Tag: Saturday Miscellany Page 47 of 54

Didn’t get as much done around here this week as I wanted to — alas, sometimes the parts of my life that make this possible (e.g., job, sleep) have to take priority. Just based on the partial posts that got written this week, next week might make up for this one. In the meantime, to tide you over:

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

• Books At Home Tied to Future Reading Skills — Good news for my kids 🙂
• Fewer Americans are reading books, but don’t blame the millennials — clearly, everyone’s parents didn’t have enough books in the house.
• Why the Printed Book Will Last Another 500 Years: The Future of Reading Came and Went — I’m aware that Adam Sternbergh writes things other than the Spademan novels, but I’ve never bothered to read them until this one. Obviously, no near-future hitmen involved, but still good.
• What do writers owe readers in the digital age? — So Joanne Harris churned up a little storm cloud this week talking about the relationship between readers and authors in the Social Media Age. On the whole, I appreciate what she has to say, but I see the point of her detractors as well. Good coverage — which includes her manifesto.
• Reading for Pleasure: A book blogger’s creed — Here’s something I can get behind; one book blogger’s response to Harris’ manifesto. Speaks for a lot of us.
• One of my favorite series, the Eddie LaCrosse novels, has its first novel republished this week . Here’s a nice post about Alex Bledsoe writing it.
• Lending books: share your horror stories — Just in time for Halloween, stories about book lending gone bad from The Guardian. The Horror.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith — If I’m understanding things correctly, this’ll be the last Cormoran Strike for awhile, so she can get some projects related to a kid wizard wrapped up (anyone ever heard of that series?). It’ll be a shame to bid au revoir to the lunk, but I’m looking forward to this.
• The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone — a little Veronica Mars, a little Izzy Spellman, a little Ree Ree Reyes — at least, so it seems. I’ll let you know in a week or two. Looks fun regardless.
• The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe — sorta counts, was republished this week with a snazzy cover to match the more recent releases. A really good book, solid PI novel in a fantasy setting. Get to know this guy!

For those who like to read these kind of things, I did update ye olde Blogroll this week, there are good things to be found at those links. Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Laura@125Pages
and Nightlizard (who has impeccable taste in fictional characters) for following the blog this week — you’ll be seeing a lot about ol’ Laura@125 Pages next year (linked to her in this space a couple of weeks back, too). Many thanks to Fran Wilde for the kind words and signal boost this week, too.

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:

• Flannery O’Connor: A Reading Primer — Even if you don’t need the list, if you’ve read her, you’ll appreciate what Van Young says. If you don’t know O’Connor — change that — you’ll love her.
• How JK Rowling was revealed as the true author behind the Robert Galbraith novels — It’s a little light on the details, on the how, but I liked reading about why she adopted the name. I love this line: “the Robert Galbraith novels have distinguished Rowling as a master of plot, pacing and characterisation. She will not be remembered among the literary greats, but as the most addictively compelling writer of a generation.”
• You only hurt the one you love — I almost did a full post reacting to this post from Kim Harrison, but couldn’t find the time. This is depressing and shocking in what it says about the publishing world today (yet, not at all counterintuitive) — for someone with Harrison’s pedigree to be this close to being finished after one book? I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around that. Also, because of The Drafter? Which I still say is her best work. I don’t get it.
• What do Goodreads ratings say about sales? — fantasy author Mark Lawrence crunches some numbers. (hat tip:Harry Connolly)
• Can you pronounce the names of these literary characters? — I missed two, one of which I blame on an English professor (graduate level class, no less), the other was dumb on my part. Not going to tell you which two. How did you do?

This Week’s New Releases featured a bunch of installments in series I’ve never heard of/read and a few things that just don’t catch my eye, with one exception:
• Black Widow: Forever Red by Margaret Stohl — a YA adventure for Natasha Romanoff.

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 “Drinkable Book” Cleans Contaminated Water — Somehow, I missed this 2 months ago (despite Electric Lit being a regular read for me). I find this mind-boggling. The things we can do. . .
• The Hidden Depths of Sandra Boynton’s Board Books — I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about my love of Boynton before (and my kids’ obsession with her, particularly the older kids — we had to buy 2 copies of But Not the Hippopotamus, and probably should’ve bought a 3^rd, would’ve without duct tape). But I’ve never seen anyone dive as deeply into her as this
• Novelists Reimagine and Update Shakespeare’s Plays — Sounds like a fascinating project.
• Ready Player One: Bringing Geeks and Non-Geeks Together — Geek & Sundry pay tribute to one of my favorite books of recent years.
• Celebrating 10 Years of Twilight — Not touching the new material Meyer released this week (I did enjoy Fahrenheit Press’ quip about it). I thought Book Riot’s look back was pretty well done. When I first read Twilight I really enjoyed it — first YA I’d read since, well, being a YA. Re-reads weren’t so kind to it, nor were my experiences with the sequels. Still, as big and game-changing as it was, it deserves some thought on its 10 year Anniversary.
• Why I Write Crime Fiction — I’ve never read Sherez’s books, but I really liked this piece.
• Rick Riordan: ‘I’ve loved mythology since I was a child’ — Nice interview with Rick Riordan.
• Paul Goat Allen posted a good Interview with Jim Butcher for Goodreads — mostly on The Aeronaut’s Windlass, but touched on a few other things.
• Amazon also posted a good one: “Everybody Has More Power Than They Think They Do”: An Interview with Jim Butcher
• 20 Timeless Quotes From Our Favorite Childhood Authors
• 10 Unfounded Fears That Keep Book Nerds Up at Night — this should elicit a chuckle or two

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan — The start of a new series, with a new mythological pantheon. I think I’ve lost my Riordan beard to fiction for adults — I may have to admit that I buy these for me.
• The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson — mentioned in the piece above this is (to quote her website), “Jeanette Winterson’s cover version of The Winter’s Tale“.
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin — The Tales of Dunk and Egg should get me excited, but . . . I dunno. Having a hard time caring. Still figure I’m going to read this soon.
• Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong — this looks odd, potentially amusing, pretty exciting and good.

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

Image credit: Grammarly

It was the last week of the month, so things are skimpy (thanks, publishers!). Still, there were 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:

• 13 Things Librarians Won’t Tell You (But Every Reader Needs to Know) — from Reader’s Digest, some fun items here.
• The Secret of Nigerian Book Sales — Oddly enough, I’ve never given any thought to Nigerian Book Sales. Probably won’t again. But this is worth a read.
• 11 Simple Reasons The Print Book Doomsayers Are Wrong — at some point, we’re going to stop reading these Print vs. Ebook things, right?
• The Shadow Knows — Vigilantes — from the Superhero to the amateur sleuth and all points in between. Why do we read them? Just part of the focus on shadows over at Mysteristas this month.
• Storyteller of the Gods — Publisher’s Weekly posted this nice profile of Rick Riordan on the eve of his new series.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher — really, with this published on Tuesday, does anything else I have to say this week matter? Really enjoying this one so far…

Lastly, I’d like to thank Tim Brooks for the comment — obviously, can’t say I agree, but I do appreciate the input.

Image credit: Grammarly

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 Plot Twist: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far From Dead — interesting story from the NY Times. Over the last few years, I’ve come around on ebooks, and they account for a decent amount of what I read/buy (just finished one last night), but I prefer hard copies. I find this story encouraging.
• 10 Haunting Lines From William Faulkner’s Works That I’m Reminded Of On His Birthday — Uzma Shamim pays tribute to Faulkner on his 118^th birthday.
• Talking to NBA Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar About His Sherlock Holmes Novel — last guy I’d figure to write about Sherlock’s brother, but, honestly? The idea appeals to me.
• Urban fantasy fiction: there’s more to it than sex with were-leopards — hate the subtitle, but it’s a decent article from The Guardian.
• My favorite Urban Fantasist, Jim Butcher, did a redditAMA this week, haven’t read it all, but what I have is worth the time.
• Paul Cornell Will Revisit Lychford! — Tor.com announced a follow-up to The Witches of Lychford, which is great to hear.
• What Would I Give Up Writing For — Updraft‘s Fran Wilde guest-blogged at Bibliotropic the other day.
• O&F Podcast, Ep. 96: Kevin J. Anderson — Anton Strout talks to Anderson who is just a machine. I won’t pretend to have read a lot of his works (few can), but what I have read has been good. Interviews like this make you want to take a year off of everyone else just to read him.

Only one New Release caught my eye this week:
• Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Anna Waterhouse — most of what I know about Mycroft comes from Baring-Gould’s speculation about a familial tie to Nero Wolfe, looking forward to learning a bit more.

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 Don’t Have To Destroy A Book To Love It: A Plea To Readers — I don’t know anything about Claire Fallon, but she’s one of my favorite people on earth at this moment for writing this piece. “A book is happier handled gently and slotted neatly next to its friends than bent, falling apart, and shoved onto an over-jammed shelf.” Yes.
• In Defense of Reading – Why All Books Matter — 1. This is almost as good as the previous post (actually probably better, but fewer people make the above argument than these); 2. this is the kind of thing I wish I had time to write; and whatever 3^rd point I had was, it’s gone.
• Learn About the National Book Award Nominees From the Best Adjectives Used to Blurb Them — I hadn’t heard of most of the National Book Award Nominees (maybe 1?) until this week, so I could use all the help I could get. There’s some very strange adjectives on this list — at least when applied to books — if you ask me.
• Where to Start Guide: Don DeLillo — this is a handy list, and a good reminder I need to dive a little deeper with DeLillo so I can talk about the books not on this list. Frankly, I don’t see the appeal of the last one, but otherwise, this is a good list.
• 11 Ways to Love Goodreads Even More — some good tips
• Author Query – Michael R. Underwood — A nice little interview with one of our favorites.
• Michael R. Underwood, author of HEXOMANCY, on His Favorite Geeks in Pop Culture — Another Underwood post? He must have something new out…A near-perfect list.
• Reed Coleman talks about THE DEVIL WINS — glad he’s talking about it, since I couldn’t find the time this week 🙂 Good interview with Coleman. I’m for either/both of the cross-overs he mentioned.
• Almost (Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone 101) — Reed Farrel Coleman introduces Jesse and talks about his approach to the series. Good stuff.
• 21 Signs That Prove Booksellers Are The Absolute Best — if these don’t bring at least a grin to your face, there’s something wrong with you.
• Found the coolest site last weekend, Today in MYSTERY HISTORY — “A daily note on some event in the history of mystery fiction.” Finding all sorts of fun tidbits there.
• Should you lend someone a book? — there’s a pretty decent tie-in with this and the first link. (Hat-tip: Paul Nelson)

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Hexomancy by Michael R. Underwood — the fourth Ree Ree adventure, and the end of her first story arc. Should be good geeky fun!
• The Scam by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg — Fox and O’Hare are back. ’nuff said.
• Yes, My Accent Is Real And Some Other Things I Haven’t Told You by Kunal Nayyar — a collection of autobiographical essays by the actor.

Thanks to Benedict Jacka for the shout-out.

Image credit: Grammarly

A little skimpier than usual — just one of those weeks, I guess. 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:

• Pottermore readies radical relaunch — I barely poked around the edges of the original, but it seemed pretty cool. I’m betting the new one will be also.
• Why is Winnie the Pooh Called a Pooh? — Huh. And now you know . . .
• An Open Letter To An Extended Book Series — Even if you don’t know the series in question here, you’ve been there…
• A couple of Lee Child/Jack Reacher links:
  • Lee Child on 20th novel and movie sequel — Can always count on CBS to let Child sell his stuff (not a complaint, just an observation)
  • The Lawless Pleasures of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher Novels by Malcolm Gladwell — Not a misprint. Gladwell talking about Jack Reacher for The New Yorker. Just seems strange. Obviously, worth a read.
• 16 Ways ‘Game of Thrones’ Influenced Your Life — A fun little list
• 21 Quotes That Remind Us Just How Much We Love Books — BookBub (who else?) assembled this nifty list of quotations that you can probably identify with

