What Am I Reading?
Showing posts with label Sunday Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunday Post. Show all posts
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Sunday, September 8, 2024
What Am I Reading?
Sunday, August 25, 2024
What Am I Reading?
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Sunday, August 18, 2024
* Weekly Tidbits *
- There was a split second where I thought the autumn weather was arriving early, but Mother Nature played a trick and ramped up the humidity, causing my allergies to go to wonkers. I spent the week sick and got more blogging written in one week than I've done all year.
- I got my Real ID. Surprisingly, there wasn't a long line at the driver's license bureau—that's what it's called in my neck of the woods; no DMV—and I wasn't there for ten minutes.
- The KC Chiefs lost their second—out of three—preseason game last night. Hopefully, this isn't a premonition of things to come.
- On the flip side, the KC Royals won last night 13-1 against the Cincinnati Reds. Currently, the Royals are in the third AL Wildcard spot and are in third place in the ALC—two games behind the Twins and four games behind the Guardians.
What Am I Reading?
Sunday, August 11, 2024
What Am I Reading?
Sunday, August 4, 2024
What Am I Reading?
Sunday, July 28, 2024
What Am I Reading?
Sunday, July 21, 2024
What Am I Reading?
Sunday, July 14, 2024
What Am I Reading?
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Sunday, July 7, 2024
7/5/24 - I can't sleep—the cup of coffee I'm drinking isn't helping the problem—and I'm listening to Iron Maiden at nearly 2 a.m. on Friday. Instead of working on reviews—I've started two—or setting up today's Book Blogger Hop, I'm writing my Sunday Post early.
Song of the Week
What Am I Reading?
I finished The House That Horror Built on Wednesday. I took a reading break yesterday, the 4th of July, and plan on starting Douglas Preston's Extinction sometime today. Then I'll probably move on to Craig Johnson's First Frost.
What's New in the Mailbox?
Yes, two books are in the above photo, but only one came in the mail—R.L. Stine's Shark Night. I'll probably read it sooner than later; maybe I'll post a review for it during the upcoming "Shark Week."
I picked up Iris Johansen's The Survivor the other day at Walmart.
What's New on the Bookshelf?
I might've stated a few times on this blog that I don't care much for audiobooks. So, it might be a shock that I bought a slew of 99-cent audiobooks at the thrift store. If I counted correctly, there were 25 total. Yes, I feel a bit crazy getting these.
Eighteen of the titles are William J. Johnstone's Westerns: Eagles: Blood of Eagles, Eagles: Eyes of Eagles, Eagles: Dreams of Eagles, Eagles: Talons of Eagles, Eagles: Scream of Eagles, Eagles: Crusade of Eagles, Eagles: Pride of Eagles, Eagles: Revenge of Eagles, Eagles: Destiny of Eagles, The Last Gunfighter: No Man's Land, The Last Gunfighter: Rescue,
The First Mountain Man: Absaroka Ambush, The First Mountain Man: Preacher's Pursuit, The First Mountain Man: Preacher's Showdown, The First Mountain Man: Preacher's Fortune, The First Mountain Man: Preacher's Justice, The First Mountain Man: Preacher's Peace, and Hell's Half Acre: Cold-Blooded (written by William's niece, J.A. Johnstone).
The other audiobooks include Dean Koontz's Seize the Night, Preston & Child's Two Graves, Preston & Child's Cemetery Dance, Iris Johansen's Stalemate, Iris Johansen's Quicksand, and Iris Johansen's Countdown.
While at the thrift store, I bought one 25-cent hardcover, The Last Patriot by Brad Thor; four Iris Johansen paperbacks—Dark Summer, Blood Game, And Then You Die, and Deadlock; and three other paperbacks: Star Trek: The Fate of the Phoenix by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath, and Cold Fire by Dean Koontz.
Dollar Tree put out a bunch of books this week. I picked up The Annihilation Protocol by Michael Laurence, The Sin in the Steel by Ryan Van Loan, High Treason by Sean McFate, and Titan's Day by Dan Stout.
New titles on my Kindle are Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster; Star Trek: The Rings of Time by Greg Cox; Star Trek: The Disinherited by Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, and Robert Greenberger; and The Rise & Fall of ECW by Tom Loverro.
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Weekly Tidbits
- I'll attempt to play catch-up on reviews this week.
- The KC Royals won back-to-back series but are still seven games behind.
Song of the Week
What Am I Reading?
What am I reading? That is a good question. Hmm. I'm thinking. I'll probably be reading The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry, a library loan I recently checked out with two other books, First Frost by Craig Johnson and The Path to Paradise by Sam Wasson. It's a Gothic horror tale; its premise is intriguing, so it won't take long to read. Then, I'll move on to one of the three ARCs, to one of the library loans, and vice versa.
