Reading Envy 120: Summer Reading - Challenges, My List, and Speed Dating.

I decided to record a bonus episode. Inside I'll talk about the Reading Envy Summer Reading Challenges, and give you some suggestions of books for those. I'll talk about books in a few categories for more general summer reading, a list if you will, and then move into the third round of book speed dating for 2018. Some of the books mentioned are backlisted titles, while others might not come out until June 2018, or in one tiny case, August.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 120: Summer Reading - Challenges, List, and Speed Dating.

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Challenges: Reading Envy Picnic and Reading Envy Roadtrip

Books Discussed:

Off-Season: Discovering America on Winter’s Shore by Ken McAlpine
Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky
Travels in a Thin Country: A Journey through Chile by Sara Wheeler
Thrilling Cities by Ian Fleming
A Literary Tea Party: Blends and Treats for Alice, Bilbo, Dorothy, Jo and Book Lovers Everywhere by Alison Walsh
The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South by John T. Edge
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty
Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee
Super Sushi Ramen Express by Michael Booth

Even more recommended foodie memoirs

Summer Reading List:

Canada and Alaska
The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban
Home to Woefield by Susan Juby
Miriam Toews
Lynn Coady
Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw by Will Ferguson
Alaska by James Michener
Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

The New Western is Female
West by Carys Davies
American Hippo by Sarah Gailey
Rough Animals by Rae DelBianco

Light reads, funny reads
Other People’s Houses by Abbi Waxman
Less by Andrew Greer
Stray City by Chelsey Johnson
Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett

Prairie Reading (forget beach reading!)
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Biography by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Caroline: Little House Revisited by Sarah Miller
The Prairie Trilogy by Willa Cather
The Dry by Jane Harper
The View from Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America by Sarah Kendzior
The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich

Translated fiction
Brother in Ice by Alicia Kopf
Moon Brow by Shahriar Mandanipour
Suite for Barbara Loden by Nathalie Leger
August  by Romina Paula
The 6:41 to Paris by Jean-Philippe Blondel
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante


Speed Dating Round 3

Applied Empathy: The New Language of Leadership by Michael Ventura 
Sisters’ Entrance by Emtithal Mahmoud
Sexographies by Gabriela Wiener, translated by Jennifer Adcock and Lucy Greaves
Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude by Stephanie Rosenbloom
Tonight I’m Someone Else by Chelsea Hodson
The Honey Farm by Harriet Alida Lye
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
The Waters & The Wild by DeSales Harrison
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
An Intentional Life: Five Foundations of Authenticity and Purpose by Lisa Kentgen


Related Episodes:

Episode 024 - The Attention of Humanity with guests Seth Wilson and Barret Newman 
Episode 067 - Rain and Readability with Ruth(iella) Episode 095 - Lose the Outside World with Lindy Pratch
Episode 096 - Not Without Hope with Yanira Ramirez
Episode 110 - The Accidental Love Episode with Casey Stepaniuk
Episode 113 - Speed Dating 2018, round 1
Episode 117 - Speed Dating 2018, round 2
Episode 119 - Bread and Butter Writing with Paula 

Stalk me online:

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

Review: American Hippo: River of Teeth, Taste of Marrow, and a new short story

American Hippo: River of Teeth, Taste of Marrow, and a new short story by Sarah Gailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I kept hearing about the first novella in this collection, River of Teeth, last year but just finally got to it in this grouping.

The backbone of these two novellas and two short stories ("Winslow's Problem" and "Nine and a Half") is an idea that never happened, but almost happened in the United States - hippopotamus ranching. It was originally proposed to Congress as a solution for meat production and to also cut down on the water hyacinth that was clogging waterways. It sounds crazy, but that's the alternate history world setting the scene for American Hippo. Instead of riding in on horses, the villains (who are kind of the heros) and the law enforcement ride in on... a water hippo. Yep. Instead of barns there are lakes, and different types of hippos have been bred for different purposes (speed, meat, etc.)

So the alternative history setting is unique and fun in itself, but Gailey really shines in her interesting characters. One character named Hero is genderqueer, but that's not the main point, they play an important role in the murdering sprees because of their poisoning knowledge. One character is obese (at one point worries about not fitting in a chair) but is also a skilled assassin and thief. One character is pregnant in one novella and a mother in another, but doesn't necessarily want to stop killing; it's her passion.

My only quibble is that two characters have names that start with the letter A and I kept mixing them up, so I do wish that had been a bit different.

But overall I laughed a lot, sometimes because of humor, but more often because it's so ridiculous and silly (it reads like a hippo western) that it just made me very happy. It's a pleasure to read, and an escape of sorts.

