Category: Saturday Miscellany Page 22 of 35

It’s Left Hander’s Day and I should have a list of characters to mention here, but I can only think of Kvothe and Arya Stark when it comes to fiction. Anyone out there know of any notable sinistral characters? There has to be a bunch of them…

I don’t have a long list today, apparently I wasn’t the only one not feeling incredibly creative this week. (or with time on our hands). More time for our Weekend Reads, right?

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:
Where Are Mass Market Paperbacks Headed?
The Fine Art of Naming Characters in Crime Fiction
Anne Rice and the making of a modern vampire
The Five Great Novels of Dashiell Hammett—for years I’ve told myself I need to read Hammett…this might have pushed me over the edge.
NetGalley’s blog, We Are Bookish, had a couple of handy posts this week:
NetGalley’s Guide to Who to Tag in Book Reviews
Tips for Battling Reviewer Writer’s Block
The Books that Made Me – The Once and Future King by T.H. White—Inexplicably, I’ve never been able to finish this book, I need to give it another shot.
Different Ways To Categorise Fantasy—another helpful post from Peat Long
Reading & Book Collecting
10 Years, 10 Favorite Books—Great idea for a post, but I have no idea how Caitlin was able to limit it to just one book for each year without at least one tie. (then again, I do, what 5 or 6 best of lists each year, I clearly have trouble limiting myself)
How Reviewing Changed the Way I Read?

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Thriller Zone Episode 83: Eli Cranor, author of Don’t Know Tough—Cranor sounds and talks just like you’d expect, this was a great chat.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Bark to the Future by Spencer Quinn—Chet and Bernie are back for novel #13, and it’s a doozy. Bernie tries to help an old high school teammate and gets into a lot of trouble. I blogged about it couple of weeks ago
The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu—What do you do when the prophecy about the Chosen One who will save the country is wrong? Taishi, the greatest war artist of her generation, decides to mold the object of the prophecy into who the kingdom needs him to be.
The Deal Goes Down by Larry Beinhart—a retired PI is hired as a hitman and ends up working to save women from abusive marriages—and make money at the same time. (that’s a lousy job of summarizing the description, but without reading the book, it’s as good as I’m going to get…click the link)

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to tinareadsallthebooks who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.

Programming Note: If I seemed quieter than usual this week, it’s because I’ve pretty much caught up on my backlog of posts and read a couple of things I need to delay writing about. Whoops. I’ve got some extra-curricular things going on next week that will interfere with both blogging and reading, too. I’ve prepped a couple of things so things won’t go silent here, but it still feels to me like I’m taking a break.

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:
How to fall back in love with reading. Even when your brain feels like mush.
Publishing is eating itself…(again)—this week’s newsletter from Fahrenheit Press (in addition to trying to sell some great books/merch) offers a great perspective/recap on the state of publishing/book buying.
Bookish Hunger Games!—is a great idea and post from The Orangutan Librarian. My inability to come up with something half as inventive as this haunts me.
Dragonlance Reading Order 2022—Witty & Sarcastic Book Blog gives us a recommended reading order for The Dragonlance books. The first six of these were so formative to me that it does my heart good to see all the interest in this series today.
More Author Influences: Founders of Urban Fantasy—Peat Long looks at the roots of Urban Fantasy
Critical Reading as a Book Blogger & How It’s Fun
On Writing Negative Book Reviews—the conclusion is the kicker here. I’ve found similar things.
Did you know you could get book blogger’s block?—I don’t know why I never put this label on the experience that I’m all-too-familiar with.
Why I Think Reading and Blogging Slumps Can Be Beneficial
Is Readerly a Good Alternative to Goodreads?—Word Wilderness follows up their Goodreads and StoryGraph comparison with a look at Readerly

