June 2019 Newsletter
Welcome to June! Decided to send the newsletter out a couple of days later this month.
I had a very busy weekend but I like to take the time to reply to every e-mail I receive when sending out this newsletter. That can take hours and I didn’t want there to be a big backlog – like to sit here and reply to it as it comes in. So pushed it back couple of days where I have more free time.
Very sorry to hear that FictFact had to close. It was a great resource for tracking authors and their new books. We’ve been working on something like that (if you remember from previous newsletters) but it’s probably 2 months away from beta testing as we need to build an entirely new database for our authors. Looking forward to getting that launched though – now more than ever.
Hope everyone had a great May. I did – despite the fact that the month was kick-started by a batch of hate mail and really nasty e-mails!
It’s funny – when I wrote the April newsletter and I discussed politics in books, I was preparing for some hate mail or negative reactions. However I didn’t receive any at all and I thought that was pretty cool.
Then I sent out last months newsletter….
…and ticked quite a few people off!
I happened to make two mistakes in the newsletter. Here they are:
Welcome to May! Depending on wear you live, the weather is getting better
That should be “where”, not “wear”. The other one:
I’ve went to a few of the movies with the kids but generally zoned out
That should be “I’ve gone”, not “I’ve went”.
Two mistakes. I’m not happy with them – especially that wear/where one – but to me, it’s not the end of the world. I spend a lot of time working on this newsletter and don’t directly make money from it. Ideally there’ll be no grammar/spelling mistakes but sometimes some slip by. It happens. I have a friend that proofreads for me but I guess he missed those.
I know the difference between there/they’re/their etc – that was obviously some sort of slip where I was talking about the better weather, thinking of wearing shorts and t-shirt, and happened to write “wear” instead of “where” then missed it during proofreading. But hey like I said for me – not the end of the world. Everyone knew what I meant.
Unfortunately for some people, it IS the end of the world.
I received so much nasty feedback from people for these two mistakes. Calling me an “idiot”, “stupid”, “ignorant”, etc etc. I could go on. My favourite was one person who wrote about 1000 words getting angrier by the minute, before ending in an outburst calling me an “uneducated jerk”.
I found it quite amusing more than anything. What made it funnier is I’ve corresponded with some of those people in the past, and when I looked at previous e-mail chains with them I noticed numerous spelling errors on their part. Heck in a couple of the e-mails they sent me, they used incorrect spelling or grammar. Yet I am not going to call someone out over a spelling error, typo or bad grammar. There’s so much negativity already in the world – why add to it?
I’m tempted to have some fun with it – make some really obvious spelling or grammer mistakes and get their blood boiling every month – but really I just feel sorry for people like that. I see it on the internet all too often – people getting hot and bothered about everything. Politics. Television shows(Last season of Game of Thrones is the perfect example). Movies. People just seem to enjoy spending their days typing away in a fiery rage. I dunno I think people just need to chill out.
BTW if you see me make a mistake in the newsletter, feel free to mention it! I can fix it for future/archive editions and hey sometimes I learn something. Just try to keep the name calling to a minimum! 🙂
Onto a better and more positive topic – READING.
One highlight from last months newsletter was when I wrote about getting back into the Harry Bosch series. I had a reader, Max, take the time to e-mail me and explain that there’s more to Bosch than just the Bosch / Ballard books. There’s a whole Connelly universe that I should read for the full picture.
I’d already started Angel’s Flight, the 6th book in the Bosch series so I finished that. Then I went back and read The Poet which is #1 in the Jack McEvoy series(of 2).
That was an excellent book although I was a bit disappointed with the ending – someones motives weren’t really explained. However it was good to read some non-Bosch Connelly and still enjoy it. I’ve started Blood Work and once I’m finished that, Void Moon is up next then it’s back to Bosch.
That was it for reading. It was a busy month with not a lot of reading honestly. With Summer coming up, I wanted to get some work done around the house so started the process of removing my chimney. That was a week long process that left me exhausted by the end of the day.
