I saw this over at Bookforager’s blog and it was created by The Bumbling Blogger’s partner on YouTube.
First book in a series
There are numerous first novels in a series on my shelves—many of which I’ve talked about at length, or at least about the series. I haven’t said too much about the Gideon Oliver books, so let’s use this as an opportunity to talk about them a bit. I started these novels thanks to the ABC Mystery Movie series. As charming as Louis Gosset, Jr.’s Oliver was, he wasn’t the forensic anthropologist I got to know in these pages. Lousy adaptations that lead me to good books are still a win in my book. Oliver is no stuffy scholar (although he can be when he gets carried away), he’s a fun character who is seriously into his field of study.
Two or more copies of the same book
I have too many books that could fit here, but let’s go with:
So there’s the original e-book version and cover; the “plain brown wrapper” paperback Fahrenheit put out anniversary edition commemorating them selling the book initially w/o cover image, title, or author; and a nice, new cover that came out a couple of years ago. (I actually ordered a hardcover edition, too, at one point, but that seems to have never materialized—so I appear to be more restrained than I am)
Funnily enough, a couple of hours after I drafted this, I picked up my third copy of Raskin’s The Westing Game. It’s a nice paperback with a crisp cover image that appealed to me. There’s no real reason for me to have grabbed it, the last thing I need is another copy, I just couldn’t help it. Just one more option that could’ve been put here
Three colors on the cover
This ended up being harder than I thought—I can find any number of two-colored covers, and even more with a dozen colors. But three? That proved pretty difficult. So, I ended up going back to my old-reliable Don Winslow. I seem to use one of his books on just about every tag (at least it feels that way).
Four or more perspectives
I thought about trying to go outside Fantasy for this one—it seems too easy to name a Fantasy novel for a multi-perspective approach. But the way that Hearne delivers these multiple perspectives is probably my favorite. So, it’s the one I’m going with.
A five-star read
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve mentioned this one, so let me take this opportunity to since its praises again. Humor, heart, action, mind-bendy time travel science…one of the best SF novels I’ve ever read.
Six (or more) short stories
I’ve talked about a decent number of short story collections here, but if you ask me to name one, this is always the first one that comes to mind. Every time. I can’t explain it, but I’m sure not going to argue with my subconscious. Can I tell you anything about any of the stories without grabbing it off of my shelf? Nope. But I can tell you that the collection really impressed me, and that I’d do well to pick it up again.
A seven on the cover or spine
Seven Up by Janet Evanovich
Going back to when I hadn’t grown frustrated with the Stephanie Plum books and could just enjoy them without reservation or qualification. Joe proposes marriage, Ranger proposes something far more temporary, Grandma Mazur is dating a mobster, and…well, there are plenty of antics.
Eight letters in the title
Mad Mouse by Chris Grabenstein
I’m sure I looked funny standing in front of my shelves counting to eight over and over again for this one. This is the second of the John Ceepak/Danny Boyle books, and it proved that the concept was going to work for more than a stand-alone. Someone’s coming for revenge against Danny and his friends for something they did years ago. Thankfully, super-cop Ceepak is there to help.
A book that ends on a page ending in a nine
Had to go diving through the logs for this one, to make sure I found a book I don’t talk about a lot, I wanted to go for something older, so I wouldn’t have brought it up a lot recently. This is the penultimate Carter Ross mystery—there’s something causing people in one area of Newark to get sick, and Ross smells a cover-up involving pollutants. When he gets sick himself, it becomes more than just a story.
Ten books in the series
I had the hardest time with this one—I found a couple of 9 book series, an 11/12 or two…and several that were far past 10. At a certain point, I was just going down my shelves counting…The only reason this one qualifies is that 6 years after concluding the series, Stein wrote one more (which I should probably get around to reading). But hey…I’ll take it.
So the Anna Strong books are about a Bounty Hunter who gets assaulted and turned by a vampire, thrusting her into a supernatural world she’s been previously unaware of. She finds herself dealing with supernatural baddies as well as the human criminals that she and her partner (who isn’t aware of the changes in her life) deal with. There’s a strange balancing act that she has to pull off in addition to a newly complicated love life and family.
As is my custom, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with.
This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.
Grab a book, any book.
that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
