Category: Books Page 115 of 161

This week’s list seems a bit more miscellaneous than usual, but that’s cool. I honestly didn’t think I’d spent enough time online this week to cobble together a post. Thankfully, I was wrong.

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:

• 10 Famous Authors With Surprising Day Jobs: Or, 10 reasons to hang on to that office job
• Should We Pay to Enter Bookstores?—The cheapskate in me balks at this, but really, not a bad idea.
• The Most Popular Books In Libraries, July–September 2019—It’s sort of a pain to read, but if you skip around by headings, this is some pretty interesting stuff.
• 7 Crime Tropes We Really Could Do Without: It’s time for a genre full of cliches to clean up its act.—Yes. But, no. If the right author can make any of these tropes work really, really well. They are overdone, but if pulled off juuuuuust right, I love ’em.
• Atmospheric Pressure: The Big Sleep at Eighty: 80 years ago, Raymond Chandler reinvented crime fiction with a novel that valued atmosphere—and style—above all else.—Case in point.
• How Objective Are Your Reviews?—This is possibly the best post I read this week, we all like to think our evaluations are objective (we might not admit it, but we like to think it), but yeah…they’re not. Unless we’re talking about the end of Harris’ Hannibal, or Dan Brown — because, really, we have to have some standards.
• Dragons of Autumn Twilight Read-Along—I tried to shuffle my schedule so I could do this, but I just couldn’t manage it. But this novel was one of the Big Ones in my development as a reader, you should follow along with what’s produced this month.
• 3 Reasons to Quit the Book You’re Reading—She makes it sound so simple…
• Dear authors, I can dislike your book if I want to! – My Ity Opinion.—but if you don’t quit it, feel free to sound off

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Shattered Bonds by Faith Hunter—Jane Yellowrock is back in the aftermath of the devastating 12th novel to find that things can always get worse. I rambled on about it this week.
• Blue Moon by Lee Child—Jack Reacher. ‘Nuff said.
• Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson—I’m not even sure how to summarize this without reading it. Just click the link.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Lee, likeherdingcatsblog, caffeinefocus, intentforcontent, entertainingly nerdy, The Awesome Dad, and juniorgareth42 for following the blog this week (gotta catch my breath for a moment, that was a long list). Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

So I saw a pretty decent bump in traffic this week thanks to The Write Reads featuring one of my posts as their Review of the Day, if you’re reading this because of them–hi! Thanks for stopping by. I’ve been meaning to say this for a few weeks now, but I keep forgetting—if you’re not following The Write Reads feeds on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram, you really should be. Their Post/Review of the Days are some of the best reading you’ll see from Book Bloggers out there. Sure, you’ll end up having too much to read (either posts or the books they talk about), but it’s worth it.

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 (especially if you follow The Write Reads), but just in case:

• Every Child Can Become a Lover of Books: Michelle Martin, a professor at the University of Washington, helps librarians create spaces that are welcoming to kids of all backgrounds
• 7 Author Pseudonyms That Were Cracked—and 6 That Haven’t Been (Yet)—Who doesn’t love a good pseudonym?
• Beowulf: Epic Adventure or Tale of Loss?—I just love the fact that there are people blogging about Beowulf.
• All the *WARNINGS*!!!—The Oranguatan Librarian sounds off on Trigger Warnings. As per the usual, it’s a good read.
• Fearless, free and feminist: the enduring appeal of Jack Reacher—Lest any reader be put off by the title (yeah, I’m talking about you), there’s very little feminism in this piece (I expected more, anyway). What there’s a lot of is good analysis of the series, the character and why so many like them.
• The Evolution of Dragons in Western Literature: A History—Hic sunt dracones, do you need me to say anything more to get you to click?
• We Need Noir—Because the Truth Is Dark, Messy, and Sometimes Ugly
• Fantasy: A Plethora of Choices—The Witty & Sarcastic Blog takes a look at types of Fantasy Novels (particularly handy for those not sure where to wade into the genre).
• 5 of the Most Useful Animal Sidekicks in Fiction—I’m only familiar with one of the 5, and there’s a part of me that wants to respond with a much longer list. But…how do you not recommend anything that talks about Falcor? Quick poll: how many of you have read the book The Neverending Story? Without getting into the merits of it, were you better off just watching the first movie?
• Judging a book by it’s cover…—I love stories about cover design (as long-time readers know and maybe regret), here’s some gorgeous examples of what a cover can be.
• How Do You Read Series?—I think I would go insane if I lived like this reader (that’s not a criticism, it’s a bit of “how do you manage that?” said with incredulity tinged with awe). What about you?
• Book Blogger Spreadsheet Template—my own spreadsheet is getting unwieldy and overly-complicated (it’s still a lot better than it was!), I think I might abandon mine next year for this one. It’s a work of art.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon — or, if I had more time, I’d get to (the last four of these fit into this category. I can’t see finding the time for them, but I bet it’d be worth it):
• Famous in Cedarville by Erica Wright—a small-town mystery that leads to Hollywood in all it’s glory and vice. My post about the book.
• The Night Fire by Michael Connelly—Bosch. Ballard. Haller. ‘Nuff said. I have 2.6 books to go before I get to this one. Yeah, I’m counting down already.
• The Girl with No Face by M. H. Boroson—an Urban Fantasy set in 19th Century San Francisco’s Chinatown? Fantastic idea.
• Ghoster by Jason Arnop—I’ve seen this title a lot this week, this social media satire/thriller looks like a good way to spend some time.
• From Hell to Breakfast by Meghan Tifft—I’m not even going to try to summarize this one—click the link read more and get as tempted as I am.
• Lifestyles of Gods and Monsters by Emily Roberson—Percy Jackson meets Reality TV?

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Anthony Day Grandin, Donald Wilson, lisasbooksgemsandtarot (say that five times fast), Adrianna and Scarlett Backus for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

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:

• One for the books: the unlikely renaissance of libraries in the digital age—Obviously, things for us Yanks are a little different than the Sydney Morning Herald’s audience, but there’s some good overlap
• Who Decides Which Books Are “Great?”: The concept of “Great Books,” the historian Tim Lacy explains, developed in the late nineteenth century as an attempt to foster a “democratic culture.”
• Along those lines, here’s a nice little post from The Orangutan Librarian that I somehow overlooked last month: In defence of classics- again!
• Michael Connelly reveals how ‘Bosch’ was born and other tales of his humble rise to fame
• The 15 most iconic Harry Bosch haunts across L.A.—I’m not one for traveling, really, but I would gladly organize a vacation to L.A. around this.
• Removing the Mystery From Mystery Writing: 13 Tricks Used by Acclaimed Novelists—geared more toward the writer, but there’s some interesting behind-the-scenes nuggets for readers.
• The 40 Best Novels of the 2010s—Paste magazine compiled a list of their editors’ favorites.
• The Ultimate Print On Demand Guide for Nonfiction Authors—another one pointed at the writers in the audience (or would-be writers). I find this kind of thing interesting even as a reader, tho.
• The 21 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Series Ever—at least according to Thrillist. Hard to argue against these though (as much as one might want to argue for others)
• A Book Bloggers Guide to Book Blogging – A Resource Guide—A very handy little “guide to help with some of the confusing things found in book blogging” from Before We Go Blog
• 4 Things About Blogging That Seem Scary, But Really Aren’t That Bad
• DNFing Books – A Discussion—I’m Fully Booked weighs in on the practice
• Top Ten Tuesday – Character Traits I Love—Caffinated Fae provides a nice little list.
• STET! Dreyer’s English: A Game for Language Lovers, Grammar Geeks, and Bibliophiles—This has been out for awhile, but I just saw a link for it this week. I’d love playing this (although I’m afraid I’d be wrong too often for my ego)

This Week’s New Release I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon (I probably missed a few, but…):
• Ghosts of You by Cathy Ulrich—this flash fiction collection is compelling, haunting, and thought-provoking (and includes some really good reading, too). My post about it describes the book better.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to kbbookreviewer, _forbookssake, thelostwoman, amanja and Steven Colborne /a> for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?