Reading Envy 194: Squirreling Books Away with Andrew

Jenny welcomes Andrew to discuss books, and we discuss myth and folk tale retellings, classics, and reading around the world. Andrew finishes every book he starts and has been in the same book group for 20 years.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 194: Squirreling Books Away

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Books discussed:



Middlemarch by George Eliot
These Ghosts are Family by Maisy Card
Old School by Tobias Wolff
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
Swansong by Kerry Andrew


Other mentions:

The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon
Thomas Hardy
D.H. Lawrence
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
Jane Austen
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time podcast
Literary Disco Podcast
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Ulysses by James Joyce
Ulysses dramatisation

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Eighth Life by Nino Harataschwili
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack
Milkman by Anna Burns
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Age 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Robert Frost
Ayn Rand
Ernest Hemingway
New Yorker Podcast - Tobias Wolff
The other Tobias Wolfe
Marian Keyes
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Molly Brown
Folk on Foot Podcast
Everything Under by Daisy Johnson (and it's Oedipus, not Hansel and Gretel!)
Country by Michael Hughes
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
The Prince of West End Avenue by Alan Isler (not available in USA)
IraqiGirl: the Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq


Related episodes:

Episode 099 - Readalong: The Secret History
Episode 176 - Best of 2019
Episode 182 - Reading Slump with Eleanor Thoele
Episode 192 - Sly Milieu with Thomas

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Andrew at Goodreads
Andrew is @andrew61 on Litsy

Review: The Eighth Life

The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book has had my complete attention every spare minute of the last week, and I was absorbed from page 1 to page 944. A family saga that starts with the four daughters of a Georgian chocolatier, through wars and revolutions and generations. That's the country of Georgia, which I knew almost nothing about.

I always say I find my best reads on the long but not shortlists of awards and this is no exception (longlisted for the International Booker) - any other books I've picked up while reading this have paled in comparison.

I had copy from the publisher through Edelweiss but it took me a while to get to it. It came out April 14, 2020.

View all my reviews

I'll Have What You're Reading

The 200th episode of the Reading Envy Podcast is fast approaching. Since my tagline has always been "I'll have what you're reading," I'd like to give you the opportunity to share where you get ideas of books to read, or what bookish content you produce that readers might be interested in. I am hoping for audio submissions from regular readers, but I am also inviting podcasters, Booktubers, independent bookstores, and small press representatives to plug what they think readers might want to hear about. I do not have advertising on my show so consider this an invitation!

To contribute:

1. Record an audio file, MP3 is fine. It should be no longer than 2 minutes (2 minutes is longer than you think.)
2. Send it to me at the name of my podcast, all one word, at gmail.com. Hint: the podcast name is "Reading Envy."
3. Deadline is September 1.

Reading Envy 193: And I Feel Fine (Ducks, Newburyport Readalong)

In the midst of protests and a pandemic, Jenny hosts a bonus readalong discussion of Ducks, Newburyport. What seems like the random thoughts of a pie-making Midwestern woman turn out to be so much more, and we untangle only a few of the threads in this complex tome. Spoilers Inside.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 193: And I Feel Fine

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Books discussed:



Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann


Other mentions:

Pioneer Girl: the Annotated Bibliography by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
JennyBakes - lemon drizzle cake disaster
JennyBakes - tarte tatin
Reading Envy Readers (Goodreads group)
After the Cuyahoga River Fire - Great Lakes Now (video)
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick
Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Apocalypse Whenever (Goodreads group)
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
The City and the City by China Mieville
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
Marchpane review of Ducks, Newburyport
It's the End of the World by R.E.M.


