Category: Calendar Items Page 13 of 25

August 2020 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

On September 1, 2020

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

In a nutshell: 27 books, 7,415+ (one book of I’m guessing 200+ pages was an Audible Original, so I don’t have a solid page count), and an average of 4 (there are four books I’m still deciding on tho, so that average can really change). Didn’t write as much as I wanted to, but more than I feared I would. A busy month, and a good one.

So, here’s what happened here in August in a bit more detail.











		</a


Still Deciding

Still Deciding	Still Deciding

Still Deciding

		Average =	4
	5		0
	2		0
	7		0
	6		0
	3

“Traditionally” Published: 22
Self-/Independent Published: 5

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	0 (0%)	3 (2%)
Fantasy	3 (11%)	263 (15%)
General Fiction/ Literature	2 (7%)	14 (8%)
Horror	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Humor	0 (0%)	1 (1%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	13 (48%)	68 (38%)
Non-Fiction	3 (11%)	12 (7%)
Science Fiction	0 (0%)	14 (8%)
Steampunk	0 (0%)	2 (1%)
Theology/ Christian Living	3 (11%)	14 (8%)
Urban Fantasy	3 (11%)	24 (14%)
Western	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

Luck and Judgement (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson : Death at Sea, Corruption and Destruction on Land
Catch-Up Quick Takes on Timeless; Point Blank; Smarter Faster Better; Heartburn; In Plain Sight; Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed; The Bitterroots
The Silence by Luca Veste: A Chilling Look at Spiraling Consequences of One Fatal Night
The Heirs of Locksley by Carrie Vaughn: Robin’s Kids Go Looking for Fun and Find Trouble Again
Betty by Tiffany McDaniel: A Beautiful Novel about a Tragic Childhood
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK X., vi-BOOK XI., ii.
The Blues Don’t Care by Paul D. Marks: Jazz, Murder, and Rampant Phone Book Vandalism
Coffee and Condolences by Wesley Parker: Two People with an Incredible Amount of Baggage Trying to Fit It All in the Same Overhead Compartment
The Answer Is . . . (Audiobook) by Alex Trebek, Ken Jennings: The Living Legend Reminisces
Going Back by Neil Lancaster: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. Just another day for Novak.
The Revelators by Ace Atkins: It’s All Been Leading to This
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK XI., iii.-viii.
Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire: The Most Exciting Mathematician This Side of Charlie Eppes and Dr. Larry Fleinhardt
Screamcatcher: Dream Chasers by Christy J. Breedlove: Back to the Nightmares
Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne: This Atypical UF is full of Action and Laughs (and Deadly Raisins)
The Library Murders by M.R. Mackenzie: An Unlikely Duo on the Hunt for a Killer
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK XI., ix.-BOOK XII., ii.
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Audiobook) by Angela Duckworth: The Key is Passion and Perseverance, not Talent
The Rome of Fall by Chad Alan Gibbs: 90s Rock and High School Football Combine for a Shakespearean Tale
Pub Day Post: As the Stars Fall by Steve N. Lee: A Girl and Her Dog. A Dog and His Girl.
Dark Jenny (Audiobook) by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki: Eddie LaCrosse Meets a Legend
The Ninja Daughter by Tori Eldridge: The Norwegian-Chinese Ninja Hero You Never Realized You Needed in Your Life
Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch: Entertaining Quick Dips into the Rivers of London
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK XII., iii.-vi.
Classic Spenser: Early Autumn by Robert B. Parker

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

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books where something went wrong
Down the TBR Hole (10 of 24+)
Down the TBR Hole (11 of 24+)
Down the TBR Hole (12 of 24+)
WWW Wednesday for August 5, August 12, August 19, August 26
The Friday 56 for 8/7/20, 8/14/20, 8/21/20, 8/28/20

How was your month?

July 2020 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On August 1, 2020

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

I finished 27 books (okay, fine…26 books and one picture book), with 9,217 pages (800+ of those I’ve been working on for a few months, though) and a 3.85 average rating. That counts as a very good month around here. I didn’t post as many things as I wanted to (I talked a little bit about that this morning), but I liked what I did post. If I only felt free to leave me house, I’d call July a win—a pretty good month, regardless.

So, here’s what happened here in July.




