Tag: Miscellany Page 109 of 175

Spring is on the verge of springing here and the birds are chirping like crazy and one of the canines in residence really wants to go out and play with them (sadly, they have no desire to play with her). Hope the pollen isn’t getting to you all too much.

Short list this week—I’ve clearly been busy this week (not that you can prove it from my posting)—but there are some gems.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
The Joy and Privilege of Growing Up in an Indie Bookstore
I Work in a Bookstore. Why Am I Still Shelving “Mein Kampf”?—I don’t think Abdalla convinced me here, but I almost wish she did.
The Best Spy Novels Written by Spies, According to a Spy—I’m tempted to take the next two weeks off from everything and read this list.
Why Murder Mysteries Are a Lot Like Science, According to a Neuroscientist and Novelist—I didn’t set out to post two pieces by Erik Hoel (someone is clearly trying to promote his new book), but I liked them both—and this isn’t anything like his growing up in a bookstore, so it’s not redundant.
The Myth of Accurate Representation – Neurodivergence in Fiction—this is good.
Dragonlance Week: A Celebration—This week, Witty and Sarcastic Book Club took a break from working in Dragonlance references to 63.2% of their posts and devoted an entire week to focusing on the series. It kicked off with that piece, but you can find them all here. This series is second only to Lloyd Alexander in making me a fantasy reader, nice to read all these pieces and remember why.

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Animal Instinct by David Rosenfelt—The second book in the Andy Carpenter spin-off series is another solid read. I talked about it a bit recently.

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to deardailydiary81, Operation X, Siddharth menon, Hannah , and Ccoutreach who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Library E-Book Bill Advancing in Maryland—am not sure this is the best way to address the issue (not sure it isn’t, either)
Douglas Adams’ note to self reveals author found writing torture—Good piece about Adams, but an absolute garbage headline. Anyone who knows anything about Adams doesn’t need that revealed. Tantamount to headlines like, “George RR Martin Procrastinates,” “Don Winslow Has a Thing or Two to Say About the Drug Trade,” or “David Rosenfelt Features a Dog in his Next Book.”
How Hank the Cowdog Made John R. Erickson the King of the Canine Canon: He wanted to become a serious literary novelist, like Faulkner or Hemingway. Fortunately for millions of Hank the Cowdog fans, he failed.—I never understood the appeal, but I know many who got it. Interesting feature about Erickson (who I did not realize was still publishing).
Why are there so many book summary apps?—Something else I’ve never understood the appeal of (even if I drew the same conclusions as this post). Worth it for the last paragraph.
Why Do So Many Novels Feature Golden Retrievers?
To wait, or to buy. A look at the impact those who wait to buy and binge-read series can have on the book writing business.—Great post.
So, You Want to Start a Book Blog…—FanFiAddict’s David W. has some good thoughts for people thinking of diving in
The Expectations We Put On Ourselves as Book Bloggers—she wrote this so I didn’t have to. I’m not sure if it was just the encouragement I needed this week or if it served as the excuse I could use to produce so little 🙂

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to josbees andrtslaywood who followed the blog this week.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
March 25 was not a good day for the literary world, with the deaths of Beverly Cleary and Larry McMurtry. HarperCollins posted this about Cleary and the Washington Post had the first non-paywall McMurtry obituary that I found. I went through a McMurtry phase in college (while avoiding the much-hyped Lonesome Dove, which was probably stupid of me). And Cleary? Come on…who among us didn’t live vicariously through Ralph S. Mouse and his antics? She’s probably the author who taught me you could feel things other than thrills or laughs through books, actually.
12 Ways to Get Out of a Reading Slump: What to do when you just can’t seem to work up the motivation to read.
How to Know When it’s Time to Quit a Book
In Defense of Kvothe: A Candid Look at a Divisive Character—it’s odd that such a beloved character needs a defense, but, I think even the most ardent fans would admit that he’s a problematic character (like all of us). Here’s a good apologetic for the Kingkiller.
ruminations on my first year of blogging—pretty sure it took me several years to learn what this blogger picked up in one.
Making a Monster—Spells and Spaceships kicked off their Fantasy Monster Week with this post. This series of posts could do some real damage to your book buying budget, I should warn you.

