Tag: Saturday Miscellany Page 49 of 54

I don’t know if it was a slow week, I’m just pickier than usual, or maybe I’ve been too busy to look around, but I only have a couple 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:

• Up the Amazon with the BS Machine — Ursula K. Le Guin fires off another volley in her one-writer war against that website you may have heard of. (I don’t disagree with her…much)
• 50 short books for busy people — I don’t know about you, but I’m behind the pace I need to make my reading goal for the year. I should raid this list to help.
• The A. V. Club asked Patrick Rothfuss 11 Questions
• 21 Ways You Know You’re a Goodreads Member — for those who can’t remember what social networks they’re part of, I guess? Eh, still a funny list for those of usyou who spend too much time there.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Fold by Peter Clines — I should have a review for this one up early next week. Sounds like quite the read.
• Stay by Victor Gischler — looks like a good combination of action and humor. The cover sold this one for me.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to erinfischer23 and bookshelfbattle for following the blog this week. Also, a hearty welcome to Old Rocker’s Mad Mumblings for following the booklikes version of this blog. Thanks again to to Cat Warren for the gracious comment.

Image credit: Grammarly

This has been a fairly quiet week here, I know… it’s the kid’s first week out of school, and we’re all adjusting to new schedules at Irresponsible HQ — time for reading and writing were down considerably. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, I’ll get in a new stride.

Still, there’s a little to share this week, I found a few odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Judy Blume’s New Book Might Also Be Her Last — Haven’t read Blume since I read the last of the Fudge novels to my kids, and am in no rush to change that. Still, the idea of her not writing? Just seems wrong.
• Technology Of Books Has Changed, But Bookstores Are Hanging In There — NPR offers a rare (but growing more common) optimistic look at the state of Indie Bookstores
• Lovereading.co.uk and Google Maps Mash-Up
• Some Good Reads for Summer — Rick Riordan put out another one of his recommended reads lists — this one for children’s books for this summer.
• Interview With Author Alex Bledsoe — Steven Stack, a playwright (I guess), interviews Bledsoe on the release of Long Black Curl
• Speaking of interviews, Gerald So (who knows a thing or two about Spenser) posted An Interview with Ace Atkins for Crime Spree Magazine. Good stuff.
• Seven Literary Quotations We Suggest You Memorize — a handy list from B&N Reads

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Long Black Curl by Alex Bledsoe — very excited to get to this one, the third Tufa novel. There’s something special to these books that I can’t quite put my finger on, but I honestly don’t care if I identify what makes them work the way they do as long as I get to see it.
• I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest — not that it’s easy to pigeon-hole Priest’s work, but if you could — I don’t think this would fit in it, which really makes me look forward to it. Looks like a lot of fun, too, which doesn’t hurt. Here’s a note Priest wrote about the book.
• The Last Drive and Other Stories by Rex Stout — some of Stout’s early work — including the story that grew up into Fer-de-Lance.

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

• David Nicholls: Google v old-fashioned legwork – how to research a novel — title pretty much says it all, but this is pretty interesting.
• The Bookstore Built by Jeff Kinney, the ‘Wimpy Kid’ — good for him. There’s more to this story than just Kinney and his new store, but about indie bookstores in general and the writers who are helping them.
• Top 10 ways to be evil in children’s books — Starting with the premise that villains in kid’s books get to be more evil than adult villains, William Sutcliffe gives some pretty entertaining examples of it
• Patricia Park talks about her Korean American spin on Jane Eyre — the author of Re Jane talks about her book — not that I need another retelling of the book, but … gotta say, this looks pretty good.
• Some interesting tidbits on upcoming titles:
  • Wil Wheaton and Ernest Cline reunite for Armada audiobook — am tempted, strongly tempted, to just buy the audiobook rather than the hardcover after Wheaton’s work on Ready Player One
  • Ben Aaronovitch’s series is getting a comic series: here’s a preview of Rivers of London #1
  • Ditto for Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently! A preview of IDW’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency #1

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Kickback by Ace Atkins — If you’ve stopped by the blog for even half of a second this week, you’ll have noticed that Spenser’s back for number 43 (and #4 by Atkins). I think it’s safe to say that I liked it.
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik — looks really good. Here’s The Big Idea behind it.
• Seveneves by Neal Stephenson — just your typical, 5,000 year epic, end-of-the-world SF tale. OR something like that. Stephenson talks about the genesis of the book and B&N gives 7 Reasons to Read it.
• Boo by Neil Smith — Not even sure how to summarize what I’ve read about this without reading it — but there’s an afterlife, there are 13 year olds, and social awkwardness. I dunno — just click the link there and read about 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:

