Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
Tag: Miscellany Page 10 of 172
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:
Two Ways of Disliking Poetry—I would’ve guessed there were more…
Fisher the Bookseller Explains How Bookstores Decide Which Books to Sell: The ins and outs of how books are bought and sold in bookstores
In Conversation with Susan Grossey, Author of Historical Crime Fiction
Manual Labor: A new generation of deaf writers reimagines language, text, and sound
The Accidental Completionist—that last paragraph…
7 fantasy book villains more terrifying than Sauron from The Lord of the Rings—I haven’t run into any of these villains, I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.
Eight Ways to Celebrate Bram Stoker on his November 8th Birthday by LindaAnn LoSchiavo—a Guest Post over at Witty & Sarcastic Book Club for those who are still making plans for Bram’s Big Day (or want to get an early start for next year)
A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Bookish Diaries Podcast Season 2, Episode 6: Cozy fantasy or Dark Fantasy: Pick your Poison!
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day
The Lobster Boy And The Fat Lady’s Daughter by Charles Kriel—the beginning of my beautiful friendship with Farenheit Press
And I mentioned the releases of: The Crossing by Michael Connelly; Made to Kill by Adam Christopher; The Builders by Daniel Polansky; The Ark: Children of a Dead Earth Book One by Patrick S. Tomlinson; Black Wolves by Kate Elliott; and Mystic by Jason Denzel
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
A Judgement of Powers by Benedict Jacka—Not that this series has been filled with brightness and breeze, but it looks like things are getting a little more serious for our friend, Stephen.
Love the Stranger by Michael Sears—Boy howdy, this sequel delivers on all the promise of its predecessor–and then some. Out in paperback this week, I just finished and need to talk about it soon. Don’t wait for me, though, just go get it.
The Christmas Tree Killer by Chris Frost—DI Tom Stonem is sure to be very unwelcome around the holiday season (for people he works with/serves anyway) if he keeps finding himself entwined in murder cases like this one. Creepy Christmas Crime, if you’re in the mood.
Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite—”A young woman must shake off a family curse and the widely held belief that she is the reincarnation of her dead cousin in this wickedly funny, brilliantly perceptive novel about love, female rivalry, and superstition from the author of the smash hit My Sister, the Serial Killer“
Bruised Not Broken: The Autobiography of Katie Hodges by Katie Hodges—This Literary Local has been through a lot and is here with a story of perseverence and hope.
I Am a Highly Dangerous Warrior! by Raquel D’Apice, illustrated by Heather Fox—”a hilarious take on developmental leaps exploring the bravery it takes to tackle the next big thing–with some help from the things in life that make us feel safe.”
Yeah, I’m running late…sleep has been too attractive this week, and the blog is suffering. No promises that I’ll turn it around this week, but one can hope.
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?
 |
 |
| Love the Stranger by Michael Sears |
Songs for Other People’s Weddings by David Levithan with songs by Jens Lekman, read by Jefferson Mays |
I’m having a lot of fun with Sears’ follow up to Tower of Babel–which came out in paperback yesterday. I’m a little annoyed at myself for missing the hardcover release last year, but am glad I’m catching up now.
I’m not that far in Songs, but it’s good to be back in a world Levithan created.
What did you recently finish reading?
 |
 |
| The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison |
Small Favor by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters |
I don’t think I can put my thoughts about The Goblin Emporer into a pithy sentence or even paragraph. I hated to finish it, I just wasn’t ready to leave that book.
At a certain point, I did actually remember everything that happens in Small Favor and then spent hours trying to talk myself out of it, as if I could convince the audio to change and several events not happen until another book, so I didn’t have to listen. I’m not sure that makes sense.
What do you think you’ll read next?
 |
 |
| Second Lies the Son by Matt Phillips |
What If…Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force? by Rebecca Podos |
All I needed to see was “by Matt Phillips” to jump on this ARC. Can’t wait to learn what it’s about.
Kitty Pryde and Phoenix force? ‘Nuff said.
What’s been grabbing your attention lately?
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:
The Case for Whole Books: You can’t get better at reading until you care about a text.—Part advertisement for a new book, part critique of what Common Core has done to English classes, part argument for how things should be. All the kind of thing I could read about for hours.
SoA calls for transparency around ‘unsung’ ghostwriters behind celebrity-authored children’s books—an overdue idea.
