Category: Books Page 8 of 136

Saturday Miscellany—7/13/24

On July 13, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

I don’t know everything that’s going on during Self-Published Author Appreciation Week (July 21st-27th), but from what I’ve seen/heard from Witty & Sarcastic Book Club and Sue Bavey–and what I’ve got in store–you’re going to want to make some room on your TBRs, folks. Mine has already grown just in preparation.

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 Where Is All the Sad Boy Literature?—”‘Sad girl lit’ is everywhere, but young men are glaringly absent from the contemporary canon of popular authors writing about sex and intimacy. Could that be about to change?”
bullet How to pick the perfect book to read on a plane—There’s some really solid advice here (I hate flying enough that I only focus on the first one, but well-adjusted readers might appreciate the rest)
bullet The Second Coming of the Sports Novel—never been a sportsball kind of guy, but a good sports novel has always clicked with me.
bullet History’s Footnotes—in case you were interested in the practice…(really a lot more interesting than you’d think at first blush)
bullet The Rise of Cozy Fantasy
bullet Die Laughing: Humor in Serial Killer Novels
bullet IF JACK REACHER COULD SING trailer—a trailer for the upcoming documentary for the Jack Reacher-inspired album from a couple of years ago. Really looking forward to this.
bullet American dream turns to nightmare in new, Springdale-set crime thrillertitle—a quick interview with Eli Cranor about his new book.
bullet Open Book: Justin Taylor—I don’t think I’d heard of Justin Taylor or his latest book before, but after stumbling across this interview, I’m anticipating getting to know the both of them
bullet Lev Grossman Takes His Time—I’d been eager to get my hands on Grossman’s take on Arthur already, but this profile has amped that eagerness up.
bullet M.W. Craven gives a brief account of his recent brush with AI-generated fiction
bullet If you haven’t seen it this week, there’s some new (renewed) discourse on indie publishing numbers. Some people—like Michael Roberti, Krystle Matar and C.M. Caplan—have been sharing their numbers to show. Check— out the replies and others doing that, too. Some fascinating reading.
bullet One more dip back into the morass of Twitter where, Marie Sinadjan kicked off a thread of books with original songs/soundtracks
bullet Are you reading right?
bullet Summer’s One Must Read Book 2024—Carol, from Reading Ladies, has come up with a great list of Summer Reading recommendations from 20 bloggers (19 of them are worth listening to, and the other accidentally had a good recommendation)
bullet Guest Book Review from a Teen Reader: Hamlet—I always enjoy reading this particular Teen Reader’s take on his reading. This time, he’s got a great post on a play you just might have heard of.
bullet Bookshop.org’s Social Media poster (who is the best (only?) reason to check Threads) had a great Movie Pitch for a You’ve Got Mail remake. I’d chip for the Kickstarter…

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich—Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
bullet The Girl with the Windup Heart by Kady Cross
bullet Skin Game by Jim Butcher—the opening paragraph contains the phrase, “You’ve got about a year ’til Peace Talks comes out.” Excuse me while I go laugh myself into unconsciousness for a minute…
bullet The Martian by Andy Weir—talking about The Martian and Skin Game in the same week? I was having fun…
bullet I also mentioned the releases of Tail of Vengeance by Spencer Quinn, The Competition by Marcia Clark, and Landline by Rainbow Rowell

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Itching Against Ignorance by E.N. Crane—Cyn and Winnie are back for more madcap mystery fun in their 8th novel. (I’m only 6 behind!)
bullet All This and More by Peng Shepherd—there’s sort of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure vibe to this novel about a Reality Show Contestant who gets to use Quantum Technology to rewrite her life’s mistakes. This is going to be a good one

