Category: Calendar Items Page 7 of 22

Second Quarter Check-In: 2022 Plans and Challenges

Catching up on things like this is a nice way to spend a day off, I guess. Earlier, I checked-in on my 20 Books of Summer Challenge, and now let’s take a look at the rest.

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 5 52 43 141

The good news is that I’ve read most of what I’ve bought this year, I’m just not whittling away at the older things. But I do fully expect to see a noticeable change in the physical and e-book numbers by the end of this quarter. Actually, I’ll probably see a noticeable change in the audiobooks, too–I have a handful credits set to expire soon. Well…this is discouraging.

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 still on track for finishing this one with no effort (although I didn’t finish the one I’d earmarked for June in the month, but I should have it done by the end of today/mid-tomorrow)
12 Books Challenge Quarter 2


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 these things because of a checklist–and even more awkward about discussing it. But I’m mentioning it again, because I like the idea and want to spread the word about the efforts (it’s 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.: I have a couple of contenders for this one. It’s possible that when I read them, they’ll win me over, so I’ll hold my ifre on this.
  4. A historical fiction novel not set in Europe.: I’ve read a couple already this year that would technically work, but I’m going to see if I get a more straightforward historical fiction.
  5. A book with a character’s name in the title.: I’ve got With Grimm Resolve coming up this month.
  6. A book featuring paranormal activity (fiction or non.):
  7. A book with a number in the title.: Citizen K-9
  8. A food related memoir.: I have no idea. Literally.
  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.: This one is going to be hard. That it also comes close to disclosing more personal information than I want to share.
  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’ve only managed to hit 1 Stretch Goal (I don’t have many books that apply to the stretches, actually). This isn’t helping that much with my reduce the TBR plan, but it’s not hurting it. So there’s that.

In the months to come, I’m going to have to get creative to find a way to match the challenge with a book. I’m eager to see if I can pull it off.
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
April – New Openings
April is derived from the Latin for ‘to open’ In Mount TBR there may be the first book of a series. Your challenge is to read: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker
May – Randommmmm
You MAY pick one random book out of Mount TBR and you must read it: Conjured Defense by J.C. Jackson
June – The Longest Day
Find the longest book in Mount TBR and you must read it: The Border by Don Winslow

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

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

I didn’t expect June to be as productive as this—especially because a few books in the middle took a day or so longer than I’d estimated. That doesn’t happen that often, but I’ll take it. The short version: 26 books, 7,251+ pages (or the equivalent)–with one audio-only novella that I don’t have a page count on; 3.7 Average Stars—with one I’m still not sure how to rank—I had a bunch of 4-Stars this month that helped to make up for the 1-Star that I’m still rankled about (I’m also rankled about the gag order from the Book Tour group I’m no longer working with).

I have one abandoned and two still-in-draft-mode non-review posts I’d hoped to get up, but in general, my output was pretty good.

All in all, it was a pretty decent month. Let’s take a deep dive into what happened here in June:
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Attachments Dirt Road Home Gated Prey
I Just Don’t Know 3 Stars 4 1/2 Stars
Adult Assembly Required In Divine Company There Goes the Neighborhood
5 Stars 4 Stars 1 Star
Hellbound Guilds & Other Misdirections Crazy in Poughkeepsie Noodle and the No Bones Day
3 Stars 3.5 Stars 4 Stars
How to Take Over the World Deep Hole Payback
3 Stars 3.5 Stars 3 Stars
You Are Not Your Own We Are Legion (We Are Bob) Against All Odds
4 1/2 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars
The Lost A Wash of Black An Explorer's Guide to John Calvin
4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Love and Other Monsters in the Dark Holy Chow Amari and the Night Brothers
4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Movieland Their Dark Designs Growing Downward
4 1/2 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
Daughter of the Morning Star The Border
4 Stars 5 Stars

Still Reading

The Story Retold Faith & Life Songbird
A World Without Whom

Ratings

5 Stars 2 2 1/2 Stars 0
4 1/2 Stars 3 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 10 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 2 1 Star 1
3 Stars 7
Average = 3.7

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2021
9 45 42 144
1st of the
Month
6 53 40 141
Added 4 6 4 2
Read/
Listened
5 7 1 2
Current Total 5 52 43 141

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 12
Self-/Independent Published: 14

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 1 (4%) 2 (1%)
Fantasy 1 (4%) 16 (12%)
General Fiction/ Literature 5 (19%) 11 (8%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 10 (38%) 53 (39%)
Non-Fiction 1 (4%) 12 (9%)
Science Fiction 3 (12%) 12 (9%)
Theology/ Christian Living 4 (15%) 21 (16%)
Urban Fantasy 1 (4%) 13 (10%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 1 (1%)

Review-ish Things Posted

  • Black Nerd Problems (Audiobook) by William Evans & Omar Holmon: Essays on Life, Race, and Nerddom
  • A Snake in the Raspberry Patch by Joanne Jackson: A Family and a Small Town in Upheaval In the Shadow of a Brutal Crime
  • In a House of Lies by Ian Rankin: The Past and Present Collide for Rebus, Clarke, and Fox
  • What Is Christianity? by Herman Bavinck, Gregory Parker Jr. (Translator): Short, Sweet, To the Point
  • Dirt Road Home by Alexander Nader: From the Motor City to Small Town Tennessee
  • Attachments (Audiobook) by Rainbow Rowell, Rebecca Lowman: I Stumble All Over the Place Trying to Talk About This
  • Noodle and the No Bones Day by Jonathan Graziano, Dan Tavis (Illustrator): A Great Dose of Adorableness to Pick Up Your Day
  • Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman: She Gets by with a Little Help from Her Friends
  • In Divine Company by Pierce Taylor Hibbs: Communication Failure?
  • Crazy in Poughkeepsie by Daniel Pinkwater: “Crazy” Might Be An Overstatement, How About “Ridiculously Odd”?
  • Payback by RC Bridgestock: A Decent Start for this Procedural Series
  • Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold! (Audiobook) by Terry Brooks, Jeremy Arthur (Narrator): A Nostalgic Trip I Maybe Shouldn’t Have Taken
  • Against All Odds by Jeffery H. Haskell: It’s the Chance He’s Gotta Take
  • The Lost by Jeffrey B. Burton: Mace and Vira Race the Clock to Find a Kidnapped Girl
  • We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Audiobook) by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter (Narrator): Big Laughs and Big Ideas Litter this SF Adventure
  • Love and Other Monsters in the Dark by K. B. Jensen: A Truly Impressive Batch of Short Fiction
  • Holy Chow by David Rosenfelt: Keeping the “Semi” in Andy’s Semi-Retired Status
  • An Explorer’s Guide to John Calvin by Yudha Thianto: Calvin 101
  • A Wash of Black by Chris McDonald: This is How a Series Should Start
  • Movieland by Lee Goldberg: It’s No Walk in the Park for Eve Ronin

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


Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

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

The quick-and-dirty version of this post is: I read or listened to 24, with 3,878+ pages or the equivalent (there was an Audible Original there, so the page equivalent would be 250-350 more), and the average rating was 3.58. Not a spectacular month, but a good one. Quicker-and-dirtier version: I read Don’t Know Tough this month, along with a few other (mostly good) things—it was a good month.

It was also an ambitious month on the writing front—hopefully, that continues.

Enough with the preamble, here’s what happened here in May:
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

The Knave of Secrets Rosebud Tuesday Mooney Talks To Ghosts
3 Stars 2 1/2 Stars 3.5 Stars
The Cartographers Repentance Funny Farm
4 1/2 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
Revenge Tour Right Behind Her Lifesign
3.5 Stars 3.5 Stars 3.5 Stars
Conjured Defense The Doctrine of Scripture The Traitor's Heir
3.5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
Nothing to See Here This is Going to Hurt Heroic Hearts
4 Stars 3.5 Stars 4 Stars
Augustine of Hippo Don't Know Tough Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold!
3.5 Stars 5 Stars 3.5 Stars
Jacked Black Nerd Problems In a House of Lies
3 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
What Is Christianity? A Line to Kill A Snake in the Raspberry Patch
4 1/2 Stars 3 Stars Still Deciding

Still Reading

The Story Retold Faith & Life You Are Not Your Own
Attachments

Ratings

5 Stars 1 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 2 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 5 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 9 1 Star 0
3 Stars 6
Average = 3.58

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2021
9 45 42 144
1st of the
Month
6 45 42 144
Added 3 9 3 1
Read/
Listened
3 2 5 4
Current Total 6 53 40 141

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 19
Self-/Independent Published: 5

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 1 (1%)
Fantasy 4 (17%) 15 (14%)
General Fiction/ Literature 2 (8%) 6 (6%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 9 (38%) 43 (39%)
Non-Fiction 3 (13%) 11 (10%)
Science Fiction 1 (4%) 9 (8%)
Theology/ Christian Living 4 (17%) 17 (16%)
Urban Fantasy 1 (4%) 12 (11%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 1 (1%)

Review-ish Things Posted

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


Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

May Calendar

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

(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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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