Tag: Saturday Miscellany Page 28 of 61

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?

I somehow managed to get three posts up this week—don’t think this means that there’s a return to normal on the horizon, there was another post I wanted to get up this week and now I’m hoping it arrives by Friday. Stress and the time pressure have let off a little, but not that much. I did manage to finish 2 of the 3 books I started at the end of September, though, and may finish the third today. So that’s something…

Thanks for sticking around during my semi-hiatus, see ya soon.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Cheap Writing Surfaces and Medieval Bureaucracy Helped Popularize the Alphabet: Judith Flanders Explains Why the Alphabet Was Used on a Whim—probably stretching things a bit to include this one, but, hey, they’re my rules, I can stretch them for something as interesting as this.
Dungeons & Dragons Publisher Sued by Dragonlance Co-Writers Over Scrapped Book Trilogy—Dragonlance was a formative influence on me, and the idea of new works in that world interests me. This, on the other hand… (Hat Tip to Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub for this one)
Suspect by Robert Crais named Best Novel of the Decade—couldn’t happen to a nicer book.
A Playlist for ‘Not Famous’—A reader made a playlist for Matthew Hanover’s book about an indie musician and the guy who fell for her. This is just cool. (it’s also a nice way for me to remind you all that this is a book you should read, or at least buy).
The Westing Game may be a murder mystery—but it’s also a ghost story.: On remembrance, inheritance, and legacy in one of the most beloved children’s novels of all time.—I’m not sure I agree with all of this, but I’ll take any excuse to post something about The Westing Game
Graphic artist Art Spiegelman on Maus, politics and ‘drawing badly’—Good piece on Spiegelman…
The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time—Time Magazine and a panel of writers who know a thing or five about Fantasy compiled a really good list.
NIGHT OF A THOUSAND AUTHORS Live Event to be Hosted by K.J. Howe and The Real Book Spy’s Ryan Steck—This looks like a great event.
Blogger Statistics: a quick look.—The Tattooed Book Geek shares a few demographic results from Twitter Surveys. As a male in an older segment than he is, I feel even more like an outlier than he does…

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Say Goodbye When I’m Gone by Stephen J. Golds—a noir thriller set in 1960’s Honolulu

Back for my almost-the-end of the week check-in. Man, I can’t wait until I can spend time on this blog without feeling guilty for not working on the move. There’ve been some very positive things happening on that front this week. It’s still going to be a few weeks before I can get back to normal, but I see light at the end of the tunnel.

that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
How the Debut Authors of 2020 Are Coping
10 of the best… last lines in fiction—great first lines get all the attention, but last lines stick with you a bit longer. Here are some of the best.
25 Writers On The Books That Inspired Them To Write
Neil Gaiman: ‘Narnia made me want to write, to do that magic trick’—hard to go wrong with a Gaiman Q&A
Top 10 Apps for Writers and Bloggers
7 Audiobooks for People Who Struggle with Audiobooks…—some good ideas here.
Why I Rarely DNF Books—#3 & #4 are big ones to me
Do you reread?
Should Novels Carry Trigger Warnings?—Good question, good discussion, too.
I Failed My Blogging Goals—yup.

Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
David Tennant Does A Podcast With…Neil Gaiman

That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Fools Gold by Ian Patrick—I am so excited to start this one, Sam Batford #3 brings everyone’s favorite shady Undercover detective infiltrates armed robbers and continues to dodge a superior out to get him.
Dead Perfect by Noelle Holton—another book 3 I can’t wait to dive into.
Kitty’s Mix-Tape by Carrie Vaughn—a great collection of short stories in the Kitty Norville-verse. I had a little to say about it back when I did that regularly.

I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome toThe Spellbound Librarian, Mina @Stacked, and ravensprouts who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?