Friday, September 30, 2016

Books Finished in September 2016 (223 - 241)



223. Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi (personal copy; my review)
224. Totem by Darin Bradley (review copy eBook; my review)
225. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Books 1 & 2 by J.K. Rowling (personal eBook copy; my review)
226. Black Water by Louise Doughty (review copy eBook; my review)
227. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (review copy eBook; my review)
228. Trebuchet: Poems by Danniel Schoonebeek (review copy eBook; my review)
229. Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar (review copy audiobook; my review)
230. Just Kids by Patti Smith (personal copy; my review)
231. Hot Milk by Deborah Levy (library book; my review)
232. The North Water by Ian McGuire (library book; my review)
233. The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (personal copy eBook; my review)
234. One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses by Lucy Corin (review copy eBook; my review)
235. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Serial Reader eBook; my review)
236. The Sympathizer by Viet Thahn Nguyen (personal copy; my review)
237. The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin (review copy eBook; my review)
238. Am I Blue?: Coming Out from the Silence edited by Marion Dane Bauer (library book; my review)
239. Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War by Viet Thahn Nguyen (library book; my review)
240. Into the River by Ted Dawe (review copy eBook; my review)
241. The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson (library book; my review)

Books read in September: 19
eBooks: 10
Audiobooks: 1
Male to Female: 7 to 11
Man Booker nominees: 2
National Book Award nominees: 1
Review copies: 8

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Reading Envy 069: Evil Librarian SFBRP Crossover Episode

Luke and Juliane drop by the Reading Envy pub with Icelandic air still in their lungs. Close to the end, you will discover why Jenny might not be saying much. We talk sports, science fiction, art, and even one from the Man Booker Prize shortlist.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 069: Evil Librarian SFBRP Crossover.

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner
Or subscribe via iTunes by clicking: Subscribe
Or listen through TuneIn
Or listen on Google Play
Listen via Stitcher

Luke and Juliane always post pictures with their books, so we did that for this episode!

 

Books discussed:



Digging Up Mother: A Love Story by Doug Stanhope
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
The Greatest Tennis Matches of All Time by Steve Flink
Just Kids by Patti Smith

Other mentions:

Luke and Juliane's video blogs of Iceland
SFBRP Episode 301: The Dying Earth
The Eyes of the Overworld by Jack Vance
Cugel's Saga by Jack Vance
Rhialto the Marvelous by Jack Vance
Doug Stanhope podcast
Man Booker Prize
Jeanette Winterson
The Martian by Andy Weir
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger
My Sergei: A Love Story by Ekaterina Gordaeva
The Real All Americans by Sally Jenkins
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
The Long Way to a Small and Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
The Sympathizer by Viet Thahn Nguyen
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge

Related episodes:

Episode 017 - Homeric Radiation at Lake Inverness with guest Luke Burrage
Episode 032 - Her Smoke Rose Up Forever with Luke Burrage, crosspost with SFBRP podcast
Episode 037 - Breakdancing to Bach with Juliane Kunzendorf
Episode 044 - Of Survival and Memory with Luke Burrage
Episode 052 - The Man with the Eyebrows with Philip and Scott

Stalk us online:
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter

Juliane's Website
Juliane at Goodreads
Luke Burrage on Twitter
Luke's podcast/blog, Science Fiction Book Review Podcast
Luke at GoodReads

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Reading Envy 068: Minisode for Banned Books Week

I kept talking everyone's ear off about Banned Books Week, so I decided to record a little miniature podcast about it. Let me know which banned or challenged books you are reading, and what you think about little minisodes like this one!

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 068: Minisode - Banned Books Week.


Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner
Or subscribe via iTunes by clicking: Subscribe
Or listen through TuneIn
Or listen on Google Play
Listen via Stitcher

Books discussed:



Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence edited by Marion Dane Bauer
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kiklin
Into the River by Ted Dawe
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (read by Claire Danes!)
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Allison Bechdel
Out Loud: the Best of Rainbow Radio edited by Ed Madden and Candace Chellew-Hodge

(The rest of the books can be found in the links below.) 

Links:
ALA: Banned & Challenged Books - Diverse Content
We Need Diverse Books (aka #weneediversebooks) 
Slate Magazine: Banned Books Week is a Crock (2015)
LA Times: Alan Moore Graphic Novel Banned from South Carolina Library
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund statement on Necronomicon Banning
New Zealand Bans Young Adult Novel
ALA: Banned & Challenged Books - Classics

Stalk me online:
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
@readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
 

Friday, September 16, 2016

Library Books Mid-September 2016

It is prize long list season, which has definitely had an impact on the books I get from the library. But there are other reasons for some of the books in these piles.

The Many by Wyl Menmuir
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
Ethan Frome, etc.by Edith Wharton
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin
How We Die: Reflections of Life's Final Chapter by Sherwin B. Nuland
I Fired God: My Life Inside - and Escape from - the Secret World of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Cult by Jocelyn Zichterman
Not pictured: The North Water by Ian McGuire
Not pictured: My Antonia by Willa Cather

The Strout, Levy, Beatty, McGuire, and Menmuir were all on the Man Booker Prize Long List, and so far I've read three of the four. The Beatty is on the shortlist but it is going to take something to get me back to it. Vinge is the Sword and Laser pick for September. I requested the Zichterman, Nuland, and Russo based on reviews by others (usually Litsy). The Wharton, Laskin, Cather, and Levin are required readings for some of the classes I'm librarianing for. I don't really need to read them, but find that knowing what they are starting from makes me more helpful with their research. I want to read the rest of the Neapolitan novels by Ferrante but so far all I have done is bring book two home.

The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson
Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War by Viet Tranh Nguyen
Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War by Susan Southard

A few days after taking the initial photo so I could return some of my books, I checked more out. The National Book Award long list was announced between then and now. I am currently reading The Sympathizer for my in-person book club, and the same author wrote the memoir Nothing Ever Dies, which was named to the longlist. With so many titles about politics, I was happy to see a memoir! I'm hoping to finish both by book club to contribute even better to the discussion. I saw the Southard mentioned somewhere, maybe Instagram, and thought it would be a nice additional read to the book club discussion I'll lead in 2017, for The Dictionary of Mutual Understanding. The Winterson is on the shortlist of Winterson books I have yet to read, and I thought it sounded spooky in the right way for October. I'll stick it in a pile until then... not difficult to do.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Reading Envy 067: Rain and Readability

Ruth returns to the book-lined room of the Reading Envy pub, and we settle in to talk about books. We start off with some discussion of the titles we have read from the Man Booker Prize long list, and go from there.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 067: Rain and Readability.

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner
Or subscribe via iTunes by clicking: Subscribe
Or listen through TuneIn
Or listen on Google Play
Listen via Stitcher

Books discussed:



PopCo by Scarlet Thomas
Memories from Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
Lady Susan by Jane Austen
Jane Steele by Lindsay Faye
The 6:41 to Paris by Jean-Philippe Blondel

Other mentions:

Man Booker Prize 2016
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeline Thien
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
Hystopia by David Means
Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves
The Many by Wyl Menmuir
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet 
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell
The End of Mr. Y by Scarlet Thomas
Our Tragic Universe by Scarlet Thomas
Podcast discussing Teffi with the same passage - Open Book from BBC4
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Serial Reader app
Mathilda by Mary Shelley
The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
Love and Friendship (film)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Readers podcast
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
A Good Man is Hard to Find and other Stories by Flannery O'Connor
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
24 in 48 readathon
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Powells (Portland)
The Last Bookstore (Los Angeles)


Related episodes:
Episode 033 - An Undulating Thrum with guests Ruth and Elizabeth
Episode 023 - The Patron Saint of the Misfit Readers with guests Marco V. Morelli and Averi Dylan
Episode 061 - Never Do That to a Book with Elizabeth


Stalk us online:
Jenny at Goodreads
Ruth at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter