Category: Blog Series Page 106 of 220

Saturday Miscellany—6/11/22

On June 11, 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 ‘People should be able to read the books that they want’: Nampa coffee shop holds Banned Books Giveaway—A couple of weeks back, I mentioned how a local School District “permanently banned” 20+ books while ignoring their own stated review policy (this week, they said their circumvention was because their policy was “too complicated”). Some local businesses and many local individuals responded thusly. NPR’s All Things Considered also covered it.
bullet Harry Potter and the missing sketches: JK Rowling’s first drawings of boy wizard—The material about the initial cover design and what the designer has to say about his work now is great.
bullet The Ever-Shifting Challenge of Promoting Literature in Translation
bullet The Transformations of Pinocchio: How Carlo Collodi’s puppet took on a life of his own.
bullet Crime Reads posted a couple good pieces on Crime Fiction and humor this week:
bullet Murder Isn’t Funny. But Gallows Humor Is!—Karp’s The Rabbit Factory (not to be confused with any recent Finnish work) made me laugh harder than any police procedural that I can think of, he knows what he’s talking about.
bullet Why Some of the Best Thrillers Are Also Hilarious—is also worth the read, but Byrne loses a few points for flubbing the citation of Fletch’s Fortune
bullet How about some great news from Scott Lynch on Twitter a couple of days ago!
bullet Joe Pike, Two Bullies, and a Stolen Car—Jeffrey B. Burton details many of the ways he isn’t Joe Pike. This is great (and a reminder that I have an ARC of his to get to soon)
bullet Is Genre Defined by Content or Worldview?
bullet Mood Reader!—Rabhya Maini discusses the whys and hows of mood reading
bullet i read the 5 highest rated books on my physical tbr…in a reading slump—That’s a great way to get yourself out of a slump.
bullet The Problem with Mood Reading—Kopratic details the many ways they’re not a mood reader.
bullet Like This Game? Read This Book: 11 Book Recommendations for Gamers by M.J. Kuhn—given the utter lack of TriPeaks or Angry Birds on this list, I can’t say anything about how accurate the recommendations are, but it’s a fun idea.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Page Break with Brian McClellan Ep 41 – John Scalzi – Science Fiction Author—am a couple of weeks behind in getting to this episode, but I thought this chat with Scalzi was notably entertaining.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Geekomancy by Michael R. Underwood—not technically a new release, but a new edition. I loved this series, and am oddly excited to get it in paperback for the first time. This UF basically bases its magic system on the power of Fandom (horribly reductionistic, but I try to keep this bit brief). Hoping this reissue helps this series find its audience.
bullet The Knave of Secrets by Alex Livingston—Fantasy, Card Sharps, and Con Artists—and a dash of magic. What else do you want? I posted about this last month, and am glad to see it in the wild.
bullet Noodle and the No Bones Day by Jonathan Graziano, Dan Tavis (Illustrator)—the story behind the Internet craze in picture book form is as cute as you’d expect, as I said a couple of days ago.

The Friday 56 for 6/10/22: Payback by R.C. Bridgestock

By HCNewton

On June 10, 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 56% of:
Payback

Payback by R.C. Bridgestock

Charley turned her head in Ricky-Lee’s direction and silently raised an eyebrow indicating the large, sturdy box on Wilkie’s desk. He stopped and immediately changed his tune to a long, low whistle.

‘What the hell did he do to deserve that?’ he said. Opening the box, he took out a shapely, substantial glass bottle. ‘A superb example of the aesthetic,’ he said, knowledgeably.

Charley was impressed.

‘I swear I could just about pound a nail into a two-by-four with this thing.’

Tattie sat back in her chair waiting for the document she had been typing to print out. ‘I don’t advise using that or any other whisky bottle as a carpentry tool,’ she said.

EXCERPT from There Goes The Neighbourhood by S Reed

By HCNewton

On June 9, 2022

In Book Tour, Fiction, Quotations, Science Fiction

For the next part of my stop on The Love Books Blog Tour for S Reed’s There Goes The Neighbourhood, I present to you this little excerpt from the novel. Enjoy!

Underappreciated

Poppy Field Lane is like any typical American suburb of the 50s… but it’s the mid-90s and the (mostly) terrible fashion notwithstanding, the Lane is a time capsule of life in Upstate New York before the feminist movement. The men go to work, and the women stay home and look after the house. The men have all the fun, and the women clean up afterwards. The men set all the rules, and the women abide by them… except when the men are out of town. None of these rules apply to eccentric widowed billionaire Ignatius Feltrap who is as young as she is rich.

She lived in the biggest house – a mansion, really – the biggest in all of Poppy Field Lane, but one day, she decided she no longer liked her neighbors, so she paid an extortionate amount of money to have her house moved to the beachfront.

Not because she liked the view, but so it would spoil the stunning vistas for her abhorrent neighbors, Carol and Frank, the Lilinsters (there are better names that Ignatius likes to call them by, but none of them are polite). Ignatius is convinced they have risen from the fiery depths of hell just to try and ruin her life; try to, anyway. It also gave her a chance to throw even wilder parties without the worry (not that she did) of a noise complaint from said neighbors. In fact, if it weren’t for them, most of the town wouldn’t mind her. And don’t think she doesn’t take pleasure in their indignation. Carol, especially, lived for calling the cops to Feltrap Manor, although she would never give it that name. She’d usually say something like “That woman, I believe her name is Ignatius, yes, the widow, well, she’s throwing an illegal party again”, and she would purr over the word ‘widow’ and let it hang in the receiver’s ear like a moldy piece of fruit. Ignatius hoped taking that power away from the vile witch would make her melt, but it only seemed to exacerbate the tension between the two of them. To Ignatius’s disdain, Carol and her brusque husband tick on. How she loathes the ground they walk on. If you ask her, the Lilinsters are to blame for her being outcast from the rest of Poppy Field Lane. If it weren’t for them, she would be accepted by the town, despite being ‘new money’. And despite her rambunctious attitude, she does want to be accepted, but she will not conform to the Lane’s outdated ways.

There is an unspoken understanding that they and Ignatius are civil toward each other in the street… However, only one of them got the memo and read it. The other, it seems, set it on fire… with a flamethrower.

Read the rest in There Goes The Neighbourhood by S Reed.

My thanks to Love Books Group for the invitation to participate in this Tour.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: There Goes The Neighbourhood by S Reed

By HCNewton

On June 9, 2022

In Book Tour, Fiction, Science Fiction

Today is the day for The Irresponsible Reader’s Book Tour Stop for S Reed’s There Goes The Neighbourhood—an eccentric SF with a lot of heart.

Book Details:

Book Title: There Goes The Neighbourhood by S Reed
Publisher: Lake Country Press
Release date: April 26, 2022
Format: Ebook/Paperback
Length: 258 pages

About the Book:

They say there are only five kinds of alien contact…

But what if there is a sixth kind?

Befriending one…

Poppy Field Lane is the place to be in the ’90s. It’s a quiet, affluent New York suburb filled with a few eccentric residents. One, in particular, Ignatius Feltrap.

Ignatius doesn’t abide by the snobbish rules of her cliché cul de sac, but when she stumbles upon the secret of a lifetime while walking on the beach… her life is thrown for an out of this world loop.

Turns out, extra-terrestrials are real.

Enter Væson, a sassy alien on the run from their home planet. Væon has blended in for years, while trying to evade capture from their own evil government along with Earth’s mysterious agency until, of course, Ignatius and her trusty Labrador, Alfie, blunder upon them. It doesn’t take long for a once in a lifetime friendship to form, and Ignatius vows to protect Væson at any cost.

Can they solve the mystery of Ignatius’s late husband’s death before the alien government and Earth’s top-secret one find where Væson is? And more importantly; can they do it before the annual Neighborhood Fete…

Purchase Link:

Amazon UK ~ Amazon US

My thanks to Love Books Group for the invitation to participate in this Tour.

WWW Wednesday, June 8, 2022

By HCNewton

On June 8, 2022

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

If you’d asked me Saturday, I’d have told you that by this point in the week, I’d have 6-7 posts up (not including this one). Instead, here’s #4 for the week. It’s a strange combination of things causing me to stumble this week. First, there’s just no gas in the tank—I’ve fought sleep every time I sit down to write/read. Also, I have so much to say about two of the books that I can’t get anything down—too many ideas trying to get out of my brain at once (think of those videos of people rushing the door on Black Friday). So I’m going to put those aside for a minute, assemble this WWW Wednesday, and snooze for a bit. Maybe full paragraphs and complete sentences lie on the other side…

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?

I’m reading Crazy in Poughkeepsie by Daniel Pinkwater (yeah, last week I said it was going to be next—but I got distracted by a couple of things) and am listening to How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain by Ryan North on audiobook. I don’t have plans to apply anything I learn there, but you never know.

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What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished S. Reed’s There Goes the Neighborhood in advance of a Book Tour stop tomorrow and Hellbound Guilds & Other Misdirections by Annette Marie and Rob Jacobsen, Narrated by Iggy Toma on audio.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Payback by R.C. Bridgestock, I bought the first three books in this series on an impulse a few months ago. . My next audiobook should be We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter (Narrator), which was kind of an impulse grab, hopefully it pays off.

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Hopefully, your week is better—what’re you reading?

Book Blogger Hop: My Methodology (no, really, I have one)

By HCNewton

On June 7, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews:

What is your method for writing reviews – do you write immediately after reading, wait a few days, or write as you are reading?

Write as I’m reading? Wow. There are people who do that? I hope some of the responses to this prompt are people talking about how they pull that off, I’d like to see that. Occasionally, I’ll leave myself a note along the lines of, “be sure to mention _____”—sometimes that will end up taking the form of a phrase or maybe a sentence or two—and those almost always never make the posted write-up. I might be more efficient if I could write about a book while reading (obviously not simultaneously…but that would be super-cool, I’d probably have to pop the same pills as Eddie Morra to pull that off).

Occasionally, I’m so excited and/or provoked enough that I start writing a post minutes after reading a book. And I have been known to close a book and start writing straight away because I have a Book Tour stop the next day, sure, let’s be honest (I’ve gotten much better about that lately…I think).

Typically, though, I like to give myself a day or two to let the thoughts marinate—what parts of the book do I want to talk about? What do I want to say about those parts? Are there things I want to emphasize? Things I want to downplay? Did I actually enjoy this or that aspect? How much energy/time do I want to expend on the book? Once I start writing, that goes out the window—I’ll end up spending more of both than I budgeted if I get on a roll/think of something new I wanted to talk about. Or, like with In a House of Lies last week, I realize I just don’t have anything interesting* to say.

* For the sake of discussion, we’re going to posit that I have anything interesting to say ever.

What about you?

Saturday Miscellany—6/4/22

By HCNewton

On June 4, 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 As libraries drop late fees, long-overdue books return — as do former patrons: Minnesota libraries went fine-free, then waited to see: Would patrons hoard all the books?—Most libraries around here went fine-free a couple of years ago. I wonder if their results were similar.
bullet How Amazon surrendered in its war on bookshops
bullet How the Publishing World Is Muscling In on Hollywood Deals: For Authors, “The Future Is Multihyphenate”
bullet Why are crime writers so weird?: As well as entertaining, the best detective stories deal with life and death, good and evil and the quest for truth
bullet What Makes a Great, or Terrible, Audiobook Performance? The case for doing less.
bullet Witty & Sarcastic Bookclub gets to my favorite in their 2022 looks at Fantasy Sub-genres Fantasy Focus: Urban Fantasy with great interviews featuring:
bullet Matthew Samuels
bullet C. Thomas Lafollette
bullet Peter Hartog
bullet Satyros Phil Brucato
bullet Jamie Jackson
bullet Speaking of Interviews, Beth Tabler also had a great Interview with Author Rachel Aaron this week.
bullet INDIE PUBLISHERS, INDIE AUTHORS, INDIE BOOKSHOP, DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE?—Jackie’s Reading Corner talks about a couple of indie presses near and dear to her heart (I’ve spent a little money on both presses, I understand her devotion)
bullet What I’ve learnt in over 10 years of book blogging—Jo Linsdell shares some wisom acuumlated over a decade. Much of which I should appropriate.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Botanist by M. W. Craven—I’m going to go into this one blind, the only reason I know the title is so that I could make sure I ordered the right book. So I can’t tell you anything beyond the fact that one of the best Crime Novels of 2022 came out this week.
bullet The Balance Of Guilt by Simon Hall—Somehow Hall’s intrepid reporter exposes a scandal while being sedated in a hospital bed. Can’t wait to find out how that happened.

The Friday 56 for 6/3/22: Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman

By HCNewton

On June 3, 2022

In Abbi Waxman, 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:
Adult Assembly Required

Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman

“Is that why you have a limp?” Polly asked, mildly ashamed of being nosy, but not enough to not want to know. It’s not the kind of thing you can ask about immediately, at least not once you leave preschool, but she’d wondered.

Laura nodded.

“What kind of accident was it?” continued Polly, hoping for something interesting like being crushed by a falling piano, or attacked by a tiger.

“Car crash,” said Laura, laughing when she saw Polly’s disappointed expression.

WWW Wednesday, June 1, 2022

By HCNewton

On June 1, 2022

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

It’s June 1, and what better way to step into the month than with a WWW Wednesday? These posts are me at my most organized and structured, and it feels really nice to be that way on June 1. A feeling that will last until…maybe 9 pm?

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?

I’m reading the coming-of-age novel, Dirt Road Home by Alexander Nader, and I’m listening to Attachments by Rainbow Rowell, Rebecca Lowman (Narrator) on audiobook.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Joanne Jackson’s A Snake in the Raspberry Patch, a tale of small-town Canadian crime. I also just finished the third faux-True Crime, A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, Rory Kinnear (Narrator) on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Crazy in Poughkeepsie by Daniel Pinkwater, which promises to be a burst of oddness and light, and my next audiobook should be Gated Prey by Lee Goldberg, Nicol Zanzarella (Narrator).

Blank Space

How are you kicking off the Summer?

Book Blogger Hop: Reading on a Kindle App?

By HCNewton

On May 31, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews:

Do you use the Kindle app on your phone or iPad for reading e-books?

Primarily, I use my phone’s Kindle app to look up/verify a quotation or character name, etc. I really don’t like reading things longer than a typical Facebook post on my phone.

But if I’m stuck somewhere waiting for something and didn’t think to bring a book/would’ve caused problems to walk in with a book, sure. That includes:
bullet Doctors’ waiting rooms
bullet Long lines at a gas station/car wash
bullet Hospital labs
bullet School orchestra concerts (when my kids weren’t on stage)
bullet Jiffy Lube/Tire Shop waiting rooms
bullet School plays (only during intermission or before it started, I promise!)
bullet Family get-togethers
bullet That one time when I forgot my wallet when I took my wife out for her birthday, so she drove home and back so we could pay for dinner…

There was one time when I was stuck somewhere for a couple of hours without my Kindle and I finished my paper books, so I had no choice.

Huh. I guess when you look at it like that, yeah, I guess I do use my phone app to read. This ended up going somewhere I didn’t expect when I started.