Category: News/Misc. Page 95 of 229

September 2022 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

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On October 3, 2022

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

Wow, September sped by for me–I felt like I was behind all month, 3 titles felt like they took twice as long as they should have to finish (but never dragged) and I just didn’t produce nearly as much as I thought I would. (although, when do I ever?) Still, all in all, it was a good month–29 titles finished for 7,536+ pages (or the equivalent). My average rating for the month was 3.4 stars–although I’m still thinking about a couple of them, so it might technically be higher (I think I need to write something before I know for sure). 3.4 is a little lower than I’ve been hitting lately, but I’m not complaining–even with a couple of “meh” books, I enjoyed them all.

The Big Project I’d hoped to start two weeks ago, is under way, so expect something new and exciting (at least for me, but I hope for you) soon.

Enough blather, here’s what happened here in September.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Blood Sugar Travel by Bullet Sympathy for the Devil
4 Stars 3.5 Stars 2 Stars
Be the Serpent Fatal Forgery Spider-Man’s Social Dilemma
Unsure 3.5 Stars 4 Stars
Tracy Flick Can't Win Fallout Adequate Yearly Progress
2 Stars 3.5 Stars 3 Stars
An Easy Death The Days of Tao Snowstorm in August
3 Stars 3.5 Stars Still
Deciding
The Man Who Died Twice Wealth Management The Soul's Conflict and Victory Over Itself by Faith
4 Stars 3.5 Stars 3.5 Stars
Big Red Tequila Dead Man's Hand The Truth
3 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Hell and Back Movies (And Other Things) The Stories Behind the Stories
3 Stars 3.5 Stars 4 Stars
The Great Lie Directed by James Burrows All at Sea
3.5 Stars 3.5 Stars 4 Stars
Station Eternity For We Are Many Heads in Beds
4 Stars 3.5 Stars 2 1/2 Stars
Santa’s Little Yelpers Oliver’s Walk
4 Stars 3 Stars

Still Reading

Faith & Life In the Fullness of Time Legends & Lattes

Ratings

5 Stars 0 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 0 2 Stars 2
4 Stars 9 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 10 1 Star 0
3 Stars 5
Average = 3.4

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2021		 9 45 42 144
1st of the
Month		 8 49 145 145
Added 7 2 4 0
Read/
Listened		 6 1 6 1
Current Total 9 50 40 144

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 20
Self-/Independent Published: 9

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 4 (2%)
Fantasy 1 (3%) 21 (9%)
General Fiction/ Literature 2 (7%) 15 (7%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 12 (41%) 89 (39%)
Non-Fiction 4 (14%) 20 (9%)
Science Fiction 5 (17%) 21 (9%)
Theology/ Christian Living 2 (7%) 36 (16%)
Urban Fantasy 3 (10%) 26 (11%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 1 (0%)

Review-ish Things Posted

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

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

Saturday Miscellany—10/1/22

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On October 1, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

So, this is pretty late, but…at 11:45pm yesterday, my daughter called asking me to take her to the ER. So I put this aside. Almost 20 hours later, I got home—and she has one less inflamed appendix. But it’s still Saturday (for at least some of the world), so this counts.

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 What Book Bans Take From Kids
bullet Books won’t save you: You can’t use literature as a shortcut to self-improvement—hear, hear
bullet Meet the Author: Neil Lancaster
bullet Tom Hanks is publishing a novel, and it sounds exactly like a Tom Hanks movie.—huh.
bullet Sherlock Holmes and the Case of Friendships with Entirely Fictional Characters—this post is more directed at TV, but it easily applies to novels
bullet The Book Character Awards! (a bookalicious initiative)—this is a neat idea
bullet My Experience with Not Using Goodreads for a Month
bullet Hugboxing and Scabpicking—Peat Long gives a vocabulary lesson…
bullet An Author’s Monster Manual—Witty and Sarcastic Book Club launched another series this week—I love the premise for this—what if the D&D Monster Manual was compiled from creatures in Fantasy novels?

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Eating the Fantastic Episode 181 Chow down with Wesley Chu—this is the first I’ve heard of this podcast, but I’ll likely come back for more, if the interviews tend to be as good as this one with Chu was.
bullet Blood Brothers Episode 105 with Anthony Horowitz—a fun chat with Horowitz that has convinced me to give the Hawthorne and Horowitz books a couple of more installments, at least.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Iron Gate by Harry Connolly—the new installment in The Twenty Palaces series. The best Urban Fantasy series you aren’t reading. Circumstances allowed me to read this today (two weeks or so ahead of schedule), and it was great. I’ll be posting about this as soon as I can.
bullet The Last King of California by Jordan Harper—He made a new life for himself, but it didn’t work out, and now Luke has to return to the gang he escaped from. Sure, you have to import this from the UK to read it, but I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be worth it, since its from Harper.
bullet Treasure State by C.J. Box—a new Cassie Dewell novel has the PI on the hunt for a con man.
bullet The Big Bang Theory Book of Lists: The Official Guide to Characters, Quotes, Timelines, and Memorable Moments by Bryan Young—this looks like it could be a lot of fun
Tsundoku

The Friday 56 for 9/30/22: A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan

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On September 30, 2022

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

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it.

from Page 56 of:
A Death in Door County

A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan

He paused and pulled at his beard. “I suppose one explanation is that whatever bit them fellas carried them to the waters near the beaches where they were found.”

“But why?” I said, a mostly rhetorical question. I was merely thinking aloud. “If the men weren’t killed for food, why were they killed? It doesn’t fit with typical animal behavior.”

“Well, this ain’t exactly a typical animal we’re thinking about here, is it?” Marty said, arching those scraggly eyebrows.

Book Blogger Hop: Do You Reread Books?

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On September 28, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

 

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Have you ever reread a book? If so, why did you decide to reread it?

Have I ever? There’ve been times in my life when re-reading was the majority of my reading. Thankfully, a better library, a larger budget, and the occasional book in exchange for a review have prevented that from being the case lately.

Sometimes, I re-read because I have nothing else on hand to read (it’s been ages since this has been an issue). Sometimes it’s because I need to refresh my memory before a new installment of a series comes out and I want to get the last book or two in my mind as a refresher. Sometimes it’s because I didn’t understand something the first time—or I need to review the material in general (I’m thinking primarily of non-fiction books here). But the primary reason I re-read is that I liked the book and want to experience it again.

A lot of it is the comfort of returning to a world and characters that I liked—when I get sick, for example, a quick visit to the Brownstone on West 35th Street* does as much good as chicken noodle soup. Or it’s the writing—the wordplay of Ellen Raskin or Gregory Mcdonald always makes me smile. Or just to relive the story—I could give too many examples here.

* That’d be Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin books.

Sadly, I really don’t have that much time anymore to re-read and I miss it. I feel a little guilty that I’m not reading something I can blog about when I do that (sure, sometimes I do talk about re-reads, but it’s not often)—and even without the guilt, I just don’t have the time. Largely, that’s what I use audiobooks for now.

Are you a one-and-done type of reader, or do you keep circling back?

WWW Wednesday, September 28, 2022

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On September 28, 2022

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

It seems like my library has decided to bring me every book I’ve put on hold in the last three months at once. I’m drowning in books to read–and don’t get me started on books I pre-ordered months ago that are gathering dust. On top of that, it feels like I’m getting interrupted and distracted every time I sit down to read or blog. Basically, “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread” (a few days too late for Hobbit Day). Humbug.

On the other hand, it’s been so long since I read/listened to a dud, that I don’t remember what it was, and am having a great time with these books.

Anyway, here’s this week’s WWW Wednesday, as I chronicle my attempt to tread water in the middle of this flood.

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 really enjoying, but making slug-like progress in, Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty and am digging into For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter (Narrator) on audiobook. And boy howdy, is that title correct, I’m having trouble keeping track of the “many” POVs.

Station EternityBlank SpaceFor We Are Many

What did you recently finish reading?

I was apparently in a subtitle mood last week with a couple of fun and informative books celebrating some of my favorite books/shows: Danielle Higley’s The Stories Behind the Stories: The Remarkable True Tales Behind Your Favorite Kid’s Books and Directed by James Burrows: Five Decades of Stories from the Legendary Director of Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Will & Grace, and More by James Burrows with Eddy Friedfeld and Read by James Burrows and Danny Campbell on audio.

The Stories Behind the StoriesBlank SpaceDirected by James Burrows

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the ARC for Santa’s Little Yelpers by David Rosenfelt (moved up the list to make sure I hit the publication date) and my next audiobook should be Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality by Jacob Tomsky, Jacob Tomsky (Narrator), something I stumbled onto at the library that caught my eye.

Santa's Little YelpersBlank SpaceHeads in Beds

How are you closing out this ninth month?

Saturday Miscellany—9/24/22

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On September 24, 2022

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 EveryLibrary Poll Finds Book Bans Are Broadly Unpopular With Voters
bullet The Enduring Allure of Choose Your Own Adventure Books—a tribute to and look at the origin of the series
bullet S. A. Cosby: Interview and Cover Reveal—a nice (but quick) interview with Cosby and a look at the fantastic cover of his upcoming book.
bullet How to Get Books For Free – Legally—a quick, but potentially valuable, list
bullet Misconceptions People May Have About Book Blogging
bullet CANON: It’s Not What You Think It Is—quibbles with some of the details in the first paragraph of “Definitions” aside, I appreciated these thoughts on Canon in SF. (Hat Tip to Peat Long for this one)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman—It’s the third Thursday Murder Club book, I really don’t think more needs to be said.
bullet Wealth Management by Edward Zuckerman—Financial shenanigans, international crime, and terrorism mix in this thriller. I talked a bit about it.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to ominousthespirit, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.
Mencken's definition of bibliobibuli

The Friday 56 for 9/23/22: Hell and Back by Craig Johnson

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On September 23, 2022

In Craig Johnson, Currently Reading, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56, Walt Longmire

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Hell and Back

Hell and Back by Craig Johnson

We slowly drove through town. I could see the lights were still on in the library, and I felt a twinge of guilt about not having been able to lock it up. “I made a pass at your librarian.”

“He kept his eyes on the road. “You what?”

“Well, not the librarian exactly, but the one from the café that re-shelves books, Martha?”

He nodded. “Who else have you had contact with since “you’ve been in town?”

“What, you think I’m contagious?”

“I’m just curious as to what a fellow does after finding himself lying out there in the road during a blizzard.”

WWW Wednesday, September 21, 2022

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On September 21, 2022

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

I knew I’d been distracted lately, but I just saw how many comments I haven’t approved/replied to over the last couple of weeks. I guess I’ve been really distracted, I’d better work on that tonight (assuming I get the chance). In the meantime, it’s time for 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 just started Hell and Back by Craig Johnson—it looks like Walt’s off on another supernatural adventure. I’m about to finish listening to the return of DC Smith in  The Truth by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator) on audiobook.

Hell and BackBlank SpaceThe Truth

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished James J. Butcher’s Dead Man’s Hand—which was as good as I’d hoped—and Big Red Tequila by Rick Riordan, Tom Stechschulte (Narrator) on audio—it was nice to remember what pre-Percy Jackson Riordan was like.

Dead Man's HandBlank SpaceBig Red Tequila

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the SF/Mystery hybrid, Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty, and my next audiobook should be the essay collection Movies (And Other Things) by Shea Serrano, Mario Toscano (Narrator).

Station EternityBlank SpaceMovies (And Other Things)

While I work on catching up on comments, feel free to drop your Ws.

Spelling the Month in Books: September

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On September 19, 2022

In Books, News/Misc.

Spelling the Month in Books: September
So this month’s entry kicks off the “-ber” months (most of them are “-ember’s, too), and coming up with enough books that start with “E” is going to be tricky. It was fun revisiting some of these books, at least for these brief paragraphs. Like I have for the previous 8 months, I’m tempted to stop everything and re-read at least half of this list today.

S Striaght Man

Straight Man

Richard Russo’s novel traces the week of the chairman of an English Department at a Pennsylvania university. It’s hard to imagine how much damage a man can do to his own life in so short of time. It’s one of those “serious” novels for literary readers that is (intentionally) funny—and still manages to tell a good story, with a lot of heart—and a little academic satire, too. And any book with a duck like that on the cover has to be worth a read, right?
E Eragon

Eragon

Say what you will about Christopher Paolini’s debut, the story of his writing and getting it published is pretty cool. I remember enjoying it for what it is—a fun MG story about a 15-year-old who finds a dragon egg, which launches a bunch of adventures that reminded me a bit too much about Star Wars. (which didn’t make it less fun, just made it a different kind of fun).
P The Phantom Tollbooth

The Phantom Tollbooth

Norton Juster’s children’s classic is one of those books that I can read and enjoy today. The story of a dull boy who receives a magic tollbooth and travels to a strange world where he has to use his mind and imagination. I loved (and still do) the wordplay, the puns, and the very strange companions that Milo picks up along the way. Jules Feiffer’s illustrations are the perfect companion to the story, and when I listened to an audiobook version of it, not having them took a little away from the experience.
T True Grit

True Grit

This has to be the best-known work by Charles Portis—and it deserves its renown. Mattie Ross is such a great character. Her interactions with Rooster Cogburn while they hunt for her father’s killer was unexpectedly entertaining. I really wouldn’t have imagined this to have been so entertaining before I dove in—but I had a blast with this feisty protagonist.
E Envy the Night

Envy the Night

This was the first stand-alone thriller from Michael Koryta, and I remember not being sure what I’d think about it. My memory for the details is hazy (it’s been 14 years), but I remember being gripped. It was a new tone and a new kind of character for him, but everything else—the writing, the storytelling, and the suspense of the novel were just what the reader had become accustomed to.
M Mirrorshades

Mirrorshades

Bruce Stirling’s inaugural collection of cyberpunk stories is one of the very few short story collections that I’ve read multiple times. It defined a movement, brought it to the masses, and is just so much fun.
B Brighton Beach Memoirs

Brighton Beach Memoirs

I don’t know how many times I watched the movie version of this, but the script for the play is just so much better. The story of Eugene and his family struggling to get by, worriedly watching what’s going on in Europe in 1937, and preparing to take in their relatives who are clearly going to need a new place to live. Genuine laughs, a lot of heart, and a solid coming-of-age story.
E Everything Changes

Everything Changes

This was the first Jonathan Tropper book that I read. Having read them all (most more than once), it’s not my favorite, but as it was my first, I do have a soft spot for it. With his wedding coming up, Zack deals with the death of his best friend (2 years prior), Zack’s less-than-Plantoic feelings for his friend’s widow, and his father returning to his life after decades. As less than positive I might have sounded, it did bring me back for more—I can’t get enough of Tropper’s voice.
R The Ranger

The Ranger

It’d take about 30 seconds of not-very-intense research around here to see that I’m an Ace Atkins fan—and the series that kicks off with The Ranger is a big part of that. In this novel, Army Ranger Quinn Colson comes home from Afghanistan to discover that his uncle, the county sheriff, either committed suicide or was killed. Colson looks into the death and learns a lot more than he expected. Colson’s story (and the story of that county) is still going strong after 11 books.

Saturday Miscellany—9/17/22

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On September 17, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

How does being a parent of adult children take so much time? I’m not complaining about (actually enjoyed and would welcome more of) the interruptions they brought this week, but I had pages to read and posts to write, fer cryin’ out loud! It was far easier to claim my own time and send them to bed when bed wasn’t in a differnt building 7 miles away.

Still, I did manage to get a bit done, and even find a few things for this collection. Hope you enjoy.

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 Was It Ever Possible For One Person To Read Every Book Ever Written (in English)?—Randal Munroe tackles this ever-so pressing (or not) question
bullet You Can Procrastinate Anything If You Have Enough Books—Well, yeah…
bullet The Books That Made Me – The First Law by John Palladino—another fun installment of this series from Before We Go Blog (although it could use a quick fact check in the first paragraph).
bullet An Ode to Reading—a nice (and fairly relatable) memoir of a reader/introduction to a blog
bullet Have You Ever Suffered from Book Blogger Imposter Syndrome?
bullet The Best Way to Track Your Reading: 18 Bullet Journal Spread Ideas for Readers—I’ve tried Bullet Journaling a couple of times over the last few years, and it really seems like a good idea and I wish I could stick to it. Although I seem to enjoy reading about it more than actually doing it.
bullet Some Research to Ponder about Book Piracy—some good stuff on this regrettably evergreen topic

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon (after last weeks handful, only finding one this week makes me think I missed several—fill me in!):
bullet A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan—a bookstore owner/cryptozoologist looks into a series of deaths that might indicate there’s an actual lake monster living nearby.

Definition of Bibliotaph

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