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Thriller Zone Episode 81: Fabian Nicieza, author of The Self-Made Widow—this was a fun interview
WTF Episode 1353: Neil Gaiman—books, comics, TV, and more. Great convo.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Suitcase Clone by Robin Sloan—a Sourdough prequel novella that ties it into the Penumbra universe? Sure, why not?
The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias—Am seeing a lot of people talking about this one: “Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, surprising himself with his proclivity for violence. After tragedy destroys the life he knew, Mario agrees to one final job: hijack a cartel’s cash shipment before it reaches Mexico. Along with an old friend and a cartel-insider named Juanca, Mario sets off on the near-suicidal mission, which will leave him with either a cool $200,000 or a bullet in the skull. But the path to reward or ruin is never as straight as it seems. As the three complicated men travel through the endless landscape of Texas, across the border and back, their hidden motivations are laid bare alongside nightmarish encounters that defy explanation. One thing is certain: even if Mario makes it out alive, he won’t return the same.”
Shutter by Ramona Emerson—The premise for this–a forensic photographer gets helps from the ghosts at crime scenes to take photos that reveal clues could be the setup for a lighter UF series, but Emerson seems to have gone for a gritty suspense direction instead. Looks good.
The Prince of Infinite Space by Giano Cromley—an early 90s coming-of-age story. I had a little to say about it a couple of weeks ago.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to nokbew and Jen Porter, Author who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.

I’m going to start this week with a shout-out to Bookstooge for a comment he made to last week’s post (unpublished, because it doesn’t need to be broadcast)–it led to me to me making a tweak to this template that I’ve been meaning to get to for years, and typically did on a weekly basis. I hear ya, man–I appreciate the constructive criticism, and am working on it. Readers, if you haven’t checked out Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road, you should.

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:
Book Bans? My School Doesn’t Even Have a Library: How underfunding is its own form of censorship—I do wonder about some of the points here, but the overall argument is something we all need to wrestle with as we talk about what books belong in schools.
Where do library books go to die?
How Do Algorithms Help (and Hinder) Book Sales?—Yeah, this is more for the writer/seller than the reader—but I’m always interested in how the sausage is made.
Speaking of that, this week the Libro.fm blog posted Have you ever wondered how audiobooks get made?
Shop Talk: Dwyer Murphy on Writing Routines, Superstitions, and Reading Elmore Leonard Like a Bible
Why none of my books are available on Audible
The Kickstarter for Anatomy of Dinosaurs launched this week. It promises to be absolutely worth it (as are the two previous books in the Anatomy of series). If nothing else, it’s got the best Kickstarter video I’ve seen.
Molly Templeton tries to answer Why Do We Read What We Read?—”I don’t have anything resembling a scientific answer for this, and if there is one, quite honestly I don’t want to know.”
If you’ve looked at this blog at since Monday, you’ve noticed that it’s Self-published Authors Appreciation Week—Be sure to look at the SPAAW ’22 Hub for oodles of great stuff. I’d especially point you to the Before We Go Blog “…To Add to your TBR” posts (not all are currently on the Hub, but will be added soon)
Reading Science-Fiction: An Experiment and Reading Project (Part 1)
On Comfort Reading
The Books That Made Us: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Spider-Man’s Social Dilemma by Preeti Chhibber—looks to be a fun, MG, Spider-Man novel. And no, this didn’t get added to my list because of the cover. Well, not just because of the cover.
An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy—”An unwitting private eye gets caught up in a crime of obsession between a reclusive literary superstar and her bookseller husband, paying homage to the noir genre just as smartly as it reinvents it.”

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Sonam Tsering and Susan Grossey who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.

I’m going to start this week with a hearty Thank You to Peat Long for the shoutout in their Friday Five post yesterday. If you’re not following that blog, now’s the time to fix that.

No New Releases caught my eye this week—so I won’t be trying to add on to your TBR (or mine)—but that likely means I missed something. Anyone want to point something out?

