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So…things are going to be quiet around here for the next 4 weeks (at least). But we learned this week that we have to move. So, when I’m not at work, I’ve been looking for a new place and starting to pack. I’m trying to look at this as a chance to do a thorough reorganization of my bookshelves (and everything else in the house).
So not only have I not written a whole lot this week–most of what was posted was prepared weeks ago (the post Friday was the result of 4 nights of plugging away a bit at a time), I didn’t even have the time and energy to get the September report out, short version: 26 books, I think I liked all of them). I’ve read even less. This week I’ve read 3 essays, 3 short stories, and the same page of an ARC for 4 straight nights as I fell asleep. That’s a bad day’s worth of reading. For a week, that’s unthinkable. I got my copy of Battle Ground on Tuesday and haven’t read the first line. I may not stay sane for long at this rate (not just over Dresden, all of it).
I have 1 book tour this month (and one at the beginning of November), 3 books an author has asked me to talk about (1 read, 2 unread)—and I’m going to try my best to get those posted, and anything else I can manage to squeeze in. We’ll see.
I did manage to steal a couple of minutes here and there this week to look at my feeds to find a thing or two for this. So, 25 hours after I started this, I can now post it. Yeah, gonna be one of those months.
 that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
 American classics among most ‘challenged’ books of the decade in US: Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird among works protesters have tried to get removed from schools and libraries—yeah, this is the end of Banned Book Week, and the article was written for the beginning of it. Still…
How to Determine the Personal Value of a Book in a Few Simple Steps: What to Do When You Have Too Many Books—too many books? I guess it could happen. No one let Mrs. Irresponsible Reader see this for the next couple of months, okay?
Author Interview: Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager on The Writer’s Library—from LibraryThing
INTERVIEW: Ian Rankin on turning 60, not being able to hug his son in lockdown and why Rebus is finally venturing out of Edinburgh
12 Book Bloggers Share How They Find Time to Read—some good ideas here
Goodbye 5 Star Rating System. Hello Book Vagabond Badges.—here’s an interesting alternative.
RATING SYSTEM—Book in Hand has a new rating system, too
Being Objective About Some of My Favourite Books—The Orangutan Librarian talks about some problems with some of her favorite reads
What am I even doing?—The Fantasy Inn’s Kopratic talks about book reviewing
Comfort in books
 That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Battle Ground by Jim Butcher—Peace Talks set the stage for something huge. It’s now here.
Just Like You by Nick Hornby—Hornby tackles the tale of a 42-year-old mother falling for a 22-year-old.
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik—the beginning of a series about a sentient school for young magic users, featuring a dark magic practiitionner who has enough power to kill every other student. Or Something. I think I’m going to have to read it to come up with a better summary.
 I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toChar, I.F, and BookerTalk who followed the blog this week. Keep coming back, there’ll be new stuff, eventually!
I’ve spent the afternoon composing September’s Down the TBR posts and there have just been so many books in the last four posts that I have no memory of ever seeing, much less wanting to read. At the same time, I almost feel like I just found a whole bunch of great books I want to read (even if I really put them on the “Want to Read” shelf two years ago).
This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story—but Jenna at Bookmark Your Thoughts is the one that exposed me to this, and as my Goodreads “Want To Read” shelf is scarily long, I had to do this.
The Rules are simple:
- Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
- Order on ascending date added.
- Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
- Read the synopses of the books.
- Decide: keep it or should it go?
- Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week! (or whenever)
What distinguishes this series from the Mt. TBR section of my Month-end Retrospectives? Those are books I actually own while Goodreads contains my aspirational TBR (many of which will be Library reads). The Naming of the two is a bit confusing, but…what’re you going to do?
(Click on the cover for an official site or something with more info about the book)
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Penelope Lemon: Game On! by Inman Majors
Blurb:
My Thoughts: I wish I knew how this fell on my radar. I also wish I knew why I haven’t read it yet. I’m not going to try to recap the blurb without reading this comic novel, I’d probably do a bad job of it. Just click the link above.
Verdict:
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The Lonely Witness by William Boyle
Blurb: When a young woman with a sordid past witnesses a murder, she finds herself fascinated by the killer and decides to track him down herself.
My Thoughts: Once again, I wish I knew how this fell on my radar, because then maybe I’d remember why I thought this would be something I’d enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, it looks gripping and well-written, but it also doesn’t look like my cup of tea.
Verdict:
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First Watch by Dale Lucas
My Thoughts: A police procedural in a Fantasy world, like DeCandido’s Precinct books. Probably a different approach beyond that, though. Looks pretty good.
Verdict:
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Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
My Thoughts: I can’t believe I’m not interested in a McGuire novel. But despite all the acclaim (and there are mountatins of it), this one just doesn’t appeal to me.
Verdict:
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An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
My Thoughts: This looks like a great fantasy novel, but I know Im not going to find the time for it.
Verdict:
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Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
Blurb: “Finally a novel that puts the ‘pissed’ back into ‘epistolary.’…the vehicle this droll and inventive novel uses to tell that tale is a series of hilarious letters of recommendation that [beleaguered creative writing professor] Fitger is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce, each one of which is a small masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits, and passive-aggressive strategies.”
My Thoughts: Looks like a bit of fun à la Straight Man
Verdict:
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A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor
My Thoughts: The second in the Chronicles of St Mary’s features the historians facing off with Jack the Ripper (among with other time travel hijinks).
Verdict:
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The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
Blurb: “When three thieves – an orphan, a ghoul, and a cursed man – are betrayed by the master of the thieves guild, their quest for revenge uncovers dark truths about their city and exposes a dangerous conspiracy, the seeds of which were sown long before they were born.”
My Thoughts: I’ve yet to see anything bad about this book, it looks so good. I’ve come close to buying it a couple of times, but I’ve been intimidated by the size and density of the text. (how lame does that sound?)
Verdict:
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The Disappeared by Ali Harper
Blurb: A couple of newbie PI’s on a hunt for a missing college student when the case turns out to be a lot more than they bargained for.
My Thoughts: This looks like it could be a good one, but I’m probably not going to find the time.
Verdict:
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Biting the Wax Tadpole: Confessions of a Language Fanatic by Elizabeth Little
Blurb: “Language, like travel, is always stranger than we expect and often more beautiful than we imagine. In Biting the Wax Tadpole Elizabeth Little takes a decidedly unstuffy and accessible tour of grammar via the languages of the world—from Lithuanian noun declensions and imperfective Russian verbs to Ancient Greek and Navajo. And in one of the most courageous acts in the history of popular grammar books, she attempts to provide an explanation of verbal aspect that people might actually understand.”
My Thoughts: I always enjoy reading about how English is messed up, might be nice to see how other languages are strange.
Verdict:
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Books Removed in this Post: 5 / 10
Total Books Removed: 88 / 240
Anyone out there read any of these books? Did I make the right call with any of them?
(Image by moritz320 from Pixabay)
No introduction this morning, I’m watching a bookstore event with Luca Veste (from Bethany Beach Books) and am too distracted to say anything.
that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Johnstown-based literacy bank nourishing minds worldwide through magazines—adding a literature bank to a food bank? Brilliant idea.
Would you find this bookstore beautiful or terrifying? Or both.—LitHub asks this provacative question about a new Chinese bookstore design (“bookstore” seems inadequate to describe this structure). Personally, I think both, but lean to the latter.
A Brief History of the Juvenile Mysteries You Checked Out of the Library Eight at a Time: How young sleuths like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys became literary icons for generations.—Keith Roysdon takes readers on path down memory lane with the Hardys, Drew, and more.
Why I’m addicted to self-help books—I don’t share this addiction, but I get it. And had fun reading this piece.
Things I Learned About Blog Tours in 6 Months—a look back at 6 months of organizing blog tours. I’ve linked to things from the blogger’s POV recently, this look from the other side is interesting.
Critical Art of Reviews—thoughts about over-used words and phrases when talking about books.
Unlikeable Characters: Why is likability Even a Question?
Let’s Talk About Spoilers—Wish I’d written about 90% of this first.
Hiu, possibly sentient cabbage over at The Fantasy Inn, recently posted a thread about “the Feels behind book reviewing and blogging”, which is a good reminder that all of us go through the same thing (to varying degrees, anyway).
That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Next to Last Stand by Craig Johnson—I had a great time with the latest Walt Longmire book, I’ll probably be talking about it early next week. In the meantime, you should just go read it.
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots—Here’s what sold me: “Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy? As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine.”
Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold—seemingly the whole blogiverse is buzzing about the sequel to The Last Smile in Sunder City (probably for a good reason)
I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Books Are 42 (possibly the greatest blog name ever) and The Godly Chic Diaries who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?
