Reading Envy 008: Gone Rogue

In this episode, Jenny goes rogue and interviews some of her colleagues at Furman University about what they have been reading lately. You will witness how lucky she is to have these people around to talk about books on a daily basis!

Steve Richardson, who has been a librarian at Furman for twenty-eight years, talked about one man's journey from Holland to Constantinople. 



A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor


Steve also mentioned:
Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor
The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Arts & Letters Daily
Furman University Libraries

Jenny also mentioned:
"That book Fermor wrote about the Caribbean"-
The Traveller's Tree: A Journey Through the Caribbean Islands
George Orwell Diaries (also discussed at length on Episode 007)

Guest number two is Libby Young.  Libby is also a librarian at Furman, who likes to read fiction of all varieties.  We share lists from our respective book clubs to keep up with what everyone in town is reading.



The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Libby also mentioned:
Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, NC
Room by Emma Donoghue
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Minstry
City of Thieves by David Banioff
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Jenny also mentioned:
97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman

The last guest for this episode is Mike Winiski. Mike works in the Center for Teaching and Learning at the same university, and also works in the same library building as Jenny, Steve, and Libby.  His love for non-fiction and recent forays into science fiction have influenced his reading lately.



Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy #1) by Pierce Brown

Mike also mentioned:
The Martian by Andy Weir
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Mawson's Will by Leonard Bickel
Philip K. Dick
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
The Devil & Sherlock Holmes by David Grann
Wired for Story by Lisa Cron
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Jenny also mentioned:
The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne
The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall

Download or listen via this link: Episode 008

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Jenny's Books Added June 2014 - two stacks!

This has been a busy book month for some reason.  I would blame used book stores but this first stack is completely made up of books I got through trades at paperbackswap.com.  The used book store stack is substantial enough to be listed separately.  Gulp.

Physical Audiobooks:
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers, read by David LeDoux, Joe Barrett, Thérése Plummer, Kevin Pariseau, Suzanne Toren, Edoardo Ballerini, and Barbara Rosenblat (my review)
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, read by Michael C. Hall (my review)

Both of these are review copies that I asked for from Brilliance Audio, one because of the reader (Michael C. Hall, the actor from Six Feet Under and Dexter), the other because I'm trying to read more southern lit.

Physical books:
The Fall of the Towers by Samuel R. Delany
Granta: The First Twenty-One Years
Granta 81: Best of Young British Novelists 2003
Granta 78: Bad Company

Granta 76: Music 
Granta 61: The Sea 

The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle
The Bone People by Keri Hume
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O'Melveny
A Gesture Life by Chang-Rae Lee


I stumbled across Granta Magazine which is a literary publication full of short stories, the style of a paperback rather than a slim glossy publication like Harpers, Oxford American, etc.  I stumbled across one in Paperbackswap.com, "The Sea," when I was looking for Orhan Pamuk.  I've been on a short story kick and I hope it lasts through trying some of these volumes.  The others were chosen because of authors or themes, sometimes both.  They are strong candidates for airplane reading on Saturday.

The Boyle, Hume, and Austen are all specific editions that I wanted because of the cover... she says sheepishly.  The links go to the correct edition.  Penguin Ink and Penguin Classics.

I'm reading the O'Melveny for my in-person book club in 2014-15, the Chang-Rae Lee for the Open Book Series, and the Delany for my 2014 reading goals.

Okay, onward to physical book pile #2, known as "I only meant to browse at the used bookstore but then I had credits burning a hole in my pocket and I was in the mood for mighty tomes!"

 

It's funny because every book in this stack was chosen because of previously positive experience with the author. I just finished the Witches of Eastwick today, so the widows are certainly in my future.  I loved Mating by Norman Rush, several by Pynchon, The End of the Affair by Greene, and I wanted to own the parable books by Butler.  The Sword & Laser group is reading the first book of Lilith's Brood for July, and I found the trilogy bound as one $3 volume.  What can you do when the universe clearly wants you to go home with a book? I only paid $1 for this pile because I had trade-in credits for the rest.  Book swapping is the way to go, whether in person or in the mail!


My last book purchase for June was an eBook of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.  I already talked about it a bit earlier this month, and hope to write more about it soon.  It will take several months to get through, in between other books.

Tell me about the books you've brought home recently!