Category: Books Page 108 of 161

Saturday Miscellany—5/9/20

On May 9, 2020

I actually left the house this week, for a whole 20 minutes. Thankfully, I do remember how to drive. You all doing okay?

I didn’t see anything about supporting Indie Bookstores this week—the first time since the COVID-19 shutdowns began. So…no article/blogpost/etc this week just me urging you to support your local (or someone’s local—I’m partial to Rediscovered Books) Indie Bookstore. Use: IndieBound.org, Bookshop.org, or Libro.fm (for Audiobooks) to help you find one or order online.

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 Lockdown diaries: the indie publisher—Orenda Books’s Karen Sullivan talks about her COVID-19 experience, and looks at how it’s affecting the publishing world (particularly the independent publishing world).
bullet Small presses fear being ‘wiped out’ by autumn—This focuses on UK & Irish presses, but am willing to bet that things look similar in the US.
bullet The world turns on stories…—It’s an Indie Book Blog talks about how great Indie Presses are, how much trouble they’re in and calls for us to keep buying from them (directly, when possible). I should take the time to write things like this, I know. But I’ll just point you to this one instead.
bullet DEAD GIRL BLUES-How My New Novel Came About and Why I’m Publishing It Myself—the famed, inestimable, and prolific Lawrence Block talks about the process of writing his upcoming novel and why he chose to self-publish it.
bullet Book Pirates Don’t Think They’re Stealing: In the pandemic age, a fight about e-books tests the limits of free information—…and they’re wrong. It’s clear-cut and indefensible, in my not at all humble opinion.
bullet My First Thriller: Michael Connelly—”How the creator of Harry Bosch discovered Chandler, forged a career, overcame rejection, and got his first book published”
bullet The Great Fantasy Debate Video Series Tackles Fantasy’s Greatest “What Ifs?”—This looks like it could be a brilliant series.
bullet Bosch covers re-imagined—Graphic Designer Rusell Walks merges Titus Welliver with Bosch’s love for jazz to come up with new covers for all the novels. Love this.
bullet Five fantasy series that are great for beginners —for Wyrd and Wonder, Mug Full of Books provides this handy guide.
bullet Women in Fantasy: the good, the bad, and the hardcore—Witty and Sarcastic Book Club kicks off their Wyrd and Wonder month with this.
bullet The Standard Post About Reading Slumps—a few thoughts on the dreaded Reading Slump from The Fantasy Inn’s Kopratic
bullet Never judge a book by its cover?! – Part One: Musings—Bookends and Bagends kicks off a series focusing book covers
bullet ARC Overload?! – My Ity Opinion—something I battle with all-too-frequently (and keep opening myself to)

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Why Don’t Sheep Shrink? by M. W. Craven—a Poe & Tilly short story exclusively on The Crime Vault.

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toSakari Lacross, The Apocalypse Daddy, and Stine Writing for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

WWW Wednesday, May 6, 2020

By HCNewton

On May 6, 2020

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

Hey, it’s the middle of the week. Time for WWW Wednesday!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?
What are you currently reading?
I’m reading King of the Crows by Russell Day (which is just so good, guys) and am listening to Cursor’s Fury by Jim Butcher, Kate Reading (Narrator).

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Jon Richter’s Auxiliary: London 2039 and Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz, Nathaniel Parker (Narrator) on audio (I can’t hear “Nathaniel Parker” without thinking of Nero Wolfe’s attorneymy reflexive joy at hearing the name is kind of sad)

What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be Burning Bright by Nick Petrie (which, yeah, I said 2 weeks ago, but then I got hit with a couple of surpise ARCs) and some sort of unknown audiobook.

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

Top 5 Saturday: Retellings That Have Stuck With Me

By HCNewton

On May 2, 2020

In Books, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Jim Butcher, News/Misc.

Top 5 Saturday Retellings

The Top 5 Saturday weekly meme was created by Amanda at Devouring Books.

Rules!

Share your top 5 books of the current topic—these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
Tag the original post (This one!)
Tag 5 people (I probably won’t do this bit, play along if you want)

The Upcoming Schedule Is:

5/9/20 — Books with a Number in the Title
5/16/20 — Books by Debut Authors
5/23/20 — Books about Plants/Flowers (Can be on cover, in title or plot)
5/30/20 — Books from a Male POV

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

A Retelling of: Hamlet by some obscure playwright

The reason I didn’t call this list “My Favorite Retellings” or something like that is this novel. I didn’t really enjoy much of this one. But man, it was gorgeously written. Before I started this blogged, I wrote a little about it on Goodreads: “Meticulously crafted, wonderfully and intricately written, fantastic characters, a world you’d love to live in, imaginative, creative, a concept so great, so well executed…aaaaaand I had to force myself to read it. I took 3 breaks from this novel, and had to drag myself back to it each time. I feel like I owe this book 5 stars because it deserves them, but I really want to give it 1.75 or so. There is no reason at all that I shouldn’t like it—people should love this work, actually. But I just didn’t.” Still, nine years later, this is the first novel that lept to mind when I started this list and I have vivid memories of a lot of the book. Can’t beat that.

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi

A Retelling of: Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper

An Avatar-esque story, that’s nowhere near as self-important and a whole lot more entertaining than the Cameron movie. Jack Holloway is a prospector on the planet Zarathustra who discovers a potentially sentient and language using species (that coincendentally are about the cutest things ever). Holloway has to figure out a way to keep the species from being wiped out by an uncaring corporation. This might actually be my favorite Scalzi novel.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

A Retelling of: Cinderella

A YA SF re-imagining of the Cinderella story featuring a young woman with a cybernetic leg who attracts the attention of a Prince trying to help his people survive a plauge. It launches an epic series (also featuing re-tellings I could have filled this list with). I don’t know that the entire Lunar Chronicles series really delivered on the promise of this book, but I had a lot of fun with it. If you’re going to do a re-imagining, this is the way to do it.

* Jim C. Hines’ Princesses series also comes to mind at this point…maybe I should have included one of them…

Re Jane by Patricia Park

A Retelling of: Jayne Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Brontë’s novel is one of my All-Time Desert Island Top 5 novels, and I’m a sucker for a retelling of it. This one is set in NYC in the late 1990’s. Jane Re, is a half-Korean, half-American orphan who is hired to be the au pair for a Chinese adoptee. It’s Jane Eyre and more. As I said when I posted about it, it’s a clever re-imagining, and/or a satisfying read.

The Graveyard Book

A Retelling of: The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

I remember reading this to my kids years ago, and being very affected by it myself. It’s haunting, playful, creepy and heartwarming. A brilliant way to retell the story of an lone man-child in a very foreign atmosphere by beings not fit to raise one—and their efforts to help him fit in his native society.

Saturday Miscellany—5/2/20

By HCNewton

On May 2, 2020

In Books, News/Misc.

Hey, it’s Saturday. Which looks a lot like every other day lately, but I’m sitting at a different computer than I was yesterday at this time. And I’m not typing nearly as quickly. How’re you all doing?

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 Independent Bookstores Get Creative to Survive the Long Lockdown: A business that relied on walk-ins and impulse buys has to find new ways to connect with customers.
   bullet Coronavirus: Library books rearranged in size order by cleaner—The strangest COVID-19 symptom yet. (Hat Tip: Mike Finn)
   bullet Fiction, fact and crows: How I wrote a zombie pandemic heist novel—Russell Day talks about the writing of his new novel, King of the Crows, and its strange publication context.
   bullet One Man Audiobook Drops in a Few Weeks—Harry Connolly comes to audio! One Man soon, and the Twenty Palaces novels soon after. Hopefully this helps a lot more people discover the work (and helps me decide how to use Libro.fm credits for the next few months)
   bullet SFF World Tour—Spells and Spaceships launched a series this week promoting “Science Fiction and Fantasy inspired by, set in and written by authors from every continent.” Cool series.
   bullet Welcome to Wyrd and Wonder—a month-long celebration of Fantasy fiction kicked off yesterday. I’d hoped to come up with a few things to contribute, but…Reality has set in and that’s just not going to happen. Check out this great-looking set of posts instead.
   bullet Why Read Fiction? 4 Common Reasons (and a New Rating System)—Blacksail Books wades into the choppy waters around rating/evaluating books with an interesting angle.
   bullet Does My Mood Affect My Ratings?—Obviously, the answer is a yes—but how many of us take the time to reflect on it?
   bullet How to Listen to Audiobooks!—a handy guide to diving into the medium (something I could’ve used a few years ago, turns out that I stumbled my way into a lot of these ideas on my own, would’ve been nice to avoid the stumbling though.)
   bullet Pacing: What’s Good, Bad, and in Between—I didn’t mean to grab 2 Blacksail posts in one list, but I had to share this one, too. Good thoughts on pacing—and citing Sepinwall on Breaking Bad‘s “Fly” is a nice bit of icing on the cake.

