Tag: Saturday Miscellany Page 21 of 54

It’s January 2nd, which means I’m inducing anxiety with my 2020 Best-Ofs list (too many good things…). Hope you’re all enjoying the last little drips of this holiday season as we all gear up for a return to Regular Life (COVID Edition) on Monday.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Thursday came with grim news about the death of Anton Strout, author and podcaster. He was on my short-list of authors I really wanted to meet in RL. I’ve read almost everything he wrote (everything I could get my hands on, for sure), and interacted a little with him online. I’m pretty sure his podcast was the first one I listened to, too, now that I think of it. Anyway, he seemed like a great guy—supportive of other authors (both in his day job and personal life) and was always super-friendly to this fan (and all others I saw him interact with). More importantly, he was a devoted family man and leaves a wife and seven-year-old twins, a GoFundMe has been set up to help them out, if you’re in the position to chip in.
On a similar note, Literary Hub has compiled Notable Literary Deaths in 2020: An Incomplete List of the Writers, Editors, and Great Literary Minds We Lost This Year
Book sales are up, but is that helping independent sellers?
2021 Ultimate Book Blogger / Reader Spreadsheet Template—Last year, I abandoned the home-brewed Spreadsheet I’ve been honing since 2010 or so in favor of Kal’s far superior one. This one looks a smidgen better. I highly recommend it.
Favorite Things About Book Formats—Cozy with Books breaks down the best of each format.
2021 Reading Challenge for backlogged books—If I hadn’t forced myself into abstaining from almost every challenge this year, I’d be diving into this Challenge from Entertainingly Nerdy. Looks like a great way to force yourself out of a rut or three.
What Makes a Good Coming-of-Age Story—for some reason, it’d been a while since I dropped by The Bookwyrm’s Den, missing out on posts like this one. Who doesn’t love a coming-of-age story?
#R3COMM3ND3D2020—For weeks, I have left reminders for myself to link to this series from the great Emma at damppebbles, and ignored them all. It’s a place for “authors, book bloggers and bookstagrammers to shout about three (yes, only three) books they love” published in 2020. There are some great reads here—and the books they link to aren’t shabby, either.
Favorite The Write Reads Tour Books of 2020—I’ve done a few tours with The Write Reads last year (and have one scheduled for this new one), and while I didn’t participate in this poll, I’d have been pulling for 3 out of the 4 listed here. Also want to echo the compliments about The Write Reads in the post.
2020 Recap – A Year in Blogging—I really liked Way Too Fantasy’s approach to the Year-End Wrap-Up post.
Ditto for Bookstooge Reviews 2020
This post would be freakishly long if I didn’t exercise some restraint here, but how’s about some Best-Of 2020 Posts?
My Favorite Reads of 2020—we’ll kick things off with this one from Witty & Sarcastic Bookclub
The damppebbles Top Ten (sort of!) of 2020—(also a nice Wrap Up, but not even Emma gets listed twice for the same post)
My Top Ten Novels of 2020—Char’s too horror-centric for me to really get into their recs, but when our reads overlap, we’re usually on the same page. So if you’re looking for a horror read, here’s some doozies.
Raven’s Yearly Round Up 2020 and Top 10 Books—anyone else worried about their bank balance after these lists? I think Raven could push me over the limit.
Top 20 for 2020!—The Orangutan Librarian won’t be limited by an arbitrary 10!
Top Twelve Books of 2020—neither will A Little Book Problem
My 2020 Notable Book List—from the Fantasy Book Nerd
Favorite Reads of 2020 by Month (Ft. More Than 12 Books Because Choosing is Hard)—Bookwyrm’s Den tries an approach that would drive me to all sorts of anxiety in a particularly good month.
Best Books of 2020—Books, Bones & Buffy does in one post what it’ll take me four or so to accomplish

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Black Canary: Breaking Silence by Alexandra Monir—the latest in the DC Icons finally moves away from the Big 3 (Catwoman’s still Batman-adjacent, so she doesn’t count), and I’m eager to see how they deal with Dinah Lance.

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Priya Prakash who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Hope you all are doing okay as we approach the last few days of this unusual year, and that your planning for 2021 and look-backs at 2020 are going well.

