Tag: Miscellany Page 120 of 175

Saturday Miscellany—7/11/20

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On July 11, 2020

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Thanks to my last #ARMEDWITHABINGO check-in, I won a copy of Parting Shadows by Kate Sheeran Swed. It arrived this week, with some friends—she included the rest of the trilogy! A very cool and generous move by her, I just wanted to say a public thanks to her for that! These look very cool and I’m looking forward to dipping in.

This has been a crazy week behind the scenes—I may talk about that some later—posts appearing/disappearing, ditto for comments. And don’t get me started with various tech support representatives wanting to talk about anything other than the simple question I asked (one time that led to something helpful, though…) Then to top it off, yesterday, Spencer Quinn tweets this:

Yup…while intending to tweet my post about Of Mutts and Men (a post that I really liked), I actually linked to my post about last year’s book. I’m such the professional. I know it’s not a big deal (and actually kind of funny), but at the end of this week, I just felt like such a doofus.

Anyway, that’s far too much prattling on—time for some links!

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 Crime fiction boom as book sales rocket past 2019 levels—for anything not PPE or disinfection-related to boom this year is a marvel. I wonder how things are faring over here?
bullet How Hollywood is using a book club approach to adapt hit novels—I grant you, I’m not interested in any of these adaptations/novels, but this is interesting.
bullet Fantasy Humor Flowchart—by David Milton Samuels is a Pratchett-heavy good place to start if you’re looking to chuckle with your fantasy.
bullet How the Flavia de Luce Series Investigates the Traditional English Village Murder Mystery—I keep inadvertently slipping away from this series, Rutigliano reminds me to get back on it. And maybe encourages you to give it a try.
bullet The Strange Deaths of Authors—Spells and Spaceships asks a good question
bullet Can we improve our enjoyment of a book by altering our approach?—Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
bullet Six Months In – Book-Blogging, The Good and the Bad—Bookends and Bagends looks back at his first six months (which has produced stuff that some of us with years under our belts envy)

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet The Blood Brothers Podcast Episode 16 with Neil Lancaster—lots of fun, and it’s got me excited for the next couple of Lancaster projects (pretty much all you have to do is say there’s a new Lancaster project to make me interested, though—so I guess that’s a low bar)

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon (soon-ish, despite my efforts to the contrary for this summer, I’ve slipped and have committed myself to the breaking point for the next 4 weeks):
bullet Random Sh*t Flying Through The Air by Jackson Ford—It’ll be at least a month before I can get to this, which bothers me greatly. I had so much fun with the first novel about Tegan Frost, the telekinetic would-be chef but actually secret agent, that I can’t wait to see what Ford has in store for her now.
bullet Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy—I enjoyed the Faith comics I read, but had questions about her backstory, which this novel looks like it could answer.
bullet Haunted Heroine by Sarah Kuhn—the fourth book in this super-hero series looks pretty fun.

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toEvelina @ AvalinahsBooks, Crystena’s Books, Afrin and leighhecking for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Saturday Miscellany—7/4/20

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On July 4, 2020

In Books, News/Misc.

I did come across some fun things to read this week, bu I’ve got no podcasts (a couple of videos, though), no new releases to talk about, this is going to be quick. Which I guess is good, because I don’t see a lot of my US readers all that interested in spending time today in reading this post (…eh, maybe given the peculiarities of this year…).

Happy Independence Day to you in the U. S., and happy Saturday to the rest of you.

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 How to Fit Reading into Your Stay-at-Home Life
bullet Flipping hell: book designers lament Waterstones’ back-to-front displays—Waterstones made (IMHO) a pretty smart move when it comes to book displays right now, but…yeah, I can see where designers would be miffed.
bullet This tweet from Kevin Hearne did two things: 1. Taught me the term “ink drinker” (buveur d’encre) for bookworm (although one of the comments to his tweet contests that), and 2. led me to finding this list: Names for people who #read a lot—I like the Welsh (and one of the Swedish) name a lot, too.
bullet 7 Ways You’re De-Valuing Your Books
bullet Me and my detective by Lee Child, Attica Locke, Sara Paretsky, Jo Nesbø and more—authors on living with their creations for years
bullet The Stories Behind 15 of the Best Names Famous Writers Gave to Their Pets
bullet Mallory O’Meara (@malloryomeara)—tweeted the best idea I’ve heard this year.
bullet The Doctor will see you now with Ian Patrick—a half-hour chat with the inimitable Ian Patrick about his new book (that i recently gushed over), his work with the police and…probably some other stuff (I haven’t had time to finish it yet)
bullet The Great Fantasy Debate: Is It Better to Have a Career in the Empire or the Rebellion in Star Wars? with authors Pierce Brown and Tochi Onyebuchi
bullet The Greatest Book Blogging Myths I’ve Encountered: Some Confessions And Thoughts On What We Think Blogging Is And What It Actually Is
bullet 22 Problems only true Audiobook Fans understand…
bullet Things I Look For In Reviews—Some good stuff here. Over the last year or so, I’ve wondered a bit about my propensity for “large bits of text” and people being “much less likely to read a review that’s just a bunch of paragraphs together in regular font with nothing to break it up,” since that’s what I tend to slip into. But adding in graphics or other headers? That’s another time investment, and I’m not sure how that’d affect my flow. (okay, this has stopped being about the post and all about me, which is not what this is for…still, readers, I’m open to comments/suggestions)
bullet Fantasy: My Genre Breakdown—The Book in Hand blog gets all taxonomic on Fantasy. Also, I should hire Sam to organize my Goodreads shelves.

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toEd A. Murray who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

The Friday 56 for 7/3/20

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On July 3, 2020

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

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 56% of:
One Man

One Man by Harry Connolly

“You were going to describe the fight,” Mirishiya said.

“The fight is the best part of the story! Swift, bold strikes! One man against many! The pirate captain crippled! The pirate crew throwing down their weapons in terror! When I tell it, it’s like an old tale of adventure.

“But the truth is I didn’t see any of it. The night was darker than any I’ve seen before or since. The watch lanterns on Scream for Mercy seemed to wink out, as though a shroud had been thrown over them. I heard the clash of metal. I heard screaming. By the fallen gods, I heard screams that haunt my dreams to this day. But all I could see was growing darkness and the flicker of blue firelight.”

WWW Wednesday, July 1, 2020

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On July 1, 2020

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

It’s the first of July, the beginning of a new fiscal year for my employer, and the height of the season to ignite recreational explosives to torment dogs, Vets, and possibly burn down your state. But let’s ignore all that and deal with a 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 The Curator by M. W. Craven and am listening to Briev Cases by Jim Butcher, with Narration by James Marsters, Jim Butcher, Cassandra Campbell, Julia Whelan & Oliver Wyman on audiobook.

The CuratorBlank SpaceBrief Cases

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Spencer Quinn’s Of Mutts and Men and The Fangs of Freelance by Drew Hayes, Kirby Heyborne (Narrator) on audio (if we’re going for things I actually finished, not something I stopped listening to).

Of Mutts and MenBlank SpaceThe Fangs of Freelance

What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be One Man by Harry Connolly and Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg, Mike Chamberlain (Narrator) on audiobook.

One ManBlank SpaceSmarter Faster Better

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

20 Books of Summer 2020: June Check-In

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On June 30, 2020

In Andy Carpenter, Books, Chet and Bernie, Currently Reading, David Rosenfelt, Don Winslow, Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Ian Rankin, InCryptid, John Rebus, Kevin Hearne, Luca Veste, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Non-Fiction, Spencer Quinn, Urban Fantasy

20 Books of Summer
Here we are at the end of June, one-third of the way through the summer, and I’m roughly one-third of the way through the challenge. That worked out nicely. I’ve made one substitute because I had some trouble getting my hands on the one non-fiction book that was on the list. And, hey, I just read a non-fiction book, so might as well put that one in. Otherwise, I’m on track for finishing the list as originally conceived.

✔ 1. Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why by Alexandra Petri
2. The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold
3. Screamcatcher: Dream Chasers by Christy J. Breedlove
✔ 4. The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton
✔ 5. Fair Warning by Michael Connelly
6. One Man by Harry Connolly
7. The Curator by M. W. Craven
8. The Ninja Daughter by Tori Eldridge
9. The Rome of Fall by Chad Alan Gibbs
✔ 10. American Demon by Kim Harrison		 11. A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne
12. Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
✔ 13. Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire
14. Curse the Day by Judith O’Reilly
✔ 15. Of Mutts and Men by Spencer Quinn
16. Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin
✔ 17. Muzzled by David Rosenfelt
18. Bad Turn by Zoë Sharp
19. The Silence by Luca Veste
20. The Border by Don Winslow

20 Books of Summer Chart June

Programming Note: Update on the Host Transfer

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On June 29, 2020

In Uncategorized

A brief note here…I seem to have completed the transfer mostly intact. Most of the comments, followers, and so on survived. The categories took some major damage, and therefore my menus are only partially functional (I don’t know how many people use them). But I’m chipping away at that, and they’ll be good to go soon. New comments are pretty wonky, though. With the help of some users, I’ve worked through some issues–and created more.

If you see something weird or note a problem with the comments, feel free to pop me a note, or tweet at me, and I’ll continue to work on the problems.

I want to thank Micah Burke for doing a lot of (read: most of) the heavy lifting on this when the “easy” process proved not to be at all. If you’re into pretty photographs, neat calendars or the game Terraforming Mars–check out his stuff at his website or his etsy shop and maybe buy something,

Saturday Miscellany—6/27/20

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On June 27, 2020

In Books, News/Misc.

How is it the end of June already? Seriously…something’s just not right about that. Not much to blather about this week, so let’s just cut to the links!

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 I’ve been seeing a lot about some Goodreads alternatives lately, The Story Graph—”A site for readers to track their reading and find books that perfectly suit their mood.” It’s in beta now, I’ve seen screenshots of some of their graphs, and it looks appealing. Giving it a shot. Any of you try it?
bullet The other I’ve seen noise for is BookSloth—”Our mission is to help readers discover their perfect book with our personalized recommendations app.” I’m not so hot on the app part, as you all know, I tend to go on a bit when I talk about a book, and the two just don’t mix. Still, giving it a whirl.
bullet 12 SF must reads for grimdark fans—This is a pretty cool list, I’m not sure The Diamond Age is all that grimdark-ish, but it’s something that more people need to read.
bullet “I decided just to write stories”: Rex Stout on his Mystery Fiction—this is a very nice post about Stout moving from “literary fiction” to Mystery–where he found success. (I’ve tried his pre-mystery stuff, and wow did he make the right move). There’s a nice thread about the continued snobbery he encountered throughout his career and how he responded to it. Even for non-Stout readers, this is a good read for people fed up with
bullet Are We Only Capable of Writing Liars?: An author reflects on an attempt to write a truthful narrator.
bullet The Evolution—and the Future—of the Private Eye: Cheryl A. Head on the authors and books ushering PI fiction into the 21st century.—I’m a sucker for a good P.I. novel, and I could live off of this list for a month or two (and am tempted to)
bullet The Great Fantasy Debate: Which Game of Thrones House Would You Marry Into? with authors Jim Butcher and Tochi Onyebuchi
bullet When your job is book blogging but your community wants you to take on every single thing not book blogging—Bookish Enby takes a bold stance (largely one I share, but don’t feel the same impetus to advertise)
bullet How to write a book review in 30 minutes—if only it were that easy. I’m actually envious.
bullet If I Was…—Bookaholic Bex answers several creative “What If” questions
bullet Recommending Books Based on Spam Comments—great concept
bullet Why I read—This is a good post. I think I would share a lot of these reasons, if I examined the idea. Maybe I should (although it’s also tantamount to asking “why I breathe”)


Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toCathy746books, Kiara McCabe, educater34 MSc, NickMay and NewDogNewTricks for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

The Friday 56 for 6/26/20

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On June 26, 2020

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Politics/Current Affairs, Quotations, The Friday 56

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:
Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why

Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why by Alexandra Petri

N.B. I hesitated to use this book, since I posted about it earlier, but I used my current read last week, and I didn’t want to double-dip. And then my next read is an ARC that, and I try not to quote from them since I don’t know if it’ll make the final cut. So…

His head ached all the time. Once he used his excess mental energy to tip over a glass with his mind, but nobody gave him any credit for it. Just for kicks, he raised and lowered the flag on the Interior Department so that it appeared Ryan Zinke was there when in fact he was NOT, but that was not as much fun as anticipated. Everything began to wear on him. He could not sit through international summits. Everyone spoke too slowly.

Gradually he tried to move things that were bigger and bigger. By the end of the first week he was able to knock rockets out of the sky. He sent a tweet about it, but nobody understood that this was what he was trying to say. All the TV ever seemed to show was people closely misreading his tweets. It was miserable. It was a nightmare.

WWW Wednesday, June 24, 2020

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On June 24, 2020

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

It’s the 24th day of June, which is a Wednesday, it’s time to ask those three magic questions!

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 How the Wired Weep by Ian Patrick and am listening to The Fangs of Freelance by Drew Hayes, Kirby Heyborne (Narrator).

How the Wired WeepBlank SpaceThe Fangs of Freelance

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Alexandra Petri’s Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why and Captain’s Fury by Jim Butcher, Kate Reading (Narrator) on audio (which was just so good, I’m going to have to re-read this series more often).

Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is WhyBlank SpaceCaptain's Fury

What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be Of Mutts and Men by Spencer Quinn (which’ll make it 3 dog-centric out of the last 5 novels I’ve read) and Briev Cases by Jim Butcher, with Narration by James Marsters, Jim Butcher, Cassandra Campbell, Julia Whelan & Oliver Wyman on audiobook, I’ve been holding off on this until now, so I can be primed and ready for Peace Talks in a couple of weeks.

Of Mutts and MenBlank SpaceBrief Cases

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

Quarter 2: #ARMEDWITHABINGO Check In

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On June 24, 2020

In Books, News/Misc.

I forgot to do a March Check-in, so I haven’t talked about this Reading Challenge since December. I’m not doing too bad—I’ve got 2 Bingos and am not that far from others/clearing the board. My other challenges aren’t doing so well, to be honest—but I’m not terribly worried about any of them. For this Bingo Card, several boxes could have many entries, by and large, I went with the earliest book I read that would fit (for the 1 or 2 of you who wonder how this sausage is made).

Here’s my Board:
ARMEDWITHABINGO June

For the less-graphically inclined (also, those who might want to read the categories…), here’s the list with links to whatever I might have written about the book.

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