Library Books June 2015

 

This will be a short post! I typically post library books mid-month and we are staring into July right now.  I took the picture earlier but forgot to post. These are all from the public library, which is a rarity for me! I usually use our statewide academic library borrowing system if a book exists within it, or even request books from interlibrary loan more often than I go to the public library. It's about convenience, not that my public library doesn't do a good job (they do, mostly, except when they censor books.)

 

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

Your Personal Paleo Code by Chris Kresser

Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá

Two out of three of the genres represented here make sense to be available at the public library but not found in any of the academic libraries in the state. Not many academic libraries have a strong graphic novel collection (Daytripper) and personal health/pop science/diet books are more of a public library thing. I have seen a few of the vegan bloggers I follow turn to paleo and start eating meat again after health problems, and one of them recommended the Kresser. I found it disappointing for several reasons - you really can't be a paleo vegetarian, so I'd really have to make a huge change, and all but 10% of the book is the same old stuff - sleep, drink water, move your body. 

The graphic novel I had on my to-read list a while but a review sent me to find it, it was glowing and effusive. I enjoyed it but perhaps not to that level.

The Herrera is a book I spied as I walked out of the library with one of the others. I loved the title and that got me to pick it up. The description of living along the border in Mexico sounded current and it looked like a quick read. It's sometimes difficult to find modern Mexican literature that has been translated (and isn't just the standard authors) so I was quite pleased to come across this one.

Reading Envy 033: An Undulating Thrum

Jenny sits down with Ruth and Elizabeth, two readers who connected via Goodreads. As listeners of numerous reading podcasts, their reading experiences are varied and rich. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 033: An Undulating Thrum

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner

Or subscribe via iTunes by clicking: Subscribe

Books featured:



In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides
The Aloe by Katherine Mansfield
Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt
Stoner by John Williams
Armadale by Wilkie Collins

Other mentions:

"The Readers" podcast and group in Goodreads
Virginia Woolf
Elizabeth von Arnim
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Wonders by Paddy O'Reilly
Lost and Found by Brooke Davis
D.H. Lawrence 
BookTubers (Google it!)
Firefly (TV show)
The Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch
A-Team (TV show)
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
Keeper by Kathi Appelt
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
#thrumspotting
Wake by Maia Sepp (can you spot the thrum?)
Dear Sugar Radio
The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Anthony Trollope
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
Virago Publishing
Persephone Books
NYRB Classics
Nancy Pearl

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Ruth at Goodreads
Elizabeth at Goodreads 

Reading Envy 032: Her Smoke Rose Up Forever

Jenny sits down with Luke Burrage at the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast Pub to discuss one short story collection. This is posted outside of the regular Reading Envy schedule as a bonus episode. And in tribute to Luke's posts, here is an attempt at a book selfie. (It is harder than it looks! I only succeeded in getting my fingers to look like they are going up the cover being's nose.) There is a link to Luke's regular podcast below.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 032: Her Smoke Rose Up Forever

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner

Or subscribe via iTunes by clicking: Subscribe

Featured books:



It all started with an SFF Audio Podcast Readalong that Luke, Scott, and I all participated in. Since then, Her Smoke Rose Up Forever has appeared twice on the Reading Envy Podcast - on the very first episode, where Scott discussed "The Screwfly Solution," and then again on Episode 002, because I had gone back and read the rest of the collection. Luke went back and read the rest of the stories more recently, and asked if I would discuss it with him on his podcast. I agreed and thought I'd crosspost the episode here as well. 

Sometimes, books follow you around for a while. Their words or ideas linger. You don't mind reading them again. James Tiptree, Jr (AKA Alice Sheldon) is simply one of those authors. Whether you come at her from a science fiction perspective or a feminism perspective, I think you will find something of interest. Please listen to our discussion for more on the stories in this collection.

