Reading Envy 057: If Books Were Roads

Steve returned to talk about more books. We recorded this while performing avant garde dance moves. One of the novels we discuss is set in Ecuador. The day after we recorded, Ecuador was hit by a major earthquake resulting in the loss of lives and property. If you are so inclined, you may donate to relief efforts.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 057: If Books Were Roads.

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Books discussed:



The Hotel Years by Joseph Roth
The Potbellied Virgin by Alicia Cossino
The Illogic of Kassel by Enrique Vila-Matas
What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund
The Aran Islands by J.M. Synge
Any Human Heart by William Boyd

Other mentions:
The Hotel Savoy by Joseph Roth
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
Robert Musil
Stefan Zweig
Herman Broch
Raymond Roussel
A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross

Related episodes:
Episode 008 - Gone Rogue with guests Steve Richardson, Libby Young, and Mike Winiski
Episode 019 - Dump Truck Poetry with many guest contributors!
Episode 046 - Books for Your Kitty Party (The Best of 2015) with Libby Young and many other guests

Stalk us online:
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter

Wrap-Up for Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon

I have seen this readathon around social media for years but when I found myself home on a Saturday with few plans, I decided to jump in at the last minute. My day was largely spent reading, posting about reading, and reading other people's posts about reading. Oh and watching half of the first season of UnReal because I started it.

You can read more about Dewey, the readathon, how to participate, and make plans for the next round over on their website.

I finished five books yesterday. I had started three of them already, which might be against the official rules, but it is how I did it. I also started and rejected a sixth book which I don't to mention here (savvy readers can find my abandoned books shelf in Goodreads and draw their own conclusions.)

Reading in community is the best, and it was great fun to be a part of such a great community of readers for this readathon!

The Miernik Dossier by Charles McCarry
The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Ark by Ed Madden
Gin and Gardenias by A. Scott Henderson

Library Books April 2016

Vacation, Bailey's Prize shortlist, and other random reasons to get books from the library!

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
The Miernik Dossier by Charles McCarry
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
The Vacationers by Emma Straub
The Meursault Investigation  by Kamel Daoud
The Past by Tessa Hadley
Ruby by Cynthia Bond
The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
Koreatown: the Cookbook by Deuki Hong and Matt Rodbard

When we went on vacation a few weeks ago, I went impulse book picking at the library. I brought home the Straub (which I read in the low country) and the Hoffman (which I didn't.) The Daoud was a pick earlier in the year of one of my book groups, but it took a while for my library hold to come in and I had to read The Stranger first. I checked out the McCarry on a whim, after reading a review for a book later in the series.

The Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist was announced earlier this week. I had already read A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and The Green Road by Anne Enright. At the library I found two more (which I probably ordered) - the Bond and the Rothschild. Koreatown was just sitting there begging to come home with me, and the Rankin I requested from interlibrary loan (also ordered a copy for our library to have later.)

The Hadley is the first group read of a new reading group I joined in Goodreads, which focuses entirely on super recent (as in published this year or last year) literary fiction. I'm looking forward to it!

Reading Envy 056: The Wall of Romance

Jenny records about her second book speed-dating project of 2016, and reflects on her romance reading project. Is the wall of romance a reference to the endless options, or did she hit a wall?

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 056: The Wall of Romance.

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Or subscribe via iTunes by clicking: Subscribe
Or listen through TuneIn

Books discussed, Speed Date:

The Perfect Match by Kristan Higgins
Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
Veronika Decides to Die by Paolo Coelho
The Rhythm of Compassion by Gail Straub
The Enchantment of Lily Dahl by Siri Hustvedt
And One Last Thing... by Molly Harper
We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families by Philip Gourevitch
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jamisin
Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen
Updraft by Fran Wilde

Books discussed, Romance Experiment:

The Arrangement by Ashley Warlick
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
Charlie All Night by Jennifer Cruisie
Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
The Violets of March by Sarah Jio
The Duchess War (Brothers Sinister #1) by Courtney Milan
Between the Tides by Patti Callahan Henry
The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan
The Offer by Karina Halle
And One Last Thing by Molly Harper
The Perfect Match by Kristan Higgins
The Enchantment of Lily Dahl by Siri Hustvedt

