Review: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ever since The Vegetarian became a massive hit (for good reason,) I have read a string of novels by female writers from Korea translated into English that capture elements of the lived experience of women navigating a society that is still very male-centric. Sometimes they do this through fantasy and the weird, or in this case, with documented research accompanied by endnotes for each chapter.

The sources include data points of sexism in the workplace, of female-exclusive hiring practices, pay disparities and more, like this:

"In 2014... one in five married women in Korea quit their job because of marriage, pregnancy, childbirth and childcare, or the education of their young children."

This seems didactic, no? Until you read the article on the BBC website about the outcry to the book (and movie made from it) since the book was published in Korea in 2016. It is accused of being "highly subjective" and making "sexist generalisations against men." The author's use of facts to back up her everywoman's story provides its own defense. And maybe she felt it would have more staying power in fictionalized form (certainly it was read by many people and became a best seller) - still for my own personal tastes, this is another example of characters and plot employed solely to teach or convince the reader something, and I was left wanting more (while still supporting the ideas.)

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Review: American Cheese: An Indulgent Odyssey Through the Artisan Cheese World

American Cheese: An Indulgent Odyssey Through the Artisan Cheese World by Joe Berkowitz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Squeezing this in for Nonfiction November - this book looks at American cheese (all cheese, not just the bright orange variety I always called "plastic cheese.") The author examines the industry, visits cheese conventions, cheese competitions, and follows people who are training to be cheesemongers. He visits small producers trying to make names for themselves, including Rogue River Creamery before they won the award for best cheese in the world...I blame this book for the taste of it that I felt compelled to order! But the author is hitting the American Cheese stride right as the world is starting to pay attention, so that's good timing, or it would have been, if only tariffs hadn't gone up that negatively impacted the export of cheese, the import of the manufacturing equipment required to make it, and more people are forgoing travel at all much less culinary travel to obscure cheese producing locations. (We have traveled some of the WNC Cheese Trail so we know obscure mountain cheese locations!)

This book is more about the people surrounding cheese and the obscure culture of the beliefs and practices of those people. It's like an ethnography of a separate culture living amidst the rest of us. And while you will learn about some of the cheeses of America at the same time, it's not really the focus. The author was funded to travel to write this book so he threw in a trip to France as well (smart although his description of the French cheese made me more curious about their cheese than ours, particularly some of those Alpine cheeses. Sign me up!)

I still enjoyed most of the book aside from a few strange word choices (kibbutz for a not even obscure use but unknown and I don't think it works; yeet in a way that should not be used unless you are a tiktok teenager- how will the old people who buy this book at Costco know what he means? I had a review copy so perhaps they fixed it.)

A similar book to this, about French cheese and really focuses on the cheese that I would recommend, perhaps as a companion book to this one, is The Whole Fromage: Adventures in the Delectable World of French Cheese by Kathe Lison, which remains my favorite single ingredient book I've read.

I had a review copy of this from the publisher through Edelweiss. It came out October 6, 2020. You will be amazed how much cheese you can order off the internet to have delivered to your house because this book will make you hungry.

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Review: Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West

Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West by Lauren Redniss
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Oak Flat is a serene high-elevation mesa that sits above the southeastern Arizona desert, fifteen miles to the west of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. For the San Carlos tribe, Oak Flat is a holy place, an ancient burial ground and religious site where Apache girls celebrate the coming-of-age ritual known as the Sunrise Ceremony. In 1995, a massive untapped copper reserve was discovered nearby. A decade later, a law was passed transferring the area to a private company, whose planned copper mine will wipe Oak Flat off the map--sending its natural springs, petroglyph-covered rocks, and old-growth trees tumbling into a void...The book follows the fortunes of two families with profound connections to the contested site: the Nosies, an Apache family whose teenage daughter is an activist and leader in the Oak Flat fight, and the Gorhams, a mining family whose patriarch was a sheriff in the lawless early days of Arizona statehood."

