Tag: Miscellany Page 96 of 179

Saturday Miscellany—1/22/22

On January 22, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

I apparently had one of those weeks where I did more reading than blogging/blog prep, I didn’t realize it, but apparently, that was the case. STill did get a post or two up every day, and found some good stuff for this post, just not what I expected to produce at the beginning of the week. Oh, well. Read some good stuff, plugged away at a couple of projects I’m excited to share with you, and…well, I don’t know, there should be a third thing, but who has the energy to write a whole list?

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 Book bans are back in style
bullet For Booksellers, the Crystal Ball Stays Cloudy: Indie booksellers saw solid sales in 2021 but wonder what 2022 will bring
bullet 30 years of Harry Bosch—that’s a mind-boggling number
bullet Humor in Books, and Other Places, Too! An Interview with Armanis Ar-Feinial—I’m really digging this series from K. R. R. Lockhaven.
bullet The Deeply Personal Art of Organizing Your Books—Molly Templeton weighs in on book organization
bullet 5 Years of Blogging—Suckerforcoffe looks back on five years of blogging—no mean feat.
bullet What You Need to Know Before You Return a Book on Audible in 2022
bullet I read City of Lies…all of them—I don’t know how I left this off of last week’s list, but I’m glad I did, I’m a little short on material for this week. The Fantasy Inn’s Kopratic read every book called City of Lies around. Brilliant idea for a project

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or four) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Tales From The Bridge: All Things Sci-Fi Ep.27: A Conversation with Seanan McGuire—I’ve heard a few interviews with McGuire—she’s always entertaining, but she’s in rare form here. Great stuff.
bullet The Thriller Zone Nick Kolakowski, Pulp Thriller Writer—this was a good interview that inspired me to dip into the archives, the episodes with Ace Atkins and Tori Eldridge were worth noting, too. This podcast is going to be in the rotation for a while.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby by Ace Atkins—This is the tenth and final book in this series for Atkins, and he goes out strong in this story of Spenser protecting a politician from threats and harassment. I tried to get my post up about this yesterday, but it needed a little more time in the oven. Hopefully early next week.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Celeste L and Eweto Ovie who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger!

The Friday 56 for 1/21/22: Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron

By HCNewton

On January 21, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

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

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

from Page 56 of:
Nice Dragons Finish Last

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron

“…believe it or not, I don’t normally get into back-alley brawls with strange men.”

“Well, if anyone deserved breaking your ‘no slamming people into walls’ streak over, it would be Bixby’s idiots.”

“I only got half of them,” he reminded her. “You did the other. Credit where credit is due.”

Marci laughed. “If by ‘credit’ you mean ‘assault and battery charges,’ then I guess you’re right.” She shook her head and turned to flash him a warm smile. “You know, we make a pretty good team.”

Julius felt that smile all the way to his toes.

Book Blogger Hop: Books Per Month?

By HCNewton

On January 21, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews:

What is the average number of books you read per month?

You’d think I’d know that, wouldn’t you? I had to do a tiny bit of research for this. I could’ve gone back about a decade in coming up with this number, but that felt like overkill. I figured a look at the last three years would fit my current habits best (and was easiest to get the data from, which helped). But just the raw number looked boring, so why not make* a chart?

* Have my spreadsheet make a chart, after it did the math for me.

What about you?

WWW Wednesday, January 19, 2022

By HCNewton

On January 19, 2022

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

So the holiday Monday threw me off a little bit, it feels like I’m getting this ready far too early in the week. Hope you’re all having a good one, it’s time for WWW Wednesday!

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 the fiftieth Spenser novel, Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby by Ace Atkins. I’m also listening to a little-known novel, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Andy Serkis (Narrator) on audiobook—have you heard of it?

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Sally Hepworth’s The Good Sister; A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing but Using the Bathroom as an Escape by Joe Pera, illustrated by Joe Bennett; and Dark Queen by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator) on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be a book that I’ve meant to read for years: Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure by David Rosenfelt. My next audiobook should be Dead Man’s Grave by Neil Lancaster, Angus King (Narrator).

Blank Space

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2022

By HCNewton

On January 18, 2022

In Books, News/Misc.