Other mentions:

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
Pop Culture Happy Hour: The Romance Novel Special
Sword & Laser Discussion: Sci-Fi Romance - It's a Thing?
Reading Envy Guest FAQ

Related Episodes and blog posts:
Episode 052 - The Man with the Eyebrows with Philip and Scott
Episode 035 - Speed Dating Books
Episode 055 - Too Late for an Autopsy with Julie Davis
Episode 047 - Sex with Elvis (bonus speed dating episode)
The Original Reading Envy Speed Dating Project (with rules)
Speed Dating Round Two
Speed Dating Round Three
Speed Dating Round Four

Books I Read in March 2016

Since not every book I read gets discussed in Reading Envy, and not everyone on the internet is my Goodreads friend (but honestly, just about.) Those marked with an asterisk have been or will be on an episode.

Books 54-90 of 2016

54. Terrible Virtue by Ellen Feldman (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)
55. Eleanor by Jason Gurley (ARC from Blogging for Books; my review)
56. A Change of World by Adrienne Rich (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)
57. The Offer by Karina Halle (audiobook; my review)*
58. Now Go Out There by Mary Karr (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)
59. Life Without a Recipe by Diana Abu-Jaber (ARC from Netgalley; my review)
60. Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)
61. All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (hardcover; my review)
62. The Violets of March by Sarah Jio (paperback; my review)*
63. Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn (paperback; my review)*
64. Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes (audiobook review copy; my review)
65. Reading Matters by Catherine Sheldrick Ross (paperback from library; my review)
66. Elephant Company by Vicki Croke (hardcover from library; my review)
67. Sacred Reading by Michael Casey (paperback from interlibrary loan; my review)
68. The Slow Book Revolution ed. Meagan Lacy (paperback from library; my review)
69. Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard by Lawrence Schoen (hardcover from library; my review)
70. HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)*
71. Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman (hardcover from library; my review)
72. A Reader on Reading by Alberto Manguel (hardcover from library; my review)
73. Riding Toward Everywhere by William T. Vollman (hardcover; my review)
74. Life Before Man by Margaret Atwood (mass market paperback; my review)
75. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (paperback; my review)*
76. Any Human Heart by William Boyd (paperback; my review)*
77. The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch by Neil Gaiman (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)
78. Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine (paperback from interlibrary loan; my review)
79. New-Generation African Poets (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)
80. Ninety-Nine Stories of God by Joy Williams (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)
81. I Call Myself a Feminist (paperback from interlibrary loan; my review)
82. Before We Go Extinct by Karen Rivers (ARC from Netgalley; my review)
83. The Assistants by Camille Perri (ARC from Netgalley; my review)
84. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)*
85. The Cruelest Journey by Kira Salak (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)*
86. The Vacationers by Emma Straub (hardcover from library; my review)
87. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (paperback from library; my review)*
88. Coming Up Hot: Eight New Poets from the Caribbean (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)
89. All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer (audiobook; my review)
90. Zero K by Don DeLillo (ARC from Edelweiss; my review)

New Books In - March 2016

This was a lighter month for buying books and most of them were for vacation!

The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy
Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh
All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer
Light Years by James Salter

We spent a few days in Beaufort, SC, and considering Pat Conroy's recent passing and Beaufort being his longtime home, I thought bringing one of his earlier books with me would be wise. Of course I didn't end up reading it this time around, and will probably save it for our next trip to the low country. The McIntosh was one of the Amazon Kindle daily deals, although I'd had it on my to-read list. The Salter was a book I'd gotten from interlibrary loan but knew I wasn't going to enjoy reading the type and yellowed pages, so bought a paperback. Haven't cracked it! The Steinhauer was my response to my husband asking me to pick an audiobook for us to listen to on our drive down, and is the only book from this list that I have finished.

Have you brought any new books home lately?