Category: Books Page 113 of 161

For some entirely predictable reason, most of what I saw this year was a look back at 2019 or a look ahead to 2020, so you’ll see a real theme to these odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• What’s Happening In 2020?—Michael Connelly’s Facebook page gives his fans plenty to look forward to.
• The Best Books of 2019: Debut Fiction—from CrimeReads, some of these look really good. I only read one of these, Magic for Liars, and while I wouldn’t have put it on this list, it’s worth your time. American Spy keeps popping up on my radar, not sure why I haven’t tried it yet.
• The #damppebbles Top Ten (sort of!) of 2019—Second only to my whim, Emma’s responsible for a lot of what I read last year, so it’s not surprising that I think this is a great list. I’ve only read her top pick, but have heard nothing but raves about the rest. And her top pick? She’s absolutely right.
• My Top 20 Books of 2019—The Tattooed Book Geek shows us all up with a Top 20 that looks fantastic.
• Raven’s Yearly Round Up 2019 and Top 10 Books—Raven Crime Reads finds some of the best-looking stuff.
• Char’s Horror Corner lists her Top Ten Novels of 2019, Ten Story Collections/Anthologies of 2019, and Top Ten Novellas of 2019—she reads a lot of stuff that I wouldn’t (and probably vice versa), but when we happen to read the same thing we usually end up echoing each other’s thoughts. So if you like your fiction a bit further on the creepier/horror-ish side than I do, you’ll love these lists.
• If you’ve plundered the above lists (and what I posted the last couple of weeks) for TBR material, you’ll want to read Find More Time to Read—from Sarah Anne Carter and Super Readers Share Their Best Tips to Read More in 2020—from the Goodreads blog
• Book Stress—This post seems like a good thing to bear in mind after everything else I’ve posted so far. Also, I’m glad that The Read Writes link to his blog this week, if for no other reason than I love the blog design.

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode you might want to give a listen to:
• Author Stories Podcast Episode 783 | Lee Goldberg Interview—One of Garner’s best episodes, partially because Goldberg talks fast so you get more content than usual ?

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg—a new series from Goldberg about a rookie homicide detective learning the job. It’s waiting not-so patiently on my Kindle and I’m tempted to skip a couple of things so I can get to it faster.
• A Beginner’s Guide to Free Fall by Andy Abramowitz—I’ve been waiting since 2015 for something new from Abramowitz, and this family drama looks like it’ll be worth the wait.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Lou des Anges, Don Jimmy Reviews, and Žygimantas Krungolcas for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

No time for an intro this week—too much to read before Jan. 31 to bother rambling on. (mostly a joke)

Here are the odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• George RR Martin opens bookshop next to his cinema in Santa Fe—great, another distraction, just what he needs. That was too sarcastic, I think it’s cool that he’s doing it, and would absolutely love to check it out.
• These are the 10 best-selling books of the decade.—I’ve seen some people react to this like it’s a sign of the Fall of American Culture (which actually ties into the Collins and Roth work), but outside of #s 1-3, I don’t see this as too bad. (and have contributed to the success of four of these in my own, small, way)
• Speaking of Collins and Roth (and others listed above): The Decade in Young Adult Fiction: As a publishing phenomenon, YA literature entered the decade like a lion. Now it seems to be eating itself alive.
• Notes from the Winter Solstice Meeting—Rick Riordan gives hope to legions and legions of readers with this talk about a better adaptation of the Percy Jackson books. Also, just an entertainingly-written post.
• The Best Books of the 2010s—Several lists of goodness from the editors of Paste.
• Typically this time of year, I post links to various “Best Of” lists, and have done so a couple of times this year, but on the whole, I haven’t been that inspired by/interested in those from the usual suspects. However, most book bloggers are putting out their lists now, and they’re resonating more with me, so…let’s look at a few of them, shall we? (not an exhaustive list, and one that we’ll revisit soon)
  • 2019 Best Books Read and Reviewed on Beforewegoblog
  • Best Books of 2019—from Books, Bones & Buffy
  • What were my top crime reads of 2019?—from Crime Book Junkie (there’ll be some good overlap between this list and mine when I get around to compiling it, I wager)
  • Top Reads of 2019—from Fan Fi Addict’s David W
  • PaulsPicks Best Books of 2019 and PaulsPicks Best Graphic Novels of 2019—which also demonstrates that I’ve been putting an extra space in the blog name. Whoops.
  • Best of the Best: My Favorite Books from 2019—from Witty & Sarcastic Book Club
• Why Is Reading so Unpopular?
• How was the book? – Describing the Reading Experience—Armed with a Book trumps the 5-Star System with Data Analysis (I found this fascinating)
• Happy Holidays and 365 Posts in a Row—Yeah, third PaulsPicks post this week—no, he didn’t pay me for clicks (but he could…, just sayin’), I think the dude deserves a tip of the cap for 365 Posts in a row. More than that, he deserves the break he’s giving himself…
• David S’ Non-Comprehensive and Entirely Unrealistic List of Completed Series to read in 2020—If you’re like me, you’re coming up with reading plans for 2020, David S is at least honest enough to realize his is entirely unrealistic (unlike mine, which is going to be totally doable and not cause me any undue stress or sleepless nights in December)

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode you might want to give a listen to:
• Under a Pile of Books’ Episode 43 – SPECIAL EPISODE: Top Coverart of 2019—Calvin Parks attempts (and largely succeeds) to convey his favorite bits of cover art on an audio podcast. This is a heckuva feat.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Mental Health •Lifestyle •Finance, Kelly Curtis, and brainyjaney (also, welcome to the weird world of book blogging) for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

It’s clearly the end of the year—I’ve got a bare-bones collection this week. But who has time to read things that aren’t books right now between the hustle and bustle of December—not to mention the rush to finish off your reading goals of the 2019? (or is that just me?)

Here’s the handful of odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Moments in Reading That Salvaged an Often Sour Year—I didn’t think the year was that sour, but okay . . .
• Perfect Gifts for Bookworms: For those who can’t get enough of book culture.
• I’ve got a pair of M. W. Craven reads this week: Writing is a Form of Magic—Everything you never realized you wanted to learn about Craven and his writing process.
• Desert Island Crime with M.W. Craven—Craven answers: “If you were stranded on a desert island and had to choose 8 books to take with you, what would you pick and why?” This is a great list, made even better by his choice of Darkness, Take My Hand over Hannibal Lecter.
• The Music of Harry Bosch—The Michael Connelly Facebook page shared this spotify list this week. Good writing/reading music (even if I really never think Jazz when I read Bosch. Sorry, Harry!)
• 12 Insightful Quotes About Plot—from Before We Go Blog
• How To Crush Your TBR List
• Fifty @ Fifty—Tracy Fenton commemorated her 50th birthday with this list of her favorite 50 books from the last ten years.
• Book Blogger / Reader Spreadsheet Template (2020)—I think I’m replacing my (increasingly clunky) spreadsheet with this one next year.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Gehad Gamal, Anton Michaux, and Brandi Robbins for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Shorter list this week, with less of the other stuff than usual. Hope I’m not missing anything, and that it’s just the end-of-the-year-blahs. I can understand not a lot of things being put out there in the world this week—you likely noticed that I was pretty quiet. I had big, semi-ambitious (yet attainable) goals for the week and hit none of them. I did get three posts partially written, however, so . . . yeah. That’s pretty lame, actually. Non-blog life was just weird this week and the results (or lack thereof) were plainly visible in my posting. Onward and upward though.

Anyway, here are the odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• BBNYA – The Book Bloggers’ Novel of The Year Award – Coming in 2020—A few weeks back, I shared a post announcing the BBNYA, but here’s another one — a bit more detailed.
• 30 Seconds With Your Favorite Author: Book Signing Conversation Tips—Tips that could come in handy (I could’ve used them at least once)
• 7 Things Crime Readers Will No Longer Tolerate: Crime fiction is getting harder to write—and that’s a good thing.—I’m not so sure I’m as intolerant as Christopher Fowler thinks I should be, but . . .
• NPR had some good articles lately: Not A Regular Reader? 4 Strategies To Make Reading A Habit and How To Read More Books
• Hopepunk and Solarpunk: On Climate Narratives That Go Beyond the Apocalypse: Alyssa Hull Tries to Find Optimism in Teaching Cli-Fi to Terrified Students—While I wouldn’t necessarily agree with a lot of what’s said here, I’m intrigued by the ideas of Hopepunk and Solarpunk (particularly the former)
• Black Orchids 2019 , plus a Nero and a BONA—The Wolfe Pack (a society for the appreciation of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin series) gave out the Nero Award and the Black Orchid Novella Award
• 2020 – Hot New Books – January – March—Compulsive Readers has put together a list of first quarter releases that could probably fill a schedule by itself.
• The 78 Best Book Covers of 2019: As Chosen by the Experts, the Designers Themselves—LitHub assembled some designers to compile this list of very eye-catching covers.
• My Visit To Harper Collins—Must have been a blast.
• My Top Five Book Blogging Omissions—Reading this makes me think Stephen is Wiser than I am.
• The Books I Gift Most Often—Better than “Who’s your favorite author?”/”What’s your favorite book?” Ramona Mead answers “What books do you give the most?” (which is also easier than the others).

Also, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Maya’s Musings, David W, Rain Alchemist, alittlebookproblem, forwarddog and Tim Onayemi for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Here are the odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye—Lithub and BookRiot are heavily featured this week. Been awhile since I dipped into those so hard, but I really liked what I saw this week. I wish I could figure out a way to get a kickback (or sponsorship—I’m open to negotiation, folks!) from one/all of them for this… You’ve probably seen some/most/all of these, but just in case:

• Game of Thrones: George RR Martin FANTASTIC Winds of Winter release date news—I haven’t seen a lot of people talking about this, which means it’s full of bunk or everyone in the world is as cynical as I am about it. Also, I’m not sure I care at this point (I’m going to have to re-read everything prior to the release just to remember, and I’m not sure I have that much energy. Is there a decent re-cap site?)
• I was nominated for the Bad sex award. Don’t laugh—I disagree with almost everything Gough says about the award/culture around it. But I do find his experience interesting to read about. Also, this means that Two Crime Writers and a Microphone might actually release a new episode of their sadly infrequent podcast soon.
• 20 Ways to Read More Books in 2020—19 of these are good ideas. Skimming, though? Barbarians.
• What Was the First Book You Fell in Love With?: The Center for Fiction’s 2019 First Novel Prize Authors Weigh In—I’m probably not going to read most of these authors first novels, honestly, but I always enjoy reading about what book got people hooked on books.
• The Life Cycle of a Library Book
• Most Anticipated Reads of 2020—for those of you who’ve started planning.
• Women in Historical SFF
• Venators: Legends Rise (Venators #3) By Devri Walls Cover Reveal—The Cover for Walls’ Third Novel is her Spiffiest Yet
• One Man at One Week—Harry Connolly writes a very honest post about the first week of One Man sales. If there was one author I could make you all read, I think it’d be him. If not One Man (which is coming up on my TBR soon), then find something else on his site that strikes your fancy.
• The Guide to affordable Audiobook Binge-Listening—this could prove handy.
• Tips for Writing Speculative Detective Fiction: How can you keep a commitment to reason and procedure when rules of reality no longer apply?—I love it when Detective/Crime fiction blends with SFF, here’s some tips on how to pull it off.
• 26 Books From the Last Decade that More People Should Read: Our Favorite Writers Recommend Some Underappreciated Gems—LitHub’s editors have come up with an interesting list of things I’ve never heard of.
• Speaking of LitHub, they bring us the first Best-Of for 2019Our 50 Favorite Books of the Year: Highlights From a Year in Reading by the Literary Hub Staff
• Bernardine Evaristo, Lee Child and more pick the best books of 2019—The Guardian assembled a handful of authors for their picks.
• The December issue of Envie, a Magazine for the Literary Curious—features a profile ofour pal, Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub.
• The Tattooed Book Geek shared his Blogging Plans for 2020—I’m seeing a lot of plans for 2020, his is probably the most likely to be accomplished (maybe that’s projection on my part—but I look at some of these lists and am boggled)
• Tropes in YA Fiction that Do Not Butter My Croissant—I’d co-sign this and I need to work “Do Not Butter my Croissant” into my everyday conversation.
• A History of… The Hobbit—Probably my favorite blog post of the week—Bookstooge, longtime Friend of IRR, talks about his personal history with the classic.

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode you might want to give a listen to:
• Authors on a Podcast Talking Books Ep. 3 – Jonathan Wood—David Walters (FanFiAddict.com) talks to Jonathan Wood. I read Wood’s first two books forever ago, and loved them. Don’t ask me why I haven’t read on. That ends in 2020, thanks to this episode. BTW, isn’t this the best podcast title? Tells you exactly what it is.

This Week’s New Release that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon (I’m sure there were others that I should’ve spotted, but…):
• Perfect Murder by Rebecca Bradley—A mystery writer tries to pull of the perfect murder—a plot that I’m sure made none of Bradley’s family/loved ones/friends nervous at all.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Freedom is the luxury I seek and APB813 for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?