Tag: Miscellany Page 145 of 175

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• “…the alphabet now ends at Y” — Sue Grafton’s daughter broke the news to her fans that Grafton died this week, a heckuva shock, a heckuva loss.
• Naturally, tributes to Grafton have started appearing — and will continue to do so. Few will be as good as Brad Parks’ was.
• The Wingfeather Saga Short Film — I’ve read the first half of these books (it’s only because I didn’t have money at the time that I didn’t finish it), and it’s delightful. This animated short is almost as good.
• In Praise of Rereading — I’m doing better at this, but not as good as I used to be.
• Just Trust Me: In Praise Of Strange Books
• Raymond Chandler’s 10 Tips For Writing a Detective Novel — By and large, these still apply (and I wish more people wrote like this)
• 15 New Year’s Resolutions for Book Lovers — there’s some fun items here

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode you might want to give a listen:
• The Liars Club Oddcast # 048 — The Liars Club interview Robert Crais about his background and career.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Wanted by Robert Crais — the newest Elvis Cole novel is out! Which I clearly dug.
• Operation: Endgame by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris — the final adventure in the rollicking Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series. Gonna miss this one.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to netbij (but, dude, that website is impossible to read).

It’s still technically Saturday (MST in the US) — I was really tired last night (fell asleep with my laptop on my lap and this post open and empty) and super busy today. But now, just under the wire: The Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• The Ultimate List of Fiction Books You Should Read At Least Once in Your Life — Literary Titan brings us the ginormous list that This is Writing assembled. I haven’t had a chance to dig deep on this list — but it’s thought-provoking at least.
• Why Teens Find The End Of The World So Appealing — NPR has an interesting idea or two about why Teens dig Dystopian novels
• Say My Name: A pronunciation guide to 15 tongue-tripping names in Fantasy and Sci-Fi — there’s a couple in here that helped me (would’ve helped me more years ago . . . )
• Matt Shakman To Direct TriStar’s ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ Adaptation — No slight to Shakman, but man . . . this idea makes me nervous.
• Do not f*** with Jane Austen Twitter — AV Club talks about some of the responses to the Washington Post’s unfortunate recent tweet about Austen
• 50 Hilariously Honest New Titles For Your Favourite Books — I think I posted an abbreviated version of this list a couple of weeks ago, but I’m too tired to see if that’s the case. Either way, you probably missed a chuckle or two the last time you went through these.

This Week’s New Release I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Twisted Path by Harry Connolly — I liked this a whole lot, a new novella in the Twenty Palaces series, one of my favorites and I love seeing a bit of new life in it. Which you can read more about here, in yesterday’s post

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Scarlett Brodie and Maria Bardyukova for following the blog this week (okay, Scarlett actually started last week, and I overlooked her — sorry!).

When I posted Thursday about my lack of posting this week, I wasn’t sure what else to say, but for those who are curious about distractions of this past week —read this from my other blog.

Meanwhile, here are the odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• ‘Women are better writers than men’: novelist John Boyne sets the record straight — I think there are many problems with this, but it’s still nice to see as an alternative to things written saying the opposite (equally problematic).
• Why Write Fiction in 2017? — Interesting (but as problematic as the above).
• The Craft of Fiction: Lee Child and Andy Martin in Conversation — A fun, if long, chat between the two.
• Where do you write? — this video clocks in at less than 3 minutes. Nice to put a face to some names if nothing else.
• This Delightful Letter Shows Conan Doyle’s True Feelings Toward Sherlock Holmes headline says it all.
• How Indie Presses Are Elevating the Publishing World
• Elon Musk’s Mars-Bound Tesla Roadster to Carry Towel and “Don’t Panic” Sign — Hitchhiker’s Guide in space. How fitting is that?
• Ready Player One Author Ernie Cline Confirms He’s Writing A Sequel — I’d prefer he play in another sandbox, but I’ll read this with pleasure.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to bloggerfingers and MladenR for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Why You Should Surround Yourself With More Books Than You’ll Ever Have Time to Read — not that I needed the excuse . . .
• Dear Broke Reader: Your Sense of Entitlement is Killing Me — Yeah, it’s a year and a half old, but still good. I’m not sure why I’m reading all these anti-piracy pieces lately — but there’s probably a need.
• Netflix Grabs Hold Of John Scalzi’s Sci-Fi Novel ‘Old Man’s War’ For Jon Shestack, Madhouse — It’s not my favorite Scalzi book, but by far the most adaptable (I think). Oh, yeah, it also left to one of the more amusing tweets I read this week.
• PC Grant Series by Ben Aaronovitch — Books are My Cwtches gives a nice overview of that fun series.
• These Parody Book Covers Of Famous Classics Will Make Any True Literary Nerd Laugh Out Loud — There are some good ones here.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• A Flame in the Dark by Faith Hunter — the third installment of the Nell Ingram series is just great. I had a lot to say about it recently.
• The Defense by Steve Cavanagh — Cavanagh’s debut novel about a con man turned lawyer is out in paperback here in the States — a great series to jump on at a decent price.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Anushka for following the blog this week.

Running a bit late today . . . okay very late today. Mrs. Irresponsible Reader had me far away from my keyboard and wifi signal for most of the day. Still, got a couple of things I want to encourage you to read . . . So here are the odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men? — something many of us are thinking about lately . . . Thanks to Nathaniel Barber for putting this in front of my eyeballs a couple of times.
• When Making Books Was As Much Of An Art As Writing Them — a coworker told me about a class he took that did much of this a few years ago. If I only had the time/money/ability to do anything with my hands . . .
• At what point do we give up on books? Big data has the answer — This is creepy. And interesting.
• Rise Of The Angry Robot — a nice piece on that great publisher

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Squirrel on the Train by Kevin Hearne — It’s the second of Oberon’s Meaty Mysteries! Which I liked a lot — listened to most of the audiobook today, too — which was also very entertaining — the Force is strong with Luke Daniels.
• Briefly Maiden by Jacqueline Chadwick — the follow-up to this year’s fantastic In the Still. It’s dark, twisted, and so much fun while telling a tragic and horrifying story. I checked in on that Thursday — sooo good. I’ll expand on that in a couple of days.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to annebonnybookreviews, thehuntandpeckblog, Richard Klu, and The Cable Denning Fan Club for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Yeah, Thanksgiving was a couple of days ago, but I thought these first two were interesting, regardless: 22 Famous Writers Told Us About The Book They’re Most Thankful For
• B&N Survey Finds Thanksgiving Eve ‘Busiest Reading Day of the Year’
• An Author Photo Is Worth a Thousand Words
• Science fiction triggers ‘poorer reading’, study finds — huh
• All the Known Portal Worlds in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children Series — This is a handy piece.
• Kate Neilan brings us this helpful reminder
• 22 Reasons We’re Thankful For Independent Bookstores

(typically slow for a holiday week here, so . . . )This Week’s New Release That I’m Excited About:
• The Hidden Face by S. C. Flynn is scheduled to release today, so that counts, right? I think there’s a strong chance you can grab it for pretty cheap, too. A good book at a good price. Jump on it. In case you missed what I said about it yesterday, just click here.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Mr and Mrs NW, abokrose and LizScanlon for following the blog this week.