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February 2024 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

February I finished 22 titles (5 up from last month, 4 down from last February), with 5,364 pages or the equivalent (291 down from last month), and gave them an average of 3.7 stars (.19 down from last month). Overall, not bad.

I’m falling behinder on posting about what I’m reading again–I knew that was happening, but I thought I was doing better than I was until I did this post. I’m going to have to work on that–on the other hand, other posts kinds of posts are in good shape (even if I missed a couple I’d planned on during the month). I’m going to call the month a toss-up on that front.

Not my best month, but definitely not my worst. That’s good enough for me. Here’s what happened here in February.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Still Reading

Glorifying and Enjoying God Word and Spirit Redemptive History & Biblical Interpretation
Institutes of Elenctic Theology Vol. 1 Zwingli the Pastor The Body’s Keepers

Ratings

5 Stars 1 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 3 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 6 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 7 1 Star 0
3 Stars 4
Average = 3.7

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
NetGalley
Shelf
End of
2023
6 47 68 153 5
1st of the
Month
5 48 67 152 6
Added 1 0 3 3 4
Read/
Listened
10 0 5 1 1
Current Total 5 48 65 154 9

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 16
Self-/Independent Published: 6

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 3 (14%) 3 (8%)
Fantasy 1 (5%) 6 (15%)
General Fiction/ Literature 3 (14%) 5 (13%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 5 (23%) 10 (26%)
Non-Fiction 2 (9%) 3 (8%)
Science Fiction 3 (14%) 4 (10%)
Theology/ Christian Living 2 (9%)  4 (10%)
Urban Fantasy 3 (14%) 4 (10%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 0 (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?


February Calendar

Saturday Miscellany—2/3/24

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 Column: Need help finding a good book? Try one your 9th-grader isn’t allowed to read —There’s something to this strategy (especially if it leads someone to read Milton), but I’m mostly sharing this for some of the updates on the banning-but-not-technically movement across the states.
bullet The Great Fiction of AI: The strange world of high-speed semi-automated genre fiction—as Pages Unbound noted, “The problem with this article is that we’re all mocking the authors for ‘writing’ books with AI, but they’re claiming people buy their books anyway and they’re making tons of money by churning this stuff out.”
bullet What Is Punctuation For?: Between the medieval and modern world, the marks used to make writing more legible changed from “pointing” to punctuation.
bullet Why Are We Talking About Books Like This?—This.
bullet What Makes a Favorite?—I appreciated Kopratic’s musings on the topic
bullet Dealing with DNF: The Practice of Did Not Finish—I’ve linked to a number of posts on DNFing over the years, I don’t know if any have been this thorough
bullet Why I’m No Longer Reading Grimdark…—I get this. I absolutely get this. I’m not there, but I could be. And I really identified with the Orangutan Librarian’s ‘2nd paragraph.
bullet Welcome to the #Febookary Reading Challenge 2024!—This looks fun. I absolutely don’t have time for it, but it looks fun.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Fobbit by David Abrams
bullet
Split Second by David Baldacci
bullet Unnatural Selection by Aaron J. Elkins
bullet And I noted the releases of Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch (and I was not prepared for all of that) and Cress by Marissa Meyer.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet According to Mark by H. B. O’Neill—”Following a bad breakup, a despondent man, Robert, becomes convinced that the spirit of Mark Twain is trying to guide his life and thinking, giving him lessons in the form of quotations from Twain’s works. Eventually, Twain focuses on getting Robert to kill himself. Robert’s eager to follow the lessons of his hero, but things keep interfering with his efforts.” Is how I started my raving about the book. You can read the rest here.
bullet A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen—I stopped reading at the author’s name. So I don’t know what it’s about…it’s sort of a Groundhog Day/ST:TNG “Cause and Effect” kind of thing. But not?
bullet Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson—Stevenson follows up his dynamite novel by sticking his protagonist in a locked room mystery on a train. Sounds perfect to me.
bullet Rivers of London: Here Be Dragons by James Swallow, Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch—Peter and Nightingale deal with a Wyvern above London in the newest comic collection.
bullet These Deadly Prophecies by Andrea Tang—without reading it, I doubt I can do better than the description: “A teenage sorcerer’s apprentice must solve her boss’s murder in order to prove her innocence in this twisty, magic-infused murder mystery perfect for fans of Knives Out and The Inheritance Games.”

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to mentalnotes1, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.
I may not know how to fly but I know how to read, and that's almost the same thing. Gregory Maguire

January 2024 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

Before I get into anything, I want to give a shout-out to the tech wizard behind all this, Micah Burke, who (seemingly effortlessly…but probably not) got this site updated and fixed overnight. Hopefully the comments that I inadvertently broke are back online–many other things behind the scenes are much improved, too. You’re a legend, sir. Check out his website, buy one of his pics, hire him for something…

I finished 17 titles (10 down from last month, 3 down from last January), with an equivalent of 5,655 pages or the equivalent (2,250 down from last month), and gave them an average of 3.89 stars (.1 up from last month). I’d realized that I was taking longer with most books this year, I just didn’t know it was that much slower. I’m okay with that number–I only track so I can see how I’m spending my time–it’s just strange for me. Another thing that stood out to me is that my Traditionally vs. Indie Published ratio isn’t what I hope for, but looking at my TBR for the year, that should level off.

Most of my writing was focused on 2023, but I tried to keep a hand in and an eye on 2024 as well, with decent results. I left a couple of items on the drawing board, but not enough that I care. All in all, I’m calling this a good month and a strong start for ’24 for myself and for this wee lil’ blog.

Now, next week something’s happening in that part of my life that pays for all this. I don’t know how that’ll impact my posting frequency or my reading and listening. I’m pretty sure it will…but what do I know? The last 3-4 times I’ve said something like this, no discernible change was visible. Stay tuned, I guess.

But let’s get back to January, here’s what happened around here:
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Book 3 of
The Azure
Archipelago
The Blacktongue Thief Miles Morales Suspended
4 Stars 4 Stars 3.5 Stars
The Tainted Cup Charm City Rocks Cultural Christians in the Early Church
5 Stars 4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars
The Book of Doors America Fantastica Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
4 Stars 2 Stars 4 Stars
Calculated Risks The Two Kingdoms Hacker
3.5 Stars 4 Stars 4 1/2 Stars
Prayers for Rain Death in the Dark Woods Planet Narnia
4 Stars 3 Stars 3.5 Stars
The City of Scales Dream Town
4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars

Still Reading

Glorifying and Enjoying God Word and Spirit Redemptive History & Biblical Interpretation
Institutes of Elenctic Theology Vol. 1 The Water and the Blood Didn't See That Coming

Ratings

5 Stars 1 2 1/2 Stars 0
4 1/2 Stars 3 2 Stars 1
4 Stars 8 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 3 1 Star 0
3 Stars 1
Average = 3.88

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
NetGalley
Shelf
End of
2023
6 47 68 152 5
1st of the
Month
6 47 68 152 5
Added 2 3 4 3 3
Read/
Listened
3 2 5 3 2
Current Total 5 48 67 152 6

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 14
Self-/Independent Published: 3

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Fantasy 5 (29%) 5 (29%)
General Fiction/ Literature 2 (12%) 2 (12%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 5 (29%) 5 (29%)
Non-Fiction 1 (6%) 1 (6%)
Science Fiction 1 (6%) 1 (6%)
Theology/ Christian Living 2 (12%) 2 (12%)
Urban Fantasy 1 (6%) 1 (6%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th), I also wrote:

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?


January Calendar

2024 Plans and Challenges

Finally it’s time to stop looking at 2023 (as fun as that’s been) and to start focusing on 2024.
2024 Plans and Challenges
Many of my goals and the challenges I set for myself for 2023 were not accomplished. I’m okay with that, mostly, because some of what came up along the way ended up better than I’d hoped. And the rest…well, really didn’t matter much anyway. So I’m over it.

I do have things I want to accomplish here over the next 12 months for a variety of reasons—and listing them like this helped last year (although, you’ll see a lot of echoes here from that post. But most of those echoes are of a “continue doing this” nature). So, here’s what I’m going to shoot for around here in the next 12 months.
bullet Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own (a perennial project, but 2024 was not good for the size of that stack)—at least two of the Book Challenges this year should be a fun way to help.
bullet I’m going to finish my Classic Spenser series and maybe find another Classic to do a project read-through. We’ll see about that. (This is a repeat from the last couple of years, but it’s nagging at me)
bullet I’m going to continue to be picky in the Book Tours I participate in. I still like Tours, they expose me to things I wouldn’t normally read—and I’m going to keep doing them. But if I’m picky, it helps me focus on other things.
bullet I was planning on cutting back on the Reading Challenges I was trying, but ended up just exchanging two for two new ones. There’s plenty of overlap possible between them, so that’ll help. These are concrete tasks, no more of these “Read as Many of X as You Can” challenges. I’ll talk about those in a minute.
bullet Try to interview more authors (maybe others, too?), and get better at that, too. The Literary Locals series is helping with that.
bullet I want to continue the Literary Locals, but I think I need to find a new phase of it, something different.
bullet I plan on pressing forward with Grandpappy’s Corner, and hopefully do posts for it more frequently.

2024 Book Challenges


Goodreads Challenge
Goodreads Challenge
My oldest son taunted me into upping my annual goal to 250 last year. I think I’ll go for that again–I’m not sure I’ll beat it this year. Some things might come up to cause me to read a little less–and I’ve got some slower reads on my calendar for the year. So if I hit that, I’ll be more than satisfied. If I miss it, well, I really don’t care–it’s just habit to set a goal for this at this point.

Well, okay, I don’t care that much.


12 Books
I did this one in 2022, and it really expanded my reading. I thought the same would happen last year, but…wow. I got distracted. So I want to take another stab at this group of selections.
12 Books Challenge


Reading with Wrigs
Reading with Wrigs
This is a fun-looking challenge designed to step into the gap left by the retirement of the While I Was Reading Challenge. I’m looking forward to giving it a shot.


The 2024 Booktempter’s TBR Challenge

The 2024 Booktempter's TBR Challenge
I really appreciate the way this one is put together, and it’s pretty easy—just 1 book a month and my TBR should go down by at least 12, more if I can squeeze in some of the stretch goals. This has been pretty helpful the last two years, and I expect the same this year.


Backlist Bingo 2024
Backlist Bingo 2024
I enjoyed participating in Armed With a Book’s Bingo a few years ago, so when I saw this one announced, I found myself ignoring my resolution to cut down on challenges for the year.


20 Books of Summer
I’ll also undoubtedly do the 20 Books of Summer Challenge…that’s been pretty fun. And I can easily combine it with 2 or 3 of the above challenges, to be super-productive.


That’s everything I have planned, I can’t wait to see what unplanned things happen around here. Hope you’re around to join in the fun!


(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)

Fourth Quarter Check-In/Wrap-Up: 2023 Plans and Challenges

Well…this doesn’t look the way I want it to. But here goes:

2023 Plans and Challenges
My plans this year focused on the two series that I’ve started—Literary Locals and Grandpappy’s Corner—both of which went well last year.

Then there’s the perennial, “Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own.” How did I do on that?

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of 2022 5 45 42 143
End of 1st Quarter 4 44 54 142
End of 2nd Quarter 5 50 56 145
End of 3rd Quarter 5 51 58 151
End of 4th Quarter 6 47 68 153

Swing and a Miss

Let’s move right along to see how I did with the Reading Challenges…
2023 Book Challenges


Goodreads Challenge

It should show a few more read, but Goodreads doesn’t have them in the list, and I’m too lazy to bother submitting them. Still, there I’m success.
Goodreads Challenge

and now, it’s time for the less than successful marks


12 Books
I got behind in March and never got back to this. It really drove me crazy, because I wanted to read these, but the idea of being behind ended up being a mental block. I’m working on this for next year. And I only wrote about one of the three I managed to read.
12 Books Challenge


2023 While I was Reading
While I Was Reading
I finished this one…although #4 isn’t probably what Ramona was going for. This is the last time I’ll be participating in this challenge, as Ramona’s retiring her blog. I feel bad that I didn’t do better for this last go-round. But…eh. I gave it a shot.

  1. A book with a protagonist over 40.: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
  2. A book considered a classic.: The Existence and Attributes of God by Stephen Charnock
  3. A graphic novel.: Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith, Boulet (Illustrator)
  4. A book that has been banned or challenged.: The Freedom of a Christian: A New Translation by Martin Luther (proscribed by the Edict of Worms in 1521…yeah, it’s a stretch, but I ran out of time for the more contemporary titles I picked)
  5. A book set in a place on your bucket list.: Blood Runs Cold by Neil Lancaster
  6. A book published before you were born.: On the Apostolic Preaching by Irenaeus of Lyons
  7. A book related to a goal you have for 2023.: Church History in Plain Language, Fifth Edition by Bruce Shelley, Revision Editor Marshall Shelley
  8. A book by an author of color.: The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian
  9. A book with a clever title.: Kneading Journalism: Essays on Baking Bread and Breaking Down the News by Tony Ganzer
  10. A book by a famous author you’ve never read: The Last Dance by Mark Billingham
  11. A non-fiction book about a topic you love.: The Worst We Can Find: MST3K, RiffTrax, and the History of Heckling at the Movies by Dale Sherman
  12. A novella: Bad Memory by Jim Cliff

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge
I’m on-target for this one (as much as I can be), and have even got a couple of the Stretch Goals accomplished.
January – End to end temptation I give you permission to read the most recent book you have got on top of your TBR. For many this is one we only get to read eventually but for now I want you to pick up the newest book in Mount TBR and read it. Can you remember the last time you did that? It’s a good habit to get into and January is all about starting good habits: The Perception of Dolls by Anthony Croix, Edited by Russell Day
Stretch Goal – Read the oldest book in Mount TBR it has waited long enough: Bartleby and James: Edwardian Steampunk Chronicle by Michael Coorlim
February – Short steps For the shortest month of the year I want you to read 28 short stories. This can be a TBR collection, anthology or even backlog of magazines that you have. Life is fast but use this challenge to appreciate the skill of the short story writer. Play your skills right you may get more than one book read this way. eh…I get partial credit for this, Noirville contained every short story I had unread, but it’s only fifteen stories. I did read extra novellas for the Stretch Goal, though. So I’m calling this okay?
Stretch Goal – Read four novellas one for each week of the month. Bad Memory by Jim Cliff, Anna and the Vampire Prince by Jeanne C. Stein, and Broken by Don Winslow (which is six novellas).
March – Fresh Starts This time for the beginning of spring you need to start a series you have never read before. Release this work from Mount TBR! Justice Calling by Annie Bellet
April – Open and Shut Case For the month named after the latin for ‘to open’ you need to read a standalone book with no sequel or links to any other book. Something new and something you can let go after reading it: The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
May – Crowning Glory? the UK has a lot of bank holidays including a coronation this month so suitably let’s pick a book about revolution or a change of those in power. Questland by Carrie Vaughn
June – long reading days or longest nights Irrespective of your hemisphere you have time for reading either in the joys of summer or depths of winter. Your challenge here is to find the largest tale on Mount TBR and finish it. Let that monster get off your back: Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
July – Holidays are coming! let’s go travelling find a book by the author who lives the furthest from you on the globe. I give you seven months to do the maths! Let’s explore the fiction of places very much not like our own: Eternity Fund by Liz Monument (Australia)
August – Holiday Treats reward time you get to choose the book in your TBR pile no Themes, clues of queries to ask. Just take one off the list!: Lemon Man by Ken Bruton
September – Seven Deadly Tempts read a book linked however you want to one of the seven deadly sins. Booktempting I stress is not one of them. Indulge yourselves: Cash Rules Everything Around Me by Rob Gittins. If that title doesn’t scream Greed, I don’t know what does (the other 6 show up as well in the book)
October – Spooky Season cometh read a book with a spooky or dark theme. Unsettle yourself prior to Halloween: Evil Embers by Cristelle Comby
November – Small Press Big Stories read a book that is published by a printing house that is not connected to the auk/US Big Five publishers: Evil Valley by Simon Hall
December – Don’t forget to say thank you it’s been over a year treat yourself to a book someone else gifted you. If you liked it tell that person!: Vicious Dogs by Henry Brock


Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge;
Beat the Backlist Reading Challengee
I’ve got 16 of the 24 categories taken care of. So, I guess I’m okay-ish here. I’ll have a few others accomplished by the end of the year, but I think this is going to be an incomplete challenge.

  • five word title (only 5 words, count ’em up!) – The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
  • won an award (the book won an award. any award!)
  • meant to read it last year (a book you planned to get to in 2022 and didn’t) – The Night Watch by Neil Lancaster
  • giving an author a second chance (an author (or specific book) you previously didn’t jive with ) – Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
  • an author writing under a pseudonym (the author(s) is not writing under their real name) – Cutthroat Cupcakes by Cate Lawley
  • 2022 debut novel (an author’s first book that released in 2022) – Lemon Man by Ken Bruton
  • standalone (the book has no prequels/sequels) – Proxies by James T. Lambert
  • bought and forgot it (a book you bought (or borrowed) and forgot about it) – Cash Rules Everything Around Me by Rob Gittins
  • plants on the cover (any kind of plant on the cover is fair game) – The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
  • first in a trilogy (the book is the first of three) – The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris
  • name in the title (the title has a character name in it) – Klone’s Stronghold by Joyce Reynolds-Ward
  • set on a continent you don’t live on (the story is set on a continent (or heavily inspired by a place on a continent) you do NOT live on) – Anna and the Vampire Prince by Jeanne C. Stein
  • it’s a trope! (your favorite) (pick your favorite trope and read a book featuring it)
  • less than 170 pages (make sure it’s a short one!) – Bartleby and James: Edwardian Steampunk Chronicle by Michael Coorlim
  • released at least 23 years ago (that’s right, we’re taking it back to the 90’s (release dates in 1999 or before))
  • protagonist name starts with “M” (the main character has a name beginning with “M”) – Teaching Moments by Troy Lambert (Max)
  • graphic novel outside your fave genre (find a graphic novel that isn’t in one of your favorite genres)
  • recommended by a bookseller (ask your local bookseller for a recommendation! if you don’t have a local store, there are plenty with social media accounts to reach out to)
  • letter “z” in the title (the letter “z” appears somewhere in the title) – A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers by Jackson Ford
  • all about music or the arts (the story revolves around music or the arts in some way) – Questland by Carrie Vaughn
  • protagonist has a pet (any pet will do) – A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames
  • more than 450 pages (grab a tome and get reading!) – The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
  • your favorite genre (a book that falls in your favorite genre) – Barking for Business by E. N. Crane
  • main cover color is your least favorite color (find a book prominently featuring your least favorite color on the cover) – A Geerhardus Vos Anthology: Biblical and Theological Insights Alphabetically Arranged ed. Danny E. Olinger (I don’t know that I have a least favorite color, but it is a bit “meh”)

Basically, 2 out of 4 (the Goodreads challenge isn’t really much of one). Not really my best. But…these things are for fun and to make me think about reading in a slightly different way. It succeeded there, as much as I didn’t.


(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)

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

Lookee there, another month is done and dusted (yeah, a year, too…but we’ll get to that later). This month I finished 27 titles (3 down from last month, 6 down from last December), with an equivalent of 7,905+ pages or the equivalent (1,599 more than last month), and gave them an average of 3.78 stars (the same as last month).

There were a couple of picture books in that total, and 2 books I’ve been working on for months, so that’s really a lower number. But…eh, whatever. With one exception, I had a good time with them. I didn’t write as much this month as it felt I did, but I liked almost everything I produced. So…I’m calling it a win.

Here’s what happened here in December.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Broken Trust Regeneration and Redemptive History The Secret
4 Stars 3.5 Stars 2 1/2 Stars
The Last Dance The MOST Powerful Christmas
4 Stars 4 1/2 Stars 3.5 Stars
Imaginary Numbers Blood Betrayal Alexandra Petri's US History: Important American Documents
3.5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known Gone, Baby, Gone The Lord Bless You and Keep You
4 1/2 Stars 5 Stars 4 Stars
Grandpappy's Corner Logo Like, Literally, Dude Guards! Guards!
3 Stars 4 Stars 4 1/2 Stars
The Curator The Chimes The Mayors of New York
5 Stars 4 Stars 4 1/2 Stars
The God of the Mundane Vicious Dogs Such Sharp Teeth
3.5 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams The Moonshine Messiah She-Hulk: Jen Again
3.5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
The Existence and Attributes of God A Mystery Revealed: 31 Meditations on the Trinity The AItheist
5 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars

Ratings

5 Stars 3 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 4 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 7 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 5 1 Star 0
3 Stars 7
Average = 3.78

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2021
9 45 42 144
1st of the
Month
7 47 69 153
Added 3 2 8 1
Read/
Listened
4 2 9 1
Current Total 6 47 68 153

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 18
Self-/Independent Published: 9

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 25 (8%)
Fantasy 4 (15%) 34 (11%)
General Fiction/ Literature 1 (4%) 26 (9%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 9 (33%) 90 (30%)
Non-Fiction 2 (7%) 22 (7%)
Science Fiction 3 (11%) 34 (11%)
Theology/ Christian Living 5 (19%) 30 (10%)
Urban Fantasy 2 (7%) 33 (11%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 1 (4%) 9 (3%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th), I also wrote:

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

December Calendar

The Grandcritter’s First Festivus

Shunning the commercialization of Christmas*/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Santaween/Chrismukkah, we’re again celebrating Festivus (for the rest of us) here at The Irresponsible Reader. But this time, we’re doing something extra special—my Grandcritter is joining us as I share with him the wonders of the day.

And no…this isn’t just an excuse for a proud grandparent to show you all pictures of this adorable guy. You’re just going to have to take my word for that.

Let’s begin our observance!

Festivus PoleWe start by setting up the Festivus pole. See how he’s taking in the very high strength-to-weight ratio (because it’s a mighty fine pole) and how he’s fascinated by it without any need for distracting tinsel. It’s very important to take in the simplicity.

And now, let the Airing of Grievances begin.

Airing of Grievances
I initially assumed that I’d be handling this myself, the kid’s not even a year old. So, sure he has a gripe or two, but they can’t be book-related, can they? Turns out they can.

The Grandcritter’s Grievances

Aggrieved Grandcritter
bullet Board Books need to taste better! Sure, the texture is interesting and provides an interesting mouthfeel. But the taste is rather plain. Can’t we get something that tastes like food mixed into that coating on every page?

bullet Related to that, try as I might, I cannot fit an entire book into my mouth at once. I don’t know if it’s a me problem or a publishing/book design problem, but I think it’s the latter. I don’t know why, but I think it would be really satisfying if I could just get one to fit the whole way, you know?

(Grandpappy’s original idea for my Feat of Strength was to get a picture of me trying to pull this off, but Mommy wouldn’t let him. Apparently, he’s supposed to discourage that, not try to get me to do it. I’d make this a Grievance, too. But Mommy probably knows best, and Grandpappy says I should wait at least 13 years before pushing back like that in public.)

bullet I’ve got a beef with the people that make those “Indestructibles” books for people my age. Do they not understand how satisfying it is to rip a page in a book (and maybe to stuff it in your mouth)? That sound…that feeling of power…it’s so good. And then these mean grown-ups make it so my people can’t do that? It’s the worst. (also, Grandpappy says they’d do better selling multiple copies of books when adults replace the ones with missing pages)

bullet Lastly, my TBR is too huge! I’m never going to catch up at this point. Never mind the books that Mommy and Daddy have picked out for me, or that I might be interested in—do you have any idea how long the list that my Grandpappy has for me is??? Talk about Irresponsible…

Grandpappy’s Grievances

(Yes, some of these are only slightly revised from previous Festivus posts. This is to be expected, it’s not like the entire universe fixed itself after I threw up a few posts. I’ve got to keep up the pressure.)

bullet AI’s takeover of publishing, from covers to audiobook narrations to writing and illustrating! It’s just too much. This is about human creativity, not close approximations of it. Also, you’d think that people who publish/sell/read dystopian fiction and SF would know better than to give the reins of anything to an AI.

bullet I have a grievance with the book publishing/selling/marketing industry. It’s 2023, why are we still placing stickers on books? If we have to do that, why hasn’t Science come up with a sticker that doesn’t leave a gummy residue behind? C’mon, Science, if you can’t give us a cure for cancer, a pill so people with Celiac disease can eat bread, or an Oreo that will help me lose weight—at least you can give us stickers that don’t leave gunk on our books! Especially, especially when it covers the ISBN number for those of us trying to scan them.