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:
Why inappropriate books are the best kind—An Op-Ed from the LA Times.
14 ways to get out of a reading slump—Some advice from Washington Post readers. A couple of these don’t show up on every reading slump advice piece I’ve seen.
Librarian Alex Brown provided a list of ways non-library people can help your local library
7 Fiction Books That Change The Way You Think—some good TBR fodder and a great last paragraph.
Author Commentary on the Ending of the Alex Verus Series—Benedict Jacka starts to look back at how he ended the Alex Verus series and a couple of ways he considered ending things.
A Quickie With…. M.W. Craven—a fun Q&A with M. W. Craven
Maps and Mapping in Fantasy by W.P. Wiles—W.P. Wiles dropped by FanFiAddict this week to talk about maps in Fantasy novels in general and his new novel in particular
Coincidentally, Sheldon Comics posted this comic about Fantasy Novels the other day
Book Twitter Will Always Be at War With Itself: To read or not to read? That is the question
The Vampire Chronicles: Experts Weigh in On Literature’s Best Vampires—It looks like a decent list overall (not familiar as I could be with all the entries), but I’m including this solely for the last vampire.
An off-the-cuff comment by Jennings on a correct response on Jeopardy! reignited the debate about Narnia reading order
The Anarchism of the Dresden Files by CT Phipps—Might be the best thing I read this week.
Audiobooks vs Reading Print/Ebooks: Are Audiobooks good for you or what?—The fact this comes from Lovely Audiobooks probably gives away the answer…
Reading and Its Effects on your Emotions
Self-published Authors Appreciation Week 2022—is next week. Be sure to keep your eye on the SPAAW 2022 Hub to read all the good posts. I’ve got one post ready, need to get crackin’ on the rest.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Libro.fm has recently started a podcast to talk all things audiobook. This week, I listened to Episode 01 “Meet the Founders”. I’d never wondered about how they started, but it hooked me. Looking forward to seeing where it goes from there.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to tinareadsallthebooks and Kimberly who followed the blog this week.

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:
Ever used real bacon as a bookmark? Library workers share their more unusual finds in returned or donated books.
TV: America’s Next Great Author—Nothing says “gripping reality TV” like a bunch of writers. I’d be snarkier, but I think Nick Kolakowski said it better than I could.
Libby is stuck between libraries and publishers in the e-book war
Comic-book sales had their best year ever in 2021 — and this year is on pace to be even better. Here’s what’s behind the surge, from manga to ‘Dog Man.’
Nadine Matheson: In the Mind of a Killer: The author considers whether her work as a criminal defense lawyer allows her to more easily move into the minds of killers.
100 Years of Popular Books on Goodreads—They went year by year, “picking the most popular books published over the past 100 years, as determined by Goodreads members’ digital shelves.”
Tips for Battling Reader’s Guilt—It’s a little NetGalley-centric (which makes sense given the source), but there’s some applicability beyond that site, too
Find Your One “Must Read” Book of Summer 2022!
Some Thoughts on Multiple PoVs and Plot Strands—Peat’s on to something here
A Day in the Life of a Rural Public Librarian
10 (Not So) Easy Steps to Cure A Book Hangover
Let’s Talk About: Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week—There’s just one week until SPAAW 2022 kicks off, are you in?

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Dresden Files Podcast Episode 161: Jim Butcher and James Marsters for The LAW!—Recorded on Publication Day for The Law, but I just listened to it this week. They cover the novella a bit, but spend most of the time talking about recording audio books, a glimpse into Butcher’s next projects, and a little mutual admiration.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Binding Room by Nadine Matheson—Matheson’s The Jigsaw Man was one of my favorite debuts last year, I can’t wait to see what trouble she’s put Anjelica Henley into this time.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Celeste | A Literary Escape and Robert Jones who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

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:
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. 🙂
Publishers, Internet Archive File Dueling Summary Judgment Motions in Scan Suit
‘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?
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…
Exclusive Cover Reveal + Excerpt: Vampire Weekend Is a Punk Rock Tale of Found Family—Chen’s tackling vampires next? Color me excited.
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.
Rex Stout: Logomachizing—a great essay on Stout and Nero Wolfe.
Why We Love Horror—I mean, I don’t love horror, but for those who do…
Book Blogger Stats Survey Results: 2022—a good look at the state of book blogging
Book Relaxation—on rediscoveringreading

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
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
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.
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.
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!

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:
The most beautiful bookshops in the world—I’m not the traveling type, but I like pretending I’m the kind of guy who’d travel around to browse at places like this
What Happened? Banned Books in Nampa—A few weeks ago, I talked about a local bookstore’s response to a school district’s book ban. They provide an update.
How Did Shakespeare Kill (And Heal) His Characters?—I meant to include this a couple of months ago, but after seeing it again this week, I got a second chance.
From Criminal Lawyer to Criminal Writer—Nadine Matheson describes her shift from the former to the latter
Why Does It Take So Long to Publish a Book?—Lincoln Michel responds to the recent Twitter conversation about how long publishing can take
Overheard At Bookstr: Confessions Of A Bookworm
Witty & Sarcastic Book Club continues their tour of Fantasy Sub-Genres with Fantasy Focus: Historical Fantasy with these interviews:
Historical Fantasy Featuring N.C. Koussis
Historical Fantasy Featuring Angela Boord
Historical Fantasy Featuring G.M. White
Historical Fantasy Featuring J.T.T Ryder
Historical Fantasy Featuring Marian L. Thorpe
YA Fiction Snobbery Needs to Stop. Right now.—I think I’d quibble a bit with a point or two, but yeah, it needs to stop.
Why I still like using ratings (even if they’re imperfect)—Spot on.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Short Tails by Spencer Quinn—a small collection of short stories featuring Chet and Bernie to tide readers over until the next novel. They look pretty fun to me.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to KarensWildWorld who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger!

