Welcome to the fifteenth instalment of Ramblings from my pages… I quite like the Sunday suspense, will I ramble today, won’t I? Well, you’re in for a treat today because I am. It’s 2.30am as I type this – I’m watching UFC 235 (I have to watch PPV events live, and the time difference with the US is not kind!); the main card doesn’t start for half an hour, so I thought I’d throw together a rambling.
This post was inspired by It’s Book Talk’s “5 on Friday: Things I’m Loving Lately” – it differs slightly, similar in that it will feature bookish and non-bookish topics, but different in that I will ramble about things I’m loving, hating, wishing for, links I’ve enjoyed, life updates – you name it, I may just ramble about it. The only staple feature of this post will be concluding it with a cool link I found around the web.
Today’s ramblings topics: Bookish Frustration: Hardback to Paperback, Evil Has a Name – Podcast, February Wrap Up, and Be Careful – Cardi B. Whether you read the entire post or jump to the section(s) you’re interested in, I hope you enjoy my ramblings.
BOOKISH FRUSTRATION: HARDBACK TO PAPERBACK
Let me share one of my bookish frustrations with you! Last year, I purchased Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. It’s the first book in her Legacy of Orisha series. This was a novel I was so excited for, I preordered the hardback, read it, loved it, and have been eagerly awaiting book 2: Children of Virtue and Vengeance. Book two was scheduled for release in June (now pushed back to December) but before this, I wanted to preorder it, imagine my outrage, to see it is only publishing in paperback!!
Why, why must publishers do that!? You’re giving me no choice but to have a mismatched series, even it the covers are in sync, hardback and paperback do not sync up! And I flat out refuse to buy the paperback of CoBaB, firstly, because I prefer hardbacks, and secondly, why should I have to. It’s my knowledge this was a trilogy, so either publish the entire trilogy in hardback, or the entire trilogy in paperback or both, but don’t switch between the two. CoBaB sold extremely well too, so I’m not sure the decision there.
This isn’t something new! I find it happens a lot with series, the first book will be in hardback, and the rest of the books follow in paperback, it’s so frustrating. A mismatched trilogy/series by design, I can’t support that! Tell me I’m not alone in this bookish frustration!
EVIL HAS A NAME – PODCAST
Y’all know about my search for the perfect audiobook platform, well in conversation with my sister, she mentioned the improvements Audible have made. She used to be a member years ago, and has since rejoined and said many of their features are quite recent: podcasts, audible shows, Audible Originals, and the ability to return audiobooks you’re not completely satisfied with. As I’m currently as Audible member, I thought I’d explore these features, and I came across this podcast I’d seen on Bookstagram several times, but had no idea I could access it for free (as part of my Audible membership).
Evil Has a Name: The Untold Story of the Golden State Killer
I haven’t read Michelle McNamara’s book, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, yet [but I have a copy], so besides the publication of the book and the killer being caught, I didn’t know much about this case. This podcast is hosted by those closest to the case, and it details, first-hand, the true story of how the Golden State Killer was captured. The Golden State Killer was known by many aliases and committed his heinous crimes between 1975 to 1986, on 24th April 2018, thanks to DNA testing, and evidence linked to the crimes, the, now 78 year old, killer was caught.
In the podcast, you’ll hear from those who worked on the case, victims, and victim’s families. And I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the case.
Audible gives the warning, so I will too: this podcast consists of 14 episodes and contains descriptions of violent crime and sexual assault and may not be suitable for all listeners.
FEBRUARY WRAP UP
10 books, 2 audiobooks, not a bad month at all.
https://bit.ly/2tJGQUx 
https://bit.ly/2NE5rTP 
https://bit.ly/2Tp4gwU 
https://bit.ly/2SAbABj 
https://bit.ly/2HbNxq7
5 Star Books of the Month
BE CAREFUL – CARDI B
I’m sure Cardi B divides people, you either love her or you hate her. During one of my YouTube sessions, I watched her Carpool Karaoke with James Corden, and I heard a snipped of her song, Be Careful, and I have be listening to it on repeat ever since. Listening, and watching, the music video, I absolutely love it, I don’t much about shooting music videos, but whoever designed the costumes, make up, order of events, clearly had a vision, and I support it fully! Re. the lyrics, I love the chorus, and can we talk about this line: “You even got me tripping, you got me looking in the mirror different, thinking I’m flawed because you inconsistent.”
LINK AROUND THE WEB
It seems New York newspapers are the place to go for interesting articles, this week’s link is an opinion piece from The New York Times, written by lawyer, Derecka Purnell.
Why Does Obama Scold Black Boys
The article was written in response to former president Barack Obama’s speech, in Oakland, for ‘My Brothers Keeper’, an initiative to mentor young black men, that he started after George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin in 2012.
In the article she calls out Obama and explains why his scolding of black boys (which was the aspect of his speech which drew the most attention), is harmful. It feeds into problematic practices such as calling out black children for having ‘ghetto names’ or wearing certain clothing – she writes about the systemic inequality his administration failed to address. I highly recommend giving the article a read.
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I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it, and you’ll join me next Sunday for some more ramblings.