bullet What’s worse than stickers are those things that look like stickers, but aren’t. Just stupid, garish circles that have been printed on the cover and really only serve to obscure the image. What’s the point?

bullet I have a grievance with Movie/TV covers on books. C’mon people, this is stupid. Sure, it may help sell more copies of the books—but has any book been improved by one of these covers? No! Knock it off! And especially, stop it with sticking pictures of actors on books in a series that haven’t been adapted, just because some have (yeah, I’m looking at you, Longmire).

bullet Similarly, what’s up with publishers changing the look of series covers—and or the height of the books—in a series? I like when they match and I resent having to go buy second copies of the old ones to have a nice matching set. (which I generally avoid, but I think about doing it a lot).

bullet Whether it’s from a mainstream publisher, indie press, or a self-pubbed book, we have the technology and (theoretically??) the education so there’s no reason for there to be missing/extra punctuation or misspelled words in books. We all understand human error, some are going to slip through, but…

Obviously, this doesn’t apply to book blog posts. No one paid for these.

bullet I have a grievance with the Book Blogging Community. There are way too many good book bloggers out there to keep up with. Some of you need to write less often! Also, you make the rest of us look bad.

bullet I’ve got a grievance with running out of places to put books and bookshelves that aren’t like a bag of holding or TARDIS and can’t take an increasing number of books. So…physics, I guess. Yeah, that’s right, Laws of the Physics, I’m calling you out. Get your act together!

bullet And what’s more…I lost my train of thought. Still, I managed to get a little off my chest, and that felt good.

And now, the Feats of Strength

Time for Feats of Strength
This was tricky to capture in a photo, but I think you can make it out…The Grandcritter is lifting my The Lord of the Rings Illustrated hardcover. Yes, one corner is resting on (read: digging into) my arm, but he’s picked up the other end on his own. All 3.54 lbs. of it–with one hand, mind you.

Feat of Strength

Let’s see how the rest of you do with your feats.

I hope you enjoyed this bit of fluff and regardless of what holidays/festivals you may or may not celebrate that you have a happy one!

* I’ve gotten a little feedback about this—it’s pretty clear I’m a Christian. So why do I do a Festivus post instead of something about Christmas? While I do think that believers have the liberty to celebrate the Nativity if they desire to, I’m ambivalent toward the day, and hesitant to make a big deal out of it. So, I don’t. If you’re curious, I thought this episode of The Heidelcast did a decent job of articulating many of the issues (without getting nasty about it).

On the other hand, Festivus is just silly fun. Hope you don’t mind…

Happy Festivus

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

I read 24 titles (1 down from last month, 2 up from last November), with an equivalent of 6,306+ pages* or the equivalent (351 down from last month, about the length of that one book I was short), and gave them an average of 3.8 stars (.3 up from last month). Five 4.5 star books is pretty remarkable–and one of those 5 stars books really should’ve been a 7 or 8.

Going to that Book Faire at the beginning of the month did not help my Mt. TBR at all. I’m not complaining, because I’m really looking forward to diving into those books. But I’m sitting on 30 more unread books that I own compared to last year in my second year of making a concerted effort to trim that number. I realize that math isn’t my strong suit, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t good.

Also, not good was the number of posts I produced. There were several outside-the-blog projects I was working on, but it wasn’t until last night when I started putting this together that I realized just how distracted I was by the outside stuff.

Still, I’m calling this a pretty good/decent month. Here’s the detailed look at November.

Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

Black Summer The Innocent Sleep The Door-to-Door Bookstore
5 Stars 4 1/2 Stars 3 Stars
Unfolding Redemption Grand Theft Astro Chaos Terminal
3 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars
Noodle Conquers Comfy Mountain Starter Villain Warriorborn
4 Stars 4 1/2 Stars 3.5 Stars
The Holy Spirit: An Introduction Bookshops & Bonedust Long Past Dues
4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Movieland Up on the Woof Top How to Be Eaten
4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars 0 Stars
Things My Son Needs to Know about the World Calico Nerd
3.5 Stars 3.5 Stars? 3.5 Stars
Evil Valley Bea Wolf The Bittlemores
3 Stars 4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars
According to Mark Brokedown Prophets The Ghosts of Sherwood
5 Stars 4 Stars3 4 Stars

Still Reading

The Existence and Attributes of God A Mystery Revealed: 31 Meditations on the Trinity Regeneration and Redemptive History
Broken Trust

Ratings

5 Stars 2 2 1/2 Stars 0
4 1/2 Stars 5 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 8 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 4 1 Star 0
3 Stars 4 0 Stars 1
Average = 3.77

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2022
5 45 42 143
1st of the
Month
6 47 62 153
Added 6 2 14 1
Read/
Listened
5 2 7 1
Current Total 7 47 69 153

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 18
Self-/Independent Published: 6 (eep!)

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 1 (4%) 25 (9%)
Fantasy 3 (13%) 30 (11%)
General Fiction/ Literature 5 (21%) 25 (9%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 5 (21%) 81 (29%)
Non-Fiction 2 (8%) 20 (7%)
Science Fiction 4 (17%) 31 (11%)
Theology/ Christian Living 2 (8%) 25 (9%)
Urban Fantasy 2 (8%) 31 (11%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 8 (3%)

Review-ish Things Posted

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

Enough about me—how was your November??


November Calendar

Third Quarter Check-In: 2023 Plans and Challenges

So, you may ask your self, “Well, how did I get here?” And then you realize you’re not one of the Talking Heads and instead you want to ask me why I’m posting this Third Quarter Check-In now as we’re almost done with the Fourth Quarter. Well, yesterday, my eldest son and my de facto editor wondered if I wanted a blog post idea. I (foolishly?) said, sure. “Third Quarter Check in: 2023 Plans and Challenges” he replied with a smirk. I explained that I meant to do it, but got distracted with all the October stuff I had going on and forgot all about doing it. Besides—as you will see if you keep reading—it isn’t all that different than the previous check-in.

But it stuck in my craw, and the easiest way to dislodge it was to take a few moments to put this together.
2023 Plans and Challenges
My plans this year focused on the two series that I’ve started—Literary Locals and Grandpappy’s Corner—both of which are going okay (frequently in fits and starts, but making steady progress). Then there’s the perennial, “Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own.” How am I doing on that?

 

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of 2022 5 45 42 143
End of 1st Quarter 4 44 54 142
End of 2nd Quarter 5 50 56 145
End of 3rd Quarter 5 51 58 151

Ehhh

Let’s move right along to see how I’m doing with the rest of my plans and move on to the Reading Challenges…
2023 Book Challenges


Goodreads Challenge

Well, I can’t show you that graphic…but, it would’ve shown me around 230 out of 250.


12 Books
I got behind in March, and I haven’t managed to get any others read. I’m very frustrated by this—I was looking forward to these books. Don’t ask me what happened, or when I’m going to get to them. (well, probably not 2023 for all but one of these…don’t ask me which one).
12 Books Challenge
Do I get any credit for having read and then a few months later listening to Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons?


2023 While I was Reading
While I Was Reading
I made zero progress on this in Quarter 3, but I do believe I’ll have it done by the end of December (I’ve already conquered a couple of categories).

  1. A book with a protagonist over 40.: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
  2. A book considered a classic.:
  3. A graphic novel.:
  4. A book that has been banned or challenged.:
  5. A book set in a place on your bucket list.:
  6. A book published before you were born.:
  7. A book related to a goal you have for 2023.: Church History in Plain Language, Fifth Edition by Bruce Shelley, Revision Editor Marshall Shelley\
  8. A book by an author of color.: The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian
  9. A book with a clever title.: Kneading Journalism: Essays on Baking Bread and Breaking Down the News by Tony Ganzer
  10. A book by a famous author you’ve never read:
  11. A non-fiction book about a topic you love.: The Worst We Can Find: MST3K, RiffTrax, and the History of Heckling at the Movies by Dale Sherman
  12. A novella: Bad Memory by Jim Cliff

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge
I’m on-target for this one (as much as I can be), and have even got a couple of the Stretch Goals accomplished.
January – End to end temptation I give you permission to read the most recent book you have got on top of your TBR. For many this is one we only get to read eventually but for now I want you to pick up the newest book in Mount TBR and read it. Can you remember the last time you did that? It’s a good habit to get into and January is all about starting good habits: The Perception of Dolls by Anthony Croix, Edited by Russell Day
Stretch Goal – Read the oldest book in Mount TBR it has waited long enough: Bartleby and James: Edwardian Steampunk Chronicle by Michael Coorlim
February – Short steps For the shortest month of the year I want you to read 28 short stories. This can be a TBR collection, anthology or even backlog of magazines that you have. Life is fast but use this challenge to appreciate the skill of the short story writer. Play your skills right you may get more than one book read this way. eh…I get partial credit for this, Noirville contained every short story I had unread, but it’s only fifteen stories. I did read extra novellas for the Stretch Goal, though. So I’m calling this okay?
Stretch Goal – Read four novellas one for each week of the month. Bad Memory by Jim Cliff, Anna and the Vampire Prince by Jeanne C. Stein, and Broken by Don Winslow (which is six novellas).
March – Fresh Starts This time for the beginning of spring you need to start a series you have never read before. Release this work from Mount TBR! Justice Calling by Annie Belletstr
April – Open and Shut Case For the month named after the latin for ‘to open’ you need to read a standalone book with no sequel or links to any other book. Something new and something you can let go after reading it: The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
May – Crowning Glory? the UK has a lot of bank holidays including a coronation this month so suitably let’s pick a book about revolution or a change of those in power. Questland by Carrie Vaughn
June – long reading days or longest nights Irrespective of your hemisphere you have time for reading either in the joys of summer or depths of winter. Your challenge here is to find the largest tale on Mount TBR and finish it. Let that monster get off your back: Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
July – Holidays are coming! let’s go travelling find a book by the author who lives the furthest from you on the globe. I give you seven months to do the maths! Let’s explore the fiction of places very much not like our own: Eternity Fund by Liz Monument (Australia)
August – Holiday Treats reward time you get to choose the book in your TBR pile no Themes, clues of queries to ask. Just take one off the list!: Lemon Man by Ken Bruton
September – Seven Deadly Tempts read a book linked however you want to one of the seven deadly sins. Booktempting I stress is not one of them. Indulge yourselves: Cash Rules Everything Around Me by Rob Gittins. If that title doesn’t scream Greed, I don’t know what does (the other 6 show up as well in the book)


Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge;
Beat the Backlist Reading Challengee
I’ve got 16 of the 24 categories taken care of. So, I guess I’m okay-ish here. I’ll have a few others accomplished by the end of the year, but I think this is going to be an incomplete challenge.

  • five word title (only 5 words, count ’em up!) – The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
  • won an award (the book won an award. any award!)
  • meant to read it last year (a book you planned to get to in 2022 and didn’t) – The Night Watch by Neil Lancaster
  • giving an author a second chance (an author (or specific book) you previously didn’t jive with )
  • an author writing under a pseudonym (the author(s) is not writing under their real name) – Cutthroat Cupcakes by Cate Lawley
  • 2022 debut novel (an author’s first book that released in 2022) – Lemon Man by Ken Bruton
  • standalone (the book has no prequels/sequels) – Proxies by James T. Lambert
  • bought and forgot it (a book you bought (or borrowed) and forgot about it) – Cash Rules Everything Around Me by Rob Gittins
  • plants on the cover (any kind of plant on the cover is fair game) – The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
  • first in a trilogy (the book is the first of three) – The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris
  • name in the title (the title has a character name in it) – Klone’s Stronghold by Joyce Reynolds-Ward
  • set on a continent you don’t live on (the story is set on a continent (or heavily inspired by a place on a continent) you do NOT live on) – Anna and the Vampire Prince by Jeanne C. Stein
  • it’s a trope! (your favorite) (pick your favorite trope and read a book featuring it)
  • less than 170 pages (make sure it’s a short one!) – Bartleby and James: Edwardian Steampunk Chronicle by Michael Coorlim
  • released at least 23 years ago (that’s right, we’re taking it back to the 90’s (release dates in 1999 or before))
  • protagonist name starts with “M” (the main character has a name beginning with “M”) – Teaching Moments by Troy Lambert (Max)
  • graphic novel outside your fave genre (find a graphic novel that isn’t in one of your favorite genres)
  • recommended by a bookseller (ask your local bookseller for a recommendation! if you don’t have a local store, there are plenty with social media accounts to reach out to)
  • letter “z” in the title (the letter “z” appears somewhere in the title) – A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers by Jackson Ford
  • all about music or the arts (the story revolves around music or the arts in some way)
  • protagonist has a pet (any pet will do) – A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames
  • more than 450 pages (grab a tome and get reading!) – The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
  • your favorite genre (a book that falls in your favorite genre) – Barking for Business by E. N. Crane
  • main cover color is your least favorite color (find a book prominently featuring your least favorite color on the cover)

I wrote this after the end of June, and it’s still true today (literally today, not the day it should’ve been had I posted this on time): Looking over this, it’s good that I take these on for fun, if I was serious about these things, I think I’d be getting a little worried. More than anything, the number of books I listed above that I don’t have linked to a particular post tells me how far behind I am on writing.
(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)

Thanksgiving 2023

Happy Thanksgiving/Turkey Day/Thursday

(depending on your practice/preference/location)


On this day that has been set aside these U.S. for expressions of gratitude, it’s been my custom to take a moment or two and mention a few of the things that The Irresponsible Reader is thankful for. This is just about my favorite of my annual posts typically, but this year I feel even more grateful than usual.

So, this year, I’m thankful for:

bullet The readers of this blog. If I knew your names, I’d thank you all personally.
bullet The authors who’ve corresponded with me, encouraged me—even promoted this here project.
bullet Those authors, publishers, and/or publicists provided books for me to read.
bullet Books (print, electronic, or audio)—the stories, characters, and/or things I learn are what keep me sane, entertain, and inspire me.
bullet Authors! If not for them, I wouldn’t have the above.
bullet Talented narrators and illustrators—ditto
bullet Coffee (and other beverages both caffeinated and adult)
bullet All the authors who’ve stopped by for a Q&A or a Guest Post this year. I’ve really been blown away by the work you’ve put into making my patch of cyberspace better.
bullet Time to read
bullet The Nampa Public Library, The Caldwell Public Library, (and The LYNX! Consortium)
bullet Rediscovered Bookshop and Libro.fm
bullet My supportive, understanding, and encouraging wife and kids. They all do a pretty decent job pretending to care when this old man drones on and on about what he’s reading or what’s going on with the blog. They’ve also continued to step up on the brainstorming front lately.
bullet Again, all of you who read this page, follow, like, tweet, comment, email, etc.—you have no idea how much every little bit is appreciated.

For my fellow Americans, I hope you have a pleasant day with your friends and/or family. As for the rest of you, I hope you enjoy today and that you enjoy having the same pant size tomorrow as you do today.

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