Reading Envy 040: Proustian Ratatouille

Jenny stayed closer to home for this episode, to talk comics with local teen services librarian and Secret Stacks podcaster, Thomas Maluck. The podcast starts and ends with comics but if that isn't your speed, there are other books discussed in the middle.  Jenny isn't really an expert in comics either, and soon learned she may never be as much of an expert as Thomas! Talk about envy - this is an entire genre practically unexplored.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 040: Proustian Ratatouille

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Books discussed:



Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War by Richard Stacewicz
All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists by Terry Gross
Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Hank Johnson: Agent of Hydra #1 by David Mandel

Other mentions:

ALA Great Graphic Novels for Teens - 2015 list
Comics, Cosplay, and Geek Culture in Libraries blog
How to Do Free Comic Book Day at Your Library - blog post by Kristin from Secret Stacks
Mark Millar
Neonomicon by Alan Moore
Secret Stacks Podcast Episode 6 - Fun Home and Duke, etc.
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
New York Comic Con
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Sex Criminals, Vol. 1: One Weird Trick by Matt Fraction
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel
Dykes to Watch Out For (web comic) by Alison Bechdel
Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio edited by Ed Madden and Candace Chellew-Hodge
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir by Roz Chast
In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way: A Graphic Novel
Ratatouille (movie)
Cages by Dave McKean
The Sculptor by Scott McCloud
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Madeleine L'Engle and Hope Larson
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (movie)
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Spirited Away (movie)
Princess Mononoke (movie)
From Up On Poppy Hill (movie)
The Goshawk by T.H. White
The Once and Future King by T.H. White

Thanks for listening!

Here's Thomas as Ms. Marvel:

Stalk us online:
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Thomas on Twitter
Secret Stacks on Twitter
Secret Stacks Podcast ("YOUR comics in libraries podcast")
Thomas's graphic novel reviews at No Flying No Tights

Related Reading Envy Episodes:
Episode 004 - Home, Frightening and Banned with guest Karen Acosta
Episode 005 - The Second Definition of Geek with guest Tamahome
 

Reading Envy 039: Paranoid Squint

Jenny is joined by Fred, who wanted to talk about his greatest writing inspiration - Tim Powers. Jenny squeezes a few books in at the end!

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 039: Paranoid Squint

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner

Or subscribe via iTunes by clicking: Subscribe

Books discussed:



The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Into the Valley by Ruth Galm
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Other mentions:

Protecting Project Pulp
Starship Sofa
"The Way Down the Hill" by Tim Powers (may be found in Strange Itineraries in print)
The Devil's Dictum by Frederick Gero Heimbach
Declare by Tim Powers
Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books by Michael Dirda
Classics for Pleasure by Michael Dirda
The Planetary Omnibus

Stalk us online:
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Fred on Twitter

Library Books Mid-September 2015

The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron
It Will End with Us by Sam Savage
The Coroner's Lunch (Dr. Siri #1) by Colin Cotterill
The Complete Visual Guide to Good Dog Training: The Balanced Way to A Well Behaved Pet by Babette Haggerty
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
Man at the Helm by Nina Stibbe
The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
The Chimes by ANna Smaill
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir by Roz Chast

This month has been a busy month of books from the library (libraries, really). Three of the books on this pile are on the Man Booker Prize Longlist (Obioma, Smaill, Tyler) and I was trying to read at least the first 50 pages of as many of those books as I could.

I went to our leisure reading collection to pull the Chast because I was preparing to speak with a librarian who specializes in comics and graphic novels, and I was thinking I would have one fresh in my mind to talk about, and knew the Chast had been a finalist for the National Book Award (USA) last year. I ended up not using it as one of my primary choices, but I can say I have read it! When I was over in that collection, the Helm, Quick, and Toews followed me home. Whoops.

The Savage seemed out of place in the New Books section, a slim black paperback in a sea of academic hardbacks. Reading the description I found it is set in South Carolina, so decided it was worth a try, maybe a quick read.

I had wanted to read another Chodron after reading her book When Things Fall Apart. This one was not as easy of a read, but still great. I requested the Cotterill from interlibrary loan immediately following the recording of Reading Envy Podcast 037, where Juliane mentioned that series in passing. That was enough to peak my curiosity, not to mention that it is set in a country I had yet to read a book from for my Around the World challenge.

The dog training one was a whimsy pick from the new books section at the public library - I have two dogs who badly need training but we haven't taken the time to do a class yet.  I thought maybe it would help!