Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
Category: News/Misc. Page 36 of 238
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:
Gatsby @ 100: American Classrooms, American Dreams?
Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby Turns 100. Time To Admit It’s Crime Fiction.—I’m not sure that I buy this, but I can’t argue against it.
Mark Twain Died Famous, Not Happy—this review of a new biography of Twain really makes me want to carve out a couple of weeks to get it
The Joy of Inefficiency: Teaching My Kids How to Read—wish I’d done it in a way more like this. Good read even without the whole “road not taken” vibe.
Why Being the Child of a Crime Writer Made It Inevitable I Would Become One—Abbi Waxman on her new (and very good) crime novel, her first in the genre
Digging Up Sam Spade: What’s the point of writing ‘your take’ on a famous character?—I get his point—and agree with it, but I’ll probably keep buying some books that fall into this category (I’m a sucker for certain characters).
I skipped this week’s Top 10 Tuesday because I didn’t think I could come up with ten Unpopular Bookish Opinions, but after reading the lists that Damppebbles and Carol put together, I really probably could’ve (especially if I’d done the post late in the day and “borrowed” about half of each of theirs). Give ’em a read! (for bonus points*, guess where I agree with them)
I really appreciate Beth Tabler posting this recipe: The Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—I have enough time to assemble ingredients by Towel Day.
* Not redeemable for cash or goods, just the warm glow of self-satisfaction.
A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Thriller Zone Episode 220: From Celebrity Journalist to Crime Thriller Writer: Meet Nick Kolakowski
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs
Dark Digital Sky by Carac Allison—(if Allison is out there using a pen name now, I’d love to find out)
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle—I just love this book, I could probably write a post about it now without picking up a copy
I talked about the releases of Hit by Delilah S. Dawson (a gritty, violent read that’ll stick with you–in a good way) and The Prom Goer’s Interstellar Excursion by Chris McCoy
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman—Think Hacks plus Rebel (the Katey Segal show), and you’ll have the gist of this. “A cranky former actress teams up with her Gen Z sobriety sponsor to solve the murder that threatens to send her back to prison.” I had a blast with this, and hope to tell you more about it soon.
The Fact Checker by Austin Kelly—1. Great cover. 2. Promising premise: “Mirthful, laugh-out-loud funny, and surprisingly philosophical, The Fact Checker is a brilliant debut novel featuring a missing woman who might be perfectly fine, and a single-minded investigator yearning for meaning, morality, and accuracy in an increasingly post-truth world.”
Benny on the Case by Wesley King—”A boy with Mosaic Down syndrome navigates entering a mainstream classroom, making new friends, and standing up to bullies all while trying to catch a thief and save his home in this thrilling middle grade mystery.” I was rather charmed by King’s OCDaniel, betting this will be pretty good, too.
For a few years, April 15 was the apex of my professional life–months of effort led up to it, weeks of effort spent dealing with it, and then we had a couple of months of reprieve before starting the cycle again. I left that employer almost 4 years ago, but it’s still in the back of my mind to be stressed right now. It’s always such a relief when I realize I don’t have a reason to be, even if my subconscious is convinced I should be. I do feel bad for former coworkers who are still there, and the long hours they “get” to work.
I can’t remember where I was going with that, but I can’t think of another introduction for this. So pretend I had a punchline, and let’s get on with today’s WWW.
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?
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| The Impudent Edda by Rowdy Geirsson |
Dark Neon & Dirt by Thomas Trang |
Happy Jack and the Scary-Ass Book of Doom by Rich Partain, read by JP Adams |
The Impudent Edda bills itself as a translation of the last Edda, this time made by a Bostonian. It is ridiculously fun. It’s also hard to take in large chunks, so I also started Trang’s debut, which is almost the complete opposite–it’s fun, but only because it’s gritty LA noir done right. Assuming I survive the mental whiplash between these two, the next couple of days are going to be great.
Yeah, it’s a couple of weeks after I said I was going to listen to the Rich Partain book but Library holds came a calling.
What did you recently finish reading?
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| One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman |
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green |
It felt like Waxman turned her comedy up a few notches with this one–while delivering a strong mystery novel filled (as you expect from Waxman) with fantastic characters.
I learned far, far more about Tuberculosis than I ever expected to (including how much I have yet to learn–and it’ll likely stay that way). In the midst of this history/social commentary is the (true) story of a very sick teenager. It’ll surprise no one to learn that Green is very good at talking about sick teenagers.
What do you think you’ll read next?
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| Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson |
Summer Knight by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters |
Why did it take me so long to get to Stevenson’s sequel? No one will ever know. But I’m hoping to take care of it by the end of this week.
My Dresden Files re-listen got derailed last year, so I might as well get back on track, right?
How are you faring in the post-Tax Day world?
This year is speeding by, the way they do more and more…let’s take a quick look at the challenges and goals I set for the year
I’d hoped to keep charging ahead with Grandpappy’s Corner and Literary Locals, and while those haven’t completely died off, I haven’t done that much with them. I think the next couple of months should bear fruit along those lines, though. We’ll see. HC Chats are plugging around.
How’s the perennial, “Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own” goal going? Well, I bought very few books in February, so that helped, but overall…?
| Audio | E-book | Physical | Goodreads Want-to-Read |
NetGalley Shelf/ARCs/Review Copies |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of 2024 | 3 | 68 | 78 | 167 | 10 |
| End of 1st Quarter | 5 | 72 | 77 | 172 | 11 |
| End of 2nd Quarter | – | – | – | – | – |
| End of 3rd Quarter | – | – | – | – | – |
2025 Book Challenges
Goodreads Challenge
This actually looked better at the first of the month, but I forgot to get the image. Still, I’m on track.
Read Every Day in February for the American Cancer Society
Nailed it. Even better, raised a couple hundred dollars.
Reading with Wrigs
I missed completing this one last year, but have done some pre-planning on it and am about on schedule.
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- Religious theme: The Pilgrim’s Regress by C.S. Lewis
- Set in a confined space: Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
- A book with a map: The Price of Power by Michael Michel (technically not completed during the first quarter, but…)
The 2025 Booktempter’s TBR Challenge
January–First steps: You have my permission to read the last book you added to the TBR pile: Sword & Thistle by S.L. Rowland
February: Short and Sweet: Read 28 short stories – they can be in magazine, anthology or collection form. You don’t even have to finish the books! Just 28 tales to read: Promise by Christi Nogle and Passageways edited by Rebecca Carey Lyles
March – Ready Steady Go!: Start a series, or the next book in a series that has been lingering on those shelves: Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames
Further Up and Further In
I’m on track here
25 in ’25
Ouch. Drawing a blank here.
Auditing Challenges
I’m not sure that I want to commit to these, but I saw them on Bookforager’s page, and wanted to give them a shot–they look fun. So I’m going to track them, and if I happen to do well with them, great. If not…oh, well.
(yeah, that’s true with all of these, but I’m sort of calling my shot with the above)
Alphabet Reading Challenge
Not bad…
Picture Prompt Book Bingo Challenge for 2025
| 1. A prehistoric flint knapped stone knife | 2. A lighthouse | 3. An apple on a leafy branch | 4. An archery target with three arrows in it |
| 5. A very large mechanical telescope Pushing Ice |
6. A human skull | 7. A stag | 8. The ruins of a temple-like structure |
| 9. A crab | 10. A sheaf of wheat | 11. An old mechanical typewriter | 12. A cluster of four mushrooms |
| 13. A fringed umbrella / parasol | 14. A chemistry set-up of bottles and tubes A Drop of Corruption |
15. A stylized sun with a human face | 16. A Roman helmet |
Not bad…have one more finished already, maybe two.
I’m in decent shape, overall…
I can’t tell you when this became a (largely) annual thing for me to post, but it was on a blog that pre-existed this one. As always, it seems like a good day to post it.
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.
–Nero Wolfe
from And Be a Villain
Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
I don’t know that I’ve ever really paid much attention to Copeland over the years, but they opened at a concert I attended a couple of weeks ago, where I heard this song for (almost certainly) the first time. The chorus has been stuck in my head ever since:
Sing with your head up
With your eyes closed
Not because you love the song
Because you love to sing
Because you love to sing
This is billed as the “Slow Version.”
This would be the non-“Slow Version.”
I finished 21 titles (4 down from last month, 2 down from last March), with an equivalent of 5,675 pages or the equivalent (749 down from last month), and gave them an average of 3.67 stars (.27 up from last month).
I knew I’d been busy, sick, and tired lately–but it wasn’t until I looked at the part of this wrapup where I list what I posted, that I realized just how little I’ve done here lately. Thanks for sticking with me–I’m not saying it’s over (if you could hear me cough yesterday, you’d know that was the case), but I’m working on it.
So, here’s what happened here in March.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to
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Still Reading
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Ratings
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1 | |
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4 |  |
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5 |  |
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7 | ||
| Average = | 3.667 |
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TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps
| Audio | E-book | Physical | Goodreads Want-to-Read |
NetGalley Shelf/ARCs/Review Copies |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of 2024 |
3 | 68 | 78 | 167 | 10 |
| 1st of the Month |
3 | 69 | 78 | 171 | 9 |
| Added | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Read/ Listened |
5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Current Total | 5 | 72 | 77 | 172 | 11 |
Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 22
Self-/Independent Published: 1
| Genre | This Month | Year to Date |
|---|---|---|
| Children’s | 0 (0%) | 4 (6%) |
| Fantasy | 4 (19%) | 8 (12%) |
| General Fiction/ Literature | 3 (14%) | 7 (11%) |
| Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller | 5 (24%) | 14 (22%) |
| Non-Fiction | 4 (19%) | 1 (17%) |
| Science Fiction | 3 (14%) | 8 (12%) |
| Theology/ Christian Living | 2 (10%) | 8 (12%) |
| Urban Fantasy | 0 (0%) | 5 (8%) |
| “Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
Review-ish Things Posted
- God of All Things by Andrew Wilson: Ordinary Stuff also tells of the glory of God
- Hit The Ground Running Kate Ashwin: 2 Jailbreaks, 1 Heist, 1 Outrageous Utility Bill, and 1 Potted Plant.
- Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski: Down These Mean Streets People Must Still Go
- Nothing Special: Concerning Wings by Katie Cook: More Time with These Characters = More Joy for Me
- The Library Game by Gigi Pandian: Never Ask “What’s the Worst That Can Happen?”
Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (1st, 8tha>, 15th, 22nd, and 29th), I also wrote or posted:
- Cover Reveal: The Dreams of Dust and Steel series—The Price of Power and A Graveyard for Heroes by Michael Michel
- A Few Quick Questions With…Kate Ashwin
- Book Blogger Hop: Weekly Blogging Time
- MUSIC MONDAY: “Rock ’N’ Roll Heaven” by Spin Doctors
- Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Things Nero Wolfe Said*
- BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Fragrant Soup by Reena Bhojwani
- GUEST POST: How Reading Can Help You Grow a Short Story into a Novel by Reena Bhojwani
- Opening Lines: Miracles by C.S. Lewis
- MUSIC MONDAY: “You You You” by The Okee Dokee Brothers
- Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books with a place in the title
- MUSIC MONDAY: “Feeling the Pull” by The Swell Season
- HC Chats with M.D. Presley about Laurel K. Hamilton
- HC Chats with Paul Regnier about Monster Therapist and the Warlock’s Citadel and some other stuff
- WWW Wednesday for March 4, March 12, March 19, and March 26, 2025.
Enough about me—how Was Your Month?
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:
National Library Week wraps up today (something I should’ve said something about earlier), so today is your last chance to take advantage of this. However, if you donate $15+ to a local library, you can get an audiobook credit from libro.fm click the link for details.
Carla Crane Osborne uses her Idaho childhood as a muse—a Literary Local talks to a local news station. Yup, I got her to talk to me before TV did.
The Comic-Book Artist Who Mastered Space and Time—Art Spiegelman on the late Jules Feiffer
Pace Yourself—Molly Templeton makes the case reading slowly
The Magic of Sci-Fi: Exploring the Unknown and Imagining the Future—a nice look at Science Fiction over at Adventures in Lit
INTERVIEW: Voice Artist Jeff Hays—Over at GrimdarkMAGAZINE, Beth Tabler talked to the voice behind Dungeon Crawler Carl and many, many other books.
Thematic music from lauded Game of Thrones composer, Will Musser—Micheal Michel’s The Price of Power gets its first piece of fan art from this guy (pretty good way to start)
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw by Christopher Healy
The Stolen Ones by Owen Laukkanen
Vanished by Joseph Finder
I mentioned the releases of The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu; Dark Heir by Faith Hunter; and Scent of Murder by James O. Born
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
My Documents by Kevin Nguyen—One of the best things I’ve read this year. I’ll probably be saying that in December, too. In the late twenty-teens, the U.S. Government starts detaining Vietnamese-Americans, and this harrowing-yet-frequently-amusing novel follows four siblings. If I say more than that, we’re going to be here for awhile. Hopefully I can get something together in a day or two.
24-Hour Warlock by Shami Stovall—in the third Chronos Chronicles novel, Finch (and his new team) takes on a demonologist to save his sister-in-law
Big Chief by Jon Hickey—a provocative-looking political thriller set in the days leading up to a reservation’s election
This is my third post for the week, should be my seventh or eighth. On the plus side, if you are seeing this, it means I stayed awake long enough to put it together yesterday 🙂
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?
 |
 |
| My Documents by Kevin Nguyen |
I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You by Miranda Hart |
If anything was going to make Butler’s Parable of the Sower feel less prescient, it’d be Nguyen’s. It pulls off this odd combination of sweet, comfortable, slightly satirical, and utterly horrifying.
I’ve barely scratched the surface of Hart’s book, but I’m looking forward to pressing on.
What did you recently finish reading?
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| The Price of Power by Michael Michel |
Baby City by Freida McFadden & Kelly Stoddard, read by Phillipa Miller |
Michel’s relaunched book is just fantastic. I’d be counting the days for the second book in the series if it had a firm release date (phew! Saved from Math!!)
Baby City was utterly fine–and now I can say I’ve dipped my toe into McFadden’s work (even if it’s a far, far cry from a Domestic Thriller)
What do you think you’ll read next?
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| Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang |
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green |
I’ve heard nothing but good things about Wang and this book. Eager to dive in.
What could be more entertaining than a book about TB? It’s about time I try a John Green (past time, really), might as well try this one.
Are you working on anything good?
Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
A couple of weeks ago, this came up on shuffle in the car. Not only did I forget that I owned a copy of this song, but I’d forgotten that Amos had ever done a cover of this. Naturally, I’ve become a little obsessed with it. Might as well share, eh?