Tag: Saturday Miscellany Page 35 of 54

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 a professional book aficionado packs reading for a trip. Yes, there’s strategy. — I’m not sure I buy this strategy, but I appreciate the thought. I’m not sure I’ve read anything this month that I agree with more than the last paragraph, though.
• Deferred gratification is dead? Tell that to fans of serialised novels — I haven’t taken the jump into serialized novels as much as I’ve wanted to — but I’ve dug the couple I’ve tried. Any of you gone down this road?
• Readers Make the Best Sleuths: Or, a Welcome Letter from the Editors of CrimeReads — I already had 2 pieces from this site on my list for this week before I read this welcome. Clearly, I like the sort of thing they publish — many of you will, too. Speaking of which, we might as well look at them now:
• Ian Rankin: There’s Nothing Crime Fiction Can’t Do
• Val McDermid on the Remarkable Rise of Tartan Noir
• Dragons, and Firefighters, and Books, Oh My! Author Sean Grigsby Talks ‘Smoke Eaters’ — am I ever going to shut up about this book? Maybe. But not today.
• A Literary Antidote to Game of Thrones
• Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Three: Take Three — yes
• Forget Frankenstein, what else are snowflake students getting wrong about classic literature? — pretty much nails it.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to millennialdrowning, Merv, Danielle The Bookworm and damppebbles 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:

• George R.R. Martin Might Finally Finish the Next Game of Thrones Book — “He is stepping away from blogging because he is ‘buried in work.’” But . . . but . . . but . . . what will we do without all the jokes?
• No One Wants To Read Your Book — a thoughtful and provocative post about the purpose and place of small presses. (h/t: Jo Perry, who knows a thing or to about small presses)
• It’s OK to just share the book love. #BookBloggers #bookBlogger #books #blogger — The Tattooed Book Geek writes in defense of liking things?
• The girl with ‘Girl’ in her title — I thought the title of this post was interesting, so I read it despite not getting why people are that worked up about the word (okay, I understand it, but I don’t get it — well, just read this post). But I stuck around because I loved the way it was written, I generally agree with the post and I really liked this statement: “I have never rejected a book purely because of a single word that appears in its title and I’m genuinely confused by people who do.”
• A novel to-go: Staunton writer says Hardee’s is his ‘sanctuary’ — A nice story about Brad Parks and his writing haunt
• Connelly honoured with CWA Diamond Dagger — a nice honor for someone who deserves it.
• William Faulkner’s Hollywood Odyssey: The biggest name in Southern lit didn’t spend his whole life in Mississippi
• Literary Pet Names Using Puns Unworthy of Their Namesakes — another winner from McSweeney’s

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode you might want to give a listen:
• The Author Stories Podcast Episode 336 | Brad Parks Interview — Hank Garner talks to Parks about Closer than You Know and many other things. I, for one, cheered when he said he hoped there’d be more Carter Ross books in the future (the people in Cost-co near me when I heard that probably thought I was way too excited about the bakery selection).

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Closer Than You Know by Brad Parks — a thriller to make you lose sleep, make you lose hope, make you distrust almost everyone around you — that you’ll not want to put down. Seriously, thinking about it now gets my blood pressure spiking, and I read it last year. See everything I had to say about it here.
• Smoke Eaters by Sean Grigsby — a very original futuristic UF about firefighters and dragons. Not that I should have to say more than that, but here’s my initial post
• Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs — Charles and Anna’s 5th book brings them back to Montana to hunt a threat to their pack. I’ll hopefully get a post up about this mid-week, but fans’ll dig it.
• Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire — The latest Incryptid novel. After Magic for Nothing you had to expect a title like this. I can’t wait to read what happens next to Annie.
• Good Guys by Steven Brust — a snarky procedural about magic and bureaucracy
• Mr. Neutron by Mr. Neutron — a nifty political satire with a title I misspelled every time I typed it this week, here’s my post about it.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Jess T. and steamstefny for following the blog this week.

Bonus shift at work today, so I’m a little late bringing you 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:

• Stuck in a Reading Rut? How to Create New Book Habits — I’ve posted variations on this before, and probably will again. Some decent tips here.
• Dabel Brothers to Launch ‘IRON DRUID CHRONICLES’ Comic — While we prepare to say goodbye to Atticus & Co. at least we get to see them in a new way soon.
• ‘Laughably bad’: Terry Goodkind apologises after insulting cover of his own book — Goodkind pays a penalty for speaking his mind . . .
• Interview: Sean Grigsby, author of SMOKE EATERS — Blog favorite, Alex Bledsoe interviews (very likely) soon-to-be blog favorite, Sean Grigsby.
• Let’s talk about chapters, baby. — This is the kind of stuff I wish I had time (found time/made time…whatever) to write.