If you missed my last rambling you can find it here – topics: Chirp Books, Orenda Books: Book Launch, Wolfhunter River by Rachel Caine, and a rambling within a rambling.
Keeper of Pages 
Another enjoyable Rambling, Janel 🙂 Audible has come on in leaps and bounds since I first joined in 2007. The recent features are fantastic (I’ve downloaded Evil Has A Name but not listened yet) and I love the fact you can return a book if it, or the narrator, is not enjoyable.
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Thanks, Cathy. I had no idea all these features were fairly new, I think they may have other stuff in the pipeline too, as I received an email from them to participate in a survey about different subscriptions and value for money, etc.
Returning a book if you don’t enjoy, and it’s so simple to do too, shows how much they value customer satisfaction.
My advice, listen to Evil Has a Name in the day time, I listen to it at night and it left me rather unsettled, but it is such a good podcast for someone unfamiliar with the case or wanting to know a bit more about how he was caught etc.
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Thanks for the heads up! I think I’ll have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to it anyway but I’ll heed your warning.
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I’m with you on the Bookish frustration, mismatched series are the worst! On this occasion I’m happy as I prefer paperbacks and I hate having to wait a year for a book to come out in paperback, but it does seem really weird to do something different for book 2
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Argh, it’s so frustrating right, I’m half tempted to by Children of Virtue and Vengeance on kindle, because I’m so mad. The book sold well, and film rights too, so why they’d publish book two straight in pb is so annoying!
I definitely don’t agree with the wait. They should both be released on the same day, as people have their preferred edition so there’s no real loss. Also it bugs me that sometimes ebooks come out a month or two before the print copy!
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Great post as always!
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Thanks, Nicki!
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Fabulous post, I completely agree with hardback/paperback frustration. I buy a book in a series and I would love to have the whole set match, I have several mismatched sets and I don’t buy new books jut to get the set to match. I looked at audible new options and really like them. They have some great podcasts and are ideal for dipping in and out of.
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Thanks! I’m so glad you relate to the bookish frustration, it’s so annoying! I find it happens a lot with crime series, the first novel is a hardback and then the rest follow in paperback, so bloody annoying.
Audible seems to be getting better and better from the sound of it. I think they have some new things in the pipeline too, because I was emailed a survey to complete for them, asking about subscription preferences and value for money, etc.
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Love the rambles! I am the same about the paperback/hardback but I also hate when they change the book covers in a series to a completely different look!
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Thank you! I’m so glad you relate to the bookish frustration! Yes, cover changes, another frustration 😤!! – why can’t everything be matching, it’s much more aesthetically pleasing!
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Oh I know!! It is so annoying when you start your collection in one format! They just do not think these things through!!
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Ah, that hardback/ paperback thing sucks. I wonder if it’s a cost thing for the publisher…
I just got a copy of the Au Pair. So excited! Gonna read it after i finished my current book 😁
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It probably is a cost thing, but you’d think if the film rights sold for the first book and book sales made it a bestsellers, then it’d be worth the investment for book 2 too 🤷🏾♀️
I hope you enjoy The Au Pair, will be keeping an eye out for your review!
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I so want to listen to Evil Has a Name but I did an Audible free trial and used the free credits on other podcasts. I’m so hoping they release it to the other platforms in a few months like they’ve done with some others. I’d love to hear what you think of it!
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This used up one of your credits? You’re suppose to be able to access podcasts free as part of the membership. I hope they do release this on another platform, I’d be interested to hear what you make of it, especially having read McNamara’s book
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It gave me 2 credits, one for one of their selected featured podcast titles, which included this one, and then just any other title. I really wanted to listen to the Last Days of August podcast and didn’t realize it would be released to other platforms later so chose that instead of this one from the featured selection, and their West Cork podcast as my other selection since that one had been out for over a year already and not released elsewhere. I’m so disappointed now since August is going to be released for free anyway and it looks like this one isn’t!!! Blergh.
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So sorry to hear of your hardback vs paperback nightmare – how disappointing! 🙄 Am so intrigued to hear how you get on with the podcast too, I did enjoy I’ll Be Gone In The Dark (with some minor quibbles! 😂)
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The podcast was fantastic, download it immediately and listen, I know you have an audible membership so you can access it for free, so no excuses 🤣😆
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Yahaaaay, a fellow UFC fan! 🙂 I used to watch them allnighters too but they became too much for me after a while- I could really feel the impact on my health for some reason, egh… Those US timezones really are tough! But a true fan will endure 😉
I haven’t seen a fight for quite a while now, either… I must get myself back up to speed 🙂
So, a question that must be asked- who’s your fave fighter(s)? Who do you enjoy watching most? 🙂
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I can’t stay up for the Fight Nights, but for the headline/monthly main event I do, usually the first Saturday of every month, my treat to myself lol. And I sleep in considerably on the Sunday 🤣
That’s such a difficult question. I love what Ronda Rousey did for the women’s division! But my fav female fighters are: Holly Holm, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and so much respect for Amanda Nunes.
Male fighters: well overlook his last fight but Tyrone Woodley, Robbie Lawler, Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov to name a few 😅 I also enjoy Nate Diaz’s fights, and can’t forget Mark Hunt! I could go on…. 🤣
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