Reading Envy 212: Subtly Fascinating with Vinny

Vinny is technically a new guest, although his voice may be familiar from a readalong episode. We talk about books strange and weird, translated, and an exciting memoir few have heard of.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 212: Subtly Fascinating.

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Books discussed: 

What You Have Heard is True: A Witness of Memoir and Resistance by Carolyn Forché
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
Catherine the Great and the Small by Olja Knezevic, translated by Ellen Elias-Bursać and Paula Gordon
The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas; translated by Michael Barnes

Other mentions:

The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald
Claribel Alegría
The Country Between Us by Carolyn Forché
Get in Trouble by Kelly Link
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell
Weeki Wachee State Park
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
The Changeling by Victor Lavalle

Related episodes:

Episode 137 - Reading Envy Readalong: The Golden Notebook
Episode 198 - Mood Reading with Robin
Episode 203 - Backlist with Marion

Stalk us online:

Vinny is @billypar on Litsy
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

All links to books are through Bookshop.org, where I am an affiliate. I wanted more money to go to the actual publishers and authors. I link to Amazon when a book is not listed with Bookshop.

Read in October: Books 257 - 278 of 2017

Books pictured are 5-star reads for October 2017.

257. Hanna Who Fell from the Sky by Christopher Meades ** (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
258. The Readymade Thief by Augustus Rose **** (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
259. In the Country We Love: My Family Divided **** (audiobook from Audible; my review)
260. Nobody Cries at Bingo by Dawn Dumont **** (interlibrary loan; my review)
261. Elmet by Fiona Mozley *** (personal copy; my review)
262. Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica **** (whodunitbymail book swap; my review)
263. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf ***** (library book; my review)
264. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado ***** (Hoopla audiobook; my review)
265. Springtime: A Ghost Story by Michelle de Kretser **** (library book; my review)
266. Another Place You've Never Been by Rebecca Kauffman **** (library book; my review)
267. Before We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni **** (book swap; my review)
268. Autumn by Karl Ove Knaussgard **** (library eBook; my review)
269. Sugar Town by Hazel Newlevant **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
270. Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee **** (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
271. Hadriana in All My Dreams by Rene Depestre **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
272. Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
273. The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan ***** (personal copy; my review)
274. The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn **** (Goodreads giveaway; my review)
275. Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn ***** (Hoopla audiobook; my review)
276. The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury **** (Hoopla audiobook; my review)
277. Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal **** (interlibrary loan; my review)
278. Juventud by Vanessa Blakeslee ***** (interlibrary loan; my review)

Total books read: 21
Review copies: 7
Audiobooks: 4
eBooks: 7
Print books: 10

2017 Borders Reading Project: 5
Man Booker Prize list: 1
National Book Award List: 1

New Books In, January 2016

Heart of the Original by Steve Aylett
Year's Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 2 edited by Kathe Koja
Eleanor by Jason Gurley
The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein

This month's piles includes two review books and two books I bought brand new! The Aylett came to my work mail, unrequested. It appears to be a book on creativity by a science fiction author; I hadn't heard about it but I'm always interested in that topic so I'm looking forward to it. The Gurley was on the Blogging for Books list and I had not done one of those in a while. I should get to that one soon.

I bought the Koja because it included a Nathan Ballingrud story I had not yet read (I interviewed him for Episode 041 of the podcast). I've already read the entire volume. The Dinerstein has been on my radar for a while and I just went for it.

On a more personal, unpublished and unavailable note, my Grandma passed away at the beginning of December. I was unable to go to the memorial service, as were several of my cousins. My family made sure I got a copy of the updated memoir, which two of my cousins had worked with my grandma to update. I'm lucky in that I got to see her twice in the past two years, despite living across the country from her. I feel even more lucky that I have her story in her own words.

One memorable tidbit - finding out that her parents made liquor in the basement during prohibition. A little rebellion streak goes through both sides of my family.