Tag: Miscellany Page 58 of 176

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:
I could’ve filled this post with articles about Jane Friedman and Prosecraft. But I’m going to limit myself. Authors are losing their patience with AI, part 349235—Tech Crunch’s piece is a pretty good summary. If you want some more details, try (or any number of other pieces floating around):
Amazon Won’t Remove Books Listed Under a Real Author’s Name But Allegedly Written With AI
Famous Author Jane Friedman Finds AI Fakes Being Sold Under Her Name on Amazon
Prosecraft Closed: Fiction Analytics Site Shut Down After Author Backlash as Books Scanned Without Consent
Republican Policymaker Proposes Banning Kids Under 18 From Visiting Library Without an Adult—because that works so well for movie theaters…
You’re never alone with a book: Reading in public can be a surprisingly social activity
A reading guide for grownups who don’t read: Librarian secrets to getting into books for the very first time.—solid advice
Paperback or hardcover? Used or new? Let’s talk about our book habits.—this is what prompted Templeton’s post that I linked to last week, finally got around to reading it. I’d quibble with some of these, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
No More Writers as Protagonists—it’s hard to argue against this
Bookish Vocab and Acronyms Explained—a handy little glossary
17 Ways to Celebrate National Book Lovers Day—Book Lover’s Day was earlier in the week, but you can celebrate it any day with these.
Happy National Book Lovers Day with my ultimate favourite books!—this is another solid way to celebrate the day.
Meet the Blogger: Dave from FanFiAddict—another entry in Phil Parker’s fun series
Some Beginners Fantasy Books—Fantasy Book Nerd starts with (controversial?) take that newbies to the genre shouldn’t read Tolkien, instead they offer some more accessible starting points
Novels About Old People: links to reviews of twenty-one novels by nineteen authors—Maybe it’s just that I’m noticing them more as I age, but like Mike Finn, I’m seeing (and reading) more books featuring elderly characters. Here’s a list of some good/good-looking books along those lines.
Showing Love to BackList Books—Great idea
How To Improve Social Media Interaction—As Twitter (or whatever you call it today) continues to fall apart, Celeste’s post is even more helpful.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter—just looks like fun. This RomCom is about the identical twin of a spy wakes up in Paris with no memory of who she is while people are trying to kill and or capture her.
101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered by Sadie Hartman—Okay, fine. I’m not excited about this book, and you won’t be seeing me blog about it anytime soon. But…for horror readers, this looks really good. And I just love that title.

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:
The Gamification of Reading Is Changing How We Approach Books—”Since its inception in 2007, Goodreads has been a place where people can come together and rate their favorite books, find new authors, and more. This writer juggles the greater implications of the site with our current reading culture.”
Online book clubs are exploding. Let’s find the right one for you.
The Wrath of Goodreads: Authors are at the mercy of people who don’t bother reading their work.
Hyperion Avenue to Debut New Marvel Crime Series—I initially rolled my eyes at this idea, the last thing i really need is more Marvel content. But then I read “S.A. Cosby…will tackle Luke Cage.” Also mentioned were Lisa Jewell (Jessica Jones) and Alex Segura (Daredevil). So I stopped the rolling and started waiting in anticipation. (Seanan McGuire and Mike Chen being tapped for the What If… series is also ensuring my interest).
‘Things started getting weird’: why my novel caused a storm in my small town—this literally sounds like the plot to a novel or three that I’ve read. And suddenly those seem a lot more plausible now🙂
How Hardboiled Whodunits Have Given Way to the Psychological Thriller: Chris Narozny on trauma as mystery and the evolution of the genre.—hmmm.
A brief cultural history of crying while reading.
21 Thoughts (Not Rules) About Reading Habits—even if you don’t agree with all of these, you’ll find yourself nodding with most of this list.
To wrap up Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week (probably the last time I mention it this year),
Witty and Sarcastic Book Club penned a nice A Letter to Self-Published Authors that I’d like to co-sign
A Weird West Author Turns 54—Jonathan Fesmire looks back at his last year of writing
Women Who Kill : links to reviews of twenty novels by thirteen authors—if you’re in the mood to read about a female killer, you’d do well to start browsing Mike Finn’s list
If you like the idea of a young person who has caught the reading bug and is starting to blog about books be sure to check out Little Reader’s Favourite Books
Your Paper Quest: a New Sort of Book Subscription Box—this is a great idea!

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Person Behind the Pages JCM Berne Interview – Hopepunk, Optimstism, & Sawing in half a literary giant’s desk

I really didn’t think I took the time this week to do much online to provide fodder for this post—looks like I was wrong about that. Which is kind of cool.