Related episodes:

Episode 090 - Reading Envy Readalong: East of Eden with Ellie and Jeff
Episode 093 - Spewing Science with Jeff Koeppen
Episode 099 - Readalong: The Secret History
Episode 116 - Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again with Jeff Koeppen
Episode 118 - Reading Envy Readalong: To the Bright Edge of the World
Episode 137 - Reading Envy Readalong: The Golden Notebook
Episode 148 - Multiple Lives with Jeff 
Episode 157 - Joint Readalong of Gone with the Wind with Book Cougars
Episode 185 - The Loyal Swineherd (Odyssey readalong)
Book Cougars - Joint Readalong of Sapphira and the Slave Girl
 

Stalk us online:

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

Review: Take a Hint, Dani Brown

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the second book in The Brown Sisters by Talia Hibbett, and I might have enjoyed this one even more than the first (Get a Life, Chloe Brown.) Danika is a somewhat witchy academic who is NOT a relationship person, until she meets Zafir, who rescues her from a building and they become a hashtag. He is a romance fan in more ways than one. If you are a fan of people speaking frankly and directly (even in steamy situations) this is for you.

It looks like there will be a third book in this series, but I'd also like the stories of some of these side characters - Scorcha, Fatima, etc.

What I'm not expressing well is how much this made me laugh, sometimes cackle. If this wasn't a review copy I would be quoting some MAJOR HILARIOUS PASSAGES.

I had a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss but it comes out Tuesday the 23rd! You don't need to have read the Chloe Brown book to enjoy this one.

View all my reviews

Review: IraqiGirl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq

IraqiGirl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq by IraqiGirl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"My mother told me not to write about politics. She said write about normal life. But I don't have a normal life so how can I follow her advice?" 3 August 2005

Hadiya wrote a blog about her life from 2004-2018. This book covers 2004-2007 (what we would call high school) with a brief note about 2008-09 but I went to her blog to see what happened later. It ends up being about life under military occupation by the United States. She lives in Mosul, with family in Lebanon, Syria, Baghdad, and Kurdistan. She also provides a glimpse into the Syria of fifteen years ago, one that was a refuge for so many people, a city that epitomizes peace and "real life" to Hadiya during this time period, since her family retreats to Aleppo on multiple occasions when their home is damaged by bombs, gunfire, or someone they know is killed. All along Hadiya is trying to be a good student so she can go to pharmacy school.

The way the book is presented I believe it is targeted at middle to high schoolers as a way to develop empathy for Hadiya and others like her, similar to how The Diary of Anne Frank is used in classrooms. There is an extra Q&A from students her age at the end.

I bought this from Haymarket books as part of my reading goals for the year. It doesn't escape me that the two books I've read from Iraq so far have been from the voices of children who have had to leave the country. I was brought to tears more than one time, so had to take a bit longer to read this one.

View all my reviews

Review: You Exist Too Much

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The background of the novel is a woman born to Palestinian parents, who were forced to relocate in 1967. They have family in Lebanon, West Bank, and Jordan, but live in America. Her parents had a volatile relationship and her mother has often treated her like competition or an inconvenience, telling her "You exist too much" when she responds emotionally, especially when she starts trying to come out to her. The refusal to understand her daughter as anything but straight is one backbone to the novel.

But this is not a family saga. It's more like a recovery novel. At the start of the novel, a relationship between the MC and her girlfriend Anna has just ended and it's definitely her fault. She's been sleeping with randos at the bar where she DJs and carrying on with a married professor while claiming to be monogamous; she decides to check in to a facility for addiction...love addiction. I was a bit surprised at this as the majority of the story, because the very first scene of the novel, where she gets in trouble for exposing her ankles in Bethlehem, made me think it would be a different type of story.

I was more interested in the parts about her mother, honestly, what her life started as and what happened in the war, the distributed nature of her family, the strangeness of her parents' marriage and how violence was the only form of attention - the author was making the connection between that upbringing and the MC's behavior but I think the piece that was missing is that I'm not sure the MC ever does. This makes it feel like the novel is a snapshot of the story but not the entire story, and I think that's okay, but somehow not as satisfying as I would have liked.

