Tag: Saturday Miscellany

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:

• Rowling writes story about 30-plus Harry Potter — You probably didn’t hear about it, but a children’s author released a short story this week as a follow-up to an older series. Maybe a news site or two mentioned it. Probably worth a read (I haven’t yet, not sure why).
• A couple of good extra-Internet pieces this week: First, last week’s Face the Nation featured a discussion with several mystery/thriller writers, including Lee Child: Mystery writers discuss their favorite summer reads — During this discussion, Child said, “The best book is not watching the detective work on a crime, it’s watching the crime work on the detective.” Something about that really registered with me, and I’m going to write something in response to this soon. I hope.
• The second is a nice NPR piece prompted by Landline: Rainbow Rowell Does Romance With A Subversive (Read: Realistic) Twist
• When I’m not reading, I’m generally watching TV (or working or sleeping, or spending time with that group of people I live with and share a name with — I think you call them a family). This week it was announced — after years of rumors and bad starts — that Lev Grossman’s The Magicians is getting a Syfy pilot and that Terry Brooks’ Shannara is getting a full season on MTV. I’ve seen a lot of backlash about the MTV part of the deal — but I don’t see why. They’ve done some pretty good scripted stuff lately. And, most importantly — Shannara’s going to be on TV. Who cares where?
• Five Plum Reasons to Read Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich — The other day, I wondered why I keep reading this series. Paul Goat Allen gives me 5 reasons. (well, not me, really — but I can pretend, can’t I?)
• Map of the City Where Every Novel Takes Place — Well, not every Novel. But a whole lot of them. Great concept, great execution. *cough*165 shopping days ’til Xmas*cough*
• Top ten fictional bookshops — Who doesn’t love bookstores? They’re not reading this blog, for sure. Sure, I’d have included Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But still, fun list.
• Speaking of Grossman, The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman Book Trailer This trailer features a few (I’m guessing) paragraphs from the upcoming book read by fans/fellow authors, taking a sentence or so each. It’s just a great section, don’t care what book it is. But as it’s this one? Just makes it better. I’ve watched this a few times already.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Tail of Vengeance by Spencer Quinn — a Chet & Bernie short story. Wa-hoo.
• The Competition by Marcia Clark — The fourth Rachel Knight book, this time Knight and the gang are dealing with a school shooting.
• Landline by Rainbow Rowell — Can a magic telephone fix a troubled marriage? (There’s a sentence I never expected to write.)

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:

• Recent Reads: The Great Way — You may remember I was pushing the Kickstarter campaign for Harry Connolly’s The Great Way awhile back — well, fantasy author C. E. Murphy’s read it and offered a very positive review. Can’t wait!
• One-Star Book Reviews — This tumblr is a very funny collection of bits from one-star reviews found online. Have to admit, that I agree with a couple of them — the one linked here is my favorite.
• The Lock In Audiobook: Two Versions, Two Narrators — John Scalzi’s The Lock In will be released next month, as well as two versions of the audiobook. Scalzi assures us that it’s appropriate for this novel for reasons we’ll get later. Very intriguing. I don’t normally think about getting audiobooks as new releases, but mayyyyyybe this time.

The lists of new releases for the week that I looked at were long (and next week looks like a doozy, too), so I’m probably overlooking some winners, but here are This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Premonitions by Jamie Schultz — Seanan McGuire described this as Leverage meets InCryptid. Which basically means this is a must read for me.
• Artful by Peter David — “the previously untold story of the Artful Dodger, hunter of vampyres and other nasty things.” David’s strongest when he’s putting his own spin on something we already know. This should be a really good one.

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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, but just in case:

• How Amazon and Goodreads are changing literary criticism — Headline says it all. Interesting read.
• How a Book Becomes the Book of the Summer — Lev Grossman — whose upcoming book should be, but honestly won’t be, a contender for Book of the Summer — talks about the phenomenon
• Brash Books co-founders channel self-publishing success to publish other authors — Lee Goldberg and Joel Goldman talk about their imprint, Brash Books
• Zak Penn to Rewrite Script for Ready Player One Film Adaptation — If someone has to rewrite Cline, am glad it’s someone like Penn
• The Convoluted Calculus of Rating Books — I think rating books is a littler simpler than this Book Riot piece suggests, but, this is entertaining enough.

This was another of those weeks with only one release that caught my eye:
• The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (wink, wink) — Galbraith and Cormoran Strike are back for another go ’round. I wasn’t blown away by Galbraith’s debut, but I really enjoyed it. Expect the same here.

