Category: Books Page 38 of 158

Saturday Miscellany—1/20/24

On January 20, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Short list this week, but plenty of good things to read.

I picked a bad week to start, but I’m trying something new for these posts today, too. We’ll see if it survives until March (and if it does, what it’ll look like)…

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 Why is March 2024 the Best Month in Years For Books?—a look into book promotion, publishing schedules, and “the existential pain of knowing that you will never get to read even a small percentage of” the books you want to read.
bullet Shelf-absorbed: eight ways to arrange your bookshelves – and what they say about you—fun, but not without it’s problems. (I am not a “try-hard.” Probably.)
bullet Small Press Economies: A Dialogue—If reading this doesn’t make you love those in Small Press/Indie Press Publishing all the more…
bullet MWA Announces 2024 Edgar Award Nominations—here’s a ready-made reading list full of sure-fire winners for you.
bullet YA Isn’t Just for Young Adults—from The Millions.
bullet Out With Book Clubs — In With Book Trades!—Cole Rush has a good alternative to buddy reads, book clubs, etc.
bullet Why Authors Need Cover Reveals—David W nails it. (they’re good for lazy book bloggers, too! Consider this an open invitation)
bullet Seven Science Fiction Novels to Expand (and Blow) Your Mind—a good dose of temptation from John Mauro over at Before We Go Blog.
bullet Books With the Best Beginnings!—A great collection of opening lines from the Organutan Librarian.
bullet Reviews: Subjective or Objective? Can we do both—one would think we could.
bullet Reading: To Track or Not to Track?

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Whoops, this was a bad week to start this feature…I only posted a Saturday Miscellany in the 3rd week in January, 2014. But I’m sticking with this plan so I don’t forget about it…
bullet 2014 The Edgar Awards nominees—what a coincidence!
bullet A Snapshot of Reading in America in 2013—I’d look to see if the Pew Research Council has done another one like this, but I think the results would depress me too much
bullet The Top Ten Books People Lie About Reading
bullet I talked about the releases of: The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley (this is where I derailed on the series…I just never got around to reading it), He Drank and Saw the Spider by Alex Bledsoe (such a good one!!), Switchblade by Michael Connelly, and The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley
bullet …and that’s it. It was a short Miscellany to follow a quiet week on the blog.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Dream Town by Lee Goldberg—Eve Ronin investigates the murder of a Reality TV star.
bullet Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett—Emily’s off to the Australian Alps (and to the fae lands beyond) in this great-looking follow-up. Go read what Witty & Sarcastic Book Club said.
bullet Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes by Moshe Kasher—”A ‘hilarious’ (Dax Shepard), ‘surprisingly emotional trip’ (The Chainsmokers) through deep American subcultures ranging from Burning Man to Alcoholics Anonymous, by the writer and comedian.” After Kasher in the Rye, I’m reading anything vaguely memoir-ish from Kasher.

WWW Wednesday, January 17, 2024

By HCNewton

On January 17, 2024

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

I’m putting this together on the 16th day of the year—and I just now started my first Mystery novel of the year. How strange is that??? I guess The Tainted Cup had enough of that going on that my withdrawal symptoms haven’t kicked in.

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?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading the very quirky Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson, and have just started listening to Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire, read by Emily Bauer on audiobook.

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What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished the wibbly wobbly, timey wimey The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown and America Fantastica by Tim O’Brien, read by Oliver Wyman on audio, a book I’m conflicted about. Maybe.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the almost certainly fast and fun, Hacker by Duncan MacMaster, and my next audiobook should be the dark and grim, Prayers for Rain by Dennis Lehane, read by Jonathan Davis (unless a library hold comes up first).

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What are you bundled up against the cold with?

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2024

By HCNewton

On January 16, 2024

In Books, News/Misc.

This week’s topic is, “Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2023. An oldie, but a goodie! And one I can’t wait to see whether I will (or won’t) read these books in 2024… Same disclosure every year: you won’t be subjected to punishment (from me) if you don’t read these. But what are 5 books you really want to tick off your TBR this year?” I was 4 for 5 last year, let’s see how I do this year. I own all of these, so that should help.

	The Camelot Shadow by Sean Gibson I’ve been wanting to read more by Sean Gibson and when I stumbled across this one last year, it just jumped out at me.
	Wish Givers by Shannon Knight Okay, I’m hoping to get to more than one of Knight’s novels, but this is the one that’s calling to me the loudest.
	Hacker by Duncan MacMaster Ghost Writer-turned-amateur detective is back for his third adventure. I’m looking forward to this–MacMaster is always sure to please.
	Abnormal Ends by Bryan McBee A cyberpunk serial killer novel from one of the Literary Locals I’ve been wanting to dive into. That’s three factors in favor of it right there.
	Detours and Do-Overs by Wesley Parker I was knocked out by Parker’s Headphones and Heartache, and I can’t wait to see what the sequel holds.

I do plan on getting to at least one of these within a week. Hopefully the rest will follow soon.

Do you have any particular books you’re set on getting to this year?

Saturday Miscellany—1/13/24

By HCNewton

On January 13, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

A quick apology to those who get emailed my posts for littering your inbox with trash earlier today, but I wanted to grab this image.

This Miscellany marks 1,000 days of posting here at The Irresponsible Reader.
1000 day streak
Bob laid down the challenge, and I made it. Not always with quality or quantity. But I got it done. There’s part of me that wishes I had something more monumental to mark this occasion, but I think I prefer it being just my regular thing.

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 Scammy AI-Generated Book Rewrites Are Flooding Amazon
bullet 45 Years Ago, One Kids Book Series Taught A Generation How To Make Bad Decisions—a look at the beginnings, end, and rebeginnings of Choose Your Own Adventure books.
bullet 11 Books That Prove There’s Nothing Wrong with Self-Publishing —I’m not crazy about the headline, but this is a nice listicle about some of the self-pub success stories
bullet 7 great but notoriously hard-to-finish books—I have started 2 of these (multiple times)
bullet An Ode to Acknowledgements: Sarah Wheeler on the Joy of Learning About the Village Behind a Book
bullet Celeste posted her 2023 Book Blog In Review for A Literary Escape. Looks like a pretty good year.
bullet 2023 Peaties—other than its description as “fantasyland’s worst awards for characters,” this is a really good and insightful post that should feed your TBRs and make you grin while reading.
bullet Mark Each Year in Books: Thoughts on Reading Traditions
bullet FanFiAddict’s TBRCon2024 is a little more than a week away.
bullet Top 5 Bookish Resolutions for 2024—Books are 42’s resolutions may inspire some for you
bullet Reading Less in 2024—this is really healthy and wise. Good reminder/thoughts from Bec.
bullet Are Reading Goals Worth It?—Worlds Unlike Our Own has some along the same lines.
bullet The Joys of Backlist Books
bullet Cocktails to Pair With Your Favorite Fantasy and Horror Books—Beth Tabler has updated this list from a couple of years back. Some of these look great. (I am too lazy for these usually. My adult-beverage pairing is typically a neat whisky or bottle of beer)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire—A mutli-world adventure that connects several students to the worlds on the other side of their Doors. This is one of the stronger entries in this series, as I talked about recently.
bullet California Bear by Duane Swierczynski—”follows four unlikely vigilantes who pit themselves against the villain behind California’s coldest case when they decide to take justice into their own hands.”
bullet Soundtrack of Silence: Love, Loss, and a Playlist for Life by Matt Hay—A “memoir of a young man who discovered he was going completely deaf just at the moment he’d fallen in love for the first time.”

Book Blogger Hop: The To-Be-Read List

By HCNewton

On January 12, 2024

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Man, it’s been too long since I’ve done one of these. Time to get back in the swing of things, I generally have fun with these.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

How many books are on your “to be read” list?

It’s Schrödinger’s List…there are too many and not nearly enough at the same time.

Technically, right now it’s:

	Audio	E-book	Physical	Goodreads Want-to-Read	NetGalley Shelf
	6	49	68	155	5

So…283, I guess. Blech. I need to work on that. I should be at 279 or less by the end of the month.

(unless of course, I add something between now and then)

How healthy (however you want to define it) is your list?

WWW Wednesday, January 10, 2024

By HCNewton

On January 10, 2024

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

Oh. Wow. Just…wow. I am on a hot streak to start off 2024. I’m just loving the books I’ve read/am reading so far. I know it won’t be long until I come across a book I like—or am disappointed with—but for now, I’m relishing the streak. Let’s dive in, so you can get a peak at what I’m talking about.

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?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading the utterly charming Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman, and have just started listening to America Fantastica by Tim O’Brien, read by Oliver Wyman on audiobook. It looks promising, but that’s about all I’ve got to say for now.

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What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished the stunning ARC for Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Tainted Cup and Miles Morales Suspended by Jason Reynolds, Narrated by: Guy Lockard and Nile Bullock on audio, which I posted about yesterday.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the ARC for The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown and my next audiobook should be the next step in my InCryptid run-through, Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire, read by Emily Bauer.

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How’s the beginning of ’24 treating you?

2024 Plans and Challenges

By HCNewton

On January 9, 2024

In Books, Calendar Items, Miscellany, News/Misc.

Finally it’s time to stop looking at 2023 (as fun as that’s been) and to start focusing on 2024.

Many of my goals and the challenges I set for myself for 2023 were not accomplished. I’m okay with that, mostly, because some of what came up along the way ended up better than I’d hoped. And the rest…well, really didn’t matter much anyway. So I’m over it.

I do have things I want to accomplish here over the next 12 months for a variety of reasons—and listing them like this helped last year (although, you’ll see a lot of echoes here from that post. But most of those echoes are of a “continue doing this” nature). So, here’s what I’m going to shoot for around here in the next 12 months.
Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own (a perennial project, but 2024 was not good for the size of that stack)—at least two of the Book Challenges this year should be a fun way to help.
I’m going to finish my Classic Spenser series and maybe find another Classic to do a project read-through. We’ll see about that. (This is a repeat from the last couple of years, but it’s nagging at me)
I’m going to continue to be picky in the Book Tours I participate in. I still like Tours, they expose me to things I wouldn’t normally read—and I’m going to keep doing them. But if I’m picky, it helps me focus on other things.
I was planning on cutting back on the Reading Challenges I was trying, but ended up just exchanging two for two new ones. There’s plenty of overlap possible between them, so that’ll help. These are concrete tasks, no more of these “Read as Many of X as You Can” challenges. I’ll talk about those in a minute.
Try to interview more authors (maybe others, too?), and get better at that, too. The Literary Locals series is helping with that.
I want to continue the Literary Locals, but I think I need to find a new phase of it, something different.
I plan on pressing forward with Grandpappy’s Corner, and hopefully do posts for it more frequently.

2024 Book Challenges

Goodreads Challenge
My oldest son taunted me into upping my annual goal to 250 last year. I think I’ll go for that again–I’m not sure I’ll beat it this year. Some things might come up to cause me to read a little less–and I’ve got some slower reads on my calendar for the year. So if I hit that, I’ll be more than satisfied. If I miss it, well, I really don’t care–it’s just habit to set a goal for this at this point.

Well, okay, I don’t care that much.

12 Books
I did this one in 2022, and it really expanded my reading. I thought the same would happen last year, but…wow. I got distracted. So I want to take another stab at this group of selections.

Reading with Wrigs

This is a fun-looking challenge designed to step into the gap left by the retirement of the While I Was Reading Challenge. I’m looking forward to giving it a shot.

The 2024 Booktempter’s TBR Challenge

I really appreciate the way this one is put together, and it’s pretty easy—just 1 book a month and my TBR should go down by at least 12, more if I can squeeze in some of the stretch goals. This has been pretty helpful the last two years, and I expect the same this year.

Backlist Bingo 2024

I enjoyed participating in Armed With a Book’s Bingo a few years ago, so when I saw this one announced, I found myself ignoring my resolution to cut down on challenges for the year.

I’ll also undoubtedly do the 20 Books of Summer Challenge…that’s been pretty fun. And I can easily combine it with 2 or 3 of the above challenges, to be super-productive.

That’s everything I have planned, I can’t wait to see what unplanned things happen around here. Hope you’re around to join in the fun!

(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)

Saturday Miscellany—1/6/24

By HCNewton

On January 6, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

As great/enjoyable/fulfilling they all may be, after all the days off from work, visiting family/friends, and folderol of the last couple of weeks, I’m looking forward to getting back to routine. A routine that will provide me more opportunities to mess around online and find things for this post, too, he adds feeling this is a bit skimpy this week.

Skimpy it may be, but if you make it to the end of this without adding at least looking into one book for future reading, I’ll be surprised.

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 In Praise of Reading: How Literature Enables Us to Inhabit New Worlds —I don’t know if I buy this, but I enjoyed musing through the piece
bullet Five for Them, One for Me, with S.A. Cosby—a nice, quick, interview with Cosby
bullet Another week, another batch of Best of 2023 lists. I’m telling you, these are not helping me cut down on my TBR lists:
bullet On Before We Go Blog, we have Nathan’s Top 25 Reads of 2023
bullet Jo Linsdell’s Best Reads of 2023
bullet Top 10 Books I Read In 2023—Steven Writes is done with his categories and goes nice and straightforward here at the end.
bullet My 10 best books of 2023—from Spells and Spaceships
bullet Fan Fi Addict’s David S’ Top 5 Books I Read in 2023
bullet Raven’s Books Of The Year 2023
bullet Peat Long’s Top 10 Books Read in 2023
bullet The damppebbles Top Ten(ish!) of 2023
bullet Bookstr Predictions: Bookish Trends We Think We’ll See in 2024
bullet Trends I Think We’ll See in Book Blogging in 2024—Pages Unbound has another take
bullet Getting on top of my TBR pile: a modest proposal—Mike Finn sets out to exercise an amount of self-will that I’m incapable of. I wish him well.
bullet Top Book Bloggers to Follow in 2024—a good list
bullet Why I Don’t Keep Track of New Book Releases—makes sense to me

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Cadillac Job by Stacy Woodson—a car thief on a noble mission with deadly stakes

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Kal @ Reader Voracious, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.

WWW Wednesday, January 3, 2024

By HCNewton

On January 3, 2024

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

Welcome to my first WWW post of 2024, starting with this one, we’ll (very likely) be taking 52 looks at what books I’m reading and listening to throughout the year through the magic of this weekly meme. Feel free to leave a comment with a link to your WWW or just tell us what you’re reading. I enjoy reading these!

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?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peak at this weeks answers:

What are you currently reading?

I’ve got two really entertaining Fantasy novels that couldn’t be more different here. I’m reading Book 3 of The Azure Archipelago by K.R.R. Lockhaven, and am listening to The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman on audiobook.

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What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Russell W. Johnson’s The Moonshine Messiah and Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison, Kristen Sieh (Narrator) on audio. One of those was great and the other was good enough.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the ARC for The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, which looks great (and will finally cross Bennett off my “Authors I Should Try” list). My next audiobook should be Miles Morales Suspended by Jason Reynolds, Narrated by: Guy Lockard and Nile Bullock. Almost everything I know about Miles came from Reynolds’ first novel about him, I’m so glad to finally stumble onto this one.

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How are you starting 2024?

Fourth Quarter Check-In/Wrap-Up: 2023 Plans and Challenges

By HCNewton

On January 2, 2024

In Books, Calendar Items, Miscellany, News/Misc.

Well…this doesn’t look the way I want it to. But here goes:

My plans this year focused on the two series that I’ve started—Literary Locals and Grandpappy’s Corner—both of which went well last year.

Then there’s the perennial, “Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own.” How did I do on that?

	Audio	E-book	Physical	Goodreads Want-to-Read
End of 2022	5	45	42	143
End of 1st Quarter	4	44	54	142
End of 2nd Quarter	5	50	56	145
End of 3rd Quarter	5	51	58	151
End of 4th Quarter	6	47	68	153

Let’s move right along to see how I did with the Reading Challenges…
2023 Book Challenges

Goodreads Challenge

It should show a few more read, but Goodreads doesn’t have them in the list, and I’m too lazy to bother submitting them. Still, there I’m success.

and now, it’s time for the less than successful marks

12 Books
I got behind in March and never got back to this. It really drove me crazy, because I wanted to read these, but the idea of being behind ended up being a mental block. I’m working on this for next year. And I only wrote about one of the three I managed to read.

2023 While I was Reading

I finished this one…although #4 isn’t probably what Ramona was going for. This is the last time I’ll be participating in this challenge, as Ramona’s retiring her blog. I feel bad that I didn’t do better for this last go-round. But…eh. I gave it a shot.

A book with a protagonist over 40.: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
A book considered a classic.: The Existence and Attributes of God by Stephen Charnock
A graphic novel.: Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith, Boulet (Illustrator)
A book that has been banned or challenged.: The Freedom of a Christian: A New Translation by Martin Luther (proscribed by the Edict of Worms in 1521…yeah, it’s a stretch, but I ran out of time for the more contemporary titles I picked)
A book set in a place on your bucket list.: Blood Runs Cold by Neil Lancaster
A book published before you were born.: On the Apostolic Preaching by Irenaeus of Lyons
A book related to a goal you have for 2023.: Church History in Plain Language, Fifth Edition by Bruce Shelley, Revision Editor Marshall Shelley
A book by an author of color.: The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian
A book with a clever title.: Kneading Journalism: Essays on Baking Bread and Breaking Down the News by Tony Ganzer
A book by a famous author you’ve never read: The Last Dance by Mark Billingham
A non-fiction book about a topic you love.: The Worst We Can Find: MST3K, RiffTrax, and the History of Heckling at the Movies by Dale Sherman
A novella: Bad Memory by Jim Cliff

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge

I’m on-target for this one (as much as I can be), and have even got a couple of the Stretch Goals accomplished.
January – End to end temptation I give you permission to read the most recent book you have got on top of your TBR. For many this is one we only get to read eventually but for now I want you to pick up the newest book in Mount TBR and read it. Can you remember the last time you did that? It’s a good habit to get into and January is all about starting good habits: The Perception of Dolls by Anthony Croix, Edited by Russell Day
Stretch Goal – Read the oldest book in Mount TBR it has waited long enough: Bartleby and James: Edwardian Steampunk Chronicle by Michael Coorlim
February – Short steps For the shortest month of the year I want you to read 28 short stories. This can be a TBR collection, anthology or even backlog of magazines that you have. Life is fast but use this challenge to appreciate the skill of the short story writer. Play your skills right you may get more than one book read this way. eh…I get partial credit for this, Noirville contained every short story I had unread, but it’s only fifteen stories. I did read extra novellas for the Stretch Goal, though. So I’m calling this okay?
Stretch Goal – Read four novellas one for each week of the month. Bad Memory by Jim Cliff, Anna and the Vampire Prince by Jeanne C. Stein, and Broken by Don Winslow (which is six novellas).
March – Fresh Starts This time for the beginning of spring you need to start a series you have never read before. Release this work from Mount TBR! Justice Calling by Annie Bellet
April – Open and Shut Case For the month named after the latin for ‘to open’ you need to read a standalone book with no sequel or links to any other book. Something new and something you can let go after reading it: The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
May – Crowning Glory? the UK has a lot of bank holidays including a coronation this month so suitably let’s pick a book about revolution or a change of those in power. Questland by Carrie Vaughn
June – long reading days or longest nights Irrespective of your hemisphere you have time for reading either in the joys of summer or depths of winter. Your challenge here is to find the largest tale on Mount TBR and finish it. Let that monster get off your back: Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
July – Holidays are coming! let’s go travelling find a book by the author who lives the furthest from you on the globe. I give you seven months to do the maths! Let’s explore the fiction of places very much not like our own: Eternity Fund by Liz Monument (Australia)
August – Holiday Treats reward time you get to choose the book in your TBR pile no Themes, clues of queries to ask. Just take one off the list!: Lemon Man by Ken Bruton
September – Seven Deadly Tempts read a book linked however you want to one of the seven deadly sins. Booktempting I stress is not one of them. Indulge yourselves: Cash Rules Everything Around Me by Rob Gittins. If that title doesn’t scream Greed, I don’t know what does (the other 6 show up as well in the book)
October – Spooky Season cometh read a book with a spooky or dark theme. Unsettle yourself prior to Halloween: Evil Embers by Cristelle Comby
November – Small Press Big Stories read a book that is published by a printing house that is not connected to the auk/US Big Five publishers: Evil Valley by Simon Hall
December – Don’t forget to say thank you it’s been over a year treat yourself to a book someone else gifted you. If you liked it tell that person!: Vicious Dogs by Henry Brock

Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge;

I’ve got 16 of the 24 categories taken care of. So, I guess I’m okay-ish here. I’ll have a few others accomplished by the end of the year, but I think this is going to be an incomplete challenge.

five word title (only 5 words, count ’em up!) – The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
won an award (the book won an award. any award!)
meant to read it last year (a book you planned to get to in 2022 and didn’t) – The Night Watch by Neil Lancaster
giving an author a second chance (an author (or specific book) you previously didn’t jive with ) – Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
an author writing under a pseudonym (the author(s) is not writing under their real name) – Cutthroat Cupcakes by Cate Lawley
2022 debut novel (an author’s first book that released in 2022) – Lemon Man by Ken Bruton
standalone (the book has no prequels/sequels) – Proxies by James T. Lambert
bought and forgot it (a book you bought (or borrowed) and forgot about it) – Cash Rules Everything Around Me by Rob Gittins
plants on the cover (any kind of plant on the cover is fair game) – The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
first in a trilogy (the book is the first of three) – The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris
name in the title (the title has a character name in it) – Klone’s Stronghold by Joyce Reynolds-Ward
set on a continent you don’t live on (the story is set on a continent (or heavily inspired by a place on a continent) you do NOT live on) – Anna and the Vampire Prince by Jeanne C. Stein

it’s a trope! (your favorite) (pick your favorite trope and read a book featuring it)
less than 170 pages (make sure it’s a short one!) – Bartleby and James: Edwardian Steampunk Chronicle by Michael Coorlim
released at least 23 years ago (that’s right, we’re taking it back to the 90’s (release dates in 1999 or before))
protagonist name starts with “M” (the main character has a name beginning with “M”) – Teaching Moments by Troy Lambert (Max)
graphic novel outside your fave genre (find a graphic novel that isn’t in one of your favorite genres)
recommended by a bookseller (ask your local bookseller for a recommendation! if you don’t have a local store, there are plenty with social media accounts to reach out to)
letter “z” in the title (the letter “z” appears somewhere in the title) – A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers by Jackson Ford
all about music or the arts (the story revolves around music or the arts in some way) – Questland by Carrie Vaughn
protagonist has a pet (any pet will do) – A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames
more than 450 pages (grab a tome and get reading!) – The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
your favorite genre (a book that falls in your favorite genre) – Barking for Business by E. N. Crane
main cover color is your least favorite color (find a book prominently featuring your least favorite color on the cover) – A Geerhardus Vos Anthology: Biblical and Theological Insights Alphabetically Arranged ed. Danny E. Olinger (I don’t know that I have a least favorite color, but it is a bit “meh”)

Basically, 2 out of 4 (the Goodreads challenge isn’t really much of one). Not really my best. But…these things are for fun and to make me think about reading in a slightly different way. It succeeded there, as much as I didn’t.

(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)