Category: News/Misc. Page 140 of 229

Down the TBR Hole (18 of 24+)

On January 20, 2021

I’m not going to bother with a word count, but I have the impression that I’m terser than usual in this round. I’m okay with that, but it’s an odd feeling. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel of this series. That’s a nice feeling (be nicer if I would have made more progress on cutting and/or actual reading than I have, but…)

Anyway, I did some serious trimming of the fat on this list, and that feels pretty good. One thing I noticed is that there’s some pretty heavy theology in this group of 10. I don’t typically put these on my Goodreads list, and can’t heop but wonder why I did it here. I’m not opposed to it, but it’s a strange thing to find.

This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story—but Jenna at Bookmark Your Thoughts is the one that exposed me to this, and as my Goodreads “Want To Read” shelf is scarily long, I had to do this.

The Rules are simple:

Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
Read the synopses of the books.
Decide: keep it or should it go?
Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week! (or whenever)

What distinguishes this series from the Mt. TBR section of my Month-end Retrospectives? Those are books I actually own while Goodreads contains my aspirational TBR (many of which will be Library reads). The Naming of the two is a bit confusing, but…what’re you going to do?

(Click on the cover for an official site or something with more info about the book)

	Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran Blurb: A wise-cracking former teen detective plying her trade in post-Katrina New Orleans. My Thoughts: How this has been on this list for a shade under two years without me moving on it boggles my mind. Verdict:
	One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence Blurb: Looks like a strong Stranger Things vibe to this. A probably terminally-ill teen finds himself on a quest to save a member of his D&D group. Apparently, some sort of time travel is involved. Verdict: Just not feeling it.
	The Son Who Learned Obedience: A Theological Case Against the Eternal Submission of the Son by D. Glenn Butner, Jr. Blurb: “This book offers a fresh perspective on the ongoing evangelical debate concerning whether the Son eternally submits to the Father. Beginning with the pro-Nicene account of will being a property of the single divine nature, Glenn Butner explores how language of eternal submission requires a modification of the classical theology of the divine will. This modification has problematic consequences for Christology, various atonement theories, and the doctrine of God, because as historically developed these doctrines shared the pro-Nicene assumption of a single divine will.” My Thoughts: I probably should read this, I recognize. I’ve heard a lot about the controversy, and have a decent handle on it, but I know I need to understand it better, but I can’t sustain interest in this error. Verdict:
	Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff My Thoughts: Middle-Grade Fairy Tale re-tellings are almost a guaranteed good time, and this one looks like a lot of fun. But I don’t know that I need one of these in my life right now and there’s nothing about this that says “must-read.” Verdict:
	A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself by William Boyle Blurb: “Goodfellas meets Thelma and Louise when an unlikely trio of women in New York find themselves banding together to escape the clutches of violent figures from their pasts.” Later the blurb describes this as “screwball noir.” My Thoughts: I had another William Boyle book on #16 of this series, and couldn’t remember why I was initially interested in the book. This one, on the other hand, I absolutely remember wanting to grab in March 2019, reading interviews and reviews about it. Still looks good. Verdict:
	Million Mile Road Trip by Rudy Rucker Blurb: “When a seemingly-innocent trumpet solo somehow opens a transdimensional connection to Mappyworld, a parallel universe containing a single, endless plain divided by ridges into basin-like worlds, three California teens find themselves taken on a million mile road trip across a landscape of alien civilizations in a beat-up, purple 80s wagon . . . with a dark-energy motor, graphene tires and quantum shocks, of course. Their goal? To stop carnivorous flying saucers from invading Earth. And, just maybe, to find love along the way.” My Thoughts: I have a love-meh relationship with Rucker. And while this has the potential to end up on the love end of it, my gut tells me it’d end up being a “meh.” Think I’ll pass. Verdict:
	The Teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews by Geerhardus Vos Blurb: Vos’s classroom lectures on The Epistle to the Hebrews distilled into book form. My Thoughts: It’s Vos. No question about it. Verdict:
	The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan Blurb: “just two guys in the wrong place at the wrong time. Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles until they become the unwitting scapegoats in a plot to murder the king. Sentenced to death, they have only one way out…” My Thoughts: Apparently, since I added this to the list, this was combined with the second book in the series and republished as Theft of Swords. So even if I was interested, I’d have a hard time tracking down a copy. And while almost everyone I know who’s read him is gaga over Sullivan, the blurb for this book (or the larger volume that replaced it) just doesn’t click with me. That said, a convincing argument to the contrary in the comments will result in me reading it in February. Verdict:
	Pimp My Airship: A Naptown by Airship Novel by Maurice Broaddus My Thoughts: A Steampunk-ish story in Indianapolis (in a reality where the US lost the Revolution), featuring a Muslim professional protestor and a poet. Verdict:
	Behind the Laughter: A Comedian’s Tale of Tragedy and Hope by Anthony Griffith Blurb: A memoir of a stand-up comic’s rough childhood, career in stand-up, and how he and his wife persevered in the light of their child dying from cancer My Thoughts: If I remembered why I was interested in this book in the first place, I might be interested in it still. But I can’t say that I’ve heard of this comedian, and am unsure why I wanted to try this. Probably inspirational, but just not grabbing me. Verdict:

Books Removed in this Post: 7 / 10
Total Books Removed: 101 / 240

Anyone out there read any of these books? Did I make the right call with any of them?

(Image by moritz320 from Pixabay)

WWW Wednesday, January 20, 2021

By HCNewton

On January 20, 2021

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

WWW Wednesday, already?

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 complex fantasy novel, The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick, and am listening to The Salvage Crew by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, Nathan Fillion (Narrator) on audiobook.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Ace Atkin’s Robert B. Parker’s Someone to Watch Over Me (there’s an excess of of possessives there) and finally listened to Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz, Scott Brick (Narrator) on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton and Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods by Rick Riordan, Jesse Bernstein (Narrator) on audiobook.

Blank Space

What’re your Three W’s?

Saturday Miscellany—1/16/21

By HCNewton

On January 16, 2021

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Huh. I thought I had stuff to talk about today, but now that I’ve got to this part of the post, I’m coming up empty. So, I’ll simply say thank you for stopping by, hope you’re doing well and are reading a good book or five. Enjoy these links!

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 Lapsed bookworm? How you can get back into the habit of reading
bullet The Perils of Downsizing: Be careful you don’t discard something you can’t live without — like books—I really liked this.
bullet Please Stop Comparing Things to “1984”—Yes, please. Although the “Left” needs to stop just as much as the “Right.”
bullet The ‘Great Gatsby’ Glut—NYTimes, so you may have to get creative to work around the registration. Now that Gatsby is in the public domain, we’re going to see a lot of writers and publishers taking advantage of it. Seeing it already, but after reading this, I know it’s going to get worse.
bullet Every Mystery Writer Knows, You Can Kill Anyone
But The Dog: Sulari Gentill on crime fiction’s most unbreakable rule—I’ve heard writer after writer talk about this–from all parts of the world, from all types of Crime Fiction. They all recoil from the idea (not necessarily because they think it’d be out of place, but because the way readers react). Gentill gives a pretty good explanation for the roots of the “rule.”
bullet And as soon as that started making the rounds on social media this week, Jo Perry reminded readers of her post from last year: Kill the Dog—her series would be nothing without having killed the dog.
bullet The Thrill of Researching Your Crime Novel
bullet D&D: New Dragonlance Novel Coming In July!—I haven’t read/reread a Dragonlance novel this century, but the first two trilogies (and a handful of the early standalones) were so monumental for Middle School/High School me that this news excites me.
bullet Not Famous… Two Years Later—Two years ago yesterday, Matthew Hanover’s first novel was released. He reflects on those years a little here.
bullet The End—Benedict Jacka has turned in the final revisions to his last Alex Verus book. That’s got to be a strange feeling for an author.
bullet Speaking of endings, Michael Connelly says goodbye to Amazon’s ‘Bosch,’ hello to Netflix’s ‘Lincoln Lawyer’”—Netflix is a better fit than CBS, the original destination for The Lincoln Lawyer. HitFix’s Brian Grubb points out a fascinating possibility because of this. (you’ll have to scroll a bit to get to it).
bullet What is Magical Realism?—a quick primer from Ramona Mead.
bullet Desert Island Children’s Books—a great idea for a personal challenge–and how have I not thought about The Borrowers in decades? Why didn’t I introduce my kids to them?
bullet Why exactly do we read book reviews?—pretty much sums it up
bullet Want a Review? Here’s Five Things to Avoid—I should probably put this link on the top of my request page.
bullet 5 Tips On How To Write A Good Book Blogger Review Request For Your Book—I also saw this one this week. There’s a lot of wisdom here. I know that I’ve read books that I might not have primarily because of the way the author wrote the request.
bullet On the theme of reviews, the Tweet of the Week goes to: Well Read Beard—I’d buy the single now.

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Robert B. Parker’s Someone to Watch Over Me by Ace Atkins—I have less than 100 pages to go in this one and am loving it! Mattie Sullivan returns to the series, bringing a deadly case of child exploitation with her.
bullet Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire—The next Wayward Children novella has to do with a world filled of centaurs and unicorns, and who really cares what else is involved in the premise. It’s going to be good. Poor time management is going to keep me from this for at least a week, and I’m pretty annoyed with myself over it.
bullet Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas—I didn’t walk away from The Hate U Give saying, “I have a burning desire to learn more about Maverick Carter’s backstory.” But now that it’s here…I have to admit, my curiosity is piqued.

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Leigh Hecking and Dark Corners who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

The Friday 56 for 1/15/21: Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

By HCNewton

On January 15, 2021

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:
Across the Green Grass Fields

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

“You’ve just arrived, haven’t you?” asked the centaur “Bright and beautiful and brand-new, and I found you! Me, Pansy, found a human before someone else had a claim to chase. That’s even better than bringing back a lost unicorn! A real human-you are a human, aren’t you, not satyr or silene playing games with poor Pansy?”

“I’m human,” whispered Regan. Her voice sounded dull, almost deadened. Still, now that she’d found it, it was willing to let her keep going, which she considered very sporting of it. “You’re not real. None of this is real. Unicorns don’t exist.”

“But here I am, and here’s a unicorn, and there you are.” The centaur beamed. “Come on, human, let’s go see the others. They’re going to be even happier about this than I am.”

Regan shook her head. “No. This isn’t real. Centaurs are characters from Greek mythology. They’re not named ‘Pansy,’ and they don’t take lost human girls to see their friends. I’m dreaming.”

“You must be a lot of fun at parties, if you always argue with your dreams,” said Pansy, cocking her massive head.

WWW Wednesday, January 13, 2021

By HCNewton

On January 13, 2021

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

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?