Category: Currently Reading Page 41 of 76

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

On July 1, 2022

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

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


I Just Don’t Know

Still Reading

Ratings

		Average =	3.7
	2		0
	3		0
	10		0
	2		1
	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?

The Friday 56 for 7/1/22: Short Tails by Spencer Quinn

By HCNewton

On July 1, 2022

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 of:
Short Tails

Short Tails by Spencer Quinn

(it might help people to know that the narrator is that handsome guy on the cover)

I barked my low rumbly bark. Bernie rose and followed me to the top of the ridge. We gazed into the distance, a hilly distance with everything so clear in the early morning light: giant red rocks, tall saguaros like green men stuck in the ground, a tiny black blur of circling buzzards. The bubble gum smell grew stronger. I started making my way down the ridge.

“Chet? We haven’t finished breakfast.”

I kept going.

“You know we’re on vacation?”

Vacation was what again?

“Hang on. It’s steep.”

It was? Somehow I’d missed that, and now it was too late, what with me already at the bottom, the making my way down part having turned into a sort of bounding.

WWW Wednesday, June 29, 2022

By HCNewton

On June 29, 2022

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

Here we are, knocking at the end of June, preparing for that wonderful time of the year where it seems like half of the people in my subdivision are trying to terrify my dogs into moving to Canada. Why don’t we commemorate it with a WWW Wednesday? My current book is taking a lot out of me–and it’s cutting into my audiobook time, so I’m not making a lot of progress with those, either. I’m not complaining (much), because it’s such a good book–but man, it’s taking a lot out of 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?

What are you currently reading?

I’m making slow and steady progress through the monumental The Border by Don Winslow. I’m listening to Songbird by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackon (Narrator) on audiobook, it’s a spin-off or sequel or continuation or…something to the DC Smith series and it’s very strange listening to this next phase with these characters (good! but strange).

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What did you recently finish reading?

I most recently finished Lee Goldberg’s Movieland and Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson, George Guidall (Narrator) on audio.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be A World Without “Whom”: The Essential Guide to Language in the BuzzFeed Age by Emmy J. Favilla and my next audiobook should be My Mess Is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety by Georgia Pritchett, Katherine Parkinson (Narrator) (I largely checked this out for the title).

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What about you?

The Friday 56 for 6/24/22: Movieland by Lee Goldberg

By HCNewton

On June 24, 2022

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% of:
Movieland

Movieland by Lee Goldberg

Duncan put the bag down and picked up the one containing Netter’s watch. It had come through the crash unscathed. “The only Rolex I’ve seen that’s bigger than this is the one in the Calabasas clock tower.”

Netter’s watch had clearly been built to last, Eve thought. Rolex could use it as a selling point. You might not survive a car crash, but your watch will.

WWW Wednesday, June 21, 2022

By HCNewton

On June 22, 2022

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

I’m very glad that the U.S. is now celebrating Juneteenth, but I tell you what, that day off is messing with me. I did manage to get some good reading in over the weekend, but still feel like I’m out of sync with reality. Anyway, let’s tackle this WWW Wednesday, and see if that helps calibrate my mind.*

*Narrator: It won’t.

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 Movieland by Lee Goldberg—it’s so good to be back in Eve Ronin’s world—and I’m wrapping up Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston, Imani Parks (Narrator) on audiobook.

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What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished David Rosenfelt’s predictably fun Holy Chow, K.B. Jensen’s very strange Love and Other Monsters in the Dark, and We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter (Narrator) on audio.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

Two of my most anticipated 2022 releases arrived at my house yesterday (The Botanist by M.W. Craven and The Self-Made Widow by Fabian Nicieza), and I’m beyond tempted to throw out my carefully (for me) constructed plan and dive into them. I’m pretty sure I won’t do that, but you never know. My next book should be The Border by Don Winslow, it’s been a week and a half since I read a paper book—that’ll be a nice change—even if this thing is intimidating. My next audiobook should be a quick return trip to Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson, George Guidall (Narrator).

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What are you reading here in the first few (official) days of Summer?

The Friday 56 for 6/17/22: Against All Odds by Jeffrey H. Haskell

By HCNewton

On June 17, 2022

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 55 (because 56 was blank) of:
Against All Odds

Against All Odds by Jeffrey H. Haskell

“Don’t worry, sir, you’re in good hands. I’ll take care of everything so you can focus on your research,” she said with a smile.

She was certainly chipper. An optimist to keep him company wasn’t a bad idea. Not to mention, nothing made an old man feel young like a beautiful girl at his side. He sighed. Those days were long past, but the reminder would be nice. Not that she would think of him that way, nor would he ever try anything. It would just be nice to have her along.

Yes, this was going to be the best year of his life.

The aircar swooped out of the sky and came to hover next to them. Iker picked up his bag and loaded it in the trunk with a smile, daydreaming about how the future of the galaxy was about to change.

WWW Wednesday, June 15, 2022

By HCNewton

On June 15, 2022

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

I don’t have the vim, much less the vigor, to come up with an introduction, let’s move on with the WWW Wednesday!

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 first in a SF trilogy, Against All Odds by Jeffrey H. Haskell, and the short story collection, Love and Other Monsters in the Dark by K.B. Jensen. I’m listening to We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter (Narrator) on audiobook–it’s a blast and Ray Porter is a great narrator.

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What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished the procedural Payback by R.C. Bridgestock and the novella Deep Hole by Don Winslow, Ed Harris (Narrator) on audio.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be A Wash of Black by Chris McDonald and my next audiobook should be Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston, Imani Parks (Narrator)–I really could use its sense of fun and hope.

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And you?

The Friday 56 for 6/10/22: Payback by R.C. Bridgestock

By HCNewton

On June 10, 2022

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 56% of:
Payback

Payback by R.C. Bridgestock

Charley turned her head in Ricky-Lee’s direction and silently raised an eyebrow indicating the large, sturdy box on Wilkie’s desk. He stopped and immediately changed his tune to a long, low whistle.

‘What the hell did he do to deserve that?’ he said. Opening the box, he took out a shapely, substantial glass bottle. ‘A superb example of the aesthetic,’ he said, knowledgeably.

Charley was impressed.

‘I swear I could just about pound a nail into a two-by-four with this thing.’

Tattie sat back in her chair waiting for the document she had been typing to print out. ‘I don’t advise using that or any other whisky bottle as a carpentry tool,’ she said.

WWW Wednesday, June 8, 2022

By HCNewton

On June 8, 2022

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

If you’d asked me Saturday, I’d have told you that by this point in the week, I’d have 6-7 posts up (not including this one). Instead, here’s #4 for the week. It’s a strange combination of things causing me to stumble this week. First, there’s just no gas in the tank—I’ve fought sleep every time I sit down to write/read. Also, I have so much to say about two of the books that I can’t get anything down—too many ideas trying to get out of my brain at once (think of those videos of people rushing the door on Black Friday). So I’m going to put those aside for a minute, assemble this WWW Wednesday, and snooze for a bit. Maybe full paragraphs and complete sentences lie on the other side…

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 Crazy in Poughkeepsie by Daniel Pinkwater (yeah, last week I said it was going to be next—but I got distracted by a couple of things) and am listening to How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain by Ryan North on audiobook. I don’t have plans to apply anything I learn there, but you never know.

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What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished S. Reed’s There Goes the Neighborhood in advance of a Book Tour stop tomorrow and Hellbound Guilds & Other Misdirections by Annette Marie and Rob Jacobsen, Narrated by Iggy Toma on audio.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Payback by R.C. Bridgestock, I bought the first three books in this series on an impulse a few months ago. . My next audiobook should be We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter (Narrator), which was kind of an impulse grab, hopefully it pays off.

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Hopefully, your week is better—what’re you reading?

The Friday 56 for 6/3/22: Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman

By HCNewton

On June 3, 2022

In Abbi Waxman, 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 of:
Adult Assembly Required

Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman

“Is that why you have a limp?” Polly asked, mildly ashamed of being nosy, but not enough to not want to know. It’s not the kind of thing you can ask about immediately, at least not once you leave preschool, but she’d wondered.

Laura nodded.

“What kind of accident was it?” continued Polly, hoping for something interesting like being crushed by a falling piano, or attacked by a tiger.

“Car crash,” said Laura, laughing when she saw Polly’s disappointed expression.