Reading Envy 241: Feral Pigeons with Laurie

Laurie is back and we talk about book challenges, even one in French! Since she is a biologist, science comes up as a theme in multiple ways.

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 241: Feral Pigeons

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
Or listen via Stitcher
Or listen through Spotify 
Or listen through Google Podcasts

Books discussed:

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
The Trees by Percival Everett
A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching by Rosemary Mosco
Broken Halves of a Milky Sun: Poems by Aaiún Nin
The Unwinding and Other Dreams by Jackie Morris

Other mentions: 

Think Again by Adam Grant
The Hall of the Singing Caryatids by Victor Pelevin, translated by Andrew Bromfield
The Possessed by Elif Batuman
Putin's Russia by Darryl Cunningham
Lilly Library - Kurt Vonnegut collection
Telephone by Percival Everett
The American Pigeon Museum
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Pigeonetics
Unbound Publisher
The Silent Unwinding by Jackie Morris
My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
Great Plains by Ian Frazier
Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
  by Ali Hazelwood
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
The Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer

Related episodes: 

Episode 065 - Creeping through the Uncanny Valley with guest Bryan Alexander 
Episode 069 - Evil Librarian/SFBRP Crossover Episode with Luke and Juliane 
Episode 201 - Wrestling with Complexity with Elizabeth and Laurie
Episode 216 - Eloquent and Elegant with Kala
Episode 231 - Psychological Terrorism with Reggie
Episode 233 - Get Into Trouble with Ruth
 

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Laurie on Twitter
Laurie is @dryapyapi on Instagram
Laurie at Goodreads


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.

Books Read February 2022: 15-32

This month was chaos as I tried to finish the remaining Tournament of Books shortlist (still reading the last one when March hit) and to try out a bunch of Russian novels for whoever decided to make this year of all years the year of reading Russia! 

I missed one book club discussion (Darcie Little Badger with the Book Cougars) but finally was able to attend the Indigenous Reading Circle discussion. I've heard Tournament of Books is moving to Discord so now I need to learn one more social network - or excuse me, digital discussion platform - and I'm too old! Sword and Laser has been trying to live in both Goodreads and Discord so maybe it will give me a different perspective on that group.

A gentle reminder that all reviews can still be seen on my Goodreads profile (the review will be with the book; the format will be specified unless it's in print.) And the books with green outlines are my 5-star reads for the month!

15. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich, narrated by Louise Erdrich ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
16. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson, narrated by Nikole Hannah-Jones ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
17. Seek You: A Journey through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
18. Putin's Russia by Darryl Cunningham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
19. In Concrete by Anne Garrétta, translated by Emma Ramadan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
20. A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger ⭐️⭐️⭐️
21. Islands of Decolonial Love by Leslie Betasamosake Simpson, narrated by Tantoo Cardinal ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
22. How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
23. The Employees by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
24. Joan is Okay by Weike Wang, narrated by Catherine Ho ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
25. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
26. Broken Halves of a Milky Sun: Poems by Aaiún Nin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
27. The Interior Silence by Sarah Sands ⭐️⭐️⭐️
28. Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
29. Quiet Girl in a Noisy World by Debbie Tung ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
30. The Trees by Percival Everett ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
31. First Love by Ivan Turgenev, translated by Constance Garnett ⭐️⭐️⭐️
32. It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo, translated by Elizabeth Bryer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Books read: 18

Audiobook: 4
Ebook: 11
Print: 3

Library: 5
TBR: 1
Purchased 2022: 3
Review copy: 8
Subscription: 1

Around the World: 6
Indigenous Reading Circle: 1
Melanated Reader's 20 Books by Black Women: 3

Reading Envy Russia: 2
Sword and Laser: 0
Tournament of Books: 1

Review: The Trees

The Trees by Percival Everett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My penultimate book from the Tournament of Books shortlist, and I had to reread the end before I weighed in. This is an engaging read, about mysterious deaths in the town of Money, Mississippi, and they seem to be related to racist killings from previous generations. The white sheriff's department comes up against two Black MBI agents as they try to figure out what's happening. (MBI = Mississippi Bureau of Investigation)

There is satire in the sense that many characters have funny names and some have argued that the white people are written to the extreme but... I don't know that they are. I appreciated that the satire was there but not everything. My reason for rereading the ending was this feeling that it ended abruptly and it does, but I liked the little turn a few chapters from the end featuring Trump, basically, giving a speech about how he never uses the "n" word while frequently using it.

