It’s been one of those weeks where I can’t just seem to get to the keyboard when I have energy enough to write. Which is frustrating — I have 2 books I can’t wait to talk about (well, 3 after last night), if only I didn’t need to move ideas from my brain to my blog via some sort of mediator (in this case, fingers and keyboard, etc.) — if I could just think them and they’d post, this blog would be busier.
The lack of keyboard time also translates into a short list of odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. But I like these, so I’m okay with the length — you’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
- Great Authors’ Letters to Their Long-Suffering Moms: The literary men of the canon weren’t always the best sons — for obvious reasons.
- Ditch Netflix for a novel. And not just because a novelist is telling you to. — I know none of you need to be told this, but…
- Can You Read…Too Much? — I get the point she’s making (and it’s half the reason I started The Irresponsible Reader), but I think the headline/hook is a misstep. After that, I’m with her.
- Going against the decluttering craze: the book hoarders who defy Marie Kondo — Not to take another shot at Kondo — but because these are some cool pics and book-talk.
- Crime Fiction’s Unforgettable Outsiders: 5 Great Outcasts in Noir, From Parker to Gravedigger Jones — I’ve got the top book on this list staring at me from the middle of my TBR shelf (cool cover), the rest are things I really should read. Why haven’t I read Richard Stark books yet?
- Reasons why a blogger declines your review request and doesn’t want you on their blog. — I may have shared this link last year when TTBG posted it, but I saw it again this week and it really describes my last month, so I appreciated it immensely.
- A Book-ish Related Podcast Episodes you might want to give a listen to:
- O&F Podcast, Ep. 195: Delilah S. Dawson & Kevin Hearne Strout talks to Dawson & Hearne about the Pell books (not enough for me — but I’m not done with the episode yet), their individual works and more.
- This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
- Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs — The latest Mercy Thompson book — I finished it yesterday and it’s great.
- State of the Union: A Marriage in Ten Parts by Nick Hornby — The basis of/based on the new Sundance series (I’m not sure which came first, honestly). But the concept is great (10 conversations between a couple just before they go to their weekly marriage counseling sessions). And well, Hornby, so duh.
- The Big Kahuna by Janet Evanovich and Peter Evanovich — Fox and O’Hare are back after a 3-hiatus (at least for readers, probably not for the characters). I’m not sure what this series will be like without Goldberg (don’t know if I’d have tried it without him), but I’m curious enough to grab this.
Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Ailish Sinclair for following the blog this week.
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A man condemning the income tax because of the annoyance it gives him or the expense it puts him to is merely a dog baring its teeth, and he forfeits the privileges of civilized discourse. But it is permissible to criticize it on other and impersonal grounds. A government, like an individual, spends money for any or all of three reasons: because it needs to, because it wants to, or simply because it has it to spend. The last is much the shabbiest. It is arguable, if not manifest, that a substantial proportion of this great spring flood of billions pouring into the Treasury will in effect get spent for that last shabby reason.