This Week Brought only One New Release that I’m Excited About, but it’s a good one!:
• Like a Champion by Victor Chu — A great collection of short stories — I read it a month ago and could still give a 5 minute monologue on half the stories without needing to grab the book (okay, maybe 3 minute rant…), and the rest I’d probably be good to go with if I could glance at the title and first paragraph. Here’s my original post about it

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Tim Miller, KL (even if your blog name is a reference to an act of barbarism), [there was going to be another name here, but I’m pretty sure it’s merely an attempt to get us all to buy iffy tourist packages to the UK] and ankandas 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:

• Book up! How reading crime novels could help ease the symptoms of depression — huh. I buy it.
• ‘Ebooks are stupid’, says head of one of world’s biggest publishers — The head of Hachette Livre got his name in the news by saying something controversial.
• …and Erin Kelly (among many others), demurs: Ebooks are not ‘stupid’ – they’re a revolution
• What To Do When Your Favorite Authors’ Books Aren’t Coming Out Soon: Tweet Them for a Rec — Good idea, though I can see it being a new way to harass a writer.
• DOCTOR WHO New Series Episodes Getting Novelizations — The only way I got to know the third and fourth Doctors were through these books as a kid — and if i could’ve gotten more, I would’ve. I’ll be jumping at a chance to read Paul Cornell’s take on “Twice Upon a Time” — and the others sound good, too.
• 25 Legendary Literary Feuds, Ranked — a.k.a. Hemingway doesn’t play well with others.

This Week’s New Release that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Armored Saint by Myke Cole — Cole makes the jump from UF to Epic Fantasy. This one looks good — hopefully will be able to post about it here next week.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Arrowhead Freelance and Publishing and Stephanie for following the blog this week.

Forgive me a minor rerun from Twitter/FB a couple of days ago (in case you follow me there, if not, check out those handy buttons to the right!) — on Tuesday, I made a joke about wanting to come down with the flu do I could catch up on reading (namely, finishing Iron Gold by Pierce Brown and reading Blood Binds the Pack by Alex Wells — literally no idea when I can fit that one into my schedule). Then Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I got sick. So sick I couldn’t focus on print — I dabbled on social media off and on, but that was about all the concentration I had. Blargh. I’m on the upswing, I think, but just know that this post has taken me three sessions to complete. Just that kind of week. Hope you all stay healthy this flu season.

Somehow, I managed to get a good sample 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:

• Audio Publishers Association announces 2018 Audie Award® finalists — None of the narrators/audiobooks I’ve been indulging in lately made the list, so I’m not rooting for anyone, but there’s some good TBR (TBLT=To Be Listened To?) fodder.
• New Firefly Fiction Announced — You can be certain that I’ll be talking about these books…
• Fahrenheit Press is making some changes — I love this company’s approach to fiction, their moxie, their panache, and almost every one of their books that I’ve read. These changes should only serve to establish, expand and cement the brand.
• Reading Fiction When the World is Burning — I don’t think the world’s in nearly as rough of shape as this author does — at least not moreso than usual — but I could be wrong. Ignoring that, on the whole, I appreciated this piece and agree with just about everything in it.
• On Themes and the Tufa, Part 2 — Bledsoe continues to prep us for bidding farewell to the Tufa.
• Why Adults and Kids Should Read the Flavia de Luce Series by Alan Bradley — well, yes. And a good reminder that I want to resume reading them.
• PBS Reveals Authors, Stars On ‘The Great American Read’ — some new details on the 8-episode documentary series focused on the role of reading in American Culture

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Blood Binds the Pack by Alex Wells — Witches (of a sort), a biker gang (of a sort), interstellar corporate greed and corruption (of the typical dystopian sort), and some of the more intriguing characters I met in 2017. Can’t wait to get into this one.
• Suicide of the West by Jonah Goldberg — The subtitle sold me on reading this: “How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy”

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to awritersramblings446569187, Somya Gujjar, LFBooks, andrea bindi and rimpytoor for following the blog this week.

