Category: Blog Series Page 19 of 220

Saturday Miscellany—9/13/25

On September 13, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

This lil’ feature is getting harder to find material for—hard to take a quick spin through my social media feeds for things without being distracted by/inundated with/overwhelmed by politics, events, news, etc. and really awful takes on politics, events, news, etc. You’ve probably all encountered similar things in your day-to-day websurfing/social media scrolling. As the philosopher asked, “My world’s on fire, how bout yours?” (or at least it seems to be).

I’m not sure I have a point there…just had to ramble a bit this morning, I guess. How about we get down to biz-ness?

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 What To Do When You’re in a Reading Slump—some tips from a local bookseller
bullet Retiring from Novels—I get his thinking, but hope this retirement is short-lived. If not, I hope his next endeavors succeed.
bullet Fiscal Funny Business: Susan Grossey talks to Crime Time—a nice little piece from one of the niche-est writers I follow.
bullet (It’s Not) The Death of Criticism (Again)—Molly Templeton explores the nature of, reasoning behind, and the current conversation(s) around criticism
bullet 8 Times Authors Took Revenge in Their Fiction—a fun listicle
bullet Misconceptions, Mishaps and CrAzY Stories From Working in Libraries! What is it REALLY like?—I do wonder what the non-PG version would contain…but I think I’m better off not knowing
bullet Mental Health and Fantasy—an updated version of a great post

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Dear Dr. Fantasy: episode 80, with Joe (JCM Berne)—Haven’t found/made the time for this yet, but it looks really good.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet The Fraud by Brad Parks
bullet Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell—interesting timing for this to come up if you look down below
bullet Indexing: Reflections, Episode 3: Brotherly Love by Seanan McGuire
bullet A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire
bullet Who Let The Dog Out? by David Rosenfelt
bullet It was a good release week, I mentioned the following: Robert B. Parker’s The Devil Wins by Reed Farrel Coleman; Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell; Make Me by Lee Child; All In by Joel Goldman and Lisa Klink; and A Guide To Being A Dog, by Seamus Wheaton by Wil Wheaton

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Gnomes of Lychford by Paul Cornell—”Gnomes, witches, and podcasters clash for the future of the village of Lychford in this delightful conclusion to the Witches of Lychford series.” (I thought the series had already ended…oops. Glad to be proven wrong, if only for 160 pages)
bullet Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories by Lee Child—”These are the origin tales of all of the Reacher novels written solely by Lee Child, chock full of colorful anecdotes and intriguing inspirations. One by one, they expand upon each novel and place it in the context not only of the author’s life, but of the world outside the books.”
bullet Crooks: A Novel About Crime and Family by Lou Berney—A fascinating-looking book that “follows a uniquely American crime family on an unforgettable journey across four decades.” This review over at The Hard Word sold me.

WWW Wednesday—September 10, 2025

By HCNewton

On September 10, 2025

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

It’s been a strange few weeks here–some adjustments with the Day Job (aka “The Thing that Pays for This”), including a much shorter commute–I’ve lost at least 5 hours for audiobooks a week. That’s going to come back to bite me. But I think I can cope with that. Now I’ve just got to get back to my regular posting schedule (or find a new one). In the meantime…

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?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


Babel by R. F Kuang	Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano, read by Angela Dawe

I’m only 1/5 into Babel, but I’m not totally sold on it yet. The world is fascinating. The magic system is something I want to learn so much more about. Some of the characters are promising–and there are a few that I truly hope get their comeuppance (but fear this novel is set up to let them get away with it). But I’m not really connecting with the book–and I should be by now.

I’ve spent the last couple of books thinking that my time with Finlay and Vero has to be drawing to a close–but so far, I’m enjoying this ride a little more than I have been. Which is good enough to keep going for now.

What did you recently finish reading?


Silver and Lead by Seanan McGuire	Locks & Keys edited by Alex Scheuermann	The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold by Ally Carter, read by Andrew Eiden & Emily Ellet

After Earth-shattering (and Earth-remaking) events over the last three books, it was good to see Toby dealing with some minor life-and-death stakes again. Er, wait…something’s not right about that sentence. Anyway, a very pregnant Toby is a lot of fun for her fans to encounter.

Locks & Keys was a very strong short story collection–I should have something more to say about it soon.

I didn’t not think Carter’s sequel was near as fun or clever as The Blonde Identity was–but it did the job.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule	Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters

I’m sure Ty Seidule’s book is going to make me uncomfortable more than once. I’m looking forward to that.

Time for another Dresden Files audiobook. Proven Guilty adds one of my favorite characters in the series (well, re-introduces her and brings her to the forefront she deserves). Should be fun.

How’s September treating you? Reading anything good?

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Classics I Meant to Read (but never got around to)

By HCNewton

On September 9, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Top X List

Yes, two in one day, I have to do some catch up. This week’s Top 5 topic is Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Classics I Meant to Read (but never got around to).

This list could’ve been a lot longer. It should’ve been–thankfully, we’re limited to 5 (although I push that a bit).

As I did a few months ago, in lieu of spending time formatting a post and hemming and hawing about this and that, I just turned on the camera, hit record, and blathered on a bit.

Let me know what you think!

Joel and the MST3K Bots asking What Do You Think, Sirs?

Pub Day Post—Grandpappy’s Corner: My Grandma and Grandpa Rock! by Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Tiffany Everett (Illustrator): Awwww. It’s Sweet and Fun.

By HCNewton

On September 9, 2025

In Grandpappy's Corner, YA/MG/Children's Books

My Grandma and Grandpa Rock!

by Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Tiffany Everett (Illustrator)

DETAILS:
Publisher: SOURCEBOOKS Kids
Publication Date: September 9, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 40 pg.
Read Date: September 1, 2025

What’s My Grandma and Grandpa Rock! About?

This is a very sweet tribute to grandparents—not just your traditional older adult being kind and making cookies, or whatever. But grandparents who have a passion, who share it with their grandchildren—whether it’s being a musician—professional or otherwise—or any other number of professions. (although the book does understandably lean toward musicians)

The one thing this book stresses most of all is the thing that unites every grandparent—their love and affection for their grandchildren—which is what really rocks.*

* Yeah, that’s a cheesy and corny line. But a book this pleasantly sappy brings it out in a guy.

Let’s Talk about the Art for a Minute

I don’t know if I can defend this, but when I saw this cover on NetGalley’s page, the grandparents in the middle of the image made me think of Love Händel (or at least Bobbi Fabulous), and that was more than enough for me.

I don’t really see that now—unless I squint—but that doesn’t matter. What I do see is just cute. You can see some samples at Everett’s website. The characters of all ages/races/professions are warm and inviting. There’s a good energy captured in the pages, and everyone seems happy and loving. A great way to depict the relationships between grandparents and grandchildren.

And, I tell you what, my 7-month-old grandcritter was captivated by the illustrations. He didn’t seem to care about the text (shockingly) or even what I sounded like—but those pictures?

How is it to Read Aloud?

I didn’t really get into a rhythm when I read it to myself or the grandcritter. But I think that maybe if I read it a few more times, I’d stumble into it—I can’t imagine these writers didn’t write with one in mind. I just didn’t find it.

What I did find was a very pleasant read, it worked really well to read aloud.

So, what did I think about My Grandma and Grandpa Rock!?

You may not believe me, but I honestly didn’t realize who wrote this when I requested the title. I liked the title and the cover. I did feel a little silly when I saw “Pat Benetar” on the title page—”hey, that’s just like that…d’oh!” This isn’t a case of me chasing a celebrity author.

Really, I’m just a sucker for books about Grandparents lately (for some, strange, unknown reason), so the title and cover got me.

It’s cute, it’s sweet, it’s heartwarming, it’s fun, it speaks for every Grandpappy, Grandmammy, grand-père, avó, vavnI’, Kristasof, or whatever you call a Life-Giver Unit, Previous Iteration in your house.

Parents should pick this up to give to kids so they can read it and melt the heart of grandparents. Fellow grandparents should pick this up to give to their favorite people to help them learn what the most important job of a grandparent is.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Sourcebooks Jabberwocky via NetGalley—thanks to both for this. Sorry that it’s up late.

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, the opinions expressed are my own.
Grandpappy Icon

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Classics I Love

By HCNewton

On September 9, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Top X List

Last week’s topic was, “Top 5 Classics I Love. I’d been tossing around ideas for September’s lists of classics, and then didn’t really notice that I was supposed to start this last week.
As I did a few months ago, in lieu of spending time formatting a post and hemming and hawing about this and that, I just turned on the camera, hit record, and blathered on a bit.

Let me know what you think!

Joel and the MST3K Bots asking What Do You Think, Sirs?

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Maria’s Shadow by D.L. Cary

By HCNewton

On September 8, 2025

In Book Tour, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

I’m very pleased today to welcome The Write Reads Blog Tour for the first volume of D.L. Cary’s The Veil Chronicles series Maria’s Shadow! I’m less-than-pleased to mention that the tour ended yesterday, and this post was supposed to go up on the fifth of the month. My apologies to Mr. Cary and The Write Reads for that. In addition to this Spotlight, I’ll be sharing my $.02 about this book soon. But as I said, the Tour’s over now, so if you take a look at the feed for https://twitter.com/WriteReadsTours or The Write Reads on Twitter or The Write Reads on BlueSky, you’ll see bloggers who had interesting things to say about it on time.

Book Details:

Title: Maria’s Shadow
Series: The Veil Chronicles
Genre: Thriller
Age Category: Adult
Format: Paperback/Ebook/hardcover
Length: 241 Pages
Publication Date: April 23, 2025

About the Book:

Maria’s Shadow by D.L. Cary is a gripping thriller that follows Maria Hernández, a young Salvadoran woman ensnared by the sinister Saffron Veil after chasing a Hollywood dream. Trapped in a California mansion, she escapes with a dangerous secret, pursued by the powerful Senator Edward Grayson. As Detective John Jefferson uncovers a web of corruption in North Carolina, their paths converge in a high-stakes battle against a shadowy cabal. Packed with suspense, betrayal, and relentless pursuit, this novel explores courage and sacrifice against overwhelming odds.

Book Links:

Amazon Canada ~ Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Goodreads ~ The Story Graph

About the Author:

D.L. Cary is a Christian suspense and clean-thriller author who loves delivering pulse-pounding intrigue without the profanity or graphic violence.
His debut series, The Veil Chronicles, drops you into covert conspiracies and spiritual warfare while championing themes of redemption, justice, and hope. If you enjoy inspirational fiction, redemptive suspense, or spiritual thrillers you can share with the whole family, you’re in the right place.

He calls Alabama home, where he lives with my best friend (and wife), Heile. Before that, they lived in North Carolina. Finishing up their crew is a rambunctious group of dogs and cats, with Alex, an orange tabby, being the newest addition.

Every page he writes is fueled by faith and by readers who crave values-driven stories where hope endures, and justice prevails.

Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Twitter [source: his Goodreads page, I’m not sure that’s actually him] ~ TikTok ~ Goodreads

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided (including the book).

Saturday Miscellany—9/6/25

By HCNewton

On September 6, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Yes, I am still blogging, not that you can prove that lately. I have 5 draft posts that were supposed to go up this week (including a book tour!!). But energy/initiative didn’t seem to be my thing this week. Let’s see if things improve over the next 7, shall we?

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 Banned Books Week gives us a chance to reflect on censorship—some thoughts ahead of the UK’s BBW in October
bullet “Weird, but Fantastic”: Devoney Looser on Those Who Love Jane Austen—Looser is making the rounds on the internet this week about her upcoming book. I’m not an Austen fan, but I’m tempted by this book.
bullet It’s Okay to Hate The House of Mirth: Carlo Rotella on Reading (and Learning) from Books We Dislike—I don’t know enough (or anything) about this book or Wharton to have an opinion on that, but I appreciated the lessons of this.
bullet The Longest Long Words List: Don’t read this if you have hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (fear of long words).—Some fun from Merriam-Webster
bullet Why AI Narrators Will Never Be Able to Tell a Real Human Story: Adam Verner Explores the Uncanny Valley of Automated Audiobooks—this seems like it sound be entirely too many words for an easy topic, but…End-Stage Capitalism, or whatever it is we’re in shows us otherwise
bullet The Future of Technology Makes It Harder to Solve Fictional Crimes
bullet Quiz: Can You Match the Literary Fart Joke to its Source?—I’m not sure if I should be relieved or embarassed at how badly I failed this one.
bullet August 2025 Book Blogger Posts Round Up—Jo Linsdell has a great collection of recent reads
bullet Wombling Along—as does the Wombler
bullet Why Bunnies? Jumping into the Role of Rabbits in Children’s Literature—I’ve wondered this a time or two, but never actually gave it any thought. Thanks for prompting actual musing, Orangutan Librarian!

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Provoke Not The Children by Michael W. Anderson
bullet Underground by Kat Richardson
bullet Indexing: Reflections, Episode 2: Broken Glass by Seanan McGuire
bullet The Van by Roddy Doyle
bullet And I mentioned the releases of: (so many bangers that week) A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire; The Drafter by Kim Harrison; Jillian Cade: (Fake) Paranormal Investigator by Jen Klein; Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? by Stephen Dobyns; Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart; Updraft by Fran Wilde; The Dragon Engine by Andy Remic; andThe Fate of Ten by Pittacus Lore

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Hansel and Gretel by Stephen King, Maurice Sendak (Illustrator)—I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago—how does one pass up this team-up?
bullet Making History by K. J. Parker—a tyrant assembles a group of historians to create a false justification for starting a war. In Parker’s hands, this is going to be wickedly good.

Saturday Miscellany—8/30/25

By HCNewton

On August 30, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Running late (again), a lot of people-ing. Started with the Boise Library’s Comic Arts Fest (more about that later), and then ran into some family time. Sorry about that.

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 My students resisted reading books. I found an unexpected solution.—One Middle School teacher makes a breakthrough by remembering what had worked when he was a student
bullet One of my favorite novelists, Matthew Norman seeks a (bad) Answer to one of the 20th Century’s Biggest Literary Questions
bullet Petty Revenges to Wish Upon Your Booksich Arch Nemesis—Some of these are Cru-EL. (so bad you have to pronounce it that way).
bullet Monthly Manga Mania Featuring Firsty Duelist: Kamen Rider by Shotaro Ishinomori
bullet I’m Currently Disillusioned with New Releases—Brianna has broken free from the Tyranny of the New. (sorta jealous, really)
bullet 10 Urban Fantasy Books That Blend Magic and Mayhem—Anca Antoci features some really solid choices, and a few I’m going to have to sample
bullet On Setting Expectations For Writers—Peat Long drops some wisdom
bullet There is a Season…Turn, Turn Turn—a great post on Witty & Sarcastic Book Club about the importance of beginner books to parents (particularly as the kids get older)

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson—In retrospect, I want to quibble with my rating from back then. I just don’t get it.
bullet Hostile Takeover by Shane Kuhn—I wish he were still producing work (if he is, it’s under a different name, and I’d like someone to clue me in)
bullet And I talked about the releases of: X by Sue Grafton; Randoms by David Liss; and Koko the Mighty by Kieran Shea

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Art of Legend by Wesley Chu—The trilogy concludes, and I can’t wait to see how.
bullet Katabasis by R. F Kuang—A Dark Academia take on Dante’s Inferno.

WWW Wednesday—August 27, 2025

By HCNewton

On August 27, 2025

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

With August winding down, I’m scurrying to finish some books by Saturday. I probably won’t get all of my 20 Books of Summer done, but I’m going to be close. And…eh. I’ve read so many good things that I really don’t care. For example:

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?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation by Jim O’Heir	Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride by Will Leitch, read by Chris Andrew Ciulla

Jim O’Heir’s book about the making of Parks & Rec starts off strong and will probably keep going that way. It feels as comfy as the show. And after some of the stuff I’ve read lately, I could use that.

By the time this posts, I’ll have barely scratched the surface of Will Leitch’s newest. But the mix of sentiment and humor seems like a good time, I’m finding out if I’m right as you read these words.

What did you recently finish reading?


Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. Gibson	The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen, translated by Lisa Hartford, read by Erik Davies

Gibson’s book is as weird and good as I expected it to be. I’ll try to come up with a better take on it than that, but it’ll do for now. (yes, it took me a long time to finish it, but that’s because I interrupted reading it for Ryka Aoki’s beautiful Light From Uncommon Stars for book club on Monday)

I don’t know that I’ll come back for more of Dept. Q’s mysteries (in print, anyway). But I just might–if only to see how it works without me constantly comparing it to the adaptation. It was a good read, maybe too long. But a solid read.

What do you think you’ll read next? (and I’m stressing the “think” more than usual here)


The Lords of the West End by Peter Blaisdell	Dead Beat by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters

I don’t remember much about The Lords of the West End. All I remember is that this post from Witty and Sarcastic Book Club led me to buy it.

Dead Beat was my entry point into The Dresden Files. Can’t wait to revisit such a dear friend (even if it’s a really messed up book).

Are you getting in some good reading this long weekend (in the US, anyway)? Or do you have another way to spend the last gasps of Summer?

Book Blogger Hop: Finding Your Literary Namesake

By HCNewton

On August 27, 2025

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Snapdragon @ Snapdragon Alcove:

Have you ever read a book with a character with the same name as you?

Yes. Which isn’t easy. I grew up as one of those kids who never found their name on the license plate souvenir, bracelet, Coke bottle, etc., etc. So, that I can think of three books that have a character with my name in it is pretty surprising (I want to say that I’ve read four, but I can’t think of the other one).

Except it appears that I’m mistaken. I was sure that Thomas Rockwell’s How to Eat Fried Worms featured a kid with my childhood nickname, but I can’t find proof of that (and don’t want to re-read the book for a passing reference just for this post). It must’ve been a book I read about the same time. And now it’s bugging me that I can’t think of it.

Sometime between writing that paragraph and scheduling this post, I remembered I had access to this thing called “The Internet”—perhaps you’ve heard of it? Typing “hobie juvenile books 1980s” into DuckDuckGo led me to Thirteen Ways to Sink a Sub, which is obviously it—and was the first of the Hobie Hanson series, of which I was previously unaware. I do think I remember reading 4B Goes Wild, the sequel. But there are 7 books in this series (most published after I was too old to read them, but not yet old enough to not care). I’d completely forgotten about this book’s existence—and while my memories of it aren’t full. I do have warm, fuzzy associations with it. I don’t remember Hobie being an incredibly great kid, but he had potential—and wasn’t as much of a snot as some of his classmates.

Last year, for our Science Fiction Book Club, we took on Robert R. Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. If I didn’t know better*, I’d have assumed the leader, George picked the book to needle me, because it features a former Federated Nations Senator, Mortimer Hobart. Also known as “the Warden” and “Mort the Wort.” I’m just glad that the colonists didn’t use his surname as the source of their juvenile nickname (having survived Junior High School, it’s an easy mark). While I can’t say that the Warden is the worst villain in the novel—but he’s sure a convenient figurehead for everything wrong on the colony—and is one of the first targets of the revolution.

* And I really don’t.

The best is from Jeff Noon’s book Vurt. At a summer job while in college, a co-worker got a strange look on his face when we met. Once he found out I was a reader, too, he wanted to know if I’d read Vurt—I hadn’t, but it was absolutely up my alley. Turns out he reacted to my name because he remembered this passage:

Everybody knew about Hobart, but nobody knew anything. Just the hundreds of rumours that surrounded the name: Hobart invented Vurt. Hobart is alive, Hobart is dead. Hobart is a man, a woman, a child, an alien. Some have called her Queen Hobart, and they have worshipped her. To others Hobart is a dream or a myth, or just a good story that somebody made up, so good that it stuck around, became truth. Nobody knew anything.

Sure, the more you read in the book, the less you want to be associated with Hobart. But…c’mon, how often do you get to (mis-)appropriate a quote like this? “Hobart is a dream or a myth, or just a good story that somebody made up, so good that it stuck around, became truth.”

I still can’t remember if there is a fourth book—and that’s okay. Three is enough.

Category: Blog Series Page 19 of 220

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

How’s September treating you? Reading anything good?

What’s My Grandma and Grandpa Rock! About?

Let’s Talk about the Art for a Minute

How is it to Read Aloud?

So, what did I think about My Grandma and Grandpa Rock!?

Book Details:

About the Book:

Book Links:

About the Author:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next? (and I’m stressing the “think” more than usual here)

Are you getting in some good reading this long weekend (in the US, anyway)? Or do you have another way to spend the last gasps of Summer?

Have you ever read a book with a character with the same name as you?

What about you, reader? Do you have a literary namesake or two? Are they more flattering than mine?