Category: Books Page 92 of 164

Like I said Wednesday, I’m back in the office after 15 months and I spent most of the week trying to adjust my reading/surfing/blog-hopping habits. So I really don’t have a lot for this post. On the other hand, as of yesterday, my NetGalley Feedback Ratio is at 99%, so, you know…what do I care about anything else right now?

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Print Book Sales Soar in Year’s First Half—that’s some nice news
3 Ways to Become a Better Reader with Audiobooks—libro.fm has some good tips
Why do so few men read books by women?—good food for thought
Goodreads Tips & Tricks, Vol. 2—for those who want to use the ubiquitous/oft-maligned Social Network more effectively
Favourite Book Quotes of 2021 so far!—this is a good idea for a post, and filled with pretty good content.

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Heathens by Ace Atkins—Quinn Colson and Lille Virgil are on opposite sides of a murder investigation—and probably a new stage in the local politics/organized crime saga, too. But that’s not in any of the official descriptions. I’m hoping next week is when I get to dive into this.
Dead Man’s Grave by Neil Lancaster—DS Max Craigie investigates the murder of Scotland’s most powerful crime family in the first novel of a promising-looking series. I’m starting this one today.

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Sheri Dye, who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger!

I’ve been out of town for most of the week and had limited internet time–so I didn’t have much of an opportunity for surfing. I was able to find a few things for this week’s post, but it’s a little small.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Andy Serkis to Narrate All 3 The Lord of the Rings Audiobooks—I’ve had The Hobbit narrated by Serkis in my libro.fm shopping cart for months, but couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger on it. But if he’s doing these, too? Think it’s time.
The Making of ‘Soul Taken’ A Mercy Thompson cover—this is fascinating (even if you have no interest in Mercy Thompson)
13 books perfectly summed up with one-liners from Gilmore Girls.
10 Reasons Why I Love Reading—Reading Ladies Book Club had a good entry for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt.
How Book Lovers Spend Their Time . . . And . . . We Don’t Have a Problem!

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Tender is the Bite by Spencer Quinn—Chet and Bernie hunt for a client who didn’t get around to hiring them I tried to convey my enthusiasm a few days ago.
Dog Eat Dog by David Rosenfelt—Andy Carpenter heads to Maine to defend his latest client I opined about it recently

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
The Don Winslow Book Club was announced this week, will be giving its first picks on the 5th. I’m not sure how this is going to be different from Winslow’s hard push behind books/authors he likes on social media. But am betting he’s about to do some real damage to my Book Budget.
The Impossible Question at the Heart of Every Book Tour: Jason Mott on Attempting to Answer “What’s Your Book About?”
The Crime Books Top Authors Read Twice Because They’re Just That Good —Not only is this a good list of really good books, but I love some of the comments about them.
When In Doubt, Look Around—Matthew Norman talks about finding inspiration for his new novel, All Together Now.
Immortalizing Jack Reacher: Authors of long-running series face a difficult question: how should their characters age?—this is an interesting question authors need to wrestle with (and readers need to decide what they think of that choice), it has some special appeal to me as it compares the approaches of Parker/Atkins to Spenser and Child/Child to Reacher.
Have I Outgrown YA?
How to Get People to Read Your Bookish Blog and Keep Coming Back For More!—some decent advice and/or reminders
How to comment more on non-interactive book blog posts?—I keep trying this, good prompt to keep at it.
The 57 Best YA Books About Food that Will Make You Hungry Immediately—the fact that someone could find 57 YA books about food is pretty astounding. (personally, I’d have pushed this post back a few months until it could be 60, that 7 would drive me crazy)

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Keepers by Jeffrey B. Burton—Mace Reid and his cadaver dogs are back and neck deep in Chicago City Corruption. I had some pretty enthusiastic things to say about it recently
Pug Actually by Matt Dunn—Doug, a rescued Pug, decides he needs to help his person fix her love life. I’m eager to see how Dunn approaches this.
I’ll Pray When I’m Daying by Stephen J. Golds—”The Story of a Bad Man Becoming Worse.” A corrupt Boston Detective’s life falls apart. Looks gripping. Hearing a lot of good things about it. Be worth buying just for the cover…

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Amanda @ Bookish Brews, Joseph D. Newcomer, and Hit-Man Slade who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Record high temps and an AC system that’s not holding its own sum up most of the week for me. Thankfully, I read a few books that were good enough I could ignore how much I was perspiring. I truly hope you’re faring better in your corner of the world than the Northwest US is.

Also, have you all seen this site: BlogOverview.com? It looks like a great resource to find blogs on all sorts of topics, researched and curated by people, not an algorithm (and I’m not just saying that because I really dug the way they described this site, I’ve picked up a few to follow)

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Douglas Coupland on Generation X at 30: ‘Generational trashing is eternal’—Sure, this is more of an advertisement for his new book, but the fact that the novel Generation X is 30 should be noted.
On the Road to Bridget Jones: five books that define each generation—Fun lists to go along with that Coupland piece
Bosch Season 7 Preview: In a Changed World, How Should We Feel About Police Shows?—applies to the book version of Bosch, too.
Ditto for this one: title—Michael Connelly Says Bosch Is Just Like Batman – Without ‘the Cape and Mask and Stuff’
Books and Bias: Rediscovering the writing and ideologies in Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels—I’d quibble with some of the details sure, but great piece.
Lessons of a self-published writer: independent bookstores are good, Amazon not so much.
Coffee and Condolences: One Year Later—Some thoughts from Wesley Parker about the genesis of his book.
Deadpool Creator Fabian Nicieza on (Finally) Finishing His Novel: It only took 35 years of writing comics to learn that 35 years of writing comics would help him write his debut mystery.—this reads a lot like something written by Deadpool’s creator should. Interesting look at the process of getting to his debut.
Why I Like To Reread Books
Why I am NOT telling you my book number… (But I will shout about books I love.)—I get this argument. I like it. I don’t think I’m going to stop mentioning my number and judging myself by it in my monthly posts, but…maybe?
The Pros and Cons of Historical Fiction
Reading during the pandemic—I think many of us can identify with this.

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Questland by Carrie Vaughn—Jurassic Park, but for D&D types.
Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza—Click the link for the whole blurb, but “a hilariously entertaining debut featuring two unlikely and unforgettable amateur sleuths. An engrossing and entertaining murder mystery full of skewering social commentary, Suburban Dicks examines the racial tensions exposed in a New Jersey suburb after the murder of a gas station attendant.”

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to tubasarwat, Elias Graves, and jakeschubert7 who all took the time to hit the follow button this week.
I wish I knew who to attribute this to, I saw it on the feed for The Shaggy Shepherd Book Reviews and had to share: