Tag: Saturday Miscellany Page 33 of 54

Hey! I’m back — I think. We’ve moved into a different place for the remainder (probably) of our time away from home — a Ronald McDonald House. It is great — by the way, absolutely worth tossing your coins (or bills or checks) into the boxes while getting some fries and whatnot — anyhow, their WiFi seems pretty stable, and there are no immediate plans to update it (I think it was a bad job of installing new hardware that killed things at the last place — the poor hotel staff didn’t have a clue what to do with so many angry customers). I should be okay for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, I was still able to pull together a few odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Remember a couple of weeks ago when I was posting about OceanofPDF and a diverse group of authors taking umbrage with their stealing? Well here’s an update: ‘Elitist’: angry book pirates hit back after author campaign sinks website — authors being attacked for wanting to get paid for their work. World’s gone mad. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
• The Crack Squad of Librarians Who Track Down Half-Forgotten Books: Reuniting stumped readers with the books from the edges of their memories. — Awesome.
• It’s Never Too Late to Be a Reader Again
• An American Original: Rex Stout — this is just a great short piece about Rex Stout and his fiction. I love finding new things written about Stout and/or Nero Wolfe. Also, it has my favorite lines from P. G. Wodehouse.
• The Magic of Longmire Days: Thousands of Readers Make a Summer Pilgrimage to Wyoming. Why? — I have got to make my way there.
• Learn how Harry Bosch in print wound up in San Fernando — Michael Connelly was on Dateline NBC last night — I haven’t seen it yet, and the episode wasn’t online last I had the opportunity to check. But here’s a little taste in the form of some bonus material.
• Lee Child and Naked Blue at work — The video is described as “Lee Child introduces Jen and Scott Smith of Naked Blue as they finish their album: “Lee Child and Naked Blue” available November 2nd, 2018.” Yes, an entire album of songs set in the Reacher-verse. I am so there.
• If you love to read, you’ll get lost in these 11 charming books about books
• Book Bloggers & How To Approach Them — I’ve seen this bouncing around on Twitter a bit and after reading it you’ll see why.
• My Book Blogger Grumbles Vol 1 — there’s a touch of overlap here, but not much
• This homemade literary quote clock is the best way to recycle an old Kindle — I’ve got one that just might do the trick. This is pretty cool — I’ve messed around a little bit with one of the web-based versions inspired by this. Really great idea.
• Your Favourite Book Characters Drawn By People Who’ve Never Read the Book — ” We decided to conduct an experiment to see what people would draw having heard only a single description. We chose not to tell people they’d be drawing book characters – aside from asking them to draw the person based on the description they heard, we provided them with no context at all. The character description we chose are from famous novels and are of famous characters, not that the volunteering artists knew that. We thought it would be interesting to opt for books that had already been made into films, so we could highlight the differences between what people pieced together from the book vs what the films show us the actors should look like.” Some of these are freakin’ fantastic, I should add.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• In the Stacks: Author’s Enhanced Edition by Scott Lynch — a revised and expanded version of his short story.
• See You Soon, Afton by Brent Jones — the second of four novellas about Afton Morrison, everyone’s favorite librarian/would-be-murderer.
• In Truth and Claw by Ari Marmell — the fourth Mick Oberon novel, and the second reminder that I need to read the second Mick Oberon novel (also, #s 3 and 4) — bought it years ago, just need to, you know read it. A Fae living in 1930’s Chicago and working as a PI. I mean, come on, who doesn’t want to read that?

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Leah’s Bookish Obsession and Johnny for following some form of the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights – in charts — I’m not the biggest fan of Wuthering Heights, but this collection of charts/infographics/etc. is great. I love #4.
• The Dos and Don’ts of Supporting Your Local Library
• The Torture Box: A Critical Look at Flannery O’Connor and Her Disproportionate Retributions — I’m not sure I agree with everything here, but this is a really good article on one of the best writers this continent has produced.
• How World War One Gave Rise to the Traditional Mystery: Restoring the Status Quo in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction
• Memories From the South: In Elvis We Trust — This has nothing to do with books or reading, but this is an interesting piece of writing by Ace Atkins
• Rob Hart on Ending a Series — I’ve meant to read the series he talks about, but I haven’t gotten to it. But still, there’s some good thoughts on ending a series.
• Chet the Dog Writes About Happiness — a lot of this is silly, but there’s some great Chet & Bernie stuff here (what isn’t great about Chet & Bernie?) — and an interesting use of the series.
• There’s Something About Harry: A Look into Jim Butcher’s Character Harry Dresden
• Ten Changes Made in the Lord of the Rings Novelization — this was just great fun to read. Hat tip: Harry Connolly.

I didn’t see any new releases this week that really appealed to me — as is generally the case for a fifth week of the month. More time to catch up.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to http120111324 (which is one of the stranger monikers I’ve come across online, which isn’t a bad thing), Clarissa, and Jenn for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Why ‘getting lost in a book’ is so good for you, according to science — Nothing terribly new here, but always good to have this reinforced
• Tie-in takeover: how film novelisations went from dire to great
• Auburn’s Ace Atkins: From football hero to best-selling crime novelist — a longer-than-usual profile of Atkins — from his days at Auburn to today.
• You Had Me Until the Ending…. — a fun discussion from Clues & Reviews
• Book Jackets Are Bad And You Can’t Convince Me Otherwise — this woman is a rank Philistine, but it’s a fun post.
• @erineliza_reads tweets a vital question — I need to come up with a plan, I don’t know about you.

There’s only one New Release this Week that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon, but it’s probably a good one:
• Video Killed The Radio Star by Duncan MacMaster — I (finally!) read the first in this series, yesterday. It was great! I bet this is, too.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to A Star on the Forehead, Tiana (The Book Raven), V Ramasamy, dpranita583 (don’t click on that link if you’re hungry, btw), Peg Glover, and SAM for following the blog this week.

I didn’t spend much time on social media this week — or anything really (see Wednesday’s Programming Note or this longer post on my other blog for details), but I was still able to find a decent list of odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• How Minecraft is helping kids fall in love with books — I’m not sure I buy this, but, hey, it’s nice to think.
• Why You Should Read a Book With a Stranger — Great idea, but…I cannot imagine doing this.
• Why the ‘hero’ is the ultimate myth: Is he a Marvel-esque superhuman or an SAS daredevil? Or is he Ed Sheeran? Whatever the answer, it’s clear the public imagination is still holding out for a hero — It’s Andy Martin, so…you’re going to think and you’re going to have a good read.
• Why It’s So Hard to Stop Reading Books You Don’t Even Like — blah
• The World of Raymond Chandler and ‘The Big Sleep’: How Chandler Reinvented Himself and the Crime Novel
• It’s High Time You Read The Big Sleep — Megan Abbott and Jonathan Letham weigh in.
• THE SINNERS: Five Questions with Ace Atkins — Atkins talks about Quinn Colson and a little bit about Netflix’s Spenser movie.
• The Big Sleep: 25 Classic Covers, Ranked: Raymond Chandler’s Noir Has Inspired Some Truly Strange Art — I’ve never read a version of the book with one of these covers, but there’s some great ones here (and some others)

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode you might want to give a listen to:
• Episode 421 | Ace Atkins Interview on Hank Garner’s Author Stories Podcast.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Sinners by Ace Atkins — the 8th Quinn Colson/Tibbehah County novel is sure to be a good one. Sadly, my copy is hundreds of miles away from me, I’ll get to it when I can.
• Kill The Farm Boy by by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne — Part fantasy satire, part celebration of fantasy tropes, all fun and strong fantasy. I blogged about it a few weeks back.
• Constance Verity Saves the World by A. Lee Martinez — I’ve never read a Martinez sequel before, I don’t know what to expect. But…it’s going to be good.
• The Annotated Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler; edited by Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson and Anthony Rizzuto — This is also hundreds of miles from me, but one of my kids opened the box and described it to me. Sounds like so much fun.
• Rescued by David Rosenfelt — Andy Carpenter defends a man he wants to be very far from Here’s what I had to say about it.
• The Wild Dead by Carrie Vaughn –the sequel to Bannerless a Vaughn book that has somehow not moved from by TBR Tower, this dystopian mystery novel looks just as good as its predecessor.
• Degrading Orbits by Bradley Horner — another sequel is out before I’ve had the opportunity to read the first in the series. Whoops.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to figlia dei fiori, Deb / Being Aunt Debbie, Dog Training Guidance, Cristian Mihai, pitchstory,and Jordan Peters for following the blog this week.