This week’s topic is, “Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2022. Same disclosure from 2021. You won’t be subjected to punishment (from me) if you don’t read these. But what are 5 books you really want to tick off your TBR this year?” Sure, I could’ve just picked five books that are the next in a series (and, yeah, that’s what I mostly did)–but these are ones that either I am champing at the bit to read or that I know I have every intention on reading, but can see myself getting distracted from and still wanting to read in 2023 (see the entry for Return of the Paladin on Top 5 books I haven’t read yet in 2021). So, calling my shot at the others should help me remember to do it.

	Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby by Ace Atkins The fiftieth Spenser novel is also the last one that Atkins will write. I can only imagine that Atkins is going to go out with a bang. This is the epitome of me champing at the bit to read a book. I will be abandoning whatever I’m reading to dive into this as soon as I get my hands on it.
	The Botanist by M. W. Craven The Poe/Tilly novels have become a (the?) highlight of my summers. I cannot wait to see what happens here.
	Lives Laid Away by Stephen Mack Jones August Snow was one of my favorite “discoveries” of 2021–I was practically giddy reading it. I’d expected I’d read this one last year, and don’t know how I didn’t get to it. This will happen soon.
	Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman This made my list without me knowing anything about it–I’ve just enjoyed Waxman’s voice so much the last few years. Also, I wanted something on this list that wasn’t a Mystery/Detective/Crime novel or part of a series. Oops. It turns out that this is a sequel to The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. 1 out of 2 ain’t bad, right?
	City on Fire by Don Winslow I’ve loved almost every Winslow book I’ve read–and was impressed with those I didn’t. So it would seem I’d be super-excited about this–and I am. But after The Cartel–both in scope and impact–I’ve been intimidated by him. This is going to be one of those I have to push myself to read, oddly enough.

Top Ten Tuesday: 2021 Releases I Was Excited to Read But Didn’t Get To

By HCNewton

On January 18, 2022

In News/Misc.

The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesdays is the 2021 Releases I Was Excited to Read But Didn’t Get To.

Wow, I really kept up with new releases in 2021. I remembered 6 of these right off the bat, but I then had to go through a year’s worth of my Saturday Miscellany posts to find another 4 for the list. And if this was a top 12, I’d have listed every new release I made note of last year—unlike past years, where I probably left fifty untouched. Sure, I likely didn’t document another 60 or so that fell in the category “oh, wow, that looks great, I should get that” before promptly forgetting about it. But I’ll take this as a win regardless.

I’m going to try to knock off this list by May—we’ll see how that goes.

Top Ten 2021 Releases I Was Excited to Read But Didn’t Get To

	AMORALMAN: A True Story and Other Lies by Derek DelGaudio DelGaudio’s memoir should prove intersting, and I really don’t know what else to say until I actually open the thing. If the film In & Of Itself is anything to go by, it’ll be a compelling read, if nothing else.
	Dreyer’s English (Adapted for Young Readers): Good Advice for Good Writing by Benjamin Dreyer I’ve been looking forward to getting my hands on this one since I heard about it. I loved the “adult” version and want to see how he translates that into advice for kids (also, I can see this being easier to pass on to non-language nerd friends/family who need the help)
	*Eye of the Sht Storm** by Jackson Ford The third Teagan Frost adventure looks great (and reminds me to get my act together and read #2).
	A War of Wizards by Layton Green The Blackwood Saga concludes here in Book 5. I’d say I’d dive in next week, but, I still haven’t read book four.
	Swashbucklers by Dan Hanks This is one of those books I can’t imagine summarizing in a few paragraphs (at least without reading it first), much less a sentence. Click that link there to learn about it. Looks fun.
	The Curious Reader: Facts About Famous Authors and Novels \| Book Lovers and Literary Interest \| A Literary Miscellany of Novels & Novelists edited by Erin McCarthy & the team at Mental Floss “This literary compendium from Mental Floss reveals fascinating facts about the world’s most famous authors and their literary works.” I’ve flipped through this a little since picking it up at my bookstore, I have no idea how to describe it—or how I’m going to write about it. But it’s going to be fun trying to figure it out.
	Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach Roach’s books always look interesting, but I haven’t gotten around to trying one. This one could change that.
	Questland by Carrie Vaughn Jurassic Park, but for D&D types.
	Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Weir’s latest looks more like The Martian than Artemis, which should help sales, even if it seems like a cheat for him to try (looking at you, Ernest Cline).
	Hard Reboot by Django Wexler “Kas is a junior researcher on a fact-finding mission to old Earth. But when a con-artist tricks her into wagering a large sum of money belonging to her university on the outcome of a manned robot arena battle she becomes drawn into the seedy underworld of old Earth politics and state-sponsored battle-droid prizefights.” Oh, that old chestnut…this is just such a strange collection of ideas I think I have to try it.

Saturday Miscellany—1/15/22

By HCNewton

On January 15, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

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 Americans Reading Fewer Books Than in Past—pretty sure this is news to no one. Still depressing to see.
bullet Book bans in schools are catching fire. Black authors say uproar isn’t about students.
bullet The 23 most popular books of the past year, according to Goodreads members—huh.
bullet Have We Forgotten How to Read Critically?—Um, yeah?
bullet Ace Atkins bids Robert B. Parker’s Spenser farewell
bullet The Future of Robert B. Parker’s Sunny Randall—I meant to include this last week, but it fits the theme of the previous item.
bullet Some Books That Inspire Me—On the eve of his first novel’s publication, Adam Shaw talks about some books that got him to that point.
bullet Maybe Reading Goals Are Good, Actually—Templeton has some good ideas about reading goals for a self-described “free range reader”
bullet How BOOK IT! Made Reading Delicious—from Mental Floss
bullet Bookish Bucket List—Now this is a good idea…
bullet Misrepresentations of Autism in Fiction—good stuff from The Coycaterpillar Reads.
bullet StoryGraph vs. Goodreads – The Good & the Bad
bullet The importance of book reviews

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Jackals by Adam Shaw—Jack Dotson returns to his hometown for a funeral and has to deal with the past he tried to leave behind—and doing so may cause trouble for the rest of his life. (oof, that sounded lame…go read the link, it’s better when not summarized in a sentence)

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

The Friday 56 for 1/14/21: Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

By HCNewton

On January 14, 2022

In Currently Reading, Fantasy, News/Misc., Quotations, Seanan McGuire, The Friday 56, Wayward Children

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

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

from Page 56 (and a little bit of 57) of:
Where the Drowned Girls Go

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

The matron narrowed her eyes. “Can scarecrows talk?” she repeated, tone clearly implying that there was only one right answer, and it wasn’t the one she expected from Emily.

…Silence and blending into the background were Cora’s forte. She was good at it. But she was also a hero, and heroes didn’t stand idly by while someone smaller was victimized.

“Scarecrows don’t talk,” she scoffed, loudly enough and clearly enough to guarantee she would be overheard. The matron stiffened. Cora acted like she hadn’t noticed, continuing blithely, “They’re just straw stuffed into old potato sacks. If scarecrows could talk, that would mean straw could talk, and if straw could talk, grass would be able to talk, and no one could mow their lawns.”

Book Blogger Hop: Bookish Art?

By HCNewton

On January 14, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Penelope @ The Reading Devil:

Do you have any bookish posters or artwork on your walls?

Yes, some. I should really have taken photographs here, but it’d be better to go look at the art at the links instead–I know what my photographs look like 🙂

On my walls are:
bullet a pair of Dresden Files prints by Mike Kuloda
bullet a print from Bearded by Jeremy Billups
bullet a print by Gene Mollica of Atticus, the Iron Druid (signed by Kevin Hearne)
bullet I also have a nifty print from No Country for Old Gnomes> signed by Delilah S Dawson, Kevin Hearne, and the artist (but I can’t read their name)
bullet a print by Chris McGrath of The Brightest Fell (October Daye) cover art
bullet and a mash-up of things like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ready Player One that my daughter painted for me a few years ago.

I’d get more, but I’m about at the point where I have to decide between space for bookcases and space for art. So something’s gotta give. (although I saw three prints while getting links for the artists I almost bought today, so…)

What about you?

WWW Wednesday, January 12, 2021

By HCNewton

On January 12, 2022

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

It’s WWW Wednesday time already, eh? Twelve days into the year and I’m already 2 books behind schedule, but I’m catching up. Hopefully, by this time next week, I’ll be on schedule—maybe even ahead (it could happen, don’t laugh).

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?