I understand the print version of this to have stunning visuals; I enjoyed the audio with multiple narrators. I appreciated that the issues raised are more broadly shared with various indigenous groups but I also enjoyed learning more about Apache ceremony and this one family's experiences with it.

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Review: The Beadworkers

The Beadworkers by Beth Piatote
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These short stories, some poetics, and one play/script type story focus on relationships between people in the northwest that have some kind of indigenous background, most often Nez Perce. The author includes some Nez Perce language and some elements of traditional tales (Coyote may show up) but for the most part the stories are contemporary people navigating their lives.

I was immediately drawn in by the cover because Mt Hood was my closest mountain growing up and my morning bus ride often included a view of the sun coming up behind it. Looking closer, the image is rendered in beadwork by Marcus Amerman (beadwork is a tradition mentioned in multiple stories.)

My Mom had a close friend who grew up on the Yakama rez which is mentioned here, and I went to a few salmon bakes in my childhood, so in some ways the characters feel familiar to me. They are diverse - a wide range of rural, suburban, and urban people with shared ancestry that comes along with its own set of expectations and traditions often unknown to the non indigenous people around them, including gifts of blankets and specific locations for ceremonies. Some stories are experimental in form (one revolves around the creation of a board game) while others are more narrative. Highly recommended!

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Review: Interior Chinatown

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I know this just won the National Book Award and I finally read it because that included it on the Tournament of Books long list, but I really did not enjoy reading this book. The entire structure and setup is satire? allegory? and the characters aren't real in the sense that characters are, they stand in to play a didactic role about how Asians, particularly the Chinese most of the time but also all Asians, are seen in America. As this was not news to me, I did not particularly enjoy the four hour audiobook lecture about it.

I have liked other books by Charles Yu but experimental fiction will always carry the risk of people liking it or not. I mean, I feel pressured to give it three stars because I like him otherwise and it's winning awards and other people find it very clever but cleverness is not enough to sustain a novel for me and it will never be. I'm a substance over style person.

One thing I noticed in listening to the audiobook is how much the rhythm of his writing feels like George Saunders. I challenge anyone who cares to go back and listen to Tenth of December as read by the author and see if you can hear what I mean. The audiobook narrator of this does not have George's accent, so that's not it, it's something about how the words and sentences fall. (George is also someone who I prefer when he isn't experimenting, funny....)

I listened to this in the Random House Audio Volumes app, where they have given me access to most of their new audiobook titles. I chose to listen since I was interested in this book due to its placement in the ToB, but honestly would not have been drawn to reading it otherwise, and only selected it because it is rather short and could accompany me while working on Thanksgiving prep. Therefore I'm not sure I'd exactly call it a review copy except to say that if they hadn't provided it I would have purchased it just the same, and then ended up even more disappointed that I'd spent an Audible credit on a book that was short yet not enjoyed. It came out way way back in January 2020, when the world felt very different, and I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more at that point in time. But even so, that was around when there were all these great Asian-American forward movies and tv shows coming out (at long last) so is this historical fiction?

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Review: Pizza Girl

Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Electric Literature says Pizza Girl is the "The Queer Slacker Pizza Delivery Novel We’ve Been Waiting For" and I'm not even sure I can say it better than that, but I'll try.

"Her name was Jenny Hauser and every Wednesday I put pickles on her pizza." And that's how the novel PIZZA GIRL begins. I've had this book on my radar but the comparisons to Moshfegh didn't make me want to try it - but it is one of the shortest books from the Tournament of Books longlist that I could get from the library without waiting.

The main character, whose name you don't know most of the time since it's all from her perspective, recently lost her father. She bonded with a classmate at a grief group and by the time the novel starts, he's moved in with her and her Mom because she is pregnant. She is 18 and is working part-time delivering pizzas in what I like to call "regular California." The most social interaction she has comes from the people she delivers pizzas to and the lives she comes up with for them.

