Category: Books Page 1 of 136

WWW Wednesday—November 20, 2024

On November 20, 2024

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

I can’t think of an introductory paragraph (or even a sentence) today. So let’s just jump into things:

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?


Instinct: An Animal Rescuers Anthology edited by L. J. Hachmeister	Running and Jumping by Steven Kedie	Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture–and the Magic That Makes It Work by Jesse David Fox

I’m almost certainly finishing the Kedie book today–it’s intense. I don’t know where it’s going to end up, but my blood pressure will be better when it does.

Instinct is a mixed bag–but mostly good. The Jim Butcher story made me so glad when I read it I wouldn’t care if the rest of the stories were horrible (they’re not, but I really would be fine with that).

Jesse David Fox is the kind of guy I’d like to talk comedy with, I have so many follow-up questions about the material in the first half of this book (not because he didn’t give enough information, I just want more). This is the kind of book I’ve wanted for ages.

What did you recently finish reading?


Teen Titans: Starfire by Kami Garcia, Gabriel Picolo (Illustrator)	The Late Lord Thorpe by Peter Grainger, read by Gildart Jackson

I really liked this take on Starfire (and Cyborg)–giving her Ehlers–Danlos syndrome was an interesting move (and might have got my daughter to read the whole series).

I’m already missing David Smith (and, yes, Grainger fooled me).

What do you think you’ll read next?


Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan	I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue, read by Nasim Pedrad

Altered Carbon is one of those that I think I might have read a couple of decades ago, but I’m not sure. Anyway, this is the book for the Sci-Fi book club.

it was a while ago that I put a hold on I Hope This Finds You Well at the library, and I honestly don’t remember what it was about the book that intrigued me. It looks promising, and I trust post-me. Mostly.

Tell me what you’re reading–help me feel like I’m not in this rut I’ve been in lately (you’ll note how slow things have been turning over here lately).

Book Blogger Hop: Annotate or Untouched?

By HCNewton

On November 18, 2024

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Whoa…it’s been 2 months since I’ve done one of these?

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Do you like to annotate your books or leave them untouched?

I’m not sure what kind of monster you take me for. Write in a book? I’d just as soon dog-ear a page. Yeah, yeah, yeah…history is replete with examples of marginalia (and it’s proved to be a helpful resource for scholars), and if you own a book, you should be able to write in it–some people insist on it. But every book in the H.C. Newton Not-Yet-Memorial Library is untouched by pen, pencil, highlighter, or (shudder) Sharpie (outside a handful of autographs, which is totally different*).

There are (at least) two reasons for this–I don’t want to ruin a book with my lousy handwriting, or inability to use a highlighter or pen to draw a straight line. Let’s keep these pretty. But more importantly, I don’t like to be trapped by what I thought was interesting, important, noteworthy, and so on last time I read a book–I want to get impressions this time. (if for no other reason than I don’t want to be disappointed in previous-me). Does this hamper going back to find that one quotation, that killer argument, that metaphor that rocked my thinking? Yes. And that has been a problem. Still…books that please my eyes are worth a little effort/memory-straining.

I’m apparently so well-known for this in my social circles that friends and acquaintances will apologize to me before showing a marked-up book. Which is unnecessary, if a little nice. I bear no ill will towards people who choose to riddle their books with graffiti, sure, I wonder about their priorities, but I know they do the same for mine 🙂 I actually used to know someone who’d borrow books from me and then end up buying me a new copy of whatever book they borrowed because they just had to write in something they read. That actually worked out pretty nicely for me.

* Or is it an inconsistency that frees me from Emersonian hobgoblins?

What about you, do you deface or keep ’em clean?

Saturday Miscellany—11/16/24

By HCNewton

On November 16, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

A small list this week–between be so tired after work this week that I didn’t have the energy to do much online, I seemed to have spent most of my social media time following new people on Bluesky rather than actually, you know, seeing what anyone was saying. The X-odus is real (and “Hi!!!” to anyone who’s here for the first time because of it.)

But I do know that miscellanies are going to get long soon, one post from Pages Unbound has pointed out to me that we’re about to enter the Season of Lists–which is both fun and overwhelming. (and budget straining). I’m pretty much looking forward to it, while also feeling daunted about having to come up with my own soon.

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 Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ can be imported in India after court is told 1988 ban order can’t be found—Dogs still eat homework, eh?
bullet Maximizing Time for Reading: Why reading—and reading widely—is more important than ever, and how to go about creating habits and practices to allow yourself the space and time
bullet Florida’s Education Dept. releases a list of over 700 books removed in K-12 schools —I can understand (if not agree with) why some of these were removed from schools…but you gotta shake your head at a lot of these
bullet Gifts for Babies and Toddlers (Board Book Edition) 2024—it’s that time of year again, isn’t it?
bullet 5 years of Spells & Spaceships: the journey so far and my 10 favourite books.—only 5? I thought I’d been reading this longer. And picking a top 10 from that period? No small feat.
bullet I’m Okay with Books Being Perceived and Sold as Products (Rather Than Art)—I get this. I may have a knee-jerk reaction against the premise, but I see Krysta’s point.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Under the Radar SFF Podcast Blogger Interview with Jodie from W&S Blog—to discuss authors, favorite stories, and Jodie’s love for Dragonlance. Haven’t listened to it yet, but am looking forward to it.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Poison Fruit by Jacqueline Carey
bullet Personal by Lee Child
bullet The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
bullet Pickles and Ponies: A Fairy-Tale by Laura May

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet From Great Heights by Bryan McBee—SF and Magic. Very curious to see what McBee does with this.

Game Night Book Tag 2

By HCNewton

On November 15, 2024

In Book Tag, Books, News/Misc.

Game Night Book Tag 2
Last week just as I was scheduling the publication of my responses to Game Night Book Tag, I thought, “ooh, I wish she’d included Game X and Game Y.” Next thing you know, I had a whole roster of games for this sequel (maybe I should say expansion pack?). If you use this version yourself, I’d ask that you include this post as well as the original from Witty and Sarcastic Book Club.

Pictionary: A Book with a Dynamite Cover

The cover of Pictionary boardgame and the cover of The Name of the Wind: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition by Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition by Patrick Rothfuss

I had a realy hard time narrowing this down to one, and had started to think of a different category/game (which was extra-annoying because this was the first one I thought of). But then I remembered this cover by artist Sam Weber and designer Paul Buckley and settled down. The original cover was more than good enough–but this one went the extra mile.

Stratego: A Book with an Epic Battle Scene (or Some Complicated Scheme)

The cover of Stratego boardgame and the cover of The Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

The Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

I could’ve named any number of thrillers, SF adventures, or Fantasy epics (and even as I type this, I fight off the impulse to make a half-dozen replacements). But there’s something just right about the way that Eames handles fight scenes–no matter the scale. But that last one? Chef’s kiss.

Candyland: A Book from Your Childhood that Brings Back Fond Memories

The cover of Candyland boardgame and the cover of The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Edwards

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Edwards

You thought I’d say The Westing Game here, didn’t you? It seems to be the first book from my childhood I tend to mention. But from Edwards’ descriptions of the characters–particularly the Whangdoodle himself, the solution to the big problem, and a large part of the setting–there’s little about this book that isn’t as sweet as Candyland. As for memories…from the time Mrs. Jennings first read this to our class through me repeatedly checking this out from the Library (and eventually it being the first hardcover book I remember getting), few books evoke fondness like this for me.

Sorry: A Book about Revenge

The cover of Sorry! boardgame and the cover of Light Bringer by Pierce Brown

Light Bringer by Pierce Brown

Okay, sure, any of Brown’s Red Rising qualifies as being “about revenge.” But Light Bringer seemed to be vengeancier than the rest.

(my post about it)

Life: A Book that Tells the Story of a Life

The cover of Life boardgame and the cover of A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, Henning Koch (translator)

From the flashbacks to his childhood or over the course of his marriage and up to the events that changed his life/attitude in his later years (and the last chapter that probably helps the bottom line for whatever facial tissue companies the readers use), this book is a sure-fire winner. Funny, touching, inspiring…Backman knows how to deliver the goods.

(my post about it)

Operation: A Book with a Lot of Technical Details (that may or may not be true)

The cover of Operation boardgame and the cover of Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

(I really should’ve thought about the two yellows there when I combined them into that image…gak)

First, Adjei-Brenyah gets the fight scenes (the ugly and the beauty) just right and delivers them in such a way that you feel like you can see them–and he gives enough detail in the SF-ish elements and all the rest to bring this to life. But the part that brought this book to mind for this category for me (and why I cancelled my first pick in its favor) are the footnotes–those that are actual documented history and those that are fictional (from a future to us, but history to the characters), these details, studies, and quoted documents add a weight and depth to the narrative to make this feel like a non-fiction work that had slipped through a wormhole to arrive in our time. (the narrative didn’t need that weight and depth, I stress…)

(my post about it)

Trivial Pursuit: A Fun Non-Fiction Book

The cover of Trivial Pursuit boardgame and the cover of The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

I probably use this too often for Non-Fiction prompts in Book Tags–but every alternative that I came up with didn’t feel as right. So…here we are. Wolfe’s book is probably my all-time favorite Non-Fiction, it captures the spirit of the Space Race, the way it depicts the individuals involved is so vivid and lifelike, the way the narrative moves, and Wolfe’s style make this both informative and enjoyabler.

(my post about it)

I don’t typically tag anyone in these, but I’m making an exception here. I’d love to see what Jodie has to say about my amendments.

Image by OTH Amberg-Weiden from Pixabay

WWW Wednesday—November 13, 2024

By HCNewton

On November 13, 2024

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

Every title in this post is one that I own. That doesn’t happen too often–it’s rather nice to have a bunch of things to decrease Mt. TBR all together like this.

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?


Instinct: An Animal Rescuers Anthology edited by L. J. Hachmeister	Running and Jumping by Steven Kedie	The Late Lord Thorpe by Peter Grainger, read by Gildart Jackson

I need some shorter reads that I can dip into here and there, so what better time to finally get around to this collection? Urban Fantasy stories starring some of my favorite fictional animals–how have I not read this yet?

And yeah, I decided to squeeze in another title before Kedie’s work, but I am getting this read now.

I’m still working through The Late Lord Thorpe–my job has been actively working against me listening to it a lot over the last few days (and will continue to do so through the end of the week), so I have no idea how long it will be before David Smith and his creator show me how wrong I was last week.

What did you recently finish reading?

The Wrong Hands
by Mark Billingham

I think DS Miller’s first adventure was a bit more on the amusing side–but this second book is so good that I didn’t care. This was a really compelling and twisty read.

What do you think you’ll read next?

1-800-CallLoki (The Loki Adventures Omnibus)
by Dawn Blair

This omnibus has been sitting near the top of my TBR for too long, it’s time to knock it out.

Given how long the new Grainger is taking me, and library due dates coming up, I honestly have no idea what my next audiobook will be (yes, the audiobook of What You Are Looking for Is in the Library had to be returned unlistened…the amount of work I’m putting into listening to this is outweighing my expectations, but at this point, it’s the principle of the thing)

What authors and titles have caught your attention lately?

Saturday Miscellany—11/9/24

By HCNewton

On November 9, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet Who’s Really Writing Celebrity Novels? The writers and agents working behind the scenes tell us how it actually works.
bullet Ranking 40 Popular Books That Are Actually Badly Written—this click-baity list is something largely to read to scoff at or argue with.
bullet The Book News is Generally… Good?—after those two stories and all the ick of the last couple of weeks, who couldn’t use a little bit of good news (no matter what you may think of Tuesday’s results, it’s hard to deny that things have been rather nasty lately).
bullet Dorothy Parker and the Art of the Literary Takedown: Her reviews are not contemptuous, a common pitfall for her imitators. They are simply unbridled in their dislike.—Okay, fine, if you’re going to be negative, do it like the Master. (I read so many people today that need to do this)
bullet The Novel and the Dictator: On the Man Who Criticized Stalin Yet Lived—I’m really glad that I discovered Nadya Williams this year.
bullet IYKYK: When Novels Speak a Language Only Part of the Internet Gets
bullet Out of This World: Books to Read When You Need an Escape—Just in case anyone is interested in that sort of thing…
bullet Comfort Reads: Feel-good Fiction for Rough Days—continuining the theme, Jodie has some great choices
bullet Let’s Talk About Book Boyfriends—a.k.a. Fictophilia (my weakness is for Book Dogs/Pets, but I get it…)
bullet September & October 2024 Community Posts!—Dini has collected some great posts can be found here.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
bullet The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey
bullet Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution by Keith R.A. DeCandido
bullet The Burning Room by Michael Connelly, So, Anyway… by John Cleese, Harry Harrison! Harry Harrison! by Harry Harrison, and Texts from Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg. (it’s been that long for the Ortberg?)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Teen Titans: Starfire by Kami Garcia, Gabriel Picolo (Illustrator)—My only real gripe with this series is the release timetable, so I’m really eager to dive in to see their take on Kory Anders.

Game Night Book Tag

By HCNewton

On November 7, 2024

In Book Tag, Books, News/Misc.

Game Night Book Tag
I’ve only seen this on one other blog–Witty and Sarcastic Book Club–which is also where it originated. Like Jodie said, these games aren’t my go-tos, but it was fun to revisit them. Just for fun, I tried to find images from the editions of the games that I used to play from.

Clue: A Book Featuring a Mystery

The Cover of the Clue boardgame and the cover of The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowall

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowall

Anyone who’s even glanced at this site knows I could go on and on and on here. But I limited myself to one–this is a fun mystery in a SF world. It’s basically The Thin Man in Space–classic mystery characters, classic mystery tropes, unclassic mystery setting–but you couldn’t tell from teh way that Kowall deals with it.

(my post about it)

Monopoly: A Book Focused on Treasure or Money

The cover of Monopoly boardgame and the cover of Tower of Babel by Michael Sears

Tower of Babel by Michael Sears

This is all about New York Real Estate–doesn’t get more focused on Money/Treasure than that. Not that Sears limits himself to that, but the other parts of the book featured on money don’t seem as intense.

(my post about it)

Ticket to Ride: A Book Featuring Travel

The cover of Ticket to Ride boardgame and the cover of Paradox Unbound by Peter Clines

Paradox Bound by Peter Clines

Paradox Bound jumped to mind when I thought of this category. It’s all about travel–both geographically and chronologically. Why stick to something as mundane as roaming the highways and byways of the world, when you can throw in history as well?

(my post about it)

The Settlers of Catan: A Book with a Lot Going On

The cover of The Settlers of Catan boardgame and the cover of The Cartel by Don Winslow

The Cartel by Don Winslow

There are so many plotlines, layers in plotlines, betrayals, set-ups, twists, suprises…saying there’s “a lot” going on feels like an understatement. Winslow’s a pro at this kind of thing–you don’t even notice how much happens until you stop and think about it afterwards.

Risk: A Book in Which an Attempt at Domination is Key to the Story

The cover of RISK boardgame and the cover of Kitty Saves the World by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Saves the World by Carrie Vaughn

Many, many books led up to this one–it’s for all the marbles, Kitty and her pack (of friends and wolves) vs. Roman. And if they lose, well, he wins everyething. Yet even in the midst of all that, Vaughn makes room for character moments, resolving arcs, and a satisfying series conclusion.

(my post about it)

Apples to Apples: A Book that Makes You Laugh

The cover of Apples to Apples boardgame and the cover of Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi

I could’ve put all sorts of things here, but I’d just had a conversation with someone about this book when I sat down to start working on this tag. So…

There’s some humor here about the entertainment industry (on both sides of the camera), about interpersonal relationships, Alien life, Aliens trying to blend in on Earth, the relationship between people and dogs, and…just generally funny stuff. I’ve read it multiple times, and listened to the audiobook once. Found it funny every time.
(my post about it)

Scrabble: A Book with Beautiful Writing

The cover of Scrabble boardgame and the cover of Seraphina's Lament by Sarah Chorn

Seraphina’s Lament by Sarah Chorn

It’s been 5+ years since I read this, and it still haunts me–not becuase the images and characters are haunting, but because Chorn’s writing is beautiful. I think of it frequently. I’ve read a number of her books, and they all have that teeth-achingly tragic-yet-beautiful/tragic-while-beautiful prose, but this is the one that stands tallest in my mind.

(my post about it)

Indie Board Game: An Indie or Self-published Book that Everyone Should Read

Some generic die and game pieces and the cover of Wistful Ascending by JCM Berne

Wistful Ascending by JCM Berne

I can name any number of Indie Books that more people should read. Several that many people should read. But everyone??? That’s a tall, tall, order.

I don’t know that Wistful Asending something that everyone should read. But most people should. Most people (everyone?) will find something in its pages they’ll enjoy, it’s got it all: Superheroes. Sentient space bears. Dinosaur-y/kaiju-y aliens. Talking spaceships. Fantastic Dialogue. Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True Love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest Ladies. Snakes. Spiders… Pain. Death. Brave men. Cowardly men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles. Er, wait. I think I started talking about a different book there. Eh, close enough.

(my post about it)

As usual, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with.

Image by OTH Amberg-Weiden from Pixabay

WWW Wednesday—November 6, 2024

By HCNewton

On November 6, 2024

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

Busy, busy, busy week here. I’m actually surprised I finished this at a semi-reasonable hour. I think I might have some better content coming in the next day or two…

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?


A Sky Full of Dragons by Tiffany McDaniel	The Late Lord Thorpe by Peter Grainger, read by Gildart Jackson

I’ve yet to fall under the charm of A Sky Full of Dragons, but I still fully expect to.

What did you recently finish reading?


Nobody’s Hero by M.W. Craven	The World According to Cunk: An Illustrated History of All World Events Ever by Philomena Cunk	Adventures in Cryptozoology: Hunting for Yetis, Mongolian Deathworms and Other Not-So-Mythical Monsters by Richard Freeman, read by Derek Perkins

I’ll be raving about Nobody’s Hero at the first opportunity I get. I had visceral reactions to this thriller.

Philomena Cunk’s latest has some real laugh-out-loud moments, as one would expect. I’ll expand on that really soon, too.

Adventures in Cryptozoology is the dullest imaginable book with that title. I think that’s intentional, but that doesn’t change my utter apathy about it. More soon, too.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Running and Jumping by Steven Kedie	What You Are Looking for Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, read by Hanako Footman, Susan Momoko Hingley, Kenichiro Thomson, Winson Ting, and Shiro Kawai

I’ve never been able to put my finger on it, but despite me not really caring about sports at all in the real world, I really get into a good sports novel. I’m told that’s what Running and Jumping is, so I might as well give it a whirl, right?

I actually borrowed the audiobook of What You Are Looking for Is in the Library this time. Getting the right file type should go a long way toward actually listening to it.

What are you using to distract yourself from the outside world this week?

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books on my TBR that intimidate me

By HCNewton

On November 5, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Top X List

This week’s topic is, “Top 5 books on my TBR that intimidate me” I haven’t done one of these in a minute, this seemed like a fun one to try.

In alphabetical order by author:

	The Annotated Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler Edited by Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson and Anthony Rizzuto I love The Big Sleep–it was my first Chandler novel, it’s the one I’ve read the most often. And the idea of learning more about it, getting background, digging into to some of the scholarship, etc. sounds great (which is why I ordered it months before it came out in 2018). But I haven’t been able to bring myself to read it–there’s part of me that doesn’t want to know that much about it (and I almost never say that kind of thing). I’m also a little afraid that it’s going to flip a switch and I’m going to spend months digging into Chandler scholarship in general.
	The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins I don’t know that intimidated is the best word, but I needed a fifth book. I’m more apprehensive about dipping back into that world. Also, apathetic. But sure…let’s go with intimidated.
	The Will in Its Theological Relations by John L. Girardeau 550 pages of a critique of Jonathan Edwards and a restatement of the classic Reformed position on the freedom and bondage of the will in dense 19th Century language. Yeah, that’s easy to see why I’m intimidated.
	Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley The Rook is such a good novel, but after seeing some not-as-good reviews, I’ve been putting it off since it was published. I just don’t want anything to tarnish The Rook in my mind. I should add that I haven’t seen bad reviews for Stiletto, just people who didn’t like it as much as I’d hoped. Which makes it different than the other books by O’Malley.
	Flynn’s World by Gregory Mcdonald Similarly, I just don’t know if I can muster up the courage to read this one. The Fletch novels that Mcdonald wrote in his later years were good enough, but they were missing something. I’m afraid that this would be the same way–that it came so many years after the Fletch books, makes me even more intimidated by it. The initial Flynn books are probably in my all-time favorite stack. I just don’t want to see it be tarnished. But there’s a chance I’m missing out on something really good.

Saturday Miscellany—11/2/24

By HCNewton

On November 2, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Whoo-hoo! Tonight’s the night where we get a bonus hour of reading!! (which makes up for the one in the spring where they steal one). At least that’s the case for us in the U.S. of A., the rest of you already got that bonus, 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:
bullet How To Find Comfort in Your Bookish Community in Stressful Times—Stressful times? What stressful times? Oh…right. Now. Silly me. (feel free to substitute the name of your local Indie Bookstore for “Rediscovered Books”)
bullet Have you purchased a weirdly low-quality paperback book lately? This may be why.—that’d explain it
bullet The Longest Long Words List: Don’t read this if you have hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (fear of long words).—try to work some of these into conversation this week.
bullet If You Like…by Olivia Blacke, author of A New Lease on Death—The TV shows that inspired the new book
bullet Grief Is the Thing Worth Feeling: On Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story
bullet Putting the Fangs into Fantasy: Why I Wrote my Book—Ed Crocker describes why he put Vampires and Werewolves into his Epid Fantasy…and probably convinced me to add it to Mt. TBR
bullet The Most Iconic Speculative Fiction Books of the 21st Century—from Reactor Mag
bullet I’m Not Sure I Miss All the Bookish Hype
bullet Using Someone Else’s Tools: The Ethics of Playing in Another Creative’s Playground—Peat Long takes both sides in an argument and convinces me with each
bullet The Magic-Wielding Characters Bracket Challenge Hub Page—If, like me, you’re trying to catch up on these posts, here’s a handy-dandy list.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu
bullet And the release of: The Peripheral by William Gibson; The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss; and Drawn Blades by Kelly McCullough

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke—dark comedy, a ghost, a twentysomething fish-out-of-water, and amatuer detectvies stumbling through a murder mystery. What’s not to like? I rather enjoyed it.
bullet The Late Lord Thorpe by Peter Grainger, read by Gildart Jackson—The PI, DC Smith, looks into a death and finds more than anyone expects (or so I guess)
bullet What If… Marc Spector Was A Host To Venom? by Mike Chen—I’ve never really gotten into Venom the way that everyone else has seemed to, and Moon Knight isn’t my favorite either. Combining the two sounds like it could be interesting, and if anyone can convince me to jump on the train, it’s Mike Chen
bullet The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn—is probably worth a look for the magic system alone, but the story, character, and setting make this look even better
bullet Grave Talk by Nick Spalding—this is a novel about grieving with the help of an unlikely friend, bound by coincidence and geography
bullet Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture–And the Magic That Makes It Work by Jesse David Fox—out now in paperback. Which is great, because I hadn’t heard of it in hardcover. It “tackles everything you need to know about comedy, an art form that has been under-considered throughout its history, even as it has ascended as a cultural force.”