madison Kelly. But, no…I had to read her first book last year.

So…I guess it’d be Tuesday Mooney (from Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts (my post about it)) or Tempest Raj (from Under Lock & Skeleton Key (my post about it)). These two are almost as good as Madison, so I’m not complaining too much. Tuesday is too smart for her own good, creative in her own way, irascible, stubborn, witty in an enviable way, and haunted (possibly literally). How do I sum up Tempest? She’s a stage magician drowning in guilt, indecision, and the crushing weight of public scrutiny—yet her personality, curiosity, and intelligence keeps shining through and fighting against her circumstances. There’s something immediately likable about her (rough edges and flaws included)

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts Under Lock & Skeleton Key

10. Book that made you cry?

Huh…Don’t think I’ve read one this year. There was a moment or two in The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd (my post about it)that probably got close, ditto for Light Years from Home by Mike Chen (my post about it). I might have got a little misty at a couple of points in Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman (my post about it), but…yeah, I think this year’s books have been the literary equivalent of Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Shampoo.

The Cartographers Light Years from Home Adult Assembly Required

11. Book that made you happy?

Well, really, any book that I rated 3 Stars or higher (most of them for the year), made me happy. But I associate happiness with three in particular: Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman (my post about it), Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (my post about it), and Black Nerd Problems by William Evans & Omar Holmon (my post about it). These filled me with joy, made me want to re-read them immediately, and still make me feel good weeks/months later.

Adult Assembly Required Kaiju Preservation Society Black Nerd Problems

12. Favorite book to film adaption?

It’s not a “film”, but boy howdy is AppleTV’s Slow Horses fantastic. And as faithful as you could ask for, not perfectly so, but close enough.

Slow Horses Apple TV

13. Favorite post/review you have done this year?

I’m having a lot of fun with the Highlights: Lines worth Repeating posts, I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to do something like them. I guess my best (and therefore favorite) post would be What Makes a Good Book: A Reader’s Perspective (Part 1)—I hope I can get the next posts done on that project.

14. Most beautiful book you have bought or been given this year?

That’d be the Limited Edition King of Crows Anniversary hardback. Which works out nicely, because I don’t need another copy of that—I just wanted it as a display copy. It should be great to look at.

Honorable mention goes to Guidebook for Instruction in the Christian Religion by Herman Bavinck, translated and edited by Gregory Parker Jr., Cameron Clausing. The dustjacket isn’t the nicest one that I’ve seen lately, but the book underneath it? It’s almost as nice to look at as it is to read.

King of Crows Anniversary Guidebook for Instruction in the Christian Religion

15. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

The embarrassing thing is that I could copy and paste my answer from last year and it’d be pretty accurate. And the two that I did read from that answer were read this year. I will be a bit less ambitious this year for this answer and will limit my answer to the books from 20 Books of Summer, the books listed in #4, E.B. White on Dogs, and I’m going to catch up on Jackson Ford’s The Frost Files: Random Sht Flying Through the Air and Eye of the Sht Storm.

As usual, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with.

The Friday 56 for 7/8/22: The Self-Made Widow By Fabian Nicieza

By HCNewton

On July 8, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
The Self-Made Widow

The Self-Made Widow by Fabian Nicieza

At 7 in the morning on Monday, Kenny sat in a makeup chair before his segment on Fox & Friends. He had been on the network often enough that he’d lost any sense of the jitters. The segment went smoothly. The negative was that clearly none of them had read the advance galley of his book, but the positive was that they let him do the bulk of the talking during his segment.

As he left the studio on Sixth Avenue, Kenny got a text from Albert congratulating him on a job well done. He pocketed the phone and entered the subway station. He didn’t really care. Insofar as it would help the book sell, he was satisfied, but Kenny had gotten to the point where appearing on other people’s shows wasn’t enough. He wanted his own show.

Not on a stupid cable news channel talking about the hot air of the day. Something more. A Vice meets adorable but serious Jacob Soboroff meets Columbo magazine type of thing. But for a streaming platform, with episodic storytelling, blowing the lid off unsolved murders, corporate crimes, political scandal.

He didn’t want to wait any longer. He felt he had been waiting his whole life.