Music Monday’s originated at The Tattooed Book Geek‘s fantastic blog and has shown up here and there since then.
It’s that time of year…
Category: News/Misc. Page 28 of 193
3 weeks in a row posting in the afternoon? I’m not crazy about this trend… Don’t really have anything to say, just getting that off my chest. Hopefully, I get my act together.
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:
Why We Need Public Libraries Now More than Ever: Who needs libraries, anyway? Turns out, we all do.
The Low Down on the Greatest Dictionary Collection in the World
What Does Being “well-read” Look Like to You? Dismantling Elitism in Reading Spaces—hard to argue against this (although I realize I just invited some to do so…)
Inheritance of Magic – Series Health—Benedict Jacka talks about early sales/reviews of his new series and compares it to Alex Verus
It’s that time of year:
The CrimeReads 2023 Holiday Gift Guide: 30+ cozy, mystery-ish, book-adjacent gifts for your crime-obsessed loved ones!—some interesting ideas here. Incidentally, if any family members are reading this—I would wear both caps very frequently (particularly the one while flying).
33 Bookish Gifts for Every Reader on Your Holiday List—from NetGalley’s We are Bookish
Pay It Forward: Fahrenheit Book Bank—Doing this is just one of the things that makes Fahrenheit one of my favorites
This Week’s Punctuation Power Rankings
The Books That Keep Us Company for Decades—Molly Templeton’s latest
It’s time to check in on #R3COMM3ND3D2023 as it recaps favorites from 2023:
…with Bookstagrammer Louise Geoghegan of LouiseReads_UK
…with Kate of The Quick and the Read
…with Bookstagrammer Lynda Checkley of @lyndas_bookreviews
..with HC, The Irresponsible Reader—who let him opine?
…with Author Joy Kluver
…with Hayley of The Lotus Readers
…with Lynne of Fictionophile
Are you making art or making a product?—a related question for us non-authors: are we reading art or a product?
My Literary DNA—oh, this is good
Short Books You Can Read In A Day
4 years of Spells & Spaceships: the journey so far and my 10 favourite books.—Only 4?
I Am Pro Prologues!—hear, hear!
Ten Books about Books—a nice little list to work through (I’ve read one from this list, so plenty for me to work on )
M&M’s choose my tbr for December—I love this concept
A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
SFF Addicts Ep. 79: Jim Butcher talks The Olympian Affair, The Dresden Files, Mentors, Cats & More—am sure no one is surprised that I enjoyed the heck out of this
An Interview With Patrick Rothfuss—not technically a podcast, but I’m putting this interview from Grimdark Magazine here anyway. Also, I haven’t watched yet–but how can it be anything but good?
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss—I cannot wait to dive into this novella about Bast (the character I’m least interested in from the series), because I will take any new Rothfuss I can get.
The Great Gimmelmans by Lee Matthew Goldberg—”Middle child Aaron Gimmelman watches as his family goes from a mild-mannered reform Jewish clan to having over a million dollars of stolen money stuffed in their RV’s cabinets while being pursued by the FBI and loan sharks.”
The Secret by Lee Child and Andrew Child—back to 1992 to see MP Reacher at work. I’m trying to get hyped about this, but the fact that I’m #80 or so on the Library’s wait list doesn’t bother me at all suggests I just can’t.
The Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow—Something tells me I’m going to have significant problems with some of this book, but the premise (that I won’t try to summarize here) intrigues me
Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Amy Rice, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.
I’d expected to come home last night excited and full of energy so that I could write up a post or two, catch up on comments and whatnot. Instead, I came home and went to sleep early. So, only step 1 of my plan was achieved (probably the most important one). Tomorrow will be different!
Probably.
But for now…let’s just get this WWW taken care of and I can start thinking about other things…
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 expectedly charming Up on the Woof Top by Spencer Quinn, and am listening to Movieland by Lee Goldberg, Nicol Zanzarella (Narrator) on audiobook.
What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished James J. Butcher’s Long Past Dues (and that guy knows how to write an ending) and the very sweet Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (Narrator) on audio.
What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be Calico by Lee Goldberg and my next audiobook should be How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann, Lauren Ezzo (Narrator). Both look intriguing, but I’m not really sure what to expect (although, really, it’s Goldberg, I’m probably going to have a blast)
What are you reading this week?
We’ve got a bumper-crop of new books this week, and a few other things that show me more than my memory does how little time I spent online this week.
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:
Book bans backfiring? Study reveals increased readership for prohibited books
Is Traditional Fiction Publishing Broken?
What’s the Future of Books? Amid historic disruption in the publishing industry, big questions are—rightfully—being asked. Here, experts weigh in on how books (and the ways we discover them) are going to change.
No, I Don’t Want to Join Your Book Club—some non-traditional book clubs
Has It Ever Been Harder to Make a Living As An Author?
Book Thieves Take the Story and Run with It
#R3COMM3ND3D2023 continues to look at favorites from 2023:
…with Nicki Mags of Secret Library Book Blog
…with Karen Kingston of KarenKisreading
…with Author Rachel Sargeant
…Gill of A Good Book ‘n a Brew
…with Joanne of Portobello Book Blog
…with Carol of Reading Ladies
…with Davida Chazan of The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog
Witty and Sarcastic Book Club’s Dragon Week wrapped up this week, so you can read all of the goodness there now.
To celebrate the publication of Femme Fae-Tales anthology, Peat Long conducted Femme Fae-Tales Interviews with all of the authors, like this one.
An Important Reminder from Chuck Wendig
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Partial Function by JCM Berne—”If Taken starred Michelle Yeoh and was set on a Jurassic Park-inspired Cradle.” As I said recently, I had a lot of fun with this concept and its execution
Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly—Mickey Haller + Bosch. I’m sure there’s more to say, but who cares beyond that?
The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher—Yes, it took Butcher an eon to give us the second Cinder Spires book, but something tells me most readers will forgive him for that once we get to dive in.
Noodle Conquers Comfy Mountain by Jonathan Graziano, illustrated by Dan Tavis—this follow-up to Noodle and the No Bones Day is aDORable. I’ll have more to say about it soon (mostly consisting of rephrasing of that sentence).
Calico by Lee Goldberg—a murder mystery and a Western in modern California. That’s really all I know so far, but I can’t wait to learn more.
Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty—a murder among a new batch of human visitors to the sentient space station, a conflict between alien races, and an attack from without? Things don’t get boring in this Midsolar Murder sequel.
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree—this prequel to Legends & Lattes contains all the warm fuzzies of its predecessor, a dash of action, and a more overt romantic arc.
A Curse of Krakens by Kevin Hearne—the much-anticipated conclusion to the Seven Kennings trilogy is out, which means it’s time for me to read the second volume any day now.
Blood Betrayal by Ausma Zehanat Khan—Detective Inaya Rahman investigates a pair of officer-involved killings. I’m guessing neither of these will turn out to be what they seem at first glance.
Okay, what I said the other day about over-committing is getting the best of me. I’m going to have “real” posts any day now (hopefully tomorrow, for example). I have four posts about particular books half-finished, but I need time to think about them and complete them. I have 5 Literary Local Q&As in the middle of Qing and Aing. And a couple of other things in-progress, too. But for today? I’ve got zip, zilch, and a whole lot of nada.
So, I’m going to ask one more time for some input about Interviews/Q&As. At this point, I’ve pretty much decided what I’m going to say about them, but I could use a little more fodder for examples/illustrations. So…if you’re an Author, or a Blogger/Vlogger/Podcaster, or someone who likes to read/listen to Author Interviews—would you please click one of those links and answer a few things for me? If you fit multiple categories there (and, don’t we all contain multitudes, even if it’s just a few?)—feel free to chime in repeatedly.
Thanks!
And now for something completely different:
So apparently, November is my month of over-committing—and boy howdy, is it catching up to me the last week or so. There’ve been 2 days since my last WWW where I’ve read for less than 20 minutes, which is not doing my psyche a lot of favors, either. But, this isn’t time for my therapy, it’s time for a WWW, so let’s move along to 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?
Easy enough, right?
What are you currently reading?
I’m reading (and hopefully finishing tomorrow) Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty, which isn’t the sequel I was expecting—and is maybe better for it. I finished an audiobook this afternoon, and not starting another until tomorrow, so I’ve got nothing in this spot.
What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Seanan McGuire’s The Innocent Sleep and Grand Theft Astro by Scott Meyer, Elizabeth Evans (Narrator) on audio. I didn’t know it was legal for a Scott Meyer novel to be recorded by anyone other than Luke Daniels, but it worked.
What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be Starter Villain by John Scalzi and my next audiobook should be Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (Narrator).
Are you reading anything good?
It’s Election Day in the U.S. tomorrow, so I thought I’d share this little bit from Archie Goodwin to commemorate it.
The most interesting incident Tuesday morning was my walking to a building on Thirty-fourth Street to enter a booth and push levers on a voting machine. I have never understood why anybody passes up that bargain. It doesn’t cost a cent, and for that couple of minutes, you’re the star of the show, with top billing. It’s the only way that really counts for you to say I’m it, I’m the one that decides what’s going to happen and who’s going to make it happen. It’s the only time I really feel important and know I have a right to. Wonderful. Sometimes the feeling lasts all the way home if somebody doesn’t bump me.
–Archie Goodwin
from A Family Affair
Yeah, this is later than usual. I spent the morning at the Boise Library!’s Boise Book Faire 2023 getting to chat with several local authors about their works. I got to renew acquaintances with a few authors who have shown up here over the last 12 months or so—and met a few who I hope to feature soon.
But that’s for the future (or, I guess, the past), let’s move on to today’s 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:
Banned books often get circulation bump, new study finds—a silver lining? Or fodder for conspiracy?
Why Kids Aren’t Falling in Love With Reading: Hint: It’s not just the screens
Make Humanities Fun Again
How Has Big Publishing Changed American Fiction?: A new book argues that corporate publishing has transformed what it means to be an author.
Does Reading Improve Health?
Robert B. Parker: The Master of Crime Fiction
The Story Behind the Story: “A Good Rush of Blood,” by Matt Phillips—I’m so glad I put off reading this until I’d written about the book—I’d have spent far too long working in responses to it. Secondly, I’m so glad Phillips stuck to his guns and gave us the book that he did (wouldn’t have liked it nearly as much if he’d buckled)
Language and translation in Insiders – Shannon Knight—a nice little BTS about Knight’s newest book.
The Science Behind Steampunk and Retrofuturistic Technology—from Jonathan Fesmire
Partial Function Unboxing!—Who doesn’t like a good unboxing video? Watch JCM Berne get the first Partial Function hardcopy! (available Tuesday—order it today!)
Self Published Fantasy Releases – November 2023—In case you needed to do some shopping for yourself/others. Good looking offerings here.
Eternally Fascinating, the Vampire Endures—Author LindaAnn LoSchiavo stopped by Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub to talk about Blooksuckers/vamps/Fangheads/or whatever you want to call them
#R3COMM3ND3D from Damppebbles is back with #R3COMM3ND3D2023. This celebration of the best new books of 2023 is guaranteed to add to your TBR.
BookBlogger David of Blue Book Balloon
Lisa from Owl Be Sat Reading
Book Blogger Carla of Carla Loves to Read
Emily Quinn of A Quintillion Words (which is just a brilliant blog name)
Witty & Sarcastic also kicked-off Dragon Week 2023—Who needs “Shark Week” anyhow? I’m not going to link to every piece here, but you need to go check it out.
Spells and Spaceships is yet again hosting Norsevember, where you can read fun things like The Norns and the Weaving of Fate and The Dwarves of Norse Mythology
And there’s one more November-celebration—SciFiMonth! Some great-looking stuff there, too.
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Hacker by Duncan MacMaster—Jake Mooney, a ghostwriter turned reluctant amateur-sleuth, gets pushed into solving another murder–this time of an old nemesis.
Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to cchittom and Ashleigh Mordew who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.
In October, I finished 25 titles (3 down from last month, the same number as last October), with 6,657+ pages or the equivalent (1,000-ish down from last month), and gave them an average of 3.5 stars (.3 down from last month). Nothing to write home about—but still pretty good. I enjoyed almost everything I read, which is good enough for me.
I really didn’t write enough posts about particular titles—my To Write pile is getting even more daunting all the time. But I did get a lot of other things posted, which makes me very happy.
All in all, it was a good month, a busy month, and one that had a lot of fun things here to look at and read. I’m calling it a win. Here’s a more detailed look at what happened here in October.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to
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Still deciding |
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Still Reading
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Ratings
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6 |  |
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10 | ||
| Average = | 3.54 |
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TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps
| Audio | E-book | Physical | Goodreads Want-to-Read |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of 2022 |
5 | 45 | 42 | 143 |
| 1st of the Month |
5 | 51 | 58 | 151 |
| Added | 3 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| Read/ Listened |
2 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Current Total | 6 | 47 | 62 | 153 |
Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 15
Self-/Independent Published: 10
| Genre | This Month | Year to Date |
|---|---|---|
| Children’s | 1 (4%) | 24 (9%) |
| Fantasy | 5 (20%) | 27 (11%) |
| General Fiction/ Literature | 3 (12%) | 20 (8%) |
| Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller | 7 (28%) | 76 (30%) |
| Non-Fiction | 1 (5%) | 18 (7%) |
| Science Fiction | 1 (4%) | 11 (27%) |
| Theology/ Christian Living | 1 (4%) | 23 (9%) |
| Urban Fantasy | 4 (16%) | 29 (11%) |
| “Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) | 1 (4%) | 8 (3%) |
Review-ish Things Posted
- Who Chose the Gospels?: Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy by C. E. Hill: Robert Langdon Might Have Been on the Wrong Track (shocking, I know)
- An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka: I Cannot Recall the Last Time I was This Excited about a New UF Series
- The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 37: Last Leg by R. T. Slaywood: Some Aftermath, and a Glimpse of What’s to Come
- Healed by Carrie Alani: She Can’t Do This All on Her Own
- Partial Function by JCM Berne: A Mom With A Particular Set of Skills
- Cunk on Everything: The Encyclopedia Philomena by Philomena Cunk: The Only Reference Book You Need This Year
Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (7th, 14th (DIY Edition), 21st, and 28th), I also wrote:
- MUSIC MONDAY: Comfortable by Fleming & John
- COVER REVEAL: Traitor’s Tome by Emma L. Adams
- COVER REVEAL: Midsummer Night’s Curse by Anca Antoci
- COVER REVEAL: Mist Gallows by Meri Benson, Marie Sinadjan
- COVER REVEAL: Arvia: Wings of the Wild by D.H. Willison
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books (or, what will be going on here while I’m vacationing).
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Daniel Meyer
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Lilly and Sara from Fiction Fans Podcast
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Mark Pepper
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Raven
- COVER REVEAL: Serpentus by A.J. Calvin
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Vesper Aeon
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Shazzi
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Matthew Samuels
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Donna Morfett
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Ricardo Victoria
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Chris Monceaux
- COVER REVEAL: Partial Function by JCM Berne
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with E.N. Crane/Noelle Rider/Noelle Neal-Crane
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Jodie Crump
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with K.R.R. Lockhaven
- Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with Me, The Irresponsible Reader
- LITERARY LOCALS: A Q&A About IdaHope Christian Writers
- Happy Birthday, Archie!
- Opening Lines: Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David
- Hey, Authors! I Have Some Questions about Interviews for You!!
- Hey, Bloggers/Podcasters/Vloggers! I Have Some Questions about Interviews for You!!
- Turning the Odometer
- WWW Wednesday for October 4, October 18, and October 25, 2023.
Enough about me—how Was Your Month?
Other than a lingering cough, I’ve somehow survived the Man Cold, much to the surprise of…well, me. If you’re reading this, it means I fought through the interruptions of candy-hungry scavengers to complete a thou
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 second Toby Daye book of 2023, The Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire, and I’m listening to Black Summer by M.W. Craven, John Banks (Narrator) on audiobook (and am enjoying it just as much the second time through!).
What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Ian Shanes’s Sundry Notes of Music–you’ll see some very complimentary words about it here soon–and That Ain’t Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire, Emily Bauer (Narrator) on audio.
What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty and my next audiobook should be The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn, Raphael Corkhill (Narrator). I’m looking forward to seeing how Lafferty follows up Station Eternity and I have no idea what to expect out Henn’s book, but I apparently have to check out every bookstore/library-related audiobook that the library presents me with.
How are you starting November?