Category: Currently Reading Page 41 of 71

WWW Wednesday, January 12, 2021

It’s WWW Wednesday time already, eh? Twelve days into the year and I’m already 2 books behind schedule, but I’m catching up. Hopefully, by this time next week, I’ll be on schedule—maybe even ahead (it could happen, don’t laugh).

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 ARC of The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz and am listening to Two Witches and a Whiskey by Annette Marie, Cris Dukehart (Narrator) on audiobook, which is a lot less intense.

The AccompliceBlank SpaceTwo Witches and a Whiskey

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Seanan McGuire’s Where the Drowned Girls Go, the latest Wayward Children novella, and The Curious Dispatch of Daniel Costello by Chris McDonald, Stephen Armstrong (Narrator) on audio—you may have seen me talk about the series a bit today.

Where the Drowned Girls GoBlank SpaceThe Curious Dispatch of Daniel Costello

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron, I’m finally getting to it years after buying it, and my next audiobook should be Dark Queen by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator).

Nice Dragons Finish LastBlank SpaceDark Queen

What about you?

The Friday 56 for 1/7/21: Bloodlines by Peter Hartog

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56% of:
Bloodlines

Bloodlines by Peter Hartog

“What the f*** are you doing, Holliday?” Deacon hollered from the kitchen.

He leaned against one of the tables with arms folded across his chest.

“It’s what we police-types like to call ‘looking for clues,’” I retorted, irritated by the question. “Shake down the premises, go through his sock drawer, locate the virtual workstation, and mine it for information. You should try it sometime.”

“I get that,” he replied amiably. “But I doubt a vampire’s gonna hide its secrets inside an office, do you?”

WWW Wednesday, January 5, 2022

It’s already Wednesday? Where has the year gone?? (I’m not proud of that, but I was struggling to come up with anything else). Let’s put that weak attempt at humor behind us and get on with the WWW Wednesday, okay

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 SF/Urban Fantasy combo, Bloodlines by Peter Hartog, and am wrapping up Gone Missing by Linda Castillo, Kathleen McInerney (Narrator) on audiobook.

BloodlinesBlank SpaceGone Missing

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished S.J. Rozan’s Family Business—what a great way to start the year—and The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer, Katherine Kellgren (Narrator) on audio.

Family BusinessBlank SpaceThe Case of the Left-Handed Lady

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire and my next audiobook will probably be The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton, Matt Godfrey (Narrator).

Where the Drowned Girls GoBlank SpaceThe Finders

How are you kicking off 2022?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ratings

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

TBR Pile
Mt TBR December 21

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

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

Review-ish Things Posted

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

How was your month?

WWW Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Time for the final WWW Wednesday of 2021! It’s been quite a year, right?

 

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 finally reading Anonymous by Elizabeth Breck and am listening to Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi, Wil Wheaton (Narrator) on audiobook—it’s as fun as I remember when I read it a decade or so ago.

AnonymousBlank SpaceAgent to the Stars

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished the very odd The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, translated by Flora Thomson-DeVeaux and Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant on audio.

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás CubasBlank SpaceStuff You Should Know

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Family Business by S.J. Rozan (been waiting for this one!) and my next audiobook should be another trip to Amish country in Gone Missing by Linda Castillo, Kathleen McInerney (Narrator).

Family BusinessBlank SpaceGone Missing

How are you all wrapping up the year?

The Friday 56 for 12/24/21: A Dream About Lightning Bugs by Ben Folds

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
A Dream About Lightning Bugs

A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons by Ben Folds

A few years ago, I volunteered to be a substitute teacher for my kids’ seventh-grade music class. Just for a day. That’s all I had to do. I knew most of the kids in the class anyway. It should have been a breeze.

It wasn’t.

If I didn’t fully appreciate the public school music teachers of my youth before 11 a.m. that day, by noon I damn well did. As I stood before the class, a lifetime of experience performing in front of people went straight out the window. The forty-five-minute affair was absolutely exhausting. Kids, 1—Folds, 0. Animals, every one of them! I am no music teacher and I bow to each and every man and woman who is. I especially bow to the ones who can see that these children are not animals and recognize which ones could use a push, or a hand, like I did when I was younger.

WWW Wednesday, December 22, 2021

I’m feeling very distracted this week–I’m having a lot of trouble focusing on anything for more than 15 minutes at a time, thankfully I’m reading a couple of books that are built for short-term-focus (am pretty sure that was the order, it’s entirely possible that they induced it). But the end of the year is nigh, I can take the foot off the gas a little bit, right?

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 finishing off a reading challenge by reading A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons by Ben Folds and The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, translated by Flora Thomson-DeVeaux. I’m listening to My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows and narrated by Fiona Hardingham on audiobook, partially inspired by my recent Down theTBR Post.

A Dream About Lightning BugsBlank SpaceThe Posthumous Memoirs of Brás CubasBlank SpaceMy Contrary Mary

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker (in an effort to inject a little holiday cheer) and Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives by Tim Hartford, Nicholas Guy Smith (Narrator) on audio.

The NutcrackerBlank SpaceMessy

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Anonymous by Elizabeth Breck (after spending over a month on my “On Deck” list–a testament to shoddy planning) and my next audiobook should be The Sentence Is Death by Anthony Horowitz, Rory Kinnear (Narrator).

AnonymousBlank SpaceThe Sentence Is Death

How are you spending the week?

The Friday 56 for 12/17/21: Risen by Benedict Jacka

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Risen

Risen by Benedict Jacka

“Verus,” he said, crossing the path to meet me.

I nodded.

Talisid glanced at the long sightlines around us, the Greenway stretching in both directions with the Olympic Stadium – to one side and the view over London to the other, “A little exposed.”

“Hiding isn’t really an option for me these days,” I said. “How can help you?”

Our relationship had changed, and I could feel it in the way Talisid addressed me. For all the years I’d been meeting like this with Talisid, he’d always been the more powerful. He’d never used if to threaten me; he was too courteous for that, in his well-bred way. But always, in our dealings, Talisid had been the one to set the terms. Not anymore.

WWW Wednesday, December 15, 2021

I’ve been feeling super-productive this week, at least in a quantity-over-quality way. I don’t get weeks like this very often, so I’m trying to take full advantage of it (and need to remember it will end, so I don’t get too annoyed with myself when it does). This week’s WWW Wednesday shows that the Down the TBR posts (and my reading challenges for the year) are helping—you’ll see more of that next week, too.

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 (finally—and, yes, the disciplinary paperwork has been sent to HR) Risen by Benedict Jacka, and Jacka is holding nothing back for this end to the series. I’m also listening to A Private Investigation by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator) on audiobook, which is sort of a series end, but thankfully isn’t.

RisenBlank SpaceA Private Investigation

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished the grin-inducing Cherie Priest’s Grave Reservations and the impressive A Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance by Tim Curry on audio.

Grave ReservationsBlank SpaceA Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance by Tim Curry

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons by Ben Folds and my next audiobook should be Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives by Tim Hartford, Nicholas Guy Smith (Narrator). Ooh, two non-fiction works at the same time, I don’t do that often.

A Dream About Lightning BugsBlank SpaceMessy

What have you been up to lately?

 

The Friday 56 for 12/10/21: Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Grave Reservations

Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest

“You’re really going out on a limb here, aren’t you?” she asked.

He shook his head and gazed balefully at the clippings. “This case has never made any sense, and we’ve never had any real leads, Something about it just … stuck in my craw, as they say.”

“Who says that?”

“My late wife’s family, in North Carolina. They have a wide selection of colorful expressions in circulation out there.” He used his index finger to move a few of the paper scraps around. “Consensus is that the murders were part of an interrupted robbery … but that explanation never felt right. This isn’t that kind of hotel, you know what I mean? We’re in the wrong part of town for a cheap shakedown, and this isn’t the kind of place that a tech CEO would choose for legitimate business activities.”

The restaurant manager sauntered by with a plate of pungent chicken wings and a lifted eyebrow.

“No offense,” Grady called over his shoulder.

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