Miscellaneous Musings about Books

[cupiscent]

I didn't know where to put this so I decided to put it here...

There is going to be another Goblin Emperor book! It's called The Witness for the Dead and it's not listed as a sequel so much as "in the world of the Goblin Emperor" but I am very, very excited.

Goes to goodread  only to find I’ve already added it on the 21st March 2020 haha

I saw that, when I went to find the link, and I felt both sheepish and outraged that you already knew and hadn't told us (me). I mean, in fairness, I had heard that there was a soft-announced "sequel", but with the publication of the other Sherlock-fanfic novel, I had sort of forgotten!

[Alex Hormann]

Rhythm of War arrived yesterday, but I'm debating holding it off for a week or so, so i can clear out the last of my tbr backlog. But i also really want to read it right now!

[ScarletBea]

After a relatively slow 2020 for new books (at least it feels like that, I might discover differently when I do my yearly summary hehe), at the moment I've got 10 books in my 2021 "to buy" list - basically new 2020 books that are coming out on paperback next year.

I decided to create a little table by month to remind me (usually paperbacks aren't advertised), and they're nicely spread in the first half of the year

[ScarletBea]

At the moment I think I'm in a place of "right book at the wrong time" (or is it "wrong book at right time", since all time is right?)
I'm just not connecting, and I know I'd love it at another time...

[S. K. Inkslinger]

At the moment I think I'm in a place of "right book at the wrong time" (or is it "wrong book at right time", since all time is right?)
I'm just not connecting, and I know I'd love it at another time...

I think I had a case of this yesterday. The day before I was reading Holy Sister and feeling that it was quite droll as I was yawning throughout (I was feeling kinda stressed and tired from all of the exams the other day). Yesterday and today I was reading Holy Sister and was hyped as hell on what's going to happen next, so much that I couldn't wait to get back to read it again. Different times different perspectives, I guess. (Or maybe I'd just hit the patch where things are really getting into motion, hahah) 

[S. K. Inkslinger]

I was reading Side Jobs, a collection of Dresden Files short stories, and I'd come across one short where I found out that Harry Dresden liked to read The Black Company novels! What a discovery, eh? 

Edit: Apologies I messed up Side Jobs for Brief Cases hahah.

[ScarletBea]

I was reading Brief Cases, a collection of Dresden Files short stories, and I'd come across one short where I found out that Harry Dresden liked to read The Black Company novels! What a discovery, eh? 

I wonder if both writers are friends in real life, or it's just Jim who likes Glen's books, hehe

[ScarletBea]

Yesterday I had another confirmation that I'm simply not made for audiobooks.

A couple of days ago there was the reading/acting of Neil Gaiman's The spinner and the spindle on Radio 4, and I decided to record it, as I hadn't read the book - short story, basic premise known, what could go wrong?
Well, I was only able to go through that hour by doing other things like washing the dishes or playing a little game on my phone! I tried simply looking out the window but soon I was thinking about other things and not listening, and even doing the stuff I bet I missed lots of bits, I had to really *focus* on listening. Extremely tiring!

[DrNefario]

I can't listen to audio with my full attention, either. The trick, I think is to combine it with something else that doesn't use that part of your brain. Washing up is probably a good choice. I listen while I'm out for my daily walk, and I am also able to play certain kinds of puzzle games - mainly picross - or make models while listening. Anything that is occupying but kind of on autopilot.

That said, I mainly listen to podcasts and not audiobooks.

[Alex Hormann]

I listen to quite a few audio drama (mostly Doctor Who, Warhammer and Blake's 7) but find it hard to focus on anything longer than an hour. Probably because my natural reading pace is quite quick so I can't stand narrators who drag things out. I do think audio originals are better than audiobooks because they are designed to be listened to rather than just someone reading off the page, as it were.

I did try a longer audiobook when i found a D&D book I'd missed out on back in the day (Venom in her Veins) The narrator was dreadful, and seemed to be making up his own punctuation, but it was weirdly compelling in a car-crash sort of way.

[ScarletBea]

Very interesting infographic about reading and books in 2020:

http://geediting.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/World-Reading-Habits-in-2020-draft02-min-1.png

(if it opens as a single tiny strip, click on the image and it becomes readable)

[Ray McCarthy]

Though:
1) Terrible format chart. Better as separate frames.
2) Some content may be dubious
3) Does anyone believe public Amazon metrics for anything now?

Paper sales falling for years.
Big publishers often lump all non-paper sales together.
Audio and ebooks in English is dominated by Amazon.
Amazon and companies they bought dominate English language online sales.
Audio might have over 20% growth. Gym, home exercise machines, non-driving commuters, joggers.

IMO a bit mad for cyclists and drivers to listen to an audio book. Either they will not be able to take it in properly, or else won't be paying proper attention to the road. It's not like music or background radio.

[ScarletBea]

I decided to order some books, including RJ Barker's new ones: just my luck the first is being reprinted. I wasn't really planning on reading them right away, though, waiting for book 3 in September hehe

I got Kingdom of liars too, @eclipse!
 

[Bender]

I'm not a fan of unreliable narrators in books. It's like getting a second hand summary version of the book. I don't really see the charm in that.

[ScarletBea]

I'm not a fan of unreliable narrators in books. It's like getting a second hand summary version of the book. I don't really see the charm in that.

Which book is this comment for, Bender?

On a random comment, I see how shut down the fantasy genre still is when I venture a peak at the facebook group and see everyone asking about the exact same books over and over, or saying that "fantasy stories are all based on medieval european times" - I assumed we'd moved from that one a good 5 years ago, most books now are not related to that at all...

(it's a horrid place anyway - in the sense of not making sense the order, the comments, the fonts... I'm not going back)