Category: News/Misc. Page 98 of 229

from Final Heir by Faith Hunter

Like a Stray Animal Haunting Aggie’s Home

Eyes closed, I felt the movement of unexpected cool air as the sweathouse door opened and shut. Last week, I had learned that Aggie One Feather, the Cherokee elder leading me into understanding my personal and tribal history, sometimes left and reentered when I was sweating through a haze of her herbal infusions and my own hidden memories. She said humans couldn’t survive five or six hours in a sweathouse like I could, let alone all night, so she would slip out and back in.

I had asked her if she had a nanny camera hidden in the sweathouse to keep track of me. Her reply had made me laugh: “You need a legion of angels to look over you, but a nanny cam could help.”

The rustling of her cotton shift, the sound of her breath, and the crackle of flames seemed loud as she settled across the fire from me and fed the coals. I smelled cedar and burning herbs and heard the scritch-grind of her mortar and pestle. Behind my lids it seemed lighter than before. It had to be near dawn.

It occurred to me that the ceremonial fire was, itself, symbolic. It was parts of this world and the next, the two halves of the universe, energy and matter. It was wood and air and energy, and together they made flame and smoke, the destruction of matter into energy. Then that thought wisped away with the fire.

Aggie said, “Drink.”

I opened my eyes against the crack and burn of dried sweat, and studied the small pottery cup she held. On the third try I managed to croak, “Eye of newt? Ragweed? Mold off your bathroom floor? Peyote?”

“That never gets old,” she lied, amusement hidden in her gaze. “I have no mold on my bathroom floor.”

Read the rest in Final Heir by Faith Hunter to see what happens from here in the epic conclusion to this great series.

My thanks to Let’s Talk! Promotions for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including the book via NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group) they provided.

Saturday Miscellany—8/20/22

By HCNewton

On August 20, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

There are a lot of good book recommendations in the posts/articles/essays below, but none are hot off the presses this week. This likely means I missed a few things, feel free to enlighten me.

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 ‘Books bring us into being’: how writing about reading became an inspiring literary genre of its own—A nice little piece on bibliomemoirs
bullet Interview with Author Wesley Chu—Beth Tabler talks to Wesley Chu about his new book and a few other things. Not that anyone asked, but I’m 150 pages or so into the new one and it’s likely ending up in my top 5 for the year…
bullet What’s Your Process?—I was pointed to this chat with various authors about their process because of the Reed Farrel Coleman segment (which was great), but the whole thing is fascinating. I love reading these kind of things.
bullet What’s In a Name? For crime fiction writers, few questions are more important.—a piece on naming characters two weeks in a row? Apparently.
bullet Five Essential Lad Lit Novels—If I’d compiled a list with that title, it’d look eerily similar to this one (I’d probably have used a different Tropper novel). Been too long since I’ve re-read these…
bullet The 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths of All Time—This list from Slate does involve several non-bookish deaths, but there’s enough literary content here that I don’t feel like it’s cheating to include it.
bullet Sometimes, Only the Most Heart-Crushing Book Will Do
bullet Why I Love To Read… Middle Grade
bullet Do you really have to pay for books?—It’s beyond tragic that this is a question that has to be answered (and that so many disagree)
bullet Why Men Avoid Fantasy Books By Women: Personal Thoughts and Theories—this is a thing I’ve never understood, but maybe I’m closer to it now Peat’s got some good things to say about it.
bullet Alternatives to Goodreads: BookSloth—another good look at a Goodreads alternative
bullet Where do you review?—wowzers…this is an impressive list. I feel tired just thinking of the labor involved.

The Friday 56 for 8/19/22: The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu

By HCNewton

On August 19, 2022

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:
The Art of Prophecy

The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu

It took her old eyes several squints in the darkness before she sighted the small figure dangling halfway down. At the base of the wall was a cluster of soldiers, with Sinsin standing just below the boy as if positioning himself to catch him if he fell. What by the enlightened imprint of Goramh’s ass was that fraud still doing here?

Taishi focused on the boy. Whatever credit she had given Jian for thinking outside the box last night was immediately wiped away by his trying to rappel down a hundred-foot wall with fifty feet of rope. Even more stupid was that it had taken him climbing all the way to the end of the rope before he realized he was in trouble.

Book Blogger Hop: Favorite Books

By HCNewton

On August 17, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Julie @ Stepping Stone Book Reviews:

What are some of your favorite books?

Are you kidding?!?!?!
Ain't nobody got time for dat!

I just have too many favorites, it’s that simple. I really can’t choose. I’ve taken 3 swings at this post in the last couple of days, and I end up with notes that are too long for me to convert into a readable post (or one that I can finish in a timely fashion). And when I forced a limit on myself (genre, number of books, time of publication), I couldn’t settle on a list without triple or quadruple-guessing everything.

Basically, I couldn’t stop overthinking this question*. But I’d spent so much time trying to come up with something that I just had to post something—even if it was as feeble as this.

* See also: Decision Paralysis or Analysis Paralysis.

What about you?

WWW Wednesday, August 17, 2022

By HCNewton

On August 17, 2022

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

Are you up for WWW Wednesday? Hope so, cuz here we go…

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 last book in the Jane Yellowrock series, Final Heir by Faith Hunter. My current audiobook is Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest, Ulka Simone Mohanty.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Chris McDonald’s Roses for the Dead, a great conclusion to the trilogy; and the quick hit of goodness that was The Heron by Don Winslow, Ed Harris (Narrator), on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu, which just looks great, and my next audiobook should be Out of Spite, Out of Mind by Scott Meyer, Luke Daniels (Narrator), which is hopefully an improvement over the previous one in the series.

Blank Space

Hope you’re reading something good, tell me about it!

Saturday Miscellany—8/13/22

By HCNewton

On August 13, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

It’s Left Hander’s Day and I should have a list of characters to mention here, but I can only think of Kvothe and Arya Stark when it comes to fiction. Anyone out there know of any notable sinistral characters? There has to be a bunch of them…

I don’t have a long list today, apparently I wasn’t the only one not feeling incredibly creative this week. (or with time on our hands). More time for our Weekend Reads, right?

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 Where Are Mass Market Paperbacks Headed?
bullet The Fine Art of Naming Characters in Crime Fiction
bullet Anne Rice and the making of a modern vampire
bullet The Five Great Novels of Dashiell Hammett—for years I’ve told myself I need to read Hammett…this might have pushed me over the edge.
bullet NetGalley’s blog, We Are Bookish, had a couple of handy posts this week:
bullet NetGalley’s Guide to Who to Tag in Book Reviews
bullet Tips for Battling Reviewer Writer’s Block
bullet The Books that Made Me – The Once and Future King by T.H. White—Inexplicably, I’ve never been able to finish this book, I need to give it another shot.
bullet Different Ways To Categorise Fantasy—another helpful post from Peat Long
bullet Reading & Book Collecting
bullet 10 Years, 10 Favorite Books—Great idea for a post, but I have no idea how Caitlin was able to limit it to just one book for each year without at least one tie. (then again, I do, what 5 or 6 best of lists each year, I clearly have trouble limiting myself)
bullet How Reviewing Changed the Way I Read?

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet The Thriller Zone Episode 83: Eli Cranor, author of Don’t Know Tough—Cranor sounds and talks just like you’d expect, this was a great chat.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Bark to the Future by Spencer Quinn—Chet and Bernie are back for novel #13, and it’s a doozy. Bernie tries to help an old high school teammate and gets into a lot of trouble. I blogged about it couple of weeks ago
bullet The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu—What do you do when the prophecy about the Chosen One who will save the country is wrong? Taishi, the greatest war artist of her generation, decides to mold the object of the prophecy into who the kingdom needs him to be.
bullet The Deal Goes Down by Larry Beinhart—a retired PI is hired as a hitman and ends up working to save women from abusive marriages—and make money at the same time. (that’s a lousy job of summarizing the description, but without reading the book, it’s as good as I’m going to get…click the link)

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to tinareadsallthebooks who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.
Late Night Reading

The Friday 56 for 8/12/22: One Decisive Victory by Jeffery H. Haskell

By HCNewton

On August 12, 2022

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 56% of:
One Decisive Victory

One Decisive Victory by Jeffery H. Haskell

Jennings sat back, staring intently at the map. She manipulated the controls, zooming in on the compound and rotating it clockwise to look at the building from all angles. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but… what about a compromise?” she asked.

From the expressions on the other marines, Nadia suspected those words might never have escaped the sergeant’s lips before.

WWW Wednesday, August 10, 2022

By HCNewton

On August 10, 2022

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

Like I said Saturday, I’ve been largely occupied with non-book related things this week, but I did have time to put together this last night, I should be back to normal tomorrow. But for now, here’s 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?

Today, I’m wrapping up the third Charley Mann thriller, Persecution by RC Bridgestock, and I should be finishing Plugged by Eoin Colfer, John Keating (Narrator) on audiobook.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished J. C. Jackson’s Divine and Conquer—a pivotal installment for this series—and Summerland by Michael Chabon on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be One Decisive Victory by Jeffery H. Haskell, which promises to be chock-full of action. To gear up for the next Toby Daye in a couple of weeks, I’m going to revisit When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal (Narrator) via audiobook.

One Decisive Victory Blank Space

What about you?

Spelling the Month in Books: August

By HCNewton

On August 10, 2022

In Books, News/Misc.

Spelling the Month in Books: August
Okay, I couldn’t stick to my “books read before I started blogging” theme—titles that start with U aren’t that common, and I had two of them this month. But I did go for books that I read a few years ago, anyway. The problem with this post is that I want to take a break from everything I’m doing to re-read these (and their sequels/other entries in the series) today.

	Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick Joe Schreiber’s YA thriller is about what you’d expect from this title. It’s a fast, light, thriller about a high schooler stuck taking an exchange student to prom. It turns out that she’s a little more than the shy geek he imagined. Okay, she’s a lot more than that.
	Updraft Fran Wilde’s book is too hard for me to describe in a sentence or two—this is a wildly imaginative novel brimming with great worldbuilding, a strong story, and memorable characters. It’s not quite the book that will make you believe a man (or young woman, in this case) can fly—but you’ll hope it was so.
	Gone, Baby, Gone Dennis Lehane’s fourth novel was my introduction to both him and his Kenzie & Gennaro. And it made me an insta-fan. It’s a great piece of P.I. fiction, a gripping story that’ll break your heart and haunt you for a long time to come (24 years so far for me).
	Unseemly Science The second novel in Rod Duncan’s Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire series takes a lot of what was established in the first book and blows it up so that the characters are driven to new strengths and adventures and so that readers’ expectations are surpassed. Espionage and strange science take this steampunk/gaslamp adventure in a direction that few in this genre go.
	The Stepsister Scheme Jim C. Hines’s repurposing of these fairy tale princesses is one of my favorites—he takes Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty and turns them into secret agents who are defending the kingdom with their wits, magic, and martial arts. There’s a little bit of humor, but he doesn’t play this for jokes. This book sets up a series of four re-imagining of these (and other) fairy tale/Disney princesses that The Mouse definitely wouldn’t approve of.
	Tonight I Said Goodbye Michael Koryta’s debut blew me away—PI Lincoln Perry and his partner/mentor Joe Prichard are hired to investigate the apparent suicide of an investigator and the disappearance of his wife and daughter. Lincoln and Joe soon find themselves up to their neck in danger from the Russian mob. I’ve read this two or three times over fifteen years ago, so my memory is pretty vague, but I remember being gripped by the story and the characters—and thinking that three sequels to this were not enough. Koryta’s gone on to bigger and better things—but I’d take another book with these characters any day.

Top Ten Tuesday: Titles that Tickled My Funny Bone

By HCNewton

On August 9, 2022

In News/Misc.

The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesdays is the Hilarious Book Titles.

Sure, calling some “hilarious” practically invites the response of “eh, it’s okay, I guess.” Hilarity (to me) implies funny to the nth degree. So, when I picked the books for this list, I went with “Titles that tickled my funny bone (and continue to)”—that seemed more attainable. My Long List after going through my shelves and Goodreads numbered in the 70s, but whittling it down was super easy (would’ve been easier if I’d have let myself use multiple titles from Watterson, Kellett, or Trudeau).

Titles that tickled my funny bone (and continue to)

	Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster) by Dave Barry That title is pure Barry—a little silly, maybe a little lazy, but funny. The book was largely pieces of wisdom that Barry is passing on to his daughter and grandson. More of the advice is helpful than you might think, it’s all worth listening to. The rest of the book ain’t bad, either. In case you’re curious about what I’ve written about this audiobook (and some others written by Barry), click here.
	Have You Eaten Grandma?: Or, the Life-Saving Importance of Correct Punctuation, Grammar, and Good English by Gyles Brandreth Sure, we’ve all seen the jokes/memes, etc. about “Have you eaten, Grandma? vs Have you eaten Grandma?”, it’s using it with the subtitle phrase “Life-Saving Importance” that grabbed my attention (and it was worth it—a fun and helpful guide to grammar, etc.) In case you’re curious about what I’ve written about this book, click here.
	Literature: Unsuccessfully Competing Against TV Since 1953 by Dave Kellett This title for the collection of bookish-themed strips from the webcomic Sheldon isn’t the best part of the collection, but it always makes me grin. I’ve read the thing from cover to cover a handful of times, and have read bits and pieces of it frequently—I’m a big fan of Kellett’s work and this is among his best.
	A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher I’m sure I’m not the only one who picked up this book because of the title alone—I’m not even sure that I read the blurb for it. I’m so glad I did, it was full of heart, charm, and humor—and leaves you craving baked goods (magic-free, preferably). In case you’re curious about what I’ve written about the audiobook, click here.
	A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing but Using the Bathroom as an Escape by Joe Pera, Joe Bennett (Illustrator) When you see the title, you imagine that this is a parody of a book listing or something, right? It can’t be a real book. Ahh, but it is. The title tells you pretty much everything you need to know about this odd source of affirmation and encouragement. In case you’re curious about what I’ve written about this book, click here.
	99 Poems to Cure Whatever’s Wrong with You or Create The Problems You Need by Sam Pink It was someone sharing a poem from this book that caught my eye, but it was the title that cinched it for me—I had to give these poems a try. It’s the last clause that did it. After reading these, I don’t think any problems were created or cured, but I got a nice break from them for a little bit. In case you’re curious about what I’ve written about this book, click here.
	46% Better Than Dave by Alastair Puddick It’s the specificity of the percentage that did it for me. I’m not sure what it is about the 46 that works, but it does. A man with a perfectly nice life loses perspective when a he gets a new neighbor that shares his first name. Suddenly he’s the “old” Dave to all his friends—and “new” (with an implied “improved”) Dave seems to have a better life—46% better. It’s a funny and sweet novel about realizing how green grass on your side of the fence is. In case you’re curious about what I’ve written about this book, click here.
	I Just Want My Pants Back by David Rosen I didn’t like this book as much as the title, but the title still works for me. You can hear the lament/whine… After a one-night stand, Jason Strider has to go on a quest to get his jeans back. Hilarity (theoretically) ensues. In case you’re curious about what I’ve written about this book, click here.
	Even Revolutionaries Like Chocolate Chip Cookies by G.B. Trudeau I mean, who doesn’t? This subtle little reminder about our shared humanity comes from this collection of newspaper strips in 1972. It’s one of the earliest Doonesbury collections, the humor (as I recall) isn’t quite as refined as it would become—but maybe hits the targets better.
	Scientific Progress Goes “Boink” by Bill Watterson I think it’s the “Boink” that sells this title for me—if it had been another sound, I don’t know if it’d would’ve clicked for me. This Calvin and Hobbes collection is just wonderful, which is a tautology, sure. I just can’t think of anything else to say.