It’s been a strange week in general—as anyone who subscribes to/follows this blog in any form has noticed—I have been busy with the posts. Also, my big plan for getting all of those posts prepped early to give me a catch-up week was derailed by forces outside my control (including a bonus day with the grandcritter, in which I could care less about this space). So instead of catching up on everything these last five days, I’ve managed to dig a bigger hole for myself. At this point, I’ve given up on the notion of catching up. (or so I tell myself)

I also received my first offer to get paid for reviewing books this week, so I feel like I’ve truly arrived (no, not by a magazine or anything, but by one of those scam-my groups).

I promise that next week will be quieter on the posting front. I think I’ve overwhelmed everyone. (hope you all found something you like, though!)

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:
The untold story of California’s most iconic outdoor bookshop—I’ve gotta check this place out
Gotta get back in time: The current explosion of time travel novels goes beyond sci-fi and fantasy
10 Novels that Borrow, Sample and Remix Found Texts: Tom Comitta, author of “The Nature Book,” recommends literary supercuts
Weird, funny, dark children’s books that I can recommend (as an adult, however).—this is a shopping list I didn’t need (but will likely start working on soon)
How to Assemble the Perfect Cozy Mystery Meal—Olivia Blacke demonstrates her knowledge of Cozy Mysteries with this fun post.
Read W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring.—to commemorate the anniversary of Fellowship‘s publication, LitHub revisited Auden’s review of the book. Because who else would you turn to? Anyway, I love reading this poet in the 50s sound like a fanboy/fangirl blogging today.
Fictional World We’d Love to Be A Part Of—Bookstr has a nice listicle of places that sound better to live in than this oven of a planet
What Do We Want From the Bookish Internet?—I think Templeton asks all the right questions here…who is going to answer them?
In case you hadn’t noticed, this week was Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week—Most/All of the posts are listed here—if you missed any, here’s the way to fix that.
I’m tempted to post links to all the entries, but no one has time for that (although most of them deserve it). So I’ll just pick one post that I want to focus on from that series is Bookblogger Novel of the Year and Self-Published Books—a listing of all the self-published entries in the competition
Five Year Blogiversary!—Congrats to Sifa Elizabeth Reads for the achievement—I enjoyed this way of commemorating it, too.
Blogiversary #6—Reading Ladies Book Club also just hit an anniversary. This mix of lessons learned, advice, and stats is the kind of thing I can dig deep into.
How and Why I Built a Bookselling Monster—you gotta check this out. I love it (and really don’t want to see it IRL (both can be true)).
Meet The Bloggers: Beth from Before We Go
Guest Post: Insiders by Shannon Knight—to commemorate the book’s 6 month anniversary, Knight dropped by The Shaggy Shepherd to talk about Insiders

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Crime Time FM VERN SMITH In Person With Paul—they talk about Jacked (a favorite anthology), Scratching the Flint (that fantastic read), writing in general, and so much more.
Fiction Fans podcast marks its 100th episode by looking at The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien—which didn’t inspire me to re-read the book/series only because I went through them last year. Otherwise, it would’ve.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
I apparently was so excited about this one that I mentioned it last week. Whoops. For the sake of accuracy: Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn—A septuagenarian heads to Romania to get her money back from phone scammers. That premise and Quinn’s knack for writing has to make this a winner.
Not Prepared by Matthew Hanover—A bachelor takes in his eleven-year-old-goddaughter when her mother skips town, and maybe finds love, too. This’ll steal your heart. I enthused about it recently (and will at the drop of the hat). =
Light Bringer by Pierce Brown—the sixth installment in the Red Rising saga is out, and will surely get me overusing the word “brutal” when I think about/write about it. I really want to read it, and am stressed out about it, too. (no joke)
A Fatal Groove by Olivia Blacke—involves no stress at all—it’s simply a fun time looking into the murder of a town’s mayor and trying to solve a decades-old bank robbery. Okay, that sounds like it should be stressful, but Blacke wouldn’t do that to her readers. I talked about it some last week.
Death on the Beach by Steph Broadribb—the Retired Detectives are back to prove that a realtor was murdered (and uncover the killer) while dealing with internal stressors of their own.
Speech Team by Tim Murphy—”a literary mashup of The Breakfast Club and The Big Chill.” “A funny, gossipy and ultimately poignant novel about four Gen X teen friends turned 21st-century adults who awkwardly come back together to confront an influential teacher whose brutal remarks have haunted them all for years.”