Tag: Miscellany Page 148 of 179

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:

• Sales of Print Books Increased, Slightly, in 2017 — “Slightly.”
• How to read more books in 2018 — I can’t imagine that anyone reading this post needs these ideas, but you never know.
• They Tried to Ban Fahrenheit 451 and Replace It With. . . My Book — I think Mr. Williams and I would disagree on some of the issues he brushes up against, but by and large, I can’t help but agree with him about the Bradbury classic. And the horror of your own work replacing it? Gah.
• A few tributes/obituaries for Sue Grafton that I appreciated: S is for Sad by Lee Goldberg, A Is For Appreciation: How Sue Grafton Helped Transform The Mystery Genre by Fresh Air’s Maureen Corrigan, and The Guardian’s Sue Grafton obituary.
• Between the Lines: Robert Crais — a very nice profile of Robert Crais, with an eye to The Wanted (naturally)

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Bomb Maker by Thomas Perry — a great looking thriller about a bomb maker targeting bomb technicians.
• The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce — is on the other end of the spectrum — a sweet looking story about music, love and healing.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Thomas Neil, JW Bowe, Mar G.-Amorena and Wolfe Butler 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:

• “…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.