WWW Wednesday, July 10, 2024

By HCNewton

On July 10, 2024

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

It’s days like this that make me so glad to be a bookworm/bookwyrm/ink drinker and not someone who enjoys spending time outside—as I post this, it’s 107° F. No thank you. I’d be like one of those guys at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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 Steam Opera by James T. Lambert, which is the least steampunk-ish steampunk novel I’ve ever read (at the 30% or so mark) and is also the best thing that Lambert has done to date, so what do I care? I’m listening to Storm Front by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters on audiobook, because it’s been too long since I spent time with Harry.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Jordan Harper’s The Last King of California and Breaking the Dark by Lisa Jewell, read by Helen Laser on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be for The Camelot Shadow by Sean Gibson and my next audiobook should be Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke, read by MacLeod Andrews, Neil Shah, Dani Martineck, Sophie Amoss, Neil Hellegers, Cary Hite, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Joshua Kane, Amy Landon, Nicole Lewis, Brittany Pressley and Jonathan Todd Ross (which is a lot of people for 208 minutes).

Blank Space

Are you “beating the heat” (or at least avoiding it) with anything fun and/or good and/or compelling?

Highlights from May & June: Lines Worth Repeating

By HCNewton

On July 10, 2024

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations

Highlights from the Month
June slipped away without me taking care of May. So, it’s time for a little catchup.

Christa Comes Out of Her Shell by Abbi Waxman

If it’s possible to blush all the way down to your DNA, I did it.

It felt very much like home all of a sudden, like a familiar book released in a new edition.

Chasing Empty Caskets by E.N. Crane

“Winnie, seek,” I said, letting her lead me. She was following the boy’s scent back the way he came and I followed her, grudgingly taking the sticky hand. It was small and somehow both wet and freezing. Children were a terrifying medical anomaly, and I suddenly understood why the ladies in mommy groups were nuts.

The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher

Bayard is a born hero, which is the larval form of a dead hero.

Ransom shook her head. “Some people think that if they’re simply insane and ruthless enough, they can accomplish anything.”

“Terrifying,” Espira said.

“Oh, that’s not the terrifying part,” Calliope said.

“No?”

“The terrifying part,” she murmured, “is that sometimes they’re right.”

Bridget rather forgot how to be conscious for some indistinct length of time.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked real ones, but you can’t have one without the other.

You may have noticed that when I do manage to care, I’m a pessimist.

Grave Cold by Shannon Knight

They’d reached her truck. “Nyle, meet the Gremlin, a machine you will love to hate.” The yellow truck looked very much up to the task.

One’s own mortality was a mighty incentive.

Backpacking Through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire

Family is complicated. Peach cobbler, on the other hand, is refreshingly simple.

“The laws of physics aren’t negotiable.”

Darius laughed, and the sound was loud and joyous as he set his hands back on the wheel. “Sure they are. There’s no law that’s not negotiable, if you know how to get your shoulder against it and push.”

Always be polite to she shapeshifting super predator. It’s a simple rule of life, but a good one all the same.

Dark Days by Derek Landy

“Sometimes you’ve got to admit it when you’re wrong.”

“You never admit it when you’re wrong.”

“But I’m rarely wrong, you see. You, on the other hand, are wrong a bizzarly large amount of the time. Statistically, it’s quite amazing.”

The Ink Black Heart by Author

He was starting to feel like a truffle pig doing its job in a room full of incense, dead fish, and strong cheese.

First Frost by Author

I’d taken the frontage road, but I think I might’ve accidentally taken a few other turns, and now here we were in what might be the middle of nowhere—and when a guy from Wyoming refers to a place as the middle of nowhere that truly means the epicenter of nowhere.

I said nothing, which, when there was a stenographer in the room, was always a safe bet.

Paper & Blood by Kevin Hearne

Grief is never easy. But it gets softer around the edges, smoothed over like a river rock given time enough and water. It’s still a rock and it’s heavy and dangerous and capable of hurting you. Just not immediately to the touch, if that makes sense.

When the sky slid from indigo to grey, heralding the dawn, the birds began to wake up and call about their urgent need for Wednesday coffee— or so I imagined. I certainly needed some, as a belligerent caffeine-withdrawal headache had taken up residence in my brain and likely had legal arguments against eviction.

From pulp—utterly lifeless pulp—new life can be born. Add water and pressure and you no longer have mere pulp but a medium for the miraculous. It can carry the words of one lover to another. Express gratitude for gifts and thoughts. Invoice a client. Threaten death. Bear the light touch of poetry or the weighty prose of novels. It can be folded into an airplane, to annoy your teacher, or folded into origami, an artistic appreciation of nature made from wholesome natural ingredients. And on and on. So much can be built from the ruin of plant life.

Which is not to say that humans are noble. We ruin so much else that never gets a new life, and their dissolution—their extinction—is final.

But paper is one thing we got right.

The best we can do sometimes, in absence of actual wisdom, is to simply cease being foolish.

Howl by e rathke

To look back on that day is to sink into a delicate memory. Like a love letter sent to myself, yet left to pulp in the rain.

The Bitter Past by Bruce Borgos

I believe in hunches. I think they’re just the dots in your brain that aren’t fully connected yet.

Erasure by Percival Everett

There are as many hammers as there are saws, the misplaced thumb knows no difference.

A reiteration of the obvious is never wasted on the oblivious.

I was lonely, angrier than I had been in a long time, angrier than when I was an angry youth, but now I was rich and angry. I realized how much easier it was to be angry when one is rich.

What some people would have you believe is that Duchamp demonstrated that art could be made out of anything, that there is nothing special about an object d’art that makes it what it is, that all that matters is that we are willing to allow it to be art. To say, “this is a work of art” is a strange kind of performative utterance as when the king knights a fellow or the judge pronounces a couple man and wife. But if it turns out that the marriage license was incorrectly filled out, then the declaration is undone and we will say, “I guess you’re not husband and wife after all.” But even as it’s thrown out of the museum, what has been called art it is still art. Discarded art. Shunned art. Bad art. Misunderstood art. Oppressed art. Shocked art. Lost art. Dead art. Art before its time. Artless art. But art nonetheless.

Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

“I like land,” I said. “I don’t drown there.”

“Any dietary restrictions?”

“I tried being a vegan for a while, but I couldn’t live without cheese.”

“They have vegan cheese.”

“No, they don’t. They have shredded orange and white sadness that mocks cheese and everything it stands for.”

“That thing looks like H. P. Lovecraft’s panic attack.”

It was stupidly perfect how all my problems were suddenly solved with the strategic application of money.

Detours and Do-overs by Wesley Parker

Since she doesn’t wanna talk, I do what I assume most men do when confronted with crippling silence from their significant other.

I start to rationalize shit.

“How you holding up?” she says.

“Like a Jenga tower in the middle of a bunch of drunks,”

Grammar Sex and Other Stuff by Robert Germaux

Don’t you just love it when a professional athlete ends a long holdout and finally signs that new deal worth multiple millions of dollars, but assures everyone that “it wasn’t about the money”? Bless his little heart. As if any reference to cold hard cash would have somehow sullied the whole salary negotiation process.

(Image by DaModernDaVinci from Pixabay)

Saturday Miscellany—7/6/24

By HCNewton

On July 6, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

As is typical of a holiday week, this is a short post. Less to distract you from your Saturday reading, right?

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 This is Why Book Marketing Doesn’t Work
bullet ‘Really I just want to stay home and make art about my dog’: An interview with Sara Varon—I’m pretty sure I’ve never run across Varon before, but this interview makes me interested in checking out her stuff.
bullet 7 Thrillers With Shocking Twists
bullet 10 Must-Read Authors for Fans of First-Person Adult Urban Fantasy—This is a very narrow category…but can’t argue with most of this picks.
bullet Tough Questions with Left on the Shelf—the latest in the Tough Questions series

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week? (not much, really)
bullet Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff: A Libertarian Manifesto by Matt Kibbe
bullet I noted the release of Premonitions by Jamie Schultz and Artful by Peter David

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Broiler by Eli Cranor—I dunno…it’s by Cranor, isn’t that enough? It’s about revenge, power, economic disparity in the most American of places—a chicken processing plant.
bullet Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenfelt—Marcus asks Andy for a favor and gets him to represent a suspected mass-shooter. I really enjoyed this one, as I said recently.
bullet Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel by Lisa Jewell—Jessica Jones travels to England to investigate some teens who are too-perfect. It’s hard to explain in a phrase or two…but these are creepy kids and something has to be making them that way.
bullet Boise Longpig Hunting Club by Nick Kolakowski—the new edition of this explosive thriller
bullet The Night Ends with Fire by K. X. Song—a new retelling of the story of Mulan.
bullet Junkyard Roadhouse by Faith Hunter—Shining Smith is neck-deep in trouble—that’s nothing new, sure, but it’s a different kind of trouble.