	/td>





		Still Deciding

		Average =	3.85
	5		1
	1		0
	8		0
	8		0
	4

“Traditionally” Published: 19
Self-/Independent Published: 8

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	1 (4%)	3 (2%)
Fantasy	5 (19%)	23 (15%)
General Fiction/ Literature	4 (15%)	12 (8%)
Horror	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Humor	0 (0%)	1 (1%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	7 (26%)	6 (32%)
Non-Fiction	1 (4%)	9 (6%)
Science Fiction	3 (11%)	14 (9%)
Steampunk	0 (0%)	1 (2%)
Theology/ Christian Living	2 (7%)	11 (7%)
Urban Fantasy	4 (15%)	21 (14%)
Western	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine (Audiobook) by Derren Brown: DNF
Catch-Up Quick Takes: Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner; Out of Range; The Fangs of Freelance; Wonder Twins, Vol. 1: Activate!
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VIII., xi.-xv.
The Curator by M. W. Craven: I do not have enough superlatives in my repertoire to do justice to this novel
Elphie Meets the End of The World by Hagit R. Oron, Or Oron Misgav (Illustrator): It’s the End of the World as he Knows it, and Elphie (eventually) Feels Fine
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK IX., i.-iv..
One Man by Harry Connolly: A Broken Man Against the World
Spells for the Dead by Faith Hunter: Nell and Her Team Face a New Type of Deadly Threat
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK IX., v.- BOOK X., i.
Peace Talks by Jim Butcher: Family Complicates Everything
Vagrant Queen by Magdelene Visaggio, Jason Smith: A Quirky Space Opera that Hits the Mark
The Silence by Luca Veste: A Chilling Look at Spiraling Consequences of One Fatal Night
I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman: The Cat’s in the Cradle and all that…
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK X., ii.-v.
Classic Spenser: Looking for Rachel Wallace by Robert B. Parker

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

20 Books of Summer 2020: July Check-In
Ultimate Book Tag
Down the TBR Hole (8 of 24+)
Down the TBR Hole (9 of 24+)
WWW Wednesday for July 1, July 8, July 15, July 22
The Friday 56 for 7/3/20, 7/17/20, 7/24/20, 7/31/20

How was your month?

June 2020 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About Template

By HCNewton

On July 1, 2020

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

In this month that ended before I realized it had begun, I somehow finished 23 works with a total of 6,881 pages (or the equivalent). I DNF’ed one book, but the rest had an average rating of 3.8. As usual, I didn’t write as much as I wanted to–which didn’t bother me until I saw how many things this month didn’t get covered. I’m sure I’ll get them done pretty soon, but, it made me wonder what I was doing.

Still, a pretty good month here. Hope you had one, too.

So, here’s what happened here in June.
















		DNF

		Average =	3.8
	2		0
	4		0
	6		0
	5		0
	6

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

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	0 (0%)	2 (2%)
Fantasy	3 (13%)	18 (15%)
General Fiction/ Literature	1 (4%)	8 (7%)
Horror	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Humor	0 (0%)	1 (1%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	8 (35%)	48 (39%)
Non-Fiction	4 (17%)	8 (7%)
Science Fiction	2 (9%)	11 (9%)
Steampunk	0 (0%)	2 (2%)
Theolgy/ Christian Living	2 (9%)	9 (7%)
Urban Fantasy	3 (13%)	17 (14%)
Western	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

Venators: Promises Forged (Audiobook) by Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May: Out of the Frying Pan and into the . . . Clutches of a Life Siphoning Fae?
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VII., xi.-xv.
American Demon by Kim Harrison: Harrison Comes Back to The Hollows Without Missing a Step
City of Hate by Timothy S. Miller is not a book I should have read, but maybe you should.
The Ghosts of Sherwood by Carrie Vaughn: Oo-de-lally, I had fun with this
The Power of Habit (Audiobook) by Charles Duhigg, Mike Chamberlain: A Compelling Look at Why We Do What We Do
Fair Warning by Michael Connelly: McEvoy’s out to clear his name and catch a twisted killer
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VIII., i.-iv.
Blood Storm Magic (Audiobook) by Jayne Faith, Amy Landon (Narrator): The series comes to a dramatic yet dissatisfying end
Crossing in Time (Audiobook) by D. L. Orton. Narrated by Noah Michael Levine, Erin deWard: This Romance/SF is a Wild Ride!
Burn Me Deadly (Audiobook) by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki: LaCrosse’s Good Deed Goes Very Punished
The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton: A Serial Killer Hunt Goes to the Dogs
Anna by Laura Guthrie: A Charming Look at One Girl’s Pursuit of Happiness
Muzzled by David Rosenfelt: One of Andy Carpenter’s Twistiest Cases Yet
Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why by Alexandra Petri: Laughing So You Don’t Cry at the State of Our Country
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VIII., v.-x.
Why Would Anyone Go to Church? by Kevin Makins: A Book that Doesn’t Deliver on What it Promises, but is Still Rewarding
Classic Spenser: The Judas Goat by Robert B. Parker
How the Wired Weep by Ian Patrick: Patrick’s Latest Crime Thriller Does Not Disappoint

Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th), I also wrote:

20 Books of Summer 2020: Kickoff and June Check-In
Quarter 2: #ARMEDWITHABINGO Check In
Down the TBR Hole (6 of 24+)
Down the TBR Hole (7 of 24+)
Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag
I Dare You! Book Tag
WWW Wednesday for June 3, June 10, June 17, and June 24
The Friday 56 for 6/5/20, 6/19/20, and 6/26/20

How was your month?

May 2020 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On June 1, 2020

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

21 books, 6643 pages (576 of those belonging to what’s likely going to be my fave of the year), with a 3.7 Star average. Also, I posted probably the largest number of non-review-ish posts that I’ve ever managed. That’s a pretty good month. Obviously, I would’ve liked more of everything, but that’s because I’m greedy.

Here’s what happened here in May.














		(still deciding)

		Average =	3.7
	2		1
	1		0
	7		0
	4		1
	4

“Traditionally” Published: 13
Self-/Independent Published: 8

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	1 (5%)	2 (2%)
Fantasy	4 (19%)	15 (15%)
General Fiction/ Literature	2 (10%)	7 (7%)
Horror	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Humor	0 (5%)	1 (1%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	10 (48%)	40 (40%)
Non-Fiction	0 (0%)	4 (4%)
Science Fiction	1 (5%)	9 (9%)
Steampunk	1 (5%)	2 (2%)
Theology/ Christian Living	1 (5%)	7 (7%)
Urban Fantasy	2 (5%)	14 (14%)
Western	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

The Misadventures of Nero Wolfe: Parodies and Pastiches Featuring the Great Detective of West 35th Street by Josh Pachter, ed.: A Collection of Short Pieces Celebrating Nero Wolfe
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VI., v.-viii.
Bethlehem’s Brothers by Ronald Hera: First Century Historical Fiction about a Couple of Others Born in Bethlehem
Audiobook Catch-Up Quick Takes on Caliban’s War by James S.A. Corey, Jefferson Mays (Narrator); Heartless by Gail Carriger, Emily Gray (Narrator); Demon Born Magic by Jayne Faith, Amy Landon (Narrator); Stardust by Neil Gaiman; Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy, Eileen Stevens (Narrator); Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic by Michael McCreary; Paradise Valley by C.J. Box, Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Auxiliary: London 2039 by Jon Richter: A Gripping Hardboiled Cyberpunk Read
Apex Predator by M.R. Miller: Nothing goes According to These Plans
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VI., ix.-xii.
Every Day Matters: A Biblical Approach to Productivity by Brandon D. Crowe: Biblical Foundation, Sage Advice, and Helpful Examples
The Sword-Edged Blonde (Audiobook) by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki: This Hard-Boiled Fantasy Mixes the Best of Both Genres
The King of the Crows by Russell Day: Prescient. Gripping. Haunting. Unpredictable. What stories should be.
Trophy Hunt by C. J. Box: Pickett takes on an X-Files-y case
Noam’s Monsters by Shai Levinger, Kaustuv Brahmachari (Illustrator): A Young Boy Battles His Anxieties and Fears
Breath Like the Wind at Dawn by Devin Jacobsen: Obscure When not Vile. A book that Simply Didn’t Work for Me.
But For The Grace (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: DC Smith Investigates an(other) Unexpected Killing
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VI., xii.-VII., iv.
Classic Spenser: Mortal Stakes by Robert B. Parker
The Tempus Project by Antony Johnston: High-Tech Methods Fuel a Very Old-School Thirst for Revenge
Bullet Points about Burning Bright by Nick Petrie: There’s No Sophomore Slump in the Second Peter Ash Adventure
Classic Spenser: Promised Land by Robert B. Parker
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VII., v.-x.
Catch-Up Quick Takes None Greater by Matthew Barrett; Alive by Gabriel N.E. Fluhrer; The Song of Songs by G. I. Williamson; The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity by Michael J. Kruger

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

How was your month?

Towel Day ’20: Do You Know Where Your Towel Is?

By HCNewton

On May 25, 2020

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

(actually updated and slightly revised this 5/25/20!)

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 of 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.

One of my long-delayed goals is to write up a good all-purpose Tribute to Douglas Adams post, and another Towel Day has come without me doing so. Belgium.

Next year . . . or later. (he says for at least the 5th straight year, a work ethic I like to believe Adams would recognize).

In the meantime, here’s some of what I’ve written about Adams. A couple of 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:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, The Universe and Everything
So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish
Mostly Harmless
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.

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.

TowelDay.org is the best collection of resources on the day, recently posted 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—so glad someone preserved this:

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

April 2020 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On May 1, 2020

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

Well, this is more like it: 25 titles, 7290+ pages (there was one e-short story that I didn’t get a page count on)—three thousand more than March. My average rating for the month was 3.56, which isn’t exactly my goal—but it still means I enjoyed just about everything I consumed. I’ve made a more concerted effort to make time to read over the last couple of weeks—and it seems to be paying off.

As with just about every person on the planet, I have no idea what the next month is really going to look like for me day-to-day (and I’m not sure I could tell you what it was like the last month…), so I’m not going to pretend to have an idea what I’ll be reading/writing about. We’ll see, right?

So, here’s what happened here in April.

		Average =	3.56
	1		1
	1		0
	8		0
	6		0
	8

“Traditionally” Published: 14
Self-/Independent Published: 11

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	0 (0%)	1 (1%)
Fantasy	4 (16%)	11 (14%)
General Fiction/ Literature	2 (8%)	5 (6%)
Horror	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Humor	0 (0%)	1 (1%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	10 (40%)	30 (38%)
Non-Fiction	1 (4%)	4 (5%)
Science Fiction	3 (12%)	8 (10%)
Steampunk	1 (4%)	1 (1%)
Theology/ Christian Living	2 (8%)	6 (8%)
Urban Fantasy	4 (21%)	13 (16%)
Western	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

The Immortal Conquistador by Carrie Vaughn: Just who is the Vampire Rick, Anyway?
Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs: Mercy Deals with Unexpected Threats from Every Direction
Pub Day Post: A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones: Now that’s a first day on the job
We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker: Hunting for Hope (and Life?) in a Hopeless Place
Pub Day Post: Cheater’s Game by Paul Levine: Things Get Personal for this Defense Attorney
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK IV., xiv-BOOK V., viii.
The Identity Thief by Alex Bryant: A Contemporary Hunt for Centuries-Old Power
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK V., ix.-xii.
Quick Takes on Some Quick Reads: The Time Traveler’s Guide to Dating; Ice by Neil Lancaster; Shall We Gather by Alex Bledsoe
The Poop Diaries by Abby Ross: These Plumbers have Seen and Smelled it All.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VI., i.-iv.
Robert B. Parker’s Grudge Match by Mike Lupica: Sunny Randall’s Forced to Work for an Enemy as Lupica Settles into the Series
The Oracle Code by Marieke Nijkamp, Manuel Preitano (Illustrator): A Young Barbara Gordon’s First Case
Fake Truth by Lee Goldberg: Ian Ludlow, Fake News, and the Return of the Soviet Union?
Pub Day Post: Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn: Love, Family, and Loss in a Western-Flavored Fantasy

Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th)

- Dryad Teas Inspired by the Dresden Files
- The Stay at Home Book Tag
- The Wanderlust Book Tag
- Down the TBR Hole (4 of 24+)
- Top 5 Saturday: Sibling Relationships
- Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Books That Made Me Laugh
- A Few Quick Questions With…Like the Wolfe Podcast (2 firsts for me: a podcast not an author, and 2 people responding) and Paul Levine (still don’t believe I got him to particpate)
- WWW Wednesday for April 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th.

How was your month?

March 2020 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On April 1, 2020

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

It’s hard with work right now, but given COVID-19, Sheltering at Home—and a (no kidding!) Earthquake in Idaho (of all places)—man, I need books to escape to and lose myself in. So I’m pretty glad that despite everything going on in the world and my life, I somehow managed to finish one more book than last month—18—with 4903+ pages (one was an Audible Original, so I have no idea what the page count would be) with an average rating of 3.94. I’m guessing that’s 500 pages less than Feb, even with the higher book count. Still, not too shabby.

So, anyway, here’s what happened here in March.

		Average =	3.94
	3		0
	2		0
	5		0
	6		0
	2

“Traditionally” Published: 12
Self-/Independent Published: 6

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	0 (0%)	1 (2%)
Fantasy	0 (0%)	7 (13%)
General Fiction/ Literature	0 (0%)	3 (6%)
Horror	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Humor	0 (0%)	1 (2%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	9 (50%)	20 (37%)
Non-Fiction	1 (6%)	3 (6%)
Science Fiction	2 (11%)	5 (9%)
Steampunk	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Theology/ Christian Living	3 (17%)	4 (7%)
Urban Fantasy	3 (17%)	11 (20%)

House on Fire by Joseph Finder: Out for Vengeance, Heller Takes on a Pharmaceutical Giant
Venators: Magic Unleashed (Audiobook) by Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May: This Introduction to a Fantasy Series Continues to Entertain on my Third Time Through
Catch-Up Quick Takes: The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues by Ellen Raskin; Bloody Acquisitions (Audiobook) by Drew Hayes, Kirby Heyborne; Dark Harvest Magic (Audiobook) by Jayne Faith, Amy Landon
Avenge the Dead by Jackie Baldwin: Past Mistakes and Crimes Come Back to Haunt Dumfries
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK IV., i.-iv.
Madam Tulip and the Serpent’s Tree by David Ahern: It Made me Happy to See that Derry and her Fortune-Telling Alter-Ego are Back
The Starr Sting Scale by C.S. O’Cinneide: Gritty, Violent, Full of Heart. You’re gonna dig this one!
False Value by Ben Aaronovitch: Peter Grant Gets a New Job and a Great Series Gets Better
Dead Wrong by Noelle Holten: A Detective Struggles to Prove She Made the Right Arrest with Lives on the Line
The In Between (Audiobook) by Michael Landweber, Brittany Pressley (Narrator), Mark Boyett (Narrator): When the Unthinkable Happens, What’s a Parent to Do?
The K Team by David Rosenfelt: A New PI Trio Takes a Bite Out of Crime
Joker by Brian Azzarello, Lee Bermejo (Illustrator): One night in Gotham and the tough guys tumble
A Few Quick Thoughts about The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (Audiobook) by Stuart Turton, James Cameron Stewart
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK IV., v.-viii.
The Awful Truth About the Sushing Prize by Marco Ocram: Metaficton, Murders, and Tom Cruise, Oh My!
Back to Reality: A Novel (Audiobook) by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver, Kim Bretton: A Parallel Universe/Body Swap Story Story Full of Laughs and Heart
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK IV., ix.-xiv.
Everyday Prayer with John Calvin by Donald K. McKim: A helpful, but not overly-interesting devotional
Classic Spenser: God Save the Child by Robert B. Parker

Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th ), I also wrote:

Thoughts at the beginning of March
Down the TBR Hole (3 of 24+)
A Few Quick Questions With…Noelle Holten and Michael Landweber (a repeat customer!)
Top 5 Saturday: Trilogies
The Inside and Out Book Tag
WWW Wednesday for March 11, 2020; March 18, 2020; and March 25

How was your month? I hope you are all safe, healthy and finding solace in something right now.

February 2020 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On March 2, 2020

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

The short version: 17 books, 5715 pages, 3.6 Average. The same number of books as January, a thousand (or so) more pages (not sure how that worked), a decent average rating. Things are ramping up at work for a couple of months, and I’ll be stunned if my numbers don’t slim down a little until June. All in all, a pretty decent month (unless you compare what I did to my February Plans post…but we can ignore that, right?)

So, here’s what happened here in February.

		Average =	3.6
	2l		0
	1		2
	6		0
	2		0
	4

“Traditionally” Published: 10
Self-/Independent Published: 7

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	0 (0%)	1 (3%)
Fantasy	4 (24%)	7 (19%)
General Fiction/ Literature	0 (0%)	3 (8%)
Horror	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Humor	0 (0%)	1 (3%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	5 (29%)	11 (31%)
Non-Fiction	0 (0%)	2 (6%)
Science Fiction	3 (18%)	3 (8%)
Steampunk	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Theology/ Christian Living	1 (6%)	1 (6%)
Urban Fantasy	4 (24%)	8 (22%)

The White Man’s Guide to White Male Writers of the Western Canon by Dana Schwartz, Jason Adam Katzenstein (Illustrator): A Guide to White Male Writers for White Male Writers (or those who want to be one)
Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson, Tavia Gilbert (Narrator): An Unusual Mother and Son are at the center of this charming family drama.
San Diego Dead by Mark Nolan: A Modern-Day Privateer (and his dog) takes on a Powerful Drug Cartel
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK II., iv.-vii.
A Beginning At The End by Mike Chen: Love, Uh, Finds a Way in this Optimistic Dystopian Novel
Winterkill (Audiobook) by C. J. Box, David Chandler: Pickett Battles Winter and Paranoia to Find Justice
Burn the Dark by S. A. Hunt: Like and Subscribe to Watch Her Gank Witches
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK II., viii.-Book III., ii.
QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling, Jamie Lee Searle (Translator): George Orwell Goes Shopping
Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn, Nicole Goux: A Fun & Compelling Refreshed Origin Story
Hidden Steel by Stuart Field: An Ambitious Thriller on Land and Sea
The Gene Wizards by Clare Blanchard: A brief, humor-filled, Fantasy that’ll make you think.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK III., ii.-vi.
Classic Spenser: The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker
Hi Five by Joe Ide: A Criminal for a Client, an Unreliable Witness, and a Larger Number than Usual that Want Him Dead. IQ has his work cut out for him.
Highfire by Eoin Colfer: Enter the Dragon (the Drunken, Netflix-binging, Lousiana Swamp-Dwelling, Crotchety one)
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK III., vii.-x.

I had a post that I was very excited about, but everytime I tried to write it, it went off in another direction than I wanted and I couldn’t get it back in line. Maybe next month, maybe it’s (another) one for the Trash Heap. On the successful side, other than the Saturday Miscellanies (1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th Sat), I also wrote:

February Plans
Top 5 Saturday: Books Inspired by Mythology
(half-baked) Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Characters I’d Follow On Social
Down the TBR Hole #1 and #2
and WWW Wednesday for February 5, 2020, February 12, 2020, and February 19, 2020

How was your month?

January 2020 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On February 1, 2020

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

January in sum: 17 books read, 4,453+ pages (two books—1 audio, 1 e-ARC—don’t have that information available), with an average of 3.8 rating (4 5-star reads!!). I’d have preferred a few more books in general and the ratio between print and audio favors audiobooks more than I’d like, but work’s been so heavy I haven’t been able to read as much (and I can listen while I work most of the time), that trend may continue for the next couple of months. Not going to complain (too much)…probably.

As per usual, I didn’t write quite as many posts as I wanted to, particularly the review-ish kind. But adding a section about non-review-ish posts to this wrap-up makes me feel a lot more productive because I don’t normally think of those posts when I look back at the month. So that’s a cool thing (although most months won’t be as filled with them, I realize).

Anyway, here’s what happened here in the first month of 2020:

		Average =	3.8
	4		0
	2		1
	3		0
	4		1
	1

“Traditionally” Published: 12
Self-/Independent Published: 5

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	1 (5%)	11 (5%)
Fantasy	3 (16%)	3 (16%)
General Fiction/ Literature	3 (16%)	3 (16%)
Horror	1 (0%)	0 (0%)
Humor	1 (5%)	1 (5%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	6 (32%)	6 (32%)
Non-Fiction	1 (5%)	1 (5%)
Science Fiction	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Steampunk	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Theology/ Christian Living	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Urban Fantasy	4 (21%)	4 (21%)
Western	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

Find Your Weigh by Shellie Bowdoin: A No-Nonsense, but not overly-demanding, approach to Eating right/Weight loss
Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dreyer: A delightful guide to style, grammar, spelling and other things English Language-related that you didn’t realize you wanted to know.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK I., Chapter i.-iv.
Not Dressed by Matthew Hanover: If this book doesn’t bring a smile to your face, something’s broken
Clearing the Deck: Tweet-length thoughts about books I can’t find time to write about
Reread Project: The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs: A very different model of what reading can be all about.
Junkyard Cats by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam: Hunter tries SF with Predictably Entertaining Results
Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire: Jack and Jill’s Final (?) Showdown in the Moors
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK I., Chapter v.-ix.
Wizard Ring by Clare Blanchard: A Subtle Take on Contemporary Fantasy
Deep Dark Night by Steph Broadribb: High Stakes Danger for Lori Anderson in the Windy City
Operation Large Scotch: O.L.S. by Bill Flockhart: Terrorists Attempt the Unthinkable
Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg: A Dynamite Beginning to a New Series from One of the Most Reliable Scribes Around
Stone Cold Magic by Jayne Faith, Amy Landon (Narrator): Meet The City of Trees’ Resident Demon Hunter
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK I., ix.-Book II., iii.

Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (5th, 11th, and 18th), I also posted:

Looking back at 2019 for Books and the Blog
2020 Reading Challenges and Other Plans
Four posts about my favorites 2019 in Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living, Crime/Mystery/Detective/Thriller Fiction, and Non-Crime Fiction (I need to come up with a catchier name for that if I’m going to persist in breaking those down)
I asked a Few Questions of Matthew Hanover (again) and Shellie Bowdoin
Do I Have That? Booktag
Fridays with The Foundling: An Introduction to kick off this year-long series
Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf
In Medias Res: A Beginning At The End by Mike Chen
Opening Lines: The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker
and WWW Wednesday for January 15, 2020 and January 29, 2020

How was your month?

Looking back at 2019 for Books and the Blog

By HCNewton

On January 1, 2020

In Calendar Items, News/Misc.

Programming Note: Over the next few days, I’ll be looking back over 2019—but trying to come up with some new material, too. I know a lot of people have already done that, but I’m a stickler—I can’t start doing this kind of thing ’til the year is over (for good reason, I read 3 things that will likely end up on best-of lists after I started seeing “Best of 2019” posts).

As we kick off 2020, as is my custom, I wanted to take a glance back at 2019. 275 books read (plus comics, picture books, short stories, and the like that I don’t know how to count)—I exceeded my goal (nothing like exceeding an arbitrary number to boost the ol’ ego), too; more than 83,000 pages; 378 posts (short of my goal by a couple hundred, but 98 more than last year, so…yay). I had some strong gains in traffic—views and visitors—actually, strong gains doesn’t quite cut it. Consider my mind boggled. I’m also seeing good growth in followers here and on various social media fronts, which is encouraging as all get out—not just growth in numbers, but the level of and amount of interaction is up to the point that my socially awkward self doesn’t really understand it.

So here’s my breakdown of books by genre. Genre labeling is more difficult lately 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 (for example, Brassley’s The Drifting Lands books are fantasy novels in a SF setting, I went with Fantasy). Basically, everything’s the same, with just a percent or two of adjustment. It’s been forever since I’ve read a Western, although I had one checked out from the Library for a couple of months, but I couldn’t manage to get to it. Theological books went up a tad in actual numbers (thanks to the Vos set). Still, 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.

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

Enough about me. 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 2019:
Thanks to everyone for your comments/feedback—texts, emails, comments here/BookLikes/Goodreads, tweets, FB comments, even the occasional Face-to-Face conversation. Keep it up! I really appreciate the time you took to leave feedback. Hopefully you can tell that you’ve shaped the conversation here—it has, I assure you. Many of you are pushing me to be better writers—some of you push me to read better books. I’m going to give a particular thanks to Bookstooge, Paul, W&S Bookclub, Lashaan, Emma, and Noelle for their encouragement, retweets, and interaction.
Flattered thanks to (in no particular order): Asha Seth, rosemikeals42, nikkit321, andrayachristine, Solid lover of poetry, Hannah, workwithlapo and salmanalfarisi, Dalindcy Koolhoven, ailishsinclair, allmyheroesareweirdos, ladolceamara, William J. Fulton, Shawn P. B. Robinson, Davida Chazan, wanderingminds2019, Elle, editorbtg, lollyrugs, Kara Skinner, Blood Rose Books, libarah</a and Matilde Mbulo , Kanwarpal Singh , sara , Tony H , Simon Veith , K. Alice Compeau , deborahkehoe , kelleysdiy , TheArtOfLife , Erwin Wensley , dragonflybooks , virgoebooks , BOOKVENGER-44 , Blair Leftly , upstateasb , vickyofficiallyofficial , amiiiesbooks , Madam Mim , Sonam Tsering , indianeskitchen , Occidentally Orthodox (who may not like a lot of what I post, but I hope he comments) and whovinawrites , Ciidagale Raad , KayCKay , BookaholicBrittany , Crystal Grasso (Ward), Jocelyn , SED MADDY , The Happy Book Blog , Justine @ Bookish Wisps , Ailish Sinclair , flowersinthebrain , tracyvende , Britt Skrabanek , TheReadingNook , Tony Self , Somik Bndopadhyay , Sesame Limited , devouringbooks2017 , theguywiththebook , geekhutdrone , weewritinglassie , crimebookjunkie , David , Kyles , Thomas Neil , Michelle Eddington, Queerying Literature , IM Fletcher, and Bestiality , karishmarele , Aurore-Anne-Chehoke , Sovely Matters , chapterinmylife , Shana Gorian , Caroline Vincent , Tales of alenshy , The Unseen Library , penninkreviews , Diana , miscellanypages , brian2010 , TooFullToWrite , fionac13, lindajacksonblog , Self Development , Vee Aozoraa , happytonic , Elizabeth Ruggiero , adiswings , Kitty Marie’s Book Reviews Blog , rashidul.huda , Lashaan Balasingam @ Bookidote , Naba Kumar Garai , Psychotherapist ,Counsellor, Film Screenwriter,Playwright,Producer – LONDON.UK , Sonam Sangpo Lama , Tammy (great site logo), Curled up with a good book , Kathryn Speckels , ChadeeMañago , 1800PetsAndVets®, Global Books , neoverttun, Isabelle @ BookwyrmBites , KATO NASHIF, William Johnson , tourinfonepal , AKidneyStory , agnieszkaweiner (say that fives times fast), Bill , Aqsa haleem , OwlBeSatReading , bryan_lunsford , Mohit Malviya , jackiesreadingcorner , Patrick Lynn , kbbookreviewer , _forbookssake , thelostwoman, amanja , Steven Colborne , Anthony Day Grandin , Donald Wilson , lisasbooksgemsandtarot , Adrianna , Scarlett Backus, Lee, likeherdingcatsblog , caffeinefocus , intentforcontent , entertainingly nerdy , The Awesome Dad , juniorgareth42, Tom Gamache , proofreadingebooks (the name is making me nervous about my content), Yvonne , Fragilistic , babblingstories , Zoé O’Farrell , kerrimcbooknerd , tracy cole, lidija.biskup, Notes Kecil, Beth Tabler , R., overtherainbowbookblog , simplyclaudianicole , Freedom is the luxury I seek , APB813 , Maya’s Musings , David W , Rain Alchemist , alittlebookproblem , forwarddog , Tim Onayemi , Gehad Gamal , Anton Michaux, Brandi Robbins , Mental Health •Lifestyle •Finance , Kelly Curtis , and (last but not least and whatnot) brainyjaney for being new followers (at least for a post or two) of the blog (in one of its forms) this year—the size of this list shocks me, and I hope you all got at least something out of it. (I sincerely hope I didn’t miss anyone)
Hearty thanks to all the authors, editors, illustrators, translators, and other people behind the production of the books I spent time with this year—this blog would be nothing without your efforts, your blood, sweat, tears, fears, work, love, dreams, hopes, art and words. Your books were my companions throughout this year, and I can’t thank you enough for them (and I hope I get to spend time with many of you again soon!). (I typically link to them all, but honestly, who reads it, and it was taking too long to put together the links for all 271 names involved).
More thanks to all those who requested that I read and talk about your (or your clients’) books. I know how much the work, effort, heart, and everything that went into your books. It’s super humbling, I know you all didn’t like what I said, but, I am grateful for the opportunity.
Many thanks to T Gamache, Steven Max Russo, Dr. Heather L. Beal, Nick Kolakowski, Beth Ruggiero York, Anne Dolleri, Malcolm J. Wardlaw, F J Curlew, Christy J. Breedlove, Richard Steele, Maggie Lynch, Brian VanDongen, Devri Walls, Ian Shane, James Bailey, Melissa Simonson, Ian Patrick, Duncan MacMaster, Sarah Chorn, Jo Perry, Russell Day, Luna Miller, Russ Colchamiro, Gray Basnight, and Matthew Hanover for taking time out of your busy schedules to answer a few quick questions with me this year! For three or four of you, this was the second time you’ve done this—the second and third for Nick Kolakowski, a true glutton for punishment. I thoroughly enjoyed picking all of your brains and hope I can again.
A special thanks to my wife. Without your support, indulgence and patience this thing wouldn’t exist—and I’d read a lot less (the horror!). Thank you. I love you.
And thank you all for reading. Honestly, each time I get a notification of a like, or a share, or a follow, etc. it makes my day. To know that someone took a couple of seconds or more out of their day to glance at this? It means the world to me. Thanks.

Have a great 2020, hope you find plenty of good things to read!