So little to say this week, and not much to link to. But I enjoyed these, and hope you do, too.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
This Christmas, read a story aloud – you’ll be surprised by the joy it brings—Thinking back on when I used to do this regularly with my kids, this is a decent idea for other times of the year, too.
I appreciated this thread from Ethan M. Aldridge on how libraries benefit authors
Who wore it better? US book covers vs. their UK counterparts.—a fun look at the differences in covers from Lit Hub
The Worst Literary Adaptations of the Century (So Far)—I’ve only seen half of this list, can’t argue with them.
<a href=”https://www.tor.com/2020/12/17/the-only-right-and-proper-way-to-read-the-chronicles-of-narnia/ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>The Only Right and Proper Way To Read The Chronicles of Narnia—Am pretty sure I’ve posted this before, but it bears repeating.
I’ve seen some really good creative approaches to the Year’s Best theme this year, like:
Top Five Backlist Reads of 2020—from Realms of My Mind
Steven Writes posted both Top Five Memorable Endings I Read In 2020 and Top Five Most Dramatic Twists I Read In 2020—excellent ideas, both
TBR Tackle Challenge Announcement—yeah, I know last week I said something about cutting back on challenges. This one could be helpful, though. I’m considering it, you might benefit from it, too.

The unboxening has wrapped up, now I just have to organize all the books. This is going to be rough. I picked up a nice little corner shelf to help alleviate some of the overcrowding I know is impending. Well, it has enough room for the As (I alphabetize by author), with a little left over. Although, if Ace Atkins and Ben Aaronovitch keep up their pace, that won’t be true by Spring 2022* at the latest. I think I’m in trouble.

* It just feels wrong to be thinking about Spring 2022 as just around the corner.

But anyway, on with the miscellany:
that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Publishing saw upheaval in 2020, but ‘books are resilient’—AP’s summary of the year in publishing. Best line: “‘A lot of what has happened this year — if it were a novel, I would say that it had a little too much plot,’ said Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp.”
How to Plan for Your 2021 Reading Challenge—whatever that challenge may be.
Walter Mosley on Devil in a Blue Dress, Thirty Years Later—I didn’t like this as much as I expected to years ago, I think I need to give it another shot.
Roddy Doyle on writing The Commitments: ‘Whenever I needed a name, I used the phonebook’—A little look back at the creation of one of my all-time favorit desert island novels.
Reacher, Prospero, and Child: The links connecting two writers—William Shakespeare and Lee Child—run deeper than you might think.—Child biographer, Heather Martin, dives deep with this one.
Audible Alternative Libro.fm: Audiobooks from Indie Bookstores—A great post about Libro.fm and why you should give it a shot.
Why I’m (mostly) Giving Up Reading Challenges For 2021—Yeah, me, too.
That said, I think this is going to be one of the exceptions: The 2021 SFF Badge Collection—How do you not want to collect those badges?
Books I want to read but don’t want to read—a great tag post from The Orangutan Librarian
The LibraryThing Tag—as is this one from the Bookstooge

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Vigilante Game by Meghan Scott Molin—really curious to see how Molin wraps up the Golden Arrow Mystery trilogy.
The Fey and the Furious by Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch, Lee Sullivan, Mariano Laclaustra—the eighth collection of the Rivers of London comics delivers a lot of fun.

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toAnjana, Dr. Ndubuisi E. Ojo, and Miss Katherine White who followed the blog this week (a formal sounding group this week, eh?). Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

I’m still not quite at the production level I want to be at around here, but I’m getting there (especially on those nights when I sit in an uncomfortable chair…there’s a lesson or two for me to take away from that). As we stumble through the last month of 2020, that’s good enough for me. Hope you all are having a decent month and are reading plenty of good things.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Saving Bookstores: How Independent Shops Cope Against COVID And E-Commerce Giants—Yeah, I’ve been posting a lot about this in 2020, why? See below.
Powell’s permanently closes its Home & Garden store on Hawthorne
Little Free Libraries Are A Good Idea That’s Taken On New Meaning Now
The Bigger the Publishers, the Blander the Books—”The Penguin Random House–Simon & Schuster deal threatens the values that the book business champion”
Bad sex award cancelled as public exposed to ‘too many bad things in 2020’—Oh, come on now. Haven’t we suffered enough in 2020? Reading the candidates is one of the most painful/hilarious things I do each year.
How to Read More Books in 2021 [and other topics], With The Root’s Danielle Belton and Maiysha Kai
It Isn’t Genre That Matters—It’s Story.: Characters, writing, and tension make or break a book. You can step over the genre fence and still appeal to your readers.—Yes, yes, and yes.
Quotes About Books That Truly Speak to Bibliophiles
As I delay thinking about my Top Lists for the year, it’s time for me to share other people’s lists, like My top 10 reads of the year—from M. W. Craven (who will almost certainly end up on mine), there are some great looking ones here.
The Reasons One Should Still Review Backlist Books—I didn’t realize this was a question, but yeah, these are (at least some) of the reasons why people should

Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Crime Fiction Friday with Emily Webb’s From probation officer to crime author: Noelle Holten

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toDellybird, who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Yeah, it’s a slim week, but December’s just getting started.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Tustin bookstore might be the gutsiest new business of 2020—This Orange County Couple Seems to have more courage than brains, but more power to ’em!! Love the idea.
Campaign to buy JRR Tolkien’s house backed by Lord of the Rings actors—Another great idea
It’s time for Best-Of awards and lists, and what better way to start off than with this one: A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path wins oddest book title of the year—If I’ve been previously aware of The Diagram Prize, it’s completely slipped my mind. But I’m making notes to find out who wins in 2021.
The 89 Best Book Covers of 2020—I don’t understand how some of these made the list, and others I’m tempted to buy without knowing anything about the contents. Either way, a fun way to scroll for a few minutes.
A Response to Claims of Racism in Naomi Novik’s A DEADLY EDUCATION—I had a hard time swallowing all the claims I saw about Novik’s book a couple of months ago, but haven’t had the time to read it myself. I appreciate this response (while not agreeing jot-and-tittle with all it says)
What even is a relatable book?—I’ve found myself using this word more often than I’d expect I would. The Orangutan Librarian offers some good cautions about the use/overuse of it.

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Art of Violence by S. J. Rozan—I really could’ve stopped reading once I realized it was a new Bill Smith/Lydia Chin novel, but the premise is brilliant: an artist comes to Bill, worried that he may have killed to women, but has no memory of it. He wants Bill to prove him innocent or guilty—he just needs to know if he’s a serial killer.
The Transit of Lola Jones by Jackie Swift—”As the book opens we find Lola recovering from the breast cancer that threatened to prematurely end her life and languishing in a police cell, the main suspect in the murder of businessman Daniel Blain…But is she guilty, and even if she is guilty, is she to blame? This is a funny, smart, sexy, modern romp of a book and Lola Jones is a character that you’ll instantly want to be your best friend.”
Deer Shoots Man (then steals his cigarettes) by Tyler Knight—your typical cage-fighter “in a high-octane chase to track down the genetic code that could cure a disease that threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, including himself and his son” in a near-future LA.

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toP.L. Stuart, Masha, and Shoppen met Marceline who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Okay, I didn’t produce as much this week as I’d intended—I’m trying to get back into the swing of things, but re-establishing patterns is difficult. I did write every night this week, just didn’t finish a whole lot. More importantly, I read a decent amount (700+ pages), which makes me feel better about life.

Not a lot to post here this week (holidays tend to do that), but I hope you’ll find something worth your while:
that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Obviously, the big thing this week is: Bertelsmann to Buy S&S for $2.2 Billion—The parent company of Penguin Random House said it had reached an agreement to buy Simon & Schuster from ViacomCBS, yay, capitalism and all that, but…how often to monopolies work out for the best? I’m so glad for Indie Presses right now and hope that they can survive this increasingly bad year for them.
Book Business Reacts to Simon & Schuster Sale
The Monster Publishing Merger Is About Amazon—Penguin Random House purchasing Simon & Schuster is not the gravest danger to the publishing business. The deal is transpiring in a larger context—and that context is Amazon.
What the Penguin-Random House Merger Means to You, Average Reader—The Atlantic piece above linked to this one from back when Penguin and Random House Merged.
Cozy Mysteries and Legal Thrillers: The Intersection of Two Crime Genres: Disparate as they may seem, the cozy and the legal thriller derive from the same mysteries and influences.—One of those things that I can’t help but think I should have noticed before
Book I read thanks to blogging (that I probably wouldn’t have read otherwise)
The Tropening: Book Tropes that I love (or hate)—the most important line in this fun post is this: “That being said, there are exceptions to all of these for me. As long as the trope is well written, I’m flexible.” It’s precisely why I’ve abandoned efforts to do posts like this one myself…I can always think of well-written exceptions to my objects of derision. Still, I like reading other bloggers’ approaches to the topic.

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
A Very Fahrenheity Christmas—Fahrenheit Press did exactly what you expect from a publisher of gritty, twisted, noir. They put out a feel-good Christmas collection. 2020 demanded it.
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline—I know nothing about this other than it’s sitting on my shelf, waiting for me to start (maybe by Tuesday).
Forged by Benedict Jacka—the penultimate Alex Verus book hit the streets this week. I expect many, many things to go wrong for ol’ Verus.
Last Stand in Lychford by Paul Cornell—this series comes to a satisfying close. There’s also an edition out now with all 5 novellas in one. Either is recommended by me (longer post to come)

I actually sat down 4 nights this week to post about something, and only ended up with one thing usable. That’s bugging me, but I do sort of feel like a blogger again—I just can’t prove it to anyone yet. Let’s see what next week brings, shall we?

In the meantime:
that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Your Favorite Bookstores Are Dying. They Told Us How We Can Help.
#DisneyMustPay Alan Dean Foster—This is just wrong on so many levels.
How Steve Martin and illustrator Harry Bliss ended up working on the ‘upbeat book’ we all need right now—this sounds like a great idea
Recipes Inspired by Books/Book Series—I saw this linked in a Jim Butcher Newsletter, but there are plenty of great looking recipies on The Gluttonous Geek for other fandoms as well. Someone could have a lot of fun here.
John Wisniewski interviews Nick Kolakowski
The Most Unusual Murder Weapons in Crime Fiction: A leg of lamb, an exploding cow, and an enormous bottle of champagne…—I’ve read the exploding cow, the rest of these seem equally inventive.
5 Ways to Find Magic in Reading

Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Author Stories Podcast Episode 1000(!!!): Craig Johnson Helps Us Celebrate 1000 With Next to Last Stand—Always enjoy listening to Johnson on this podcast and hearing a bit more about his year’s Longmire novel was a treat.

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
A Wealth of Pigeons: A Cartoon Collection by Harry Bliss & Steve Martin—I like the idea (see above), I like the samples I’ve seen online. I need to get this—I used to be better about reading cartoon collections and miss it.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
6 Reasons to Shop Your Local, Independent Bookstore—some of these stats are chilling
How Books Designed for Soldiers’ Pockets Changed Publishing Forever
Bookshops are a precious shelter from the storms of life
The Mermaid’s Pool – A Q&A with author David Nolan—Nolan discusses his latest novel, the role of the North West of England. Great stuff.
The Evolution of Jack Reacher: Lee Child’s biographer on the creation of an iconic figure, from the first draft to the published novel.
His Dark Materials gave Lin-Manuel Miranda ‘new perspective’ on adapting Kingkiller Chronicle—huh. Hard to adapt, hard to finish the trilogy.
Why the funniest books are also the most serious—from BBC
The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020—Time Magazine sounds off. Haven’t heard of almost all of these. Guess I have some catching up to do.
What the size of your book collection says about you—I frankly object to the 500+ description…
Books Are Awesome—Ryan Howse talks about judging books for what they are, not for what they are not.
Reviewing and self-doubt—The Tattooed Book Geek has some nice, encouraging words.
The 7 Deadly Reading Sins…—Guilty of a few of these

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly—Mickey Haller defends himself against murder charges. You’ve gotta read this one, as I said recently
The Mermaid’s Pool by David Nolan—Nolan’s Black Moss still haunts me, I cannot wait to read this sequel.
Answers in the Form of Questions by Claire McNear—McNear probably would’ve preferred the news not providing so much attention to the book’s topic, but, what are you going to do? I’ve heard nothing but good about this book and have to get it right away.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
A long story: why record numbers of readers turned to doorstopper classics in lockdown—I let this trend slip by, I wonder if that was a mistake…
8 Types of Audiobook Listeners—I’m 3 of these, actually. Does that suggest a mental health problem?
A Guide to Deciding Whether Your Fictional Character Is a Vigilante or a Straight-Up Killer: Sometimes the line between serial killer and avenging crusader is perilously thin.—I’m not sure I ever pondered this before.
The First Two Pages: Rattlesnake Rodeo by Nick Kolakowski—This is a cool idea for a blog series, and I’m going to have to read some of the earlier installments. Basically, this is an essay by an author (in this case, Kolakowski) talking about the first two pages of their book. I could read stuff like this all day, especially about a book as good as Rattlesnake Rodeo was.
Why Are We Obsessed With The Underdog?—this needs a little more meat on these bones, but I like this take.
Looking to Norsevember: Everything you need to know.—Spells and Spaceships gives an introduction to Norsevember, a Norse inspired reading challenge.

Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The NPL Book Nerd Podcast—My library launched a podcast this week, which is pretty cool. I think Episode 1 is a little too brief, a little to light on information. But once this thing finds its sea legs, I’m gonna dig it.

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Criminal Collective by Russell Day—As this is from Day, it will most likely be my favorite short story collection of the year, these 19 stories look at the human condition: “From tea in a country vicarage to high stakes poker games in the inner city, Criminal Collective brings you stories about people just doing what people do, lying, cheating, back-stabbing, double-dealing and committing murder.”

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Anna who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

It’s late, I’ve been super busy, but the semi-hiatus is almost over. I think. Some tasty links below.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Reading literary versus popular fiction promotes different socio-cognitive processes, study suggests—Wow there’s a lot of elitism and misguided thinking behind this article.
Lost letters reveal JM Barrie and Robert Louis Stevenson’s mutual affection
Does Book Twitter Actually Reflect the Reading Community?

Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
No Stupid Questions Ep. 24: Why Do We Forget So Much of What We’ve Read?—a great conversation about why we tend to forget a lot of what we read (or do we?) and why doesn’t matter? Stick around for the fact check at the end of the episode that includes a fun thumbnail history of dustjackets. (possibly one of the nerdiest sentences I’ve used on this blog)

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Sentinel by Lee Child and Andrew Child—A New era for Jack Reacher kicks off with the first novel co-written by Lee Child’s brother.

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Ollie who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?