 The next day, Tom tries several times to see Mrs. Fitzgerald but gets nowhere. Fed up, he goes back to the Inn he’s staying at (a place Mr. Allworthy stayed at when in London). He hears an altercation and comes to intervene.
I was joking last week about how nice it was to see another fistfight again, and already we have a new one. They’re good for drama, I guess, and to make fast friends of whoever Tom comes to the rescue of (or vice versa). A footman was attacking his employer, and the daughter of the Innkeeper was standing by and screaming (this is what alerted Tom). As handily as the footman was beating his employer, so Tom took care of the footman.
It turns out—and you’ve gotta love this—the footman had been using his boss’s (Mr. Nightengale) copy of Hoyle and had spilled wine on an open page. Nightengale was angered, and the two started arguing over how much the book had been worth before getting ruined, so they could agree on how much to be withheld from his pay. One thing led to another…
Anyway, out of gratitude Nightengale splits a bottle of wine with Tom and they become friends, the innkeeper and her daughter join them and they all get along really well.
The next day, as masquerade invitation and mask arrive for Tom, he assumes this comes from Mrs. Fitzgerald and will be his chance to see Sophia. So he invites Nightengale to come to the ball with him—and then has to borrow cab fare from Partridge so he can afford to go anywhere. There’s no Sophia, or even Mrs. Fitzgerald at the ball, instead, it’s Sophia’s friend, Lady Bellaston, who arranged to meet Tom there.
She grills Tom for hours and finally agrees to arrange a meeting if he promises to leave Sophia alone after that. She gives him fifty pounds and sends him on his way.
Tom gets back to the inn to hear Mrs. Miller (the innkeeper, who I should’ve introduced earlier) talk about a cousin, who married for love and is now destitute and barely hanging on due to illness in the family. Tom pulls her aside and gives her the money Bellaston just gave him.
Now, earlier, Fielding told the reader that he focused on describing Mrs. Miller because she’s going to be important. I wonder how? And I look forward to finding out. A fun few chapters this week, I’m really enjoying Tom’s time in London.
 This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice
RULES:
 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 of:
Next to Last Stand by Craig Johnson
I hope you Westerners don’t mind, but this Custer stuff bores teh shit out of me.” Vic, uninterested in the conversation, reached out and turned over a Durant Courant, flipping a few pages as she sipped her drink. “you want to know what Custer was thinking there at the end?
The Bear volunteered. “Where di all these Indians come from?”
“Exactly.”
It’s Time for WWW Wednesday?!? How is it Wednesday again?
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 Next to Last Stand by Craig Johnson and am listening to Peace Talks by Jim Butcher, James Marsters (Narrator) on audiobook.
 
What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Michael R. Underwood’s Annihilation Aria and The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande, John Bedford Lloyd (Narrator) on audio.
 
What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be Return of the Paladin by Layton Green (I have to get one thing in for Self-Published Fantasy Month) and The Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow, Ray Porter (Narrator) on audiobook.
 
Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)
I felt pretty pithy this week, it seems, and that’s not changing as I write this introduction.
This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story—but Jenna at Bookmark Your Thoughts is the one that exposed me to this, and as my Goodreads “Want To Read” shelf is scarily long, I had to do this.
The Rules are simple:
- Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
- Order on ascending date added.
- Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
- Read the synopses of the books.
- Decide: keep it or should it go?
- Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week! (or whenever)
What distinguishes this series from the Mt. TBR section of my Month-end Retrospectives? Those are books I actually own while Goodreads contains my aspirational TBR (many of which will be Library reads). The Naming of the two is a bit confusing, but…what’re you going to do?
(Click on the cover for an official site or something with more info about the book)
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Magic Marks the Spot by Caroline Carlson
My Thoughts: This MG comedic-adventure novel about a girl determined to become a pirate looks like a blast. But I just don’t see myself making the time for it. I’m having a hard time giving it a thumbs down, though…
Verdict:
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The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker
Blurb: “…the cognitive scientist, dictionary consultant, and New York Times–bestselling author Steven Pinker rethinks the usage guide for the twenty-first century. Using examples of great and gruesome modern prose while avoiding the scolding tone and Spartan tastes of the classic manuals, he shows how the art of writing can be a form of pleasurable mastery and a fascinating intellectual topic in its own right. The Sense of Style is for writers of all kinds, and for readers who are interested in letters and literature and are curious about the ways in which the sciences of mind can illuminate how language works at its best.”
