Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Review: A Girl's Guide to Missiles: Growing Up in America's Secret Desert

A Girl's Guide to Missiles: Growing Up in America's Secret Desert A Girl's Guide to Missiles: Growing Up in America's Secret Desert by Karen Piper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is about the author's childhood in the Mojave Desert while her parents worked designing missiles at China Lake. It's also about civilian vs military life, fundamentalism, and how much of childhood can be held on to. I enjoyed some funny descriptions of Eugene and Oregon weather from the perspective of someone accustomed to desert climate. I got a little bogged down in the middle but appreciated how so many topics come back around in the end, with one big surprise.

I had a funny moment where she is doing the pledge of allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Bible, and I flashed back to Awanas and Vacation Bible School - some of her childhood religious surroundings were identical to mine. And then when she talks about the books she read in school about missionaries breaking the rules - I also read those as a child! Bizarre.

The writing about the landscape that appears from time to time can really be evocative:
"A fierce wind kicked in and the sky smelled of creosote bushes, that musky electric smell, which meant it was raining nearby."

Military life:
"After a while, knowing that war fills your bellies, peace can feel like starvation."

"Growing up in a war town does not mean you know a thing about war."

I received an eARC from the publisher through Edelweiss, this came out August 14, 2018.

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Reading Envy 127: The Sadness Between Books with Bianca Escalante

Bianca Escalante joins Jenny to talk about great books we've read recently. Discussions include the craft of story, representation in YA literature, and good examples of character studies. Jenny knows Bianca from Litsy, and this is her first appearance on the Reading Envy Podcast.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 127: The Sadness Between Books.

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Books Discussed:



The Devil and Winnie Flynn by Micol Ostow, illustrated by David Ostow
The Shepherd's Hut by Tim Winton
White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks
Feral Youth edited by Shaun David Hutchison
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively

Other Mentions: 

Camp NaNoWriMo
After Atlas by Emma Newman
The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel
Among Others by Jo Walton
The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Anne With an E (tv series)
Matthew Dicks - "This is Going to Suck" story
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchison
At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchison
The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchison
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susana Clarke
The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr
The Wrong Heaven by Amy Bonnaffons
A Working Woman by Elvira Navarro, translated by Christina MacSweeney


Related Episodes:

Episode 086 - The Queen of Bailing with Shawn Mooney
Episode 120 - Summer Reading; Speed Dating 2018, round 3
Episode 125 - Strong Tea and Suspicious Penguins with Luke Burrage and Juliane Kunzendorf

Stalk us online:


Jenny at Goodreads
Bianca at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Bianca is @bianca on Litsy

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Reading Envy Podcast 126: Bernice Bobs Her Hair with Jon Laubinger

Jon Laubinger, of Film Baby Film and recent game show appearances, returns to the Reading Envy pub for a more traditional episode. We chat books, quitting your job, reading books set where you travel, game shows, and some film talk sneaks in from time to time. Bushido!

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 126: Bernice Bobs Her Hair.

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

A dream come true!

Books Discussed:



Shogun by James Clavell
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
Augustus by John Williams
And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready by Meaghan O'Connell
Passing by Nella Larsen


Other Mentions: 

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (tv show)
Silence (film)
Longform book podcasts:
Backlisted podcast
Overdue podcast
Book Fight podcast
The Broken Earth Series by N.K. Jemisin
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
The Nebula Awards
The Hugo Awards
Locus Awards
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
King Rat by James Clavell
Alaska by James Michener
Hawaii by James Michener
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
Hard to Be a God by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
Circe by Madeleine Miller
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith 
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Six Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
Black Wave by Michelle Tea
The Overstory by Richard Powers


Related Episodes:

Episode 055 - Too Late for an Autopsy with Julie Davis
Episode 080 - The Wild Things Helped with Jason Roland
Episode 087 - Going Native with Bookclub Social with Amanda and Grace 
Episode 106 - Falling Asleep During Tarkovsky Films with Jon Laubinger
Episode 122 - A Cylon Raider Shaped Hole in Your Heart with Sara Burnett


Stalk us online:

Jon's podcast website, Film Baby Film
FBF on Instagram
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Review: The Third Hotel

The Third Hotel The Third Hotel by Laura van den Berg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my favorite work of the author's yet. After her husband's death, Clare travels to Cuba on the trip they were supposed to make together, to a horror film festival. Her husband was an academic studying the genre. But then she sees him in Havana....

The remarkable thing is that in just over 200 pages, the author creates so many layers - horror films, Cuban culture, psychological thrills, grief, the questions of if we can truly know another person - but at the same time manages to help the reader see all of it through Clare's eyes. Her observations and thoughts are beautifully and painfully written, and if I had a final copy I'd be quoting like crazy.

And since I rarely give five stars, I'll say it's the great writing added to a layered, interesting, nuanced story that did it.

This will be a great late summer read!

Thanks to the publisher for providing access to this title through Edelweiss and NetGalley. It comes out August 7, 2018.

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Review: Love Interrupted

Love Interrupted Love Interrupted by Reneilwe Malatji
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This collection focuses on stories of present-day women in South Africa - careers, relationship, family. I found the women to be vibrant and their situations to be a combination of frustrating and hopeful - just like real life.

Frequent themes include polygamy (and always the men, of course) and the general absence of men. Daughters and sons are unusual if they still have their fathers, and there are a lot of single working mothers in these stories.

The setting feels similar to America in the sense of "official" racism being over, leaving the white people (mostly Dutch/Afrikaans, in this set) to believe everything is okay while they perpetuate the systematic racism. There are still very low ceilings on the actual African women for career, education, and expectation. Those who try to move beyond the traditional roles face additional challenges in their own communities. I felt like I was seeing into a world I hadn't really seen.

Thanks to the publisher for providing early access to this title through Edelweiss. It comes out August 7, 2018.

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Review: The Shakespeare Requirement

The Shakespeare Requirement The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hilarious followup to Dear Committee Members. Should be required reading of all of us working in academia, for comic relief as we head into the fall semester (but read the first book first as they are consecutive).

The professor from the first novel has new responsibilities in this one, but is still trying to confront his failed relationship amidst these new challenges - these include losing access to the departmental conference room (as all rooms on campus are in the new campus scheduling system, omg is this about where I work?!), the encroaching imperialism of the Economics Department upstairs (who got renovated the previous year, with fancy carpet, espresso, and donor plaques), and worse, the writing on the wall seems to be the ultimate demise of his entire department.

I think anyone in academia will find a lot of familiar groans in this book. I was giggling in the corner the entire time.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC through through Edelweiss. It comes out August 14.

View all my reviews