Tag: Saturday Miscellany Page 44 of 54

Only 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:

• Reading Makes You Sexier To Potential Partners, And These Are The Sexiest Genres — It’s been a long time since I was dating (or trying to), but I’m not buying it.
• But What If We’re Wrong…About Good Literature? — Chuck Klosterman’s new book and 14 classics that went unappreciated in their time.
• 15 Thought-Provoking Quotes from Literature — A nice looking and thought-provoking infographic from Readers.com.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Ghost Rebellion by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris — Yay! The 5th Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novel is here. I enjoyed this one, I think you will, too. (I posted about it last week)
• The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez — Martinez is writing a series, which is enough to get me interested. Add in the hero who’s been saving the world for about 30 years, and just wants to be normal, and I’m beyond interested.
• Shadowed by Karen E. Olson — so, Nicole Jones’ attempt to lie low on Block Island failed. What do you want to bet her Canadian location works out better? Yeah, me neither.
• Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley — This is sitting on my TBR shelf (literally), and it’s driving me crazy that I can’t fit it in for a couple of weeks.
• Man On A Rock by Grant Sutherland — Fahrenheit Press’ first novella looks like the kind of thriller summers are designed for. (you know, if summers were designed for people who read)
• Escapology by Ren Warom — looks like a classic cyberpunk novel, just brand spankin’ new.
• Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja — SF with action and humor. I’m reading comparisons to Scalzi and Adams. Even without those, this looks fun.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Alois Larc and greatestcatpics 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:

• Stealing Books in the Age of Self-Publishing — This is disturbing.
• Most YA fiction is grown-up fiction in disguise — Things That Make You Go Hmmmm…
• Daniel O’Malley Talks Stiletto, Writing a Razor-Sharp Sequel — Like I needed a reason to want to read this more . . .
• Author Interview: Matthew Norman — nice interview with Norman.
• 34 Compelling First Lines of Famous Books — nice infographic (hat-tip: Lagniappe Literature)
• Every Modernist Novel Ever — Mallory Ortberg scores again

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Infomocracy by Malka Older — post-cyberpunk, political-technological thriller.
• The Bookman by Lavie Tidhar — Angry Robot republished this Victorian adventure that I always meant to get around to. Good reminder.

Lastly, I’d like to thanks to a href=”https://thereadingdesk.wordpress.com/” target=”_blank”>Vijayalakshmi Harish for all the encouragement this week, check out her pretty nifty blog, too.

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Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them (especially if you read BookRiot a lot), but just in case:

• Why teenagers are so resistant to e-readers — at least one teen’s thoughts
• Economists show that boys who grow up around books earn significantly more money as adults — feelin’ good about my boys’ future
• 4 Times Don DeLillo Predicted the Future — really, I’ll stop talking about DeLillo and his new book soon. Probably sometime after I read it.
• Goodreads Launches New Homepage — eh…less than impressed, but I don’t hate it. You?
• The Stakes of Genre Categorization — Michael R. Underwood talks about Genre Categorization and another way to go about it.
• “The Boxcar Children” and the Spirit of Capitalism — I read many of these books as a kid (several times), I never noticed what this piece from The New Yorker points out. Not sure I totally buy it, but thought it was interesting. Learned some interesting behind-the-scenes info about the books, though.
• Tor.com Publishing Acquires Three Books From Myke Cole — There is no part of this that doesn’t appeal to me.
• How I mourned my sister through the books she left behind
• The 7 Kinds of Reader I Wish I Were — Me, too
• Books & Co. – Ace Atkins — a piece on Atkins from Arizona PBS.
• Play along – Summer Book Bingo — seems like a fun way to track reading…we’ll see how it goes (but who will hear me yell out, “Bingo!” when I win?)

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Cupid Reconciliation by Michael R. Underwood — The bestest
  Genrenaut story yet. I hope you all are reading this series (or at least buying them).
• We’re All Damaged by Matthew Norman — Norman’s follow-up to Domestic Violets is a strong candidate for my year-end list. Probably a stronger candidate if I ever get around to reading it. Still, it looks nice on my TBR shelf.
• The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction by Neil Gaiman — do I really need to say more than just the author’s name?
• Death by Cliché by Bob Defendi — “Death by Cliché is a heartwarming tale of catastrophic brain damage. Share it with someone you love. Or like. Or anyone at all. Buy the book.” The Big Idea about it.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and thanks to Sidney (in case you’re reading this) for the very nice and helpful email 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:

• Science or magic? UK scientists test reality of Harry Potter spells — You have got to be kidding me. People wasted time on this? (actually, the whole Borrowers thing disturbs me even more)
• Why Reading Makes You a Better Person — a nice looking infographic
• In honor of Towel Day a couple of days ago (and yes, I know I failed to post something…been one of those weeks):
  • PW’s The 10 Funniest Books — not so sure I buy this list, but some of them look mildly humorous.
  • Fighting Post-Hitchhiker’s Disorder: 6 Essential Books for Douglas Adams Fans — I may have posted this last October, but it’s worth another look.
  • B&N tweeted this awesome fact
• ‘It needs more public-spirited pigs’: TS Eliot’s rejection of Orwell’s Animal Farm — what a great letter.
• Title Fights: Who gets to name an author’s book? — I love behind-the-scenes stuff like this.
• Along those lines By the Cover: Meet Kirk Benshoff — and another BookRiot post on cover designs
• jay Posey and James L. Sutter tweetedthese important reminders for readers
• The 16 Most Misleading Book Covers Of All Time — this was hilarious (and horrifying).

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• A Mint Condition Corpse by Duncan MacMaster — a geek-centric mystery. Okay. I’ll bite. From Fahrenheit Press, who else?
• The Last Star by Rick Yancey — Loved The 5th Wave, was less into the sequel — but am really looking forward to this.
• Dietland by Sarai Walker — this looks fun. ” Part coming-of-age story, part revenge fantasy, Dietland is a bold, original, and funny debut novel that takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our weight loss obsession—from the inside out, and with fists flying.” Check out the trailer.
• Dark Run by Mike Brooks — a space opera about smugglers, con artists and thiefs. Sounds good to me.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Senna and Beth from Hello Beautiful Book Blog 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:

• 11 best things we saw at BookExpo America 2016 — EW takes a look back at BEA 2016 and a look forward at the rest of the year in books.
• Goodreads Offering Personalized Daily E-book Discounts — I’m not sure this is a good thing or not, I like the deals, but do I really need another email telling me about books to buy?
• No Genre Ever Dies: On Loren D. Estleman and the Pulp Tradition
• Not-So-Civil War, or Embracing Polyfanory — not a shock that I like something Anton Strout says, but this piece is really good.
• The Rook Is a Delightfully Weird Twist on Urban Fantasy — B&N Reads makes the case that you should read (or re-read) The Rook in the month we have until the sequel comes out. Sounds like a solid plan, The Rook was good. Don’t take my word for it, click the link.
• White Noise is an outsider’s look inside small-town Americana — I never turn down an excuse to read about, talk about, think about DeLillo’s book. Neither should you.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Highwayman. by Craig Johnson — a Longmire novella.
• Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell — the third Shadow Police novel — I can’t tell you how much I want to read this one. If you’re not reading this series, here’s a great hopping on place. Check out his Big Idea post about it.
• This Damned Band also by Paul Cornell and Tony Parker — is out in collected form now. This is a demented looking story.
• Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me: What Pop Music Rivalries Reveal About the Meaning of Life by Steven Hyden — going behind the music to look at pop music’s best rivalries
• The Second Life of Nick Mason by Steve Hamilton — could be the start of a heckuva series, getting a lot of good buzz, too.
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix — described by the author as “basically Beaches meets The Exorcist.”

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:

You may remember my post about
• Elphie and Dad go on an Epic Adventure — it was just featured on the Youtube channel Storytime Pup. Very cute.
• HC Starts Bookstore Development Program — There may be a catch to this, but at least at first glance, this sounds pretty nice.
• School Principal Says Reading ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ Causes Brain Damage — um, what?
• Dear J.K. Rowling: Stop Apologizing! — I wanted to write something like this when I saw Rowling apologizing for killing characters. The choices she made about character deaths were part of what made the series what it is. But Vanessa Willoughby says it better than I would’ve.
• Ace Atkins talks about SLOW BURN, THE INNOCENTS — because you can never have enough Atkins…

Only One of this Week’s New Releases caught my eye:
• The Vagrant by Peter Newman — I heard Newman recently on The Cornell Collective, and look forward to getting to read this release

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

Before I get going today, I’d like to take a moment to say congrats to my oldest son, who is getting his AA today, well done, sir.

Now on to 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:

