April ’19 Roundup & Ramblings

 

 

Raw Data:

Books – 12

Pages – 3732

Average Rating – 3.21

 

The Bad:

The Hatching – 1/2 Star

Malice – 2 1/2 Stars

 

The Good:

In the Forests of Serre – 5 Stars

Hard Times – 4 1/2 Stars

 

Movie:

Elektra was bad, but in the “so bad it’s fun to watch and make fun of” vein of badness. With movies like this though, it is a wonder that Super Hero movies ever made it off the ground.

 

Miscellaneous And Personal:

Let’s see, what did I do this month? A bunch of crap, that is what. A 6Degrees Post, wished everyone a Happy Resurrection Day and then posted about my latest endeavor in the world of Magic the Gathering.

I have to admit, this month I pretty much mailed it in, as I just didn’t feel like writing and let my 3 week buffer disappear down to zero. I’m writing this post the night before instead of like 10 days.  That lack of desire to write is why I’m not going to be doing my usual weekend routine posts in May. I need a break from a schedule and I’m going to try to break out of this writing blahh’ness by just writing spur of the moment and see what happens.  I’ve been averaging about 2 posts every 3 days for the last several months and I think I need to bust loose and pretend to be creative again for a bit. Even if I completely fall on my face, I’ll be fine with that. I just need to do something different, as I’m falling into a routine and getting sick of it. Who knows, maybe I’ll go REALLY wild and post a review ON THE WEEKEND! I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Or am I? *scary ghost noises*  See, that is what I need to be writing like instead of stifling my soul with corporate posts like political World Book Czar posts and stuff. I gotta be free!

On a personal note, one of our cars unexpectedly didn’t pass inspection and so we’ve spent all of April looking for another. No luck and we might end up just eating the repair cost to get the car fixed and passed for another year. Unfortunately, every car we’ve checked out this month has fallen through in one way or another. Blah! One of the things both Mrs B and I feel strongly about is not going into debt, with a few exceptions. Car payments on a new car is not one of those exceptions. So the next 2 years are going to be interesting (as we already know that our other car isn’t going to pass next year. It barely passed this year and by next year will be really rusted out and not road worthy)

 

WBCI: (World Book Czar Initiative)

Ildico gave us good reason to fear the Great Unknown reaches of space. If Attila the Hun isn’t safe, NOBODY is.  Thankfully, Ildico promises a free tinfoil hat to everyone when she becomes World Book Czar.  Now there’s a woman you can feel confident voting for!

 

Cover Love:

While I posted this in the review, In the Forests of Serre,  I still find it absolutely amazing. Beauty feeds the soul indeed. Sadly, feeding the soul doesn’t help with a writing slump.

 

 

 

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March ’19 Roundup & Ramblings

 

Raw Data:

15 Books

4732 Pages

Average Rating – 3.17

 

The Bad:

The Scarlet Letter – 1 Star

Pacific Rim: Uprising: Ascension  – 2.5 Stars

 

The Good:

Carry On Jeeves – 4 Stars

The Engineer Reconditioned – 4 Stars

 

Movie:

Penelope was a big surprise in that I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought based on the fairytale’ish premise.  For April I have to go count the votes to see which of the bad pre-mcu superhero movies I have to fall on my sword for.

 

Miscellaneous And Personal:

This month was a lot better for reading than February but personally it sucked.  Kind of the exact opposite of February in fact, I was lucky to get 2 days a week of work and when things should have been picking up by the end, what with temps climbing and the snow disappearing, they didn’t. I did a lot of sitting around the house and that just isn’t good for me.  It affected my desire to write and by the end of the month the last thing I wanted to do was write, online, in my journal, anywhere.  I was definitely “Moody” all month.

Part of it is that I read double the amount of books I did in February and hence had to write twice as much. I think I’d gotten out of practice with all my youtube watching then. See, a bad habit already coming back and biting me in the butt.

Thankfully, Attack of the Ninjabread Men was pix heavy and allowed me to write very little. That’s the other thing. I have been so mean in spirit that I have deleted over half the comments I’ve made on everyone’s blogs. Probably would have alienated just about everyone and not a single one of us needs that kind of thing going on. Thank goodness for the delete button.

 

WBCI: (World Book Czar Initiative)

Lex Luthor was kind enough to to allow an interview and while “someone” let Superman know where he was going to be and at what time, leading to his arrest, Lex seemed like he really wanted to be the World Book Czar. I was pretty intrigued by his ideas for a Bookinator 800. What could go wrong with preventing all the bad books, right?

Next month I’ll be talking to Ildico, better known as Mrs Attila the Hun. Feel free to leave any questions here or on Lex’s interview.

 

Cover Love:

I think that Vampire of the Mists is going to take this one. All the other covers just seemed to say “eh” to me and at least this had the old timey Bella Lugosi vibe going on. Nothing like the classics to attract my attention.

 

 

 

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February ’19 Roundup & Ramblings

 

Raw Data:

8 Books

2815’ish  Pages

Average Rating – 2.06

 

The Bad:

Everything?

 

The Good:

The Black Pearl – 5 Stars

The Tiger and the Wolf – 4 Stars

 

Movie:

RED was a great movie.  But with a cast starring Willis, Freeman, Mirren and Malkovich (and some others), it would be hard for this movie to have gone wrong.

 

Miscellaneous And Personal:

Well, no manga this month. The Crippled God kicked my legs out from under me, which I knew it was going to do. What I didn’t expect was that the next several books would then proceed to kick me in the ribs while I was down and stomp on my fingers. I just couldn’t bring myself to go read manga in that condition. Thankfully, the month started well and ended well. It was just a pig excrement sandwich in the middle.

That did lead me to writing up a storm but it was just drivel. What else can you call 25 years worth of Star Wars Covers?

Did a Tag of Rage and then calmed down with a nice #6degrees post.

While the month just stank for reading,  on a personal level things went swimmingly. Had enough work, had enough fun and had enough good food. Oh, speaking of food, did the  Survival Saturday post. Sadly, not a very good time.

I was totally attacked by spam comments this month  60-100 “doxycycline” spam comments almost every day. Considering that every single one was aimed at the World Book Czar Intro post, I am wondering if I’ve stirred up a hornets nest among the Powers that Be. I wouldn’t put it past them to hound me with their pet spambots! #thetruthisoutthere #tinfoilhatswork

 

WBCI: (World Book Czar Initiative)

Had the first successful interview with potential World Book Czars. Czar Nicholas II was very friendly and genial but by the end seemed to lack a certain something that a World Book Czar needs, namely, a complete skull without any bullet holes in it! Poor Nicky…

Just remember, in March I’ll be interviewing Lex Luthor, so ask those questions you’ve always had!

 

EMAIL ALERT:

For those of you who follow me through email, I am starting the process of creating all new posts for my old reviews that were lumped together in monthly or yearly posts. I’m starting in 2000 and working my way forward. Please be aware this is happening and take appropriate steps. That is all.

 

 

 

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January ’19 Roundup & Ramblings

 

Raw Data:

14 Books

4429 Pages

Average Rating  – 3.68

 

The Bad:

Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn – 2 Stars

 

The Good:

The Gabble and Other Stories – 5 Stars

 

Movie:

I not only watched a movie this month, I reviewed it as well. Despicable Me was a lot of fun and I hope that future movie posts can go as well. I’m still trying to decide if I want a formula for my movie posts or if the “whatever strikes my fancy” kind of posts are going to prevail.

 

Miscellaneous And Personal:

My Shaman King manga reads went very well this month but even though it finished on a high note, I have to admit that I have almost no desire to dive into some manga at the moment. We’ll see how I’m feeling in a week or two.

I did the Insider Book Blog tag where I revealed so much about myself.  With tags like this, it’s a wonder that I’m not mobbed on the streets more often by adoring fans. I mean, how can anyone resist such a charming rogue with a heart of gold like me? Of course, with my awesome psychic abilities, as shown in Bookstoogedamus Predicts the Future, I guess I’m not surprised that people are so intimidated by me. Ahh, it’s tough being me, so lovable and yet so fearsome.

I also Reviewed 2018 in one post. Probably the longest post I’ll write this year. Figured it was a good thing to get all that long-windedness out the way.

 

WBCI: (World Book Czar Initiative)

Since I’ve been thinking about the whole #worldbookczar thing for quite some time, I decided that this was the year to actually do something about it. As such, my journey to find Our Great Leader has commenced. I hope I am up to the task and I trust others will ask the hard questions too. I’m already doubting whether my skin is tough enough to deal with some of the folks I have lined up to interview!

And just remember, if there are questions you want asked, please put them in the comments of the WBCI posts and I’ll see to it they get asked.

 

 

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December ’18 Roundup & Ramblings

 

Raw Data:

12 Books

3338 Pages

3.67 Average Rating (talk about ending the year on a high note. I’m pretty happy!)

 

The Bad:

Of Mice and Men – 1 Star (ugh, what a waste of talent)

 

The Good:

To Kill a Mockingbird – 5 Stars (it should REMAIN required reading in schools)

Hogfather – 5 Stars (Pratchett was bitter but he still wrote really funny books)

Seal of the the Worm – 4.5 Stars  (what a great ending to a great series)

 

Manga:

Shaman King is really revving up and I’m excited about continuing to read this series each month. This month I read all 3 volumes in one day and wrote the reviews between each volume (I was feeling in a VERY wordy mood) and then just scheduled the reviews for each monday. Just like in November, that kind of pace worked really well for me. I don’t know exactly why nor do I particularly care, as all I DO care about is it is  working.  Bring on the FIGHTING!!!

 

Misc. and Personal:

I totally slacked in reading this month. January is going to have me reading like crazy to get that 3 week cushion back. I used it all up this month 🙂  Of course, with the Parental Pods, Miss Betsy W & her friend and the Bombfunk’s and the Bookstooge’s all together for Christmas, for nigh on a week, I was doing a lot of things besides reading.

Christmas went well but I started getting sick the Sunday before and was flat out by Christmas. Mrs B caught it from me post-Christmas, so there’s not been much going on after Christmas except trying to recover and drinking of lots of herbal teas and hot water.

Thankfully, I was Tagged by Norrie and so had an easy post on a weekend. I also did another 6Degrees post and that allowed me even more breathing room.  Thank goodness for people who continually tag and remind me that I can do book related, non-review posts!

A lot of time was also spent on writing up my thoughts on 2018. I’ve got that mostly taken care of by now and my Annual Review should be coming out January 1st.

No Cover Love this month as nothing really stood out to me. I’m not going to throw a “pity” cover love to something that I don’t actually love.

The End.

 

 

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November ’18 Roundup & Ramblings

 

Raw Data:

16 Books

5557 Pages

3.50 Average Rating (WAY UP from last month!)

 

The Bad:

The Darkside War – 2.5 Stars (potty mouth millennial SF)

 

The Good:

Chasm City – 4.5 Stars

Alphabet of Thorn – 4.5 Stars

 

Manga:

Shaman King continues to treat me well. I only read 2 volumes this month but I read them back to back and then spaced the reviews a couple of days apart. I like the rhythm that gave me. It completes enough of a story arc to satisfy me while not overwhelming me. With Christmas coming this month (and our whole immediate family getting together for almost a week over at Mr & Mrs Bombfunk’s house) manga might be the first casualty of a busy month.

 

Miscellaneous And Personal:

Reviewed Antman & the Wasp. Considering there was a gap between it and Thor: Ragnarok of 6 months, I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say no one has to worry about this blog ever turning into a movie review blog. It’s fun to review something a little different, and 6 months might be a bit far between, but I sure don’t plan on making movie reviews a once a month thing.

Survival Saturday came back and while not a smashing success with only an “OK” Broccoli & Cheese soup, neither did we feel like it was something we’d trade to other Survivors of the Coming Apocalypse.

Was able to vent my spleen a bit with a good rant about that filthy Communist invention, The Oxford Comma. Demon Goat contacted me afterwards and said his collecting of souls who use it is WAY up so I’m hoping that ripples back and people realize just how terrible it is. And stop using and supporting it 😉

Had another bout of the stomach flu (which while not requiring an ER visit, did keep me from work for several days) but I was better by Thanksgiving so I was able to partake of the delicious food such a time entails. I also did some actual Giving of Thanks.

We had our first snow storm this month (we got 5inches – 12.5cm) and between all the rain, snow and sickness I didn’t get a lot of work in. Instead of reading more, I ended up dicking around on Youtube and watching various people implode/explode, etc about the latest offering from Wizards of the Coast, the Ultimate Masters Set. Too pricey for me at almost $300 for one box but it has been fun to watch people scream like banshees with their heads cut off!

 

Cover Love

McKillip’s Alphabet of Thorn wins in the Cover Love category. Kinuko Craft, the artist, just captures the essence of the novel so aptly.  If Mrs Craft wasn’t already married and I was single and she wasn’t XX years older than me, I’d be tempted to marry her just for her art!  Ahhhh, Kinuko, the fates were cruel to us.

 

 

 

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October ’18 Roundup & Ramblings

 

 

Raw Data:

17 Books

5773 Pages

2.97 Average Rating

 

The Bad:

Dust of Dreams (existential excrement by the boatload) – 1.5 Stars

Fail Harder (irresponsible jackasses who should die) – 1.5 Stars

Wizard’s First Rule (clunky writing that destroyed my memories) – 2 Stars

 

The Good:

A Thousand Words for Stranger (Telepathic Jane Austen in Space!) – 4 Stars

 

Manga:

Tore through four volumes of Shaman King. Now that the setup is pretty much done, it’s shonen battles, which means some long slugging matches are coming up. Might end up slowing down my pace just a tad.

 

Miscellaneous And Personal:

While I read a bit more this month, it was ALL crap. My average was below 3stars for goodness sake. I am thankful for at least one 4star book.

Got Sick and kind of whimpered on for the last 10 days of the month. Didn’t read anyones posts, didn’t even reply to comments. Thankfully, that seems to be passing and I’m hoping to spring back into pure unadulterated Bookstooge Action this weekend with a Survival Saturday Post.

Did a Tag and a 6Degrees post. It was good to write some non-review stuff. Especially considering all the crap books I plowed through and then had to write about.

Surviving a Bad Book got some good numbers since I mentioned a book that a lot of people know. Always helps to stir the pot if everyone already has an opinion.

Other than that, this was a rainy blah month that crept along like a whipped cur and then threw up in my shoes. I am so thankful October is OVER WITH.

 

Cover Love

Once again, just like last month, no cover grabbed me and said “Worship me!”. I am including the Harpist in the Wind cover because I feel it really shows Darrell K. Sweet’s style. He did so many covers over the years and once you learn what his stuff looks like, you simply can’t miss it.

 

 

 

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