Tag: Miscellany Page 88 of 181

Second Quarter Check-In: 2022 Plans and Challenges

Catching up on things like this is a nice way to spend a day off, I guess. Earlier, I checked-in on my 20 Books of Summer Challenge, and now let’s take a look at the rest.

One of the few concrete plans that I shared back in January was “Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own (a perennial project, but I made some strides last year).” How am I doing on that?

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of 2021 9 45 42 144
Current Total 5 52 43 141

The good news is that I’ve read most of what I’ve bought this year, I’m just not whittling away at the older things. But I do fully expect to see a noticeable change in the physical and e-book numbers by the end of this quarter. Actually, I’ll probably see a noticeable change in the audiobooks, too–I have a handful credits set to expire soon. Well…this is discouraging.

I’m doing a little better with the rest of my plans. A little.

Let’s move on to the Reading Challenges…
2022 Book Challenges

12 Books
I’m still on track for finishing this one with no effort (although I didn’t finish the one I’d earmarked for June in the month, but I should have it done by the end of today/mid-tomorrow)
12 Books Challenge Quarter 2


2022 “Support Book Bloggers” Challenge
Support Book Bloggers Challenge
I decided to nix this one–I’m working on all the things mentioned here, but feel a little uncomfortable doing these things because of a checklist–and even more awkward about discussing it. But I’m mentioning it again, because I like the idea and want to spread the word about the efforts (it’s just not for me)


2022 While I was Reading
While I Was Reading
I’m doing okay on this–as usual, I’m not really planning the books for this challenge. When October hits, if I haven’t read everything on the list, I’ll get serious about hunting.

  1. A book with a question in the title.:
  2. A book of non-violent true crime.: I have an idea or two about this one.
  3. A book with a cover you don’t like.: I have a couple of contenders for this one. It’s possible that when I read them, they’ll win me over, so I’ll hold my ifre on this.
  4. A historical fiction novel not set in Europe.: I’ve read a couple already this year that would technically work, but I’m going to see if I get a more straightforward historical fiction.
  5. A book with a character’s name in the title.: I’ve got With Grimm Resolve coming up this month.
  6. A book featuring paranormal activity (fiction or non.):
  7. A book with a number in the title.: Citizen K-9
  8. A food related memoir.: I have no idea. Literally.
  9. A book that’s won an award.:
  10. A middle grade novel.: How to Save a Superhero by Ruth Freeman
  11. A book by an author who shares your zodiac sign.: This one is going to be hard. That it also comes close to disclosing more personal information than I want to share.
  12. A book that’s a combination of genres.: Bloodlines by Peter Hartog (I also used this for the next challenge, so I’ll probably replace this on the final list)

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge
I’m hitting the target on this one–I’ve only managed to hit 1 Stretch Goal (I don’t have many books that apply to the stretches, actually). This isn’t helping that much with my reduce the TBR plan, but it’s not hurting it. So there’s that.

In the months to come, I’m going to have to get creative to find a way to match the challenge with a book. I’m eager to see if I can pull it off.
January – New Beginnings I give you permission to read the most recent book you got on top of your TBR.: Bloodlines by Peter Hartog
Stretch Goal – Read the oldest book in Mount TBR it has waited long enough: Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron
February – Valentine’s Day Gift
Is there that book by an author you love you picked up and still haven’t read because you do not deserve it just yet? Other items got in the way? You have for this challenge to pick that book up and read it: Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
March – Fresh blooms
For the beginning of Spring I want you to open a book in the TBR pile by an author you’ve never read before: The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson
April – New Openings
April is derived from the Latin for ‘to open’ In Mount TBR there may be the first book of a series. Your challenge is to read: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker
May – Randommmmm
You MAY pick one random book out of Mount TBR and you must read it: Conjured Defense by J.C. Jackson
June – The Longest Day
Find the longest book in Mount TBR and you must read it: The Border by Don Winslow

(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)

20 Books of Summer 2022: June Check-in

20 Books of Summer
Just a quick check-in on the challenge hosted by Cathy at 746 Books.

I’ve read 5 of the 20–and am about halfway through a sixth. Compared to last year at this time, I’m in great shape–because I hadn’t read anything off my list. I’d hoped for a little more, but since I don’t have anything of the weight and length of The Border left on my list, I figure I’ll breeze through most of this (there are at 4-6 likely one-day reads on the list, so that’ll help). I picked a good and entertaining list this year—and I’m chipping away at ol’ Mt. TBR, too.

1. The Deepest Grave by Harry Bingham
2. Condemned by R.C. Bridgstock
✔ 3. Payback by R.C. Bridgstock
4. Persecution by R.C. Bridgstock
5. AMORALMAN: A True Story and Other Lies by Derek DelGaudio
✔ 6. Against All Odds by Jeffery H. Haskell
7. One Decisive Victory by Jeffery H. Haskell
8. With Grimm Resolve by Jeffery H. Haskell
9. A World Without Whom: The Essential Guide to Language in the Buzzfeed Age by Emmy J. Favilla
10. Composite Creatures by Caroline Hardaker
11. Divine and Conquer by J.C. Jackson
12. Mortgaged Mortality by J.C. Jackson
13. The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove
14. Roses for the Dead by Chris McDonald
✔ 15. A Wash of Black by Chris McDonald
16. Whispers in the Dark by Chris McDonald
17. Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosely
✔ 18. Crazy in Poughkeepsie by Daniel Pinkwater
19. Ghost of a Chance by Dan Willis
✔ 20. The Border by Don Winslow

(subject to change, as is allowed, but I’m going to resist the impulse to tweak as much as I can).
20 Books of Summer '22 Chart

Saturday Miscellany—7/2/22

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 most beautiful bookshops in the world—I’m not the traveling type, but I like pretending I’m the kind of guy who’d travel around to browse at places like this
bullet What Happened? Banned Books in Nampa—A few weeks ago, I talked about a local bookstore’s response to a school district’s book ban. They provide an update.
bullet How Did Shakespeare Kill (And Heal) His Characters?—I meant to include this a couple of months ago, but after seeing it again this week, I got a second chance.
bullet From Criminal Lawyer to Criminal Writer—Nadine Matheson describes her shift from the former to the latter
bullet Why Does It Take So Long to Publish a Book?—Lincoln Michel responds to the recent Twitter conversation about how long publishing can take
bullet Overheard At Bookstr: Confessions Of A Bookworm
bullet Witty & Sarcastic Book Club continues their tour of Fantasy Sub-Genres with Fantasy Focus: Historical Fantasy with these interviews:
bullet Historical Fantasy Featuring N.C. Koussis
bullet Historical Fantasy Featuring Angela Boord
bullet Historical Fantasy Featuring G.M. White
bullet Historical Fantasy Featuring J.T.T Ryder
bullet Historical Fantasy Featuring Marian L. Thorpe
bullet YA Fiction Snobbery Needs to Stop. Right now.—I think I’d quibble a bit with a point or two, but yeah, it needs to stop.
bullet Why I still like using ratings (even if they’re imperfect)—Spot on.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Short Tails by Spencer Quinn—a small collection of short stories featuring Chet and Bernie to tide readers over until the next novel. They look pretty fun to me.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to KarensWildWorld who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger!
How Reading Works

The Friday 56 for 7/1/22: Short Tails by Spencer Quinn

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Short Tails

Short Tails by Spencer Quinn

(it might help people to know that the narrator is that handsome guy on the cover)

I barked my low rumbly bark. Bernie rose and followed me to the top of the ridge. We gazed into the distance, a hilly distance with everything so clear in the early morning light: giant red rocks, tall saguaros like green men stuck in the ground, a tiny black blur of circling buzzards. The bubble gum smell grew stronger. I started making my way down the ridge.

“Chet? We haven’t finished breakfast.”

I kept going.

“You know we’re on vacation?”

Vacation was what again?

“Hang on. It’s steep.”

It was? Somehow I’d missed that, and now it was too late, what with me already at the bottom, the making my way down part having turned into a sort of bounding.

WWW Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Here we are, knocking at the end of June, preparing for that wonderful time of the year where it seems like half of the people in my subdivision are trying to terrify my dogs into moving to Canada. Why don’t we commemorate it with a WWW Wednesday? My current book is taking a lot out of me–and it’s cutting into my audiobook time, so I’m not making a lot of progress with those, either. I’m not complaining (much), because it’s such a good book–but man, it’s taking a lot out of me.

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?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m making slow and steady progress through the monumental The Border by Don Winslow. I’m listening to Songbird by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackon (Narrator) on audiobook, it’s a spin-off or sequel or continuation or…something to the DC Smith series and it’s very strange listening to this next phase with these characters (good! but strange).

The BorderBlank SpaceSongbird

What did you recently finish reading?

I most recently finished Lee Goldberg’s Movieland and Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson, George Guidall (Narrator) on audio.

MovielandBlank SpaceDaughter of the Morning Star

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be A World Without “Whom”: The Essential Guide to Language in the BuzzFeed Age by Emmy J. Favilla and my next audiobook should be My Mess Is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety by Georgia Pritchett, Katherine Parkinson (Narrator) (I largely checked this out for the title).

A World Without WhomBlank SpaceMy Mess Is a Bit of a Life

What about you?

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books of 2022… so far


This week’s topic is, “Yes, we are halfway through 2022. So tell us your fave books of the year ― so far!” I haven’t done one of these in a minute, this seemed like a good time to get back to it. This list was easier than I thought it would be—but that’s because I only had to pick five. At this point, if I had to do a Top 10, it would’ve taken me a week. I think there was a 10-way tie for #6, as I looked over my 2022 log.

Huh…2 of these books also showed up on my Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2022. That’s an interesting coincidence.

In alphabetical order by author:

1 Bye Bye Baby
Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby by Ace Atkins

The fiftieth Spenser novel is also the last one in Ace Atkins’ run. It’s hard for me to separate my thoughts and feelings about this book from my thoughts and feelings about that run. This wasn’t his best Spenser novel, but it was better than his worst (which really wasn’t that bad). In this book Spenser acts as a bodyguard for a libral minority congressperson and investigates the threats behind her. It’s an entertaining time with some characters I’ve spent decades with.

My full take on the book can be found here.

2 Don't Know Tough
Don’t Know Tough by Elic Cranor

This was a hard, grim read. In brief, an idealistic, young High School Football coach brings a troubled, angry, and violent player into his home to help him escape home and get back on the right track. And well, you know what they say about the road paved with good intentions. As difficult as the material was, Cranor’s skill with writing, rich characterization, and dynamite prose made this a sheer pleasure to read—while putting you through the emotional wringer.

My full take on the book can be found here.

3 Reconstruction
Reconstruction by Mick Herron

An MI6 accountant is brought in to negotiate with a young man who has taken some hostages in a nursery school (2 children and 3 adults). But how did all of these characters get to this point? Why are they here? What’s going to happen after they get out of the school? This novel examines all these things—putting the pieces of the puzzle together so that by the end (and I’m talking the end), the reader is able to put all the pieces together and can construct a pretty clear understanding. This is one of the best structured and written novels I’ve read in a long time.

My full take on the book can be found here.

4 The Kaiju Preservation Society
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

The previous two books on this list were pretty heavy and intense reads. This is anything but. This popcorn movie in a handy book form. It’s about a food delivery app driver who joins up with a group who travels to a parallel dimension to study and protect Kaiju. There are tense and action-filled moments, but given the premise—how heavy can it be? It’s filled with a catchy, irreverent narrative; snappy dialogue; and a first-person narrator you click with almost instantly (or not at all)—it just took me a few pages to know that I was going to find nothing but joy in these pages.

My full take on the book can be found here.

5 Adult Assembly Required
Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman

If the last three years have taught me anything (and it’s likely that it hasn’t, but for the sake of argument, let’s say it did), it’s that Abbi Waxman will make me laugh, warm my heart, maybe even get me misty—while telling a story full of great and quirky characters, with dialogue as good as you’ll find anywhere. That’s what you get here in this story about a young woman who came to LA to get a fresh start on life. But before that start, things have to get a little worse for her—thankfully, she finds herself among a great group of (mostly) women who decide to become her friends.

My full take on the book can be found here.

Book Blogger Hop: Fiction or Non-Fiction?

Book Blogger Hop

 

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

What is your reading preference – fiction or nonfiction?

I’ve unintentionally taken a couple of weeks off, thankfully, this is an easy way to come back—because it’s essentially crunching a few numbers. By Non-Fiction, I’m including history, biography, autobiography, memoir, humor collections, essays, science, literary/film criticism, theology…eh, pretty much anything that’s not in the 800s in the Dewey Decimal system (and even some of it). With Fiction, I’m including novels, novellas, short stories, children’s picture books, and comics/graphic novels (other than things like Maus and Persepolis).

It helps that I do a year-end table (and monthly for a while now, too) showing the breakdown by genre, so it didn’t take too much work to tweak it into a Fiction vs. Non-Fiction Graph.
Fiction vs. Non-Fiction Graph

If you ignore 2012 (and I don’t know what I was doing there with only 10% Non-Fiction), I average out at 21% Non-Fiction, 79% Fiction. I’d like to think I read more Non-Fiction than that, but honestly, I’m happy it’s that much.

On second thought, that’s not what the question asked, is it? The question wasn’t “What do you read more of?” was it? It was “What is your reading preference?” There’s little better in the world than a well-written Non-Fiction book. I’ve re-read The Right Stuff and The Last Chance to See innumerable times—ditto for The Big Picture by A. Whitney Brown. The books I’ve listed in Just a Spoonful of Sugar—Non-Fiction to Smile With and Learn From* are a real pleasure to read. A well-written biography is dynamite. And so much of the theology that I read does more for my heart and soul than my mind. I could go on here, but I guess I’m trying to say that I love reading a good Non-Fiction book.

* An updated version is due in a few months, but I’m giving myself a chance to add a couple more entries to it first.

Now, I did say “there’s little better in the world than a well-written Non-Fiction book.” Chief among that “little” would be a well-written novel. My preference is definitely fiction—my practice reflects my preference.

The danger in writing these Book Blogger Hop responses in a pretty stream-of-consciousness fashion is that it ended up taking me 421 words and a bar graph to get to the point rather than saying, “Fiction,” and moving on.

What do you want for nothin’? A Rubber Biscuit?

What about you—what’s your poison?

Saturday Miscellany—6/25/22

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 Whither Children’s Bookselling? asks Publishers Weekly
bullet In Defense of Unsympathetic Protagonists
bullet Copywriter Slash Novelist: How My Career in Advertising Helped Shape Me as a Novelist—Matthew Norman talks about some of the lessons he carries with him today
bullet Summer Reading Assignments for Grown-Ups
bullet “Dance” like no one’s watching, but for bookish types
bullet Canva 101: How to Use Canva as a Book Influencer—I really need to play around with this post next time I try to display my lack of graphic design ability
bullet The NeBUloUs Topic of ARCs—a dose of sagacity from The Orangutan Librarian
bullet Novels with Terrific Opening Lines—Jami Fairleigh shares some of her favorites
bullet Book Quotes to Love in 2022—Read Betwixt Worlds shares some favorites from this year

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Page Break with Brian McClellan Ep 44 – Scott Lynch—Good conversation about mental health, writing, Lynch’s plans, and more.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Self-Made Widow by Fabian Nicieza—Profiler-turned-suburban mom and recently-no-longer-disgraced journalist team up on a murder investigation again. I am very excited about this follow-up to one of last year’s best debuts.
bullet Movieland by Lee Goldberg—the strongest outing yet for rookie detective Eve Ronin, as she and her partner investigate a killing in a State Park.
bullet One Decisive Victory by Jeffrey H. Haskell—I won’t look at the description of this one until I read the second book in a couple of weeks here, but as much as I enjoyed Book 1, I’m happy to see that it’s out.
What 'you have too many books' actually means

The Friday 56 for 6/24/22: Movieland by Lee Goldberg

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it.

from Page 56% of:
Movieland

Movieland by Lee Goldberg

Duncan put the bag down and picked up the one containing Netter’s watch. It had come through the crash unscathed. “The only Rolex I’ve seen that’s bigger than this is the one in the Calabasas clock tower.”

Netter’s watch had clearly been built to last, Eve thought. Rolex could use it as a selling point. You might not survive a car crash, but your watch will.

WWW Wednesday, June 21, 2022

I’m very glad that the U.S. is now celebrating Juneteenth, but I tell you what, that day off is messing with me. I did manage to get some good reading in over the weekend, but still feel like I’m out of sync with reality. Anyway, let’s tackle this WWW Wednesday, and see if that helps calibrate my mind.*

*Narrator: It won’t.

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?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading Movieland by Lee Goldberg—it’s so good to be back in Eve Ronin’s world—and I’m wrapping up Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston, Imani Parks (Narrator) on audiobook.

MovielandBlank SpaceAmari and the Night Brothers

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished David Rosenfelt’s predictably fun Holy Chow, K.B. Jensen’s very strange Love and Other Monsters in the Dark, and We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter (Narrator) on audio.

Holy ChowBlank SpaceLove and Other Monsters in the DarkBlank SpaceWe Are Legion (We Are Bob)

What do you think you’ll read next?

Two of my most anticipated 2022 releases arrived at my house yesterday (The Botanist by M.W. Craven and The Self-Made Widow by Fabian Nicieza), and I’m beyond tempted to throw out my carefully (for me) constructed plan and dive into them. I’m pretty sure I won’t do that, but you never know. My next book should be The Border by Don Winslow, it’s been a week and a half since I read a paper book—that’ll be a nice change—even if this thing is intimidating. My next audiobook should be a quick return trip to Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson, George Guidall (Narrator).

The BorderBlank SpaceDaughter of the Morning Star

What are you reading here in the first few (official) days of Summer?

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