For books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. - John Milton

June 2024 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On July 4, 2024

In Books, Calendar Items, Currently Reading, News/Misc.

I finished 24 titles (4 up from last month, 6 down from last June), with an equivalent of 7,342 pages or the equivalent (1,128 up from last month), and gave them an average of 3.52 stars (.05 up from last month, so basically it’s a draw).

On the writing front, my new work schedule is really taking its toll, but I think I’m starting to be able to plan around it and prepare for those days that I know are going to be hurting me. We’ll see if I say something in August or not. As is my custom, I really do think I could’ve written more–especially on the review-ish front, but I’m happy enough.

Overall, I’m calling June a win (especially if you look at the Mt. TBR size!). Here’s the breakdown.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Still Reading

Ratings

		Average =	3.52
	2		2
	1		0
	5		0
	6		0
	8

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

	Audio	E-book	Physical	Goodreads Want-to-Read	NetGalley Shelf/ARCs/Review Copies
End of 2023	6	47	68	153	5
1st of the Month	3	52	83	163	8
Added	2	5	6	0	1
Read/ Listened	2	3	10	1	2
Current Total	3	54	79	162	7

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 16
Self-/Independent Published: 8

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	1 (4%)	5 (4%)
Fantasy	3 (13%)	16 (12%)
General Fiction/ Literature	2 (8%)	11 (8%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	7 (29%)	43 (33%)
Non-Fiction	2 (8%)	13 (10%)
Science Fiction	1 (4%)	9 (7%)
Theology/ Christian Living	3 (13%)	17 (13%)
Urban Fantasy	3 (13%)	15 (11%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western)	1 (4%)	2 (2%)

Review-ish Things Posted

The Hope in Our Scars by Aimee Byrd: A Plea for Help
Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado, Nick Caistor (Translator): A Disappointing Thriller
The Secret & Hunting Virgins: Two Short Stories by Wayne Hawk: I Read It So You Don’t Have To
Catch-Up Quick Takes: Some Recent Non-Fiction Listens
Moonbound by Robin Sloan: The White Stripes Save the World (but not really)
Strange Religion by Nijay K. Gupta: People Say I’m Strange, Does It Make Me A Stranger…
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians (Audiobook) by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann: BTS of the Book Connecting Scene
Poetry Comics by Grant Snider: Simply Bursting with Adequatulence
Rites of Passage by M.D. Presley: You Won’t Need A Dowsing Rod To Find The Appeal This UF
Bad Actors by Mark Pepper: Everyman No More
Grandpappy’s Corner: Dinosaurs in Trucks Because Hey, Why Not? by Sandra Boynton: Boynton Whiffs One
First Frost by Craig Johnson: Walt and Henry Get Their Kicks…
Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenfelt: Understanding Marcus
IN MEDIAS RES—The Book of Perilous Dishes by Doina Rusti, James Christian Brown (Translator): The Arts of Occult Cuisine
This Weekend Sees Re-release of Boise Longpig Hunting Club by Nick Kolokowski: A Gritty, Violent Visit to Idaho
The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 53: Connection by R. T. Slaywood: Things That Make You Go “Hmm…”
The Hijacked Conscience by Debra Peck: An Obsession for Assurance and Certainty

Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (1st, 8th, 15th, 22ndh, and 29th), I also wrote:

Enough about me—how Was Your June?

WWW Wednesday, July 3, 2024

By HCNewton

On July 3, 2024

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

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 Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs, and am listening to A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen, read by Jesse Vilinsky on audiobook–it’s a very strange semi-zombie Fantasy novel. Thankfully, there’s only one zombie-ish thing wandering around. (still, I shook a virtual fist at the friend who recommended it to me).

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Bruce Borgos’s Shades of Mercy–and Borgos was not messing around with this sequel. The last audiobook I finished was Labyrinth by Kat Richardson, read by Mia Barron.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be for The Last King of California by Jordan Harper and my next audiobook should be Breaking the Dark by Lisa Jewell, read by Helen Laser. I’ve been wanting to read this Harper book for ages, meanwhile, I didn’t know anything about the audiobook until yesterday. But I’m curious about what Marvel’s trying on the novel front, might as well start here, right?

Blank Space

You got anything explosive on your hands for tomorrow?*

* Yeah, I should do better. Sorry.

Book Blogger Hop: Fireworks or Reading?

By HCNewton

On July 2, 2024

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Which do you enjoy doing more on the 4th of July: watching fireworks light up the sky or reading an inviting book?

I know when I was younger, I enjoyed fireworks—but that ended at some point in my teens. Outside of one night at Disneyland about 18 years ago—I don’t get the appeal of them anymore. I can appreciate them for about 40 seconds nowadays.

Even if I enjoyed them, I think anyone who knows me would expect me to say “reading an inviting [or even simply not-unappealing] book” is what I enjoy more. That’s pretty much the case when the choice is “X or reading” for most values of X, truth be told.

However, on Thursday, I’ll be commemorating—as has been my habit for the last several years—Scare-The-Crap-Out-of-Your-Dog Day. It’s not that fun—and it frequently leaves me in rough shape for work the next day. But, good quality time with my dogs (even if they’re certain the word is ending) is one of those values of X that can beat reading.

Do you prefer pyrotechnics, the printed word, or perhaps another option?

20 Books of Summer 2024: June Check-In

By HCNewton

On July 1, 2024

In Books, Currently Reading, Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Non-Fiction, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Urban Fantasy

Here’s a quick check-in for this challenge run by Cathy at 746 Books.

So far, I’ve read 4—which puts me a 2/3 of a book behind last year. I should read at least 1 more this coming week, but I’m a little intimidated about my picks for the rest of the summer. A little. Really 8 books a month doesn’t sound that bad for the rest of the summer, but I know full well that other things are going to pop up to distract me. It’s a self-inflicted problem—and one I fully predicted. But still…

I’m more intimidated by the fact that I haven’t written about any of these four yet—am hoping that I can get at least one posted about by Friday. (stranger things have happened, I hear).

Let’s take a quick look at my progress in June:

1. This is Who We Are Now by James Bailey
2. Blood Reunion by JCM Berne
3. Ways And Truths And Lives by Matt Edwards
✔ 4. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
✔ 5. Grammar Sex and Other Stuff: A Collection of (mostly humorous) Essays by Robert Germaux
6. The Camelot Shadow by Sean Gibson
7. Last King of California by Jordan Harper
8. Steam Opera by James T. Lambert
9. The Glass Frog by J. Brandon Lowry
10. Rise of Akaisha Morningstar by Kataya Moon

11. Curse of the Fallen by H.C. Newell
12. Heart of Fire by Raina Nightengale
✔ 13. Detours and Do-overs by Wesley Parker
14. Bizarre Frontier Omnibus #1 by Brock Poulson
✔ 15. Howl by e rathke
16. Bard Tidings by Paul J. Regnier
17. Panacea by Alex Robins
18. Cursed Cocktails by S.L. Rowland
19. Big Trouble in Little Italy by Nicole Sharp
20. The Nameless Restaurant by Tao Wong

(subject to change, as is allowed, but I’m going to resist the impulse to tweak as much as I can).

20 Books of Summer '24 June Check In Chart

Saturday Miscellany—6/29/24

By HCNewton

On June 29, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

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 Kinky Friedman, Alt-Country Musician and Celebrated Humorist, Dies at 79—from his mysteries to his music and beyond, Friedman was a unique voice (that should’ve been heard by more)
bullet How the ‘Owner’s Guide’ Became a Rare Book
bullet How to Tell a Great Campfire Story
bullet The Literary Power of Hobbits: How JRR Tolkien Shaped Modern Fantasy
bullet Rob Hart on ‘Assassins Anonymous’ and the Dark Appeal of the Assassin Genre—Nick Kolakowski chats with Hart about his latest book, the genre, and the sequel (squee!!!!)
bullet The Joy of Reading Books You Don’t Entirely Understand: It really should be acceptable and normal to say “I don’t entirely understand what I just read, but I loved it.”—There’s a few books I’ve read in the last few years that fall under this category. Glad to see I’m not alone (and I know that I really should read more things like this, but do enjoy the comfort of understanding things)
bullet Traditional publishing vs. Self-publishing: Should There Be A Conflict?—I haven’t finished this yet, but there’s some good stuff to chew on in this conversation
bullet 2000th Post and 6 Years Blogiversary Q&A—Sifa Elizabeth Reads celebrates two landmarks with a Q&A (and some decent advice)
bullet Bookmark Chat: Organization
bullet Idle Thoughts on Fantasy Stereotypes: The Big Man—a good follow up to the Idle Thoughts on The Mentor

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Little Tiny Teeth by Aaron Elkins—Gideon Oliver and John Lau enjoy an Amazon River cruise (until the obligatory dead body shows up)
bullet The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy—the second in this very fun MG Fantasy series
bullet Dead Connection by Alafair Burke—I remember really liking this first Ellie Hatcher book (and, sadly, almost nothing else about it).
bullet I also noted the release of The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Don’t Let the Devil Ride by Ace Atkins—”A Memphis woman hires a PI to find her missing husband, only to discover that he is involved in a dangerous web of international intrigue–and she and her children are now at risk.” I think the promo line, “S.A. Cosby meets Don Winslow,” is a bit odd (kinda seems like using too many words to say “Ace Atkins”), but eh…it is catchy.
bullet The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman—Galva’s backstory in “set during the war-torn, goblin-infested years just before The Blacktongue Thief.” The prequel nature of this really doesn’t intereste me. But I do like the concept, I really enjoyed my first exposure to Buehlman early this year, and that podcast I featured last week did pique my curiouslty. Which is me using too many words to explain why I’ll be listening to this soon (probably explaining to myself more than anyone…)
bullet Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell—”An aimless young woman starts writing to an accused serial killer while he awaits trial and then, once he’s acquitted, decides to move in with him and take the investigation into her own hands.” If this wasn’t described as a black comedy, I’d stay far away from it (while understanding why others race to it). But I gotta admit, I’m intrigued…

WWW Wednesday, June 26, 2024

By HCNewton

On June 26, 2024

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

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 Book of Perilous Dishes by Doina Rusti, translated by James Christian Brown, and am listening to Labyrinth by Kat Richardson, read by Mia Barron on audiobook.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

Yesterday I finished Wesley Parker’s Detours and Do-overs and Robert Germaux’s Grammar Sex and Other Stuff: A Collection of (mostly humorous) Essays. I most recently finished The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, read by Wil Wheaton on audiobook, and at least temporarily set aside One in the Chamber by Robin Peguero, read by Zion Jang because it just wasn’t working for me (but I can see why it would for many people).

Blank Space Cover for the audiobook of One in the Chamber by Robin Pegeuro >

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the ARC of Shades of Mercy by Bruce Borgos—I think this series has legs, and I’m eager to be proven correct. My next audiobook should be A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen, read by Jesse Vilinsky, assuming the friend who is currently listening to our library’s copy (and recommended it to me) finishes before I finish Labryinth.

Blank Space

Category: Books Page 8 of 136

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Are you “beating the heat” (or at least avoiding it) with anything fun and/or good and/or compelling?

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

You got anything explosive on your hands for tomorrow?*

Which do you enjoy doing more on the 4th of July: watching fireworks light up the sky or reading an inviting book?

Do you prefer pyrotechnics, the printed word, or perhaps another option?

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Tell me what you’ve been reading lately—or what neat thing is coming up on your TBR.