Thanks to the publisher who provided access to this title through Edelweiss. It came out May 22, 2018.


View all my reviews

Reading Envy 119: Bread and Butter Writing

Paula, known as Centique in Litsy, joins me from New Zealand to talk books. Paula tends to read backlisted titles, because she is devoted to her TBR list. We talk translations, gloomy books, and cuteness.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 119: Bread and Butter Writing.

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Or listen through TuneIn
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Books Discussed:



Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Land of Love and Ruins by Oddny Eir
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz

Other Mentions: 

Blackout by Connie Willis
All Clear by Connie Willis
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Hugo Awards
Nebula Awards
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Top Chef (tv show)
The Mind of a Chef (tv show)
Smoke and Pickles by Edward Lee
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Tournament of Books
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Paula is @centique on Litsy

Reading Envy Summer Reading

Ahoy! I have posted the official rules for Reading Envy Summer Reading in Goodreads, but wanted to post it elsewhere on the internet to allow for more participation. This isn't the same as a Readalong but there will be another one of those in the fall.

Instead, we are going to have a summer road trip and a summer picnic, only in the books we read!

Reading Envy Roadtrip Rules

1. Read a book about a place that isn't where you are. And yes, you may interpret this however you want. It can be any genre.
2. Bonus points for reading it in that actual place, like on vacation or a business trip.
3. Bonus points for a book about a trip.
4. Go to the Goodreads group (optional) and share your roadtrip read, and Jenny will create a map at the end of the summer.
5. If you post about it in Instagram or Litsy, please also add #readingenvyroadtrip


Reading Envy Picnic Rules

1. Read a foodie book. It can be a memoir, a mystery (or other genre) with recipes, a cookbook, etc.
2. Bonus points for making a recipe from that book.
3. Go to the Goodreads group (optional) and share your picnic read, and Jenny will create a menu at the end of the summer.
4. If you post about it in Instagram or Litsy, please also add #readingenvypicnic

Happy reading!

(When does summer start/end? Well, I'm on an academic calendar that rushes the lunar/solar calendar, so I'm calling summer June through August.)

Review: Tin Man

Tin Man by Sarah Winman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a book I've noticed for almost a year as my UK bookish friends got to read it way before it came out in the United States. I was so glad to finally get a copy!

The story is about two men who were childhood friends and lovers, without putting labels on it really, and the painful/bittersweet/nostalgic realizations they make as adults. Ellis does so after losing his wife and is trying to navigate life alone, Michael does so in his childhood writings that we see in the second half of the book.

But this description does nothing to capture the feeling of connection the author is able to make between the characters and the reader, the love and loss you feel alongside them. I think I read it without breathing.

Thanks to the publisher for providing access to this title through Edelweiss. It came out May 15, 2018.

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Review: So Lucky

So Lucky by Nicola Griffith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book reads so much like a memoir I had to keep reminding myself it isn't. The murder plots and shadow creatures are not real.

But everything else probably is, and based on the author's experience. Mara is working as the Executive Director for an HIV non-profit, very successful, and has just parted ways with her wife of 14 years, when she has a fall. It is revealed to be Multiple Sclerosis.

The writing is punchy and I found myself reading it cover to cover. I had always meant to go back and read Hild by the same author, a completely different genre from this one, so I was interested in this, not even knowing what it was. I didn't expect what I found, because I hadn't read anything about it. I think readers who have liked Lisa Genova's books on disease (Still Alice, Inside the O'Briens, Every Note Played, etc.) would devour this, but it has a different kind of intensity: it feels personal.

It feels personal, because it is. The author posts openly on her blog about coming out as queer, and then having to come out with MS later on. The character she writes in So Lucky knows how to mobilize, how to build community, and how to advocate, and it feels like the world beyond this novel has more hope because of it.

I supervise someone with MS, and I also want to say that this book helped me in my understanding of the daily life of this disease.

The author has even created a Spotify playlist to accompany it, which I always love.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me early access to this title through Edelweiss. It comes out May 15, 2018.

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Review: Three Sides Water

Three Sides Water by Peter Donahue
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a collection of three novellas, all set at different times on the Olympic Peninsula. Overall they are slow burns, so I read one at a time between other readers. Since I'm going to Washington in June, and since I'm from the northwest (and have spent time a few summers on the OP), I enjoyed the particular placeness of all three.

"On Rialto Beach"
Rialto Beach is near Quillayute River, now protected as part of the Olympic National Park, right on the Pacific Ocean. A bunch of circus performers come here for a vacation from their lives of performing, and there is a disappearance. Or is it a murder?

