Category: Calendar Items Page 10 of 25

Towel Day ’22: Do You Know Where Your Towel Is?

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On May 25, 2022

In A-B, Authors, Calendar Items, Douglas Adams, Fiction, News/Misc., Science Fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

(updated and revised this 5/25/22)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.” (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)

Towel Day, for the few who don’t know, is the annual celebration of Douglas Adams’ life and work. It was first held two weeks after his death, fans were to carry a towel with them for the day to use as a talking point to encourage those who have never read HHGTTG to do so, or to just converse with someone about Adams. Adams is one of that handful of authors that I can’t imagine I’d be the same without having encountered/read/re-read/re-re-re-re-read, and so I do my best to pay a little tribute to him each year, even if it’s just carrying around a towel.

Some time in 7th or 8th grade (I believe), I was at a friend’s house and his brother let us try his copy of the text-based Hitchhiker’s Guide game, and we were no good at it at all. Really, it was embarrassing. However, his brother had a copy of the novel, and we all figured that the novel held the keys we needed for success with the game (alas, for us it did not). My friends all decided that I’d be the one to read the book and come back in a few days as an expert.

I quickly forgot about the game. Adams’ irreverent style rocked my world—could people actually get away with saying some of these things? His skewed take on the world, his style, his humor…and a depressed robot, too! It was love at first read.

It was one of those experiences that, looking back, I can say shaped my reading and thinking for the rest of my life (make of that what you will). Were my life the subject of a Doctor Who or Legends of Tomorrow episode, it’d be one of those immutable fixed points. I read the books (particularly the first) so many times that I can quote significant portions of it, and frequently do so without noticing that I’m doing that. I have (at this time) two literary-inspired tattoos, one of which is the planet logo*. In essence, I’m saying that Adams has had an outsized influence on my life and is probably my biggest enduring fandom. If carrying around a (massively useful) piece of cloth for a day in some small way honors his memory? Sure, I’m in.

* I didn’t know it at the time, but Adams didn’t like that guy. Whoops.

One of my long-delayed goals is to write up a good all-purpose Tribute to Douglas Adams and his work post, and another Towel Day has come without me doing so. Belgium. Next year . . . or later. (he says for at least the 8th straight year, a work ethic I like to believe Adams would endorse).

In the meantime, here’s some of what I’ve written about Adams. A few years back, I did a re-read of all of Adams’ (completed) fiction. For reasons beyond my ken (or recollection), I didn’t get around to blogging about the Dirk Gently books, but I did do the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy:
bullet The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
bullet The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
bullet Life, The Universe and Everything
bullet So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish
bullet Mostly Harmless
bullet I had a thing or two to say about the 40th Anniversary of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
bullet Last year, I took a look at the 42nd Anniversary Illustrated Edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Also, I should mention the one book Adams/Hitchhiker’s aficionado needs to read is Don’t Panic by Neil Gaiman, David K. Dickson and MJ Simpson. If you’re more in the mood for a podcast, I’d suggest The Waterstones Podcast How We Made: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—I’ve listened to several podcast episodes about this book, and generally roll my eyes at them. But this is just fantastic. Were it available, I’d listen to a Peter Jackson-length version of the episode.

I’ve only been able to get one of my sons into Adams, he’s the taller, thinner one in the picture from a few years ago.

You really need to check out this comic from Sheldon Comics—part of the Anatomy of Authors series: The Anatomy of Douglas Adams.

TowelDay.org is the best collection of resources on the day. One of my favorite posts there is this pretty cool video, shot on the ISS by astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

Even better—here’s an appearance by Douglas Adams himself from the old Letterman show—I’m so glad someone preserved this:

Love the anecdote (Also, I want this tie.)

April 2022 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

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On May 3, 2022

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

I’m running a day late with this, but it’s that kind of week (I’m just glad I got to this before Friday). In April I finished 23 books, for 5904 pages (or the equivalent), and I gave them an average of 3.8 stars. That’s nothing to sneeze at–a better month than March, too. And that’s with two books under 3 stars.

This month was longer than I realized it was, looking over the list of books from this month, I was thrown a couple of times–I read that this month?

So, here’s what happened here in April.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Duckett & Dyer: Dicks For Hire What Are Christians For? Kaiju Preservation Society
4 Stars 4 1/2 Stars 5 Stars
Citizen K-9 Under Lock & Skeleton Key Fight and Flight
3.5 Stars 3.5 Stars 3 Stars
Dead in the Water Constance Verity Destroys the Universe Instruction in Christian Love [1523]
4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Meat is Murder How to Be Perfect Amongst Our Weapons
4 Stars 4 Stars 4 1/2 Stars
Force of Nature The Cutting Season Old Made New
4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Blessed Are the Bank Robbers Goodbye, Things Ordinary Grace
2 1/2 Stars 2 Stars 4 Stars
Face to Face with God Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City The Return of the King
3.5 Stars 3.5 Stars 5 Stars
Taming Demons for Beginners Of Claws and Fangs
3 Stars 4 Stars

Still Reading

The Story Retold Faith & Life Tuesday Mooney Talks To Ghosts
Repentance: Turning from sin to God

Ratings

5 Stars 2 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 2 2 Stars 1
4 Stars 11 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 4 1 Star 0
3 Stars 2
Average = 3.8

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2021		 9 45 42 144
1st of the
Month		 7 47 43 145
Added 3 3 3 2
Read/
Listened		 4 5 4 3
Current Total 6 45 42 144

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 19
Self-/Independent Published: 4

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 1 (1%)
Fantasy 2 (9%) 11 (13%)
General Fiction/ Literature 1 (4%) 4 (5%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 6 (26%) 34 (40%)
Non-Fiction 3 (13%) 8 (9%)
Science Fiction 4 (17%) 8 (9%)
Theology/ Christian Living 4 (17%) 13 (15%)
Urban Fantasy 3 (13%) 11 (13%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 1 (1%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th), I also wrote:

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

First Quarter Check-In: 2022 Plans and Challenges

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On April 5, 2022

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

Well, this was a humbling post to work on. I’ve got work to do!

One of the few concrete plans that I shared back in January was “Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own (a perennial project, but I made some strides last year).” How am I doing on that?

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of 2021 9 45 42 144
Current Total 7 47 43 145

I’m doing a little better with the rest of my plans. A little.

Let’s move on to the Reading Challenges…
2022 Book Challenges

12 Books
I’m on track for finishing this one with no effort–. I still need 1 more recommendation, by the way. (hint, hint)
12 Books Challenge Quarter 1

2022 “Support Book Bloggers” Challenge
Support Book Bloggers Challenge
I decided to nix this one–I’m working on all the things mentioned here, but feel a little uncomfortable doing it because of a checklist–and even more awkward about discussing it.

(still think it’s a good idea, just not for me)

2022 While I was Reading
While I Was Reading
I’m doing okay on this–as usual, I’m not really planning the books for this challenge. When October hits, if I haven’t read everything on the list, I’ll get serious about hunting.

  1. A book with a question in the title.:
  2. A book of non-violent true crime.: I have an idea or two about this one.
  3. A book with a cover you don’t like.:
  4. A historical fiction novel not set in Europe.:
  5. A book with a character’s name in the title.:
  6. A book featuring paranormal activity (fiction or non.):
  7. A book with a number in the title.: Citizen K-9 (starting it this week, which is Quarter 2, but eh…)
  8. A food related memoir.: I have no idea
  9. A book that’s won an award.:
  10. A middle grade novel.: How to Save a Superhero by Ruth Freeman
  11. A book by an author who shares your zodiac sign.:
  12. A book that’s a combination of genres.: Bloodlines by Peter Hartog (I also used this for the next challenge, so I’ll probably replace this on the final list)

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge
I’m hitting the target on this one–I even managed 1 Stretch Goal. You’ll note how this isn’t helping that much with my reduce the TBR plan.
January – New Beginnings I give you permission to read the most recent book you got on top of your TBR.: Bloodlines by Peter Hartog
Stretch Goal – Read the oldest book in Mount TBR it has waited long enough: Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron
February – Valentine’s Day Gift
Is there that book by an author you love you picked up and still haven’t read because you do not deserve it just yet? Other items got in the way? You have for this challenge to pick that book up and read it: Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
March – Fresh blooms
For the beginning of Spring I want you to open a book in the TBR pile by an author you’ve never read before: The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson

I’ve already started planning the 20 Books of Summer Challenge, mostly books that I told myself I’d read in January/February.


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

March 2022 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

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On April 1, 2022

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

I was fairly surprised by my counts this month—22 books completed or 7235+ pages (or the equivalent)—it felt like I read more than that. But those are decent numbers, especially when you figure in the average rating of 3.68 Stars. I had a lot of fun with the books I read/listened to this month, and that’s the aim, right? (as easy it is to be distracted by numbers)

I was also surprised by what I’d actually written, especially after being gone for 5 days and then feeling like I had to catch up after that, when I put together that part of this post I expected it to be a pretty anemic list.