Stalk us online:

Luke Burrage on Twitter
Luke's podcast/blog, Science Fiction Book Review Podcast
Luke in GoodReads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny in GoodReads

Reading Envy 031: Hideous Realism

Jenny sits down with Jesse Willis at the Reading Envy Pub to discuss books we have read recently. It gets a bit long but that's how Jesse's podcasts always go.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 031: Hideous Realism

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner

Or subscribe via iTunes by clicking: Subscribe

Featured books:



The Crogan Adventures: Catfoot's Vengeance by Chris Schweizer
Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay
H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life by Michele Houellebecq
The Sword Of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett
The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-line Pioneers by Tom Standage
Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion

Other mentions:
Decoder Ring Theatre audio dramas
"The Scott Pilgrim guy" AKA  Bryan Lee O'Malley
Sweet Valley High series
(we meant epitaph)
Lovecraft's Pillow 
The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft
Beyond the Wall of Sleep by H.P. Lovecraft
The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft
Pavane by Keith Roberts (also mentioned on RE 004)
The New Annotated HP Lovecraft
The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Sea-Kings of Mars by Leigh Brackett
Michio Kaku
Bruce Chatwin
John Buchan
Milan Kundera
Philip K. Dick
History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage 

Stalk us online:

Jenny at GoodReads
Jenny on Twitter
Jesse and the others at SFFAudio.com
Jesse on Twitter

Jenny's Books Added April and May 2015

Somehow I forgot to do this in April but here I am, talking about the books I've added in April and May.

• The Wilds : Stories by Julia Elliott
• Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile
• Serpent in Paradise by Dia Birkett
• The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne
• Minnow by James E. McTeer II
• The Wet Collection: A Field Guide to Iridescence and Memory by Joni Tevis
• The World Is on Fire: Scrap, Treasure, and Songs of Apocalypse by Joni Tevis
• Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League by Jonathan Odell
• Bake Happy: 100 Playful Desserts by Judith Fertig
• The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May by Mark Z. Danielewski
• Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
• Where All Light Tends to Go by David Joy
• Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Elliott, Baszile, McTeer, Odell, and Joy are purchased and signed during the SC Book Festival. I should probably still post about that day.

When I went to Powells in March, I bought two books - the Byrne and the Birkett. The Birkett is for my Oceania reading project and the Byrne I always intended to buy. After I bought it I found out that my review is quoted inside.

The two Tevis books are books I'd read already but wanted to own, and I went to her signing last month.  This is the same Joni Tevis from the podcast, episode 029.

I got the Laura Ingalls Wilder book as a gift from my step-mother-in-law. She had intended to get it for me for Christmas but the first print run sold out and it was hard to find for a while. It is gorgeous and I'm looking forward to reading it, because Little House on the Prairie was a major part of my chidhood.

The Danielewski and Stephenson were purchased on the same day; I'm currently 200 pages into the Danielewski.  Another gorgeous, beautiful book. I've heard the audio makes for an immersive experience along with the print, so I need to check it out.

The cookbook was sent to me because of my JennyBakes blog presence.

I also went on a few galley/ARC request sprees after finishing most of what I had previously been approved to review. There are a lot of great books coming out in the next year and I always appreciate the opportunity to read them early.

• The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler (Netgalley)
• The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald (Netgalley)
• Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal(Netgalley)
• Music for Wartime: Stories by Rebecca Makkai (Netgalley)
• Dark Wine by Beth Tashery Shannon (Netgalley)
• The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson (NetGalley)
• Book of Numbers by Joshua Cohen (NetGalley)
• Words Without Music: A Memoir by Philip Glass(Edelweiss)
• The New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliott (Edelweiss)
• The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth) by N.K. Jemisin (Edelweiss)
• Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome: A Memoir of Humor and Healing by Reba Riley (Edelweiss)
• We Dream of Water by Srdjan Smajić (Edelweiss)
• Sea Lovers: Selected Stories by Valerie Martin (Edelweiss)
• You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost): A Memoir by Felicia Day (Edelweiss)
• Fates and Furies by Lauren Goff (Edelweiss)
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (Edelweiss)
• Writing Across the Landscape: Travel Journals 1950-2013 by Lawrence Ferlinghett (Edelweiss)
• Insomnia: Poems by Linda Pastan (Edelweiss)
• Bream Gives Me Hiccups by Jesse Eisenberg (Edelweiss)
• Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books by Michael Dirda (Edelweiss)
• The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman (Edelweiss)
• Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books by Cara Nicoletti (Edelweiss)
• The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr (Edelweiss)

I have some reading to do! I won't comment on all of these but I will point out that I met Julia Elliott at the SC Book Festival, so she is on this post twice! I used to work with Srdjan Smajić , and this is his first novel, published by Underland Press and mentioned in Episode 21 of the Reading Envy podcast. Three of the books - Karr, Pastan, and Jemisin - are by authors I have read before. One of my work-related reading goals this summer is to read about creativity, and the Gilbert is coming along just in time.