Tag: Saturday Miscellany Page 23 of 54

So, last week I started off talking about an interesting message I received with some valid critiques about my blog theme and mused about tweaking it in the future. Before the day ended, my friend who helped me move hosts recently gets a hold of me. “You know, I was thinking about this during the move…” and bam! By the end of the day, I have a shiny and new look. Which is by far my favorite iteration of The Irresponsible Reader.

Which leads me to this week’s musing, I recently received an email suggesting I add a couple of thousand dollars to my saving account…..

Seriously, I want to thank my correspondent (who likes the new look) and Micah for all the work.

And I think we have made some serious progress in the Comment woes I’ve had the last couple of weeks.

Annnyway,
that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
How to Show Kids the Joy of Reading
An Expert’s Guide to Finding and Listening to Amazing Audiobooks While Social Distancing
Now you’re talking! The best audiobooks, chosen by writers—I haven’t listened to any of these, but I’ve heard some of the narrators. Look like good choices, and I like the way the narrations are described.
The Joys of Mystery Fiction’s Most Enduring Tropes—one of the best recurring things in Crime Fiction
Followed by one of the worst…It’s Time to Demystify the Serial Killer—(which doesn’t mean a well-written serial killer isn’t a real pleasure, but, man…we’ve got too many of them
Ace Atkins on writing Mississippi noir in terrible times—a little bit about The Revelators, a little about the series as a whole
The World of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser and the Birth of the 1970’s Private Detective: The hardboiled protagonist who navigated both crime fiction’s progressive and reactionary strands.—I quibble with Lee over some of this–mostly the way she evaluates the strands. But this is one of those aspects of Parker’s writing that has appealed to me.
Stephenie Meyer: ‘I’d like to be remembered for writing The Host – but it’ll be Twilight’—Yeah, Meyer’s not a go-to of mine, and I have no intention whatsoever of picking up the new one. But I clicked on this one on a whim and actually enjoyed reading it.
Why Escapism is Important
6 things I love about blog tours!
Beginner’s Guide to Blog Tours—This is a very handy guide
Tips for Battling Reviewer Writer’s Block

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Lone Jack Trail by Owen Laukkanen—The sequel to Deception Cove, this time the ex-con is a murder suspect, and one of the investigating officers is his girlfriend.

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toconsideringthebibletogether who followed the blog this week. Who hoped to see you around.

Saturday Miscellany—8/8/20

On August 8, 2020

I got the most detailed and unexpected critique of my blog theme/graphics this week from someone–sandwiched in a very complimentary email. I think there’s a lot of merit to what this new reader had to say (although I didn’t understand most of what he said about the main site graphic). At the same time, it made me sort of defensive toward whoever designed the theme for WordPress and my friend who made the graphic (one comment he made has a lot of merit, and I’ll probably never be able to unsee, despite not catching it for years).

Beyond that, and only having limited time to read this week (am about 2.5 days behind my ideal schedule, 1.5 behind the realistic one), it’s been a good and largely productive week around here (self-discipline pays off). How’s August treating all of you?

Only one New Release for the first week of a month? Clearly, I missed a few–help me out, friends.

That’s a lot of blather, I’d better move on with things.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
16 Ways to Celebrate National Book Lovers Day—Tomorrow is National Book Lovers Day here in the U. S., and NetGalley’s Bookish blog has compiled a list of ways to note it. I’ll be taking a pass on it this year for religious reasons, but honestly, who needs a label on the calendar to do any of these, I tend to tick off a lot of this list on a day that ends in “y”.
Mental Illness Can Make It Hard to Read. Here’s Why — and What You Can Do
What I Learned From the Worst Novelist in the English Language
From Victorian demons to the Beijing night bus: why we tell each other urban legends
The Evolution of Dennis Lehane—I’m not as taken with Lehane’s later work as many/most, but that’s largely taste and temperament (mine). But he’s forever near the top of my list for the Kenzie and Gennaro books, and when I do get around to reading something he’s written, it never fails to impress.
The Last Lines From 19 of the Most Beautiful Books Ever Written—(Lashaan should probably avoid this piece, Gatsby and Old Man and the Sea warning)
A Guide to Stanning Book Blogs // What Are Book Blogs, How & Why You Should Support Book Bloggers, & More
You Are a Book Blogger and You Are a Reader.—the working title, “It Doesn’t Matter How Much You Blog, You Are a Blogger and It Doesn’t Matter How Much You Read, You Are a Reader” summarizes it best
Should You Read the [SF/F] Classics?
Wonderful and Whimsical Fantasy Worlds to Get Lost in This Summer—Yet another great list from The Orangutan Librarian.

Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Worldshapers Episode 58: Faith Hunter—a great conversation Hunter shared on Facebook, after I listened to this, I’ve downloaded several other episodes (and listened to most of those), this is a pretty good podcast in a similar vein to The Once and Future Podcast and Author Stories, I also really appreciated Episode 47: Carrie Vaughn.

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Heirs of Locksley by Carrie Vaughn—this novella checks in on Robin and Marian’s kids four years after the last one. Just fun books, as I wrote (especially compared to most modern Robin Hood stories).

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to ilaria.muzzi, bookshelflife, and angelicreader who followed the blog this week. Hope to see you around.

Saturday Miscellany—8/1/20

On August 1, 2020

I had a potential of 14 things I was going to post this week–it was ambitious, and I didn’t think I’d actually get all of it accomplished, but it was something I actually thought I might accomplish. I got 6 things posted. One was a repost, four of them I wrote last Saturday. So, yeah, I composed 2 posts this week. Every day this week after work, I sat down to do something and then I ended up closing the laptop with only a paragraph or two written (or re-written, if I’d tried to finish my abandoned post from the day before). I slept a little more than usual, but mostly I just stared at my screen not accomplishing anything (including finding things for this post). In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal–but man, it was really demoralizing.

But, tomorrow is another day. fiddle-dee-dee, and all that. (Also, it’ll shave a couple of minutes off of compiling my July report later today)

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 Trouble with Reading Multiple Books at Once—I can juggle a few at once, but rarely want to anymore. Anyone out there enjoy doing this?
bullet Making the most of your reading time—Nothing new here, but good advice.
bullet ‘Kingkiller Chronicle’ Editor Believes Author Hasn’t Written Anything for Years—I haven’t seen if Rothfuss has responded to this (and looked a little bit), and am fairly surprised at how little attention it received on Twitter, etc.
bullet THE LAST OF US PART II, COWBOY BEBOP, and Letting Go of the Past—I’ve never played the game or watched the series, but what it says about the end of a series is something that we can all appreciate.
bullet The Name’s Wolfe, Nero Wolfe: Rex Stout’s Influence on Ian Fleming—you know me, I’ll drop a link to a Stout/Nero Wolfe piece any day. It’s easier when they’re as fun as this.
bullet Guest Post: Which Generation Reads the Most Infographic by Best By the Numbers.—I’m also always a sucker for an infographic, this guest post at The Tattooed Book Geek is a good one.
bullet Discussion – What Book Bloggers Love To Talk About—yeah, pretty much.

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Spells for the Dead by Faith Hunter—Nell and PsyLED face off against a magical virus. I really dug this one.
bullet Chaos Vector by Megan E. O’Keefe—one of the things I didn’t write about this week was the first book in this series (I didn’t realize it was going to be a series when I started it, nor that the second one was coming so soon). Space battles, an AI with an agenda, and some scrappy heroes. Can’t wait to find out what happens next.
bullet Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection by Ben Aaronovitch—I had completely forgotten that this collection was coming out until it appeared on my Kindle yesterday, what a pleasant surprise!

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Tannie LowA.C. Stark, and Mike Finn who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you (assuming it’s working, which it may not be)?

Saturday Miscellany—7/25/20

On July 25, 2020

How’re we already on the brink of the last week of July? Who’s ready for that?

I really don’t have anything to say here, I guess, on with the links.

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 New Era of Book Launches—Social Distancing Edition
bullet Growing Up Surrounded by Books Could Have Powerful, Lasting Effect on the Mind: A new study suggests that exposure to large home libraries may have a long-term impact on proficiency in three key areas
bullet What 100 Writers Have Been Reading During Quarantine—interesting mix of writers and books
bullet There Have Always been Fantasy Novels For Adults – Article by Author Ryan Howse—I saw so many tweet reactions to this stupid article, “Finally: A Grown-up Fantasy”, and figured there’d be at least one good longer response. Howse knocks it out of the park (others may have, too, but I only saw this one—and it’s enough)
bullet 5 Things I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Blogging—Bookidote’s Lashaan has been blogging for 5 years now, and drops some wisdom (and Looney Tunes .gifs) to celebrate.
bullet Glossary for the Bibliophile—”a nifty list of words for all you book lovers out there”

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Annihilation Aria by Michael R. Underwood—It’s been two years since I’ve had anything from Underwood to talk about. He’s back with the first book in a Space Opera series, “an adventure of galactic subterfuge, ancient alien lore, a secret resistance force, lost civilizations, and giant space turtles.” Here’s his Big Idea about it.
bullet The Sin in the Steel by Ryan Van Loan—This looks like a lot of fun, a fantasy about “dead gods, a pirate queen, shapeshifting mages, and a Sherlockian teenager determined to upend her society.”

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

Saturday Miscellany—7/18/20

On July 18, 2020

Small collection this week—just didn’t have a lot of online time (literally, ISP went down twice and I lost a couple of days of surfing). C’est la vie, eh? On the plus side, I appreciate saving the time, it’s a family holiday here—the second anniversary of my son’s kidney transplant, and we have a little celebration planned.

A lot of my time has been on the tech side of this blog the last couple of weeks (I didn’t realize that would entail so much “how do I get access to the Internet?” time), but most of the effort was made by a friend, who took over for my stumbling efforts in moving to a self-hosted blog—and did a lot more than I realized needed/should be done. Still, if you see something out of whack, it probably is (especially the categories/menus—am working on that, but it’s going to take a while), and I likely haven’t noticed. Please mention it.

Now, on with the links.
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 How Do You Translate a Comic Book Into Audio? Ask Neil Gaiman—that’s a question I’ve asked frequently. This (at least, I’m not sure about some of the other comic-to-audio treatments) is a pretty cool answer.
bullet HBO to Develop Drama Series Based on Quinn Colson Novels by Ace Atkins—As long as the Colson material is treated with more respect that Atkins’ Spenser material was, I’m very excited about this.
bullet Speaking of Colson and Atkins, Ace Atkins on 10 Years of the Quinn Colson Ranger Series—a nice little interview from Mystery Scene
bullet The Great Fantasy Debate series concludes with: Is a Degree from Hogwarts Worth It? with authors Pierce Brown and Naomi Novik
bullet A Beginner’s Guide to Audiobooks—there’s some really good advice for people looking to get into (or more into) this format.
bullet 10 steps to posting a book review—A Rambling Reviewer breaks it down…yeah, 10 steps for each. No wonder they take more time than I realize
bullet Fantasy Worlds I Would Love to Live In…—Pretty sure my list wouldn’t look like this (Hyboria never seems like a fun place to be), but this is a fun list

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Peace Talks by Jim Butcher—I’m currently trying to figure how to post something about Dresden’s long-awaited return. Fans are rejoicing all over about this (for good reason)
bullet The Revelators by Ace Atkins—the tenth Quinn Colson novel promises to be explosive.
bullet Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls—came out in ebook and audio (narrated by Daniel Thomas May) this week, paperback to follow.

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Morgan, who followed the blog this week (also, the first to use my new widget, which I was afraid wasn’t working). Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Saturday Miscellany—7/11/20

On July 11, 2020

Thanks to my last #ARMEDWITHABINGO check-in, I won a copy of Parting Shadows by Kate Sheeran Swed. It arrived this week, with some friends—she included the rest of the trilogy! A very cool and generous move by her, I just wanted to say a public thanks to her for that! These look very cool and I’m looking forward to dipping in.

This has been a crazy week behind the scenes—I may talk about that some later—posts appearing/disappearing, ditto for comments. And don’t get me started with various tech support representatives wanting to talk about anything other than the simple question I asked (one time that led to something helpful, though…) Then to top it off, yesterday, Spencer Quinn tweets this:

Yup…while intending to tweet my post about Of Mutts and Men (a post that I really liked), I actually linked to my post about last year’s book. I’m such the professional. I know it’s not a big deal (and actually kind of funny), but at the end of this week, I just felt like such a doofus.

Anyway, that’s far too much prattling on—time for some links!

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 Crime fiction boom as book sales rocket past 2019 levels—for anything not PPE or disinfection-related to boom this year is a marvel. I wonder how things are faring over here?
bullet How Hollywood is using a book club approach to adapt hit novels—I grant you, I’m not interested in any of these adaptations/novels, but this is interesting.
bullet Fantasy Humor Flowchart—by David Milton Samuels is a Pratchett-heavy good place to start if you’re looking to chuckle with your fantasy.
bullet How the Flavia de Luce Series Investigates the Traditional English Village Murder Mystery—I keep inadvertently slipping away from this series, Rutigliano reminds me to get back on it. And maybe encourages you to give it a try.
bullet The Strange Deaths of Authors—Spells and Spaceships asks a good question
bullet Can we improve our enjoyment of a book by altering our approach?—Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
bullet Six Months In – Book-Blogging, The Good and the Bad—Bookends and Bagends looks back at his first six months (which has produced stuff that some of us with years under our belts envy)

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet The Blood Brothers Podcast Episode 16 with Neil Lancaster—lots of fun, and it’s got me excited for the next couple of Lancaster projects (pretty much all you have to do is say there’s a new Lancaster project to make me interested, though—so I guess that’s a low bar)

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon (soon-ish, despite my efforts to the contrary for this summer, I’ve slipped and have committed myself to the breaking point for the next 4 weeks):
bullet Random Sh*t Flying Through The Air by Jackson Ford—It’ll be at least a month before I can get to this, which bothers me greatly. I had so much fun with the first novel about Tegan Frost, the telekinetic would-be chef but actually secret agent, that I can’t wait to see what Ford has in store for her now.
bullet Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy—I enjoyed the Faith comics I read, but had questions about her backstory, which this novel looks like it could answer.
bullet Haunted Heroine by Sarah Kuhn—the fourth book in this super-hero series looks pretty fun.

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toEvelina @ AvalinahsBooks, Crystena’s Books, Afrin and leighhecking for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Saturday Miscellany—7/4/20

On July 4, 2020

I did come across some fun things to read this week, bu I’ve got no podcasts (a couple of videos, though), no new releases to talk about, this is going to be quick. Which I guess is good, because I don’t see a lot of my US readers all that interested in spending time today in reading this post (…eh, maybe given the peculiarities of this year…).

Happy Independence Day to you in the U. S., and happy Saturday to the rest of you.

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 How to Fit Reading into Your Stay-at-Home Life
bullet Flipping hell: book designers lament Waterstones’ back-to-front displays—Waterstones made (IMHO) a pretty smart move when it comes to book displays right now, but…yeah, I can see where designers would be miffed.
bullet This tweet from Kevin Hearne did two things: 1. Taught me the term “ink drinker” (buveur d’encre) for bookworm (although one of the comments to his tweet contests that), and 2. led me to finding this list: Names for people who #read a lot—I like the Welsh (and one of the Swedish) name a lot, too.
bullet 7 Ways You’re De-Valuing Your Books
bullet Me and my detective by Lee Child, Attica Locke, Sara Paretsky, Jo Nesbø and more—authors on living with their creations for years
bullet The Stories Behind 15 of the Best Names Famous Writers Gave to Their Pets
bullet Mallory O’Meara (@malloryomeara)—tweeted the best idea I’ve heard this year.
bullet The Doctor will see you now with Ian Patrick—a half-hour chat with the inimitable Ian Patrick about his new book (that i recently gushed over), his work with the police and…probably some other stuff (I haven’t had time to finish it yet)
bullet The Great Fantasy Debate: Is It Better to Have a Career in the Empire or the Rebellion in Star Wars? with authors Pierce Brown and Tochi Onyebuchi
bullet The Greatest Book Blogging Myths I’ve Encountered: Some Confessions And Thoughts On What We Think Blogging Is And What It Actually Is
bullet 22 Problems only true Audiobook Fans understand…
bullet Things I Look For In Reviews—Some good stuff here. Over the last year or so, I’ve wondered a bit about my propensity for “large bits of text” and people being “much less likely to read a review that’s just a bunch of paragraphs together in regular font with nothing to break it up,” since that’s what I tend to slip into. But adding in graphics or other headers? That’s another time investment, and I’m not sure how that’d affect my flow. (okay, this has stopped being about the post and all about me, which is not what this is for…still, readers, I’m open to comments/suggestions)
bullet Fantasy: My Genre Breakdown—The Book in Hand blog gets all taxonomic on Fantasy. Also, I should hire Sam to organize my Goodreads shelves.

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

Saturday Miscellany—6/27/20

On June 27, 2020

How is it the end of June already? Seriously…something’s just not right about that. Not much to blather about this week, so let’s just cut to the links!

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 I’ve been seeing a lot about some Goodreads alternatives lately, The Story Graph—”A site for readers to track their reading and find books that perfectly suit their mood.” It’s in beta now, I’ve seen screenshots of some of their graphs, and it looks appealing. Giving it a shot. Any of you try it?
bullet The other I’ve seen noise for is BookSloth—”Our mission is to help readers discover their perfect book with our personalized recommendations app.” I’m not so hot on the app part, as you all know, I tend to go on a bit when I talk about a book, and the two just don’t mix. Still, giving it a whirl.
bullet 12 SF must reads for grimdark fans—This is a pretty cool list, I’m not sure The Diamond Age is all that grimdark-ish, but it’s something that more people need to read.
bullet “I decided just to write stories”: Rex Stout on his Mystery Fiction—this is a very nice post about Stout moving from “literary fiction” to Mystery–where he found success. (I’ve tried his pre-mystery stuff, and wow did he make the right move). There’s a nice thread about the continued snobbery he encountered throughout his career and how he responded to it. Even for non-Stout readers, this is a good read for people fed up with
bullet Are We Only Capable of Writing Liars?: An author reflects on an attempt to write a truthful narrator.
bullet The Evolution—and the Future—of the Private Eye: Cheryl A. Head on the authors and books ushering PI fiction into the 21st century.—I’m a sucker for a good P.I. novel, and I could live off of this list for a month or two (and am tempted to)
bullet The Great Fantasy Debate: Which Game of Thrones House Would You Marry Into? with authors Jim Butcher and Tochi Onyebuchi
bullet When your job is book blogging but your community wants you to take on every single thing not book blogging—Bookish Enby takes a bold stance (largely one I share, but don’t feel the same impetus to advertise)
bullet How to write a book review in 30 minutes—if only it were that easy. I’m actually envious.
bullet If I Was…—Bookaholic Bex answers several creative “What If” questions
bullet Recommending Books Based on Spam Comments—great concept
bullet Why I read—This is a good post. I think I would share a lot of these reasons, if I examined the idea. Maybe I should (although it’s also tantamount to asking “why I breathe”)

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toCathy746books, Kiara McCabe, educater34 MSc, NickMay and NewDogNewTricks for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Saturday Miscellany—6/20/19

On June 20, 2020

This week…I’ve had zero energy for anything, it seems. Work hasn’t been particularly hard, but the days have been very full—so much so that I just haven’t had time to do any of the surfing needed for this post, little reading, and writing? Feh. It took three days to get yesterday’s 7 (brief) paragraph post finished. In the grand scheme of things, does that really matter? No. Won’t even matter in a week (but it wouldn’t surprise me if I’m saying the same in 7 days). But for the moment, it’s bugging me. Hope your week has been better.

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 Spencer Quinn on the Chet and Bernie Fandom—One of my favorites (probably starting an ARC of his latest Thursday) about his fans. If you’re not one of his fans, you should reconsider.
bullet The Making of Wild Sign’ An Alpha & Omega novel—Dan dos Santos talks through the process of making the next cover in the Briggs series. I always find this kind of thing interesting.
bullet How to write an important book!—Good things for Serious Novelists everywhere to note from the Orangutan Librarian
bullet Can Books Really be Funny? Appreciating the Humor of Terry Pratchett—While I feel pity for Black Sail’s Joe having to ask this question (and the answer he arrives at), it’s a good post. Is he alone? Am I some sort of a freak for audibly laughing/chuckling at books?
bullet Tips for Battling Reader’s Guilt—NetGalley-centric (it’s from NetGalley’s blog, so…), but the tips are applicable outside of it.
bullet What We Read – Are Older Titles Worth Exploring—On the one hand, this post from Way Too Fantasy could’ve ended after the first paragraph and have been worth sharing. On the other, the rest of it is just as good.
bullet Why blog tours are b******* and I won’t do them anymore—I’d demur from several of these points, but I wouldn’t say any of them are flat-out wrong.

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet How the Wired Weep by Ian Patrick—a tale about a Police Informant, his handler and the Crime Ring they’re targeting by one of the best around. I should be starting this no later than Tuesday, and am wondering if I shouldn’t have rearranged things so I could be mid-way through it by now.
bullet American Demon by Kim Harrison—Harrison returns to her beloved UF series with one of its stronger installments. I recently had some pretty positive things to say about it.

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to San, Anketsu, benjamingohs, Umairah @ Sereadipity, writingfest and Elaine Howlin for following the blog this week. Thanks for checking this place out, don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

Saturday Miscellany—6/13/20

On June 13, 2020