View all my reviews

Reading Envy 192: Sly Milieu with Thomas

Thomas is back! We discuss reading during a pandemic and more importantly, the books we've managed to order online during the pandemic. Jenny gets Thomas to talk about audiobooks, and we follow every tangent from E.M. Forster to epistolary novels.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 192: Sly Milieu

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner
Or subscribe via Apple Podcasts by clicking: Subscribe
Or listen through TuneIn
Or listen on Google Play
Or listen via Stitcher
Or listen through Spotify 
New! Listen through Google Podcasts


Books discussed:



Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut
The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya
No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn


Other mentions:

In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
"Every Song" by Vivek Shraya (both versions in Spotify)
Camp ToB
"Italy Before the Plague" (Thomas's blog entry)
The Mirror and the Light by Hillary Mantel
Timothy West
Simon Vance
Sinclair Lewis
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Graham Greene
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Patrick Modiano
WG Sebwald
Helen MacInnes
Charles McCarthy
Malaprop's Bookstore
Old Town Books
Blue Hill Books
Boulder Book Store
Three Lives & Company
Bear Pond Books
Nonsuch Book
Mahogany Books
Furrowed Middlebrow from Dean Street Books
Stuck in a Book
Powells
Lion Cross Point by Masatsugu Ono
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
A Room with a View (film)
Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
The Longest Journey by E.M. Forster
Howards End by E.M. Forster
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Maurice by E.M. Forster
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
Hotels of North America by Rick Moody
Interview between Tommy Orange and Kawai Strong Washburn
Stories of Hawaii by Jack London
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym


Related episodes:

Episode 085 - An Acquired Taste with Thomas Otto
Episode 144 - For the Fans with Thomas of Hogglestock
Episode 155 - Books About Music Recommendations Episode with Thomas
Episode 191 - Stealthy yet Sparkly with Gail Carriger


Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Thomas on Twitter
Thomas at his blog, hogglestock

Review: These Ghosts Are Family

These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This (debut!) novel covers multiple generations of a Jamaican family and it starts in the middle, when a dying man decides to admit that he faked his death to his adult daughter. This isn't a typical family saga in the sense of a linear story; each chapter features characters related to Abel/Solomon either as offspring or ancestors. It deals with the ghosts of slavery; immigration, and memory. (Some reviews use the word colonialism instead of slavery, which masks the actual content.)

Along the way, I also learned some Jamaican history, some I feel sheepish for not knowing, for instance the connection between Haile Selassie and Rastafarianism (and now that I've read more about it, I feel pretty dumb! I mean I've even been to Jamaica!)

Maisy Card was born in Jamaica but raised in Queens; this is a great selection for ReadCaribbean month!

View all my reviews

Review: The Book of Longings

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you are a fan of myth retellings or Biblical tale reimaginings, this is likely a book for you. Sue Monk Kidd also takes the material she wrote a memoir about over a decade ago and uses it in this novel. That memoirhad an impact on me when I first read it so the connection - The Dance of the Dissident Daughter - about her discovery of Gnosticism, feminist spirituality, and how that changed her perspective of her own faith. It was easy for me to see how those ideas are wound through this novel.

Okay, so if that didn't scare you away, I feel I should also say that you will get more out of this book the more you know about the Biblical/Historical Jesus. But many who know a lot about that may be turned off by the idea of Jesus having a wife. The author addresses this very well in the back of the book, and I would encourage reading that if it is something you are not sure about. She acknowledges which things she changed from the traditional Biblical narrative, which things she borrowed from other places, and which came from her own mind. If anything, Kidd is a master of threading her research into her stories. I read The Thunder: Perfect Mind first when I read Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels so I definitely recognized it when it came up in this story; I was relieved to see her credit it and explain where it comes from after the end of the novel.

That is a lot of overture and caveat, but any reader of Sue Monk Kidd should not be surprised by feminist underpinnings to this novel. It is about Ana, the wife of Jesus, from her childhood to later in life. Ana begs her father to allow her to learn how to read and write so in an era of expensive parchment and lack of education for women, she learns how to read and write, and in more than one language. Learning and writing, inspiration and calling are all important themes in the book as Ana navigates feeling called while also being told it isn't appropriate (from her family) or possible (once she is married and much poorer) by the people around her.

And what do you do with a woman who believes she has something to say? I enjoyed the thought experiment of such a woman and what the man Jesus (based on a blending of Biblical text and historical documents) would have done with such a wife. I kind of hate that I enjoyed it but growing up in fundamentalism it's pretty hard not to want to imagine the what if's from the women excluded from stories.

