Category: Saturday Miscellany Page 8 of 25

I didn’t find as much fodder for this post as I expect this week—I’m guessing the holiday mid-week in the US didn’t help. Or maybe it’s the excessive heat frying everyone’s brains. Or maybe everyone spent too much time trying out Threads. Or maybe I was looking in the wrong places.

That last one is likely the case.

Anyway…quality over quantity 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:
How Novellas Became Novels
Books about books are catnip for avid readers. This week there’s a bumper crop—The L.A. Times helps us all spend money/add to our TBR with this one
How To Balance Between Imagination and Facts: Or, a look at the difference between “based on” and “inspired by”
We Need to Tell a Different Kind of Love Story—An argument for friendship stories. Yes, a hundred times, yes.
Why Cozy Mystery’s Amateur Sleuths Are Not Just Busy-Bodies—the key to a cozy is this point, I think.
Key/Egg Reviewed in the Current Issue of F&SF, Eight Years After Publication—Harry Connelly talks about an unexpected and late review of one of his novels (my personal favorite)
Why Harry Potter’s Hedwig Would Make a Terrible Pet—another bubble is burst.
Witty & Sarcastic Book Club continued this great series: Poetry and Song in SFF
…Featuring Ricardo Victoria
…Featuring Rowena Andrews
…Featuring Carol Carman
…Featuring A.R. Witham
…Featuring Steven McKay
Meet The Blogger: Nick Borelli from Out of this World—a nice interview with Borelli
Book Things I’m Bored Of—Monstrumology sounds off

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Crime Time FM MW ‘MIKE’ CRAVEN In Person With Paul—a great chat with Craven. I loved hearing the two talking about Bazell’s Beat the Reaper, a personal favorite.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Flop Dead Gorgeous by David Rosenfelt—Andy Carpenter defends an old and now famous friend. I had a lot of fun with this one (as per usual).
The Last Dance by Mark Billingham—I’ve enjoyed Billingham for years as a podcast host and guest, but I’ve never read him. The launch of this new series puts an end to that.

It seemed like my dogs were conspiring against me completing this post today—but if you’re reading this, it means I outsmarted them.

That seems like a low bar to overcome, but some days I swear they’re smarter than me (I realize I’m opening myself up to some fun in the comments here).

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:
Is This the Oldest Book in the World?—from a “notebook recording tax accounts for beer and oil in Greek around 260 BC.” Of course it has to do with taxes.
On the Pitfalls of Book Promotion in the Internet Age—as with most things by Tom Rachman, this is a good read. “Promoting a book can derange you. After years of quiet toil and noisy typing, you clutch a published book, and step forth to meet the public, eight billion humans who, mystifyingly, seem not to know that your new novel just came out.”
Speaking of book promotion, Goodreads Has No Incentive to be Good
Holding Out for More Heroes—I’ve never understood the anti-Paladin stance, personally. Sign me up for more, too.
Amazon Product Names for Famous Literary Objects
5 SFF Books Whose Plot Is Centered Around Music—When I saw the headline, I assumed Tabler was goig to overlook Year Zero (like seemingly everyone but the bookseller that hand sold it to me years ago)—instead, she lead off with it! The rest of the list is populated by books I’ve been meaning to get to, and probably should.
Witty & Sarcastic Book Club has another series definitely worth the time to check out: Poetry and Song in SFF—I’m not saying this is going to turn me into one of those people who don’t skip those bits, but it might.
Featuring J.E. Hannaford
Featuring Michael Williams
Featuring T.R. Peers
Featuring K.R.R. Lockhaven—(I actually do read most—maybe all—of the verse in his books)
Featuring Joshua Gillingham
Featuring Ashley Anglin
Engagement: Bringing Authors and Reviewers Together—a must-read for bloggers/authors (IMHO)
What are Graphic Novels: An Introduction for Beginners
Five Ways to Tackle Your TBR—I’m not sure I understand the last method…people do this?
Should Adults Recommend Older Books to Kids?

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Fiction Fans Whiskey & Publishing with Nicholas Eames & Peter McLean—a fun chat about publishing with Eames and McLean (with a little bit from Sara and Lilly)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Necessity of Rain by Sarah Chorn—probably the best prose released this week, and likely the most heart-breaking book, too. And I don’t even know anything about the book, it’s just what you expect from Chorn.
The Imposters by Tom Rachman—As with Chorn, I know I want to read it without knowing anything about it, but I went ahead and read the description, which starts: “Dora Frenhofer, a once successful but now aging and embittered novelist, knows her mind is going. She is determined, however, to finish her final book, and reverse her fortunes, before time runs out. Alone in her London home during the pandemic, she creates, and is in turn created by, the fascinating real characters from her own life.”
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson—the title sells it. “Sanderson meshes Jason Bourne and epic fantasy in this captivating adventure that throws an amnesiac wizard into time travel shenanigans—where his only hope of survival lies in recovering his missing memories.”
The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis—a Rom-Com featuring alien abduction and a theme wedding? Hard not to be curious.

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

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:
23 Wonderful Benefits of Reading to Empower You—I’ve linked to posts in the past that mention most of them, but not as many of these benefits in one place before. (you can also use these benefits as justifications for your habit when you don’t want to just say “I like it”)
The Western Gothic in Film, Music, and Literature: A Primer
The Challenges of Blending History and Steampunk—this is a good post from Jonathan Fesmire—can probably apply to other genres as well.
LordTBR’s How-To Guide: Using NetGalley as a Reviewer—a handy-dandy guide I could’ve really used when I started with NetGalley (and can still profit from).
Don’t Save Books!—hear, hear
When Writers Seemingly Don’t Trust Their Audience—Krysta raises a lot of good points here.
Can We Read Books With ‘Bad’ Themes?—Eustacia follows up that post with this one.
A Legacy of Reviewing? Random things my dad taught me about books
Fantastic Fae: Books with Faeries, Changelings and Pesky Pixies—Witty & Sarcastic Book Club looks at the spectrum of Fae portrayals in Fiction.
I can’t remember how I came across Mark Lawrence’s Goodreads review of Green Eggs and Ham, but I’m so glad I did. It was so good I almost bought all of his books in response (I do really need to get around to trying his fiction one day…)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Evidence Pool by Ian Robinson—the long-awaited (by me, anyway) fourth book in the Nash & Moretti series. Our Met detectives have to solve a locked-house mystery in the London home of a Russian oligarch.
Junkyard War by Faith Hunter—the third novella in the Shining Smith trilogy (?) is out in print for those who weren’t into the Audible Original format.
Because the Night by James D.F. Hannah—”Backed with campaign funds from the owner of the local strip club, ex-state trooper and recovering alcoholic Henry Malone’s running for sheriff. But because he can’t say no to a bad idea, he also agrees to look for a pregnant woman’s missing ex-con boyfriend. With his well-armed AA sponsor Woody in tow, Henry’s search for the boyfriend soon connects with a homicide investigation run by Lt. Jackie Hall—probably the last cop in West Virginia who still likes Henry.” This sounds great—and it’s the sixth in a series, so I’ve got a whole new series to dive into. (thanks to Nick Kolakowski for this tip—incidentally, Kolawkowski’s got a store set up on his website now, so you can easily dive into all the goodness he has there)

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to holley4734 of chasing destino, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.

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 big idea: do we need to dismantle the literary canon?—it’s a perennial question, that almost perennially renders interesting ideas, like this one.
Why you should read horror (even if it scares you)—I’m not sure I’m convinced, but…
AI Writing Proves The Author Is Very Much Alive
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the TBR Pile—something I need to read every time I start to feel bad about my mountain
The great Gail Simone asked “What was the first novel that you felt taught you something meaningful?”—the resulting Twitter thread is great to read #ThisBookTaughtMeSomething
When Counting Gets You Nowhere—for a guy who spends time every month thinking about numbers, it may seem strange for me to say how much I liked this post. I’m still going to talk about numbers because it scratches a particular mental itch, but Bookforager is right about what counts.
My Ideal Summer Reading Program—Similar point, just as good.
5 Ways to Spend More Time Reading—most of these ideas aren’t new to the topic, but Amanja’s spin is good enough to read. #5 is so, so, true.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Let Me Tell You a Story Podcast 140: The Irresponsible Reader—features this guy doing his best to sound interesting

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Robert B. Parker’s Bad Influence by Alison Gaylin—Gaylin takes the baton from Lupica for this series and has Sunny protect a social media influencer. I’ll hopefully have something posted about this soon.
100 Places to See After You Die by Ken Jennings—an entertaining and informative tour guide through afterlifes. I had a lot of fun with it.
George the Bannana: Book Two by Elliott Linker—George and Elliot return to take on the bad guys from Book One. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the local 9-year-old creator handles this follow-up.
The Worst We Can Find: MST3K, RiffTrax, and the History of Heckling at the Movies by Dale Sherman—I cannot read that title without singing “la! la! la!” Looks good.
Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis—a satire about reality TV, billionaire-funded space travel and environmentalism, and maybe more.
On Earth as It Is on Television by Emily Jane—a novel about First Contact and contemporary American culture
Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris—pop culture and cultural critique

If anyone sees this today and then sees me at the event I’m at this afternoon. The image at the bottom is totally coincidental and is in no way a commentary on what I think this afternoon will be like.

(but, yeah, I will be).

Also, because I seem to be in that kind of mood: For the record, I only picked up one link here from Peat Long’s Friday Five–the others in common we found independently from one another. He doesn’t do all my research.

Enough of that…here’s the 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:
Every Country’s Highest-Rated Book by a Local Author—an impressive bit of data analysis.
The Battle of the Book Cover: Britain vs America—The folks at Electric Lit rank a few recent US and UK covers of the same books.
The release S.A. Cosby’s much-anticipated new book this week brings with it a couple of great interviews. This one with Friend of the Blog, Nick Kowlakowski, and this one with Maris Kreizman.
M.W. CRAVEN on his new thriller FEARLESS—Craven talks about the origins of his new novel, Fearless (coming soon!), and the series it launches.
Lit Hub has several Summer Reading lists for those of you still considering yours, among them are: The Ultimate Summer 2023 Reading List Or, the Count of Melty Crispo and The 28 Novels You Need to Read This Summer: The Lit Hub Staff Recommends Books for Beaches, Benches, Backyards, and BBQs
Or, if you’re trying to help out a younger reader build their list Library Reads: Summer Reading Recommendations for Middle Grade & Teen Readers—(if you happen to be a younger reader yourself reading this Miscellany, let me know, I’m glad to know you exist)
63 Best Historical Fiction Books Ever Written
Do You Ever Stop and Think About Paragraphs?—Yes. Ever since a professor wrote about worrying about my “anemic little paragraphs” blowing away in the wind on a paper. (think I still got a B on it) But I like seeing other people stop and do it, too.
Author Interview: JCM Berne, author of “Wistful Ascending”—Eclectic Theist has a good Q&A with Berne.
Does Everyone Need to Have a Love of Reading?—No, and Pages Unbound does a good job answering why. Just don’t tell my kids or grandkid that I said that 🙂
Having Read vs Reading—I may have to adopt this myself.
Why Do I Give Books 4 Stars Instead of 5 Stars?—a great job trying to explain what can feel like a slippery difference.
Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub Presents: The Hero’s Journey and Modern Fantasy—Beth Tabler from Before We Go Blog, David (Book Meanderings) from FanFi Addict, Peatlong from Peat Long’s blog, and Filip Magnus from The Grimoire Reliquary join Jodie for a discussion. Earlier in the week I called this “the only blog post you need to read this week.” Here at the end of the week, I agree with myself.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Fiction Fans Author Interview: Death in Fine Condition by Andrew Cartmel—Cartmel talks about his new series for a bit, and convinces me that I should move it up on the TBR pile

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby—”The first Black sheriff in a small Southern town faces a questionable shooting, a Confederate pride march, and a serial killer.” That’s good enough for me. I was sure I’d ordered this, but I seem to have forgotten to. I’ll have to wait until next week to have it sitting neglected on my shelf. But man, it looks so good.
Charm City Rocks: A Love Story by Matthew Norman—”When a single dad meets the former rock-star crush of his youth, everything they thought they knew about happiness and love is thrown into chaos in this hopeful, heartwarming romantic comedy.”
Death in Fine Condition by Andrew Cartmel—the first in a new series, The Paperback Sleuth. Cordelia is a rare paperback collector/dealer who burgles an elusive set from one of the most dangerous men in London. Things ensue.

This week started off strong for me and then fell apart quickly (6 posts left undone and unposted). The non-blog life got interesting, no horrible events occurred just a couple of things that were ill-timed and long. So today I’m going to scramble to get as caught up as I can. Also, this blog’s really dull Instagram page got suspended because someone claimed I was harvesting user data or something like that. Pshaw. Even if I wanted to, I don’t possess the know-how. Sounds like too much work. (really easy fix, but it was just one other thing I didn’t need)

I do want to take a moment and thank all the readers for the texts, comments, tweets, etc. about the 10th Anniversary. They meant a lot to me–I think I’ve thanked you all individually, but just in case. Thanks for being around and reading.

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:
Here’s a Way to Make Sure You Actually Read the Books You Buy—This might actually work. Odds that I’ll try it? Extremely low.
Publisher Drops Author After TikTok Backlash and GoodReads Review Bombing—I saw the author’s video retweeted a few times–and IF Stusek was joking as she claims, that should be the last time she jokes in public, because she’s just not good at it. I’m not sure the Goodreads bombing and the publisher’s reaction was warranted, but it is 2023, Stusek had to know it was coming.
1,001 Novels: A Library of America—An interactive map of the novels that depict the USA. I’m linking to the introduction, you need to take a moment and check out the map itself (and find yourself taking more than a moment). Actually, I’m thiiiis close to spending the rest of the morning on the site itself and never finishing this post or anything much else today.
10 Things You Might Not Know About NetGalley
10 Screen Adaptations Much, Much Worse Than The Books They’re Based On—I’ve only seen The Hobbit movies (sometimes because they seemed to be lousy adaptations). But this looks like a good list. Anyone have one to add? Anyone want to defend one of these? I’m curious.
2023’s Wyrd & Wonder is over, here are the last week Quest Logs from Dear Geek Place and The Book Nook. A lot of good material was produced this year, and I’m so glad that Peat Long pointed me to these Quest Logs so I could sorta keep up with some of it.
Book Blogging in 2023 Survey: Book Blogger Survey Results and Statistics
Step by Step Guide On How to Win a Booker Prize—It’s pretty clear that The Booker Prize isn’t really the Orangutan Librarian’s thing, but that doesn’t mean that this post isn’t chock-full of great advice for aspirants
I’m Not Convinced Book Bloggers Need AI—I should’ve realized that this was a thing to think about, but I didn’t until I read this post.
On Fantasy as the Genre of Recovery—Good ol’ Peat nails it here. To his point: I’ve done a little thought-experiment to see if I could write a companion piece on Detective/Crime Fiction and the answer is: not really (Urban Fantasy, which is so frequently a mashup of Detective and Fantasy, straddles the line).
On My Radar: May 2023—if you’re not checking in on A Literary Escape frequently, you ought to at least take a peak at their monthly On My Radar posts. (but checking in on the blog frequently would be a good idea)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Man on a Murder Cycle by Mark Pepper—a vengeful motor cycle rider, a violent plagiarism scheme, and a week’s worth of surprises await you in this thriller. I had a bit to say about it earlier this week.
A Necromancer Called Gam Gam by Adam Holcombe—It’s a book with the word “necromancer” in the title and it’s described as cute. That’s almost enough reason to read this right there. The early reviewers singing the praises of this novella seal the deal. I’m 10% in and think my voice will be one of that choir soon.

No real time for an introduction today (“No blather,” you all cheer) for what feels like a very miscellany list. Hope you enjoy and have a good long* weekend!

* From what I can tell this applies to almost every reader that stops by location, if not by current vocation. If this doesn’t apply to you, I hope you have a good regular-sized weekend, or at least one day off.

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:
Independent bookselling expanded again in 2022, with new and diverse stores opening nationwide—groovy news.
I’ve read almost 50 books so far and the year is not halfway over. Here’s how.
The State Of Being A Published Writer In 2023 Is Really Weird, And A Little Worrisome—Chuck Wendig has a few things to say (and do keep reading through the end)
The big idea: why you should embrace your inner fan—Not about reading per se, but it applies
How do You Write Compelling Characters? Find the Source of Their Pain—I’ve read a few books by Copperman, and “pain” isn’t the first word I’d associate with his material. But reading this, it makes a lot of sense.
Do You Know Who Illustrated This Classic Wrinkle in Time Cover?—I don’t know how I’d managed to forget this cover (I likely spent as much time looking at this cover as I did reading the book the umpteen times I did read it as a kid).
Dos and Don’ts for Reading Outside—the last “Don’t” is where I always failed until I got a backyard, and, well…
Place and Tome: On Two Kinds of Unforgettable Reading Experiences
CrimeBookJunkie turned 8 this week!—Congrats to Noelle Holten for hitting this landmark! Hope it’s just the beginning.
I missed this last week, but Beth Tabler has assembled a great list of 100 Fantastic Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories Written by Women #100 – 70, #69 – 34, and #33 – 1
Hanna’s Holy Grail or White Whale—a bookseller’s hunt for a beloved childhood novel
Book Confessions: I’ll Never Outgrow YA Books
This worked out so well last week, I’ll just repeat it. Check out the Week 3 Wyrd and Wonder Quest Logs at Dear Geek Place and The Book Nook
The Fantasy Hero Blues—Peat Long’s latest contribution to Wyrd & Wonder

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon (I have the impression that I’m forgetting one or two…):
The Moonshine Messiah by William Johnson—this looks too good. A woman sheriff in WV has to tangle with an anti-government militia led by her brother.

So, I saw Craig Johnson at a local bookstore last night, I’ll probably say more about that soon–but I’ll just leave it with, if you have the opportunity–take it. Even if you’ve never read him (or watched the show based on his novels). The man is a natural-born storyteller.

Before the Miscellany, let me ask one more time for questions to answer as part of my upcoming 10th Blogiversary commemoration. I’ve got some great ones already, but why not add yours to the stack?

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:
Public Libraries Deserve Better Than Thistitle
Intellectual Freedom and Why We Must Fight For It
Patrick Rothfuss announced a new novella—this great bearded glacier has something coming out this year! Sure, it’s focused on a character I really don’t understand the fascination with…but so what? I’m beyond excited for this.
The Work of the Audiobook
All the Monsters in Jane Eyre—I don’t buy all of this piece…but I’m not sure how much I disagree with it, either. Regardless, a good read about a great book.
Samantha Irby Refuses to Organize Her Piles of Books—Irby remains on my “should get around to trying list” but for some reason I clicked on this brief Q&A and really enjoyed it
How To READ Audiobooks! (In 6 EASY Steps)—a handy video from Shelf Centered
How Junie B. Jones Saved Dinnertime—how one book series really connected with one young reader
James Cook Artwork—barely connected to the subject here…but this artwork created on typewriters is a must-see
Molly Templeton has put together a list of A Few Reading Suggestions for When You Really Ought To Stop Playing Tears of the Kingdom—I thought about passing this along to one of my sons, but I think it might make him stop talking to me if I suggested something as preposterous as stopping playing it.
Into Reading – The Hunger Games—1. Good post on The Hunger Games. 2. A fantastic idea for a series of posts over on Fi’s Bibliofiles…
SFF Book Recs for Autism Acceptance Month—Justin Gross knows his SFF and shows it in this post
5 Reasons To Read Middle Grade Books As An Adult—I wish I’d read this post earlier in the week than I did–I tried saying some of the same things in my first abandonded post for The Manifestor Prophecy, I could’ve just referenced this and maybe saved the post.
Arthurian Retellings Reading List—I’m tempted to turn this into my 2024 TBR
How to Read More
I feel like I should be linking to as many Wyrd and Wonder posts as I can…but why duplicate the efforts of Dear Geek Place and The Book Nook when I can just link to their Quest Logs instead?
Why do moms get sidelined in SFF?—A great question that more people need to answer

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Only Truly Dead by Rob Parker, Narrated by: Warren Brown—the Audible Original Thirty Miles trilogy wraps up. I had to stop about an hour from the ending yesterday–which drove me nuts, but I knew if I kept going I wouldn’t be able to stop until it was done and the friend I was meeting for dinner probably would’ve been annoyed by that. If you’ve been sleeping on this series, you have no reason to any more.
Harold by Steven Wright—a stream-of-consciousness novel from the POV of a 3rd grader in the 1960s over one day of school. Looks fantastic.
Killing Me by Michelle Gagnon—the tagline sells it, “She escaped a serial killer. Then things got weird.” A funny (?) novel about a woman who is rescued from a serial killer, ends up in legal trouble, and runs to Vegas while being pursued by a killer. Or something along those lines…
The Dog Sitter Detective by Antony Johnston—the first in a series of cozy mysteries about a retired actress turned dog-sitter/amateur detective (with a promise that nothing bad will happen to the dogs)

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:
“Free People Read Freely.” Read Librarian Tracie D. Hall’s Full TIME100 Speech
Author T.J. Newman’s Open Letter To Dreamers Who Read Deadline—I don’t know if you know the story of Newman’s path to publication, but if you don’t here’s your chance. Even if you don’t care about her, this is a good call to keep dreaming. (I’ve yet to read Newman, because from what I can tell about her writing, she’s just going to make some of my phobias worse, and I like them in their current almost-debilitating status)
Similarly, there’s To All the Novels I Never Published from Bryan VanDyke
Do Great Actors Make Great Novelists?—prompted by the new novel byTom Hanks
The folks over at Digitaltrends have assembled The Best Books Of All Time, Ranked—based on Goodreads ratings. So…you know…you’ll want to take this with a few boulder-sized grains of salt. I still found both the Fiction and Non-Fiction lists intriguing to read.
Welcome to Wyrd and Wonder—the kick-off post for the month-long Fantasy Fest. There’s just so much good content being produced by book bloggers for this that I can’t even try to keep up with it—but what I’ve seen here and there makes me want to try.
The Culture of the Fantasy Genre

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Steven Wright—Normally, I’ll take any excuse to share something about Steven Wright, but I do try to keep this post to book-ish content—thankfully, this appearance was prompted by Wright’s upcoming novel, so I can justify it. Also, Steven Wright wrote a novel?!?!? I’m so there. (if you just want the part about his novel, here’s a video excerpt)
Page Break with Brian McClellan Ep 68 – Travis Baldree – Author and Narrator—a great conversation about both Baldree’s writing and the recording of audiobooks.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Fixit by Joe Ide—IQ/Isaiah Quintabe is back, baby! (I truly wondered if the series had concluded…the previous book would’ve worked as one) This time he’s facing off with a hitman out for revenge and a homicide detective wanting to put IQ in his place.
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence—”Two strangers find themselves connected by a vast and mysterious library containing many wonders and still more secrets.” Is very vague, but I think that quotation is about as good as I can do without reading it. I’ve seen a lot of talk this week about this book (most very positive). Lawrence has been someone I’ve meant to read for ages, and this just might push me to it.

(I don’t have a source for this, so I can’t provide a link to it…)

Teeny-tiny list today, but I make up for it in the New Releases…

In case you missed it earlier this week, I’m collecting questions to answer as part of my upcoming 10th Blogiversary commemoration. I’ve got some great ones already, but I could use some more! (I’ve received a couple of less-than-great ones, too—they’re just as welcome, so there’s no pressure to ask something compelling)

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 Big Idea: What if censoring books only makes them more popular?
Please Eat in the Library—I could get behind this
Reading books is not just a pleasure: it helps our minds to heal—a look at bibliotherapy
What Tone Peat Likes—The last installment in this series

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Thriller Zone Episode 130 Season 4: New York Times bestselling author Don Winslow of City of Dreams—a great conversation with Winslow that I didn’t want to end.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah—what if instead of executing murderers, we made them gladiators? A stunning read that I tried to describe this week.
Swamp Story by Dave Barry—Another strong and zany novel about Florida from Barry. I had a great time reading it.
Miles Morales Suspended by Jason Reynolds—Miles has to serve in-school suspension and save the day. Should be a challenge. Reynolds’ previous YA novel about Miles was my (I know this is wrong) first introduction to the character and made me a fan. I’m excited to jump back into things here.
Something Bad Wrong by Eryk Pruitt—a true-crime podcaster tries to solve the 50-year-old murder that her grandfather, a sheriff’s deputy, couldn’t.
Little Ghost Audiobook by Chris McDonald, Robert G. Slade (Narrator)—McDonald’s American PI novel is now in audio. I really liked the print version, and am looking forward to giving this a listen.