Just a few odds ‘n ends over this past week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• The Need to Read: Reading books remains one of the best ways to engage with the world, become a better person and understand life’s questions, big and small — This is a few years old, and I might have linked to it before, if I have, it’s worth a reread.
• On Semicolons and the Rules of Writing — been awhile since we got grammar-nerdy here, this is a good way to get back to it.
• A conversation with Ace Atkins about Spenser series and more — with the next Quinn Colson novel just around the corner, ol’ Ace Atkins is getting some good press.
• The Big Seep: Reading Raymond Chandler in the age of #MeToo. — Megan Abbot talks about her increasingly complicated relationship with Chandler. I’m not saying her take on Chandler is spot-on, but there’s a lot of food for thought.
• Kick-Ass Heroines WHO Should Be Read? — Zoë Sharp, who knows a thing or two about the subject herself, gives us a good reading list.
• 10 Reasons Book Reviews Still Matter

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode you might want to give a listen to:
• Ace Atkins – Robert B. Parker’s Old Black Magic on Stephen Usery’s Mysterypod

Maybe it was the holiday, maybe it was . . . who knows? I just didn’t see that much for this post this week. But there are a couple of odds ‘n ends about books and reading that did catch my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Leisure reading in the U.S. is at an all-time low — ugh.
• How To Lend A Book To A Friend & Still Get It Back Afterwards — Without It Being Awkward — there’s just been a whole lot about book lending in the atmosphere lately…why?
• Venting: Pirating books is wrong! — When you see tweets from Steve Cavanagh and Seanan McGuire (great thread, read it) on the same topic, you know something big happened. This rant does a good job summing up the arguments against book piracy. Sadly, I know too many and it’s really difficult to remember to be civil to them.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Marked by Benedict Jacka — Man, you thought Alex Verus had it rough when he was suspected constantly by TPTB and only trusted to help when they had no choice? Well, now that he’s one of TPTB (a minor P, but still) things are so much worse. Really digging this one, hope to post about it early next week.
• Heroine’s Journey by Sarah Kuhn — the third volume in this very strange, very charming, and frequently quirky Superhero series looks to continue the strange, charming and quirky ways.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to atozmom, https://crossfitmomm.com/ and jendionne10 for following the blog this week.

Ugh. Three posts behind for the week (stupid body requiring sleep); my scheduling was defeated by apparently hitting “draft” instead of “schedule” twice in the last week (took me 7 days to notice one of them); just got a shipment notification for a book I preordered so many months ago I forgot to expect it Tuesday — which means I have to reorganize my entire week; basically, life as a book blogger is hard, yo.

Anyway, enough about my travails and woes. Here are the odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• A Life of Reading Is Never Lonely — worth it for the first paragraph alone.
• The Great American Read: Author Patrick Rothfuss weighs in — this is a good one. (I haven’t read the translation mentioned of the World’s Greatest Play, but between Rothfuss and the linked review, I might have to track it down).
• Patience Pays Off: An Indie Success Story — I don’t know anything about Fredric Shernoff, but it’s a nice story.
• The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2018 So Far — another one of these lists — this one from B&N’s Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog.
• The Books We Refuse To Lend
• One of The Books That Has Most Influenced Me Was One I Hated — an interesting take on that Facebook book challenge that’s making the rounds.
• The Best Country Music Is Crime Fiction: 12 Country Classics That Capture the Spirit of Noir — I wouldn’t have thought that Mark Billingham was the right guy to write something with this title, and I would’ve been wrong. Good stuff.
• 12 Famous Authors at Work With Their Dogs: The Most Literary Take Your Dog to Work Day — Yeah, this is technically a week late, but I’ll take any excuse to look at dog pics.
• TTBG’s Bad Blogging Advice 101

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode you might want to give a listen:
• I meant to mention last week: Episode 147: Michael Koryta of the Speaking of Mysteries Podcast.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows — you know me, I’m a sucker for takes on Jane Eyre — even when they come in a YA Romance with a supernatural accent.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to cagedunn and Aspen Kendrick for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Lots of People Love ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Roxane Gay Isn’t One of Them. — Roxane Gay is wrong about Mockingbird but that’s okay (I suppose), but this is actually about the shortcomings about a new book about the Novel/Film adaptation.
• Michael Connelly on Bosch, Books, and the (Occasional) Bad Review — from Novel Suspects.
• Teaching Children to Love Mystery, One Comic At a Time: How Scooby Doo Taught Me to Love Genre Fiction
• Hot Reading Challenge Tips from Pros Who Read More Than 100 Books a Year
• Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice: The Best Books of 2018—So Far — Last week we had Time‘s lists, this week Tor.com weighs in.
• 10 Hilarious Book Reviews

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to thisischechewinnie and vibealittle for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• What happened when I (tried to) read 30 books in 30 days — There’s some good lessons to learn from her failed experiment.
• No, my book is not a ‘guilty pleasure’ just because I’m a woman — I’ve read plenty of stuff written by non-women that were tagged “guilty pleasures,” so that part of this essay didn’t work for me. But overall, I liked it. The NFL line alone justified the time spent.
• Is rereading your guilty pleasure? We take a look at the pros and cons… — Ignoring the problematic phrase “guilty pleasure,” here’s a good look at this totally non-controversial issue (I did have to agree with a lot of the cons, even if I ignore most of them on a frequent basis)
• Here’s a helpful twitter thread about attending an author event or book signing
• 5 Literary Mysteries That Have Never Been Solved But Are Seriously Fascinating
• 40 of the Best Villains in Literature — Gotta agree with many of these
• Best Novels of 2018 So Far — Haven’t even heard of most of these. Whoops.
• Best Nonfiction Books of 2018 So Far — I have, however, heard of some of these…
• “I Can’t Tell You Stuff Like That!”: Jim Butcher on Dresden, Writing Comics, His New Home and More — some highlights from a recent appearance at a B&N from Jim Butcher. Dude knows how to work his audience.
• These Extremely Condensed Versions Of Famous Books Are Hilarious And Enlightening — I enjoyed this, should probably pick up his book.

A Couple of Book-ish Related Podcast Episodes you might want to give a listen:
• I meant to mention last week: Episode 389 | Kevin Hearne Interviewon the Author Stories Podcast.
• Also from The Author Stories Podcast, this week Hank Garner posted Episode 399 | Jim Butcher Returns With Brief Cases I’m not sure I heard anything new here, but maybe I did. It was fun to listen to regardless.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to annhwkns77, Allie Sumner and lindsayjohnna for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• 9 Weird Literary Relics People Spent Serious Money On: $15,000 for an X-ray of Ernest Hemingway’s foot? Don’t mind if I do! — Once again, Electric Lit, puts out something I never thought I’d read.
• Bill Clinton: By the Book — say what you will about his previous career (just not in my comments), but this is an interesting post about a debut novelist. I remember reading about the impact he had on Dennis Lehane’s profile/sales, too. He knows what he’s talking about, it seems.
• ‘Kingkiller Chronicle’ Author Patrick Rothfuss Doesn’t Believe in Writer’s Block — coming from one of the reigning champs of Authors not producing things, this carries a some weight.
• Why Dead Blind Is Such a Personal Book — I read a killer review for this a couple of weeks ago, and bought it immediately. Hoping to read it soon — this piece by the author makes me want to move it up even quicker.
• Have you ever broken the law to read a book? Here’s my story… — For The Dragonlance Chronicles in the late 80’s? I absolutely would have. I didn’t. But I get where Paul’s coming from.
• Lastly, there’s a couple of TBR-related tweets I found very amusing this week: this one from @MeredithIreland and this one from CG Drews/@PaperFury — both elicited a firm chuckle from me

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:

• Brief Cases by Jim Butcher — New collection of short stories from The Dresden Files. I started this Wednesday and cannot believe that I haven’t finished it yet. I will be expressing my deep love for this soon. (A quick update 1 hour after posting, I’m done and I had no idea an hour ago how much I loved this book. Probably my favorite thing to date in 2018)
• The Puppet Show by M. W. Craven — introducing Washington Poe. I heard a review of this on the latest Two Crime Writers and a Microphone episode. Sounds great, sounds creepy and with great lead characters.
• Free Chocolate by Amber Royer — I’ve been seeing raves about this for so long, I can’t believe it’s only been released now — a Space Opera with a sense of humor about a Galactic struggle to control the Earth’s chocolate. Of all the reasons I’ve seen for going to war lately, I’ve gotta say this ranks at the top.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to glenn van nostrand and T.Jaye for following the blog this week.