Category: Books Page 128 of 161

So, as Bookstooge commented yesterday — I seem to be in a bit of a slump — “meh”ish books and “meh”ish posts. Even the book I liked this week didn’t get my real best writing. Not sure what’s up with that. Better books to write about next week (mostly) — that should help. I’ve read two things this week that knocked me for a loop, looking forward to writing about them. Anyway . . .

Whoops! Going into this post, I thought I had a pretty good selection — turns out that it was mostly variations on a few themes. Most of which I ended up bailing on, so I can present to you only the most interesting of odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye — even if it is a short list. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Social Media and whatnot has been abuzz lately about Faleena Hopkins and her new Trademark. Now, I’m not a Romance reader (clearly), but you can see how some might try to learn from her example in other genres — and, it’s just a fascinating story regardless. Typically, there’s a lot of dross in the coverage. Here’s a couple of more trustworthy sources talking about it:
  • This Romance Novelist Trademarked the Word ‘Cocky’: And now she’s threatening other writers with legal action if they don’t change their book titles — from Electric Lit
  • Romantic novelist’s trademarking of word ‘cocky’ sparks outcry — from The Guardian
• Otto Penzler, noted expert on Mystery/Crime Fiction, has started a series of posts on CrimeReads helping readers understand the sub-genres of Mystery. Informative, helpful and great TBR fodder to boot:
  • What Is a Traditional Mystery?
  • What Is a Hard-Boiled Novel?
  • What Is a Thriller?
  • What Is a Police Procedural?
  • What is a Crime Novel?
• Friday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Book: PLOT IT YOURSELF (1959) by Rex Stout — I don’t think I like this particular Wolfe/Archie novel as much as this blogger does, but it is a good one — and (more importantly), anyone drawing attention to this series should get some attention itself.
• Stupid reasons to read books even if you never did before — a good list from Cristian Mihai over on Irevuo.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• For Those Who Know the Ending by Malcolm Mackay — an awesome looking Tartan Noir crime novel.
• Uncharted by Kevin J. Anderson and Sarah A. Hoyt — Lewis and Clark in an alternate-history/fantasy novel. Looks pretty cool to me.

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

I think the busy season at work is over — only worked 8 hours yesterday (we’ll not talk about the days before), so hopefully that gives me more time to focus on things here. But this is another small list 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:

• What’s in an Author Name? — an essay by Marie Myung-Ok Grace Lee that’ll make you rethink names.
• Grit Lit: An American Phenomenon Goes Global — I haven’t read as much of this genre/subgenre as I’ve meant to, but it looks up my alley — nice interview about a British writer in the area.
• Edgars All Around — The Rap Sheet covers the 2018 Edgars from earlier this week.
• Building a Book: how to be a book blogger</a

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode you might want to give a listen:
• Speaking of Mysteries This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode One Hundred and Seventy-Nine – Everyday People, starring Vincent Chu. — Chu’s collection is one of my favorite reads of the year (see here), so I liked this chance to get to know him a bit.
• The Author Stories Podcast Episode 366 | Rich Leder Interview/a> — I’ve enjoyed two of Leder’s books — even did a Q&A with him — but I was (don’t ask me why) pleasantly surprised by how this interview went. Give it a shot.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Charlie De Luca 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:

• The perfect crimes: why thrillers are leaving other books for dead — yup
• How My Bookish Habits Nearly Killed Me. Literally. — I can see me doing this (different books, same idea. Good last ‘graph.
• PBS Unveils The Great American Read’s 100 Most Loved Books — I mentioned this series when it was first announced, but it’s really starting to sound good.
• title — blah
• 10 Book Designers Discuss the Book Covers They Rejected, And Why — I love reading stories like this…
• Bidding Farewell to the Fairies of Appalachia: Alex Bledsoe Discusses Reaching the End of the Story of the Tufa — I skimmed a bit of this, just to be super-safe, but this is a nice interview about wrapping things up.
• To to Write (and Read) a Good Fight Scene — blog favorite, Michael R. Underwood, talks about fight scenes and what they tell us about character (or at least, what they should)
• 8 Brutally Honest Children’s Book Titles — snicker
• 10 Satirical Covers for the Terrible Books You Can’t Get Away From — same idea, but more thorough (and not about kids books)

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Born to the Blade by Marie Brennan, Cassandra Khaw, Malka Older and Michael R. Underwood — a serialized fantasy novel from a heckuva group of writers, I’m almost done with episode 1 and it’s a strong start. Look into this one.
• The Real-Town Murders by Adam Roberts — I’m not even going to try to sum this up, click the link to get more info, and then probably go buy it somewhere.

Worked over 50 hours this week (including today), there were only a few hours of that where I wasn’t going full steam ahead. Which meant I came home and pretty much collapsed. Leaving drafts for posts on multiple books in mid-stream. Next week will likely be the same, but I’m trying to get things done. Did manage to read a bit — some very strong stuff, which helps tremendously.

Anyhow, 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:

• Crime pays: thrillers and detective novels now outsell all other fiction — I bet the numbers are similar on this side of the pond.
• What Are the Rules for Lending Your Books to Friends?: We asked librarians, since they’re the experts — there’s some wisdom here
• Alex Bledsoe on Finding a Genre That Fits — Bledsoe discusses the difficulty of labeling the genre for the Tufa novels.
• My Favorite One-Star Reviews of My Books — Lee Goldberg shares some real, er, gems?
• Why Do Fantasy Novels Have So Much Food? — I think we’ve all asked this question
• Why You Should Be Watching Bosch, Amazon’s Under-the-Radar Noir — yes
• Rant: It’s MY Review and There Aren’t Laws!
• Can You Trust Book Reviews? — blah
• E-Readers vs Print Books. — not really adding anything new to the debate, but The Tattooed Book Geek’s post is plenty of fun.
• The 20 Best Insults in Fiction, RANKED — should memorize a couple of these for future use

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Fairies of Sadieville by Alex Bledsoe — Apparently, April is a month of good-byes. First, the Iron Druid. Now, the Tufa. This is one of the best series I’ve read the last few years — now, you can read them all. Do so.
• Madam Tulip and the Bones of Chance by David Ahern — Madam Tulip makes a movie in Scotland and, shockingly enough, becomes embroiled in murder and mayhem. I thought it was plenty of fun, as you can read here.
• Skyjack by K. J. Howe — Kidnap and Ransom specialist, Thea Paris, is back in this tale of secret armies, skyjacking, divided loyalties and impending doom. Here’s my post about it.

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

Another week of small lists. Small, but packed with goodness.

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:

• A Library Mystery: Why People Kept Underlining Page 7 in Borrowed Books — gotta grin while reading this…no really, it’s required.
• Author interview with Jo Perry: When the stuff I write feels true, that’s a win — A very nice interview with IRR fave Jo Perry.
• Iron Druid Kevin Hearne Has Finished His Series With Scourged — Shawn Speakman talks to Hearne about the end of IDC and more.
• The Met Museum Rolls Out Over 500 Free Art Books You Can Download & Print — Not really the kind of books we focus on here, but hey. Free. At least worth a look, right?
• Random Musings: Book love and negative reviews — yup. Confuses me that so many people have to say this, but I appreciate every one who does.
• Exclusive Cover Reveal: Amber Royer’s Debut Space Opera Free Chocolate — a spiffy cover, and some good thoughts on humor and SF.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Scourged by Kevin Hearne — This is the big one of the week, er, month for me. I’ve been an unabashed fan of this series since the release of Hounded, and devoured this finale. UF readers will want to look for this one (and many probably are). Will be posting about it soonish.
• School for Psychics by K. C. Archer — this looks like a variation on a common theme — secret school for people with extraordinary abilities (Brakebills, Hogwarts, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, etc.) — but with an intriguing take.