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Robert B. Parker’s The Devil Wins by Reed Farrel Coleman I just finished this last night. Almost as good as last year’s Blind Spot. Coleman does some really good stuff here — I probably spent more time guessing here than I usually do with a Stone novel. Love what Coleman does with Molly and Suit…I need to shut up before this becomes my blog entry on the book. It’s good, people
• Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell — I blogged about this a couple of days ago. It’s short, but does the work of a novel twice its size.
• Make Me by Lee Child — If the links above, didn’t give it away, there’s a new Reacher novel. A case of mistaken identity leads to a cross-country investigation, and, I bet, a lot of violence.
• All In by Joel Goldman and Lisa Klink — Looks like there’s sort of a Leverage-y, Fox & O’Hare feel to this. Looks fun.
• A Guide To Being A Dog, by Seamus Wheaton by Wil Wheaton — Yeah, it’s a little spendy, but the tweets that form the basis of it are a hoot, and it’s for a good cause…

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:

• Don DeLillo Recipient of National Book Award for Lifetime Achievement — I haven’t read as much of him as I’ve intended to, but White Noise was a game changer for me back in college, Underworld was . . . well, words still fail me. Others I haven’t been so hot on, but even at his worst, he’s worth the effort. Absolutely deserves this.
• I’m (almost certainly) never going to get political here, but this is a petition you should be able to get behind: Release Unpublished Works by Raymond Chandler — Hat tip: Michael Connelly
• Stephen King asks Can a Novelist be too Productive? and follows it up with a Q&A — I’ve never been able to finish a novel by Stephen King, but I’ve almost always gotten a lot out of what he says about writing/publishing — Hat tip: Constantly Moving the Bookmark
• How Making Time for Books Made Me Feel Less Busy — This is really, really good (and I’ve seen this linked in a wide variety of places this week, from all sorts of blogs/feeds).
• Why children’s authors shouldn’t always ‘kill the parents’ — Sorry, Bruce, the Waynes still have to die. But maybe other kids shouldn’t have to go through the same.
• 12 Ways Your Parents Turned You Into A Book-Lover — My parent’s didn’t do the audiobook thing (wasn’t really much of an option back then), but they did the other 11. I’ve tried to do all 12. Hope it works.
• Animated Classic Book Covers — simple and fun

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire — Loved this. Will try to blog about this early next week, but basically, she’s outdone herself. Toby Daye as a diplomat, c’mon, how do you not read that?
• The Drafter by Kim Harrison — There’s part of me that would be okay with not reading another Harrison, but…man, this premise is so strong. I’m going to have to. Typically, Paul Goat Allen, is on board and has a good post about this one.
• Jillian Cade: (Fake) Paranormal Investigator by Jen Klein — the title alone intrigues me, sounds like a fun premise to boot.
• Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? by Stephen Dobyns — I’ll be shallow again — that cover (click on the link, really) hooks me. The premise is promising, but I can see where I’d tire quickly of it. Still, worth a shot.
• Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart — a female character that would be atypical today, but in a mystery set in 1914? Sign me up.
• Updraft by Fran Wilde — great premise, fantastic buzz.
• The Dragon Engine by Andy Remic — sounds like grimdark, but fun. Could be wrong about that, but however you describe it, still looks fun.
• The Fate of Ten by Pittacus Lore — The end of the Lorien Legacies is here, and I’m ready for it. Probably a book or two too late, honestly. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing how this one wraps up.

Lastly, I’d like to say thanks to The Primroses Were Over and RedTHaws Reads Randomly for the encouraging words this week (actually, had a lot of good feedback/interaction this week, been a nice week — these two started it all).

Only two posts this week, and three half-written drafts. That’s primarily due to: The Van by Roddy Doyle being harder to write about than I expected, a higher-than-normal level of short-attention span from me, and my daily schedule’s shifted recently and I’m sleeping more. Which is good for me, bad for writing.

But who cares about that? 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:

• Not like I need to be convinced, since it’s basically been a part of every day of my life since I can remember, but it’s always nice to have some justification: The Hidden Benefit of Reading Before Bed.
• In light of the continuation of Stieg Larsson’s series, the CBC asks: The Girl in the Spider’s Web: Is it OK to resurrect a dead author’s fiction? — all in all, a pretty decent and balanced take on the topic as a whole
• BookBub blog has a nice run-down: Here’s How Much the ‘Harry Potter’ Covers Have Changed Over the Years, and once again, I’m tempted to go run out and buy the 15th anniversary set, just for the artwork.
• Speaking of covers, have you Played Judgey?
• MysteryPeople has a Q&A with Brad Parks — for some inexplicable reason, I haven’t read his new one. Still, good interview, worth reading while I wonder what’s wrong with my reading schedule.
• National Dog Day was a couple of days ago, and by an amazing coincidence, I stumbled upon a couple of lists of books about dogs:
  • The Guardian’s Top 10 dogs’ stories — has a bunch of the more literary variety.
  • BookBub Blog has 12 Books That Will Make You Love Dogs Even More — more popular-level, and probably more heart-tugging. I’ve read some of these, I’ve wanted to read a couple more, and have just added a couple of others to my TBR pile.
• Chuck Wendig and The Once & Future Podcast have an important reminder for us all.
• (this is possibly my favorite link that I’ve posted:) An Absolutely Serious Analysis of BUT NOT THE HIPPOPOTAMUS — Once upon a time, I had this book memorized. My two oldest kids lived off of this book.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• X by Sue Grafton — among other things, this answers the question I’ve been asking for years (even before I started the series), “What ‘X’ word is she going to use?”. I’m sure there’s a decent mystery novel involved, too. #24 is here, folks.
• Randoms by David Liss — A Cline/Scalzi-ish YA SF adventure. Looks pretty cool.
• Koko the Mighty by Kieran Shea — this looks like a lot of fun, wish I’d seen the release of the first in this series last year. Time to catch up.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Lagniappe Literature for following the BookLikes version 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:

• Let’s start with a nice piece from The Guardian: Why do books still exist, asks a teenager — and answers a teenager, as well.
• How One Misunderstanding in the 1870s Created an Entire Sci-Fi Subgenre — title says it all. Interesting stuff.
• How Long to Read — is an interesting looking tool. I’ve played around with it a little — seems on target, a fun distraction if nothing else.
• Carrie Vaughn Podcasts Kitty Saves the World — a good looking entry from Authors on Tour, hope to get to that soon.
• Matthew Norman tweeted some long awaited news (if you haven’t read Domestic Violets yet, get to it)
• 50 Inspirational Quotes from Literature — in handy Infographic form
• Book Riot compiled a nice list of the Best of Bookish Art from Tumblr.
• 9 Words About Reading That Every Book Nerd Needs to Know, Because “Bibliophile” Just Isn’t Enough — fun vocabulary builders

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Hallow Point by Ari Marmell — who-hoo! Mick Oberon’s back.
• Zero World by Jason Hough — SF Spy-Thriller? Sign me up. Check out this great graphic review from Kevin Hearne.
• Last Words by Michael Koryta — the beginning of a new series from Koryta is good news, anyway, but this one looks particularly strong.
• Zeroes by Chuck Wendig — This Hacker/Cyber Espionage adventure looks good. But it’s by Wendig, so I’ll either dig it or hate it, no matter what it looks like. Still, the writing will be great.
• Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes by soandso — A follow-up to last year’s Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods, which I’ve flipped through, but haven’t actually read much of. Nicely written and gorgeous. Bonus — big and heavy enough to kill an intruder if used correctly.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to E.S. Wesley, G. E. Gallas (who could probably improve my Seconds post), and Kent Wayne for following the blog this week.