It should be an interesting one to discuss in the tournament!

View all my reviews

Reading Envy 239: Gross but Subtle with Katie

Katie joins me for the first time from the far north to discuss her own reading, plus one very creative solution for reading short stories with a book club.

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 239: Gross but Subtle

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
Or listen via Stitcher
Or listen through Spotify 
Or listen through Google Podcasts

Books discussed:

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Sufferance by Thomas King
Seek You: A Journey through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke
Gutter Child by Jael Richardson

Other mentions: 

Well-Read Books
Coles Books
"The Great Awake" by Julia Armfield
Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire
Tournament of Books
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
The Break by Katherena Vermette
The Strangers by Katherena Vermette (forthcoming, hopefully)
Drawing Loneliness with Kristen Radtke (video)
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?: Stories by Kathleen Collins
Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
In Concrete by Anne Garrétta, translated by Emma Ramadan

Related episodes: 

Episode 077 - No One Messes With a Wolf with Shawn Mooney
Episode 181 - An Awkward Woman with Yanira Ramirez
Episode 190 - The Good Life with Alex
Episode 202 - Jacket Flap with Chris and Emily

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Katie is @katie_sikkes on Instagram


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.

Reading Envy 238: Inanimate Objects with Courtney

Courtney is back and before we jump into discussion of books we've read and liked recently, we discuss how our reading has changed over time. 

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 238: Inanimate Objects

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
Or listen via Stitcher
Or listen through Spotify 
Or listen through Google Podcasts

Books discussed:

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
Apple Island: Or the Truth about Teachers by Douglas Evans

Other mentions: 

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Picnic in the Ruins by Todd Robert Peterson
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
Ragnarok
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, read by Neil Gaiman
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
The Food Explorer by Daniel Stone
Seeds of Blood and Beauty by Ann Lindsay
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
The Emotional Life of the Toddler by Alicia F. Lieberman
The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature by Viv Groskop

Related episodes: 

Episode 179 - Think of the Bees with Courtney Burson
Episode 222 - Minty Fresh with Courtney

Stalk us online:

Courtney at Goodreads
Courtney is @conservio 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.

Reading Envy 226 - Cucumber Sandwiches with Lindy Pratch

Lindy joins me to talk books, where we discuss Canadian lit, vignettes and white space in writing, and what really makes a monster.

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 226: Cucumber Sandwiches

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
Or listen via Stitcher
Or listen through Spotify 
Or listen through Google Podcasts

Books discussed: 

 

You're Eating an Orange. You are Naked. by Sheung-King
Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
The Centaur's Wife by Amanda Leduc
The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
What Willow Says by Lynn Buckle

Other mentions:

Shadow Giller Prize
How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa
Giller Prize
Kuessipan by Naomi Fontaine
Tournament of Books
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Jeanette Winterson
Atmospheric Disappearances by Rivka Galchen
The Archive of Alternate Endings by Lindsey Drager
Disfigured by Amanda Leduc
LitFest Alberta
The Fabulous Zed Watson! by Basil Sylvester and Kevin Sylvester
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
2019 Canadian Human Rights Tribunal report about Indigenous children
When the Light of the World was Subdued.... edited by Joy Harjo
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed
And Miles to Go Before I Sleep by Jocelyn Saucier
Come Together, Fall Apart by Cristina Henriquez

Related episodes: 

Episode 095 - Lose the Outside World with Lindy Pratch
Episode 124 - Mush Creatures with Lindy Pratch
Episode 159 - Reading Doorways with Lindy
Episode 196 - Miscommunication with Lindy
Episode 221 - Joint Poetry Readalong with Book Cougars
Episode 223 - Cicada Season with Rachel Mans McKenny

Stalk me online:

Lindy Reads and Reviews (blog)
Lindy on Twitter
Lindy is @Lindy on Litsy
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Follow ShadowGiller on Twitter


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.