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Genrenauts: The Wasteland War by Michael R. Underwood—The Genrenauts are back and as grim as things looked at the end of the last novella, they’re worse now. I read this yesterday, it was so good to be back in this world. If you haven’t come across the Genrenauts yet, here’s my post about the Season One collection.
The Bounty by Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton—Fox and O’Hare “race against time to uncover a buried train filled with Nazi gold” with the help of Fox’s father. This is probably my make-it-or-break-it book with this series. The fact that Steve Hamilton is on board gives me some hope.

Last weekend, I considered putting up a post saying that I was going to take the week off—we worked long shifts all week and had some family stuff going on, and I just knew it was going to be hard getting anything done. But I decided I’d power through and get some stuff accomplished. And ended up basically taking the week off—although the only thing I made a conscious decision not to do was last the Fridays with the Foundling post. All I have to show for my efforts this week are several mostly completed and utterly lifeless posts that I’ll have to do a major re-write on next week.

I did get some reading in, though—including my favorite book of the year so far. So, there’s that. Hope you enjoy this week’s collection:

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Why You Should Support Your Local Bookstore—In case you need the reminder
A Kansas Bookshop’s Fight with Amazon Is About More Than the Price of Books—worth the minor hassle of dealing with The New Yorker’s not-a-paywall hoops
I didn’t set out to go on an anti-Amazon rant, but, here we are: Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you.—this one troubles me greatly.
Pre-ordering: show authors some love!—Yeah, this is focused on this particular press, but it applies to all the others. And you don’t even have to shop at That River Website to do it! I’m frequently (still, somehow) surprised how much this helps an author when I see them talk about this.
5 Reasons to Listen to Classics on Audio—There are some really good points here…I should do this. The accompanying playlist Classic Books to Try on Audio looks like a decent place to start. I think the narrator is key, for example—Ian McKellen reading The Odyssey or George Guidall reading Les Misérables? Sign me up.
Why So Many Novelists Write About Writers—This isn’t a definitive answer to the question I’ve asked a million times (I’m sure most readers have), but it’s a good one.
Why Are We Obsessed With Psychopaths?—some good stuff here, too.
When Is A Book Blogger Not A Book Blogger?—I’m not sure this rant was necessary (I don’t think the blogger is, either), but…yeah, I tend to agree.
The Importance of Knowing Your Own Taste: Ways to Avoid the HYPE and HATE Train—you’d like to think this is unneccesarry and self-evident. However, we’ve all been victim to this folly and need good reminders like this from The Orangutan Librarian.
That post was followed a couple of days later by some great examples of taking her own advice: Books I Read Thanks to Negative Reviews and Ended Up Loving (as an aside, I love the cover for My Lady Jane used there—does a better job of capturing the book than the one I saw when I read it)
To What Extent Should We Compare Books?—good discussion from Stephen Writes
How I Have Maintained A 300+ Day Post Streak!—Nope. Not jealous at all. Especially this week. Going to take some of this advice.
Typically, I’m not a fan of “you’re not a real fan/geek/X, if you don’t…” things, but you’d have a hard time convincing me that @BooksNest is wrong here.

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Drop the Mikes by Duncan MacMaster—The Kirby Baxter series is about the most reliably entertaining series I’ve read in the last few years, and I can’t imagine this is going to be the exception. Kirby ends up vacationing next to a Fyre Festival-type thing and stumbles on to a murder (of course).
Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs—Anna and Charles investigate the disappearnce of a small community. I’m around 60% through with this, it’s Briggs’s best in years (so far, anyway)
What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch—Peter’s cousin Abigail gets the spotlight in this fun novella. I talked about it a bit here recently.
Firefly: Life Signs by James Lovegrove—hey, look, another in this Firefly series for me to have on my TBR Shelf and not get around to reading for months (I did read the first one…). Thankfully, the hardcovers look nice sitting there.