"At Fort Worden"
Set in the early 1970s during the Vietnamese-American War, a boy lives (and escapes from) a juvenile detention center.

"Out of Shelton"
Very 21st century based on all the social media, the grandson of a lumber company owner wants to be Bing Crosby.

Thanks to the publisher for providing early access to the title through Edelweiss. The collection came out May 1, 2018.

View all my reviews

Review: Mating in Captivity: A Memoir

Mating in Captivity: A Memoir by Helen Zuman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Zendik is a communal organization, you might use the word cult, that I'm surprised I hadn't heard of before, particularly since it was housed in Hendersonville, NC, just 30-40 minutes from where I live, up until 2003. At that point it moved to West Virginia, to a large homestead. It got some press a few years back when that farm went up for sale, after the remaining founder of Zendik, Arol, passed away. It seems like Zendik more or less finished dissolving at that point, although you can still find their Facebook page.

The author of this memoir went looking for a communal society to join after graduating from Harvard, and landed on Zendik. She was funded by some kind of grant where she had agree to do research on this kind of society, but that was kind of a lie, as she really wanted to embrace it for herself. I found myself asking on a somewhat frequent basis if Harvard teaches anything like ethics or critical thinking, because the author does not seem to employ either in her decision making. Using grant money, over $10k, for something other than what you received it for, is surely against all terms of service! (She outright donates the entire sum to Zendik very soon after moving in as an apprentice, when they weren't even asking her for anything yet.) She also doesn't seem to be able to see the organization from the outside, which even if she was pretending to be the scholar receiving the grant, it seems like some baseline level of an understanding of fieldwork practices would have been employed.

Instead, she just... jumps in. Eager to have a different kind of life and to lose her virginity, a communal society where sex is arranged between multiple partners as long as both consent, and no property or body belongs to everyone seems kind of perfect to Helen. She embraces it but it does not take long before she finds out that actually, a lot of people pair off, and actually, she's going to have to sell stuff on street corners, and actually, there is a well-developed hierachy, and actually, the remaining leader employs a lot of crazy tactics that are common in fundamentalism and cults. It feels like she entered Zendik after its peak, after the founder Wulf, with his esoteric philosophies and rules, passes away. The group has picked up and relocated several times, but she didn't see this as a warning sign. From the memoir, I did get a sense that she has some trauma in her past, so perhaps that made her more susceptible, but I definitely found myself asking why! I think the author wanted to know why as well, and that's why she wrote this.

I know I sound critical, but a lot of people who get stuck in cults enter them as babies or after severe trauma or complete helplessness (drug addiction, homelessness)... Zuman is an educated person who just seems to make bad decisions. But I suppose it can be an interesting, if frustrating, read in that regard. (It's almost worse on the occasions where she leaves, hitchhiking without any awareness of personal safety.)

But I almost want to bump up the star rating because I enjoyed deep diving into this story on the internet. To that end, I bring you:

-The author's LiveJournal, where she had been writing her experiences and connecting with others from the same and similar backgrounds. This entry has a lot of the lingo and timeline associated with her time at Zendik.

-A Huffington Post article about the 2013 sale of the WV farm, with pictures of the space. The author was still a part of Zendik when they made the move to this location, but it almost felt like it was part of the reason she finally had to leave.

-Zendik Farm Arts Foundation on Facebook, not active in the last few years, but great photos of the founders, Wulf and Carol. They led the group from the 1960s on.

Thanks to the publisher for giving me early access through Edelweiss. They also published another leaving-religion title that I read last month, Shunned: How I Lost My Religion and Found Myself. This title came out May 8, 2018.

View all my reviews

Review: Only Human

Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is possibly my favorite of the Themis Files books. I ended up listening to the audio, which was a great experience. The author is even one of the voices!

Since so much of this book will spoil the previous books, I'll put my comments behind a spoiler tag. (view spoiler)[So we know from the end of book 1 that the robots are alien-origin. And at the end of book 2, it seems like the robot has transported those inside to space.

This book starts with unrecognizable words, and eventually the story reveals that Dr. Rose and some others have ended up on Esat Ekt, and have to learn to communicate and navigate cultural differences. Those on that planet have started to bring in those who share their DNA, but have reasons for destroying Earth, and they are not sorry. There is an interesting philosophical process happening, a new culture to be revealed, and of course what is happening on earth while they are on this other planet. Fascinating, creative, and well paced (whereas Book #1 of the Themis Files was not so much, and I know some abandoned that one.. but I was glad I stuck it out.)

I received an eARC from the publisher through Edelweiss, but then was offered an audiobook for review from the publisher and went with that format instead. The multiple narrators make for an enjoyable listening experience considering the multiple formats of the contents. The book came out in both formats on May 1. (hide spoiler)]

View all my reviews

Reading Envy 118: Readalong - To the Bright Edge of the World

Vinny, Jeff, Nadine, AmyB, and Carol join Jenny at the table in the corner of the Reading Envy pub to discuss our latest readalong. There are a few sounds from the resident pets but what can you expect?

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 118: Readalong 3.

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner
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Book Discussed:



To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

Other Mentions:

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
American Army History Museum - Colonel Allen expedition (historical basis of novel)
Interview with author and her editors 
Two Old Women by Velma Wallis
Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock

Related Episodes:

Episode 090 - Reading Envy Readalong: East of Eden with Ellie and Jeff 
Episode 099 - Readalong: The Secret History
Episode 104 - Uppity Lives and Jelly Melons with Jason Roland  

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Jeff at Goodreads
Jeff on Twitter
Jeff is @jeffkoeppen on Litsy
Carol Ann is @thebookandbeyond on Instagram
Vinny is @billypar on Litsy
Nadine is @nadine on Litsy
Amy is @bookchipmunk on Litsy

Books Read April 2018: 74-122

5 star reads


74. Inauguration by Idris Goodwin and Nico Wilkinson **** (eBook personal copy; my review)
75. Elsewhere by Eliot Weinberger **** (library book; my review)
76. The PowerBook by Jeanette Winterson ***** (personal copy; my review)
77. Finding the Space to Lead by Janice Marturano *** (interlibrary loan; my review)
78. When My Brother Was An Aztec by Natalie Diaz ***** (interlibrary loan; my review)
79. Dirt Riddles by Michael Walsh ***** (borrowed from friend; my review)
80. American by Day by Derek B. Miller **** (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
81. New-Generation African Poets edited by Kwami Dawes ***** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
82. The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths **** (whodunitbymail bookswap; my review)
83. Borrowed Wave by Rachel Moritz *** (interlibrary loan; my review)
84. What I Found in a Thousand Towns by Dar Williams **** (library book; my review)
85. Family and Other Catastrophes by Alexandria Borowitz **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
86. My Dinner with Ron Jeremy by Kendra DeColo **** (interlibrary loan; my review)
87. There are More Beautiful Things than Beyonce by Morgan Parker **** (interlibrary loan; my review)
88. The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston *** (Audible download; my review)
89. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss ***** (Audible download; my review)
90. Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
91. This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison *** (Kindle eBook; my review)
92. This Accident of Being Lost by Leanne Simpson **** (personal copy; my review)
93. The Little Clan by Iris Martin Cohen **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
94. Erosion's Pull by Maureen Owen *** (personal copy; my review)
95. Brown: Poems by Kevin Young ***** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
96. Register of Illuminated Villages by Tarfia Faizullah ***** (personal copy; my review)
97. Ariel: The Restored Edition by Sylvia Plath **** (library book; my review)
98. The Quiet by Anne-Marie Turza **** (personal copy; my review)
99. The Smoke of Distant Fires by Eduardo Chirinos *** (library book; my review)
100. Thieves in the Afterlife by Kendra DeColo ***** (interlibrary loan; my review)
101. Negative Space by Luljeta Lleshanaku *** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
102. A Distant Center by Ha Jin **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
103. Eventide by Therese Bohman **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
104. The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan **** (borrowed from friend; my review)
105. Land of Love and Ruins by Oddny Eir ***** (personal copy; my review)
106. We are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis Taylor ** (Audible download; my review)
107. Pearls on a Branch by Najla Khoury **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
108. Acid West: Essays by Joshua Wheeler *** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
109. Shunned by Linda A. Curtis **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
110. Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao ***** (library book; my review)
111. The Changeling by Joy Williams **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
112. Weight by Jeanette Winterson *** (personal copy; my review)
113. Beautiful Zero by Jennifer Willoughby **** (interlibrary loan; my review)
114. Don't Call Us Dead by Danez Smith ***** (personal copy; my review)
115. West by Carys Davies **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
116. A Tree Whose Name I Don't Know by Haji Golan **** (personal copy; my review)
117. Banthology edited by Sarah Cleave **** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
118. The Linden Tree by Cesar Aira *** (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
119. Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood **** (whodunitbymail book swap; my review)
120. The View from Flyover Country by Sarah Kendzior **** (eARC from Edelweiss/NetGalley; my review)
121. The Connected Child by Karen Purvis **** (personal copy; my review)
122. The Jaws of Life: Stories by Laura Leigh Morris ***** (personal copy; my review)