• The Novel Still Exists — The Millions Interviews Don DeLillo
• The LA Times also has A rare interview with Don DeLillo, one of the titans of American fiction
• And lastly, Don DeLillo’s Total Art of Memory — Jonathon Sturgeon talks DeLillo himself, his new book, and connections to his old ones.
• What Two Forgotten Pieces Tell Us About Harper Lee — from the New Yorker
• Bestselling novelist Ace Atkins appears Wednesday for ‘Beer & Books’ — a nice profile on Atkins and his two series.
• Crime pays for crime-fiction writer Michael Connelly — a nice profile of Mr. Connelly
• Five Literary Worlds That Smacked Me in the Face — I’m not Charlaine Harris’ biggest fan, but she knows what she’s talking about.
• All Different Kinds of Strong, by Gail Z. Martin — this is just good.
• The 10 Fiercest Mothers in SF/F — a good list for Mother’s Day, and some of these are really good choices. BTW, hope the Moms out there have a good one.
• The Money of Dogs: A Conversation with The Dog Merchants‘ Author Kim Kavin — a book I almost don’t want to read, it’ll probably depress me.
• The 7 Stages of Hate-Reading — seeing this the week that I posted about Songs in Ordinary Time seemed really fitting.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon. I DO NOT HAVE time for all these:
• Zero K by Don DeLillo — It’s DeLillo, the very definition of a Must Read.
• Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo — wasn’t the biggest fan of Nobody’s Fool, but I don’t know that I’ve really stopped thinking about it in the 2 or 3 years it’s been since I read it. So yeah, will have to get to this one
• Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn by Ace Atkins — You know it’s a big week when Atkins is #3 on my list. This was another strong one — will try to get my post up next week about it.
• The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan — a new series in the Percy-verse. Apollo is sent to earth as a regular teen, trying to get back to Olympus.
• Blood Defense by Marcia Clark — the first of a new series by Clark. This time the hero’s a defense attorney.
• Double Down by Gwenda Bond — I enjoyed the first book about Lois Lane, teen reporter. Expect this one’ll be better.
• The Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde — don’t care what this novella is about, really. Fran Wilde’s Updraft earned her enough credit to just get whatever has her name on it for a year or two.
• Outriders by Jay Posey — Military SF with a synopsis that starts with the line, “Captain Lincoln Suh died on a Wednesday. And things only got harder from there.” How do you not give it a chance?

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to J. L. Gribble and Looseygoosey for following the blog this week.

(I looked and looked for a source on this one…would love to link to it)

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:

• Amazon Unintentionally Paying Scammers To Hand You 1000 Pages Of Crap You Don’t Read — huh
• Don DeLillo’s New Novel Isn’t Even Out Yet, But the TV Show Is Already in the Works — DeLillo doesn’t seem like the kind of writer that would translate to TV, but — sure, I’ll give it a shot.
• The Perils of Choose Your Own Adventure Books — interesting, not sure that it’s convincing, but it’s interesting.
• Lyndsay Faye on Jane Eyre, Murder, and more — The author of Jane Steele on a pretty interesting episode of Beaks and Geeks. Man, I’ve got to find time for this book.
• Interview with Jo Perry — By the Letter Book Reviews has a nice little interview with Jo Perry, the author of Dead is Better and Dead is Best (which has been sitting unread on my Kindle for far, far, too long).

We’re apparently exposing my Inner Child with This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Arf by Spencer Quinn — The sequel to last year’s Woof by the author of the Chet and Bernie Mysteries. Woof was loads of fun, I bet this will be, too.
• The Worst Night Ever by Dave Barry — the sequel to last year’s The Worst Class Trip Ever should be a hoot if it’s 2/3 as good as the first.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Vijayalakshmi Harish and allysonyj 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:

• Authors Guild denied appeal to stop Google scanning books — humbug
• Tak: A Beautiful Game — Rothfuss is Kickstarting a version of Tak? I’ve gotta go diving in the couch for change.
• The Secret Life of Novelizations — gotta listen to this.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Drafter by Kim Harrison is in Paperback — Harrison’s best, if you haven’t read it yet.
• Dead is Best by Jo Perry — Charlie & Rose are back in this sequel
• Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here by Anna Brewslaw
• Almost Infamous by Matt Carter — a superpowered teen becomes a super villain to avoid the paperwork involved in becoming a super-hero.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Bijoux Alisoa 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:

• Lighting It Up with Fahrenheit Press — I haven’t read as many of Fahrenheit Press’ books as I want to, but I really dig their approach to marketing, publishing, and their zeal for their books. Even more than that, I like the books of theirs that I’ve read. Good piece about them.
• Julian Fellowes’s BELGRAVIA: Why the Serialized Novel is More Relevant Than Ever
• Judy Blume, Bookseller — because she needs another career, I guess. Shame the writing thing didn’t work out for her 😉
• Delilah Dawson shares some important tips: How to have the most impact helping authors
• Johann Hari: ‘The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety – it’s connection’ — The Guardian talks to an author of a book we talked about last year — that I can’t stop thinking about — about the book, his writing of it, and what’s happened to him since.
• Blowing my Own Trumpet — Friend of IR, S. C. Flynn, announces his upcoming book. You’ll be seeing more about this.
• Top 10 fictional towns in children’s books
• The most famous book set in every state — A different (but with similar results) approach than the one we’re using for the <a href="http://125pages.com/united-state-of-books/ " target="_blank" United States of Books project .
• Ten Celebrity Books We Do NOT Need in Our Lives — the worst is, I could see some of these being printed
• 9 Websites For Readers Who Think About Books All Day, Every Day — I’m sure we would’ve made the list if there’s been 10. . .

This Week’s New Release that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon, odd that there’s only one, but it’s bound to be a good one:
• Strike by Delilah S. Dawson — Sequel to Hit, which is enough to get me stoked. But when she tweets about it, saying that it includes “A villain based on Boyd Crowder” – I’s amazing that I haven’t read it three times already this week.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Stormy Vixen for following the blog this week.