Category: Books Page 120 of 161

Happy Star Wars Day!

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:

• Why Harry Potter and Paddington Bear are essential reading … for grown-ups — sure, why not?
• The real story behind Harper Lee’s lost true crime book — sure, we don’t get this and we get Go Set a Watchman? Life is cruel.
• Hi. We’ve redesigned Lit Hub, launched a blog, and added a podcast network. — so, they’ve been busy. Looks pretty cool.
• Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mysterious Author: Donald J. Sobol created a mystery icon and sold millions of books. But who was he? — This might be my favorite piece to link to all year. I cannot overstate the impact that Sobol & Encyclopedia had on me and what I read. Hmmm . . . been wondering what kind of mystery lit tattoo I could maybe get. That first volume’s cover . . . Sorry, got distracted there for a second (but am keeping my random typing up here as a reminder).
• Speaking of mysteries, this week, The Writer Magazine touched off spot of controversy with one of the most wrong-headed pieces I’ve read in a while about male dominance and female characters in Crime Fiction. The reactions were immediate, sometimes hilarious, and all negative (that I saw, anyway). Gerald So, typically, was even-handed in his response, as were the group Sisters in Crime (H/T: @crimethrillergirl). Alafair Burke (someone the article could’ve talked about) was a tad more blunt. Honestly, my favorite response was from Nick Kolakowski — although his angry tweets about it are a bit more amusing (like this one)
• An interview with Steph Broadribb, author of the Lori Anderson bounty hunter series — a good interview with someone else that could’ve been discussed by The Writer Magazine.
• Vital Crime Fiction: Main Bad Guy by Nick Kolakowski — this week, coincidentally, brought a nice new interview with the aforementioned Nick Kolakowski.
• Simon Pegg & Nick Frost’s Stolen Picture To Adapt Ben Aaronovitch’s Epic Fantasy Drama ‘Rivers of London’ — Other than the mis-use of “Epic” here, there is nothing in that headline that doesn’t bring me joy.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Venators: Promises Forged by Devri Walls — the second in the Venators series is finally out — and the first 100 pages are really good. I’ll probably talk about the next 250+ early next week.
• Not Famous by Matthew Hanover — is now an audiobook!

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to SED MADDY, The Happy Book Blog and Justine @ Bookish Wisps for following the blog this week.

This is an odd mix of odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week — a lot of them from CrimeReads, too. The odd (for me, thing) is I saw multiple references to them, it’s not like I just hung out at that site for inspiration last night. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Jake Lacy Joins Hulu Adaptation of ‘High Fidelity’ — 1. I somehow missed the news that Hulu was doing a High Fidelity; 2. Gender-flipping the main roles? I think my reaction to both is summed up in three little letters (and a bunch of punctuation): WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!???
• Bosch Is Bosch: Appreciating a Masterful Adaptation — Reed Farrel Coleman on the Bosch adaptation (not surprisingly, Coleman has a very strong and good take on it).
• The 2019 Edgar Award Nominees Address the Genre’s Most Pressing Questions for CrimeReads this week. I haven’t had a chance to read all of this yet, but what I have is really good. The State of the Mystery: Part 1 of a Roundtable Discussion and The State of the Mystery: Part 2 of a Roundtable Discussion
• On My Mind: To DNF Or To Not DNF — a lot of this feels like something I could have written. Which isn’t the primary reason I liked it.
• Why I’ve done away with Star Ratings for Reviews on my blog — I’m pretty close to this myself, for pretty much what she said here.
• Science Fiction Clickbait is a nice dash of fun
• 5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Work In A Bookstore
• Tom Gauld on new words for bookworms

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• William Shakespeare’s Get Thee Back to the Future! by Ian Doescher — the Shakespearean takes on Star Wars that Doescher has done previously never really spoke to me (but I flipped through a couple and they seemed well done) — but for some reason this one has me intrigued. Anyone read this or his previous works?

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Crystal Grasso (Ward) and Jocelyn for following the blog this week.

An unexpectedly long (good) day — after a very unexpectedly long and full week results in this being posted when it’s no longer Saturday…eh. Best I can do…

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:

• Gene Wolfe by Neil Gaiman — I’ve read a lot about the Gene Wolfe following his death this week — almost all laudatory. This — written years ago — might be the best.
• Check out this great thread from Raven Book Store that went viral this week about the cost of books and why you should shop indie.
• Speaking of which, Champions of Indies –is a good post — even if it’s pretty much a thinly disguised advertisement for libro.fm. Still a good post, and libro.fm is a service I don’t mind showing advertisements for.
• You Should Always Support Your Independent Bookstore — a better post.
• Hey, did you know that next Saturday is Independent Bookstore Day? I’m sure you did, it just seems like a good time to mention it.
• Sci-Fi & Fantasy Author Fonda Lee Criticizes Barnes & Noble Stocking J.R.R. Tolkien & Robert Jordan Books: ‘We Are Competing With Dead Guys’ — I see a lot of her point, but . . .
• Five Years On, There’s Still Nothing Like Patrick Rothfuss’ The Slow Regard of Silent Things
• Your Favorite Fantasy Magic Systems, Rated

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:

• No Country for Old Gnomes by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne — the second in The Tales of Pell a funny, funny fantasy novel with a lot of heart and other stuff. I’m tired, that’s as good as you’re going to get from me…if you want moreread my full post about it.
• Going Dark by Neil Lancaster — an undercover cop infiltrates a Serbian mob. Written by a former covert specialist Detective Sergeant — looks so good. It’s currently waiting patiently for me on my Kindle.
• Differently Morphous by Yahtzee Croshaw — an offbeat-looking fantasy novel about the hunt for a magical serial killer.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Ciidagale Raad, KayCKay and BookaholicBrittany
for following the blog this week.

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:

• US Independent Bookstores Thriving and Growing — I’ve posted variations on this theme before, but it’s always encouraging to read.
• Fast-Growing Independent Publishers, 2019 — don’t think I’ve brushed up against any of those mentioned here, but this is encouraging, too.
• Philip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, Tom Holland, and Others Stand Against Piracy
• Publishing 2025: a vision — From The Bookseller
• Publishing Killing Libraries? — a thought-provoking thread
• Traditional Books vs. Ebooks: A Comparison — I’m not sure there’s anything new here, but a nice post nonethelss.
• Beowulf the work of single author, research suggests — I didn’t realize this was a thing (I think we covered Beowulf in 3 lit classes in college, too — where it should’ve come up). Still, I find this kind of thing fascinating.
• To the Librarian Who Changed My Life — awwww
• 5 Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book — fun post. (and a great blog name/tag line, too…)
• How I write book reviews — another nice BTS book blogger post — thanks to the Tattooed Book Geek for retweeting it.
• Tell Us Your Drinking Preferences, We’ll Tell You What Genre You Are! — Other than identifying me as a Horror lover (check the archives here, see how wrong that is), fun dumb quiz
• Fantasy Book Covers Intimidate Me—Here’s Why — I get this. Been there.
• Nero Wolfe — the detective who loves his grub
• Hilariously Honest Book Titles (Adaptations Edition) and Hilariously Honest Book Titles (Part 4) both have some really winners.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Occidentally Orthodox (who may not like a lot of what I post, but I hope he comments) and whovinawrites for following the blog this week.