Tag: Miscellany Page 11 of 171

WWW Wednesday—September 10, 2025

On September 10, 2025

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

It’s been a strange few weeks here–some adjustments with the Day Job (aka “The Thing that Pays for This”), including a much shorter commute–I’ve lost at least 5 hours for audiobooks a week. That’s going to come back to bite me. But I think I can cope with that. Now I’ve just got to get back to my regular posting schedule (or find a new one). In the meantime…

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?


Babel by R. F Kuang	Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano, read by Angela Dawe

I’m only 1/5 into Babel, but I’m not totally sold on it yet. The world is fascinating. The magic system is something I want to learn so much more about. Some of the characters are promising–and there are a few that I truly hope get their comeuppance (but fear this novel is set up to let them get away with it). But I’m not really connecting with the book–and I should be by now.

I’ve spent the last couple of books thinking that my time with Finlay and Vero has to be drawing to a close–but so far, I’m enjoying this ride a little more than I have been. Which is good enough to keep going for now.

What did you recently finish reading?


Silver and Lead by Seanan McGuire	Locks & Keys edited by Alex Scheuermann	The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold by Ally Carter, read by Andrew Eiden & Emily Ellet

After Earth-shattering (and Earth-remaking) events over the last three books, it was good to see Toby dealing with some minor life-and-death stakes again. Er, wait…something’s not right about that sentence. Anyway, a very pregnant Toby is a lot of fun for her fans to encounter.

Locks & Keys was a very strong short story collection–I should have something more to say about it soon.

I didn’t not think Carter’s sequel was near as fun or clever as The Blonde Identity was–but it did the job.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule	Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters

I’m sure Ty Seidule’s book is going to make me uncomfortable more than once. I’m looking forward to that.

Time for another Dresden Files audiobook. Proven Guilty adds one of my favorite characters in the series (well, re-introduces her and brings her to the forefront she deserves). Should be fun.

How’s September treating you? Reading anything good?

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Classics I Meant to Read (but never got around to)

By HCNewton

On September 9, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Top X List

Yes, two in one day, I have to do some catch up. This week’s Top 5 topic is Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Classics I Meant to Read (but never got around to).

This list could’ve been a lot longer. It should’ve been–thankfully, we’re limited to 5 (although I push that a bit).

As I did a few months ago, in lieu of spending time formatting a post and hemming and hawing about this and that, I just turned on the camera, hit record, and blathered on a bit.

Let me know what you think!

Joel and the MST3K Bots asking What Do You Think, Sirs?

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Classics I Love

By HCNewton

On September 9, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Top X List

Last week’s topic was, “Top 5 Classics I Love. I’d been tossing around ideas for September’s lists of classics, and then didn’t really notice that I was supposed to start this last week.
As I did a few months ago, in lieu of spending time formatting a post and hemming and hawing about this and that, I just turned on the camera, hit record, and blathered on a bit.

Let me know what you think!

Joel and the MST3K Bots asking What Do You Think, Sirs?

MUSIC MONDAY: “Have It All” by Jeremy Kay

By HCNewton

On September 8, 2025

In News/Misc.

The Irresponsible Reader's Music Monday logo

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

Irresponsible Reader Pilcrow Icon

Saturday Miscellany—9/6/25

By HCNewton

On September 6, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Yes, I am still blogging, not that you can prove that lately. I have 5 draft posts that were supposed to go up this week (including a book tour!!). But energy/initiative didn’t seem to be my thing this week. Let’s see if things improve over the next 7, shall we?

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 Banned Books Week gives us a chance to reflect on censorship—some thoughts ahead of the UK’s BBW in October
bullet “Weird, but Fantastic”: Devoney Looser on Those Who Love Jane Austen—Looser is making the rounds on the internet this week about her upcoming book. I’m not an Austen fan, but I’m tempted by this book.
bullet It’s Okay to Hate The House of Mirth: Carlo Rotella on Reading (and Learning) from Books We Dislike—I don’t know enough (or anything) about this book or Wharton to have an opinion on that, but I appreciated the lessons of this.
bullet The Longest Long Words List: Don’t read this if you have hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (fear of long words).—Some fun from Merriam-Webster
bullet Why AI Narrators Will Never Be Able to Tell a Real Human Story: Adam Verner Explores the Uncanny Valley of Automated Audiobooks—this seems like it sound be entirely too many words for an easy topic, but…End-Stage Capitalism, or whatever it is we’re in shows us otherwise
bullet The Future of Technology Makes It Harder to Solve Fictional Crimes
bullet Quiz: Can You Match the Literary Fart Joke to its Source?—I’m not sure if I should be relieved or embarassed at how badly I failed this one.
bullet August 2025 Book Blogger Posts Round Up—Jo Linsdell has a great collection of recent reads
bullet Wombling Along—as does the Wombler
bullet Why Bunnies? Jumping into the Role of Rabbits in Children’s Literature—I’ve wondered this a time or two, but never actually gave it any thought. Thanks for prompting actual musing, Orangutan Librarian!

