Category: Books Page 95 of 160

Down the TBR Hole (20 of 24+)

On February 17, 2021

Down the TBR Hole
I did not cut a lot off of this list—2 of the cuts were only by technicalities, too. On the other hand, some of these look really good, and I was reminded why I wanted to read these in the first place and should result in me reading a couple pretty soon. Which is almost as good, right?

This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story—but Jenna at Bookmark Your Thoughts is the one that exposed me to this, and as my Goodreads “Want To Read” shelf is scarily long, I had to do this.

The Rules are simple:

Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
Read the synopses of the books.
Decide: keep it or should it go?
Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week! (or whenever)

What distinguishes this series from the Mt. TBR section of my Month-end Retrospectives? Those are books I actually own while Goodreads contains my aspirational TBR (many of which will be Library reads). The Naming of the two is a bit confusing, but…what’re you going to do?

(Click on the cover for an official site or something with more info about the book)

	Better Grammar in 30 Minutes a Day by Constance Immel My Thoughts: I’m not sure what drove me to add this to the list, I dig books about language and grammar and so on. But a workbook? Yeah, that’s really not what I need. (it looks like a decent one, don’t get me wrong, if you’re looking to brush up on it) Verdict:
	Know Your Rites by Andy Redsmith Blurb: The second in the series, this time Inspector Nick Paris is on the hunt for a killer—with a rapping dwarf as the lead suspect. My Thoughts: I really dug the first in this series—I ordered this months ahead of publication. And got too busy to read it then. I’m absolutely reading this. Even if I hadn’t spent the money…a dwarf who raps. You don’t say no to that. Verdict:
	Hey Grandude! by Paul McCartney My Thoughts: It’s a picture book by McCartney. That’s a no brainer. Verdict:
	Divorce Is Murder by Elka Ray Blurb: “Shortly after returning to her sleepy hometown on Vancouver Island, Chinese-Canadian divorce lawyer Toby Wong runs into Josh Barton, who broke her heart as a teen at summer camp. Now a wealthy entrepreneur, Josh wants to divorce Tonya, the mean girl who made Toby’s life hell all those years ago. Not long after Toby takes Josh’s case, Tonya is found murdered. Josh is the prime suspect. Together with her fortune-teller mom and her pregnant best friend, Toby sets out to clear Josh, whom she still has a guilty crush on.” My Thoughts: I’ve read some pieces by Ray that were pretty good. But I’m just not feeling this. Verdict:
	A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie Blurb: The First Law: The Next Generation. Glokta’s daughter and Luthar’s son star in the first volume of the The Age of Madness Trilogy, “where the age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses to die.” My Thoughts: I really need to get to this. Verdict:
	Kopp Sisters on the March by Amy Stewart Blurb: “It’s the spring of 1917 and change is in the air. American women have done something remarkable: they’ve banded together to create military-style training camps for women who want to serve. These so-called National Service Schools prove irresistible to the Kopp sisters, who leave their farm in New Jersey to join up.” After an accident sidelines the Camp Matron Contance takes over and ends up actually training the women to do something. My Thoughts: I listened to the audiobook last fall, and just now noticed that I haven’t written about it. Technically, that means I can remove it from the list. Verdict:
	A Dastardly Plot by Chrisopher Healy My Thoughts: I had a lot of fun with Healy’s The League of Princes series, and can’t imagine that this steampunk-ish tale wouldn’t be just as fun. It’s sticking around. I have no idea when I’ll get to it, but the idea of a reading a book that’s nothing but fun is something I can’t cut. Verdict:
	No Man’s Land by Neil Broadfoot Blurb: “A mutilated body is found dumped at Cowane’s Hospital in the heart of historic Stirling. For DCI Malcolm Ford it’s like nothing he’s ever seen before, the savagery of the crime makes him want to catch the murderer before he strikes again. For reporter Donna Blake it’s a shot at the big time, a chance to get her career back on track and prove all the doubters wrong. But for close protection specialist Connor Fraser it’s merely a grisly distraction from the day job.” My Thoughts: I think I heard an interview with Broadfoot about this book, I know Raven Crime Reads talked about it. Both of them made an impression on me. Looks good. Verdict:
	Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson Blurb: “Madison’s twin stepkids are moving in with her family and she wants Lillian [an old boarding school friend] to be their caretaker. However, there’s a catch: the twins spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a startling but beautiful way. Lillian is convinced Madison is pulling her leg, but it’s the truth…Over the course of one humid, demanding summer, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other—and stay cool—while also staying out of the way of Madison’s buttoned-up politician husband.” My Thoughts: I don’t remember much about Wilson’s The Family Fang (it was nine years ago, and before the blog). I remember it was strange. It was heartfelt. And it was good. I imagine this will be the same. It’s gotta stick. Verdict:
	Last Couple Standing by Matthew Norman Blurb: “The Core Four have been friends since college: four men, four women, four couples. They got married around the same time, had kids around the same time, and now, fifteen years later, they’ve started getting divorced around the same time, too. With three of the Core Four unions crumbling to dust around them, Jessica and Mitch Butler take a long, hard look at their own marriage. Can it be saved? Or is divorce, like some fortysomething zombie virus, simply inescapable?” So the Butler’s cook up the dumbest plan ever to save their marriage—and then stuff happens. My Thoughts: I read this back in May of last year. It’s one of those that I have so many things I want to say about that I still haven’t figured out how to write about it. It was so good. And so, so problematic. Either way, can X it off of this list. Verdict:

