Review: A Golden Age

A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In my multi-year quest of reading a book from every country, I still had not checked off Bangladesh. I've had this book since I found it on paperbackswap in 2012, so it's been on my shelf for a while too.

The novel starts on the eve of war for Bangladesh's independence in 1971 (instigated by genocide against Bengali by West Pakistan, which is puzzling looking at geography but not so puzzling if you know about Partition.) A widow, Rehana, is the central character, suddenly having to navigate revolutionary children, a sudden turn against Bengali nationalism, and an opportunistic brother in law.

Apparently this is the first of a trilogy about Bangladesh, so I'm definitely interested in the other two books.

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Reading Envy 176: Best of 2019

Jenny divulges her top reads of 2019 and shares the top reads of sixteen other readers. All of us focus on books we read in 2019; they may or may not have been published in 2019. That's how regular readers work! If you listen past that section, there will also be some discussion of the Best of the Decade in reads and reading experiences.

Thanks to all of you who participate, interact, and listen to the podcast! You have made this a marvelous year and decade.  Best wishes in the new year. The next episode will be all about reading goals, so feel free to share your 2020 reading goals with me and I might mention them.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 176: Best of 2019 with Jenny and Menagerie.

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Books Mentioned:



Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
Castle of Water by Dane Kuckelbridge
Lent by Jo Walton
Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson
Against Memoir by Michelle Tea
Brute: Poems by Emily Skaja
The Library of Small Catastrophes by Alison C. Rollins
Halal if You Hear Me edited by Safia Elhillo and Fatimah Asghar
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trolloppe
The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett
The Way to the Sea by Caroline Crampton
The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Tu by Patricia Grace
The Last Act of Love by Cathy Rentzenbrink
All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison
East West Street by Philippe Sands
The Great Believers by Rebekah Makkai
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
Birdie by Tracey Lindberg
They Will Drown in Their Mother's Tears by Johannes Anyuru
The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose
Cantoras by Caroline de Robertis
The Deeper the Water, the Uglier the Fish by Katya Apekina
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Very Marrow of Our Bones by Christine Higdon
The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
Metro 2035 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
In the Distance by Hernan Diaz
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Nobber by Oisin Fagan
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
When Chickenheads Come Home To Roost by Joan Morgan
Our Women on the Ground edited by Zahra Hankir
The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal
Sefira and Other Betrayals by John Langan
Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Fired Up by Andrew Johnston
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls by Mona Eltahawy
This Tilting World by Colette Bellous


Other Mentions:

Jenny's Full Best of 2019 List
Jenny's Best of the Decade List
Safia Elhillo and Fatimah Asghar reading at The Strand
Shedunnit Podcast


Related Episodes:

Episode 142 - Borders and Bails with Shawn Mooney
Episode 150 - Rife with Storytelling with Sara 
Episode 154 - Is If If with Paula
Episode 157 - Joint Readalong of Gone with the Wind with Book Cougars
Episode 159 - Reading Doorways with Lindy
Episode 160 - Reading Plays with Elizabeth
Episode 163 - Fainting Goats with Lauren
Episode 166 - On Brand with Karen
Episode 167 - Book Pendulum with Reggie
Episode 173 - Expecting a Lot from a Book with Sarah Tittle 
Episode 174 - Cozy Holiday Reads and TBR Explode 4
Episode 175 - Reading on Impulse with Marion Hill


Stalk me online:

Jenny at Goodreads
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Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy