Category: Currently Reading Page 56 of 72

WWW Wednesday, August 5, 2020

On August 5, 2020

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

Technical difficulties (and lethargy) kept me from this post last week, but I’m back, online, and caffeinated, so let’s break out 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 Revelators by Ace Atkins and am listening to Deadly Assessments by Drew Hayes, Kirby Heyborne (Narrator).

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Carrie Vaughn’s The Heirs of Locksley and The Answer Is . . .Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek, narrated by Ken Jennings and Alex Trebek on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be the Iron Druid Chronicles spin-off, Ink and Sigil by Kevin Hearne and some sort of audiobook, I’m not sure what–we’ll see what the Library has to offer.

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

July 2020 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On August 1, 2020

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

I finished 27 books (okay, fine…26 books and one picture book), with 9,217 pages (800+ of those I’ve been working on for a few months, though) and a 3.85 average rating. That counts as a very good month around here. I didn’t post as many things as I wanted to (I talked a little bit about that this morning), but I liked what I did post. If I only felt free to leave me house, I’d call July a win—a pretty good month, regardless.

So, here’s what happened here in July.




	/td>





		Still Deciding

		Average =	3.85
	5		1
	1		0
	8		0
	8		0
	4

“Traditionally” Published: 19
Self-/Independent Published: 8

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	1 (4%)	3 (2%)
Fantasy	5 (19%)	23 (15%)
General Fiction/ Literature	4 (15%)	12 (8%)
Horror	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Humor	0 (0%)	1 (1%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	7 (26%)	6 (32%)
Non-Fiction	1 (4%)	9 (6%)
Science Fiction	3 (11%)	14 (9%)
Steampunk	0 (0%)	1 (2%)
Theology/ Christian Living	2 (7%)	11 (7%)
Urban Fantasy	4 (15%)	21 (14%)
Western	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine (Audiobook) by Derren Brown: DNF
Catch-Up Quick Takes: Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner; Out of Range; The Fangs of Freelance; Wonder Twins, Vol. 1: Activate!
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VIII., xi.-xv.
The Curator by M. W. Craven: I do not have enough superlatives in my repertoire to do justice to this novel
Elphie Meets the End of The World by Hagit R. Oron, Or Oron Misgav (Illustrator): It’s the End of the World as he Knows it, and Elphie (eventually) Feels Fine
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK IX., i.-iv..
One Man by Harry Connolly: A Broken Man Against the World
Spells for the Dead by Faith Hunter: Nell and Her Team Face a New Type of Deadly Threat
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK IX., v.- BOOK X., i.
Peace Talks by Jim Butcher: Family Complicates Everything
Vagrant Queen by Magdelene Visaggio, Jason Smith: A Quirky Space Opera that Hits the Mark
The Silence by Luca Veste: A Chilling Look at Spiraling Consequences of One Fatal Night
I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman: The Cat’s in the Cradle and all that…
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK X., ii.-v.
Classic Spenser: Looking for Rachel Wallace by Robert B. Parker

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

20 Books of Summer 2020: July Check-In
Ultimate Book Tag
Down the TBR Hole (8 of 24+)
Down the TBR Hole (9 of 24+)
WWW Wednesday for July 1, July 8, July 15, July 22
The Friday 56 for 7/3/20, 7/17/20, 7/24/20, 7/31/20

How was your month?

20 Books of Summer 2020: July Check-In

By HCNewton

On July 31, 2020

In Andy Carpenter, Books, Chet and Bernie, Currently Reading, David Rosenfelt, Don Winslow, Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Ian Rankin, InCryptid, John Rebus, Kevin Hearne, Luca Veste, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Non-Fiction, Spencer Quinn, Urban Fantasy

So, I did a lousy job of taking into account new releases, review copies, and life when I made the original list. I only read 4 of the remaining 13 books in July, which doesn’t bode well for August. I think I can still pull this off, but I’m going to have to make a couple of more substitutions, based on how long it took me to read Winslow’s The Cartel and Hearne’s A Plague of Giants, I’m not going to be able to tackle their follow-ups in August (which annoys me greatly, I was counting on this challenge to help force my hand with these). So I’m substituting Hearne’s next book, the launch of a new series, Ink & Sigil (there’s a balance to that) and The Revelators by Ace Atkins (not as epic in scope as Winslow, but … it’s the best I can realistically do).

✔ 1. Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why by Alexandra Petri
2. The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold
3. Screamcatcher: Dream Chasers by Christy J. Breedlove
✔ 4. The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton
✔ 5. Fair Warning by Michael Connelly
✔ 6. One Man by Harry Connolly
✔ 7. The Curator by M. W. Craven
8. The Ninja Daughter by Tori Eldridge
9. The Rome of Fall by Chad Alan Gibbs
✔ 10. American Demon by Kim Harrison

11. Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne
12. Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
✔ 13. Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire
14. Curse the Day by Judith O’Reilly
✔ 15. Of Mutts and Men by Spencer Quinn
16. Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin
✔ 17. Muzzled by David Rosenfelt
18. Bad Turn by Zoë Sharp
✔ 19. The Silence by Luca Veste
20. The Revelators by Ace Atkins

20 Books of Summer Chart July

The Friday 56 for 7/31/20

By HCNewton

On July 31, 2020

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:
Coffee and Condolences

by Wesley Parker

“Think fast,” a voice calls from behind me and, before I can fully turn my head, a red, rubber ball bounces off my head and sends me sprawling into a rack of shirts. In an attempt to break my fall, I grab for a shelf only to find out it’s not fastened into the wall tight enough, and I bring down the entire supply of skinny jeans on top of me. I can hear the gasps and footsteps of people coming to dig me out of the pile of hipster rubble. As I get to my feet, I hear Lily scolding a worker for not securing the shelves to the wall—as if they were the catalyst for what just happened.

“Lily, what the fuck?”

“My bad! I thought having kids gave you better instincts.”

“Yeah, for falls and spills. It didn’t give me spider sense.”

The Friday 56 for 7/24/20

By HCNewton

On July 24, 2020

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:
Legends Rise

Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls

…the vampire grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him forward, roughly sinking his teeth into his neck and pulling blood in long, painful jerks. He’d heard vampires could make this process enjoyable. This one didn’t bother.

The instructions had been to leave him on the verge of death, with just enough blood to keep his heart pumping. He hadn’t stopped to think of one thing: What would stop the vampire from finishing him off?

WWW Wednesday, July 22, 2020

By HCNewton

On July 22, 2020

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

What, already? Another Wednesday? July is speeding by. Guess it’s time for 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 Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls and am listening to The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson (narrated by the author).

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Wesley Parker’s Coffee and Condolences and Land of Wolves by Craig Johnson, George Guidall (Narrator) on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be The Revelators by Ace Atkins (assuming it’s available at my Library in time), or it’ll be Betty by Tiffany McDaniel and Dark Jones by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator) on audiobook.

Blank Space

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

The Friday 56 for 7/17/20

By HCNewton

On July 17, 2020

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:
Peace Talks

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

Lara was perfectly capable of asking me to do something beyond the pale of any functioning conscience.

But Lara was damned smart, too. She had to know that I had limits—that my compact with Mab hadn‘t changed that. If she told me to do something unconscionable, I was going to tell her where she could shove it.

Which would get me killed. Overkilledd. Überkilled…

I had nothing but lousy choices. So what else was new?

WWW Wednesday, July 15, 2020

By HCNewton

On July 15, 2020

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

So Monday night, my Internet service goes down—and stays down for 16 hours. It’s times like this that remind me how dependent I am on the silly thing. Can’t post anything, can’t keep on on my bloghopping/social media, or any of the handful of other things I needed to do. And then, of course, I’m still telecommuting—so missing out on over half my workday on Tuesday was icing on a really nasty cake*. Before I realize what’s happening, it’s time for WWW Wednesday! I need these questions just to help me get my head on straight.

* The cream filling was that I caught up on my reading after a slow week last week, 1.7 books in that 16 hours.

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?
(assuming the shipment arrives when UPS says it will) I’m reading Peace Talks by Jim Butcher and am listening to Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe, Joe Jameson (Narrator)..

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Abbi Waxman’s I Was Told It Would Get Easier and haven’t finished the audiobook I started last Wednesday (probably will today).

What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be The Silence by Luca Veste and is still going to be Land of Wolves by Craig Johnson, George Guidall (Narrator) on audiobook.

Blank Space

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments!

WWW Wednesday, July 8, 2020

By HCNewton

On July 8, 2020

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

It’s the 190th day of 2020, which happens to be a Wednesday, so we might as well do a WWW Wednesday, right? (every time I previewed this, at least one image didn’t show up…hey, look, the host transfer issues I worried about are showing up!)

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 One Man by Harry Connolly and am listening to Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe, Joe Jameson (Narrator).

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished M. W. Craven’s The Curator and Heartburn by Nora Ephron, Meryl Streep (Narrator) on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman and Land of Wolves by Craig Johnson, George Guidall (Narrator) on audiobook.

Blank Space

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

The Friday 56 for 7/3/20

By HCNewton

On July 3, 2020

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:
One Man

One Man by Harry Connolly

“You were going to describe the fight,” Mirishiya said.

“The fight is the best part of the story! Swift, bold strikes! One man against many! The pirate captain crippled! The pirate crew throwing down their weapons in terror! When I tell it, it’s like an old tale of adventure.

“But the truth is I didn’t see any of it. The night was darker than any I’ve seen before or since. The watch lanterns on Scream for Mercy seemed to wink out, as though a shroud had been thrown over them. I heard the clash of metal. I heard screaming. By the fallen gods, I heard screams that haunt my dreams to this day. But all I could see was growing darkness and the flicker of blue firelight.”