Tag: Miscellany Page 4 of 133

Not Marriage Material: A Call for Submissions

On February 26, 2024

In Miscellany, News/Misc., Non-Fiction, Writing

Sue Bavey, author, editor and champion of indie publishing is looking for submissions for an upcoming poetry/non-fiction anthology called Not Marriage Material set to come out just in time for Valentine’s Day 2025.

Each piece should be a maximum of 5000 words and be on the theme of ex-boyfriends, girlfriends, crushes etc. “The one that got away”.

The tone should be on the light side – no abuse or rape, please. A small amount of spiciness is OK, but no full-blown erotica.

Each piece will be published on Sue’s website and the best will be collected in the anthology. Full details (address, due date, etc.) can be found on her site here.

I’m looking forward to seeing the final form of this thing (and maybe the entries from some of you!)

Irresponsible Reader Pilcrow Icon

Saturday Miscellany—2/24/24

By HCNewton

On February 24, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Let’s start with some good news—there’s a new independent bookstore opening soon in my area, and they must be getting serious about things because they’re hiring staff now. I’m enjoying watching them share some of their prep work, and we’re hoping to do something on this site together as they get closer to Opening Day.

I’ve got a super short list this week—I have not been doing a lot online, as you may have noticed. Remember a few years ago when I was talking about my son’s kidney transplant? Well, he’s about to start shopping for a new one—he’s currently at his second dialysis session, and there was a little bit of drama surrounding discovering it’s time for that (seriously, the effects of kidney failure on your body can be fairly astounding).

Also, this week we’re skipping the 10 years ago look back this week because I got off track and I’ve already taken care of this week. So…my flashbacks will pick up again next week (just out of curiosity, is anyone enjoying that bit in the first place?).

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:
An anti-censorship resource, Book Résumés, just launched. Each “résumé summarizes the book’s significance and educational value, including a synopsis, reviews from professional journals, awards, accolades, and more.”
Bring Back the Big, Comfortable Bookstore Reading Chair —yeah, I can see Johnston’s point.
Bear McCreary Unleashes “The Singularity” Album, Graphic Novel, Concert—color me intrigued
Fungi in Fiction by Adrian M. Gibson—a guest post over at Before We Go Blog on a topic few, if any, have likely considered.
Stop using “YA” as an insult—Kopratic sounds off at The Fantasy Inn
A quick video post: 5 Books Better than Dealing with Real Life

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg—An “exploration of what makes conversations work—and how we can all learn to be supercommunicators at work and in life.” Frankly, I don’t need to be a super-communicator, I’d be happy with better-than-I-currently-am. I’ve enjoyed Duhigg’s previous two books, and imagine this will be equally engaging, interesting, and perhaps helpful.
Buffalo Fluffalo by Bess Kalb, Illustrated by Erin Kraan—No idea what this is about…fun title, great cover. Nuff ‘said.

Hello, Old Friend

By HCNewton

On February 22, 2024

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

A few weeks back when I started thinking about the books for Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books about music (My Fiction List), I remembered a book that I read in elementary school (and probably after) called The Buffalo Nickel Blues Band by Judie Angell. I couldn’t tell you how long it had been since I’d thought of it—possibly not since I made a reference to it in 2013. But it got under my skin. As I was bucks up and the moment, I indulged the impulse and bought a cheap used copy online.

So, yeah—this is the original cover, not the paperback version that I can still remember in pretty good detail (couldn’t find that one anywhere). It’s got that old library plastic wrap on it, the sticker on the side reading “J Ang” to identify it as belonging in the Juvenile section of the library (some of you will have to ask your parents about the Dark Ages before YA/MG and so on), marker ink blocking out the name of whatever Library used to own it (and the pocket where the checkout card would go on the inside, which was neat to see), the remnants of some sticker in the upper corner that is likely to outlast Western Civilization no matter what I do. So it’s not the prettiest thing ever. It’s not my The Buffalo Nickel Blues Band, but it’s a The Buffalo Nickel Blues Band, and that’ll have to do.

Now, I am almost certain that I will not read this book again—in much the same way I won’t watch The Greatest American Hero or Condorman now, or like I shouldn’t have watched any of The A-Team or Night Rider in adulthood. My memories are too good to expose them to the unforgiving light of reality, and I don’t want to spend time asking myself, “What was I thinking?”

Nevertheless, I feel better knowing that my ol’ pal is in my house and that the possibility of renewing our friendship is at arm’s reach. This may not make sense to most of you, but a few of you are really going to get this. It’s not going to look great on my shelves, but I think the collection is improved.

WWW Wednesday, February 21, 2024

By HCNewton

On February 21, 2024

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

This has turned into one of those weeks…I’ve read for 60 minutes (combined) the last two days—and I don’t expect today is going to be much better. Those 30 minutes a day is enough to keep me sane…just. (they’re also a good reminder that my mind does require some time for reading). They’re enough to help me keep going with my, I’m Reading Every Day for American Cancer Society, too—a nice bonus. Shall we take a quick look at the books I’m spending a little time with?

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?

I’m reading the disturbing (as the cover suggests) Abnormal Ends by Bryan McBee, and am listening to Spells for the Dead by Faith Hunter, read by Khristine Hvam on audiobook to refresh my mind on the series before I dive into the next one.

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished (and posted about ) Adam Johnson’s Fortune Smiles and Another Girl by Peter Grainger, read by Gildart Jackson on audio.

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the ARC of Rift in the Soul by Faith Hunter (so I’d better make sure I get in some good Audiobook listening time soon) and my next audiobook should be An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten, translated by Marlaine Delargy, read by Suzanne Toren, which looks like a quick and fun read.

How’s your reading going this week?

Grandpappy’s Corner at 1 Year

By HCNewton

On February 19, 2024

In Grandpappy's Corner, Miscellany, News/Misc., YA/MG/Children's Books

Grandpappy's Corner Birthday
The first Grandpappy’s Corner post went up a year ago, and I’ve posted an average of 2 books a month in that series since then–I expected to do more, but I’m happy with what has come from it. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed them, too (if you’ve taken the time to look at them).

To commemorate the day/take advantage of the time the holiday gave me, I’ve finally gotten around to putting together an index of sorts for those posts and the posts that would’ve been part of the series had I started it 7 or 8 years ago. Boy howdy, have I talked about a lot of books for infants/toddlers (more toddlers/pre-readers, truth be told). Also, yeah, I know the formatting needs a little tweaking…sometime soon.

A good number of these try to teach something–and many of those things are worth learning. Some are just pretty to look at. But the ones that primarily appeal to me are the silly ones that you–and, sure, the kid you’re reading to–can have fun with. The art for those as well as the very strange text just makes me happy and I wish I spent more time reading books like that. (the Grandcritter is approaching his first birthday, and I’m looking forward to his longer attention span so we can spend more time reading together, so that’ll help.)

Anyway, one year down, 24 books posted about, more to come!!

Grandpappy Icon

Cake Image by marcos101 from Pixabay

MUSIC MONDAY: Peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America

By HCNewton

On February 19, 2024

In News/Misc.

Music Monday’s originated at The Tattooed Book Geek‘s fantastic blog and has shown up here and there since then.

What other band could I pick today? And this video is just so good.

Saturday Miscellany—2/17/24

By HCNewton

On February 17, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Running late today…no interesting story behind it (which is good and bad), just a thing that happened. But I do have a few things to share for whenever you see this post.

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 The Loss of Things I Took for Granted: Ten years into my college teaching career, students stopped being able to read effectively.—this is disturbing
bullet Can We Please Put an End to Overperformed Audiobooks?
bullet 20 Modern Whodunits to Read if You Love Golden Age Mysteries —this is a pretty good listicle from The Real Book Spy
bullet Coming to Terms With “Cozy” Fiction: Categories and genres are weird things. Sometimes they make perfect sense; sometimes they feel like mental sandpaper.
bullet Why is there an obsession with rehabilitating villains??—while I wouldn’t want to argue against rehabilitating anyone in real life, I think the Orangutaton Librarian hits on something here when it comes to fiction.
bullet The Various Things Ratings Can Mean—Peat Long drops some wisdom
bullet Books with Relationships for People who Don’t Love Love: 2024 Edition—the atypical Valentine’s Day list is back with some good recommendations.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells
bullet Hide by Lisa Gardner
bullet And I mentioned the release of Grimm: The Chopping Block by John Passarella—the Grimm tie-in novel that I never got around to tracking down.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown—a strange world of magic, time travel, and books. I quite enjoyed it.
bullet The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond—magically-enhanced con artists? Count me in.
bullet Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar—this is one of those books that I’m not going to pretend to be able to describe in a sentence without reading, but it looks promising.

WWW Wednesday, February 14, 2024

By HCNewton

On February 14, 2024

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

I’d make some joke about books being my true Valentine or something here, but Mrs. Irresponsible Reader reads this occasionally—and why test her sense of humor?

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?

I’m (really) finally reading City on Fire by Don Winslow (yeah, I said I was reading it last week, but as soon as I started I was reminded of a looming Library due date), and I’m listening to Another Girl by Peter Grainger, read by Gildart Jackson on audiobook.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands and the great Soundtrack of Silence: Love, Loss, and a Playlist for Life by Matt Hay on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen, and boy howdy, am I eager to dive in. My next audiobook should be Spells for the Dead by Faith Hunter, read by Khristine Hvam—I can’t believe it’s been three years since this came out, I need to refresh my memory a bit before I dive into the next one.

Blank Space

What books are stealing your heart today?

Opening Lines: City on Fire by Don Winslow

By HCNewton

On February 14, 2024

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Opening Lines, Quotations

We all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (yet, publishing companies spend big bucks on cover design/art and we all do judge them that way). But, the opening sentence(s)/paragraph(s) are fair game. So, when I stumble on a good opening (or remember one and pull it off the shelves), I like to throw it up here. There are so few writers that can grab you like Winslow can from the get-go.

from City on Fire by Don Winslow:

Danny Ryan watches the woman come out of the water like a vision emerging from his dreams of the sea.

Except she’s real and she’s going to be trouble.

Women that beautiful usually are.

Danny knows that; what he doesn’t know is just how much trouble she’s really going to be. If he knew that, knew everything that was going to happen, he might have walked into the water and held her head under until she stopped moving.

But he doesn’t know that.

So, the bright sun striking his face, Danny sits on the sand out m front of Pasco’s beach house and checks her out from behind the cover of his sunglasses.

Opening Lines Logo

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books about music (My Non-Fiction List)

By HCNewton

On February 13, 2024

In Books, News/Misc.

This week’s topic is, “Top 5 books about music. February seems to have a ‘national ukulele day’ so what are your top 5 books about music, musicians, or instruments.” I had a very hard time cutting this down to five when I was thinking about novels, so I decided to do a Non-Fiction list as well. This was a bit trickier, actually. Maybe if I tried harder, I could’ve come up with a better list, but I didn’t have that kind of time. But once I had the idea for this list I had to finish.

	A Dream About Lightning Bugs by Ben Folds Sure, the big appeal of this book is to learn more about the career of Folds and the Ben Folds Five, and there’s some good material on the ups and downs of Folds’ personal life. What he says about music and the creation of it–both his and others’, that gets it on this list. Also, I’m a pretty big fan of the author, that doesn’t hurt.
	Soundtrack of Silence by Matt Hay It’s dangerous to put this here because I’ve barely scratched the surface of the book as I compose this. But something about the premise and the early execution, the nice way that he’s working in references and lyrics to music makes me think it’ll be worth calling one of my Top 5.
	Dear Mr Pop Star by Derek & Dave Philpott It’s kind of a stretch to include this one, but this book brought me so much joy that I don’t care. I’ll vigorously apply a shoehorn to get it to fit. It’s not about music or musicians, per se. It’s a collection of “deliberately deranged letters to pop stars from the 1960s to the 90s to take issue with the lyrics of some of their best-known songs.” For example, they write to Starship about “We Built this City” going into a great amount of detail about the nature of foundations, different types of them, etc. and how this makes their “design project” the “most ludicrous” in the history of architecture. But what separates this book from similar tomes, what makes it special is that on the very next page, you get to read a response from Martin Page, who co-wrote the song. Page mounts an impassioned defense of the song — full of references to Rock classics as proof. Each letter printed in this collection is answered by a songwriter, musician, or other representative of a musical act. Some of these responses debate the premise of the Philpott’s letter, some answer in the same vein, others take the premise and run with it in their own way — some appear to be in on the joke, others appears to be flummoxed that anyone would take their lyrics in this insane manner.
	Sundry Notes of Music by Ian Shane We all know how a song can tie you to a moment in your personal history. Just hearing it can take you back to a moment, to a feeling, etc. There’s also how the lyrics of a song can hit you just right and inform a period of time in your life. We all know it, but few of go where Shane did and write a memoir (of sorts) tracing significant songs.
	Love is a Mix-Tape by Rob Sheffield A stray thought about this book led to this list. This is simply a fantastic book, a chronicle of Sheffield’s time with his wife, Renée, from their meeting to her untimely death at the age of 31. He frames his account in discussions of mix tapes he or she made for various times/events in their lives. The songs, and the feelings they evoke, are just as much part of their story as anything else. There’s a lot of humor, a lot of heart–and then some heartbreak and the aftermath. I really should make some time to re-read this.