Tag: Miscellany Page 1 of 131

MUSIC MONDAY: Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Mandy Patinkin

Music Monday

Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.

Doesn’t get better than this…

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Saturday Miscellany—3/16/24

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 Is It A Betrayal To Publish Dead Writers’ Books?: Inside the ethically thorny world of posthumous publishing.
bullet I didn’t get the credit for my bestselling book: the secret life of the celebrity ghost writer—Liam Pieper describes the reality that’s close to what I expected, but is nice to see confirmed.
bullet Not Just Covers, But Every Page: Why Writers Should Talk About Book Design Early On: Debbie Berne on the Intricacies of Literary Interior Design
bullet Why Are These 90s Young Adult Books So Irresistible?—For readers of a certain age, this is a fun collection of posts/articles from Pocket.
bullet Famous Works of Irish Literature as Limericks—what better way to note St. Patrick’s Day than with Amanda Lehr’s latest post to McSweeny’s?
bullet Bookish Death Cleaning: On What We Keep, and What It Means
bullet Page Turners vs. Screen Scribes: The Endless Debate of Physical Books vs. Ebooks—nothing revolutionary here, but that’s not neccesarily a bad thing.
bullet Breaking into the indie market with the Break-Ins! —Over at Before We Go Blog, The Fictional Escapist has a great interview about a great idea.
bullet Bookmark Chat: Guess Who’s Back…—The McBooknerd is back!
bullet A Voracious Reader was under the pressure of handling Witty & Sarcastic Bookclub’s Tough Questions this week (I really need to get on my answers)
bullet Thoughts From A Grumpy Year Of Reading—2024 isn’t treating our pal Peat too well…

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet The Conversation with Nadine Matheson 2.58 S.A. Cosby: We Tell Lies To Tell The Truth

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Red Rising by Pierce Brown—the beginning of a beautiful book friendship for me…
bullet And on the other end of the tonal spectrum…Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Ballad of Sprikit The Bard (And Company) by Sean O’Boyle—I’ve seen this described as “A ‘Discworld’ meets ‘Lies of Locke Lamora’ Adventure.” Which is enough for me. Hearing a lot of good about it, too.
bullet Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet—a “darkly comic” book about a Pitbull imitator (the rapper, not a canine) teaming up with a magical orca to become a real-life Tony Montana with shades of Moby Dick. The novel sounds so strange that it just might work.
bullet Black Wolf by Juan Gómez-Jurado—This thriller looks so good that I’m getting the first in the series from the Library today. Click the link, I’m not going to try to summarize it.

Man Sitting at his desk, 1784, Jan Ekels with a speech bubble reading 'If you finish a task early at work, you should be allowed to have silent reading time like we used to do in school.'

WWW Wednesday, March 12, 2024

Well, today got away from me. Let me get this up and I’ll try again tomorrow.

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 still A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne, as with the first in the trilogy, as much as I’m enjoying the book, I need to take a break from it every now and then. but hopefully I finish it before next week’s post. I’m also listening to a very odd take on Peter Pan, Darling by K. Ancrum, read by Angel Pean, on audiobook.

A Blight of BlackwingsBlank SpaceDarling

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished a couple of very entertaining books: Olivia Blacke’s Rhythm and Clues and Dead Ground by M.W. Craven, read by John Banks on audio.

Rhythm and CluesBlank SpaceDead Ground

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the ARC of The Tenacious Tale of Tanna the Tendersword by Dewey Conway & Bill Adams (soooo many ARCs lately, how am I ever going to make TBR progress?) and my next audiobook should be a quick trip to Painter’s Mill, Ohio (the most crime-ridden Amish community in the States) in A Hidden Secret by Linda Castillo, read by Kathleen McInerney .

The Tenacious Tale of Tanna the TenderswordBlank SpaceA Hidden Secret

Whatcha readin’?

MUSIC MONDAY: Milhouse by Maisie Peters

Music Monday

Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.

I’ve had this stuck in my head for a few weeks now, might as well pass it along:

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Saturday Miscellany—3/9/24

The last few weeks have been heavy on non-reading/blogging tasks/events/changes. And (to me anyway), that’s been clearest when it comes to these posts. But yesterday was (theoretically) the last tweak, so I should be able to start adjusting to things soon and things will return to some form of normal in the next couple of weeks.