The other thing that I think Kidd does very well is the way she weaves in the stories of the New Testament into Ana's story but gives them a little twist. The first time this is hinted at is when Ana visits the temple in Jerusalem, but you really see different contexts for the stoning ("let he who is without sin cast the first stone"), the "Good Samaritan," and that's just the beginning.

Ana loves Jesus, but she only really knows him as a kind man, who has a calling of his own. The way they release each other into that calling is an incredible act of love, but she never sees him as magical Jesus; she never sees any miracles for instance. There are reasons for this in the text but I like how it gives her a very specific personal version of him, and she loves him.

I had a copy of this from the publisher through Edelweiss; it came out April 21, 2020.

View all my reviews

Review: Miss Iceland

Miss Iceland by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hekla is a writer living in Iceland in the 1960s but because she is a woman, everyone around her keeps trying to tuck her back into more traditional roles of wife and mother. She is beautiful and pursued relentlessly by men who want her to compete to be Miss Iceland with somewhat questionable promises. The other key characters are her father, who is obsessed with volcanoes so much so that she is named after one and their conversations and gifts tend to revolve around whichever volcano is currently active; her close friend who is not straight and gets seasick, leaving him without a lot of options for work or relationships; her other close friend who has her own writing muse but is trapped in a basement apartment (no sun, no room) as a housewife and seems destined to be the mother of many children, close together.

Hekla has kept her writing life a secret and manages to do so even after moving in with her boyfriend who fancies himself a writer, a poet, and joins the other self-declared poets to have coffee and be seen writing in the cafes. In this way the author manages to capture the creative spirit of people living in Iceland but with a somewhat mocking way of revealing how people see themselves vs. where the true talent lies.

After reading Icelandic literature for a year, I'm still drawn back to it - it's a place I still haven't visited and want to, but I learn more about it in every book set there. This one has a lot about the culture of Reykjavik in the 1960s, where whale carving would take place down the block from a bookstore. The post-war years play a role, for instance did you know that an entire island was created by a volcano around the same time JFK was assassinated? There are a lot of place names and it's clearly translated by a British-English speaker because of some of the word choices, but all these things just work together to make it feel more Icelandic, of a certain time and place.

This video is a nice little summary of Icelandic literature featuring several authors I've read and liked, and they do a good job explaining why literature is so important there, and what it is that fuels their creativity. They are all speaking English; I would like to learn Icelandic!

I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher through NetGalley. It comes out June 16, 2020. The author teaches art at the University of Iceland, writes song lyrics for a band, and has won several awards for her fiction and plays.

View all my reviews

Books Read May 2020: 108-135

Pictured: May's 5-star reads

108. Starling Days by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
109. Written in Black by K.H. Lim ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Kindle eBook; my review)
110. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library book; my review)
111. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
112. Raised in Ruins by Tara Neilson ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
113. Writing Wild by Kathryn Aalto ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
114. On Lighthouses by Jazmine Barrera, translated by Christine MacSweeney ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
115. Alligator and Other Stories by Dima Alzayat ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (ARC from publisher; my review)
116. Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Susan Bernofsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
117. Strange Hotel by Eimear McBride ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
118. Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Hoopla eBook; my review)
119. The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
120. My Part of Her by Javad Djavahery, translated by Emma Ramadan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
121. Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy eBook; my review)
122. Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Hoopla eBook; my review)
123. And Then They Stopped Talking to Me by Judith Warner ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
124. Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (ARC from publisher; my review) *Note - I added the fifth star later so this book isn't represented in the image above or in my social media posts*
125. Lion Cross Point by Masatsugu Ono, translated by Angus Turvill ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
126. If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
127. Silence of the Chagos by Shenaz Patel, translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
128. The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
129. The Story Prize ed. Larry Dark ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (ARC from publisher; my review)
130. Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
131. The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from publisher; my review)
132. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
133. Walking the Nile by Levison Wood ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Hoopla eBook; my review)
134. Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong, translated by Natascha Bruce ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
135. They Say Sarah by Pauline Delabroy-Allard, translated by Adriana Hunter ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)

Books Read: 28

Audiobook: 0
eBook: 17
Print: 11

Library book: 4
Review copy: 15
Personal copy: 9

Booker Prize: 1
Fantasy: 1
Middle East 2020: 2
ReadtheWorld21 (May focus: Asia and Pacific Islands): 6
Science fiction: 1
Short Stories: 3
Translated: 8

Black Lives Matter

I was going to work on my May books read post tonight but I am going to follow the lead of other bookish people and use my space to bring more attention to black voices.  And as much as I love Octavia and James I'll be focusing on living voices so that you can go out and buy their books! The links here do not pay me anything, I'm trying to link to original publishers or authors as much as possible.


I love the the Breakbeat Poets collections from Haymarket Press so much. Most of them feature black poets but my two favorites are Volume 2 - Black Girl Magic, featuring black female poets across the diaspora, and Volume 3 - Halal if You Hear Me, is one co-edited by Safia Elhillo and Fatimah Asghar. All the poets included are Muslim, so of course some of them are black.


Nicole Dennis-Benn was born and raised in Jamaica, and I just saw her in conversation with Roxane Gay last night. Her first novel, Here Comes the Sun, goes deep into the lives of three generations of women in a family, one who is a lesbian deep in the closet because of the danger of being out at that time. Patsy is the story of a woman who leaves her daughter in Jamaica to try to make a better life for them in New York, and it doesn't go well. It is heartbreaking but shows a side not always seen, about motherhood, about the immigrant experience.

Jesmyn Ward is best known for her fiction, specifically Salvage the Bones and Sing Unburied Sing, both of which won the National Book Award.

Her non-fiction includes The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, which she edited and is in homage to James Baldwin and a reflection of this era. The root to most of her writing seems to be her own life, some of which is revealed in Men We Reaped, chronicling five black men she lost who were close to her. It is heartbreaking but not unique.

I'm going to mention one more poet because to me there is nothing like poetry to bring you into another person's experience. Danez Smith is a powerful voice; I can't believe I have not yet read Homie, their newest collection, but Don't Call Us Dead is powerful, and just look them up in YouTube to experience poems such as Dear White America, or various poetry publications to read others, for instance not an elegy for Mike Brown. 

Memoirs from Roxane Gay, Mychal Denzel Smith, Ta Nehisi Coates, Kiese Laymon, novels from Brandon Taylor, Brit Bennett... I am only scratching the surface but if you are frozen, if you want to do something but don't know what, if you have not at least given time and space in your library bag or your bookshelves for black voices, here is one place to start.

 

Reading Envy 191: Stealthy Yet Sparkly with Gail Carriger

Author Gail Carriger sits down with me at the Reading Envy Pub, and we discuss her voracious reading habits, and topics in books ranging from little squiddies to magical chocolate pots. Ms. Carriger must have a happy ending, and Jenny is content with fragmentary reads.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 191: Stealthy Yet Sparkly

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner
Or subscribe via Apple Podcasts by clicking: Subscribe
Or listen through TuneIn
Or listen on Google Play
Or listen via Stitcher
Or listen through Spotify 
New! Listen through Google Podcasts


Books discussed:

 

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton
Sorcery & Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
On Lighthouses by Jazmina Barrera, translated by Christina MacSweeney
Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan

Other mentions:

Defy or Defend by Gail Carriger
Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger
Meat Cute by Gail Carriger
Soulless by Gail Carriger
The Lightning-Struck Heart by TJ Klune
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ranson Riggs
Wolfsong by TJ Klune
Court of Fives by Kate Elliot
LitHub The 50 Best Contemporary Novels under 200 Pages
The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
My Enemy the Queen by Victoria Holt
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Grace Draven
Taji Beyond the Rings by R. Cooper
The 5th Gender by G.L. Carriger
Earth Fathers are Weird by Lyn Gala
White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn

Related episodes:

Episode 015 - The Time for Exclaiming Over Costumes with Jean and Karen
Episode 060 - A Good Era for Communists with Rose Davis
Episode 187 - Sentient Snails and Spaceships with Paula


Stalk us online:

Gail Carriger website (includes more social media links)
Gail Carriger on Twitter
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy