Category: News/Misc. Page 100 of 243

Book Blogger Hop: A Quiet or Noisy Setting?

On January 30, 2023

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Do you prefer to read in a quiet or noisy setting?

If it’s a binary choice—quiet. I can get by with pretty much any level of noise, but I’d rather not.

But if the choice isn’t that binary, I like a little music in the background. Not something new—I’d end up paying more attention to it than whatever I’m trying to read (new music is for chores, work, or messing around online). Unless it’s something super-technical, I don’t care if it has lyrics or not. Sometimes I read something that fits the mood that I expect the book to have, but mostly I just grab something I enjoy and use it to cover up all the other sounds around—dogs, kids, dishwasher, etc. Once I’m a few pages or so in, I really don’t notice what I’m listening to (so don’t ask me why I spend so long picking the right tunes).

TV in the background will frequently distract me—even if it’s something I don’t enjoy. I’ve ended up watching too much football because I let my son turn on a game while I was trying to read.

Reading over this makes me wonder just how easily I’m distracted. I thought I had better focus than I’ve depicted myself as having. Huh. The more you know.

What about you—library quiet, or loud as a construction site?

Saturday Miscellany—1/28/23

By HCNewton

On January 28, 2023

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

This is a shorter and very eclectic collection for you this week. Hope you enjoy.

I didn’t see any New Releases to tempt you with this week—you’ll have to find someone else to add to your TBR pile–did I miss something I should’ve listed here?

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet Reading is precious – which is why I’ve been giving away my books—I appreciate where Cosslet is coming from, but I’m not that good of a person
bullet Adventures in Not-Writing—one writer’s journey through not-writing
bullet Real Shit and Book Shit with K.R.R. Lockhaven—a great interview with friend-of-the-blog K.R.R. Lockhaven
bullet The Enduring Appeal of the Teen Detective: From books to TV, why we keep going back for more young gumshoes
bullet Asian Sleuths—Slueths & Sidekicks (a site I need to spend more time on) has a nifty list of Asian Detectives/Detective-type Characters. I’d read a decent percentage of this list, which surprised me—also it’s probably a sign that we need more Asian Detective stories.
bullet Crime Fiction Heroes: To Age or Forever Young?—Not surprisingly, Paul Levine comes down on the “To Age” side (I do, too, and have thought of a piece like this for forever…maybe I don’t need to now)
bullet Molly Templeton asks (and offers some answers), What Makes a Story Comforting?
bullet Why the SF Canon Doesn’t Exist—I’m not sure I buy all of Duke’s conclusions and reasoning. But I appreciated this piece and will probably keep chewing on it.
bullet The Chronicles of Prydain Overview by Jason Dodge—I will read about Prydain any day, and I liked this overview enough that I wish it was 2-3 times longer.
bullet My A-Z Of Books – A—Steven Writes commemorates their 5 year anniversary by kicking off a series of “all of the most significant things for each letter, such as the authors and books I have read; the most memorable characters I have come across, and the most captivating settings” from A to Z. Daunting project that will result in some great reading for those of us who don’t have to compose it.
bullet Our Engagement With Book Reviews—this is why I don’t look at individual post engagement 🙂
bullet On Good and Bad Books—Peat Long takes an interesting route to defining a good book (I think I agree, too, for what it’s worth)

The Friday 56 for 1/27/23: The Perception Of Dolls by Anthony Croix, edited by Russell Day

By HCNewton

On January 27, 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% of:
The Perception Of Dolls

The Perception Of Dolls by Anthony Croix, edited by Russell Day

“I can remember that evening, when the three of us were eating dinner in the caravan, he stank to high heaven, he’d been sweating like a pig all day. Me and Steve weren’t saying much, we were both sulking like a pair of kids and Jed was rabbiting away 19 to the dozen. If I thought about it at all I guess I thought he was chattering to cover the silence. You know the how people do, they get caught up in someone else’s argument and talk out of embarrassment. But I don’t think it was that at all. He was hyped up about finding the flights of stairs didn’t match. I remember Steve asking him if that was unusual in houses of that age. I don’t remember the answer, but I know it went on for a long time and the crux of it was Jed just reiterating that he’d checked, checked and triple checked the results and there was an anomaly. He kept coming back to that word, anomaly.

“I slept in the house that night. Partly I wanted to get away from Steve, but mostly I wanted to get away from Jed’s chatter, and his BO.”

The trouble with audiobooks…

By HCNewton

On January 25, 2023

In Audiobook, Currently Reading, News/Misc.

Well, my plans for today crashed and burned, so let’s revisit this amusing (to me, anyway) moment from 5 years ago today.

This morning I heard the phrase, “her two perfect teeth,” describing the surgically enhanced and improved trophy wife of an entertainment executive. Which made no sense at all to me and, frankly distracted me from what he went on to read.

Two minutes or so later, it hit me that what the narrator had actually said was actually, “too-perfect teeth” (punctuation is a guess). Which is actually fitting for the context.

Have you run into things like this in your audiobook listening?

WWW Wednesday, January 25, 2023

By HCNewton

On January 25, 2023

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

Hey, it’s Wednesday, and I really don’t have anything else to say, so let’s get 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 Hero Interviews by Andi Ewington and On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel—two books that couldn’t be more different if they tried. I should be wrapping up the audiobook of Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey, Julia Whelan (Narrator) this morning.

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What did you recently finish reading?

Most recently, I finished The Perception Of Dolls by Anthony Croix, edited by Russell Day and Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire and Ray Porter, Emily Bauer (Narrators) on audio. I’m trying to figure out how to write about the former, and not feeling incredibly successful.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be The Silk Empress by Josef Matulich and my next audiobook should be The Wizard’s Butler by Nathan Lowell, Tom Taylorson (Narrator). I’m looking forward to both—but honestly have no recollection at all of what either one is about.

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Are you reading anything good?

Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2022

By HCNewton

On January 24, 2023

In News/Misc., Top X List

The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesdays is the Top Ten New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2022

If this was a Top 6, this would’ve been super-easy to write. If it had been 15, it would’ve been only slightly more difficult. But 10? Ten was surprisingly tricky. But I think I came up with a list I can live with. I’d been kicking myself for not coming up with a post like this at the end of last year/the beginning of this year. And then, lo and behold, here it is as a topic for the Top Ten Tuesday! So, here we go…

Top Ten New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2022

(alphabetically)

	JCM Berne In my initial post about the book, I said I wanted to be Berne’s new friend. I still do. Wistful Ascending ticked just about every box I have—and created a couple of new ones. Space Opera, Superheroes, comedy, drama, a dash of romance, and some characters I could not get enough of would be enough to make me a fan. But more than anything…his voice, I couldn’t get enough of it. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put him on this list, click here.
	Eli Cranor I’d been hearing raves for Cranor’s novel for months before I got my hands on it—and it took very little time to realize that raves were justified. As great as the story and the characters were, it was Cranor’s lean prose that hooked me. There’s not a wasted syllable in those pages—the writing is beautiful, visceral, empathetic, and honest. I’m counting the days until his next novel. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put him on this list, click here
	Sean Gibson I don’t think one author made me laugh more than Sean Gibson did last year. Some of his humor was subtle—but a lot of it wasn’t. And no matter where they fell on the spectrum, his jokes landed successfully. His comedic take on fantasy adventurers in general and the various adventurers (and those they interacted with) in this novel in particular are just the right mixture of mockery of the genre and tribute to it. All in all, it made for a very satisfying read. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put him on this list, click here
	Peter Hartog Oh, man, Hartog’s mix of SF, Urban Fantasy, and Police Procedural hit the spot. I’d like little more than to sit down with him for a couple of hours and have him explain some of his choices in the design of this world/series. That’s not to suggest that the plots and characters of the first two novels in his series aren’t equally (if not more) interesting—but the setting of the novel is just so well done that I want to know more about it. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put him on this list, click here
	Mur Lafferty I could repeat a lot of what I said about Hartog here—but I won’t. I read Lafferty’s most recent book this year, and listened to a fairly recent novella (or something shorter, it’s hard to tell). Both were breaths of fresh air—whether it was a murder mystery on a sentient space station populated primarily by aliens or a novel about a dystopian America, organized dissenters, and a children’s TV mascot—Lafferty combined stories, genres, and tropes in a reliably entertaining fashion that kept the surprises coming. These were funny books—without being comedies—but that was never the focus (but if you can ramp up the tension while giving the reader a laugh, why not do it?). Lafferty’s a name I’ve seen a time or six before, but it wasn’t until last year that I’d done more than glance at the name. That’s over, and I’ll be pouncing on anything I see her name on. In case you’re curious about what I said about the works that put her on this list, click here and here
	Gigi Pandian Pandian’s Under Lock & Skeleton Key might be the most charming book I encountered last year. Sure, there’s a murder mystery, some personal tragedy, and other hardships to deal with. But Pandian infuses the whole work with a warmth—both in her characters, their relationships, and the narrative—that makes the book reassuring and comfortable. The food she describes goes a long way to establishing that, too (warning: can lead to you ordering too much—disable DoorDash, etc. before picking it up). In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put her on this list, click here
	Kate Racculia It was Racculia’s eccentric characters and the way they interacted with each other that stuck with me more than anything else (but most of the rest was worthy of note). The conversations, the very strange wit, and the unusual outlooks on life were just great, like I said in my initial post, they were “characters I want to spend more time with—I really don’t need a story, maybe just see them sitting around a table talking about what’s going on in their lives.” Anytime someone gives me that, I’m very glad to have discovered them. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put her on this list, click here
	Peng Shepherd The Cartographers is one of the most atypical thrillers I can think of—and one of the most compelling. Shepherd’s approach to plot, worldbuilding, character, and tone worked so well—and seemed to be swimming against the stream for the kind of book it was. This just means that the result was unconventional and all the more striking. Definitely an author I’m going to return to. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put her on this list, click here
	Dennis E. Taylor Taylor writes like a lifelong SF fan who finally figured out a way to let it all loose for fun and (hopefully) profit. He’s not afraid to be funny or to let other emotions flow freely, either. His first series is a semi-ridiculous concept that ends up seeming plausible and makes for a much better series than you’d expect (see also Butcher’s Codex Alera). I’ve already got a stockpile of his works to go through—I just need to catch up on my writing stack so I can let myself listen to them. In case you’re curious about what I said about the books that put him on this list, click here
	Matt Witten My first exposure to Witten came in a short story anthology where he provided something I described as “exactly what I wanted to read today.” His second novel was a murder mystery with a reporter protagonist that broke all of my preconceptions about what those novels would be and ended up saying a lot about the state of journalism, those who can make it in the profession, and the cost for everyone involved (those who make the news, are subjects of the news, read/watch the news, and possibly the idea of Truth). Without being pretentious or preachy. Not bad, not bad at all. In case you’re curious about what I said about his work that put him on this list, click here and here (this is just a line or two)

Saturday Miscellany—1/21/23

By HCNewton

On January 21, 2023

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Let’s start with a question that I’ve been meaning to ask for a bit–can any of you readers suggest US-based book bloggers who focus on (to some degree or another) on Crime Fiction? I was recently asked for some suggestions but both attrition and time have whittled down those that I follow to be almost entirely UK-based bloggers. (nothing wrong with that, but it skews things)

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet American book reading statistics for 2022 and 2023 (complete USA survey data)—I was pretty surprised by some of these stats (and wonder about the truthfulness of some of the self-reporting, but I usually do). Big thanks to David Leonhardt for dropping by to share this with me.
bullet I wish Amazon had been honest about why it’s sunsetting AmazonSmile—it’s not technically about reading, but…it’s close enough. I’m with this writer, when I got this email, I smelled something.
bullet Mystery Writers of America Announces 2023 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominations—I haven’t read nearly enough of these
bullet Does Historical Accuracy Matter in Historical Fiction?: With fiction, the answers are never quite so simple.
bullet TBRCon2023—the all-virtual sci-fi/fantasy/horror convention, streams live from Jan. 22-29, 2023. There’s some really appetizing programming coming up (and the early panel that went up Wednesday is one I definitely have to check out)
bullet 2023 Blogging Goals: The Year of Playing Catch Up—this is probably the smartest list of blogging/reading goals I’ve read for this year. I need to remember to steal this next year.
bullet Speaking of smart things I need to steal, Peat Long continues to think and write well about genre. The most examples are this week’s On Sci-Fantasy and Approaching Genre and Horizontal and Vertical Genres: A Concept
bullet Book Reviews vs. Beta Reading
bullet Let’s Talk Bookish: Collecting Books
bullet Five Year Blogging Anniversary – Top 10 Books—5 Years is a good milestone, but I’m more impressed by the fact that Stephen Writes was able to come up with a Top 10 over that timeframe.
bullet I really appreciate this thread from John Palladino about liking things from “bad” people. I’ve tried to write something like this before, but ended up messing it up.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Killer Story by Matt Witten—Theoretically, a story about a journalist launching a podcast to solve the murder of an estranged friend (and save her journalistic career). But it ends up being more than that—including becoming one of the best Crime Fiction novels I read last year. Here’s my take on the book.
bullet Lie to Her by Melinda Leigh—Sherriff Bree Taggart has to deal with more murder and shenanigans. This time involving an internet dating site.
bullet Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart by Jen Sookfong Lee—a “memoir-in-pieces that uses one woman’s life-long love affair with pop culture as a revelatory lens to explore family, identity, belonging, grief, and the power of female rage.”

The Friday 56 for 1/20/23: The Hero Interviews by Andi Ewington

By HCNewton

On January 20, 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 of:
The Hero Interviews

The Hero Interviews by Andi Ewington

Gwenyn: …These bastards are a heroic pain in the arse. My turnip crop is ruined! How am I supposed to recover from this?”

Me: “I—I don’t know…”

Gwenyn: “That’s not even the worst part of it. The worst part is knowing that while I’m here picking up the pieces of our life, the ‘heroes’ responsible are probably patting each other on the back as they head off to celebrate their success by getting blind drunk in the nearest tavern!”

Me: “I’m sorry—”

Gwenyn: “Why are you apologising? It’s not your fault; you’re not one of those hero types, are you? It’s not your mess that was left here to rot. What am I supposed to do with a giant Dragon corpse? You think I’ve got it bad now, just wait another week—the stench from that thing will be almost unbearable. We’ll be forced to move away until the next summer at the earliest—that’s a large portion of our coin for the season lost to these so-called heroes.”

WWW Wednesday, January 18, 2023

By HCNewton

On January 18, 2023

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

I am having the hardest time staying awake this week, which is messing with my reading a bit, but I’m so tired that I don’t care (which is a strange feeling for me, normally that’d get me stressed out). I know it doesn’t matter—this is a hobby, not a paying gig—it’s just an observation.

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 captivating while creepy and unnerving (and likely to get nastier-sounding adjectives before I’m done) The Perception Of Dolls by Anthony Croix, edited by Russell Day and am listening to the strangely charming Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman, Piper Goodeve (Narrator) on audiobook.

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What did you recently finish reading?

Last week, I finished Seanan McGuire’s Lost in the Moment and Found and A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane, Jonathan Davis (Narrator) on audio. Both were everything I hoped for.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be The Hero Interviews by Andi Ewington—I’m going to need a lighter read after my current novel, and this should fit the bill. My next audiobook should be Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire and Ray Porter, Emily Bauer (Narrators) as I continue revisiting this series.

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What’s getting your attention lately?

Saturday Miscellany—1/14/23

By HCNewton

On January 14, 2023

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

I don’t know about the rest of you, but my 2023 reading has started off strong. If things keep up at this rate 2023 is going to be fantastic (I don’t expect it, but it’d be nice).

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet 5 Ways To Be a Healthier Reader in 2023
bullet It turns out that people don’t want a coloring book based on a novel about domestic abuse.—I’ve never read Hoover, but I’ve watched a little of back and forth about her work lately. My jaw dropped, though, when I saw that there was going to be a coloring book based on the book. I’m so glad things worked out this way.
bullet So I was wrong last week when I predicted I was at the end of the 2022 wrap-ups that I wanted to share. Here are two more:
bullet 2022 : The ones that got away—I liked this idea enough that I almost came up with my version, but decided it’d be too depressingly long.
bullet My end of year stats for 2022: late, of course.—love the graphs…
bullet In Search of New Reading Rituals
bullet What to expect in 2023, according to science fiction—what a fantastic idea…
bullet Between Utopia and Dystopia: the Mixtopian Borderlands—Mixtopian is a word I’m going to be adding to my vocabulary (maybe? I mean, I hope to…it’s a nifty category)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper—the author’s name should be enough, but if you need more…”a “black-bag” publicist tasked not with letting the good news out but keeping the bad news in” tries to discover who gunned down her boss.
bullet Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett—A charming and cozy(ish) Victorian Fantasy, that I really can’t sum up in a sentence or two. Maybe you’d be better off reading my post about it from last month.
bullet Early Grave by Paul Levine—Jake Lassiter’s last case has him facing off against High School Football. It’s a heckuva ride, as I talked about earlier this week.
bullet Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire—I’d say this wasn’t your typical Wayward Children book, but is there a typical one? I just finished this last night and it’s likely one of my favorites in this series. Heart-wrenching, tense, and full of beautiful sentences—with a couple of nice cameos from books in the series.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Blue Bell and jason Lee who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.