Category: News/Misc. Page 21 of 228

2025 WWW Wednesday—July 2, 2025

On July 2, 2025

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

It’s July already. Can someone help me put the brakes on 2025? I saw this on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, so it must be true.
On July 2, 2025, we will officially reach the halfway mark of the year. At that point, we'll be closer to the year 2050 than to the year 2000.
That’s the kind of thing that makes you want to run into the comforting distraction of a book, isn’t it?

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?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman	No One Leaves the Castle by Christopher Healy, read by Jessica Almasy

I’ve been kicking myself for waiting so long on this new Arthurian tale, and I still am. But I’m cutting myself some slack because I actually am reading it. I just might finish it today, too. It’s so good folks, if you’ve slept on it like I have–quit it.

No One Leaves the Castle is just silly fun, and Almasy is a perfect narrator for this one. I needed something like this book this week.

What did you recently finish reading?


The Blue Horse by Bruce Borgos	How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by (and read by) Ryan North

Hopefully, you’ll see a full post on the Borgos book here tomorrow. But basically, it’ll make fans of Books One and/or Two very satisfied. And will likely convert anyone new to the series.

North’s book is the perfect combination of snark, information, and odd-as-all-get-out trivia. I don’t know how to explain it.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Dogged Pursuit by David Rosenfelt	Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch, read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

An Andy Carpenter prequel, eh? Never thought I needed to know anything about the time before Open and Shut (yeah, no dog related puns–how odd!), but now that it’s here–I’m pretty curious.

Just in time for Rivers of London #10’s release next week, I’m tackling #9 on my revisit.

You doing anything to celebrate Friday night (in the U.S., anyway), or will you be cuddled up with a book and some headphones to block out the noise?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books by Authors Who Live In Idaho

By HCNewton

On July 1, 2025

In Literary Locals, News/Misc., Top X List

The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesdays is a Freebie/Throwback, I started (and did most of the work) on this one back in April, but didn’t quite get around to finishing it, so here’s my chance to talk about the Top Ten Books by Authors Who Live In Idaho.

When I saw the prompt, “Authors (or books by authors) Who Live In My State/Country,” I figured this would be a piece of cake–I have a feature focused on authors from my state. Just pick the best 10 books from that list, and there you go. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. For one, I hadn’t updated my Literary Locals hub for a year (apparently)–so that wasn’t good. I’ve taken care of that now. But the list of books was a bit more daunting than I assumed that it’d be. This may not be a perfect list, but it’s one that I can live with. I thought about authors–but since I’ve met all of the authors in Idaho that I’ve talked about, it feels weird, like I’d be ranking them by personality. (Sure, I’ve done that, but I’m not telling anyone the ranking. How gauche!)
Top Ten Books by Authors Who Live In Idaho

(alphabetically by author)

	Bearded by Jeremy Billups I’ve talked about Bearded several times over the years, and I’ve commissioned a few images from Billups, too. So forgive me if this is too familiar. This is the story of a little girl traveling the world with her bearded bear, having all sorts of adventures and meeting a bunch of different animals who happen to have beards. The art is simple and arresting. As a bonus, the endorsements on the back cover are a lot of fun. Great art, cute story, fun rhymes–everything you want in a picture book. Even better–animals with beards are the best animals that aren’t dogs. This is a charming little book that’s sure to please. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book, click here.
	Conjured Defense by J.C. Jackson There are seven books in this series, and I had a hard time picking just one. But I think I have to go with this one by a nose. Everything gelled a little better in this one, the magic and the technology combined in just the right way to show just how far this world can take that combination, and the fight scenes were top-notch. Basically, the series follows an arcane researcher and her paladin partner as they look into crimes on behalf of a magical equivalent of the FBI in a world where Middle Earth went through the Industrial and Digital Revolutions. Action, magic, magical creatures, gun fights, and more. It’s so fun. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book, click here.
	Aether Powered by James T. Lambert This is not the best novel that Lambert has given us, but there’s something about the charm of it that endears it more to me than the others. A 21st Century college student coming into possession of Steampunk tech and letting loose with it is pure fun. Throw in an oddball bunch of wanna-be pirates, and you’ve got something to remember. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book, click here.
	Harvested by Troy Lambert A solid P.I. story involving a dog-napping ring? You know that’s going to get my attention. Troy Lambert has the chops, too and you see that on every page. Great characters–both primary and supporting. The PI’s backstory is sets up a wonderful arc that I’m sure will pay-off well. A good, twisty start to a series. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book, click here.
	Burnt by Lance Olsen This is goes back to 1996, far before I started doing this sort of thing. It’s a fantastic mix of academic satire, environmental fiction, and just general postmodern shenanigans. It’s funny, it’s strange, it’s touching, and more.
	However Long the Day by Justin Reed A The Prince and the Pauper-esque story set in New York in 1918, that’s so much more. You’ve got a nice little touch of crime thriller, a cute romance, some decent social commentary. But most importantly, it’s just a well-written and engaging read. While trying to think of what to put here to beef up this paragraph, I’ve really just convinced myself that I need to re-read it soon. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book, click here.
	Bard Tidings by Paul Regnier It bothers me greatly that I haven’t written a post about this book. It’s a stand-alone fantasy that just made me happy. The characters are wonderful. The story has just the right number of twists and the pacing is spot-on. I love Regnier’s take on werewolves, which is not to downplay his giants or the dragon. And the companion that our titular bard brings along for the adventure is a great twist.
	Cover of Fuzzwiggs: The Switcheroo by Amy Maren Rice This MG novel–definitely written for a young male audience (but not solely), features a silly kind of magic creature that activate their powers through flatulence (see what I meant about young males?). But there’s more than that, it’s a sweet family adventure, that’ll leave you demanding another book (we’re waiting, Amy). I can–and have–recommended this to readers young and old. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book, click here.
	Big Trouble in Little Italy by Nicole Sharp This is a book I will not recommend to the young (and I don’t think Sharp would mind that). This is a silly rom-com/mafia novel. It kicks off when she has to track down the “joke marriage” that came from a college weekend in Vegas, so she can get married. He reveals that he’s with the FBI and her fiancé is very involved with the mafia. Hilarity (frequently) and tension ensues. It’s fun, it’s foxy, it’s totally not my thing, but I had a blast with it. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book, click here.
	The Wizard’s Heir by Devri Walls This is Walls’ only non-YA book, and I really wish that wasn’t the case (not a complaint about her YA). This is a solid stand-alone fantasy that turned me into a fan. It’s been nine years since I read this, so my recollection on the details is pretty shot. I do remember being very engaged and entertained. There’s excitement, a dash of romance, some magic and a few good fight scenes–pretty much what you want from a fantasy In case you’re curious about what I said about the book, click here.

MUSIC MONDAY: “Rattlesnake” by Anchor & Braille

By HCNewton

On June 30, 2025

In News/Misc.

The Irresponsible Reader's Music Monday logo

Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.

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20 Books of Summer 2025: June Check-In

By HCNewton

On June 30, 2025

In Books, Currently Reading, Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Non-Fiction, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy

A quick check-in for this Reading Challenge hosted by Emma of Words and Peace and Annabel from AnnaBookBel (you can read more about it here). I don’t typically like to do this kind of thing until the first of the next month, but since I doubt that I’ll read 500 pages today, I figured I might as well get this up since I won’t be able to finish the post I initially planned for today. So, I’ve read 1 1/6 books for this challenge (hopefully 1 1/2 by the end of the day). It’s not the most auspicious start, but I’ll take it (and I’ve had worse starts).

So here’s the list:

1. The Lords of the West End by Peter Blaisdell
✔ 2. King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby
3. Mississippi Blue 42 by Eli Cranor
4. Guard in the Garden by Z. S. Diamanti
5. Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. Gibson
6. The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
7. Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper
8. Interstellar MegaChef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
9. Sabriel by Garth Nix
10. Lirael by Garth Nix

11. Abhorsen by Garth Nix
12. Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation by Jim O’Heir
13. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by Jason Pargin
14. Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
15. A Tail of Mystery by Paul Regnier
16. Samurai! by Saburo Sakai with Martin Caiden and Fred Saito
17. The Crew by Sadir S. Samir
18. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
19. Remarkably Bright Creatures: Shelby Van Pelt
20. Leveled Up Love by Tao Wong & A. G. Marshall

(subject to change, as is allowed, but I’m going to resist the impulse to tweak as much as I can).

On the other hand, I’m doing pretty well with my Books on My Summer 2025 to-Read List (That Aren’t on My 20 Books Challenge)

1. Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch
2. Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic
3. Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
✔ 4. The Blue Horse by Bruce Borgos
5. Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

6. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
✔ 7. The Medusa Protocol by Rob Hart
✔ 8. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
9. Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue by Spencer Quinn
10. Dogged Pursuit by David Rosenfelt

Okay, if you think it as a percentage, I’ve read 14% of the books I called my shot on for the summer. Again, inauspicious. July promises to be a good one for reading—I hope/expect that I’ll be looking better in 31 days.

(and no, I don’t see a conflict between this and the Orangutan Librarian’s recent post about competitive reading. This is me comparing myself with my goals, or my past self, or—worst of all—my expectations.

20 Books of Summer '25 Chart June Update

May 2025 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

By HCNewton

On June 28, 2025

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

I know, this is incredibly late, but I need to get this out of the way before I can start June’s wrapup in a couple of days. I’m also aware that almost no one cares about this stuff–but I’ve come to find that it really helps me think about how I’m spending my time. And, occasionally, someone sees something interesting in one of these posts. So, I continue to press on.

What did may look like from 50,000 feet? I finished 23 titles (1 down from last month, 3 up from last May), with an equivalent of 6,718 pages or the equivalent (496 up from last month), and gave them an average of 3.7 stars (.1 down from last month).

So, here’s what happened here in May.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to












	7
		1

Still Reading


</a

Ratings

		Average =	3.73
	2		1
	2		0
	4		0
	7		0
	4

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

	Audio	E-book	Physical	Goodreads Want-to-Read	NetGalley Shelf/ARCs/Review Copies
End of 2024	3	68	78	167	10
1st of the Month	3	76	88	171	11
Added	3	1	5	0	5
Read/ Listened	1	1	6	0	4
Current Total	3	76	87	171	12

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 18
Self-/Independent Published: 5

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	0 (0%)	6 (5%)
Fantasy	2 (9%)	14 (13%)
General Fiction/ Literature	4 (17%)	13 (12%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	6 (26%)	23 (21%)
Non-Fiction	6 (26%)	21 (19%)
Science Fiction	2 (9%)	13 (12%)
Theology/ Christian Living	1 (4%)	11 (10%)
Urban Fantasy	2 (9%)	9 (8%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western)	0 (0%)	1 (1%)

Review-ish Things Posted

The Ten Commandments by Cornelius Van Til: A Brief Look at the Law
Good Trouble by Forest Issac Jones: Marching toward Victory
Hive by D. L. Orton: A Wild Time Travel Ride
Class Clown by Dave Barry: A Chuckle-Filled Peek Behind the Curtain
Rift by Cait West: An Important and Moving Story, That Didn’t Completely Work for Me
Kaua’i Storm by Tori Eldridge: A Thriller + So Much More
Killer Conversations with Rex Stout and John McAleer: Ridiculously Fun (and insightful, too, if you’re into that sort of thing)

Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th),and 31st), I also wrote (and/or posted):

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

Saturday Miscellany—6/28/25

By HCNewton

On June 28, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

I get it…publications need to make money to pay authors, but man…too many things I had set aside for today’s list were behind them. Rats. Still, found a few things for the budget-strapped amongst us.

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 “Bookworm, Cliché, Deadline…” And Other Unexpected Etymologies
bullet Former Auburn football player turned novelist to receive top state literary award
bullet The 144 Most Read Books of the 2025 Reading Challenge (So Far)
bullet Jim Butcher WRITES WOMEN WELL?—this interview made me crack up (just the rules laid out at the beginning make this worth it)
bullet What a Five-Star Review Means to Me—this is really close to my thoughts, phew, one thing I don’t have to write
bullet Competitive reading needs to calm down—indeed
bullet Captivating Characters of June—Another tantalizing entry in this series. I have my pick for the month (like I have every month I haven’t participated), will I get something put together? Oooh, the suspense.
bullet Monthly Manga Mania Featuring Firsty Duelist: Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba—if I read enough of Firsty Duelist’s stuff, I’m hoping I can convince my kids I’m fluent in Manga.
bullet Who’s moving to Germany with me—never been more tempted to emigrate

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson
bullet The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu
bullet And I mentioned the release of one book I read and two books I don’t ever remember hearing about (probably my loss) The Cartel by Don Winslow; Tin Men by Christopher Golden; and The Leveller by Julia Durango

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Wraith and the Revolution by A.J. Calvin—was in my notes for last week, but I somehow overlooked it. It’s still available, believe it or not, however. This SF novel looks great.
bullet Bookish Words & Their Surprising Stories by David Crystal—this also came out last week, but I didn’t know about it until I read the excerpt linked above.
bullet The Medusa Protocol by Rob Hart—this sequel to last year’s Assassins Anonymous is just dynamite, as I’d have written convincingly if I’d found the energy this week. Just take my word for it (or nag me until it shows up on the blog)
bullet Pride and Pompousness by Katie Cook—the third volume in her Nothing Special series follows up the story from Vol. 2, where the appearance of a long-lost heir (our pal, Declan) threatens the succession of power in fairy royalty.

Opening Lines: The Troubled Deep by Rob Parker

By HCNewton

On June 26, 2025

In Blog Series, Currently Reading, News/Misc., Opening Lines, Quotations

This was a mistake, I knew I didn’t have time to read this book anytime soon. But I sucummbed to temptation when I took it out of the package. Now I’m kicking myself–I need the next 360 pages.

Mum and Dad really like parties. They go to three or four a week sometimes, but we are never allowed to go with them. Me and my big brother, that is. They say it’s because the parties always finish too late. That there are no party games, no ice cream, no musical statues. That we’d be home too late for school the next day.

They are probably right about this, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to go. Getting all dressed up the way Mum does in her sparkly frocks and jangling earrings. My brother could get cleaned up like Dad does too, handsome in a suit or a leather jacket. Mum and Dad always look so special as we wave from the window, watching them leave Brindley Hall in their super cool Jaguar car.

Dad taught me an old-timey rhyme about it and I like the way it rolls off the tongue. Father’s car is a jaguar, and pa drives rather fast. I am going to tell the other children at school on Monday.

If I get to school on Monday.

Because tonight, it has all been different. This time, when it went dark, the babysitter didn’t come, and Mum told us both to get dressed smartly instead. This time, we got to go with them in the Jaguar car, named after a big cat, because it goes so fast.

I wish it had been faster. I wish we’d gone far away from here.

I wish it hadn’t gone into the water.

I wish I wasn’t stuck in it, me and my brother looking at each other in the back as freezing water comes up through gaps in the floor.

I wish we were at home.

I wish we’d never gone to that party.

from The Troubled Deep by Rob Parker

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2025 WWW Wednesday—June 25, 2025

By HCNewton

On June 25, 2025

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

Oh, hey…time for this post…

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?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


The Blue Horse by Bruce Borgos	How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by (and read by) Ryan North

Unless the next 80% of this book goes off the rails in a big way, Borgos has locked himself a spot in my TBRs for years to come with this one.

Say you’re a time traveler stuck in the past and you need to recreate civilization–but by cheating, because you don’t want to have to do the trial and error bit, North’s book is exactly what you need.

What did you recently finish reading?


Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel	False Value by Ben Aaronovitch, read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

I’m stunned by Station Eleven, it seems beyond good. I’m not sure exactly what Mandel was trying to accomplish there (still working on that), but that book is a doozy.

False Value was just as fun as I remembered–but the pacing was different than I expected. It just threw me a little bit from time to time–you’re doing X already? When is Y going to happen? etc. Memory is a funny thing, eh?

What do you think you’ll read next?


The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman	No One Leaves the Castle by Christopher Healy, read by Jessica Almasy

I’ve been curious about Grossman’s take on Arthurian legend since I first heard about it–time to put the curiosity to an end. Past time, really.

It’s been a dog’s age since I spent time with Healy, this book looked like a good excuse to fix that.

How are you closing out June? Also, how is it the end of June already?

MUSIC MONDAY: “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself” by Danny Michel

By HCNewton

On June 23, 2025

In News/Misc.

The Irresponsible Reader's Music Monday logo

Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.

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Saturday Miscellany—6/21/25

By HCNewton

On June 21, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

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 Could the Semicolon Die Out? Recent Analysis Finds a Decline in Its Usage in British Literature and Confusion Among U.K. Students
bullet Why Read: Seven Books About Our Passion and Need for Reading
bullet Books About Books: Why We Write Them and Why We Read Them: On the charms of the bookish mystery.
bullet While we’re on the topic, Carol at Reading Ladies posted this check-in yesterday: Bookish Books
bullet Bad People, Good Art—James Lloyd Dulin wrote a very good guest post on a (sadly) evergreen topic. I think he’s onto something with his approach, FWIW.
bullet My School Experience Barely Seems Reflected in Books
bullet Maggie Stiefvater’s The Subtle Terror of Rereadability and the joys of turning pages slow, not fast might be the best thing I read online this week (says a life-long fast page turner)
bullet Places with Teeth: Genius Loci and The Living Worlds of Speculative Fiction—Which isn’t to cast aspersions on Tabler’s work here (would love her to revisit this in an expanded version)
bullet Coffee Table Books- Books You Can Dip into and Savour in Small Sips—you can never have too many of these around (sadly, due to my grandkids, dogs, and lack of coffee-table mean that mine are tucked away on shelves)

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Schmudgeon of Curmudgeon talked to JCM Berne (video link/audio link)—they covered a lot and had a lot of fun. Berne may have convinced me to revise my opinion of the opening of Wistful Ascending, too. (I think that means that I have nothing bad to say about the book at all)

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet How to Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz
bullet Crossed Blades by Kelly McCullough—Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea by Helen Lewis—”a timely and provocative interrogation of the myth of genius, exploring the surprising inventions, inspirations and distortions by which some lives are elevated to ‘greatness’ – and others are not”
bullet I Think I’m in Love with an Alien by Ann Aguirre—A “quirky sci-fi rom-com” where “alien meets adorkable” looks like silly fun. Which sounds really appealing right now.