After watching all the Marvel movies with the kids, they wanted to do something else together. We ended up going with the TV show Lost which I watched when it aired with my wife. The kids are loving it so we’re watching 2-3 episodes a night and that’s taking up a lot of spare time! Always nice to revisit a show like that many years later as you forget so many little details.
I’m also a big sports fan so with NHL & NBA playoffs going on I’m very busy watching those too!
Looking forward to the nice weather and a lack of sports however when I can just relax out back and work and read. Bought myself a new Thinkpad T480 which has a great battery life so I can work out there for hours.
Oh finally I went to Vegas last weekend for All Elite Wrestling. I came back Monday morning and honestly I’m still battling a bit of exhaustion from that trip! I love Vegas but boy is it a tiring city.
PS: I intentionally spelled “grammar” as “grammer” above because I just couldn’t resist triggering those people again 😉
Each month we give away 2 prizes to 2 random subscribers of $25 each in the form of Amazon gift certificates. To win all you have to do is be a subscriber. Nothing more! When we go to hit “Publish” we take a list of all of our subscribers, throw them into a random draw and those are the winners.
Our winners this month are Trevor D from Sydney, Australia and Terry B from Madison, GA. Both of you have been e-mailed. If you don’t see anything, check your junk folder or contact me.
Graeme
OrderOfBooks.com
Book Recommendations
In this section I give 4-5 random book recommendations. They can be old books, they can be new. But either way – I recommend you read them if the type of genre they are in appeals to you. Feel free to e-mail suggestions to site@orderofbooks.com as many of the suggestions each month are from our readers. If you wish to add a description for the book around the same size as the ones below that’d be great too!
Night Soldiers series by Alan Furst: Alan Furst is an incredible author of historical spy fiction. He has written many great standalone novels and also the Night Soldiers series,which began in 1988 and is still going strong.
The first book in the series is aptly titled Night Soldier and takes place over 1934-1945. In saying that, reader Brian W noted to me that The Spies of Warsaw might be the best book to read in this series first as it is arguably his best novel.
Either way if you’re into that timeline, these are great books.
Cozy Mysteries by Catherine Bruns: If you’re a fan of cozy mystery series, Catherine Bruns is an author with multiple cozy mystery series. The one that has really taken off however is the Cookies & Chance Mystery series.
There are 7 books in the series currently with the first book Tastes Like Murder. The main character is Sally Muccio who is divorced and has returned to her home town to start a novelty cookie shop. Sallys ex-husbands mistress turns up dead on her porch with Sally as the top suspect and she has to find the real murder. Great cozy mysteries.
Detective Kaga series by Keigo Higashino. On our Facebook page I asked for recommendations on a detective series and received a lot of great recommendations. I was looking for something rarely recommended and Anne Sundqvist recommended the Detective Kaga series.
There is only 2 books in the series so far but Keigo has another Detective series as well as standalone novels in the mystery genre.
Malice is the first book in this series. It’s a very clever series that I’d recommend checking out. More details.
All Souls Series by Deborah Harkness. One incredible series is the All Souls series by Deborah Harkness that was originally written as a trilogy but then had a new book come out 4 years later.
It begins with A Discovery of Witches and features Diana Bishop, a young scholar and descendant of witches. She discovers a long-lost and enchanted manuscript whose reappearance summons a fantastical underworld.
This is a highly regarded series and if you haven’t read it yet, check it out.
June 2019 Book Of The Month
This is one I am personally looking forward to.
Like many, I discovered Blake Crouch due to the Wayward Pines series. I read all of his other books and generally enjoyed them. Even if I felt the book itself was average, I could really appreciate the incredible mind that he has.
His most recent novel however, Dark Matter, was one of my favourite books and one that I recommended the most to people last year so I am very, very excited about his new one, Recursion.