Sounds like George R.R. Martin’s OpenAI suit is going pretty well for him—(and for other authors, too, but Martin’s name will bring more readers, I guess)
The Infection is Coming…—AJ Calvin talks about the upcoming Kickstarter for The Book of Spores and the book in general.
How to build a reading routine for fall that actually sticks—some good advice here
Yeah, it’s November, but we can still talk about creepy/spooky reads, right? Like Sara Reads did in a few posts: Halloween.1, Halloween part 2., and Halloween part 3.
The Womble has some, too, in: Tis the season of Terror!
Captivating Characters of October—Once again, I’ve forgotten to get anything written for this particular blog party/linkup thing. So I’ll just point to the mothership.
My Blogging Anniversary: The Seven Year Itch—The Witty & Sarcastic Book Club is 7?? (also, how is it only 7?). Regardless, congrats on the milestone!!
A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Chronicles of Prydain – Fantasy’s Forgotten Epic —I haven’t watched this yet, but I really enjoyed Ezekat’s short video on Prydain, so I can’t wait to dive in. And you know me, this is one of those topics I have to share any think I stumble across that covers it.
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie
Indexing: Reflections, Episode Six: Frostbite by Seanan McGuire
Reflecting the Sky by S. J. Rozan
The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone
And I mentioned the paperback release of The Burning Room by Michael Connelly
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Locks & Keys: A Fantasy Anthology by Bill Adams, Tom Bookbeard, L.M. Douglas, Bella Dunn, Dave Lawson, Sean O’Boyle, R.E. Sanders, R.A. Sandpiper, Alex Scheuermann, G.J. Terral—(at least) 8 banger short stories and 2 that are worth your time. Overall, a strong anthology (as I wrote recently)
Supernatural Crimes Unit: NYPD by Keith R.A. DeCandido—I always enjoy time in DeCandido’s worlds, this “When a drug-dealing wizard dominates the city, only one squad can stop them”
![A goodreads Facebook post pop quiz which one is the scariest:
ghost stories
horror novels
the size of my unread book collection [which is checked]](https://www.hcnewton.com/irrreader/2025images/ScariestPopQuiz.jpg)
Just a couple of days until candy-pocalypse, anyone else dreading the leftovers (and on-sale leftovers at local stores) ruining health/resolutions? Don’t get me wrong–I rather enjoy seeing all the trick-or-treaters and passing out candy. I just wish they’d do a better job of cleaning us out. (if they’d clean us out quickly, so I could actually read something, that’d be even better).
You have enough pre-post banter? Good, me too.
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?
 |
 |
| The Broken Detective by Joel Nedecky |
How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future by Maria Ressa, read by Maria Ressa & Rebecca Mozo |
Am cracking Nedecky’s book open later today. I skimmed the cover a couple of weeks ago when I got it, but remember nothing that I read. All I know is that Run Amok books hasn’t let me down yet. I assume the trend will continue.
I saw Ressa interviewed recently and thought “I want to learn more about her.” And what do you know? She has a memoir (that’ll probably shift into something else later on). I think we’re only into her mid-20s right now, and I’m fascinated. Not that surprisingly, given her career in journalism and activism, she’s a strong audiobook narrator, so bonus points for that.
What did you recently finish reading?
 |
 |
| Front Desk by Kelly Yang |
The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Takami Nieda, read by: Naruto Komatsu, Kenichiro Thomson, Susan Momoko Hingley, Yuriri Naka & Ami Okumura Jones |
Last night, I read the very charming (yet honest about race and immigrant struggles in the mid 90s) Front Desk for a reading challenge. I don’t know that it needs two (at least) sequels, and I doubt I’ll get to them, but I was very satisfied with this MG read.
The Healing Hippo has convinced me that Michiko Aoyma and I should part ways. There’s nothing bad about the book, but I just don’t get the appeal.
What do you think you’ll read next?
|
|
| The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison |
Small Favor by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters |
The Goblin Emperor is the last Fantasy Book Club read of the year–and it looks like we’re going out strong. Hope so, anyway.
And it’s time for another installment of “HC scrambles to listen to the existing Dresden Files books before Twelve Months is released.” I’m embarassed to admit that I conflate a lot of Small Favor with the next book, Turn Coat, so I’m eager to get some clarification on it.
How are you closing out October?
Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
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:
Identity Stamps: Two new startups, Books by People and Amlet, aim to certify a book’s authenticity in the AI era—It is so sad that this needs to be a thing. It’s also enheartening that it finally is.
Federal judge says Texas law requiring book ratings is unconstitutional
How the Hardy Boys Book Series Cracked the Case of Getting Kids Hooked on Reading
Barnes & Noble’s 2025 Book of the Year Finalists—Ugh. Is it this time of year already? Still, some good-looking books. I’ve read 2 of these finalists, and yeah, they belong on the list.
ABC Radio National named their Top 100 Books of the 21st Century.—as well as the books that didn’t quite make the Top 100
My Conversation with Fake Dan Brown—Lee Goldberg talks about the chat he had with “Dan Brown” last week.
Acquiring My Work: A Primer—Scalzi’s primer might not apply to the author of your choice, but it does give some grounds to consider
Influences – Joe Abercrombie
Exclusive Interview: “Against All Odds” Author Jeffery H. Haskell
Z.B. Steele put together a great (and visually appealing) thread of SFF Book Recs Based on Your Favorite D&D Class—two indie and one trad book per subclass.
A two-fer from The Orangutan Librarian this week: If you like this, try that… Halloween Edition and If you didn’t like this, try that… Halloween Edition
Monthly Manga Mania Featuring Firsty Duelist: Ultraman by Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi—I have memories of watching (not understanding, because I was like 5 or 6) Ultraman decades ago. It was just undeniably cool–a manga about him is definitely appealing from the outset. Firsty Duelist made it moreso.
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
Updraft by Fran Wilde
A Serpent’s Tooth by Craig Johnson
And I mentioned the releases of two very different kinds of PI books: Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith and The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Death at the Door by Olivia Blacke—A nice sequel for the ghost and roommate amateur sleuth pair. I made a case for reading it last week.
Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow—The book is best summed up by this “it’s not just you—the internet sucks now. Here’s why, and here’s how we can disenshittify it.” I read it, and am glad I did. Even if I despair of any of his suggested solutions happening.
The Land of Sweet Forever: Stories and Essays by Harper Lee—”a posthumous collection of newly discovered short stories and previously published essays and magazine pieces, offering a fresh perspective on the remarkable literary mind of Harper Lee.”
The Broken Detective by Joel Nedecky—”Private investigator Jake Joelsen is going to prison for assaulting his sick mom’s abusive boyfriend, but thanks to a suspended sentence, he has two weeks to earn as much money as possible so he can financially support his mom when he’s inside.” All he has to do is find one missing woman, fight some powerful people, and stay sober.
Blind Date with a Werewolf by Patricia Briggs—”When the deadly werewolf Asil is gifted five blind dates by some anonymous ‘friends,’ his reclusive life will never be the same, in this enthralling novel in stories.” I’ve read one or two of these stories before, and figure I’ll enjoy the others.
The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly—I’m not sure how I didn’t know about a new Lincoln Lawyer book until 2 days after it came out, but this should be as compelling as usual.
Batman: Revolution by John Jackson Miller—I love the idea of a series following up on Burton’s Batman, in this second novel (third if you count the novelization of the movie), we get to meet The Riddler.
Slayers of Old by Jim C. Hines—”Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls in this humorous contemporary standalone fantasy about a group of former Chosen Ones coming out of retirement to save the world one last time… it’s a novel about community, second chances, and the healing power of scones.”
Futility by Nuzo Onoh—Okay, this “monstrous, gleeful, bitingly funny tale of murder, body-swapping and bloody vengeance” doesn’t actually sound like my cup of tea (but will appeal to some of you). But that cover is one that I both really want on my shelf and never want to see again. Click to see what I mean.
We all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (yet, publishing companies spend big bucks on cover design/art and we all do judge them that way). But, the opening sentence(s)/paragraph(s) are fair game. So, when I stumble on a good opening (or remember one and pull it off the shelves), I like to throw it up here (especially if I’m out of time to come up with a post that involves writing on my part). Today seemed like a good day for this.
from Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury:
First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys. Not that all months aren’t rare. But there be bad and good, as the pirates say. Take September, a bad month: school begins. Consider August, a good month: school hasn’t begun yet. July, well, July’s really fine: there’s no chance in the world for school. June, no doubting it, June’s best of all, for the school doors spring wide and September’s a billion years away.
But you take October, now. School’s been on a month and you’re riding easier in the reins, jogging along. You got time to think of the garbage you’ll dump on old man Prickett’s porch, or the hairy-ape costume you’ll wear to the YMCA the last night of the month. And if it’s around October twentieth and everything smoky-smelling and the sky orange and ash gray at twilight, it seems Halloween will never come in a fall of broomsticks and a soft flap of bedsheets around corners.
But one strange wild dark long year, Halloween came early.
One year Halloween came on October 24, three hours after midnight.
At that time, James Nightshade of 97 Oak Street was thirteen years, eleven months, twenty-three days old. Next door, William Halloway was thirteen years, eleven months and twenty-four days old. Both touched toward fourteen; it almost trembled in their hands.
And that was the October week when they grew up overnight, and were never so young anymore….
I anticipated having nothing but energy after a week’s vacation, and yet…anyway. I managed to get this put together, and hopefully I’ll have a post or two tomorrow of substance.
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?
 |
 |
| Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir |
The Summer War by Naomi Novik, read by Ella Lynch |
I’m about a hundred pages into Gideon the Ninth and I’m not sure this book is for me–but I’m interested enough to keep going (also, the book club meeting is Monday, and I want to be ready for it).
It’s been too long since I’ve spent time in Novik’s writing. The premise of this short work intrigued me, too. Pretty sure this brief book is going to hit hard.
What did you recently finish reading?
 |
 |
| Callus & Crow by D. B. Rook |
Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow |
Rook takes a bunch of ideas and genres and mashes them together. Mostly successfully. This is a creepy read with some characters that are going to stay with me.
I’m not sure I think that Doctorow’s prescriptions are the right way to go (I sure can’t think of better ones, though–at least they’d be good starts), but his “why everything suddenly got worse” feels pretty spot-on. The book isn’t that hopeful, because I really don’t see a lot of people being interested in fixing things.
What do you think you’ll read next?
 |
 |
| The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi |
An Instruction in Shadow by Benedict Jacka, read by Will Watt |
Time to actually make progress in The Old Man’s War series!
Time to get a quick refresher on The Inheritance of Magic series!
You been reading anything good while the leaves turn around you?
For the second time this year, I’m doing this late. Humbug. I was out of town last week spending time with my favorite person. So, I didn’t have a lot of time to be looking around for things to put here (and I got really behind with everything, leading to the belatedness of this). But I hate to break a streak (and there’s a bunch of new releases to mention)
Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye last week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
58 Books You Need to Read (Recommended by People Who Know) Or: 42 Writers, Editors, and Booksellers on the Best Books They’ve Read in the Last 25 Years—this is a great list
Enchanting Imposters: Johns Hopkins University’s Bibliotheca Fictiva Collection of Literary and Historical Forgery shows that humans have been creating fan fiction and fake news for millennia—”more than 2,000 items—rare books, manuscripts, and ephemera.” It sounds fascinating.
Killer Reads: Books About Serial Killers You Need to Read—another great list
Spooktacular Books for All Ages: 2025—and a third list of books that you should peruse, this time from Witty & Sarcastic Book Club
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Last Week?
Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? by Stephen Dobyns
Walking the Perfect Square by Reed Farrel Coleman
A Bitter Feast by S.J. Rozan
The Drop by Dennis Lehane
Whirligig by Magnus Macintyre
And I talked about the release of Black Widow: Forever Red by Margaret Stohl
Last Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Bounty Inc. by Adam Holcombe—Bounty hunters in space. Epic battle scenes. Found family. Oodles of Fun. I enthused about this recently, and I’d gladly do so again.
Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg—Eve Ronin’s latest finds her in the middle of a new (and yet old) tangle of corruption
And to All a Good Bite by David Rosenfelt—The new Andy Carpenter holiday mystery. A bit of cleverness and a warm-fuzzy are both sure to ensue.
Grace & Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman—”A sentimental advertising creative and a blunt, no-nonsense bar owner find a second chance at love while binge-watching iconic holiday movies in this poignant and heartwarming romance.”
Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum by Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry—”A poignant, heartfelt, and funny memoir about how, in 1985, Michael J. Fox brought to life two iconic roles simultaneously—Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties and Marty McFly in Back to the Future. An amazing true story as only Michael J. Fox can tell it.” Draws upon interviews with cast and crew of both projects.