Huge thanks to Peat Long for the return of Friday Five, so I could add a couple of items to beef this list up.

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 Your new literary dream job: reader-in-residence.—I’ve spent the last couple of days fighting the urge to move to Fort Collins to chase my dream.
bullet Counterfeit Books Are a Growing Problem, but a Solution May Be Near—the biggest question here is how long it’ll take pirates to work around it.
bullet This Facebook post from the NYT about Worcester Public Library’s March Meowness will bring a smile to your face even without going beyond the paywall
bullet Wander into This Miraculous Miniature Library with Thousands of Books Made Entirely by Hand—oooooohhhhhhh (said best in Toy Story’s LGM voice)
bullet When Indie Publishing Meets Corporate Bookselling: Michele Herman on the Challenges of Getting—and Keeping—Her Book on the Shelves
bullet IBPA Publishing MAP (Models and Author Pathways)—this looks handy for the writers who are looking at this post
bullet Chinese Science Fiction Before The Three Body Problem
bullet “Longmire” series author Craig Johnson talks about its development and its future—I’m always down to read/listen to/about Johnson
bullet A Punk Noir Interview with M. W. Craven—there’s a lot to enjoy here, I loved the last answer from someone else I’m always down to read/listen to/about.
bullet AC/DC’s Back in Black Inspires New Book of Murder Mysteries, Including New Jack Reacher Story—sure, the wrong Child is writing the Reacher story, but some of the rest sound promising (Coleman and Eldridge in particular)
bullet Genres Are Historical and Cultural, Not Scientific: why rigid rules for genres never quite work—Lincoln Michel has many good things to chew on here (as per usual)
bullet We got two new entries in Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub’s Tough Questions series this week, you should see how JamReads and Featuring Fantasy Book Nerd handled the pressure.
bullet Weaving some Wyrd & Wonder—it’s almost time for the TBR expanding celebration of Fantasy. This year’s theme is really appealing.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week? (clearly a slow week)
bullet Death Without Company by Craig Johnson—here’s where I decided to get serious about reading Walt Longmire books
bullet and I noted the releases of: The Player by Brad Parks (I know he’s doing well with his stand-alone thrillers, but I miss Carter Ross), Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire (the third InCryptid novel and the first narrator switch), and Notes from the Internet Apocalypse by Wayne Gladstone (something I never got around to reading, but still looks amusing)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire—Aunt Mary, the baby-sitting ghost, takes center stage in this new InCryptids installment. I cannot wait to dive in (but must for a little bit)
bullet Rift in the Soul by Faith Hunter—Soulwood #6 brings readers action, love, family, answers, and more questions. I yammered on about it some yesterday (and really wanted to keep going on)
bullet Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano—Finlay and Vero hit Atlantic City and (almost certainly) chaos ensues.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to AndOnSheReads, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.
The text 'Today I will live in the moment unless it is unpleasant in which case I will read a book.' next to a sketch of a person holding a giant book

Highlights from February: Lines Worth Repeating

Highlights from the Month
Murder Crossed Her Mind

Murder Crossed Her Mind by Stephen Spotswood

…when you might be stepping into danger,it’s always better to err on the side of armed.

He had nabbed the shadowiest corner in the place, but I’d seen him close-up and in daylight, and I don’t know why he bothered hiding. He could’ve had his photograph in the dictionary under the entry “nondescript.” Medium height, medium build, hair brown, eyes brown, suit brown, face symmetrical but not so much that you’d notice. The only thing that marked him as anything other than a Fuller Brush Salesman was the relationship between him and the room. Those flat brown eyes (and I’m not knocking the shade, mine are teh color of mud) never stopped moving, if a fly happened to wander into the room, Faraday would’ve clocked it. If he could’ve he’d have frisked it for a weapon and wired it for sound.


Return of the Griffin

Return of the Griffin by JCM Berne

Rohan scratched his beard. “Well, I hope you’re wrong. There’s a first time for everything, right?”

“As there are many things that have never happened, there is not, in fact, a first time for everything.”

“You’re taking all the fun out of my apocalypse.”

“Of course. ‘Wei Li,’ my name, means, ‘she who removes joy from catastrophe.’ In my native language.”

“Really?”

“Of course not.”


Soundtrack of Silence

Soundtrack of Silence: Love, Loss, and a Playlist for Life by Matt Haig

Not to try to bill myself as a relationship counselor, but when a beautiful woman—who is smart and driven enough to be in med school, fit enough to run a marathon, thoughtful enough to raise money for your rare neurological condition, and patient and confident enough to to move in with your parents—sticks with you as you relearn how to walk, you would be a fool not to marry her. Those are the rules.


Fortune Smiles

Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson

DJ understood that in South Korea, Americans were considered friends. He’d never really believed they were the enemy. After all, hadn’t Americans invented scratch-off lottery tickets, crystal meth, hundred-dollar bills and, most important, the catalytic converter?

“Do you believe in second chances?” she asked. “Can people change their nature?”

DJ leaned against the bus shelter. “Those are two different questions,” he said.


The Other Family Doctor

The Other Family Doctor: A Veterinarian Explores What Animals Can Teach Us About Love, Life, and Mortality by Karen Fine

Sometimes, this human-animal love is present in our lives but not central. We may have busy lives in which our pets are just a part. Perhaps we don’t think of them as a fundamental presence, but they are there, as solid and reliable as a comfortable chair to sink into at the end of each day. Our pets bear witness to the intimate, everyday details of our daily existence, weaving and threading their own personalities into our lives and households. With them, we are home. When they are gone, we feel their absence deeply.


Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

“There is nothing trivial about good coffee.”

“The problem is not the packing, I admit; I simply dislike traveling. Why people wish to wander to and fro when they could simply remain at home is something I will never understand. Everything is the way I like it here.”


City on Fire

City on Fire by Don Winslow

Danny misses the ocean when he’s not here.

It gets in your blood, like you got salt water running through you. The fishermen Danny knows love the sea and hate it, say it’s like a cruel woman who hurts you over and over again but you keep going back to her anyway.

Providence is a gray city.

Gray skies, gray buildings, gray streets. Gray granite as hard as the New England pilgrims who hacked it out of the quarries to build their City on the Hill. Gray as the pessimism that hangs in the air like the fog.

Gray as grief.


Another Girl

Another Girl by Peter Grainger

Green put a chair by his desk and made her sit down on it. The rest of them moved a little closer, made conversation, and tried not to stare at the damage done to her face. It would heal on the outside, of course. But it’s the other side we need to worry about.

…common sense and the law are not always the close bedfellows we’d like them to be…


A Quantum Love Story

A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen

“I had a breakfast shake. And, um, something for lunch. Something from the Hawke café. I can’t remember what.”

“Okay. So you had sustenance today. That’s not eating. Every single meal is a chance for a new experience.” He took a carton in each hand and waved them in front of her. “Smell this. This is eating. It’s different from sustenance.”

Such a thought seemed like a declaration in a foreign language. Of course she enjoyed a good restaurant, but when every second counted, taking the time to savor a single meal seemed, well, a little counterproductive.

“Time’s gonna pass, but if you slow down a little, you might enjoy it. That’s what eating is all about.”

So her truth proved to be stranger than fiction. Which made it harder than fiction


Spells for the Dead

Spells for the Dead by Faith Hunter

What I knew about alcohol could be written on my little fingernail in longhand…


(Image by DaModernDaVinci from Pixabay)

WWW Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Somehow, it feels like March is half over, no matter what my calendar says. Is it just me?

Eh, numbers were never my thing, anyway. Let’s talk about words.

 

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 A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne, a mere four years after it was released (and four months after the final book in the trilogy was published), and am listening to Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane, read by Jonathan Davis on audiobook, the end of my most recent Kenzie/Gennaro revisit..

A Blight of BlackwingsBlank SpaceMoonlight Mile

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished T. L. Simpson’s Strong Like You, a dynamite debut, and The Body’s Keepers: A Social History of Kidney Failure and Its Treatments by Paul L. Kimmel, MD, read by Lane Hakel on audiobook.

Strong Like YouBlank SpaceThe Body’s Keepers

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the ARC of Rhythm and Clues by Olivia Blacke (which will surely be a fun time, like the first two in the series) and my next audiobook should be Dead Ground by M.W. Craven, read by John Banks, the only novel in the series I didn’t write about yet. Hopefully, I can fix that with revisiting it.

Rhythm and CluesBlank SpaceDead Ground

Are your books for the beginning of March more like lions or lambs?

MUSIC MONDAY: Whisky Is the Life of Man by The Longest Johns

Music Monday’s originated at The Tattooed Book Geek‘s fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.


Having a grandson is doing strange things to my shopping and entertainment algorithms. One of my grandson’s favorite musical genres is Sea Shanties–yeah, I know it’s not the fad it was a couple of years ago, maybe if his parents let him have TikTok he’d be hipper. But The Longest Johns is one of our collective favorites, so I was fed this two days ago as part of a “New Release” playlist, and I had to use it today. I just love the fact that I’m being introduced to a song called “Whisky Is the Life of Man” because of my 10 month-old-grandcritter–and I haven’t even introduced him to Lagavulin yet!!!
(nor will I until he’s of a legally acceptable age, I rush to say on the off chance his mother reads this)

Saturday Miscellany—3/2/24

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 Book bans? Make that “intellectual freedom challenges”—the reframing of the challenges Public Libraries are facing (whatever you may think of those challenges)
bullet A Simple Way to Build Intimacy: Reading Aloud—It’s behind NYT’s paywall, but it looks good.
bullet Mark Twain’s Obsession with Joan of Arc—I really didn’t know he was “obsessed” with her, but I appreciated this look at Twain (it also jibes well with According to Mark, a book I haven’t mentioned for a week or two)
bullet Where the Red Fern Grows was trending on Twitter this week, and I was comforted by seeing so many others sharing the same (self-inflicted) trauma that I have. Also, I learned/was reminded of this statue in Idaho Falls (finally, a reason for me to visit the town).
bullet The Biggest Differences Between the ‘Longmire’ Books and TV Series—odd that this is something written in 2024, but still a fun look back at the show.
bullet Announced this week: Safe Enough by Lee Child—”20 thrilling standalone short stories,” out in August.
bullet Speaking of announcements, Mushroom Blues Soundtrack was announced a couple of days ago. Looks great.
bullet A Beginner’s Guide to Falling in Love with Audiobooks
bullet I Have Bad Taste- Books I Feel Bad for Enjoying—The Orangutan Librarian fesses up.
bullet On My Radar: February 2024—Celeste brings a great list of links from the past month.
bullet Ways A Book Ages—surprising no one at all, Peat Long dropped something worth reading.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
(a very slow week, I should add)
bullet Chimera by Kelly Meding—(and a post I enjoyed reading for the first time in a decade or so)
bullet I mentioned the releases of Hammer of Angels by G. T. Almasi, The Chase by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, Honor’s Knight by Rachel Bach, and The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet I Only Read Murder by Ian Ferguson & Will Ferguson—a whodunit featuring a former TV star, amateur theater, and a town full of (likely quirky) suspects. Looks like a fun time.
bullet Criminal Justice by Ian Robinson—an undercover cop dances along the edge of the law. I asked Robinson a few quick questions about it yesterday.
bullet Morte Point by Rob Parker—The second Ben Bracken novel is a great ride, and has been released in a new edition.

Tweet from @bookculture 'it is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of a large to read pile must be in want of another book'

WWW Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Yay, the month is almost over and I can get back to not having to overthink what I type in the Post Title!

So, speaking of February, I’ve mentioned before, but I need to say something one more time. I’m taking part in the fundraiser, I’m Reading Every Day for American Cancer Society this month, and I’d greatly appreciate your support.

Bernie Sanders saying I'm Once Again Asking For Your Support

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 ARC of Rift in the Soul by Faith Hunter, which I’m really enjoying and seemingly not making much progress in. I’m listening to The Body’s Keepers: A Social History of Kidney Failure and Its Treatments by Paul L. Kimmel, MD, read by Lane Hakel on audiobook. It’s both fascinating and a solid reminder that I was right to avoid any career related to medicine.

Rift in the SoulBlank SpaceThe Body’s Keepers

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Bradley Sides’s Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood, a very strange book* that I meant to post about today. I also just listened to the mercifully brief An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten, translated by Marlaine Delargy, read by Suzanne Toren on audio.

Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the FloodBlank SpaceBlank SpaceAn Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

* And I mean that in the best possible way.

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be for Strong Like You by T. L. Simpson and I have no idea what my next audiobook might be. I haven’t even thought of it, really—there’s a decent chance that I’ll still be listening to The Body’s Keepers when I assemble next week’s WWW, so I’ve got time to decide.

Strong Like YouBlank Space???

What are you reading today—and for the “bonus day” tomorrow?

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