This week I read . . . a lot of stuff. The books I’m working on, Mapquest, e-mails, contracts, essays, news articles, recipes, crochet patterns, notes, announcements . . . I need to cut back on my reading so I can read some books by other people.
What did you read this week?

This week I re-read The Deal because I needed a sure thing. (Hi, Sure Thing.). It’s been that kind of week.

In other news, I’ve decided that I have to go back to organizing this blog since we’re revamping the website (keeping Joelle-from-Moxie’s design because I love it, yes, even the monkey) so I should get this place organized and the first thing I decided to do was create a Good Book Thursday tag and log them all into the Reading category. Do you know how long we’ve been doing GBT? Since 2017. That is a lot of weekly posts to tag and categorize but I am on it. So I’m also reading 30 pages of blog titles. I’ve already retagged and categorized the Argh Authors, so the Reading Category is on its way to being accurate. You can see the impact in the Tag Cloud on the right (scroll down; no, farther than that). Also: Dogs and Cats is up to date for the moment. I was all about making it easier for you to read the blog this week.

Which reminds me, what did you read this week?

Yesterday, I wrote the first scene for Very Nice Funerals. Today I lost my Argh Ink login and it took me forever (well, until now) to find it. Also, today, I’m rereading my first scene and reconsidering my plan to make writing my career because it’s terrible. Well, you know, first draft, but still.

Tell me something good you read this week. Quickly, before I lose the damn log-in again. Thank you.

The only book I read this week was Rocky Start, which made me think about how many times you can read a book before it becomes mush in your brain. Okay, I’m also rewriting Rocky Start, which is a different kind of reading, but I’ve been through it so many times now that I can’t keep it straight in my head. And yet I love rereading my favorite books. Some of Georgette Heyer’s, some of Loretta Chase’s, some of Dick Francis’s, some of Martha Wells’, some of Terry Pratchett’s, Connie Willis, Rex Stout, . . . the list of my rereads is long and varied, but the ones I go back to again and again are just as enjoyable the fourteenth time around. Comfort reads, every one of them. And thank god for comfort reads. With any luck, I can get Rocky Start rewritten to be somebody’s comfort read since Bob is in there, too, doing good work.

What did you read this week?

So many people here had mentioned that Anne Bishop’s Lake Silence was good that I foolishly clicked on the sample just to see what the book was like and ended up buying eight books. That sounds like I’m recommending them, and the were great reads at first, but when I tried to reread them . . . uh, no.

I can tell you that the Others books are addictive. They’re well written (although comedy is not her strength) and have compelling conflicts, and I zipped my way through all eight of them in four days. Great world-building and interesting character interactions and evil antagonists who get their just desserts power the books (emotionally abusive exes who get eaten by monsters are my jam). But there were things about them that bothered me, and as I read them again, they became too much. I learned a lot about what I need from a book by reading these, which was illuminating, and there are just not my kind of stories. But they were a lot of fun to read the first time, so don’t let me put you off.

What good book did you read this week?

This week I am still reading How Magicians Think by Joshua Jay because I am mostly working until I drop and then I sleep. But it’s a great book and I’m underlining like crazy, not just because it’s going to be so useful for both Rocky Start and Haunting Alice, but because the analogy between how magicians think and how writers think is strong. Probably more on that later since I’m fascinated by that.

In the meantime, what good book did you read this week?

I am reading Patricia Highsmith’s Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction (still not sure how I feel about it, will report back later) and Joshua Jay’s How Magicians Think<, which I'm enjoying a lot, pen in hand so I remember what I want to use for Ethan's PoV in Haunting Alice. But that’s for when I’m in bed at night (I’ve banished electronics from my bedroom) so I still have two manuscripts that I promised to read for people and they’re next up. It’s been nuts here, people, and I was nuts before that so . . .

Tell me what you read this week that was great. I might even get a chance to read for pleasure in October; give me some ideas.

So Vermillion is finished and Bob has it uploaded so you can buy it in paper and hardcover now. And I just plotzed. I have so much to do, and I just couldn’t do any of it. So I tried to read a novel and nope, couldn’t do that, either; my brain is too full of words on a screen to compute right now. I ended up watching Matt Smith’s first Doctor Who episode, which I think is called “The Eleventh Hour,” because it’s brilliant and so is he. That’s how bad my brain is broken: I’m watching TV for the first time in years. Literally years. Unfortunately, this isn’t a “This is a Good TV Show” post, so it’s over to you.

What good book did you read this week?

The good book I’m reading this week is Rocky Start, which is a relief because I’m also reading Vermillion under the gun. Never again do we schedule books so close together. It seemed like a good idea because I hate waiting for the next book in a series–the next Murderbot isn’t out until November–but I need more time with Vermillion. I’m freaking out, Bob was patient while we had a disagreement over the giant red bear, and then he decided to gaslight me by animating the bear with lightning on the cell tower–you know, you really don’t want to know the details on that.

Distract me from the giant reanimated teddy bear: what did did you read this week?

Welp, there goes August and the summer. And here’s your last chance to talk about beach reads, assuming anybody is brave enough to go to the beach these days. I’m finishing up the rewrite on Vermillion–why, yes, it is really late to be doing that–and cannot wait to read Excellent Oddities again because I’ve forgotten so much of it. September is my favorite month, so nothing but good reads ahead.

What did you read this summer?