My Thoughts: I started this, loved it, but ran out of time. I need to get back to it, if only to improve things around here.
Verdict:
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Zhek by Andy Weir
Blurb: This was supposed to be more traditional SF than The Martian which was enough for me to put this on the list (this was pre-Artemis), and then Weir decided it wasn’t working for him and moved on to another project.
Verdict: Easiest one yet…
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I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Blurb: A YA novel about the son of a serial killer helping the police track down another killer.
My Thoughts:
Verdict:
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The Courier by Gerald Brandt
Blurb: A cyberpunk thriller about a courier (obviously) in the wrong place at the very wrong time.
Verdict:
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Heroine’s Journey by Sarah Kuhn
My Thoughts: The first two volumes in this super-hero series were fun, don’t see why this one wouldn’t be just as entertaining.
Verdict:
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Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
Blurb: “…witty collection of essays recounts a lifelong love affair with books and language…moving easily from anecdotes about Coleridge and Orwell to tales of her own pathologically literary family. As someone who played at blocks with her father’s 22-volume set of Trollope (“My Ancestral Castles”) and who only really considered herself married when she and her husband had merged collections (“Marrying Libraries”), she is exquisitely well equipped to expand upon the art of inscriptions, the perverse pleasures of compulsive proof-reading, the allure of long words, and the satisfactions of reading out loud.”
Verdict:
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Superman: Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Pena
Blurb: Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
My Thoughts: Last week, I talked about being gun-shy with this series after the Batman volume. This looks like a Smallville episode they didn’t have time for.
Verdict:
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Tyche’s Flight by Richard Parry
My Thoughts: While talking to Jeffery H. Haskell about his own books, Haskell and his wife gave me the hard-sell on this one. That alone secures it a place on the TBR.
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Nemesis by Brendan Reichs
Blurb: Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
My Thoughts: If I summarized the premise, you wouldn’t believe me. And the blurb is too long to comfortably fit here. Click the link above. I can see where this would appeal to some people, I’m just not sure why I ever thought I’d be one of them.
Verdict:
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Books Removed in this Post: 6 / 10
Total Books Removed: 83 / 240
Anyone out there read any of these books? Did I make the right call with any of them?
(Image by moritz320 from Pixabay)
I’m very pleased and excited today to welcome The Ultimate Blog Tour for the creepy and fun The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips, Isabelle Follath (Illustrator). This Tour Stop consists in this little spotlight post and then my take on the novel coming along in a bit (and man, did it turn out that I had a lot to say). Let’s start by learning a little about this novel, okay?
Book Details:
Book Title: The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips, Isabelle Follath (Illustrator)
Publisher: Egmont Books
Release date: December 8, 2020
Format: Ebook/Hardcover
Length: 240 pages
Book Blurb:
The most exciting new children’s book of 2020 and a modern classic in the making. The Beast and the Bethany has all the classic macabre humor of Roald Dahl with the warmth and charm of Despicable Me, finished off with a gleeful bite of Little Shop of Horrors! This book should be on every little monster’s birthday and Christmas list.
Ebenezer Tweezer is a youthful 511-year-old. He keeps a beast in the attic of his mansion, who he feeds all manner of things (including performing monkeys, his pet cat and the occasional cactus) and in return the beast vomits out presents for Ebenezer, as well as potions which keep him young and beautiful. But the beast grows ever greedier, and soon only a nice, juicy child will do. So when Ebenezer encounters orphan Bethany, it seems like (everlasting) life will go on as normal. But Bethany is not your average orphan…
About the Author:
Jack Meggitt-Phillips is an incredibly exciting new talent. He is an author, scriptwriter and playwright whose work has been performed at The Roundhouse and featured on Radio 4. He is scriptwriter and presenter of The History of Advertising podcast. In his mind, Jack is an enormously talented ballroom dancer, however his enthusiasm far surpasses his actual talent. Jack lives in north London where he spends most of his time drinking peculiar teas and reading PG Wodehouse novels.
About the Illustrator:
Isabelle Follath is an illustrator who has worked in advertising, fashion magazines and book publishing, but her true passion lies in illustrating children’s books. She also loves drinking an alarming amount of coffee, learning new crafts and looking for the perfect greenish-gold color. Isabelle lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.
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