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

• When It Comes to Winter Reading, Only Extreme Weather or Escapist Literature Will Do — Yeah, I totally read Vogue all the time. No idea where that link came from, still, good piece by Eve MacSweeney.
• 13 Writers Who Grew to Hate Their Own Books — as per the norm, Lit Hub delivers something out of the norm and good.
• 8 Completed Series for Fantasy Fans to Devour — I’ve seen a few lists like this before, good group for those who demand completion, with some good additions in the comments.
• However, Ann Aguirre reminds us that there’s a cost for waiting to jump on a series
• Love in the Age of Grimdark — Cameron Johnston writes about an essential element of grimdark that too often gets overlooked.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• A Blogger’s Manifesto: A Modern Day Guide to Blogging by Aman Mittal — a handy little book for those interested in starting a blog, or need a little lift to get back at it.
• Hellbent by Gregg Hurwitz — Book 3 for Orphan X/The Nowhere Man/Evan Smoak.
• Wires and Nerve, Volume 2: Gone Rogue by Marissa Meyer, Stephen Gilpin — Cinder’s pal, Iko, continues her one android campaign against the rogue wolf-soldiers.
• Dark Arts: The Midnight Front by David Mack — I love the concept for this secret history series, as well as for the book, Mack tells the story of the sorcerers fighting with the Allies against Hitler and his supernatural forces. You can hear him talk about it on the Once & Future Podcast: O&F Podcast, Ep. 172: David Mack

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Tatiana Ketchum and linaprosserr for following the blog this week.

The last two weeks have been fairly quiet around here, sorry about that. I’ve been bizzarely and inexplicably tired lately — literally fell asleep writing 2-3 times this week (and last week, come to think about it). Will try to turn the tide this week…

Meanwhile, 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:

• Turkish Garbage Collectors Open Library Full of Discarded Books — The feel good story of the month, right there. (also, this website in general looks like a great way for me to lose a few hours)
• Prize launched for thrillers that avoid sexual violence against women — How sad is it that there’s an award for this? Still, good idea. There are times when this kind of story seems to be well-done and non-exploitative, but generally it comes across as a lazy approach to showing how evil someone is.
• Sci-Fi Doesn’t Have to Be Depressing: Welcome to Solarpunk — huh.
• 5 Ways to Give Your Friends the Reading Bug — (starting a book blog works, too)
• Is There Such a Thing as a Good Book Review? And how in the world do you write one? — there’s a reason I try to avoid the “R” word for my blog posts. Good stuff here, really.
• On Themes and the Tufa, Part 1 — I don’t know if I’ll ever tire of talking about the Tufa series, thankfully, Bledsoe likes writing about it, too.
• Judging books by their covers: Five publishing design cliches — Great post (although unfair to Child’s books, which over here don’t fit into #1)
• “She was murdering the language – so he murdered her!” — I less-than-three this so much. I want a print of it hanging somewhere in my house.

No New Releases caught my eye this week, which gives me a chance to catch up/get less-behind (however you want to look at it)

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Paula Bardell-Hedley and BookieWookie 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:

• Breaking My Library Habit and Reading My Own Books — I think I can safely admit to having travelled to this location, performed the same actions, and posses the same souvenir garment.
• Speaking of Libraries: Libraries and Authors: A Match Made in Heaven
• These authors risk the wrath of readers to keep book franchises alive — .tucked away in this nice piece about authors continuing series, is the news that Parker’s Sunny Randall series will get a new installment this year from Mike Lupica. Not the guy I’d have gone with, but the Estate seems to know what it’s doing. Honestly, I haven’t read the guy, I know one of my kids had a few of his books
• New York Times Bestselling Author Robert Crais Agrees To New Three-Book Deal With G.P. Putnam’s Sons — Headline tells you pretty much everything in the story (other than the fact that the next novel will be a Joe Pike book)
• Tom Straw, the Author Behind “Castle” — I saw someone called this the worst kept secret in mystery fiction, but the news hadn’t gotten out to my neck of the woods. I didn’t think the books were that great, but I know I’m in the minority. Glad to see him be able to write something with his name on it, though.
• Childhood Adventures in Late-Night Reading — Book Riot again writes the piece I should have. Twice this week.
• Don’t Freak Out, But You Should Probably Read These 729 Books — Whoa! Shades of the Royal Library of Alexandria! This is a huge recommendation list. Whoops! Those who clicked earlier got a quick trip to 404ville. But I fixed the link thanks to Murder by Death.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Darkside Earther by Bradley Horner — The blurb is too long to try to compress, here’s something the author said to sum it up: “It’s Space-Opera, a YA romance, full of virtual worlds and Space Battles.” Also, I can say that Horner knows his stuff –I read his reviews regularly and he knows his genre fiction — if that familiarity is reflected in this story, it’ll be good.
• Iron Gold by Pierce Brown — I thought the Red Rising trilogy ended well, I really didn’t need more in this world — and I”m a little afraid that this is trying to squeeze more out of this story than is good for it. Still, there’s no way that I”m not going to read something that Brown puts out at this point. This takes place a decade or so after Morning Star and has to do with how things turned out after that. I don’t want to know anything else until I read the book, so that’s all I can say 🙂

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Amy Sparks and lynnm2018 for following the blog this week (neither of them had a URL to share, either…not often that happens), hope you like what you read.