(not sure where I found this — obviously something about goodreads — if you know, let me know so I can attribute it properly)

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 I Turned Neil Gaiman Into A Fictional Character For My New Novel — I kept his name out of my review, but Paul Cornell seems to be cool revealing his celebrity guest-star. This story is as good as you hope it would be.
• What’s in a Book Title? — Tom Rachman talks about titling books. Not surprisingly, it’s an interesting piece.
• New Publisher, Simon & Schuster — A. Lee Martinez talks about his new publisher and his new project — his first trilogy/non-stand alone. This is my excited font!
• I read books. Does that make me a nerd? –a teen ponders this for the Guardian, which ties into:
• This is the absolute worst way to teach your kids to read — I don’t use an app, but this is very similar to the way I get my kids to read. I’m not so sure that this piece gets it right (or that I do), but it’s something to think about. Comment away just below the picture!
• 11 Author Quotations to Help Reluctant Readers Find Their Way — who doesn’t enjoy quotations about reading? I love knowing I’m not alone in my obsession. These, about getting non-readers into books are really good. (no app required)
• 26 Of The Greatest Book Dedications You Will Ever Read — there are some really good ones here (including some from books I read and somehow managed to overlook teh dedications)
• Lee Child & Jack Reacher Roast — At the RT Booklovers Convention this month, Tess Gerritsen, Alafair Burke, SJ Rozan, Kat Richardson and Duncan Munro roasted Lee Child. Haven’t watched it all yet, but it’s pretty amusing for fans of Child (and fun for fans of the authors to see them do this kind of thing)

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Shattered by Kevin Hearne — The only reason I haven’t read the latest Iron Druid novel already is that UPS is taking forever to get it to me. Harry Dresden and Atticus in less than a month? (and Spenser a couple weeks before that!) It’s like Christmas, but better!
• All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner — I just read the info on this one right now, and while I knew I would be reading it (Weiner’s an automatic buy for my wife, and I’ve started reading them after her) — I’m really interested in this story of addiction and struggle. Drugs + Jennifer Weiner? This could be really, really good.
• Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich is out in hardcover, so I’ll get to it next year. But that means, that Takedown Twenty is out in paperback. Since I caught up with the series last year, it’s been a long time (for me) since I’ve spent time with Stephanie and the rest, has absence made my heart grow fonder?
• Heirs of Grace by Tim Pratt — was originally published as a Kindle serial, now in hardcopy. Looks interesting, I’ll likely track it down.

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 to Support an Author’s New Book: 11 Ideas For You — Some great advice for those who like to help out those who bring us such pleasure. Saw a lot of writer’s pass this along this week, and I can see why.
• Dear Media, Let me help you write that article on YA literature — A YA Librarian attempts to set a few facts straight about YA books. Good for readers (particularly those skeptical of YA) as well as media-types.
• The Case of the Aging Sleuths and the Dying Detectives — Max Allan Collins talks about the various ways that mystery authors have dealt with their protagonist’s aging. Nice little survey that speaks to the mystery geek in me
• First Page Perfection — I haven’t read the same books that James Crossley talks about here, but I fully understand the phenomenon he talks about. I expect most readers do.
• What’s in a Pen Name? — title says it all
• Five Fascinating Facts about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — In honor of the 155th anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birth, here’s, well, 5 facts.
• The Tufa Talk — nice little chat about a book I really enjoyed from the author and audio book narrator. (thanks, @SkyboatMedia for the head’s up on this)
• ‘Cheap Shot’ Brings Sports To Spenser Revival — will hopefully get my review of the new Spenser up next week, Spoiler: Loved it. This is a nice look at the book and Atkins.
• Patrick Rothfuss Reviews Butcher’s Skin Game — a rave review from Rothfuss is a joy to read, this is no exception. I don’t need anything to make me want to read Skin Game, but I’ll take it.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Severed Streets by Paul Cornell — I’ve been really looking forward to this follow-up to the dark Urban Fantasy/Police Procedural London Falling
• Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary by J.R.R. Tolkien — Tolkien’s take on the classic, 88 years after he finished it. Who wouldn’t want to read this? Here’s a bit more on it.
• Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl — Honestly, I could live without returning to the Beautiful Creatures world. Still, Link and Ridley? Tempting . . . .
• Temporary Hauntings by Craig Shaw Gardner — it’s been ages since I read a Craig Shaw Gardner book, but he’s always been a sure-fire pleaser. The Temporary Magic series looks fun.
• V is for Villain by Peter Moore (not Sue Grafton, really.) — Looks to be a fun YA super-hero thing. /li>

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:

• 10 Benefits of Reading: Why You Should Read Every Day — keep trying to convince my kids of this (especially my teenagers), maybe hearing it from someone besides me will help.
• 25 Signs You’re Addicted To Books — this is me in a nutshell. But with slightly less cursing and a whole lot less cats.
• Why Leaving a Book Half-Read Is So Hard — not sure I buy all of this, but I kinda see myself here
• The World’s Longest Book Domino Chain — what a way to kick off a summer reading program