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Provoke Not The Children by Michael W. Anderson
bullet Underground by Kat Richardson
bullet Indexing: Reflections, Episode 2: Broken Glass by Seanan McGuire
bullet The Van by Roddy Doyle
bullet And I mentioned the releases of: (so many bangers that week) A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire; The Drafter by Kim Harrison; Jillian Cade: (Fake) Paranormal Investigator by Jen Klein; Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? by Stephen Dobyns; Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart; Updraft by Fran Wilde; The Dragon Engine by Andy Remic; andThe Fate of Ten by Pittacus Lore

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Hansel and Gretel by Stephen King, Maurice Sendak (Illustrator)—I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago—how does one pass up this team-up?
bullet Making History by K. J. Parker—a tyrant assembles a group of historians to create a false justification for starting a war. In Parker’s hands, this is going to be wickedly good.

20 Books of Summer 2025: Wrap-Up

By HCNewton

On September 2, 2025

In Books, Currently Reading, Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Non-Fiction, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy

A quick check-in for this Reading Challenge hosted by Emma of Words and Peace and Annabel from AnnaBookBel (you can read more about it here).

With four substitutions (ugh), I can count this as complete…The four substitutions cams from my Books on My Summer 2025 to-Read List (That Aren’t on My 20 Books Challenge)–which I did complete. But I made the title a lie with the substitutions. It’s complicated.

I had a blast with the books I did complete, and am rather annoyed with myself about those I didn’t. I was really looking forward to them (I hope to get at least a couple of them done this month.) Okay, let’s take a quick look at the lists.

🙁 1. The Lords of the West End by Peter Blaisdell
✔ 2. King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby
✔ 3. Mississippi Blue 42 by Eli Cranor
✔ 4. Guard in the Garden by Z. S. Diamanti
✔ 5. Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. Gibson
✔ 6. The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
✔ 7. Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper
🙁 8. Interstellar MegaChef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
✔ 9. Sabriel by Garth Nix
✔ 10. Lirael by Garth Nix

🙁 11. Abhorsen by Garth Nix
✔ 12. Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation by Jim O’Heir
✔ 13. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by Jason Pargin
✔ 14. Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
✔ 15. A Tail of Mystery by Paul Regnier
✔ 16. Samurai! by Saburo Sakai with Martin Caiden and Fred Saito
✔ 17. The Crew by Sadir S. Samir
✔ 18. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
🙁 19. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
✔ 20. Leveled Up Love by Tao Wong & A. G. Marshall

My Books on My Summer 2025 to-Read List (That Aren’t on My 20 Books Challenge):

✔ 1. Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch
✔ 2. Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic
✔ 3. Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
✔ 4. The Blue Horse by Bruce Borgos
✔ 5. Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

✔ 6. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
✔ 7. The Medusa Protocol by Rob Hart
✔ 8. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
✔ 9. Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue by Spencer Quinn
✔ 10. Dogged Pursuit by David Rosenfelt

Percentage-wise, I read 87% of the books I called my shot on for the summer. I’ve never been happy with getting a B, but I can be satisfied with one. (and no, I don’t see a conflict between this and the Orangutan Librarian’s recent post about competitive reading. This is me comparing myself with my goals, or my past self, or—worst of all—my expectations.)

Emma has some questions for us as we call this a wrap. Here we go:

Did you manage to finish all 10/15/20 books? If not, what kept you from completing the challenge?
No, I did not. I can narrow down the reasons to three things: I didn’t include NetGalley reads in my 20 (I think I didn’t do that last year, either); I didn’t include the books for my book clubs (that was a mistake); the big one is that with two exceptions, every book I read this summer took one-three more days than I anticipated. If I get those days back? I have this challenge done with days to spare.
Of all the books you read this summer, which one(s) was/were your favorite and why?
Hoo-boy. Favorite? Ummm, er. I could make a case of almost all of them. Everybody Knows is a strong contender, as is King of Ashes–both gave me some strong visceral reactions. So many of the others just made me happy to read. Almost all of them contained unexpected levels of quality.
Did you DNF any? Why?
Thankfully, no. These were all entertaining.
Which book surprised you the most, either by being better or worse than you expected?
I expected Leveled-Up Love to be a little stronger, a little funnier. I had really-high hopes for Scalzi’s book and had to settle for it being really good instead of stellar. Each surprised me in some ways (and even those two books did some things better than I expected)
Did you notice any patterns in the genres you chose or enjoyed this summer?
I think if you compared this list to previous ones, there’d be fewer Crime Fiction on the ’25 list. Two non-fiction books is a little more than usual. I think that’s it. I might be able to come up with a pattern or two in the books themselves, if I thought about it some. But, nothing’s jumping out at me.
Which one had the best cover?
When the Moon Hits Your Eye or Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits. But Light from Uncommon Stars probably provided the strongest reaction out of me when the book explained it the imagery.
Which one was the longest? Grossman’s The Bright Sword And the shortest? A Tail of Mystery by Paul Regnier
Did you read them mostly in print? ebook? audio?

No audiobooks, 4 ebooks, and the rest were physical. Huh. I figured that’d be closer to an even split.

Imagine you’re hosting a “20 Books of Summer” book club wrap party.
Which book would you nominate as the guest of honor, and what kind of toast or speech would you give celebrating it?
I can’t pick. I think I’d have to pay tribute to them all–what kind of speech? I just don’t know. I really should’ve spent more time thinking about this.
Looking back at all the characters you met over the summer, which one would you want as a summer buddy for a weekend getaway, and what activity would you do together?
Jim O’Heir. Maybe that’s cheating because he’s a real person. But, kicking back with some good food (and probably some good drink), listening to him tell stories? Can’t imagine a better time. Also, most of the other characters I met would scare me in real life.

20 Books of Summer '25 Chart Wrap Up

MUSIC MONDAY: “Workin’ For A Livin'” by Huey Lewis And The News

By HCNewton

On September 1, 2025

In News/Misc.

The Irresponsible Reader's Music Monday logo

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

Irresponsible Reader Pilcrow Icon

Saturday Miscellany—8/30/25

By HCNewton

On August 30, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Running late (again), a lot of people-ing. Started with the Boise Library’s Comic Arts Fest (more about that later), and then ran into some family time. Sorry about that.

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 My students resisted reading books. I found an unexpected solution.—One Middle School teacher makes a breakthrough by remembering what had worked when he was a student
bullet One of my favorite novelists, Matthew Norman seeks a (bad) Answer to one of the 20th Century’s Biggest Literary Questions
bullet Petty Revenges to Wish Upon Your Booksich Arch Nemesis—Some of these are Cru-EL. (so bad you have to pronounce it that way).
bullet Monthly Manga Mania Featuring Firsty Duelist: Kamen Rider by Shotaro Ishinomori
bullet I’m Currently Disillusioned with New Releases—Brianna has broken free from the Tyranny of the New. (sorta jealous, really)
bullet 10 Urban Fantasy Books That Blend Magic and Mayhem—Anca Antoci features some really solid choices, and a few I’m going to have to sample
bullet On Setting Expectations For Writers—Peat Long drops some wisdom
bullet There is a Season…Turn, Turn Turn—a great post on Witty & Sarcastic Book Club about the importance of beginner books to parents (particularly as the kids get older)

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson—In retrospect, I want to quibble with my rating from back then. I just don’t get it.
bullet Hostile Takeover by Shane Kuhn—I wish he were still producing work (if he is, it’s under a different name, and I’d like someone to clue me in)
bullet And I talked about the releases of: X by Sue Grafton; Randoms by David Liss; and Koko the Mighty by Kieran Shea

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Art of Legend by Wesley Chu—The trilogy concludes, and I can’t wait to see how.
bullet Katabasis by R. F Kuang—A Dark Academia take on Dante’s Inferno.

WWW Wednesday—August 27, 2025

By HCNewton

On August 27, 2025

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

With August winding down, I’m scurrying to finish some books by Saturday. I probably won’t get all of my 20 Books of Summer done, but I’m going to be close. And…eh. I’ve read so many good things that I really don’t care. For example:

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?


Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation by Jim O’Heir	Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride by Will Leitch, read by Chris Andrew Ciulla

Jim O’Heir’s book about the making of Parks & Rec starts off strong and will probably keep going that way. It feels as comfy as the show. And after some of the stuff I’ve read lately, I could use that.

By the time this posts, I’ll have barely scratched the surface of Will Leitch’s newest. But the mix of sentiment and humor seems like a good time, I’m finding out if I’m right as you read these words.

What did you recently finish reading?


Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. Gibson	The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen, translated by Lisa Hartford, read by Erik Davies

Gibson’s book is as weird and good as I expected it to be. I’ll try to come up with a better take on it than that, but it’ll do for now. (yes, it took me a long time to finish it, but that’s because I interrupted reading it for Ryka Aoki’s beautiful Light From Uncommon Stars for book club on Monday)

I don’t know that I’ll come back for more of Dept. Q’s mysteries (in print, anyway). But I just might–if only to see how it works without me constantly comparing it to the adaptation. It was a good read, maybe too long. But a solid read.

What do you think you’ll read next? (and I’m stressing the “think” more than usual here)


The Lords of the West End by Peter Blaisdell	Dead Beat by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters

I don’t remember much about The Lords of the West End. All I remember is that this post from Witty and Sarcastic Book Club led me to buy it.

Dead Beat was my entry point into The Dresden Files. Can’t wait to revisit such a dear friend (even if it’s a really messed up book).

Are you getting in some good reading this long weekend (in the US, anyway)? Or do you have another way to spend the last gasps of Summer?

Book Blogger Hop: Finding Your Literary Namesake

By HCNewton

On August 27, 2025

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Snapdragon @ Snapdragon Alcove:

Have you ever read a book with a character with the same name as you?

Yes. Which isn’t easy. I grew up as one of those kids who never found their name on the license plate souvenir, bracelet, Coke bottle, etc., etc. So, that I can think of three books that have a character with my name in it is pretty surprising (I want to say that I’ve read four, but I can’t think of the other one).

Except it appears that I’m mistaken. I was sure that Thomas Rockwell’s How to Eat Fried Worms featured a kid with my childhood nickname, but I can’t find proof of that (and don’t want to re-read the book for a passing reference just for this post). It must’ve been a book I read about the same time. And now it’s bugging me that I can’t think of it.

Sometime between writing that paragraph and scheduling this post, I remembered I had access to this thing called “The Internet”—perhaps you’ve heard of it? Typing “hobie juvenile books 1980s” into DuckDuckGo led me to Thirteen Ways to Sink a Sub, which is obviously it—and was the first of the Hobie Hanson series, of which I was previously unaware. I do think I remember reading 4B Goes Wild, the sequel. But there are 7 books in this series (most published after I was too old to read them, but not yet old enough to not care). I’d completely forgotten about this book’s existence—and while my memories of it aren’t full. I do have warm, fuzzy associations with it. I don’t remember Hobie being an incredibly great kid, but he had potential—and wasn’t as much of a snot as some of his classmates.

Last year, for our Science Fiction Book Club, we took on Robert R. Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. If I didn’t know better*, I’d have assumed the leader, George picked the book to needle me, because it features a former Federated Nations Senator, Mortimer Hobart. Also known as “the Warden” and “Mort the Wort.” I’m just glad that the colonists didn’t use his surname as the source of their juvenile nickname (having survived Junior High School, it’s an easy mark). While I can’t say that the Warden is the worst villain in the novel—but he’s sure a convenient figurehead for everything wrong on the colony—and is one of the first targets of the revolution.

* And I really don’t.

The best is from Jeff Noon’s book Vurt. At a summer job while in college, a co-worker got a strange look on his face when we met. Once he found out I was a reader, too, he wanted to know if I’d read Vurt—I hadn’t, but it was absolutely up my alley. Turns out he reacted to my name because he remembered this passage:

Everybody knew about Hobart, but nobody knew anything. Just the hundreds of rumours that surrounded the name: Hobart invented Vurt. Hobart is alive, Hobart is dead. Hobart is a man, a woman, a child, an alien. Some have called her Queen Hobart, and they have worshipped her. To others Hobart is a dream or a myth, or just a good story that somebody made up, so good that it stuck around, became truth. Nobody knew anything.

Sure, the more you read in the book, the less you want to be associated with Hobart. But…c’mon, how often do you get to (mis-)appropriate a quote like this? “Hobart is a dream or a myth, or just a good story that somebody made up, so good that it stuck around, became truth.”

I still can’t remember if there is a fourth book—and that’s okay. Three is enough.

Tag: Miscellany Page 11 of 171

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

How’s September treating you? Reading anything good?

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next? (and I’m stressing the “think” more than usual here)

Are you getting in some good reading this long weekend (in the US, anyway)? Or do you have another way to spend the last gasps of Summer?

Have you ever read a book with a character with the same name as you?

What about you, reader? Do you have a literary namesake or two? Are they more flattering than mine?