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:
Whither Children’s Bookselling? asks Publishers Weekly
In Defense of Unsympathetic Protagonists
Copywriter Slash Novelist: How My Career in Advertising Helped Shape Me as a Novelist—Matthew Norman talks about some of the lessons he carries with him today
Summer Reading Assignments for Grown-Ups
“Dance” like no one’s watching, but for bookish types
Canva 101: How to Use Canva as a Book Influencer—I really need to play around with this post next time I try to display my lack of graphic design ability
The NeBUloUs Topic of ARCs—a dose of sagacity from The Orangutan Librarian
Novels with Terrific Opening Lines—Jami Fairleigh shares some of her favorites
Book Quotes to Love in 2022—Read Betwixt Worlds shares some favorites from this year

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Page Break with Brian McClellan Ep 44 – Scott Lynch—Good conversation about mental health, writing, Lynch’s plans, and more.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Self-Made Widow by Fabian Nicieza—Profiler-turned-suburban mom and recently-no-longer-disgraced journalist team up on a murder investigation again. I am very excited about this follow-up to one of last year’s best debuts.
Movieland by Lee Goldberg—the strongest outing yet for rookie detective Eve Ronin, as she and her partner investigate a killing in a State Park.
One Decisive Victory by Jeffrey H. Haskell—I won’t look at the description of this one until I read the second book in a couple of weeks here, but as much as I enjoyed Book 1, I’m happy to see that it’s out.

Weeks (like this one) where I don’t have a lot of fodder for this post always make me wonder: Did I have an off week? Was it just one of those weeks where everyone was thinking about other things? Does it matter—it takes three things to make a list, as long as I have that…
I tend to lean toward the last one, my streak of these is long enough that as long as I’ve got those three…

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:
29 Works of Nonfiction You Need to Read This Summer—I will not be reading any of these this summer (which goes for all of LitHub’s summer lists), but most of these look interesting a couple might find their way to the Fall list.
Constable signs three more titles from Craven in six-figure deal—The lines there about “global brand” and “North American rights” warm my heart. The idea of not having to put up with the cost/time (mostly time) involved in getting Craven from the UK makes me very happy.
When Will Novels Fix Society Already?—I dunno…tell me the U.S. hasn’t been “fixed” into a dystopian/cyberpunk prequel? We just need to pick better books (see also: less pretentious works than this piece talks about)
Peat Long posted a couple of good ones this week (well more than a couple, but I’m sharing two): Secondary Belief vs Suspension of Disbelief—Secondary Belief is a term I’ve been grasping after for months. Good stuff…
As much as I enjoyed that post, and will be reacting to it (not that anyone but me will likely be able to tell) for a while, On Objectivity as a Reviewer is better.
10 Quick Takes on Common Bookish Controversies—Sure, I’d co-sign 80% of this (likely 90%, if pushed, but my reflex is to shudder at the upscaling idea). If I disagreed, it’d still be a fun post to read.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Trouble with the Cursed by Kim Harrison—the latest Hollows novel dropped this week, it looks like Rachel has some cleaning up to do/keep doing after last year’s novel.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Shristy Singh, who followed the blog this week.

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:
‘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.
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.
The Ever-Shifting Challenge of Promoting Literature in Translation
The Transformations of Pinocchio: How Carlo Collodi’s puppet took on a life of his own.
Crime Reads posted a couple good pieces on Crime Fiction and humor this week:
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.
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
How about some great news from Scott Lynch on Twitter a couple of days ago!
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)
Is Genre Defined by Content or Worldview?
Mood Reader!—Rabhya Maini discusses the whys and hows of mood reading
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.
The Problem with Mood Reading—Kopratic details the many ways they’re not a mood reader.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.