• Indie Bookstores Are Finally Not Dying — The Daily Beast has a bit of rare good news for Indie bookstores.
• In a Mother’s Library, Bound in Spirit and in Print — here’s something that e-books can’t do.
• A favorite around here, Ace Atkins was on Authors on the Air with Pam Stack talking about his upcoming Spenser novel. Haven’t had a chance to listen to this yet, but I’m chomping at the bit to.
• Speaking of Atkins, Mystery Scene posted a little piece by him about Elmore Leonard, Let Your Characters Do the Talking.
• Fantasy must shake off the tyranny of the mega-novel — Damien Walter makes a good case against the monster-sized approach to fantasy stories. While I like a good, weighty tome, some of my favorites are the smaller works.
• Trailer For “The Magicians” — Syfy’s put out a trailer for the upcoming adaptation. I’m cautiously optimistic.
• 20 Reasons Book Nerds Lead a Better Life — Ginni Chen has an entertaining post up on the B&N blog.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• How to Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz — doesn’t look like your typical Lisa Lutz novel, but at this point, I don’t care. I’m in.
• Dry Bones by Craig Johnson — a new Walt Longmire. At the rate I’m going, I’ll probably get to it in November.
• Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll — I’ve heard nothing but great things about this one, looks great.
• Goddess of Buttercups & Daisies by Martin Millar — one of the odder looking books I’ve seen lately. Should work on tracking it down rightaway.
• Rumrunners by Eric Beetner — this looks like it could be a fun read.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to facetioussoup for following the blog this week (possibly the greatest moniker I’ve come across online), and to Nothing better than a good book… for following the BookLikes clone (which I really wish I could make look nicer…). Thanks to Injoy’s Blogs + Book Reviews for the signal boost to a post at said clone. Lastly, big thanks to Joseph Finder for bothering to read my post about his book and for responding on Twitter — don’t think I’ll ever get used to someone doing that.

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 Magicians’ Is The Grown-Up ‘Harry Potter’ You’ve Always Wanted — Whoo-hoo! Brakebills is coming to TV!
• 3 Reasons Why Booknerds Love the Smell of Books — yeah, seems right.
• 20 Books That Made You Fall in Love with Reading — Goodreads compiled a list of first favorite books
• Should You Read Middle Grade Books? A Flowchart — Karina Glaser put together a handy little flowchart for BookRiot
• Just in time for Mother’s Day: 7 Literary Moms Everybody Can Learn From

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Unseemly Science by Rod Duncan — didn’t realize the sequel to strong>The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter was this close to being released when I read it recently. This should be really good.
• The Worst Class Trip Ever by Dave Barry — an MG book by Barry about a field trip gone bad? Should be a fun way to kill an hour or so.
• Revision by Andrea Phillips — this looks to be a trippy read.
• Corsair by James L. Cambias — Computer hackers and space pirates, sounds like a winning combo
• Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond — Lois Lane in high school (and, thankfully, not the version from Smallville).
• Burning Down George Orwell’s House by Andrew Ervin — the tagline, “A darkly comic debut novel about advertising, truth, single malt, Scottish hospitality—or lack thereof—and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four” is enough to get me looking for it.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to legalreader for following the blog this week — and the tip — check out her blog, there’s some good stuff there. Thanks also to andrewknighton for the interaction.

slim pickings this week, but here’s 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:

• Five Fascinating Facts about Harper Lee — “Fascinating” might be pushing it a bit, but there might be a tidbit or two here that’s new for you.
• ‘Maus’ Book About Holocaust Is Removed in Russia — File this under “Very Unfortunate/Ironic Unintended Consequences”
• Celebrating 85 Years Of Nancy Drew, The Girl Who Started It All — 85 years ago this week, Nancy Drew first appeared in print. Theodore Jefferson pays tribute to the classic strong girl hero.
• Five Books Where Music is Practically a Character — an interesting list and TBR List fodder. I can’t believe Bledsoe’s The Hum and the Shiver didn’t make the list, probably would’ve been #6.

Just one New Release that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon for you this week.
• Darkened Blade by Kelly McCullough — the sixth installment of McCullough’s Fallen Blade series. Wait? Sixth? I knew I was behind, but not that behind.

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:

• A New ‘Wrinkle in Time’ — The WSJ got their hands on 3 cut pages of L’Engle’s classic. I read the trilogy (that’s all it was at the time) repeatedly, can’t remember a lick of it (I’m do remember a general sense of unease settling in a few times). Reading this makes me want to give it another shot.
• Object Lesson: Why we need physical books — I loved William Giraldi’s piece for the New Republic.
• When I Discovered Books Are My Home — I liked Eleanora Buckbee’s Read it Forward piece just as much.
• On this week’s The Once & Future Podcast, Anton Strout talked to Benedict Jacka. Good stuff.
• I’m guessing it’s due to World Book Day, but this week brought a whole lotta love for books. Including this one from Interesting Literature: 45 Great Sourced Quotes about Books
• 15 Authors You Wish You Could Have Dinner With
• 9 Of The Worst Habits Of Book-Lovers That Leave Us Broke, In Pain, And Lonely (But It’s All Totally Worth It)
• 12 Things Every True Book Lover Can Agree on

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Second Olympus by K. A. Stewart — I’ve liked Stewart’s stuff before, and this Percy Jackson for grown-up looking book seems like a good read. (and that’s just trying to describe it in less than a sentence, not trying to unfairly caricature the thing)
• The Mad Apprentice by Django Wexler — heard Wexler talking about this series (of which this is volume 2) on The Once and Future Podcast recently. Sounded like a fun read for the MG crowd.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to smithnskarry and paynepills for following the blog this week. Ditto to Books Direct for following the BookLikes version.

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:

• Harper Lee’s new book gets readers — under lock and key — It’s been a bit since we checked in on the saga of Go Set a Watchman.
• Encouraging Teenagers to Read, by Choosing Books From the Non-Y.A. Shelves — some good (and some self-evident) advice from the NY Times
• What Should a Book Cover Do? — Covers are a lot more important than they should be, this look at the process is really fascinating.
• Film Franchise Based on Gregory Mcdonald’s Fletch Series Moves to Relativity — am not enthused by this. But who knows? Maybe they’ll do it right.

This Week’s New Releases that look interesting. A couple of YA titles caught my eye this week:
• Hit by Delilah S. Dawson — the underlying concept of this book is so good, it almost doesn’t matter what Dawson does with it.
• The Prom Goer’s Interstellar Excursion by Chris McCoy — looks like the silly kind of fun that could make for a pleasant evening.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to byclarkellis for following the blog and Injoy’s Blogs + Book Reviews for following the uglier mirror at booklikes 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:

• ‘The Great Gatsby’ Turns 90: Five Things You Might Not Know About the Classic Novel — a good tribute to Fitzgerald’s best. I can’t help shake my head at Mencken’s take — and laugh at the comparison of Gatsby parties to . . . well, read it yourself.
• In My Younger and More Vulnerable Years: On First Reading The Great Gatsby — Scribner got 12 authors to talk about their first exposure to the novel.
• 100 Best Books of the Decade So Far — this is a daunting task, and frankly, the guys at Oyster Review are dead wrong on a few of these. Still, an impressive list and good TBR fodder.
• My Underrated List — Kevin Hearne reacts to ending up on a Buzzfeed list and offers his list of underrated titles
• What Kids Want in Books — some interesting data from Scholastic
• B&N Reads’ advice columnist attempts to answer the question, How Many Books is Too Many?
• Don Draper reviews children’s books — what better way to celebrate the last few episodes?

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu — the trilogy concludes. I have high hopes for this.
• Dark Heir by Faith Hunter — Jane Yellowrock is back.
• Scent of Murder by James O. Born — a K-9 policeman on the hunt for a kidnapper

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 11 greatest children’s books — BBC Culture surveyed experts from around the world about the best children’s books (in English). Can’t argue with any of these — surprised more by what didn’t make it than what did.
• Speaking of children’s books, B&N Reads lists The Top 10 Scenes We Hope to See in the New Illustrated Harry Potter.
• Little Black Classics carry Penguin to new heights — I don’t know if these books are available on this side of the Atlantic, but like the subtitle says, what these books say about modern reading habits is interesting.
• Tee Morris on The Evolution of Steampunk — Co-author of The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences books responds to the idea that Steampunk is dying.
• How to Kill Off Characters — BookRiot’s Preeti Chhibber offers some interesting thoughts on this idea.
• How Robert Goldsborough Became Nero Wolfe — I’ve often said I have problems with post-Bloodied Ivy Goldsborough books, but can’t begrudge him this.
• 5 Baseball Books Full of Wonder, Defeat, and Triumph for Opening Day — another from B&N Reads. This looks like a good list of TBR fodder. Everything she says about Underworld is spot-on.

This Week’s New Release that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Diamond Conspiracy by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris — Books and Braun and the rest of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences are back, tho’ it doesn’t look too good for the Ministry. Which means good things for readers.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Man of many thoughts for following the blog this week.