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
   bullet King Of The Crows by Russell Day—I’m only 1/4 through with this, but I’m already stressing about how I’m going to possibly talk about it (thankfully, I’m not alone). But the essence will be: BUY THIS NOW. Don’t care how long your TBR is, make it your next read…click the link there, read the Day piece above. I’m really excited about this thing, and will probably talk about it a lot this year.
   bullet Critical Point by S. L. Huang—Cas Russell deals with the fallout from Null Set‘s revelations and tries to save a friend. This should be a blast.
   bullet Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn—a fantasy set in a Wild West-esque world, about family, love, loss and a magic that’s mined. I talked about it a bit earlier this week.
   bullet Firefly – The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove—hard to believe, but a run for Badger goes very, very wrong. River plays a significant role in this one, so it has to be good.

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome tojyvurentropy and Om Prakash Khare for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

April 2020 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On May 1, 2020

In Books, Calendar Items, Currently Reading, News/Misc.

Well, this is more like it: 25 titles, 7290+ pages (there was one e-short story that I didn’t get a page count on)—three thousand more than March. My average rating for the month was 3.56, which isn’t exactly my goal—but it still means I enjoyed just about everything I consumed. I’ve made a more concerted effort to make time to read over the last couple of weeks—and it seems to be paying off.

As with just about every person on the planet, I have no idea what the next month is really going to look like for me day-to-day (and I’m not sure I could tell you what it was like the last month…), so I’m not going to pretend to have an idea what I’ll be reading/writing about. We’ll see, right?

So, here’s what happened here in April.

		Average =	3.56
	1		1
	1		0
	8		0
	6		0
	8

“Traditionally” Published: 14
Self-/Independent Published: 11

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	0 (0%)	1 (1%)
Fantasy	4 (16%)	11 (14%)
General Fiction/ Literature	2 (8%)	5 (6%)
Horror	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Humor	0 (0%)	1 (1%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	10 (40%)	30 (38%)
Non-Fiction	1 (4%)	4 (5%)
Science Fiction	3 (12%)	8 (10%)
Steampunk	1 (4%)	1 (1%)
Theology/ Christian Living	2 (8%)	6 (8%)
Urban Fantasy	4 (21%)	13 (16%)
Western	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

The Immortal Conquistador by Carrie Vaughn: Just who is the Vampire Rick, Anyway?
Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs: Mercy Deals with Unexpected Threats from Every Direction
Pub Day Post: A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones: Now that’s a first day on the job
We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker: Hunting for Hope (and Life?) in a Hopeless Place
Pub Day Post: Cheater’s Game by Paul Levine: Things Get Personal for this Defense Attorney
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK IV., xiv-BOOK V., viii.
The Identity Thief by Alex Bryant: A Contemporary Hunt for Centuries-Old Power
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK V., ix.-xii.
Quick Takes on Some Quick Reads: The Time Traveler’s Guide to Dating; Ice by Neil Lancaster; Shall We Gather by Alex Bledsoe
The Poop Diaries by Abby Ross: These Plumbers have Seen and Smelled it All.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VI., i.-iv.
Robert B. Parker’s Grudge Match by Mike Lupica: Sunny Randall’s Forced to Work for an Enemy as Lupica Settles into the Series
The Oracle Code by Marieke Nijkamp, Manuel Preitano (Illustrator): A Young Barbara Gordon’s First Case
Fake Truth by Lee Goldberg: Ian Ludlow, Fake News, and the Return of the Soviet Union?
Pub Day Post: Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn: Love, Family, and Loss in a Western-Flavored Fantasy

Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th)

- Dryad Teas Inspired by the Dresden Files
- The Stay at Home Book Tag
- The Wanderlust Book Tag
- Down the TBR Hole (4 of 24+)
- Top 5 Saturday: Sibling Relationships
- Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Books That Made Me Laugh
- A Few Quick Questions With…Like the Wolfe Podcast (2 firsts for me: a podcast not an author, and 2 people responding) and Paul Levine (still don’t believe I got him to particpate)
- WWW Wednesday for April 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th.

How was your month?

WWW Wednesday, April 29, 2020

By HCNewton

On April 29, 2020

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

It’s already the last Wednesday of April?? I’m not prepared for May…so while I go off to learn to read a calendar, why don’t you read this WWW Wednesday?

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Easy enough, right?

I’m reading King of the Crows by Russell Day (which is amazing and mind-blowing) and am listening to Stardust by Neil Gaiman on audiobook .

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Sarah Chorn’s Of Honey and Wildfires and Demon Born Magic by Jayne Faith, Amy Landon (Narrator) on audio.

What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be Auxiliary: London 2039 by Jon Richter (because I was reminded Monday that I have a Book Tour Stop next week) and Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy, Eileen Stevens (Narrator) on audiobook.

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

The Stay at Home Book Tag

By HCNewton

On April 29, 2020

In Book Tag, Books, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, News/Misc.

The Stay at Home Book Tag
I saw this tag over on this one from Witty and Sarcastic Book Club last week and figured I’d better join in the fun soon—our Stay at Home order is set to expire at the end of this month, and I may not get another chance.

Laying in Bed: A Book You Could/Have Read in a Day

This one gave me some trouble, honestly, if you’re committed, what book can’t you read in a day? But…I’m going to go with:

Not Dressed

by Matthew Hanover
I didn’t read this in a day, but man, I could’ve. This book (like last year’s Not Famous) is effortless to read. When I started this book, it was late in the day and I thought I’d just stick a toe in the water, maybe read about 10% of it. Before I knew it, I was about a third into the book (and were it not for the time of day, I’d have probably finished it in one sitting!). It’s funny, it’s sweet, it’s infectious, it’s engaging as anything I can remember. I cared about these characters and got invested in their lives faster than I typically do. It’s as comfortable as staying in bed should be.

In case you’re curious, here’s my post about it.

Snacking: A Guilty Pleasure Book

Pop Culture! …Building a Better Tomorrow by Avoiding Today

by Dave Kellett
I’m honestly troubled by the idea of “guilty pleasure.” If you dig a piece of fiction, you dig a piece of fiction—why feel bad about it?* But, I ended up going with this collection of Sheldon comics. I love this strip and read them every time that Kellett posts a new one. I don’t let myself sit down and read through a collection (or part of one) very often, I feel like I should be reading “a real book,” or something I could blog about—or, you know spending time with my family, I guess. So, this is a pleasure that makes me feel guilty when I indulge (which I guess undercuts my opening line…oops).

* Note how I don’t go for the cheap Dan Brown joke here…

Netflix: series you want to start

The Shattered Sea

by Joe Abercrombie
Abercrombie’s Norse-influenced YA trilogy has appealed to me since it was announced. Especially as it’s complete, there’s no good reason I can’t tackle it—the entire trilogy is about as long as some epic fantasy novels, I don’t know what I’m waiting for.

Dan Willis’ Arcane Casebook is also right up there. I hopefully will get to both in 2020.

Deep Clean: a book that’s been on your “to be read” list for ages

Stiletto

by Daniel O’Malley
I loved O’Malley’s The Rook, but read it long before I launched this thing, so I didn’t write anything about it—and then re-read it so I could get ready for Stiletto, and took so many notes I couldn’t get through them all to write something. Anyway, this came out in ’16 and I heard so many lukewarm things that I haven’t been able to get myself to read it. It’s right there on top of my bookshelf, right where it’s been since July 2016 and I don’t know when it’s coming down.

Animal Crossing: a book you recently bought because of hype

The Last Smile in Sunder City

by Luke Arnold

A former soldier turned PI tries to help the fantasy creatures whose lives he ruined in a world that’s lost its magic in a compelling debut fantasy by Black Sails actor Luke Arnold.

Welcome to Sunder City. The magic is gone but the monsters remain.

I’m Fetch Phillips, just like it says on the window. There are a few things you should know before you hire me:

1. Sobriety costs extra.
2. My services are confidential.
3. I don’t work for humans.

It’s nothing personal–I’m human myself. But after what happened, to the magic, it’s not the humans who need my help.

Walk the streets of Sunder City and meet Fetch, his magical clients, and a darkly imagined world perfect for readers of Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

How can I say “no” to that?

Yeah, this is on the list because of the hype, but when I went to find some examples of the hype that sold me, I could only find this one from Witty and Sarcastic Book Club, which was enough on its own, honestly. Still, if you’re reading this and I’ve just snubbed you. Sorry. Correct me and I’ll throw a link up here.

Productivity: A book you learned from, or that had an impact on you

How Not to Die

by Michael Greger M.D. FACLM, Gene Stone
This is a book that was recommended to me as part of a medical program I’m in (in an effort to forestall any future cardiac events)—I’m not convinced by all of what it says, but it’s helped me make significant changes to my life—and will continue to do so.

In case you’re curious, here’s my post about it (the post is about the library’s copy of the audiobook, I have the hardcover now—it’s heavy enough I could probably organize an exercise regimen using only it as a weight.

Facetime: a book you were gifted

The Name of the Wind: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

by Patrick Rothfuss, Illustrated by Dan dos Santos
My kids got this for me for Father’s Day in ’17—still one of my favorite gifts from them. A gorgeous edition of one of my all-time favorite books.

Self-care: what is one thing you’ve done recently to look after yourself

Ehhh…not much, really. This is the kind of thing I’m not good at.

Bonus: name a book that is coming out soon

Platonic Comedy

by Ian Shane
Ian Shane’s Postgraduate was one of my favorites from 2019. If this is almost as good, it’ll be one of my favorites of 2020.

Ex-jock Rob and socially awkward Liz weren’t likely to become best friends, but they’ve had each other’s back since college. On a night both of their romantic lives implode, they make a pledge; if they aren’t married by Rob’s fortieth birthday, they would marry each other. With a year left before their deadline, Rob and Liz make a mad dash to find “The One,” while navigating a minefield of modern dating complications. They must deal with skeptical friends, faces from the past, and hidden jealousies and feelings neither one of them will ever admit to.

From Ian Shane, author of Postgraduate and Radio Radio, comes an unconventional one-in-eight-billion romantic comedy. Platonic Comedy is a contemporary When Harry Met Sally that is perfect for fans of Nick Hornby, Jonathan Tropper, and Matthew Norman.

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

Saturday Miscellany—4/25/20

By HCNewton

On April 25, 2020

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany, Uncategorized

Hope everyone endured this week of the pandemic/Stay at Home/Isolation/whatever-you’re-calling-it and is healthy and sane. Things at Irresponsible HQ are good, but I hope the end of this is near (I’m going to have to get used to shoes again, however). I can’t believe that we’re in the Home Stretch of April

I simply ran out of oomph by the end of this week, I sat down the last couple of nights to get some blogging done, wrote a paragraph or two and then…nothing. Oh well, a backlog of stuff to write about will come in handy when I start Winslow’s The Border.

No new releases caught my eye this week—which probably means that I missed something. Add your fresh recommendations in the comments!

I think I’ve rambled enough, on with the links:

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 A Flowchart for Making Impactful Purchases at Your Indie Bookstore—a handy flowchart (minus that pesky “chart” bit)
   bullet When “Serious” Writers Write Books For Kids
   bullet He’s written 32 books, all while surrounded by a pack of dogs—There’s no actual discussion of David Rosenfelt’s books or writing, but it’s a nice look at the great work he and his wife do with rescue dogs. Love watching the sea of fur around them.
   bullet The Top 10 Most Lethal Characters in the Thriller Genre Right Now
   bullet From Atticus Finch to Saul Goodman: The Evolution of Lawyers on Screen and Page—No surprise here, Paul Levine pens an entertaining answer to the question, “How did heroic lawyers turn into dirtbag defenders?”
   bullet Book Series for the Long Haul

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Under a Pile of Books Episode 69 – Sarah Chorn Interview—Sarah Chorn talks about her upcoming novel, Of Honey and Wildfires, and her mind being a weird place.

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Chiddicks Family Tree, ginnymalbec (great blog concept!), and Narun Garg for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

WWW Wednesday, April 22, 2020

By HCNewton

On April 22, 2020

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

It’s already Wednesday? Really? I’m not ready for that, but on the plus side—it’s time for WWW Wednesday! I’ve gotten to the point where I really enjoy putting these together, they help me focus.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?
What are you currently reading?
I’m reading the eARC for Robert B. Parker’s Grudge Match by Mike Lupica, The Misadventures of Nero Wolfe edited by Josh Pachter, and am listening to The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator).

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished M.T. Miller’s Apex Predator and But For The Grace by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator) on audio.

What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be Burning Bright by Nick Petrie and Demon Born Magic by Jayne Faith, Amy Landon (Narrator) on audiobook.

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

Down the TBR Hole (4 of 24+)

By HCNewton

On April 22, 2020

In Books, Down the TBR Hole, News/Misc.

Down the TBR Hole

What’s the fourth round of this going to look like?

This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story—but Jenna at Bookmark Your Thoughts is the one that exposed me to this, and as my Goodreads “Want To Read” shelf is scarily long, I had to do this.

The Rules are simple:

Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
Read the synopses of the books.
Decide: keep it or should it go?
Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week! (or whenever)

What distinguishes this series from the Mt. TBR section of my Month-end Retrospectives? Those are books I actually own while Goodreads contains my aspirational TBR (many of which will be Library reads). The Naming of the two is a bit confusing, but…what’re you going to do?

I didn’t expect that I’d be as wordy as I have been in the first three posts, but this installment being as succinct as it ended up being really was unexpected. I can’t imagine that will continue in the future, concise ain’t how I roll…

(Click on the cover for an official site or something with more info about the book)

	Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love & Karaoke by Rob Sheffield Blurb: A follow-up to Love Is a Mix Tape, which crushed me, Sheffield’s account of falling in love and his wife’s death through mix tapes. This is about him moving on via karaoke. My Thoughts: There’s no reason for me to have jumped on this 7 years ago. Shame on me. Verdict: Gotta get on it.
	The Iggy Chronicles, Volume One by Spencer Quinn Blurb: It’s a short story where Chet’s neighbor and pal, Iggy, is the hero. My Thoughts: I wasn’t crazy about the two Chet & Bernie shorts that I’ve read, but they weren’t bad. I should probably just do it. Besides, Iggy’s fun. Verdict:
	Wounded Prey by Sean Lynch Blurb: A retired cop gets one more chance at the serial killer he couldn’t put away years before. My Thoughts: I don’t remember how this popped up on my radar back in ’13, looks okay, but I read enough like this already, without remembering what originally drew this to me, I’ll probably just let it go. Verdict:
	Doctor Who: Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories by Various Authors Blurb: This was released back for the 50th anniversary with one story per doctor, each by a different author. My Thoughts: I really dig some of these authors and seeing them take on The Doctor still sounds like fun. Verdict: Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
	The Dark of Deep Below by Patrick Rothfuss My Thoughts: I’ve been trying to get my hands on this since I read the first Princess and Mr. Whiffle, it’s just hard to find (and pricey). But still, it’d be a blast to read. Verdict:
	The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner My Thoughts: In the short story I read about D. D. Warren, I really liked her. I like her character in the first two novels, but we spent far too much time with Bobby Dodge in both of those. If I knew he wasn’t around, I’d probably have read this by now. Verdict: I’ll delete it, but may end up revising that decision later.
	Love is a Canoe by Ben Schrank Blurb: The author of a classic self-help guide to love and relationships, Peter Herman has won the hearts of romantics and cynics alike. But decades have passed since Marriage Is a Canoe was published and a recently widowed Peter begins to question his own advice. Much to his chagrin, he receives a call from Stella Petrovic, an ambitious young editor in New York City who forces him to reconsider his life’s work, not to mention the full force of his delusions. The book’s fiftieth anniversary is approaching, and Petrovic has devised a contest to promote the new edition. The prize? The chance for the winning couple—a pair of outwardly happy Brooklynites named Emily and Eli—to save their relationship by spending a weekend with the reclusive author. If Peter is going to help the contest’s winners, he must discover what he meant when he wrote Marriage Is a Canoe—and also find a way for himself to love again… Verdict: I’d probably like it, but at this point…eh, I’ve got enough on my plate.
	Judgment Calls by Alafair Burke Blurb: Burke’s debut about a prosecutor on a mission who uncovers a lot more than she bargained for. Verdict: Same as the above–Burke’s a sold writer, this is probably good. But I just don’t have the time, nixing this bugs me more than the rest.
	The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom Blurb: Israel Armstrong is a passionate soul, lured to Ireland by the promise of an exciting new career. Alas, the job that awaits him is not quite what he had in mind. Still, Israel is not one to dwell on disappointment, as he prepares to drive a mobile library around a small, damp Irish town. After all, the scenery is lovely, the people are charming—but where are the books? The rolling library’s 15,000 volumes have mysteriously gone missing, and it’s up to Israel to discover who would steal them . . . and why. And perhaps, after that, he will tackle other bizarre and perplexing local mysteries—like, where does one go to find a proper cappuccino and a decent newspaper? Verdict: Seems charming, I guess? I’m sure this is a fun read, I wish I had a clue what put it on my radar.
	Phoenix Island by John Dixon Blurb: No phones. No television. No internet. No escape. When his defense of a helpless classmate lands sixteen-year-old boxing champion Carl Freeman in real trouble – a two-year sentence at an isolated boot camp for orphans – he’s determined to tough it out, earn a clean record, and get on with his life. Then kids start to die. Realizing Phoenix Island is actually a mercenary training facility turning “throwaway children” into super soldiers, Carl risks everything to save his friends and stop a madman bent on global destruction. Verdict: Say what?