What's New on the Bookshelf?
I bought The Camp by Nancy Bush after reading the blurb, which reminded me of Friday the 13th, though instead of Camp Cyrstal Lake, it's Camp Luf-Shawk (nicknamed Camp Love Shack and later renamed Camp Fog Lake).
Additionally, I picked up Never Lie by Freida McFadden.
Dollar Tree got in a bunch of former Walmart $5.97 hardbacks. I got Preston & Child's Old Bones, Tom Clancy's Power and Empire by Marc Cameron, Tom Clancy's Line of Sight by Mike Madden, and Tom Clancy's Oath of Office by Marc Cameron. Yes, I'm double-dipping here, but on purpose because I wasn't sure if I had two books, Oath of Office and Old Bones, and the store only had one copy of each title. It turns out that I already have the Oath of Office, but the second copy is in much better shape than the first, so I'll be donating the old one. I'm pretty sure I already have Old Bones, but I haven't gone through my books to find out yet.
Why am all of a sudden am I finding Star Trek books in my area? I found two 25-cent Star Trek books at the thrift store last week: TNG: Reunion by Michael Jan Friedman and The Nitpickers Guide for Next Generation Trekkers by Phil Farrand. Additionally, I grabbed Star Wars: The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear! by Tom Angleberger.
I picked up two 25-cent Robin Cook hardbacks: Death Benefit and Chromosome 6.
Lastly, I got three Iris Johansen books: Quicksand, Eight Days to Live, and Blind Alley.
New titles on my Kindle are: Up Until Now by William Shatner and David Fisher, The View from the Bridge by Nicholas Meyer, Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden, and The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden.
On my second visit to Dollar tree, I picked up All the Broken People by Leah Konen and The Hush by John Hart.
In the "free" section at the library, I found a 1951 hardback of Three by Heinlein: The Puppet Masters, Waldo, and Magic, Inc. by Robert A. Heinlein.
For ten cents apiece, I got three old Ian Fleming's 007 paperbacks: Thunderball, Dr. No, and From Russia with Love.
I also got three Dean Koontz paperbacks: Whispers, Shattered, and The House of Thunder. The latter is replacing a battered copy that I'll donate or trash.
What's New on Billy's Kindle?
Sunday, June 2, 2024
My Current Reads
Once again, I'm in between books, though I did read the prologue to Friday the 13th: Mother's Day over a week ago. I placed bookmarks in multiple books, but I was on the fence about what to read next. I should probably read The Chaos Agent, but part of me wants to read Pliable Truths (Star Trek: The Next Generation) by Dayton Ward, which I just received in the mail yesterday afternoon. No, it's not an ARC; I ordered it from Amazon. I was supposed to receive an ARC, but my gallery contact has been MIA for several months. Sometime, I need to read ARCs of Extinction, Acts of Defiance, and Lost Birds. Also, I've added Freida McFadden's The Housemaid and The Housemaid's Secret to my current reading list. There's a third book coming out soon, so I'm wanting to read these two first.
Monday, May 27, 2024
Happy Memorial Day!
Yep, I'm posting a late Sunday Post on a Monday. I was going to skip this week's post, but I have extra free time today; I'm writing it now.
Song of the Week
My Current Reads
I'm nearly finished with Star Wars: The Living Ghost and should finish it tonight. Then I'm moving on to Argylle; I plan on reading it fast. These two loans are due June 6th. At the same time, I'm reading an old YA book, Friday the 13th: Mother's Day.
Stephen King is Back!
What's in the Mailbox?
I received a copy of the newest Jack Ryan novel, Tom Clancy's Act of Defiance, written by Andrews & Wilson (Brian Andrews and Jeffery Wilson). I believe "Act of the Defiance" is the first Jack Ryan story written by these authors. There's a submarine on the cover, and I love subs, so I can't wait to tread on this one.
What's New on the Bookshelf?
I'm skipping my weekly thrift store stop today because the store is closed for Memorial Day, and I probably won't go there again until next week, though you never know with me. However, I did buy quite a few books last week, all for a dollar. Yep, there was a $1 bag sale again. So I got everything for $1
Up first is a Doubleday jacket-less hardcover of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. It has a copyright of 1938, but no edition is listed. Rebecca is one of my favorite books; I now have four or five copies.
I got a paperback of Preston & Child's Cemetery Dance. I thought I already owned the book; apparently, I didn't. I must've read it from the library. Also, I got a paperback of The Killing Game by Iris Johansen.
Up first is a Doubleday jacket-less hardcover of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. It has a copyright of 1938, but no edition is listed. Rebecca is one of my favorite books; I now have four or five copies.
I got a paperback of Preston & Child's Cemetery Dance. I thought I already owned the book; apparently, I didn't. I must've read it from the library. Also, I got a paperback of The Killing Game by Iris Johansen.
While I'm not the biggest fan of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, I got a July 1983 paperback edition—only because I liked the artwork on the cover. I got a 1980 tie-in edition paperback of Florence Engel Randall's The Watcher in the Woods. I've heard of it but never read it or seen either movie adaptation. Also, I grabbed an Archway paperback, The Greatest Monster in the World, by Daniel Cohen.
I found three Choose Your Own Adventure Paperbacks: The Mystery of the Chimney Rock (Special Book Fair Edition) by Edward Packard, The Abominable Snowman (Special Book Fair Edition) by R.A. Montgomery, and Mystery of the Sacred Stones by Louise Munro Foley.
From 1984 to 1985, Scholastic published a YA book series, Micro Adventures, created by Ruth Glick and Eileen Buckholtz, that combined adventure stories with computer programs. Each books have several short Basic type-in programs that can run on the IBM PC, PcJr., Apple II +, IIe, COMMODORE 64, VIC-20, ATARI 400/800, RADIO SHACK TRS-80 (Level 2 or greater), and RADIO SHACK COLOR COMPUTER. There were ten books published and four Magic Micro books.
Guess what? I found nine books in the Micro Adventure series. The titles are Jungle Quest by Megan and H. William Stine, Million Dollar Gamble by Chassie L. West, and Time Trap by Jean Favors, Mindbenders by Ruth Glick and Eileen Buckholtz, Robot Race by David Anthony Kratt, Doom Stalker by Ruth Glick and Eileen Buckholtz, The Big Freeze by Jean M. Favors, Dead Ringer by Chassie L. West, and Spellbound by Megan Stine and H. William Stine.
I got five Goosebumps reprints with new covers released to tie in with the first Goosebumps movie. There's only one that I don't already own, Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls, first published in 1998 as part of the Goosebumps 2000 series. Unfortunately, the book had a few pages torn, and others were missing, which I realized later. I fixed the r pages with tape and will keep the book as a "placement" in my collection until I can find a better copy
The other books are One Day at Horrorland, The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, Please Don't Feed the Vampire (Give Yourself Goosebumps), and Say Cheese and Die!
My favorite finds from this thrift trip are R.L. Stine's Fear Street: The Secret Bedroom and the novelization of Gremlins by George Gipe. Despite the cover damage, I was on a high when I came across the Secret Bedroom because I knew, for a fact, that I didn't have it in my Fear Street collection.
It's rare to find an 80s novelization in the wild, and Gremlins makes the fifth of my recent finds. Remember, I found The Terminator and three Knight Rider books a few weeks ago; I imagine Gremlins was part of the same donation. Oddly, I found Gremlins mixed in with the kid's books. The 1984 film is a horror film, not a kid's movie. Nevertheless, there were (and still are) plenty of Gizmo plushes marketed for kids. I still have the one from my childhood, though it's seen better days.
Here's a fact: George Gipe also wrote the novelizations for Back to the Future and Explorers. Sadly, he died on September 6th, 1986, from a bee sting. Weirdly, my birthday is September 7th (five years earlier), and I'm also allergic to bees.
I stopped by a different thrift store and got Max Brand's Smiling Charlie for fifty cents. At Dollar Tree, I bought Exile by James Swallow (this guy also writes Star Trek books) and The Mother Code by Carole Stivers.
New titles on my Kindle include Phasers on Stun! How Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World by Ryan Britt, Nightmare Hall: The Silent Scream by Diane Hoh, Forever and a Day: A James Bond Novel by Anthony Horowitz, Supernatural: Bone Key by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Fire by Caroline B. Cooney, Brainchild by Andrew Neiderman, Immortals by Andrew Neiderman, Blood Spell by Janice Harrell, and The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories, Volume 4.
Other new titles on my Kindle are The Perfume by Caroline B. Cooney, The Vampire Promise: Evil Returns by Caroline B. Cooney, The Vampire Promise: Fatal Bargain by Caroline B. Cooney, Night School by Caroline B. Cooney, The Yearbook by Peter Lerangis, Driver's Dead by Peter Lerangis, The Dark Chronicles: The Calling by Barbara Steiner, Blindfolded by Diane by Hoh, The Photographer by Barbara Steiner, and The Photographer II: The Dark Room by Barbara Steiner.
