Tag: Miscellany Page 104 of 179

The Friday 56 for 9/17/21: Headphones and Heartaches by Wesley Parker

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it

from Page 56 of:
Headphones and Heartaches

Headphones and Heartaches by Wesley Parker

We share a long hug, and I apologize for being so moody lately.

“You’re a teenager. I’d have you committed if you weren’t.” She pecks me on the forehead and all is well in our house again. “I was thinking, you start school and your new job on Tuesday, so what would you say about getting a hotel and spending the weekend in New York City?”

“Are you serious?”

She frowns. “No, I enjoy getting your hopes up and crushing them. Of course I’m serious.”

WWW Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Assembling furniture always takes a lot longer than it should, right? Last night, I got a desk halfway assembled when I noticed I’d switched a couple of legs in step 2. So had to disassemble it, redo that part and then complete the desk. Then, when I got to the last step, I realized that I’d actually had the legs in the right spots earlier, they were just backward—sooo back to the beginning one more time. I got it finished, and am just ignoring the extra parts…

This is just to say, that I didn’t have time to get anything scheduled last night, but here’s a quick WWW Wednesday!

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

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading two books at the moment: the whimsical history, How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages by Cait Stevenson, and the new Toby Daye novel, When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire. I’m also listening to Broken Soul by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator) on audiobook.

How to Slay a DragonBlank SpaceWhen Sorrows ComeBlank SpaceBroken Soul

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Spencer Quinn’s It’s a Wonderful Woof (a little more Christmas in September) and Bound by Benedict Jacka, Gildart Jackson (Narrator) on audio.

It's a Wonderful WoofBlank SpaceBound

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Pug Actually by Matt Dunn (because I apparently can’t go more than one novel lately without a dog on the cover) and my next audiobook should be Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper on audiobook which looks like a nerdy kind of fun.

Pug ActuallyBlank SpaceWord by Word

Hit me with yours, they’re always inspirational.

Saturday Miscellany—9/11/21

I feel a little weird posting this today, but maybe some of you will want a break from all the anniversary coverage. And if you don’t? Well, this will be here later.

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 The Book Biz Tries to Avoid Supply Chain Disruptions—this is only going to get worse for a while…
bullet Publishers, Amazon Move to Dismiss Booksellers’ Antitrust Suit
bullet The third Lily Wong novel comes out next week, so Tori Eldridge is getting a little publicity going, for example:
bullet Tori Eldridge: Going to Hong Kong—how a recent trip inspired the setting for the third novel.
bullet Things Get Personal for Lily Wong—a good interview with Eldridge
bullet Michael Connelly Can’t Stop Chasing Leads—a niece piece on the master
bullet Richard Osman: ‘No one’s born a crime writer. I write crime because I read it’—an interview with the man behind The Thursday Murder Club (and several other things)
bullet The American Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Nick Rennison on the early days of American detective fiction and the sleuths who competed with Sherlock Holmes for mystery readers.—I’d maybe heard of one of these before, but I think I’m conflating him with someone else (and later). I’m willing to bet most of you would say something similar, which says something about how the rivalries went.
bullet This One’s Too Large, This One’s Too Small: Is There a Perfect Shape for Books?—I really feel like I’m starting to mention too many Molly Templeton pieces lately. But I really don’t see myself stopping. This is one of those things I wish I’d written.
bullet The Best 4 Apps to Keep Track of the Books You Own—huh. Have you heard of any of these? Used one?
bullet What determines reading speed?—I don’t remember seeing this one on Paul’s Picks (and I thought I’d at least glanced at everything there), so I’m glad it was spotlighted this week by The Write Reads.
bullet The D&D Connection: Authors and TTRPGs- What You May Have Missed—I talked about this series last week, here’s a nice wrap-up post with the links to them all.
bullet The NetGalley Shelf app – Grrrrrrr—I suspected NetGalley’s app wouldn’t be that great, Fictionophile kindly confirmed that.

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Blood Brothers Episode 66 with Janice Hallet and Miranda Jewess—a fun discussion with the author of The Appeal (a book I’m really looking forward to being available over here) and her publisher.

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Robert B. Parker’s Stone’s Throw by Mike Lupica—Jesse Stone returns in a sold entry for the series, I talked about it recently.
bullet The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes—One of the more pleasant surprises of 2020 to me was how much I enjoyed The Inheritance Games, I’m excited to see how this sequel carries on.
bullet Miss Kopp Investigates by soandso—The Seventh Kopp Sisters novel finds them post-WWI and me two behind.

The Friday 56 for 9/10/21: Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it

from Page 56 of:
Suburban Dicks

Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza

Since he could barely afford water now, much less weed, Kenny hadn’t spoken with Terry in two years. He parked on West State Street in front of a few houses that almost looked habitable. He walked through the park toward the statue of John Roebling, where they’d agreed to meet.