Reading Envy 214: Extreme Hiking with Mina

New guest Mina speaks with Jenny about her 2021 reading goals, a book club with an amazing life of its own, and books we've read and liked recently.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 214: Extreme Hiking.

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
Or listen via Stitcher
Or listen through Spotify 
Or listen through Google Podcasts


Books discussed: 

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce
The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams
Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderesch
32 Yolks by Eric Ripert
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay

Other mentions:

Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
Family Ingredients (PBS show)
Example of extreme hiking - Waipio Valley
A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Article mentioned about Piranesi and quarantine
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Pop Sugar Reading Challenge
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
Scrawl Books
KCRW Bookworm - Douglas Stuart
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Telephone by Percival Everett

Related episodes:

Episode 084 - A Worthy Tangent with Bryan Alexander
Episode 102 - The Reading Women Reading Envy Crossover Episode
Episode 183 - Birthing Rabbits with Jessica
Episode 192 - Sly Milieu with Thomas
Episode 211 - Rereads and Romance with Kim

Stalk us online:

Mina at Goodreads
Mina is @minamina0907 on Instagram
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.

Review: Untold Night and Day

Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"Just finish it," I chided myself. "It's only 160 pages, come on!" And thus I persisted.

Halfway through, last night, I drifted off into upright couch sitting deep sleep, where I had four intense nightmarish dreams in a row, and apparently moaned throughout (not in a good way.)

And I DO blame this book, which I can't make any sense of. I can't tell what's real or what's not. I can't understand how what seems imagined or historical in one scene is real in another. I don't understand how the characters seem to switch places and identities and also move between real and imagined (they also seem lost and confused.) I don't understand what is meant to be a deep connection to The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat, a short novel of similar tone I read earlier this year and also didn't understand.

The translator Deborah Smith has obviously gone deep with this author and this feverish style; apparently the author is considered an outsider in Korean lit as well. I might point you first to her translator note, which is the last few pages, before reading the novel. I give the translation efforts 5 stars.

View all my reviews

Review: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ever since The Vegetarian became a massive hit (for good reason,) I have read a string of novels by female writers from Korea translated into English that capture elements of the lived experience of women navigating a society that is still very male-centric. Sometimes they do this through fantasy and the weird, or in this case, with documented research accompanied by endnotes for each chapter.

The sources include data points of sexism in the workplace, of female-exclusive hiring practices, pay disparities and more, like this:

"In 2014... one in five married women in Korea quit their job because of marriage, pregnancy, childbirth and childcare, or the education of their young children."

This seems didactic, no? Until you read the article on the BBC website about the outcry to the book (and movie made from it) since the book was published in Korea in 2016. It is accused of being "highly subjective" and making "sexist generalisations against men." The author's use of facts to back up her everywoman's story provides its own defense. And maybe she felt it would have more staying power in fictionalized form (certainly it was read by many people and became a best seller) - still for my own personal tastes, this is another example of characters and plot employed solely to teach or convince the reader something, and I was left wanting more (while still supporting the ideas.)

View all my reviews

Review: Interior Chinatown

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I know this just won the National Book Award and I finally read it because that included it on the Tournament of Books long list, but I really did not enjoy reading this book. The entire structure and setup is satire? allegory? and the characters aren't real in the sense that characters are, they stand in to play a didactic role about how Asians, particularly the Chinese most of the time but also all Asians, are seen in America. As this was not news to me, I did not particularly enjoy the four hour audiobook lecture about it.

I have liked other books by Charles Yu but experimental fiction will always carry the risk of people liking it or not. I mean, I feel pressured to give it three stars because I like him otherwise and it's winning awards and other people find it very clever but cleverness is not enough to sustain a novel for me and it will never be. I'm a substance over style person.

One thing I noticed in listening to the audiobook is how much the rhythm of his writing feels like George Saunders. I challenge anyone who cares to go back and listen to Tenth of December as read by the author and see if you can hear what I mean. The audiobook narrator of this does not have George's accent, so that's not it, it's something about how the words and sentences fall. (George is also someone who I prefer when he isn't experimenting, funny....)

I listened to this in the Random House Audio Volumes app, where they have given me access to most of their new audiobook titles. I chose to listen since I was interested in this book due to its placement in the ToB, but honestly would not have been drawn to reading it otherwise, and only selected it because it is rather short and could accompany me while working on Thanksgiving prep. Therefore I'm not sure I'd exactly call it a review copy except to say that if they hadn't provided it I would have purchased it just the same, and then ended up even more disappointed that I'd spent an Audible credit on a book that was short yet not enjoyed. It came out way way back in January 2020, when the world felt very different, and I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more at that point in time. But even so, that was around when there were all these great Asian-American forward movies and tv shows coming out (at long last) so is this historical fiction?

View all my reviews

Review: Pizza Girl

Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Electric Literature says Pizza Girl is the "The Queer Slacker Pizza Delivery Novel We’ve Been Waiting For" and I'm not even sure I can say it better than that, but I'll try.

"Her name was Jenny Hauser and every Wednesday I put pickles on her pizza." And that's how the novel PIZZA GIRL begins. I've had this book on my radar but the comparisons to Moshfegh didn't make me want to try it - but it is one of the shortest books from the Tournament of Books longlist that I could get from the library without waiting.

The main character, whose name you don't know most of the time since it's all from her perspective, recently lost her father. She bonded with a classmate at a grief group and by the time the novel starts, he's moved in with her and her Mom because she is pregnant. She is 18 and is working part-time delivering pizzas in what I like to call "regular California." The most social interaction she has comes from the people she delivers pizzas to and the lives she comes up with for them.

I enjoyed (?) the read despite some heavy handed metaphors and some random narrative tangents (usually when the story would jump to someone else's drama at the pizza place - one I had to reread three times to figure out what happened) - the mother and boyfriend seem like good people but they are not able to stop the MC from spiraling, and that journey is the crux of the plot. In the E.L. article linked above, the author talks about the role of imagination in the MC's life and where that can go wrong, and it wasn't something I particularly zeroed in on but enjoyed thinking about after finishing the novel.

As far as the Tournament of Books goes, I'm not sure this is one of the top 16 reads, however I would love a match between this book and Jack by Marilynne Robinson. Both stories revolve around a slacker type character with people around them who can see the issues but not help. The writing and focus are entirely different but they actually have more in common than not.

View all my reviews

Reading Envy 183: Birthing Rabbits with Jessica (ToB2020)

Jessica and I are superfans of the Morning News Tournament of Books, and have participated as readers for several years. We are not official partners of the Tournament, nor does it belong to us, but we are hopeful that all involved will take this as a fancast and that readers who haven't heard of it will participate next time. Both of us have encountered books through the Tournament we would never have read otherwise. In this bonus episode, we focus on the books from this year's Tournament (both the long and shortlist) but also end up talking about some highlights from previous years. Ready your brackets, this is the only madness happening in March!

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 183: Birthing Rabbits with Jessica.

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
Listen through Spotify

Books discussed:

Most books will be best viewed here on the Tournament of Books site
2020 bracket
ToB 2020 Shortlist
ToB 2020 Longlist (this is your 2020 reading list!)


Other mentions:

Cantoras by Carolina di Robertis
The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
White Tears by Hari Kunzru
May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes
Hill William by Scott McClanahan
Crapalachia by Scott McClanahan
The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad
A Girl Returned by Donatella di Pietrantonio
Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kaji Fajardo-Anstine
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Very Nice by Marcy Dermansky
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman
A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett


Related episodes:

Episode 110 - The Accidental Love Episode with Casey Stepaniuk
Episode 150 - Rife with Storytelling with Sara
Episode 163 - Fainting Goats with Lauren
Episode 166 - On Brand with Karen
Episode 167 - Book Pendulum with Reggie
Episode 175 - Reading on Impulse with Marion Hill
Episode 178 - Precarious Pile with Ruth(iella)


Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jessica at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Jessica is @the bluestocking on Litsy

Reading Envy 178: Precarious Pile with Ruthiella

Ruth joins Jenny bright and early in January, which gives us the chance to discuss reading goals for last year and this year a little, reading classics, and what happened when a friend dared Ruth to read a book! This is the first episode of a new strategy where Jenny is bringing two books to discuss to the guest's three, so feel free to let me know what you think.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 178: Precarious Pile with Ruthiella.

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
Listen through Spotify


Books discussed:



Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddney Ratner
Inland by Téa Obreht



Other mentions:

Ruth's Booked for LIfe blog and her 2019 Back to the Classics roundup
Ruth's Booked for LIfe blog and her pile of 21 books 
Books and Chocolate Blog - Back to the Classics 2020 challenge
Man Booker Prize 1999
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
The Topeka School by Ben Lerner
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
How to Feed a Dictator by Witold Szablowski 
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope
A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum


Related episodes:

Episode 033 - An Undulating Thrum with guests Ruth and Elizabeth
Episode 053 - The Pool I Rarely Swim In with Luke Christie
Episode 086 - The Queen of Bailing with Shawn Mooney 
Episode 067 - Rain and Readability with Ruth(iella)
Episode 134 - A Pastiche Romp with Ruth(iella)
Episode 167 - Book Pendulum with Reggie
Episode 172 - The It Book of NYC with Jon Laubinger 


Stalk us online:

Ruth at Goodreads
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

Reading Envy 150: Rife with Storytelling with Sara

Jenny and Sara combat humidity and allergies to get together to chat books. We cover escapes and intergalactic refugees, snakes and fish, serial killers and out of print reads. Jenny can't decide on a third book so discusses three more books, and Sara has a word bleeped out from a story too funny not to include.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 150: Rife with Storytelling with Sara

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
Listen through Spotify


Books discussed:

The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee and David John
The Vela by Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, Rivers Solomon, and SL Huang
The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk, translated by Christopher Moseley
The Deeper the Water, the Uglier the Fish by Katya Apekina
Hotel by Arthur Hailey 
The Pisces by Melissa Broder
Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice L. McFadden
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 


Other mentions:

Emily Rosko
Magical Negro by Morgan Parker
758 Books (St. Lucia)
Airport by Arthur Hailey
Just Kids by Patti Smith
iHotel by Karen Tei Yamashita
The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye
James Michener
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Sara's hospitality shelf in Goodreads
The Women's Prize for Fiction
The Shape of Water (film)
BBC Trokosi documentary
The Tournament of Books
News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikabu
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Parker


Related Episodes:

Episode 069 - Evil Librarian/SFBRP Crossover Episode with Luke Burrage and Juliane Kunzendorf
Episode 122 - A Cylon Raider Shaped Hole in Your Heart with Sara Burnett
Episode 144 - For the Fans with Thomas of Hogglestock
Episode 147 - Bonus Poetry Recommendations with Lauren


Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Sara is @addendumadventure on Instagram

Reading Envy 110: The Accidental Love Episode

Casey Stepaniuk, aka the Canadian Lesbrarian, makes her first official visit to the Reading Envy Pub, and brings books she's read and liked recently. Discussions include Vancouver Island, bisexual representation, and YA characters that we want to empathize with! We ended up talking about relationships and love a lot in many of our book picks, so happy valentines day, accidentally.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 110: The Accidental Love Episode

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

I am scheduling guests for the second half of 2018! If you are interested in appearing on the podcast: FAQ

Books Discussed:

 

Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai
Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro
Republic of Dirt: A Return to Woefield Farm by Susan Juby
The Dry by Jane Harper
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
White Tears by Hari Kunzru


Other Mentions: 

Out On The Shelves on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog
All I Did Was Shoot My Man by Walter Mosley
I Want to Show You More by Jamie Quatro
The Change Room by Karen Connolly
The Alice Series by Susan Juby - Alice, I Think is the first book
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
Home to Woefield by Susan Juby
Tournament of Books
Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai
To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This by Mandy Len Catron
How to Fall in Love with Anyone: A Memoir in Essays by Mandy Len Catron
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis
 
Related Episodes:

Episode 107 - Reading Goals 2018

Stalk us online:

Casey's blog,  Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian
Casey's articles on Book Riot
Casey on Twitter
Casey at Goodreads 
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy