Happy Friday Links

3-8-24

The first hint of Spring at the nature park where I walk daily

Hi readers,

Spring has sprung in North Texas, and except for an occasional rainy day, the weather has been wonderful lately. I wish Spring and Fall would last a little longer by stealing time from the miserable Summer.

I had good intentions to publish a “New Books for March” newsletter earlier this week, but I didn’t. I’m sure there is a saying about good intentions, but I’m not going down that road. I’ll show a collage of the twelve that I had planned on telling you about, along with a few comments towards the end of the newsletter, but today is Friday, and it's time for links, and I’ve got some good ones for you.

• I just finished this episode of Laura Tremaine’s 10 Things to Tell You podcast with

  Sara Hildreth
  from the
  FictionMatters Newsletter
  . During the podcast, they talk about the differences between reviewing books and being a literary critic. I also listened to Sara talk about this on her podcast with
  Traci Thomas
  from The Stacks Podcast and the recently created Substack newsletter
  Unstacked
  . The concept of literary criticism is new to me, and when I first heard about it, it sounded pretentious and complicated, but I’m rethinking that and learning more about it.

• The Tournament of Books has started, and the opening round results are here. Maybe this is a form of literary criticism, as discussed above.

• This Libby Life article tells about the top books becoming movies and TV series in 2024, and there are some good ones to note.

• Ask readers how best to organize a bookshelf, and you’ll get as many different answers as the number of readers you have queried. This BookRiot article gives tips to mood readers for organizing their bookshelves.

• Take a trip through the last few years with The Nib and the most banned book in America.

• Pip watch is on, and everyone is not so patiently waiting to see if any of Jackie and Shadow’s eggs hatch. In 2023, Jackie laid two eggs, and neither of them hatched. Spirit, their last successfully hatched chick, flew away in 2022 after a great upbringing from his parents.

• Go on a tour of Lisa Scottoline’s personal library.

• This Longreads article looks at the life of a librarian, both the good and the bad.

• When writing a review of a book you just read, either for a public platform or just for yourself, do you think, like I do, that it takes too much time? This BookRiot article by

  Laura Sackton
  of
  Books & Bakes
  tells the reader how she started a practice of writing a review of every book she reads.

• In honor of Women’s History Month, this article from

  Kirsten
  at
  K's Book Nook
  lists many fiction and nonfiction books to read with a strong woman at the center of the storyline. While there, check out some of the many posts with bookish content galore.

• Author

  Ann Bauer
  writes about what bookstores really sell.

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March 2024 is a great month for new books, and the above books represent a few that I’ve read and more that I want to read.

Author - Claire Swinarski

’s The Funeral Ladies of Elerie County was a fun read, and her writing reminds me a lot of J. Ryan Stradal’s writing. I’ve followed

Emily P. Freeman

for years, and How to Walk into a Room is her latest book, where she talks about making successful transitions in life. Selling the Dream is about MLMs (multi-level marketing/pyramid schemes) and is written by Jane Marie, the host of The Dream Podcast. It is fascinating if this subject interests you. The remainder of the books are all from authors I’ve read before and want to read more from.

What March books have you read so far? Are there any new releases you are looking forward to reading? You can let me know in the comments below.

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Bookish Fun Fact

March 3rd through March 9th is National Read an E-book Week, celebrated by libraries, bookstores, authors, and readers across the US. Author and mother Rita Towes created this holiday in 2004, in the early days of e-readers, to introduce a different way of reading to traditional paper book readers. When Towes created this holiday, she hoped it would help “make readers less skeptical about e-books and give them a chance.” This growing popularity of e-readers also helped authors publish their own stories without needing a traditional publishing contract. Celebrate this day by reading on an e-reader, and if you are a traditional paper book reader, give an e-book a try.

Co-workers asked me what I planned on doing after I retired, and my response was, “I’ll be traveling on each tax season deadline day while wishing them well.” The first tax deadline is March 15th, and I’m making good on that promise as I’ll be in California next week. After so much rain, it looks like the weather in Southern California will be in the mid-70s, perfect for sightseeing and having fun.

What is on your weekend list of things to do? I hope the weather is lovely wherever you are and you have a great book to read. Happy reading!

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. That means that if you click through and purchase anything, I may earn a small commission. This costs you nothing and helps me feed my voracious reading habit, and for that, I thank you.