Currently Reading - The Irresponsible Reader

WWW Wednesday, June 7, 2023

On June 7, 2023

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

Here we are on the 159th day of 2023 and I’m still trying to catch up on my plans for February. This is not so much a complaint on my part as an observation about how bad I am at planning. A true sign that I either need to do less of it, or a whole lot more of it to improve with practice.

It’s also a Wednesday, so that makes it time for WWW Wednesday, so let’s get on with that.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith and I feel like I’m going to be reading it for the rest of the summer. I’m listening to The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, Scott Brick (Narrator) on audiobook, which is both considerably shorter and a charming little novel that I can’t believe Scott Brick is narrating (it’s working, but he’s about the last guy I’d have thought of).

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What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Adam Holcombe’s A Necromancer Called Gam Gam and The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind by Jackson Ford, narrated by Lauren Patten and Graham Halstead.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the comedic The Worst Man by Jon Rance, Rance is an author I’d been wanting to return to—now’s as good a time as any, right? My next audiobook should be Strong Female Character by Fern Brady, I just stumbled across it yesterday and it struck me as interesting.

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Have you been reading anything good, or at least interesting, lately?

May 2023 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On June 5, 2023

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

I read 18 titles (9 down from April, 6 down from last May), with an equivalent of 5,634+ pages or the equivalent (1,160 down from last month), and gave them an average of 3.67 stars (.08 up from last month). Not the best stats, but…whatever. I read some really good books and had a lot of fun.

I posted a lot of non-review-ish posts this month, which is nice, and something I need to do more of. But man…I’m so far behind on the review-ish front that I don’t even know how far I’m behind. I have some ideas to help (at least one of them semi-creative), but mostly I just need to take the time to get it done. I’m not too bothered by it, but I’d be fibbing if I said it didn’t bug me.

Basically, I was satisfied—even pleased—with the month. Here’s what happened here in May.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to



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Still Reading

Ratings

		Average =	3.67
	1		1
	4		0
	5		0
	3		1
	3

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

	Audio	E-book	Physical	Goodreads Want-to-Read
End of 2022	5	45	42	143
1st of the Month	3	45	54	144
Added	4	5	1	2
Read/ Listened	2	1	3	1
Current Total	5	49	52	145

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 15
Self-/Independent Published: 3

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	0 (0%)	11 (9%)
Fantasy	3 (13%)	12 (10%)
General Fiction/ Literature	3 (13%)	10 (8%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	5 (21%)	36 (30%)
Non-Fiction	2 (8%)	9 (8%)
Science Fiction	2 (8%)	12 (10%)
Theology/ Christian Living	2 (8%)	13 (11%)
Urban Fantasy	1 (4%)	13 (11%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Swamp Story by Dave Barry: Florida. Just say it’s Florida.
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: Are You Not Entertained?
The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 21: Turn Around by R. T. Slaywood: The Aftermath
What is Love? by Kyle Borg: A (too?) Brief Look at a Deep Topic
Tower of Babel by Michael Sears: Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made Of
The Book That No One Wanted to Read by Richard Ayoade, Tor Freeman, Jarvis Cocker, Lydia Fox: In Print or Audio, It’s Just Delightful
Lie to Her by Melinda Leigh: Bree Taggert’s on the Hunt for a Killer Out for Revenge
Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani: This Will Hit You Like a Bolt of Something
Grandpappy’s Corner: God, Right Here: Meeting God in the Changing Seasons by Kara Lawler, Jennie Poh (Illustrator): A Little Dose of Natural Revelation
Backpacking Through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire: Now, Where Were We? Oh, Right…
The Rhythm of Time by Questlove with S. A. Cosby: Not a Flux Capacitor in Sight, but There Might as Well Be
Ten Reasons to NOT Read Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas
The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 22: Animals Instinct by R. T. Slaywood: A Quick but Satisfying Episode
Non-Toxic Masculinity: Recovering Healthy Male Sexuality by Zachary Wagner: A Good Step in the Right Direction
The Only Truly Dead (Audiobook) by Rob Parker, Warren Brown: This Trilogy Ends as Strongly as it Started
Douglas Adams’ London by Yvette Keller: The Map of London I Never Knew I Needed
The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 23: Grift or Die by R. T. Slaywood: Without a Paddle
Church History in Plain Language, Fifth Edition by Bruce Shelley, Revision Editor Marshall Shelley: Gets Too Much Wrong
100 Places to See After You Die by Ken Jennings: The Tour Guide No One Wants, But Everyone Needs
Man on a Murder Cycle by Mark Pepper: Move Over SAMCROW, You’ve Got Nothing on This Biker

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

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

20 Books of Summer 2023: This Summer I Settle All Family Business

By HCNewton

On June 3, 2023

In Books, Currently Reading, Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Non-Fiction, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Urban Fantasy

Cathy at 746 Books is hosting 20 Books of Summer again. This challenge has been fun the few years and has proved to be a good way for me to actually focus on things I’ve gotten distracted from and/or impulse buys. This year, my personal theme is “This Summer I Settle All Family Business.” “All” isn’t quite right, but it’s close. I’m using this to take care of another reading challenge, to catch up on my Literary Locals reading, and to put a major dent in my Mt. TBR. It’s an ambitious list in a sense, but, I think I can do it. I mentioned the 3 Jackson Ford books on 2 posts last year as things I wanted to finish in 2022–and well, here they are. So I can at least catch up with some of my ambitions from last year (blech).

As usual, I’m going with the unofficial US Dates for Summer—Memorial Day to Labor Day (May 29 through September 4th), just because it’s easier for me to think that way. And I’ve needed those first few days of September more than once, but let’s not think about that. The mildly observant among you will note that I’m posting this after May 29, so I’m already late. At the earliest, I’ll start reading for this on June 5. We’ll make it interesting (I think it was last year or the year before I barely started before July, I will do better than that this year. Most likely).

There’s still time to join in the fun–if you’re into this kind of thing. (there are 10 and 15 book versions, too)

This summer, my 20 are going to be:

1. The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris
2. Spirelli Paranormal Investigations: Episodes 1-3 by Kate Baray
3. The Lemon Man by Ken Bruton
4. The Flood Circle by Harry Connolly
5. Barking for Business by E.N. Crane
6. Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air by Jackson Ford
7. Eye of the Sh*t Storm by Jackson Ford
8. A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers by Jackson Ford
9. The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
10. Stone of Asylum by Hilarey Johnson

11. Proxies by James T. Lambert
12. Teaching Moments by Troy Lambert
13. Stray Ally by Troy Lambert
14. Cutthroat Cupcakes by Cate Lawley
15. Shadow Ranch by Rebecca Carey Lyles
16. Pure of Heart by Danielle Parker
17. The Worst Man by Jon Rance
18. However Long the Day by Justin Reed
19. Klone’s Stronghold by Joyce Reynolds-Ward
20. Fuzzwiggs: The Switcheroo by Amy Maren Rice

(subject to change, as is allowed, but I’m going to resist the impulse to tweak as much as I can).

20 Books of Summer '23 Chart

The Friday 56 for 6/2/23: A Necromancer Called Gam Gam by Adam Holcombe

By HCNewton

On June 2, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 (and 57) of:
A Necromancer Called Gam Gam

A Necromancer Called Gam Gam by Adam Holcombe

“We want to make a bit of a spectacle, so we’re taken seriously,” she said, then with a wink, reached into the horse. Well, “into” was relative to who was watching, but Mina could see past the illusion, and she saw the necromancer pull a gem from between the horse’s ribs. When it was free, the horse’s true form showed. “What better way to do that than two ladies riding in on skeletal horses?”

Mina looked into the abyssal pits of Sebastian’s eyes and figured Gam Gam had a point.

WWW Wednesday, May 31, 2023

By HCNewton

On May 31, 2023

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

The day I’ve long-dreaded has arrived–I don’t mean a WWW Wednesday, or the end of May. The last episode of Ted Lasso is released today, and I’m just not ready for it*. I’d best distract myself by talking some books.

* Yes, I know that Season 3 has had its detractors, and I haven’t loved every moment of it, but I’ll just tell you now, keep your negativity about the show away from me.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?