Category: Currently Reading Page 3 of 57

Opening Lines: Hacker by Duncan MacMaster

Head & Shoulders used to tell us that, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” That’s true for wearing dark shirts, and it’s especially true for books. Sometimes the characters will hook the reader, sometimes the premise, sometimes it’s just knowing the author—but nothing beats a great opening for getting a reader to commit.

I will not start this story at the moment I found an eyeball floating in my Coke.

from Hacker by Duncan MacMaster
Hacker Cover
Hard to top this. You have to keep going, right?

Opening Lines Logo

WWW Wednesday, January 17, 2024

I’m putting this together on the 16th day of the year—and I just now started my first Mystery novel of the year. How strange is that??? I guess The Tainted Cup had enough of that going on that my withdrawal symptoms haven’t kicked in.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading the very quirky Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson, and have just started listening to Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire, read by Emily Bauer on audiobook.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed SomeoneBlank SpaceCalculated Risks

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished the wibbly wobbly, timey wimey The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown and America Fantastica by Tim O’Brien, read by Oliver Wyman on audio, a book I’m conflicted about. Maybe.

The Book of DoorsBlank SpaceAmerica Fantastica

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the almost certainly fast and fun, Hacker by Duncan MacMaster, and my next audiobook should be the dark and grim, Prayers for Rain by Dennis Lehane, read by Jonathan Davis (unless a library hold comes up first).

HackerBlank SpacePrayers for Rain

What are you bundled up against the cold with?

WWW Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Oh. Wow. Just…wow. I am on a hot streak to start off 2024. I’m just loving the books I’ve read/am reading so far. I know it won’t be long until I come across a book I like—or am disappointed with—but for now, I’m relishing the streak. Let’s dive in, so you can get a peak at what I’m talking about.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading the utterly charming Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman, and have just started listening to America Fantastica by Tim O’Brien, read by Oliver Wyman on audiobook. It looks promising, but that’s about all I’ve got to say for now.

Charm City RocksBlank SpaceAmerica Fantastica

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished the stunning ARC for Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Tainted Cup and Miles Morales Suspended by Jason Reynolds, Narrated by: Guy Lockard and Nile Bullock on audio, which I posted about yesterday.

The Tainted CupBlank SpaceMiles Morales Suspended

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the ARC for The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown and my next audiobook should be the next step in my InCryptid run-through, Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire, read by Emily Bauer.

The Book of DoorsBlank SpaceCalculated Risks

How’s the beginning of ’24 treating you?

WWW Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Welcome to my first WWW post of 2024, starting with this one, we’ll (very likely) be taking 52 looks at what books I’m reading and listening to throughout the year through the magic of this weekly meme. Feel free to leave a comment with a link to your WWW or just tell us what you’re reading. I enjoy reading these!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peak at this weeks answers:

What are you currently reading?

I’ve got two really entertaining Fantasy novels that couldn’t be more different here. I’m reading Book 3 of The Azure Archipelago by K.R.R. Lockhaven, and am listening to The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman on audiobook.

Cover to be RevealedBlank SpaceThe Blacktongue Thief

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Russell W. Johnson’s The Moonshine Messiah and Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison, Kristen Sieh (Narrator) on audio. One of those was great and the other was good enough.

The Moonshine MessiahBlank SpaceSuch Sharp Teeth

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the ARC for The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, which looks great (and will finally cross Bennett off my “Authors I Should Try” list). My next audiobook should be Miles Morales Suspended by Jason Reynolds, Narrated by: Guy Lockard and Nile Bullock. Almost everything I know about Miles came from Reynolds’ first novel about him, I’m so glad to finally stumble onto this one.

The Tainted CupBlank SpaceMiles Morales Suspended

How are you starting 2024?

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

WWW Wednesday, December 27, 2023

This was supposed to be the 2nd or 3rd post of the day, but you know how things gang aft a-gley sometimes. Hopefully, I can eke out something else, too.

In the meantime, I’ll get to business with this and see you in 7.

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 Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri, Daniel Miyares (Illustrator)—a book I’m not even going to try to sum up in less than a couple of paragraphs. I’m listening to Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison, Kristen Sieh (Narrator) on audiobook. I’m not so sure about the story as a whole—but it possibly includes the best description of someone becoming a werewolf that I’ve ever come across.

The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of DreamsBlank SpaceSuch Sharp Teeth

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Henry Brock’s Vicious Dogs, a clever PI novel, and the superlative The Curator by M.W. Craven, John Banks (Narrator) on audio.

Vicious DogsBlank SpaceThe Curator

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be The Moonshine Messiah by Russell W. Johnson. Next, I’m going to try the audiobook of The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman—I’m not 100% I can devote the attention to it that it deserves in audio format, but I haven’t been able to find the time for the print version, so we’ll see how I do.

The Moonshine MessiahBlank SpaceThe Blacktongue Thief

How are you closing out the year? Trying to squeeze in a few more books for whatever your goal was?

(I’ve got three more I hope to finish. Will get at least one of them done 🙂 )

WWW Wednesday, December 20, 2023

I almost didn’t get any reading done yesterday, a very uncommon event. I did find myself early to something, so I was able to read most of the inaugural issue of Grimdwarf Magazine, and I can see this becoming a regular part of my reading rotation.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that the other day as I was packing to go to work, I grabbed the Guards! Guards! and put it in my coat pocket. I can’t remember the last Mass Market Paperback I read. It’s so convenient! I love a good hardcover, and ebooks are so essential now. But wow…I miss MMPs. We need a resurgence of them.

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 Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett, and am shaking my head at how I stopped reading this series years ago. My current audiobook is the haunting The Curator by by M.W. Craven, John Banks (Narrator) on audiobook.

Guards! Guards!Blank SpaceThe Curator

What did you recently finish reading?

The last book I finished was Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire, I talked it up yesterday. The fascinating, entertaining, and often convincing, Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English by Valerie Fridland, narrated by the author and several others was my last audiobook.

Alexandra Petri's US HistoryBlank SpaceLike, Literally, Dude

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be The Mayors of New York by S. J. Rozan (I am so looking forward to it) and my next audiobook should be Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison, Kristen Sieh (Narrator).

The Mayors of New YorkBlank SpaceSuch Sharp Teeth

Are you reading anything that’s making this holiday season happy? Or are you preparing to air a grievance?

WWW Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Hopefully this isn’t the only thing I post today, but I’m having trouble wording, y’know?

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 frequently enjoying) Alexandra Petri’s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up) by Alexandra Petri and the ARC for Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire. I’m also listening to Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane, Jonathan Davis (Narrator) on audiobook.

Alexandra Petri's US HistoryBlank SpaceMislaid in Parts Half-KnownBlank SpaceGone, Baby, Gone

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Ausma Zehanat Khan’s Blood Betrayal—a very solid sequel—and Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire, Emily Bauer (Narrator) on audio. I liked it more the second time around.

Blood BetrayalBlank SpaceImaginary Numbers

What do you think you’ll read next?

On the advice of some of you, my next book should be Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. I think I’ll try Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English by Valerie Fridland, narrated by the author and several others as my next audiobook.

Guards! Guards!Blank SpaceLike, Literally, Dude

What’s grabbing your attention now?

WWW Wednesday, December 6, 2023

I can’t think of anything to blather on about today, so we might was well get right to the point:

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 Dance by Mark Billingham, my first, but not last book by Billingham. I’m listening to the short story collection, Give the People What They Want and Other Stories of Sharp Wit, Cunning Women, and Wild Magic by Alex Bledsoe, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, with Alex Bledsoe and Gabrielle de Cuir on audiobook.

The Last DanceBlank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Lee Child and Andrew Child’s The Secret, the last Reacher novel I’ll read for a while. The last audiobook I listened to was The Ghosts of Sherwood by Carrie Vaughn, Angele Masters (Narrator) on audio, a quick blast of fun.

The SecretBlank SpaceThe Ghosts of Sherwood

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Alexandra Petri’s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up) by Alexandra Petri , because I need a dose of humor after some of the dark stuff I’ve been reading lately (also, I was next on my library’s list), and my next audiobook should be Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire, Emily Bauer (Narrator).

Alexandra Petri's US HistoryBlank SpaceImaginary Numbers

Are you reading/listening to something good?

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

Page 3 of 57

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