Currently Reading - The Irresponsible Reader

WWW Wednesday, August 9, 2023

On August 9, 2023

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

Happy National Book Lover’s Day (at least here in the U.S.—I guess the rest of you have to be apathetic about books or something). I hope you’re reading something good—here’s today’s WWW to look the books I’ve been spending time with this week.

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 However Long the Day by Justin Reed (which I won’t describe because he did yesterday) and am wrapping up the audiobook Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn, narrated by: Jane Oppenheimer & Christina Delaine—we’ve had a plethora of senior sleuths lately, it’s about time for the other side.

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What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Rebecca Carey Lyle’s Shadow Rancy and since I took a few days off from audiobooks last week, the last audiobook I finished was Don’t Hang Up by Benjamin Stevenson, narrated by: Luke Arnold, Sibylla Budd.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the (I’m guessing) tragic and death-filled, yet (I’m hoping) hopeful, Light Bringer by Pierce Brown. My next audiobook should be the next in my InCryptid revisit, Magic for Nothing by Seanan McGuire, Emily Bauer (Narrator).

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How’re you spending this Book Lover’s Day?

The Friday 56 for 8/4/23: All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby

By HCNewton

On August 4, 2023

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

Had to take a break last week due to posting toooooo many things. But I’m back to my typical trickle 🙂

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 (55 and) 56 of:
All the Sinners Bleed

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby

He’d put the phone back in the evidence bag after fighting the urge to put it under his front tire and roll over it five or six times, then set it on fire. Titus had seen his share of horrific things in his twelve years as an FBI agent. The ability of one human to visit depravity upon another was as boundless as the sea and as varied as there were grains of sand on a beach.

The images on [redacted]’s phone were the worst he’d ever seen.

He kept thinking about purification by immolation. It seemed like that was the only thing that could remove the stain of those images from his mind, his heart, his soul. Burn the phone. Scald his eyes with hot oil. Put [redacted] and [redacted] on a pyre and reduce them both to ashes, then scatter those ashes to the four winds. Erase all proof of their existence and the things they had done. But the children in those pictures deserved to have their story told. They deserved justice. Whatever that was these days.

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

By HCNewton

On August 3, 2023

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

I read 24 titles (7 down from last month, 9 down from last July), with an equivalent of 7,022+ pages or the equivalent (700ish down from last month), and gave them an average of 3.54 stars (.12 down from last month). That’s a lot of downs for one month. Huh. Didn’t feel like that in the middle of it.

On the other hand…I posted a lot more than usual (except on the review-y side). While my goal is always more than I accomplish…this month was a bit excessive. I wouldn’t expect that again anytime soon.

All in all, I thought this was a pretty good month on the blog. Here’s the breakdown of happened here in July.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to












	DNF

Still Reading

Ratings

		Average =	3.54
	4		0
	2		0
	2		0l
	6		0
	9

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

	Audio	E-book	Physical	Goodreads Want-to-Read
End of 2022	5	45	42	143
1st of the Month	5	50	56	145
Added	3	4	5	4
Read/ Listened	4	4	8	1
Current Total	4	50	53	148

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 13
Self-/Independent Published: 11

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	2 (8%)	21 (12%)
Fantasy	2 (8%)	16 (9%)
General Fiction/ Literature	1 (4%)	13 (7%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	7 (29%)	51 (29%)
Non-Fiction	0 (0%)	13 (7%)
Science Fiction	5 (21%)	20 (11%)
Theology/ Christian Living	2 (8%)	17 (10%)
Urban Fantasy	3 (13%)	18 (10%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western/ Poetry)	2 (8%)	6 (3%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Sleepless City by Reed Farrel Coleman: Your Summer Action Novel is Here
Pure of Heart by Danielle Parker: She’s Not Your Typical Werewolf and This Isn’t Your Typical UF
The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 28: The Warning by R. T. Slaywood: In Which Our Hero(?) Ponders a Bit
The Worst We Can Find by Dale Sherman: MST3K: The Satellite of Love, The Bots, The Mads, The Movies and Everything Else
The Bible vs. Biblical Womanhood: How God’s Word Consistently Affirms Gender Equality by Philip Barton Payne: Almost thou persuadest me…
The Bitter Past by Bruce Borgos: The First In What Had Better Be a Long-Running Series in the American West
Not Prepared by Matthew Hanover: This’ll Melt Your Heart and Bring a Smile to Your Face
The Beginning and End of All Things: A Biblical Theology of Creation and New Creation by Edward W. Klink III: This Is Our Father’s World
A Fatal Groove by Olivia Blacke: It’s Another Charming, Pun-Filled, Adventure with These Sisters
Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air by Jackson Ford: Whimsical Title Aside, Ford is NOT Playing Around
On Earth as It Is on Television (Audiobook) by Emily Jane, Hayden Bishop (Narrator): DNFed Without Prejudice
The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 29: All Talk by R. T. Slaywood: What a Small World
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson: Is Plenty of Fun, but Not What It Should’ve Been
I Will Build My Church: Selected Writings on Church Polity, Baptism, and the Sabbath by Thomas Witherow, Edited by Jonathan Gibson: Presbyterianism 101
Grandpappy’s Corner: The Biggest Story ABC by Kevin DeYoung, Don Clark (Illustrator): A Swing and a Miss

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?

20 Books of Summer 2023: July Check-In

By HCNewton

On August 2, 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

Here’s a quick check-in for this challenge run by Cathy at 746 Books.

So far, I’ve read 11 of the 20—which puts me 2 behind last year (but 3 ahead of 2021, though). I should read at 2-3 over the rest of this week, so I’m feeling pretty good about where I am. I think I’ll have a week to spare.

Now I’ve only written about four of these books, so I’ve got my work cut out for me if I want to get caught up on these by the end of the Summer. It’s doable, but, I need to get to work on that.

✔ 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 (my post about it)
✔ 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 (my post about it)
15. Shadow Ranch by Rebecca Carey Lyles
✔ 16. Pure of Heart by Danielle Parker (my post about it)
✔ 17. The Worst Man by Jon Rance (my post about it)
18. However Long the Day by Justin Reed
✔ 19. Klone’s Stronghold by Joyce Reynolds-Ward (my post about it)
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 July Check In Chart

WWW Wednesday, August 2, 2023

By HCNewton

On August 2, 2023

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

I’m spending a few hours in a hospital waiting room today (nothing to worry about, just one of those things), so I’ve got a lot of good, uninterrupted reading time ahead of me and a Kindle with a full battery (and probably more books downloaded than I need to get me through the day). Let’s get on with the WWW and here’s hoping you all have a less interesting day.

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?