Books Removed in this Post: 4 / 10
Total Books Removed: 111 / 240

Anyone out there read any of these books? Did I make the right call with any of them?

(Image by moritz320 from Pixabay)

Saturday Miscellany—2/13/21

By HCNewton

On February 13, 2021

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

We got a lot of snow dumped on us yesterday—this weekend could possibly bring more snow to the area than we’ve seen in four years (and I really don’t want to talk about what happened then). I slept through most of it, and then was distracted by work for the rest. But this morning, I can watch it fall through the window I’m sitting across from. It’s oddly relaxing. I’m not the kind of guy who sits and watches anything outside my window, but today it’s working for me.

Until, that is, I have to let a dog out. Then the snow will be the source of a wet, furry, mess. I’d better stock up on the relaxation while I can, right?

Anyway…
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 19 Tips For Reading More This Year—This is far different (and yet not) from the typical posts like this I share, it’s built from reader feedback about how the Pandemic/Lockdows/etc have changed reading habits.
bullet Indie Bookstores Embrace E-Commerce… and It Pays Off
bullet Lecter’s Fangs: Why the Ending of ‘Hannibal’ is a Secret Masterpiece—Friend of the Blog, Nick Kolakowski, attempts to defend and laud (fairly successfully, I begrudgling admit) the ending of Hannibal. He very well may be right. He probably is. I still don’t like it.
bullet ‘I think I’ve written more Sherlock Holmes than even Conan Doyle’: the ongoing fight to reimagine Holmes—I’ll confess to not reading all of Doyle’s Holmes (have owned a complete set since junior high), have never read one by anyone else. I’m fascinated by all the variety. Am I missing out on some good ones?
bullet How a Former LAPD Detective Became the ‘Godfather’ to L.A. Crime Writers—I love reading things like this
bullet One Word Book Reviews: Because I’m Lazy Like That—Given the graphics involved, I’m not sure “lazy” is the right word. I love this idea. And clearly, could never pull it off.

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Author Stories Podcast Episode 1051: Mike Chen Returns With We Could Be Heroes—Garner and Chen talk about the new book, which is good. The highlight for me was the discussion of Chen’s pandemic book being released a few weeks before the world went upside down last year, and his thoughts about the COVID-inspired books coming in a few years.

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Dreyer’s English (Adapted for Young Readers): Good Advice for Good Writing by Benjamin Dreyer—I’ve been looking forward to getting my hands on this one since I heard about it. I loved the “adult” version and want to see how he translates that into advice for kids (also, I can see this being easier to pass on to non-language nerd friends/family who need the help)

WWW Wednesday, February 10, 2021

By HCNewton

On February 10, 2021

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

Here we are on February 10, the 41^st day of 2021, which is a Wednesday, so we might as well tackle a WWW Wednesday, right?

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?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading Smoke by Joe Ide, an Isaiah Quintable novel that is pretty low on Isaiah (so far) and am listening to Blood Trail by C.J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator) on audiobook, it was time to get back to Wyoming.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Kate Sherran Swed’s Parting Shadows and Fated by Benedict Jacka, Gildart Jackson (Narrator) on audio—my goal is to listen to the series as preparation for the finale this fall, so I need to get moving.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran, fresh from the Down the TBR series. My next audiobook was going to be the next DC Smith book, but I just listened to the narrator, Gildart Jackson, read the Alex Verus book, and I need some more distance from that before I can hear him do something else, so I think it’ll be the last Eddie LaCrosse novel He Drank, and Saw the Spider by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator) on audiobook.

Blank Space

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

These Dog Days Aren’t Over

By HCNewton

On February 10, 2021

In Books, Dogs, Fiction, News/Misc., Non-Fiction

These Dog Days Aren't Over This was a hard post to come up with a name for*, essentially this post came from a comment not too long ago about being hesitant to read books about animals if the reader doesn’t know if they survive the book. I get that, I absolutely do. I still bear the scars of Where the Red Fern Grows and Marley and Me (sure, that wasn’t that long ago, but the wound still stings). So, for readers like my correspondent, here are some perfectly safe books prominently featuring dogs!

I plan on updating this when I can remember to, so by all means, chime in with comments about Dogs I’ve forgotten about/haven’t yet!

Non-Fiction

bullet Olive, Mabel & Me by Andrew Cotter——Cotter’s charming book describes his life with the two dogs that rocketed to international stardom (and brought him along). (my post about it)
bullet My Life as a Dog by L. A. Davenport—Davenport’s short little book about the relationship between the author and his dog, Kevin, a black and tan, pure-bred dachshund. It focuses on what the two of them did over two days and then a weekend selected from the years they spent together. (my post about it)
bullet What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs by Cat Warren—Warren basically covers three topics: there’s the science and history of using working dogs (of all sorts of breeds, not to mention pigs(!), birds, and even cats) to find cadavers, drugs, bombs, etc.; there’s the memoir of her involvement with cadaver dogs via her German Shepherd, Solo; and anecdotes of other cadaver dogs and trainers that she’s encountered/learned from/watched in action. (my post about it)
bullet What the Dog Knows Young Readers Edition by Cat Warren, Patricia J. Wynne—The above book adjusted for younger readers, with some great illustrations. It’s not dumbed-down, just adjusted. (my post about it)

Fiction

bullet The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton—A Dog Trainer/Cadaver Dog Handler on the hunt for a serial killer in this series launch. (my post about it)
bullet Suspect by Robert Crais—One of my all-favorite books, a cop with PTSD gets assigned to the K-9 Unit and works with a dog fresh from Afghanistan combat. (my post about it) The pair also plays a major role in The Promise.
bullet Stepdog by Nicole Galland—A love story where the major impediment to happily ever after is her dog (a gift from her ex). (my post about it)
bullet Oberon’s Meaty Mysteries by Kevin Hearne (Audiobooks narrated by Luke Daniels)—Oberon, the scene-stealing Irish Wolfhound from The Iron Druid Chronicles narrates this series of novellas (my posts about them).
bullet Neah Bay series by Owen Laukkanen—Lucy is a dog who is trained by prisoner Mason Burke, who has to track her down when he gets out. She’s a service dog for Marine Vet Jess Winslow. Lucy connects the two humans in her life and helps to keep them safe when a corrupt deputy comes after Jess. (my post about them)
bullet I Thought You Were Dead by Pete Nelson—I’m not sure how to sum this one up in a sentence. It’s a pretty typical novel about a troubled writer with a romantic life and family in shambles. But his dog is the thing that makes all the difference. (my post about it)
bullet Chet and Bernie books by Spencer Quinn—Bernie Little is a PI in Phoenix. Chet’s his four-legged partner and the series narrator. It’s too fun to miss. (my posts about them)
bullet The Right Side by Spencer Quinn—”a deeply damaged female soldier home from the war in Afghanistan becomes obsessed with finding a missing girl, gains an unlikely ally in a stray dog, and encounters new perils beyond the combat zone.” (my post about it)
bullet Woof by Spencer Quinn—The beginning of an MG series about a with a penchant for trouble and her dog. (my post about it)
bullet Andy Carpenter books by David Rosenfelt—Andy Carpenter is New Jersey’s best defense lawyer and a devoted dog owner. He helps run a rescue shelter, too–and almost every client he takes as some sort of connection with a dog. These books aren’t dog-centric like the others on this list, but they’re dog-heavy. (my posts about them)
bullet Voyage of the Dogs by Greg van Eekhout—SF for all ages about a team of dogs on a long-distance space flight. (my post about it)

Supportive Roles

These dogs aren’t as significant a presence in their books as the prior group, but they’re important enough to mention.
bullet Mouse from The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. (my posts about them)
bullet The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man by W. Bruce Cameron and the sequel Repo Madness by W. Bruce Cameron— (my posts about them)
bullet Edgar from the Washington Poe books by M. W. Craven. (my posts about them)
bullet Rutherford from The TV Detective series by Simon Hall (my posts about them)
bullet Oberon from the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne . (my post about them)
bullet Ruffin from the I. Q. series by Joe Ide . (my posts about them)
bullet Dog from the Walt Longmire books by Craig Johnson — (my posts about them)
bullet Trogdor from The Golden Arrow Mysteries by Meghan Scott Molin . (my post about them)
bullet Mingus from The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie . (my post about it)

Books with paws on both sides of the line

Some books that belong on this list, but might be a bit too close to not fitting on it for some readers
bullet Lessons From Lucy by Dave Barry—there’s a strong “my beloved dog is old and will die soon-vibe throughout this (it’s the whole point), so some may want to avoid it. But the focus is on what Barry is learning from his aging but still full-of-life dog. (my post about it)
bullet Dead is … series by Jo Perry—the canine protagonist in these mystery novels is a ghost, so there’s a dog death involved. But we meet her as a ghost, so she won’t die (again) in the series. (my posts about them)
bullet Lessons from Tara by David Rosenfelt—Inspired by the death of their dog, Tara, the Rosenfelt’s now operate a no-kill shelter for senior dogs. This is the story about the origins and day-to-day of that life. There’s discussion of Tara’s death, and he has to cover the end of days for dogs, but it’s not the focus of the book. One some will want to avoid, but you probably shouldn’t. (my post about it)

I brainstormed this a bit with my family, and wanted to share some of those titles that didn’t make the cut, just because I enejoyed their creativity:
These Dogs Didn’t Go To Heaven/Not All Dogs Go to Heaven implies these dogs aren’t wonderful creatures, and that’s a solid loser
No Kleenex Required too vague, and not necessarily true, they’re just not required because of a death
The Best Bois
Books Where the Author isn’t A Heartless Bastard (Looking at You, Marley and Me) too long, and boy howdy, does it seem my son has bigger issues with the book than I did
Books that Even PETA Would Be Okay With
Books for the Vegan in You suggests the dog books I don’t mention are in favor of eating them…
Paw Patrol I’m almost confident my daughter’s boyfriend suggested as a joke, for his sake I’m assuming it was
Pawfect Dog Stories I refuse to resort to that kind of joke

(Images by S K from Pixabay and josmo from Pixabay

Saturday Miscellany—2/6/21

By HCNewton

On February 6, 2021

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

I really thought I had a decent list of things for the week, but when I opened my Pocket this morning, all I saw was stuff I posted last year, things I had no idea why I saved and…four other pieces. What did I spend all week doing?

Oh well, I’ll make this short and sweet and then go lock myself away for awhile to finish some in-progress posts and work on taxes. Fun day, eh?
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 Fran Lebowitz’s One-Star Amazon Reviews—Lebowitz is one of my favorites, I love this lady’s humor and there are pieces by her I can read over and over. Now I see she spends time writing 1-Star Reviews for Amazon? I’m in danger of losing hours here…
bullet The Future of Police Procedurals: What is the responsibility—and the path forward—for authors writing crime fiction about police?—Michael Kaufman describes the challenge of writing a police procedural after the Summer of 2020.
bullet Is an Audible subscription still worth it?
bullet I did my first Twitter poll this week, At what point do you decide to DNF a book of it’s not working for you?—the results are about what I’d predict. What about you?

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to MCG who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

WWW Wednesday, February 3, 2021

By HCNewton

On February 3, 2021

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

The first WWW Wednesday of Febrary, I know I said something similar last week, but I’m really stuck on how not ready I am for it to already be February. But it sure seems to be here.

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?

Easy enough, right?