Category: Books Page 50 of 159

It seemed like my dogs were conspiring against me completing this post today—but if you’re reading this, it means I outsmarted them.

That seems like a low bar to overcome, but some days I swear they’re smarter than me (I realize I’m opening myself up to some fun in the comments here).

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:
Is This the Oldest Book in the World?—from a “notebook recording tax accounts for beer and oil in Greek around 260 BC.” Of course it has to do with taxes.
On the Pitfalls of Book Promotion in the Internet Age—as with most things by Tom Rachman, this is a good read. “Promoting a book can derange you. After years of quiet toil and noisy typing, you clutch a published book, and step forth to meet the public, eight billion humans who, mystifyingly, seem not to know that your new novel just came out.”
Speaking of book promotion, Goodreads Has No Incentive to be Good
Holding Out for More Heroes—I’ve never understood the anti-Paladin stance, personally. Sign me up for more, too.
Amazon Product Names for Famous Literary Objects
5 SFF Books Whose Plot Is Centered Around Music—When I saw the headline, I assumed Tabler was goig to overlook Year Zero (like seemingly everyone but the bookseller that hand sold it to me years ago)—instead, she lead off with it! The rest of the list is populated by books I’ve been meaning to get to, and probably should.
Witty & Sarcastic Book Club has another series definitely worth the time to check out: Poetry and Song in SFF—I’m not saying this is going to turn me into one of those people who don’t skip those bits, but it might.
Featuring J.E. Hannaford
Featuring Michael Williams
Featuring T.R. Peers
Featuring K.R.R. Lockhaven—(I actually do read most—maybe all—of the verse in his books)
Featuring Joshua Gillingham
Featuring Ashley Anglin
Engagement: Bringing Authors and Reviewers Together—a must-read for bloggers/authors (IMHO)
What are Graphic Novels: An Introduction for Beginners
Five Ways to Tackle Your TBR—I’m not sure I understand the last method…people do this?
Should Adults Recommend Older Books to Kids?

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Fiction Fans Whiskey & Publishing with Nicholas Eames & Peter McLean—a fun chat about publishing with Eames and McLean (with a little bit from Sara and Lilly)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Necessity of Rain by Sarah Chorn—probably the best prose released this week, and likely the most heart-breaking book, too. And I don’t even know anything about the book, it’s just what you expect from Chorn.
The Imposters by Tom Rachman—As with Chorn, I know I want to read it without knowing anything about it, but I went ahead and read the description, which starts: “Dora Frenhofer, a once successful but now aging and embittered novelist, knows her mind is going. She is determined, however, to finish her final book, and reverse her fortunes, before time runs out. Alone in her London home during the pandemic, she creates, and is in turn created by, the fascinating real characters from her own life.”
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson—the title sells it. “Sanderson meshes Jason Bourne and epic fantasy in this captivating adventure that throws an amnesiac wizard into time travel shenanigans—where his only hope of survival lies in recovering his missing memories.”
The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis—a Rom-Com featuring alien abduction and a theme wedding? Hard not to be curious.

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

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:
23 Wonderful Benefits of Reading to Empower You—I’ve linked to posts in the past that mention most of them, but not as many of these benefits in one place before. (you can also use these benefits as justifications for your habit when you don’t want to just say “I like it”)
The Western Gothic in Film, Music, and Literature: A Primer
The Challenges of Blending History and Steampunk—this is a good post from Jonathan Fesmire—can probably apply to other genres as well.
LordTBR’s How-To Guide: Using NetGalley as a Reviewer—a handy-dandy guide I could’ve really used when I started with NetGalley (and can still profit from).
Don’t Save Books!—hear, hear
When Writers Seemingly Don’t Trust Their Audience—Krysta raises a lot of good points here.
Can We Read Books With ‘Bad’ Themes?—Eustacia follows up that post with this one.
A Legacy of Reviewing? Random things my dad taught me about books
Fantastic Fae: Books with Faeries, Changelings and Pesky Pixies—Witty & Sarcastic Book Club looks at the spectrum of Fae portrayals in Fiction.
I can’t remember how I came across Mark Lawrence’s Goodreads review of Green Eggs and Ham, but I’m so glad I did. It was so good I almost bought all of his books in response (I do really need to get around to trying his fiction one day…)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Evidence Pool by Ian Robinson—the long-awaited (by me, anyway) fourth book in the Nash & Moretti series. Our Met detectives have to solve a locked-house mystery in the London home of a Russian oligarch.
Junkyard War by Faith Hunter—the third novella in the Shining Smith trilogy (?) is out in print for those who weren’t into the Audible Original format.
Because the Night by James D.F. Hannah—”Backed with campaign funds from the owner of the local strip club, ex-state trooper and recovering alcoholic Henry Malone’s running for sheriff. But because he can’t say no to a bad idea, he also agrees to look for a pregnant woman’s missing ex-con boyfriend. With his well-armed AA sponsor Woody in tow, Henry’s search for the boyfriend soon connects with a homicide investigation run by Lt. Jackie Hall—probably the last cop in West Virginia who still likes Henry.” This sounds great—and it’s the sixth in a series, so I’ve got a whole new series to dive into. (thanks to Nick Kolakowski for this tip—incidentally, Kolawkowski’s got a store set up on his website now, so you can easily dive into all the goodness he has there)

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to holley4734 of chasing destino, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.

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:
The big idea: do we need to dismantle the literary canon?—it’s a perennial question, that almost perennially renders interesting ideas, like this one.
Why you should read horror (even if it scares you)—I’m not sure I’m convinced, but…
AI Writing Proves The Author Is Very Much Alive
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the TBR Pile—something I need to read every time I start to feel bad about my mountain
The great Gail Simone asked “What was the first novel that you felt taught you something meaningful?”—the resulting Twitter thread is great to read #ThisBookTaughtMeSomething
When Counting Gets You Nowhere—for a guy who spends time every month thinking about numbers, it may seem strange for me to say how much I liked this post. I’m still going to talk about numbers because it scratches a particular mental itch, but Bookforager is right about what counts.
My Ideal Summer Reading Program—Similar point, just as good.
5 Ways to Spend More Time Reading—most of these ideas aren’t new to the topic, but Amanja’s spin is good enough to read. #5 is so, so, true.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Let Me Tell You a Story Podcast 140: The Irresponsible Reader—features this guy doing his best to sound interesting

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Robert B. Parker’s Bad Influence by Alison Gaylin—Gaylin takes the baton from Lupica for this series and has Sunny protect a social media influencer. I’ll hopefully have something posted about this soon.
100 Places to See After You Die by Ken Jennings—an entertaining and informative tour guide through afterlifes. I had a lot of fun with it.
George the Bannana: Book Two by Elliott Linker—George and Elliot return to take on the bad guys from Book One. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the local 9-year-old creator handles this follow-up.
The Worst We Can Find: MST3K, RiffTrax, and the History of Heckling at the Movies by Dale Sherman—I cannot read that title without singing “la! la! la!” Looks good.
Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis—a satire about reality TV, billionaire-funded space travel and environmentalism, and maybe more.
On Earth as It Is on Television by Emily Jane—a novel about First Contact and contemporary American culture
Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris—pop culture and cultural critique