Category Archives: Book-related Websites

Scribd – a book subscription service

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I just subscribed to Scribd – a digital book subscription service – with a one-month free trial. Rather than slogging with several books to the beach or on vacation, I could just take my tablet. Theoretically…

Scribd encompasses books, audiobooks, magazines and podcasts. It also has other categories that I probably won’t use like sheet music as well as documents and photos uploaded by other users.

Also available are other services like Pandora Plus, which is free with the Scribd membership. (Since I already subscribe to Pandora Plus, I’m not sure this is helpful unless I really like the other parts of Scribd. I could then combine these subscriptions.)

At this point, I’m not sure I’ll continue the Scribd subscription once the free trial is ended. That depends on how much I use it – the $9.99 monthly price seems a bit steep for me right now. I already subscribe to print editions of the magazines I most want to read – plus I dislike reading magazines digitally. Also, although I am extremely interested in podcasts, I never seemed to find the time to listen. (Maybe I can change this habit…hmm.)

So, stay tuned…

Scribd – a book subscription service – provides access to an extensive array of books, audiobooks, etc. If you’re interested in actually purchasing audiobooks, though, try Chirp, which I reviewed here.

Please Pass the Guilt by Rex Stout

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Please Pass the GuiltThe Wolfe Pack, which I joined recently, offers discussions about a Wolfe novel every other month. So, I picked up Please Pass the Guilt, the book scheduled for discussion in June.

I’m interested in the Wolfe canon although I have only read one or two, many years ago. I don’t even remember which books I read(!) However, I remember enjoying the witty banter of Wolfe’s assistant, Archie Goodwin.

Rex Stout was prolific – his works run the gamut from mainstream to science fiction. But he is probably best known for his mysteries. Although he wrote non-series mysteries and short stories, the most well-known is the series featuring Nero Wolfe.

In Please Pass the Guilt,  an executive gets killed in another exec’s office. Who was the intended victim? Who was the perpetrator? Even Nero Wolfe is confused at first.

Not one of my favorite mysteries. Even though I’ve enjoyed one or two Wolfe mysteries in the past, this one seemed to run in circles and not really head for the finish line until rather late in the book. Plus, Archie Goodwin, Wolfe’s assistant, has a rather strange conversation and interaction with a female (feminist) suspect he was interviewing.

I did enjoy visiting the brownstone, again, and hearing about the gourmet meals served there. Although not as famous and Holmes’s 221B Baker Street, Wolfe’s brownstone on West 35th Street in Manhattan is very much a character in the Wolfe novels.

If you’ve always wanted to read the Wolfe mystery series by Rex Stout, don’t start with this one. Dedicated Wolfe fans may enjoy this one.

Please Pass the Guilt
by Rex Stout
© 1973
The Viking Press, Inc.

Audiobooks – Thrills for Your Ears

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Audiobooks-thrills for your earsSo far, my blog posts have been about printed material and, occasionally, e-books. But, I have come across a new audiobook service, Chirp. Affiliated with BookBub, Chirp offers an alternative to Audible. A variety of genres are available in a range of prices. Being a lover of Sherlock Holmes, I purchased The Valley of Fear for $1.99 (plus New Jersey sales tax). The narration of this work is excellent. I noticed that prices for the daily deals ranged from $.99 to $4.99. Plus, there is no monthly or annual membership fee. That makes audiobooks thrills for your ears–and your wallet.

The likes of Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon), David Baldacci (The Fix, Total Control), and Michael Connelly (The Night Fire) are but a few available. I also noticed titles by James Patterson, David Sedaris, Charles Dickens and even Geoffrey Chaucer amongst the offerings.

Others, such as Audible, Scribd and Spotify, offer audiobooks, but at a price. To get the most of these apps, you need to have a membership (Audible, Scribd and Spotify) plus maybe pay for the audiobooks (Audible). At Chirp, the only monetary outlay is for the audiobook itself. With Chirp, you own the audiobook, but who knows what will happen if Spotify decides to discontinue offering them. There are other sites, like LibriVox, that offer free audiobooks, but the narration quality is spotty. Your local library may have books on CDs and offer audiobooks through OverDrive and Hoopla, but do they really have what you want to listen to? And how long is the wait list?

So far, I’m happy with Chirp for the selection of audiobooks, the quality of narration and the price. I’ll continue to scour the digital book world for other audio options. In my opinion, Chirp can bring thrills to your ears, and wallet.

Books and Music, Crime and Journals

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Books and music, crime and journals get top billing at some fantastic websites.

If you like reading great books and listening to great music, largehearted boy is a must-visit. To quote the website, “largehearted boy is a literature and music website that explores that spot in the Venn diagram where the two arts overlap.” Authors create and discuss a music playlist that correlates to their recently published book. For example, here’s Celeste Ng’s musical selections for her Little Fires Everywhere. Also featured are book reviews, contests and giveaways, daily downloads and more.

Do you enjoy crime thrillers and real crime? Then, check out The Crime Hub. This UK-based site has information-packed interviews with those who work directly in the criminal justice system. Interviews with writers of crime fiction also fill the site. Find audio of short stories in various subgenres of crime fiction. I will be listening to some of these.

Finally, on a totally different note: Do you like to write snail mail letters to pen pals as much as I do? Do you like to journal? Then consider planneramaparty.co. This site overflows with ideas about how to coordinate your offline letter writing and journaling.

So, lovers of books and music, crime and journals, can find nirvana online. For other websites dealing with books of mystery and crime, see my previous blog post here.

 

More Murder and Mayhem

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More murder and mayhem are on tap. Some of us are always on the lookout for the next great mystery read. Whether you like Golden Age mysteries, cozies, or something more modern or hardboiled, here are a book and a few websites that can help you to get your fix.

MYSTERY AND MAYHEM IN PRINT

Whodunnit - More Murder and Mayhem DescribedWhodunit? A Who’s Who in Crime & Mystery Writing
Edited by Rosemary Herbert
© 2003

An enlightening and entertaining information compendium on hundreds of classic and contemporary characters who populate the mysteries we love to read and the authors who created them. Are academic sleuths like Amanda Cross’s Kate Fansler your thing? How about sharp-tongued narrators or sidekicks like Archie Goodwin in Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe series? What about Ian Rankin’s noir offerings? As Dennis Lehane says in the Preface, “Rosemary Herbert has gone to great pains to compile a compendium of not only the elder statesmen and stateswomen…of crime fiction history, but also the new blood…”

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Mystery-Review Website Roundup

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Here we go with a mystery-review website roundup, These websites review mystery, crime, thriller, spy and suspense books. Some of them also incorporate author interviews and book lists.

The Real Book Spy

New Iberia Blues by James Lee BurkeAccording to Ryan Steck, owner of The Real Book Spy, the site presents “full coverage of all your favorite thriller authors, and their characters, unlike anywhere else on the web!”

A few of the book reviews currently offered on the site are Daughter of War by Brad Taylor, Crucible by James Rollins, New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke and The Night Agent by Matthew Quirk. Steck also offers author interviews with such luminaries as Brad Thor, Sean Parnell, and Brad Taylor, among others.

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CrimeReads – Mysteries, Thrillers and Crime

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For those who love mysteries, thrillers and true crime, CrimeReads will satisfy your cravings. An offshoot of Literary Hub, CrimeReads presents news, essays and excerpts. This website offers discussions about mystery, noir/hardboiled, suspense, espionage/thriller and legal/procedural genres. For example, currently available is the 11/28/18 posting, “Writing Crime Fiction for the Podcast Generation: Chatting with Two Authors Who Are Bringing Mystery to the World of Scripted Podcasts.” Another is the 1/17/19 post by Lisa Levy, “Mothers and Daughters and Psychological Thrillers: The Rise of Mother-Daughter Noir.”

CrimeReads interviews Matthew Quirk about The Night Agent

For suspense and thriller readers, check out The Night Agent by Matthew Quirk, published this month by William Morrow. Also, check out the interview with Matthew Quirk on CrimeReads.

Like unusual protagonists? Look for Erica Wright’s 11/23/18 post: “Unexpected Investigators: 9 Mysteries That Challenge Our Expectations for Crime Fighters.”

The website partners with numerous publishers from Akashic to W. W. Norton & Co. and everything in between. Other partners include venerable groups such as the Baker Street Irregulars as well as up-and-coming Down & Out Books (and magazine). According to the website, “Each day, alongside original content and exclusive excerpts, CrimeReads is proud to showcase an editorial feature from one of its many partners from across the literary crime community, from publishers big and small, bookstores, non-profits, librarians, and more.”

So, check out CrimeReads. See what’s happening in your favorite genre and what new books are forthcoming. Plus, find out what books are nominated for the 2019 Edgar Awards. Or, listen to a horror or true crime podcast.

For other book-related websites and apps, take a look at my previous posts about Felony & Mayhem and Litsy.

Felony and Mayhem: Murder Abounds

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Felony & Mayhem
felonyandmayhem.com

Sorry for the lapse in posts over the last few weeks. The holidays got in the way; a pleasant time, but busy. Anyway, during the holiday season, I found two websites for those who like to read mysteries, one of which I’ll discuss here.

Felony and Mayhem Abound

Patricia Moyes mystery offered by Felony and MayhemThe folks at felonyandmayhem.com bring out-of-print mysteries back to life by reprinting them. For lovers of Patricia Moyes, Ngaio Marsh and S. S. Van Dine’s Philo Vance series, this site is a must-see. Additionally, “The Felonious Backlist” boggles the mind with the likes of Robert Barnard, Simon Brett, Elizabeth Daly, Reginald Hill and dozens of others.

According to the website, they “also publish an increasing number of first paperback editions of books previously published in hardcover, and (particularly) first U.S. editions of books that initially came out overseas.” In recent years, they also “brought out [their] first original: Annamaria Alfieri’s The Idol of Mombasa, a historical mystery set in 1910s British East Africa, which will be followed by another title in that series in January 2018.”

Mystery readers and writers: Check this website out. You won’t be sorry.

As the mystery lovers at Felony & Mayhem say, “Life is too short to read bad books.” I couldn’t agree more.

Next time, I’ll talk about my other find: CrimeReads.