Tag: Miscellany Page 166 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:

• Harper Lee’s new book gets readers — under lock and key — It’s been a bit since we checked in on the saga of Go Set a Watchman.
• Encouraging Teenagers to Read, by Choosing Books From the Non-Y.A. Shelves — some good (and some self-evident) advice from the NY Times
• What Should a Book Cover Do? — Covers are a lot more important than they should be, this look at the process is really fascinating.
• Film Franchise Based on Gregory Mcdonald’s Fletch Series Moves to Relativity — am not enthused by this. But who knows? Maybe they’ll do it right.

This Week’s New Releases that look interesting. A couple of YA titles caught my eye this week:
• Hit by Delilah S. Dawson — the underlying concept of this book is so good, it almost doesn’t matter what Dawson does with it.
• The Prom Goer’s Interstellar Excursion by Chris McCoy — looks like the silly kind of fun that could make for a pleasant evening.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to byclarkellis for following the blog and Injoy’s Blogs + Book Reviews for following the uglier mirror at booklikes 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 Great Gatsby’ Turns 90: Five Things You Might Not Know About the Classic Novel — a good tribute to Fitzgerald’s best. I can’t help shake my head at Mencken’s take — and laugh at the comparison of Gatsby parties to . . . well, read it yourself.
• In My Younger and More Vulnerable Years: On First Reading The Great Gatsby — Scribner got 12 authors to talk about their first exposure to the novel.
• 100 Best Books of the Decade So Far — this is a daunting task, and frankly, the guys at Oyster Review are dead wrong on a few of these. Still, an impressive list and good TBR fodder.
• My Underrated List — Kevin Hearne reacts to ending up on a Buzzfeed list and offers his list of underrated titles
• What Kids Want in Books — some interesting data from Scholastic
• B&N Reads’ advice columnist attempts to answer the question, How Many Books is Too Many?
• Don Draper reviews children’s books — what better way to celebrate the last few episodes?

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu — the trilogy concludes. I have high hopes for this.
• Dark Heir by Faith Hunter — Jane Yellowrock is back.
• Scent of Murder by James O. Born — a K-9 policeman on the hunt for a kidnapper

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 11 greatest children’s books — BBC Culture surveyed experts from around the world about the best children’s books (in English). Can’t argue with any of these — surprised more by what didn’t make it than what did.
• Speaking of children’s books, B&N Reads lists The Top 10 Scenes We Hope to See in the New Illustrated Harry Potter.
• Little Black Classics carry Penguin to new heights — I don’t know if these books are available on this side of the Atlantic, but like the subtitle says, what these books say about modern reading habits is interesting.
• Tee Morris on The Evolution of Steampunk — Co-author of The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences books responds to the idea that Steampunk is dying.
• How to Kill Off Characters — BookRiot’s Preeti Chhibber offers some interesting thoughts on this idea.
• How Robert Goldsborough Became Nero Wolfe — I’ve often said I have problems with post-Bloodied Ivy Goldsborough books, but can’t begrudge him this.
• 5 Baseball Books Full of Wonder, Defeat, and Triumph for Opening Day — another from B&N Reads. This looks like a good list of TBR fodder. Everything she says about Underworld is spot-on.

This Week’s New Release that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Diamond Conspiracy by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris — Books and Braun and the rest of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences are back, tho’ it doesn’t look too good for the Ministry. Which means good things for readers.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Man of many thoughts for following the blog this week.

Just a few odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye — and not one word about Harper Lee (phew!). You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum — this sounds like a cool place to visit when completed.
• 9 Teen Titles Adults Shouldn’t Miss — a promising list from Kirkus.
• 5 of Our Favorite Celebrity Book Nerds — from B&N Reads (yeah, I told you I couldn’t find much this week)

A little note first: As far as possible, I find the original source of infographics, stories, memes, etc. that I post and/or link to. Occasionally, I miss. One such time was back in September with the handy infographic, How Long Will It Take to Read? I received an email from someone from the site I should’ve linked to the other day asking to fix that — which I gladly did, and figured they deserved another link or two in return. It’s a nice site, which deserves all the clicks and views I can send their way.

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:

• Spain finds Don Quixote writer Cervantes’ tomb in Madrid — For the life of me, can’t figure out why anyone cares about the location of his bones. But, man, the process is fascinating.
• And because I have to talk about Harper Lee every week (apparently), this New Yorker piece is one of the best articles I’ve read in awhile: Harper Lee’s Abandoned True-Crime Novel and then David L. Ulin’s response to this in the LA Times is a great chaser: Harper Lee: What’s wrong with a one-hit wonder?.
• Nowhere near as insightful, controversial, or antying. Just slavishly full fanboy/fangirl gushiness: 10 Famous Authors on To Kill Mockingbird — blah
• There’s No Such Thing as a Fake Reader
• Helpless in the Face of Your Enemy: Writers and Attack Novels — Harry Connolly talks about the novel he had to write. His talk about the big UF taboo is interesting/troubling. And I will get to my blog post on this one soon. Really.
• 10 of the Best Books about Literature — Good TBR List fodder
• Chuck Wendig is writing a Star Wars novel??? — I’m intrigued and scared. Mostly intrigued. As usual, his blog post announcing it is more enjoyable than many books.
• Lev Grossman, S.E. Hinton, and Other Authors on the Freedom of Writing Fanfiction — huh. Really?
• Here’s a Real Photo Of the Mars Location of Andy Weir’s The Martian — io9 gets the peanut butter of reality into the chocolate of Weir’s fiction
• 23 Struggles Only Book Nerds Will Understand — I’ve posted very similar lists before, but this is still fun.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Stolen Ones by Owen Laukkanen — this is sitting on my library’s reserve shelf for me, and I’m literally^* salivating.
• The Deception Artist by Fayette Fox — It was the cover that caught my eye and made me take a look at this — kudos to the designer — looks like an interesting read.
• The Last Days of Video: A Novel by Jeremy Hawkins — this looks like a lot of good, odd fun.
• Less Than Hero by S. G. Browne — this one looks appealing, too. Read a little — not enough — of Browne before. Need to read more.

^* And by literally, I mean figuratively.
Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to K. L. Register for following the blog this week. Big, big thanks to Jennifer Reed/bookjunkiez for the reblog/signal boost!

Image credit: Grammarly

Happy Pi Day, everyone!

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

• Sir Terry Pratchett has died — which everyone knows (well, everyone who reads fantasy and is online). I couldn’t really get into his stuff, but he was clearly a class act and a great writer.
• Continuing this seemingly never-ending saga, this week started with reports that the State of Alabama was making sure everything was alright with Harper Lee, and ended with statements that their investigation is over. What a mess. I hope this last one is true.
• The Once & Future Podcast talked with Kevin Hearne this week about the Iron Druid Chronicles, his new bestseller about Luke Skywalker, and a little about his upcoming epic fantasy series.
• John Anealio, who “performs geeky anthems for writers, librarians, lovers of Sci-Fi, Best Buy customers & robots” also puts out a newsletter with Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Recommendations, it’s worth singing up. You should also check out his music.
• 6 Gritty Reboots of Children’s Classics will probably induce a smile.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Anti-Hero by Jonathan Wood — years back I read the first two in this series, which have thankfully been re-released, and really dug them. I can’t wait to get my hands on this one.
• World Gone By by Dennis Lehane — I have got to read this series. I don’t know why I haven’t started — I even bought the first one as soon as I came out! And now we’re at #3?
• The Mirror World of Melody Black by Gavin Extence — I ultimately didn’t like Extence’s prior book, but man . . . while I was reading it, I was hooked. Gotta give this one a shot.
• What the Dog Knows: Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World by Cat Warren — just came out in paperback. There’s a bunch of books on the topic, I don’t really know how to evaluate one against another — but Robert Crais blurbed this one, so it has to be excellent, right?
• Archie in the Crosshairs by Robert Goldsborough — after the last two books by Goldsborough, I’m dreading this. But, confound it, it’s a Wolfe book. I have to read it.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to jrhehl for following the blog this week. Thanks to Ryan Harris for the interaction — hope we can continue it.

Yee-ha! 3 posts this week. Not my goal, but not shabby.

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:

• Harper Lee appears to be fully lucid — Reporter Connor Sheets seems to have gotten a little further than most in his inquiries about the new Harper Lee book.
• Dennis Lehane drinks in some sunlight — Lehane talks about leaving Boston and his new novel. I haven’t read any of this trilogy, the only things by him I haven’t read. Need to fix that.
• A new chapter in the Nero Wolfe saga — Robert Goldsborough talks about his Nero Wolfe books. Not sure if I’m going to listen to this one, honestly. I like where my blood pressure’s been lately. Still, I have a hard time ignoring anyone talking Wolfe.
• Why Readers Still Prefer Paper — Electric Literature provides a handy infographic
• An Exclusive Glimpse Of Jim Butcher’s Next Book, Aeronaut’s Windlass! — Cover, info, and a sample from The Aeronaut’s Windlass, the first book of Butcher’s The Cinder Spires.
• Divergent author Veronica Roth is writing TWO new books — I’m not exactly excited, but I’m definitely interested in these.
• I came across 4 pieces about books related to TV shows this week. Which seems like a lot, an odd little trend:
  • 7 Books to Read If You Love ‘How to Get Away with Murder’
  • 11 books in ‘Mad Men’ that represent each character
  • 23 Books Every Fan Of “House Of Cards” Should Read — blah
  • The ‘Parks and Recreation’ Bibliography: 21 Tomes of Pawnee — (some of these don’t actually exist)
• World Book Day provided a lot of great tweets. This was my favorite.
• 10 Sneaky Ways to GET YOUR BOOK BACK From a Friend — Some very handy advice from B&N Blog.
• GAME OF THRONES Meets Taylor Swift in “Blank Page” — I enjoyed this more than I should’ve.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• A Key, an Egg, an Unfortunate Remark by Harry Connolly — It drives me crazy that I haven’t posted my review of this one yet — the most original Urban Fantasy I’ve read in … a decade?
• Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs — the 4^th Alpha and Omega novel, I’m almost done with this — Briggs’ writing is so great.
• Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire — back for another ride with Alex Price. This looks fun.
• Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne — haven’t read a Star Wars novel in about 20 years, but with Hearne behind this one? I just might.
• Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster): Life Lessons and Other Ravings from Dave Barry by Dave Barry — Should be good for a few dozen laughs.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to hannah19smith for following the blog this week.

Bah. Another content-light week for me. Sorry! Really. But between work and … everything else, I just haven’t been able to do much writing. I did get three half-posts composed this week, but haven’t been able to seal the deal on any of them. It’s pretty frustrating — I know exactly what I want to say about these three books when I’m doing something else, but when I sit down to write? It’s like pulling teeth. Let’s hope for better next week. I did get to update my Reviews in Progress page, so you can get at least a hint about what I’m thinking.

Without further ado, some dds ‘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:

• To shill a mockingbird: How a manuscript’s discovery became Harper Lee’s ‘new’ novel — one more take (a bit more detailed than others) on Harper Lee and her upcoming release
• We’re Still Getting ‘Huck Finn’ Wrong — Interesting, not totally convincing, but interesting look and Andrew Levy’s new book Huck Finn’s America
• Alex Bledsoe Talks Tufa — and some other topics in this interview.
• From such diverse sources as Lifehacker and Electric Lit comes this infographic mapping out pretty much every genre in contemporary fiction.
• Wimpy Kid and the odd charms of children’s misfit lit — like the author of this piece, I’m not a huge fan of Greg Heffley and his ilk — tho’ my kids are. Still, this makes for an interesting read.
• Words You Didn’t Realize Come From Books — another infographic, this one a bit more amusing.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister — I really enjoyed Meister’s previous story about Parker’s ghost, looking forward to this one.
• Canary by Duane Swierczynski — this looks like a good, solid, probably hyperviolent adventure. I won’t hurry to get this, but it’s on the list.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Melisa R 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:

• Move over Harper Lee, there’s a newly discovered Dr. Seuss book coming out this July (just kidding, don’t move anywhere Harper Lee)
• Here’s a nice little interview with Janet Evanovich from the Savannah Morning News in advance of the Savannah Book Festival.
• Essential Books That Almost Never Saw The Light Of Day — an interesting list from the B&N blog. Honestly, the world would be better without a couple of these, but mostly, these are some treasures.
• Love DNA of Famous Classic Novels — meant to post this last week — fit the day better. Still, this infographic showing the variation in the use of love in novels since 1800.
• An important reminder from Michael R. Underwood about reviewing sequels.
• Beyond Harper Lee: This Season’s Hottest Literary Rediscoveries — chuckled hard a couple times at this one.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Half the World by Joe Abercrombie — #2 in Abercrombie’s Shattered Sea series. Which reminds me, I need to get a hold of #1.
• Department 19: Zero Hour by Will Hill — been ages since I’ve read a Department 19 book, looking forward to digging in — this is a fun series about a group of Vampire Hunters mixed with a special operations force.
• Shoot This One by Javier Grillo-Marxuach — from The Middleman to LOST to Charmed to Helix, and did I mention The Middleman? by Javier Grillo-Marxuach is one of the more interesting TV writers around. This collection of essays looks very appetizing.