To be honest I haven’t read too much about it as I prefer to go into his novels without any sort of spoiler or knowledge. However I pre-ordered it as soon as it was announced and listed on Amazon, and am counting down the days!
10 Other Notable Books Released in June
Storm and Fury (#1 in the Harbinger series) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Fall by Neal Stephenson
Backlash by Brad Thor
Enemy Contact (Clancy / Jack Ryan Jr.) by Mike Maden
The Oracle by Clive Cussler
Big Sky (Jackson Brodie series) by Kate Atkinson
Skin Game (Teddy Fay) by Stuart Woods
The Body in the Castle Wall (Bruno, Chief of Police) by Martin Walker
Summer of ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
Audiobook Area
By Carol O..
I wanted to recommend James Lee Burke’s actual books but especially audio books read by Will Patton. I’ve been either listening to or reading his Dave Robicheaux books in order of publication and can’t recommend too highly the voice and talent of Will Patton in bringing to life the roller coaster ride these books take you on. Mr Burke is a master at describing the feel of the locations and the feelings of his characters. It’s like reading/hearing poetry! And Dave is such a flawed/wonderful/moral man that you wish he was your friend. I could listen to Will Patton’s voice all day, everyday!
We have a lot of audiobook fans and invite book listeners to write their own column every month. Want to discuss audiobooks or a favourite narrator? Hit reply and write and we’ll feature your column in a future newsletter!
Picture of the Month:
Danielle Steels’ Desk:
Submitted by Carrie. How amazing is that???
Send in your own to site@orderofbooks.com or by replying!
Images, jokes, etc. We’ll take it all!
Last Months Game of the Month Answers:
Last months game of the month was anagrams. Here are the answers:
Carjacker Eh = Jack Reacher
Boar Cry Shh = Harry Bosch
Car Less Ox = Alex Cross
A Trilby Moron = Myron Bolitar
Preheats = Peter Ash
Billowier = Will Robie
Ballerina Log = Gabriel Allon
Benignant Rotors = Stone Barrington
Mr Pat Chip = Mitch Rapp
Cage Ham = Gamache
Our winner this month is Joann C.. Joann you should have an e-mail from me.
Game of the Month:
This months game is riddles. I’ve taken a few riddles from popular literature or related to reading and they are below. 3 riddles, 3 answers needed.
1: “My spine is stuff. My body is pale.I’m always ready to tell a tale. What am i?”
2: “What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?”
3: “”This thing all things devours;
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats mountain down.”
Completing this correctly can win you $25. Everyone who completes it and sends me the 3 correct answers will be entered into a random draw. I’ll do the draw prior to the July newsletter and one person will win $25!
Your Thoughts:
Last month I asked you about the most memorable novel you had to read for a school English class. Your feedback is later in the newsletter.
This months column is based on the new book notification service that we will be launching. A good way to get user feedback on it prior to the beta testing.
Quite simply – what do you want out of a book notification service?
My thoughts are – you want to be able to subscribe to the authors you’re a fan of. Blake Crouch, Lee Child, Brad Thor etc etc.
Then you get notifications about those authors and new books they are writing. As soon as new book is announced, you get an e-mail. Then maybe a month before the book is out, another e-mail. Then a final e-mail on the day it’s released. It’ll also be listed on the website of course.
We’ll be looking at doing a mobile app that will deliver those notifications to you too. It will also link it to you to allow you to pre-order at your preferred retailer.
That’s the basics of it. However there is more we could do with it. For example based on the authors you subscribe to – it could give you recommendations for authors or series to try based on who you follow.
What else can we do? Anything? Or does that cover all your needs? Is there any other method that you’d wish to be notified (ie: social media)? Or anything else you’d want in a website like that?
E-mail us your feedback to site@OrderOfBooks.com or just reply to this e-mail, and we’ll pick the best comments and feature it in next months newsletter.
And even if everything I said above covers everything you’d need – still let us know! That way we know we’re on the right track, and you also get a chance at winning the random $25 prizes.