All in all…it’s been a good month, as you can see here:
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Troubled Blood One for All Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes
3.5 Stars 4 Stars 3.5 Stars
Madam Tulip and the Rainbow’s End Lives Laid Away Demon Magic and a Martini
4 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True Recovering Our Sanity Spelunking Through Hell
4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Hard Reboot Drown Her Sorrows False Value
3 Stars 3 Stars 5 Stars
Death in the Sunshine Glorification: An Introduction Pay Dirt Road
3.5 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars
Double Take The Two Towers Halo: The Fall of Reach
4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
DoubleBlind Murder Under Her Skin Free Billy
3 Stars 3 Stars 5 Stars
20/20
3 Stars

Still Reading

The Story Retold Faith & Life Duckett & Dyer: Dicks For Hire

Ratings

5 Stars 2 2 1/2 Stars 0
4 1/2 Stars 1 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 8 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 3 1 Star 0
3 Stars 8
Average = 3.68

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2021		 9 45 42 144
1st of the
Month		 6 47 41 144
Added 5 3 6 3
Read/
Listened		 4 3 4 2
Current Total 7 47 43 145

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 18
Self-/Independent Published: 5

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 1 (2%)
Fantasy 2 (9%) 9 (15%)
General Fiction/ Literature 1 (5%) 3 (5%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 11 (50%) !!! 28 (45%)
Non-Fiction 1 (5%) 5 (8%)
Science Fiction 2 (9%) 4 (6%)
Theology/ Christian Living 2 (9%) 9 (15%)
Urban Fantasy 3 (14%) 8 (13%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 1 (2%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th), I also wrote:

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

March 11, 1952 – The Birth of One Hoopy Frood

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On March 11, 2022

In Calendar Items, Douglas Adams, News/Misc., Science Fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet where seventy years ago today, Douglas Adams was born.

When the Towel Day Facebook page posted about this anniversary this week, I thought about doing a big tribute post today. But I really didn’t have the time to do a decent job of it.

Instead, I’m going to do something uncharacteristic of me—I’m going to keep it brief. Douglas Adams was a formative writer for me. It’d take very little time at all to see how formative, he’s probably in the Top 5 authors I’ve mentioned on this site. His humor, his imagination, his point of view, his style was a gift that has been influencing writers and readers for decades, and likely will continue to.

In honor of this anniversary, tonight I’m going to have a gin and tonic* in his honor, read a few sections from his books (likely a little more than that), and be grateful we got his creative output.

* see The Restaurant at the End of the Universe‘s discussion about the beverage.

February 2022 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

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On March 1, 2022

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

22 Books completed last month, 5,670 pages (or the equivalent) 3.6 stars. That’s only 1 book less than last month—between the shortness of the month and the doorstop that I’m reading right now, that is really surprising to me. I’ll take that. Also 3.6 stars? That’s good enough for me.

Tracking the number on my Goodreads Want to Read list is messing with my head, this makes 2 months in a row of adding as many as I read? Humbug. At least it isn’t growing, I guess.

Basically, February was an okay month here (obviously not the case in the world as a whole). Here’s what happened here:

Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law Revenge of the Beast Ban This Book
3 Stars 3.5 Stars 3.5 Stars
Mike Nero and the Superhero School A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking Go Back to Where You Came From
3.5 Stars 3.5 Stars 4 Stars
The Lost Discipline of Conversation Under Color of Law The Blood Tide
2 1/2 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Shattered Bonds Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics The Imputation of Adam's Sin
4 1/2 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars
Why bother with church? Dead Man in a Ditch The Goodbye Coast
3 Stars 3.5 Stars 4 Stars
All At Sea Light Years from Home How Not to Be an *SS
4 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
Man Down The Fellowship of the Ring Quest
4 Stars 5 Stars 3 Stars
Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead
3 Stars

Still Reading

The Story Retold Faith & Life Troubled Blood

Ratings

5 Stars 1 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 1 2 Stars
4 Stars 8 1 1/2 Stars
3.5 Stars 5 1 Star
3 Stars 6
Average = 3.6

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2021		 9 45 42 144
1st of the
Month		 6 46 42 144
Added 3 4 0 3
Read/
Listened		 3 3 1 3
Current Total 6 47 41 144

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 13
Self-/Independent Published: 9

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 1 (4%) 1 (3%)
Fantasy 5 (22%) 7 (18%)
General Fiction/ Literature 1 (4%) 2 (5%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 6 (26%) 17 (43%)
Non-Fiction 3 (13%) 4 (10%)
Science Fiction 1 (4%) 2 (5%)
Theology/ Christian Living 4 (17%) 7 (18%)
Urban Fantasy 1 (4%) 5 (13%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 1 (3%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th), I also wrote:

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

January 2022 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

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On February 1, 2022

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

2022 got off to a decent star: 24 titles, 6428 pages, with an average of 3.75 stars. Thankfully, I’m done with the looking back at 2021 posts, that took a little longer than I wanted (still, I had fun doing them—hopefully someone else enjoyed them). Things are doing okay on the posting front—always have ambitions for more, but I think things are going okay so far. I’ve got some fun things in the works, some of which you’ll hopefully see soon.

But enough about that, here’s what happened here in January.

Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Family Business Gone Missing The Finders
4 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars
And Your Enemies Closer God Dwells Among Us Bloodlines
3.5 Stars 4 Stars 3.5 Stars
The Curious Dispatch of Daniel Costello (Audiobook) Where the Drowned Girls Go Two Witches and a Whiskey
4 Stars 3.5 Stars 3 Stars
The Accomplice God with Us How to Save a Superhero
4 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
Dark Queen The Good Sister A Bathroom Book...
5 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
Bye Bye Baby Dogtripping The Hobbit
4 1/2 Stars 3.5 Stars 5 Stars
Dead Man's Grave Reconstruction How to Save a Superhero
4 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars1
Burning Bright You're Only Human The Jackals
4 Stars 4 Stars Still Deciding

Still Reading

The Story Retold Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law Revenge of the Beast

Ratings

5 Stars 2 2 1/2 Stars 0
4 1/2 Stars 1 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 10 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 5 1 Star 0
3 Stars 6
Average = 3.75

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2021		 9 45 42 144
1st of the
Month		 9 45 42 144
Added 2 4 7 3
Read/
Listened		 5 3 6 5
Current Total 6 46 43 142

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 18
Self-/Independent Published: 6

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Fantasy 2 (8%) 2 (8%)
General Fiction/ Literature 1 (4%) 1 (4%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 11 (46%) 11 (46%)
Non-Fiction 1 (4%) 1 (4%)
Science Fiction 1 (4%) 1 (4%)
Theology/ Christian Living 1 (4%) 1 (4%)
Urban Fantasy 3 (13%) 3 (13%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 4 (17%) 4 (17%)

Review-ish Things Posted

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

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

2022 Plans and Challenges

By

On January 3, 2022

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

Thanks to Facebook’s On This Day, today I was reminded of my 2014 New Year’s Reading Resolutions. Boy Howdy, did I do a lousy job with those. Of the 12 specific resolutions, I still need to accomplish at least 5 (there’s room for interpretation on a couple of them)—I still want to accomplish 4 of them. Maybe this reminder will help?*

* Yeah, I’m not counting on that, either. But it’s nice to dream.

So, I’m reticent to get into calling my shots, as it were, too much anymore—there’s a project from 2020 still hanging over my head, too. And a few others, too, I’m sure—I just don’t want to go spelunking through the archives to find more personal failures (minor, to be sure, but technically failures).

So, here’s what I’m going to shoot for around here in the next 12 months.
bullet Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own (a perennial project, but I made some strides last year)—one of the Book Challenges this year should be a fun way to help.
bullet 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. (I added this one after scheduling this post, but you know what? I’ve been kicking myself for ages for dropping this…)
bullet Be pickier in the Book Tours I participate in—I’ve already started this (Damp Pebbles Blog Tours ceasing operations helped, too—no slight intended to the Tour Organizers I still enjoy working with, but Emma was better at getting me to take risks). I still like Tours, they expose me to things I wouldn’t normally read—and I’m going to keep doing them. But I’m going to be pickier about them.
bullet Similarly, I’m doing fewer Book Challenges. I like the ones I’ve picked out—but they’re concrete things, no more of these “Read as Many of X as You Can” challenges. They don’t move the needle one bit for me as far as picking books—I read as many as I’m going to anyway, just with a count. But Challenges with specific targets can be fun. I’ll talk about those in a minute.
bullet Get better at proofreading—apparently, there’s a need.
bullet Try to interview more authors (maybe others, too?), and get better at that, too.
bulletThere are a few other ideas, but they’re harder to explain than to just do. You’ll know them if you see them.

2022 Book Challenges

12 Books
Perhaps you’ve seen this on everyone’s timeline this last week or so—12 months to read 12 books recommended by 12 friends. This looked like a great way to read something out of my wheelhouse—and so far, it should be. Only 1 of the 9 recommended so far is something that I’d have really considered. I still need 3 more recommendations—so hit the comments, folks!
12 Books Challenge

2022 “Support Book Bloggers” Challenge
Support Book Bloggers Challenge
This just looks like fun, mostly things I should be doing anyway. Go check it out.

2022 While I was Reading
While I Was Reading
I’ve done this one for the last few years—and Ramona’s done a great job of stretching me. And will continue to do so—this year’s categories are more challenging than I’m used to (I have to figure out authors’ astrological signs?).

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge
I dig the way this one is organized—if nothing else, my TBR should go down by 12. 🙂

I’ll also undoubtedly do the 20 Books of Summer Challenge…that’s been pretty fun.

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)

December 2021 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

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On January 1, 2022

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

Even if the month brought me a bad Jack Reacher (stupid Lee Child wanting to retire…how selfish), I think it was pretty good for reading around here: 33 Books finished, 8,149 pages (or the equivalent) with a rating of 3.5 Stars on average (a little lower than I’ve had lately, but still really good).

I don’t have any books unfinished–sure, that meant I read short works for the last day and a half of the month, but I wanted to start 2022 with a clean slate (something I almost never do, so I was pretty happy about that).

Writing-wise, I put out a variety of things, and a pretty good number of posts, but the things left unfinished stack is way too large…

All in all, color me pleased. Although, at this point, anything that brings an end to the up-and-down year that 2021 was is good to me. Anyway, here’s what happened here in December.
Books Read

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Fortune Favors the Dead Who Is Jesus?
3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
The Last Time She Died Dr. Rick Will See You Now Cold Reign
4 Stars 3 Stars 5 Stars
Mistletoe and Crime Better Off Dead We Had a Little Real Estate Problem
4 1/2 Stars 2 Stars 3 Stars
A Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance by Tim Curry Faith in the Time of Plague A Sheep Remembers
5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
Grave Reservations A Private Investigation Risen
4 Stars 4 Stars 5 Stars
Messy The Nutcracker My Contrary Mary
3.5 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
The Sentence Is Death Things Unseen Why Did Jesus Have to Live a Perfect Life?
3.5 Stars 5 Stars 4 Stars
A Dream About Lightning Bugs Fortune and Glory Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You
3.5 Stars 3 Stars 3.5 Stars
The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas Stuff You Should Know Agent to the Stars
3.5 Stars 2 1/2 Stars 4 Stars
Anonymous The Case of the Left-Handed Lady The Iggy Chronicles, Volume One
4 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
Dogtology Zoth-Avarex's Escape Plan
3 Stars 3 Stars

Ratings

5 Stars 1 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 1 2 Stars 1
4 Stars 7 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 5 1 Star 0
3 Stars 13
Average = 3.5

TBR Pile
Mt TBR December 21

Breakdowns
“Traditionally” Published: 21
Self-/Independent Published: 11

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 2 (1%)
Fantasy 1 (3%) 7 (20%)
General Fiction/ Literature 5 (16%) 24 (8%)
Horror 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Humor 2 (6%) 9 (3%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 11 (34%) 117 (38%)
Non-Fiction 4 (13%) 22 (7%)
Science Fiction 1 (3%) 20 (7%)
Steampunk 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Theology/ Christian Living 5 (16%) 38 (13%)
Urban Fantasy 3 (9%) 49 (16%)
Western 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Other Things I Wroteotherwriting
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (the 4th, the 11th, the 18th, and the 25th), I also wrote:

How was your month?

The Irresponsible Reader in 2021: Thoughts, Thanks, and Stats

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On December 31, 2021

In Calendar Items, News/Misc., Nick Kolakowski

Programming Note: Over the next few days, I’ll be looking back over 2021—but I’ll try to come up with some new material, too. Many/most others have already done their best-of/year-end wrap-up posts, but I’m a stickler—I can’t start doing this kind of thing ’til the year is over. My brain doesn’t allow me to work that way (I just hate projecting things in general—and some years ago when I just read irresponsibly, but hadn’t adopted the name, the last novel of the year was so far beyond the rest that I can’t start looking back until 12/31 at the earliest).

As we kick off 2022, as is my custom, I wanted to take a glance back at 2021 (may it soon be a distant memory). 307 books finished (plus comics, picture books, short stories, and the like that I don’t know how to count)—my mind is thoroughly boggled! I exceeded my goal (nothing like exceeding an arbitrary number to boost the ol’ ego), too; finishing around 86,000 pages; with an average rating of 3.69 Stars. I only DNF’d one book, which is nice (or could I have enjoyed myself more if I’d done more?).

On the blog front, I put up 562 posts—an all-time high for me—82 more than last year!! I had another year of strong gains in traffic—views and visitors—I’m not big-time (never going to be), but those numbers consistently weird me out (which is why I only look every 6-12 months). My follower count (here and on social media sites) is encouraging and humbling, I really feel like I ought to do more to earn them.

I didn’t have any big blog projects for the year this year—I did finish my trip through The History of Tom Jones, but the follow-ups I thought about never materialized, but may in 2022. I also want to get back to my Classic Spenser series…that one is bugging me. I’ll talk about some other plans soon—maybe, maybe I’ll just put them in place instead.

As is my habit, here’s my breakdown of books by genre (and I’m going to have to change things soon, this chart doesn’t show up well anymore, I just like showing the trends). Genre labeling continues to be more difficult as I’m reading a lot of hybrids (most of us are, they’re being produced more), but I tend to go with the overarching genre. Basically, everything’s the same, with just a percent or two of adjustment. It’s been forever since I’ve read a Western or a Horror novel—and “humor” is pretty useless as a category, as a lot of things I read could be considered that. Once again, for someone who doesn’t plan too thoroughly, the percentages stay remarkably consistent from year to year—tastes (and series I follow) apparently stay the same. I need to devote a Saturday afternoon some time to doing the math to make this chart more useful/attractive. I didn’t expect both Fantasy and Non-Fiction to dip the way they did this year—not at all surprisingly Mystery/Thriller/Crime picked up those percentage points, though.

Genre 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
Children’s 2 (1%) 5 (2%) 7 (3%) 11 (4%) 7 (3%) 5 (2%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Fantasy 20 (7%) 35 (13%) 28 (10%) 30 (11%) 7 (3%) 31 (13%) 17 (9%) 11 (7%) 15 (8%) 12 (6%)
General Fiction/ Literature 22 (7%) 16 (7%) 21 (8%) 22 (8%) 29 (10%) 27 (11%) 17 (9%) 7 (4%) 30 (16%) 30 (14%)
Horror 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (.4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Humor 9 (3%) 2 (1%) 4 (1%) 3 (1%) 1 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (1%) 3 (2%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 117 (38%) 90 (34%) 105 (38%) 107 (38%) 102 (37%) 61 (25%) 64 (34%) 62 (37%) 63 (33%) 73 (35%)
Non-Fiction 22 (7%) 28 (10%) 25 (9%) 22 (8%) 10 (4%) 11 (5%) 8 (4%) 4 (2%) 2 (1%) 11 (5%)
Poetry 2 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Science Fiction 20 (7%) 20 (8%) 30 (11%) 25 (9%) 27 (10%) 37 (15%) 16 (8%) 17 (10%) 14 (7%) 11 (5%)
Steampunk 1 (0%) 2 (1%) 1 (0%) 3 (1%) 1 (0%) 2 (1%) 7 (4%) 3 (2%) 3 (2%) 11 (5%)
Theology/ Christian Living 38 (13%) 23 (8%) 34 (12%) 25 (9%) 30 (11%) 33 (14%) 42 (22%) 42 (25%) 37 (19%) 10 (5%)
Urban Fantasy 49 (16%) 42 (16%) 25 (9%) 29 (10%) 45 (16%) 36 (15%) 19 (10%) 20 (12%) 26 (14%) 48 (23%)
Western 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0%)

Thanks to the nifty spreadsheet made by the Voracious Reader, I was able to get a few more stats. I find them interesting, maybe you will, too.

I honestly thought that re-read percentage was going to be higher—it dropped by 2% from last year. I expected it to be in the high 20s/low 30s.


Audiobooks also dropped a little this year, as that’s the majority of my re-reads lately, I guess that explains the drop there. Still, that’s another surprise decrease.

Enough about me. Now we get to my favorite part—I want to talk about you, who keep me going and show an interest in what I’m doing here and give some thanks to people for their impact on The Irresponsible Reader (the blog and the person) in 2021:

 

Have a great 2022, hope you find plenty of good things to read!

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