Terry strolled toward him. He walked with a limp now and had gained at least fifty pounds. The gold front teeth were also new and they kicked up a spark of sun. “The famous Kenneth Lee, in the hood,” he said with a smile. They shook hands. “How’s your brother?”

“Married with a kid. Selling life insurance. We don’t talk much. How the hell have you stayed out of jail?” Kenny asked.

“Always run faster, man.”

“With the limp?”

“Ah, got shot in the ankle,” said Terry. “Never fixed up right. Still run faster than any piece of bacon in this slaughterhouse.”

Kenny wasn’t sure if it was the greatest use of slang he’d ever heard or the worst.

Book Blogger Hop: Synopsis vs. Cover

Hey, look, after 1.5 years of meaning to get around to it, I’ve finally dipped my toe into the Book Blogger Hop. I generally find the topics interesting, but have over-thought my responses. By imposing a strict time-limit on myself for answering the question, I figure I can join in the fun.


This prompt was submitted by Julie @ JadeSky:

Are you more likely to choose to read a book based on the synopsis, or the cover?

98.6% of the time, I’m choosing to read a book based on the synopsis. Covers lie and/or mislead. Well, synopses do, too, I guess. But really, those are the exceptions (and those who produce those need to be punished). Whether it’s the official inside-the-jacket-flap/back-of-the-book/author-or-publisher-website synopsis, an elevator pitch I hear on podcast interview with an author, or a blogger’s version of the synopsis–it’s knowing what the book is about more than whatever picture is on the front that’s going to get me to read a book.

At the same time–outside of getting a recommendation from a blogger/author/etc. it’s going to come down to the cover to get my attention and get me to read the synopsis (even if it’s just the author’s name on a cover).

What about you?

WWW Wednesday, September 8, 2021

I’ve read a couple of killer books in a row, the kind of reads that I’m intimidated to try to write about, you know? Anything I say will be a disservice. But that’s a problem for another time, now, it’s time for the check in that is WWW Wednesday!

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

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I just started Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza, which I’ve been looking forward to for a while, and am listening to the fairly amusing Yearbook by Seth Rogen (and a supporting cast) on audiobook.

Suburban DicksBlank SpaceYearbook

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Lee Matthew Goldberg’s Stalker Stalked, which was just stunning, and the unimpressive Robert Ludlum’s The Treadstone Exile by Joshua Hood, Ron Butler (Narrator) on audio.

Stalker StalkedBlank SpaceThe Treadstone Exile

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be a little Christmas in September with Best in Snow by David Rosenfelt and my next audiobook should be Bound by Benedict Jacka, Gildart Jackson (Narrator).

Best in SnowBlank SpaceBound

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

Saturday Miscellany—9/4/21

There was a point this morning I really wondered if I’d be able to post this today–I had so many problems–my password manager, browser, and then operating system all had strange glitches–consecutively, mind you. I felt like a Pakled, I just wanted someone to “Make it go.” It literally took me an hour to get to the point I could start assembling the post.

Remember when computers were going to make our lives easier?

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 Writers notes: the record label remixing novels into music—This is such a weird idea, but I’m curious about it—has anyone out there listened to something like this?
bullet The Brilliant History of Books, From Egyptian Scrolls to E-Readers—yeah, this is sort of a “history of books in 2 minutes” approach, but it’s a good summary
bullet Picking up a book for fun positively affects verbal abilities—I almost just put “duh” here, but that seemed to counter the premise. Most readers of this post know this, but it’s always nice to get some confirmation, right? I know when I’d have a major paper in college/grad school, I’d crack open a Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin novel before writing—it always got my mind cranking in the right way.
bullet The Only Way Out Is Through: On Reading Slumps—I think there’s actually a new-to-me recommendation in the last paragraph (and one I should implement)
bullet What Makes a Book ‘Appropriate’ for School?
bullet What to do when you run out of bookshelf space
bullet Why William Gibson Is a Literary Genius—well, yeah.
bullet A Reacher Relay Race: PW Talks with Lee and Andrew Child
bullet Fran Lebowitz: ‘If people disagree with me, so what?’—a good interview with Lebowitz. I wish she’d find a way through the block, I could use something fresher than the Reader (not that I don’t occasionally re-read a piece or two from that to this day)
bullet I Stopped Writing My Series Years Ago. But Something Kept Calling Me Back.—I’ve never heard of the series in question, and I don’t think I’ve heard of the author, but I love his story…and am tempted to dip a toe in the water of the series.
bullet The Dragonlance Books Launched My Lifelong Love of Fantasy
bullet The D&D Connection: Authors and TTRPGs—Witty & Sarcastic Book Club had a great series this week on D&D and the effect it had (or didn’t have) on various authors.
bullet This Gentlemen Bastards Quote Thread! (Non-Spoiler) from @BookMeanderings almost made me abandon my books for the week to reread The Lies of Locke Lamora
bullet How to create a reading routine that works?—Frankly, I preferred it when Nonfictionality produced articles rather than videos, but this is worth the time.
bullet Embracing the DNF: 3 Reasons It’s Okay to Read Something Else
bullet Announcement: Novels & Waffles is Moving to Bibliosmile.com—While I’m going to miss Novels & Waffles, I’m glad she found a way to stick with blogging in a way that works for her, and am looking forward to seeing what happens with it.

The Friday 56 for 9/3/21: The Run-Out Groove by Andrew Cartmel

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it

from Page 56 of:
The Run-Out Groove

The Run-Out Groove by Andrew Cartmel

“…for all these reasons, singles are ten times as hard to find as LPs. And when the record is rare to start with, as in the case of Valerian…”

“It’s almost impossible to find.”

“Yes.” Nevada rolled over, leaning on her elbow and looking at me. “And yet,” she said. “And yet I don’t sense any hopelessness in your voice.”

“Don’t you?”

“Not even any fashionable cynicism.”

“Oh dear.”

“In fact what I sense, when you expound at such great length on just how fucking impossible it is to find this record of Valerian’s, is quiet confidence.”

I smiled in the darkness. She could see right through me. “That’s because | think I know someone who’s got a copy,” I said.

WWW Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Running a little late with WWW Wednesday today, but here it is.

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 currently reading the ARC of True Dead by Faith Hunter in preparation for a Book Tour Stop Monday. Also, I’m revisiting Bone Canyon by Lee Goldberg, Nicol Zanzarella (Narrator) on audiobook because it was so fun and I wanted to remember a couple of details before book three hits this fall.

True DeadBlank SpaceBone Canyon

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Andrew Cartmel’s The Run-Out Groove, the second Vinyl Detective novel—something that’s been sitting on my shelf since 2018. I also just finished the audiobook for the very clever The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz, Rory Kinnear (Narrator) on audio.

The Run-Out GrooveBlank SpaceThe Word is Murder

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever by John McWhorter, because it sounds amusing and interesting—also, I haven’t read a non-fiction book in so long, I feel like I’ve forgotten how. My next audiobook should be Robert Ludlum’s The Treadstone Exile by Joshua Hood, Ron Butler (Narrator).

Nine Nasty WordsBlank SpaceThe Treadstone Exile

What are you reading to kick off September?

20 Books of Summer 2021: Wrap Up

20 Books of Summer
One summer.

Three months.

93 Days.

20 books.


I really didn’t think I’d get it done on time after seeing where I was in July. But here I am with almost 27 hours to go and I’ve finished the 20 Books for Summer Challenge for 2021. After a June that was less-than-productive (well, okay, I read nothing), and a July that got me less than halfway home, I expected I was going to have to fudge things like last year by going with Labor Day as a cutoff. But nope, I pulled off an according-to-Hoyle completion.

20 books down, cleared off a lot from my Mt. TBR (including things I bought in 2018!), not a stinker in the bunch (two of them flirted with it, though)—and a nice, warm sense of accomplishment to boot. Now, that’s books read, not posted about. I guess that’s my challenge for September, I think I have ten of them done, however, so it’s not that daunting.

Here’s the list:

✔ 1. A Beginner’s Guide to Free Fall by Andy Abramowitz
✔ 2. The Dead House by Harry Bingham
✔ 3. The Run-Out Groove by Andrew Cartmel
✔ 4. Love by Roddy Doyle
✔ 5. The Ninja’s Blade by Tori Eldridge
✔ 6. Small Bytes by Robert Germaux
✔ 7. A Reason to Live by Matthew Iden
✔ 8. Twice Cursed by J. C. Jackson
✔ 9. The Dime by Kathleen Kent
✔ 10. Dead Man’s Grave by Neil Lancaster
✔ 11. The Magnificent Nine by James Lovegrove
✔ 12. The Mermaid’s Pool by David Nolan
✔ 13. All Together Now by Matthew Norman
✔ 14. The Good Byline by Jill Orr
✔ 15. Sir Thomas the Hesitant and the Table of Less Valued Knights by Liam Perrin
✔ 16. Fools Gold by Ian Patrick
✔ 17. Know Your Rites by Andy Redsmith
✔ 18. The Far Empty by J. Todd Scott
✔ 19. August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones
✔ 20. In Plain Sight by Dan Willis

20 Books of Summer '21 Chart August

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