Category: News/Misc. Page 84 of 229

February 2023 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

On March 2, 2023

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

In February, I finished 26 titles (6 up from last month, 4 up from last February), with 6,588 pages or the equivalent (500 up from last month), and gave them an average of 3.8 stars (0.1 up from last month). Sure, 2 were Children’s Books, and a few were 150 pg. and under–so the number of titles is deceptive. Still, it was a good month on that front.

Mt. TBR moved in the right direction in a noticeable way, so I’m happy with that. And how often do I get to say something like that?

You’ll notice that I don’t have an IndieBound sticker on the side anymore and my posts don’t have the buttons for it anymore–I’ve moved over to Bookshop.org (IndieBound moved me over there, actually). I see some interesting things I can do there in the future, stay tuned.

I didn’t get as much written as I wanted to, but when don’t I say that? I did get a good number of Q&As up, and started a new series (Grandpappy’s Corner). So what (little) I produced, I’m very happy with.

Basically, it was a good month around here. Here’s the breakdown:
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Still Reading

Ratings

		Average =	3.77
	4		0
	0		0
	10		0
	4		0
	8

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

	Audio	E-book	Physical	Goodreads Want-to-Read
End of 2022	5	45	42	143
1st of the Month	5	45	46	145
Added	2	3	7	2
Read/ Listened	2	4	10	2
Current Total	5	44	43	145

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 11
Self-/Independent Published: 15

Genre	This Month	Year to Date
Children’s	2 (8%)	2 (4%)
Fantasy	4 (15%)	6 (13%)
General Fiction/ Literature	1 (4%)	4 (9%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	7 (27%)	13 (28%)
Non-Fiction	1 (4%)	2 (4%)
Science Fiction	1 (4%)	1 (2%)
Theology/ Christian Living	5 (19%)	8 (17%)
Urban Fantasy	4 (15%)	4 (21%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western)	1 (4%)	7 (15%)

Review-ish Things Posted

The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 14: Consequence by R. T. Slaywood: Walking Quickly but Treading Water
The Nature and Work of the Holy Spirit by Ra McLaughlin: A Broad and Capable Introduction to the Holy Spirit
On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel: A Funeral for Dreams
The Night Watch by Neil Lancaster: Lancaster Just Keeps Getting Better and Better
Harvested by Troy Lambert: A Man Bites Dog P.I. Novel
The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 15: A Walk In The Park by R. T. Slaywood: I’m Getting Tired of This
In the Fullness of Time: An Introduction to the Biblical Theology of Acts and Paul by Richard B. Gaffin Jr.: One of the Best Things I’ve Read in Years
Bad Memory by Jim Cliff: A Very Cold (and Closed) Case Gets a Second Look
A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames: A Fast, Twisted Ride Through the Streets of LA
The Silk Empress by Josef Matulich: A Rollicking Steampunk Adventure on the High Silk Road
The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 16: Stephen Carpenter by R. T. Slaywood: The Cast Expands in a Promising Way
Grandpappy’s Corner: Saint Patrick the Forgiver by Ned Bustard: Patrick’s Story Told for Wee Ones
The Foundling, the Heist, and the Volcano by K.R.R. Lockhaven: Exactly What the Title Says
Grandpappy’s Corner: Geeky Baby’s Guide to Colors by Ruenna Jones, Josh Lewis (Illustrator): Starting a Geek Off Right
Foundations by Abigail Stewart: Three Eras, Three Women, and The House that Connects Them
Haven by Ceril N Domac: A New Kind of Fae
The Shadow of Christ in the Book of Lamentations by C.J. Williams: Finding the Hope of the Gospel in the Laments

Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th), I also wrote:

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

WWW Wednesday, March 1, 2023

By HCNewton

On March 1, 2023

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

So the three more days of the month that I asked for didn’t magically appear (shockingly). Well, I guess it’s still technically possible because I’m writing this Tuesday. So if this posts on February 29, 2023, I retract that statement. Also, if that is when this posts, no one’s going to be reading this post, because everyone’s going to be freaking out.

I really had another destination in mind for that paragraph, but got distracted and silly instead. Probably was only marginally interesting anyway. Let’s just move on with the 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?

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading and ARC of Good Dog, Bad Cop by David Rosenfelt (reliably fun as always) and am listening to the darkly comic and thoughtful The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff, Soneela Nankani (Narrator) on audiobook.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Don Winslow’s Broken, which was magnificent. Also, I can finally move Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire, Ray Porter (Narrator) on audio from the “next” to the “finished” column.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the ARC Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto (yeah, this week is about NetGalley catch-ups) and my next audiobook should be Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane, Jonathan Davis (Narrator). I’ve read this a handful of times and it’s brilliant, can’t wait to jump in again.

Blank Space

What about you?

Opening Lines: Broken by Don Winslow

By HCNewton

On February 28, 2023

In Fantasy, Fiction, News/Misc., Opening Lines, Quotations

We all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (yet, publishing companies spend big bucks on cover design/art). But, the opening sentence(s)/paragraph(s) are fair game. So, when I stumble on a good opening (or remember one and pull it off the shelves), I like to throw it up here.

I’m going to do something a little different with this one–Broken by Don Winslow is a collection of novellas. Each one has a different voice, a different feel, a different kind of crime. Today, to give a little taste of the diversity, I want to share the opening of two of the novellas, each one grabbed me in their own way.

from Broken:

You ain’t gotta tell Eva the world is a broken place.

A 911 dispatcher on a New Orleans night shift, Eva McNabb hears humanity’s brokenness for eight hours straight, five nights a week, more when she’s pulling doubles. She hears the car accidents, the robberies, the shootings, the murders, the maimings, the deaths. She hears the fear, the panic, the anger, the rage, the chaos, and she sends men racing toward it.

Well, mostly men—there are more and more women on the force—but Eva thinks of all of them as her “guys,” her “boys.” She sends them into all that brokenness and then prays they come back in one piece.

Mostly they do, sometimes they don’t, and then she’s sending more of her guys, her boys, into the broken places.

Literally, sometimes, because her husband was a cop and now her two grown sons are cops.

So she knows that life.

She knows that world.

Eva knows that you can come out of it, but you always come out broken.

from The San Diego Zoo:

No one knows how the chimp got the revolver.

Only that it’s a problem.

Chris Shea didn’t think it was his problem, though, when the call first came over the radio that a chimpanzee had escaped from the world-famous San Diego Zoo.

“Call Animal Control,” he responded, not considering runaway monkeys to be a police matter.

Then the dispatcher added, “Uhh, the chimp appears to be armed.”

“Armed?” Chris asked. “With what, like a stick?”

He’d seen something on Animal Planet about chimps using sticks as tools or weapons, which apparently was significant for some reason Chris missed because he got up to make a sandwich.

Or maybe it was baboons.

Or maybe it was the National Geographic Channel.

“Witnesses are reporting that the chimp is carrying a pistol,” the dispatcher said.

Well, Chris hadn’t seen that on Animal Planet.

Opening Lines Logo

Saturday Miscellany—2/25/23

By HCNewton

On February 25, 2023

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 AI-generated fiction is flooding literary magazines — but not fooling anyone—Am sure you’ve all seen headlines about this already…
bullet Literary giants have thoughts on the new edits to Roald Dahl’s works.—this is a bit (just a bit) moot thanks to the news yesterday that Roald Dahl’s publisher responds to backlash by keeping ‘classic’ texts in print—which makes a the voice inside my head that wears a spiffy tinfoil chapeau wonder if the whole thing was a publicity stunt.
bullet The rise and fall — and rise again — of Barnes & Noble
bullet What Is It That Makes Used Bookstores So Wonderful?: Used bookstores are more than just stores with books—Yes.
bullet The Importance of Duality of Plot in Space Operas
bullet The Importance of Rom Coms!
bullet From the Pages of Slough House: Leadership Tips from Jackson Lamb, The Perfect Boss—yes, I’m critical of ChatGPT things, but when used the way that Jeff at Spy Write does here, it produces some fun content. I’m going to remember some of these tips for my next job interview…

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet The Chronscast E15 – Introducing Peat Long—Peat Long joins the team over at Chronscast and gets introduced here, if you’ve ever wondered about the voice behind the provocative blog posts, here’s your chance. (also, listen to their exit music at 1.0…I might make this podcast a regular listen for it alone)
bullet The Professional Noticer An Accidental Death…with Peter Grainger—an incredibly rare audio appearance by the great Peter Grainger

The Friday 56 for 2/24/22: Haven by Ceril N Domace

By HCNewton

On February 24, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

Things worked out today for me to augment my Tour Stop by using Haven for my Friday 56 post…

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 56% of:
Haven

Haven by Ceril N Domace

He said he was here to take some measurements and deliver clothing to replace the tattered garments still clinging to Jen’s frame. Owen was treated to a lengthy lecture about her needs as a werewolf as he helped with the measurements.

She could wear most shirts, but pants would be touch and go. She didn’t need shoes and her fur would thicken during winter. Owen needed to make sure her claws were trimmed to a healthy length, get something for her to chew on when her teeth fell out, and arrange for pack bonding sessions. Jen turned around to dress while the two men talked, revealing another thing Owen would have to watch out for.

“You have a tail,” Owen said dumbly, pointing at the offending appendage.

“I do?” She dropped her new shorts as her hands flew to her rear. The way she twisted and turned reminded Owen of Toto chasing his tail; he put a stop to it before it could make him laugh.

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including the novel) they provided.

WWW Wednesday, February 22, 2023

By HCNewton

On February 22, 2023

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

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I could use 3 more days this month. The 28th is looming large over my February To-Do List, and my reading this week is all about checking off those boxes.

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 wrapping up Haven by Ceril N Domace for a Tour later this week and I’m about done with the audiobook Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Tim Gerard Reynolds (Narrator)—and wow, I’d forgotten how good this was. I mean, I remembered loving this brutal book. But…wow. Why did I wait so long to do this?

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

The last print book I finished was Anna Strong’s Anna and the Vampire Prince. The last audiobook I finished is still Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano, Angela Dawe (Narrator).

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

I had to shuffle things around so the “next” book from last week won’t be tackled for a week or so. later today, I should be Foundations by Abigail Stewart and my next audiobook should still be Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire, Ray Porter (Narrator).

Blank Space

How are you ending the month?

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Heroines

By HCNewton

On February 21, 2023

In News/Misc.

Bad time management, fatigue, and other duties kept me from doing everything I wanted to with this. But at a certain point, I’d spent too much time on it to just let it go without posting. So…in all its half-baked glory:

The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesdays is Favorite Heroines.

I kept slipping up and putting favorite female protagonists on this list, and had to keep reminding myself that I was looking for heroes. There were a couple of names I thought about putting on the list, but their series are too new for me to be sure they were Top 10 material, too. But I think in the end, I’m okay with this list.

I typically go with an alphabetic organization with these lists, but I’m going with something different today. I’m going to start off in the order I encountered them.
Favorite Heroines

Sally Kimball
from the Encyclopedia Brown books by Donald J. Sobel

Sally Kimball is the best athlete in Encyclopedia Brown’s school, and becomes his partner, bodyguard, and best friend. She’s able to pick up on things he misses, too—I loved all these stories as a kid, but the ones where Sally proved more clever or resourceful than her partner were always more entertaining. When you consider that Sally was introduced in 1963, she seems all the more remarkable.

Princess Eilonwy of the House of Llyr, daughter of Angharad, daughter of Regat
from The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander

From the moment we meet her in Spiral Castle, Eilonwy shows more wits and fighting spirit than almost any of her male companions. Also the shortest temper. Taran may be the central character and hero of the series—but it’s the Princess who drives him, often shows him the way to go, and commits some of the greatest acts of heroism.

Tabitha-Ruth “Turtle” Wexler (aka “Ruth”)
from The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Turtle is too smart for her own good, and shows very little wisdom or tact at the beginning of the novel. By the end, she’s grown. She’s not only sensitive and considerate, but she’s subtle and sly. A lot of her heroism is seen in what she doesn’t do—and what she does under the radar both during the novel’s main events and afterward.

These three are the proto-heroines in my mind, everything I think about heroines come from these three. There’s a line to be drawn from all three of them to the rest of these names (that are in alphabetical order).

	October Daye, Knight of Lost Words, Hero of the Realm from the series by Seanan McGuire “Hero” is literally one of her titles, she has to go here, right? Toby is one of those reliable heroes, always ready to put the lives, safety, and welfare of others (including some enemies) before her own. She’s taken on beings with much greater power than her own—or her allies—and has found ways to come out on top. Not unscathed (sometimes very scathed), but with some sort of victory nonetheless.
	Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter from The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon I’m afraid I’m going back to this well too often in lists like this, but she was literally the second name that came to mind for this list.
	Kinsey Millhone from the Alphabet Mysteries by Sue Grafton She’s so great they literally had to change the alphabet for her. The variety of mysteries Millhone tackled was wider than most of her (fictional) peers, which definitely sets her apart. One of the best in the tradition.
	Karrin Murphy from The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher Murph is a non-powered human who is fairly skeptical about magic when we meet her—and can’t even see some of the most dangerous threats to her. But she’s now faced off against supernatural forces that have brought down nations. She never loses her essential humanity and compassion throughout—nor her commitment to justice and doing the right thing.
	Kitty Norville from the series by Carrie Vaughn Kitty just wants to live her life and do her job—but her curiosity and perspective as a werewolf push her to pull back the curtain on supernatural beings in the US (and the world). She follows that up by bringing down a vampire who’s been plotting for centuries to become the most powerful being on the planet. Not bad for a gal who did call-in radio.
	Clarice Starling from The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (not Hannibal) Clarice is thrown far into the deep end before she’s even an agent, basically as bait. But she goes rises to the occasion and does things that people with experience, age, and training far above hers can’t.
	Mercy Thompson from the series by Patricia Briggs Mercy is an agent of chaos, she’s an idealist, she has more guts than brains sometimes (and she’s pretty smart), and like so many of these heroes, she stands up to beings who dwarf her power on a regular basis without thinking about it because it’s the right thing to do to protect her city, her pack, or her family.

Announcing Grandpappy’s Corner—A New Regular Feature

By HCNewton

On February 18, 2023

In Books, Grandpappy's Corner, Miscellany, News/Misc., YA/MG/Children's Books

I’m very excited to announce a new regular feature that I’m calling Grandpappy’s Corner.
Grandpappy's Corner Logo
I’ve always gladly accepted requests from Children’s and Picture Book Authors to talk about their books–and I’ve even bought a few for that sole purpose (although those tend to skew towards Picture Books for the Adult Audience). But in the coming weeks (for reasons that should be self-evident), I’m going to start buying* and reading many more of them on a pretty regular basis. So, if I’m going to be paying attention to them more, I’m going to be blogging about them more.

* Okay, the purchasing has already started. What’s your point?

So why bother coming up with a new name for these posts, come up with a logo, etc.? Well, I’m going to be thinking of them a little differently, I think. I’ve always sort of tried to think about how it’d be to read them to a kid, how a kid might react, etc. But I’m going to focus on that a lot more. I want to talk about the art from the POV of the Reader (read: me) and the Read-To (read: the GrandCritter). I want to talk about what I experience as I read it aloud, what I think of the book, as well as what the Critter does, how they react, etc. (once they get to the point where I can notice a reaction). So to focus on that sort of thing, I want to change how I write about these books.

Also, it’ll make it easier for me to find them/point readers to them.

My first post along these lines should go up tomorrow–and maybe one more this week. I’m not going to flood the page with them, but they will appear frequently.

I can’t close out this post without calling attention to Idaho’s own Jeremy Billups, children’s book author/illustrator, (check out his website, and here’s every time he’s come up on the blog) who drew my Grandpappy Pilcrow figure. I love him.

Grandpappy Icon

Saturday Miscellany—2/18/23

By HCNewton

On February 18, 2023

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Heavy on the book blogger posts this week—some great stuff, IMHO. The one news story is likely going to my favorite (or in the top 3) of the year.

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 Calvin & Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson Is Back With “A Fable For Grown Ups” Called The Mysteries—For me, all I needed to read/link to this week is this post. And yes, I’ve placed my order.
bullet Although, I thought LitHub’s version of the announcement was more amusing.
bullet What “The Last Unicorn” Means to Us Today: A metaphor for our search for belonging.—eh, sure, this is about the movie, not the novel. Close enough, I guess. (I do like the idea of Geek Therapy, and will have to look at more of this author’s work)
bullet Adult Consolations: Tolkien on Fantasy—loved this
bullet A draft examination of the direct influences of fantasy authors pre-2000 part one: Preliminaries and Overview—The title says it all—a great post from Peat Long (who should probably share the byline on my Miscellanies lately), the work on this one post has to roughly equal the work I’ve done on this whole blog over the years.
bullet Celebrating Love Stories #RespectRomFic—In honor of that holiday earlier in the week
bullet In the same vein: You can read it in the time it takes to have a one night stand’: authors on their favourite romcom books—this is an interesting list from The Guardian. Worth checking out if only for Mike Gayle’s entry, he suggests the last author I’d have imagined on a list like this.
bullet Negative Book Reviews Are Necessary—yup
bullet Songs that fit book characters—this is a fun idea
bullet The Audience for Book Reviews

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Roughneck Dispatch: Jo Perry—Matt Phillips has started a new podcast about storytelling, this episode features a conversation with the great Jo Perry. I’m only halfway through the episode, but it’s so good that I didn’t want to risk forgetting to post the link.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel—A story of some twins struggling to make it in a small Ohio city (which is a lousy description, but you try to sum up this book in a pithy sentence). It’s from McDaniel, it’s beautiful, it’s tragic. Here’s my inadequate take on it from a couple of weeks ago.
bullet Black Wolf by Kathleen Kent—An undercover CIA agent in Belarus during the crumbling of the USSR trying to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the wrong hands, maybe discovers a serial killer (or something worse)

The Friday 56 for 2/17/22: I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This! by Bob Newhart

By HCNewton

On February 17, 2023

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:
I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!

I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This! And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny by Bob Newhart

In the piece, I imagined a telephone conversation between the press agent and Abraham Lincoln just before Gettysburg, that I think, in part, would have gone something like this:

Hi Abe, sweetheart. How are you, kid? How’s Gettysburg? … Sort of a drag, heh? Well, Abe you know them small Pennsylvania towns, you seen one you seen ’em all…. Listen Abe, I got the note. What’s the problem?…. You’re thinking of shaving it off? Abe, don’t you see that’s part of the image with the shawl and the stovepipe hat and the string tie?… You don’t have the shawl. Where’s the shawl?…. You left it in Washington. What are you wearing, Abe?…A sort of cardigan? Abe, don’t you see that doesn’t fit with the string tie and the beard? Abe, would you leave the beard on and get the shawl?

Now, what’s this about Grant?… You’re getting a lot of complaints about Grant’s drinking. Abe, to be perfectly honest with you, I don’t see the problem. You knew he was a lush when you appointed him…. Your gag writers… You want to come back with something funny? Maybe an anecdote about a town drunk. I can’t promise anything. I’ll get them working on it.