I enjoyed (?) the read despite some heavy handed metaphors and some random narrative tangents (usually when the story would jump to someone else's drama at the pizza place - one I had to reread three times to figure out what happened) - the mother and boyfriend seem like good people but they are not able to stop the MC from spiraling, and that journey is the crux of the plot. In the E.L. article linked above, the author talks about the role of imagination in the MC's life and where that can go wrong, and it wasn't something I particularly zeroed in on but enjoyed thinking about after finishing the novel.

As far as the Tournament of Books goes, I'm not sure this is one of the top 16 reads, however I would love a match between this book and Jack by Marilynne Robinson. Both stories revolve around a slacker type character with people around them who can see the issues but not help. The writing and focus are entirely different but they actually have more in common than not.

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Review: Jack

Jack by Marilynne Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Friday, the 2021 Tournament of Books Long list came out, and I had a healthy number of books from it already on hand that I hadn't read yet. So I picked up this book, which I had from the publisher through Edelweiss but was a bit delayed in reading.

This book fits in with all the Gilead novels, which tell pieces of the same story from different perspectives. I was surprised when Lila came out and definitely didn't expect another one after that. Since a lot of people ask, you can read this as a standalone in the sense that it has its own start and finish, but it will mean a lot more in the context of the other three. For me, it had been years since I read the others and I was a bit hazy on the details.

And Robinson doesn't repeat herself. Since she assumed we know three versions of Jack's story already, she jumps in with a disagreement he is having with a woman, and the reader does not immediately know what is happening. All is revealed, but time is not entirely linear in Gilead and we will revisit some of the story a few times, from different angles.

Robinson is obsessed with Calvinism and other deep regions of thought where religion and philosophy intersect. I went to see her speak once and she was a lot more deep and narrow than I was particularly interested in, if I'm being honest. This novel is full of that type of rumination. Jack spends a lot of time reading in the public library so his vocabulary is rich and full of poetic meanderings. Della teaches English, so she contributes her own ideas. The entire 1/3 and many other chunks of the novel are long conversations of these two characters talking. And reading friend, not a lot happens, until it does.

It was nice to shift a bit from character study to ideas, but I didn't get nearly enough from Della's perspective. Some of her choices seemed strange and I don't really understand her well. Does this mean we will end up with a fifth novel? Would Robinson dare to try to write in the voice of an African American character? I'm not sure she should but I'm also not sure she should have written this novel without it, if that makes sense.

Regardless, this has a lot to discuss, making it a great book to be in the Tournament of Books.

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Review: One Life

One Life by Megan Rapinoe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am not the audience for this book as I'm not really that impressed by or interested in sportsing, much less women's soccer, haha. But I tend to like to listen to accounts from people who are the best, and Megan Rapinoe will not hesitate to tell you she is! I probably appreciated the social justice pieces of this the most - the cost of being out at the Olympics, the cost of a kneel, etc.

I had a copy from the publisher as an eBook but ended up listening to the audio since it was read by the author. This is somehow the second book this year I've read where the author had dated Abby Wambach. This came out November 10.

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Review: The Girl Who Fell to Earth

The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia Al-Maria
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this as part of my focus on the Middle East this year. Sophia Al-Maria is a Qatari-American artist, filmmaker, and writer who moved back and forth between Doha and Puyallup as a child. Her father is actually Bedouin and within his generation his family had to pick a more permanent place to live and stop moving through the peninsula (which was not always a positive - she describes her aunts as watching a lot of television.) And then Sophia/Safiya strikes out on her own, which was exciting too.

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Review: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can there be a more perfect book to read as the year winds down? Katherine May looks at wintering from a number of perspectives including viewing the aurora borealis, the time she lost her voice, seasonal affective disorder, and more, including how most of nature rests for transformation in the winter. And we should too!

This is a new title so might be good for gifts for your older, reflective relative. Maybe alongside a book of poetry by Mary Oliver or Barbara Kingsolver.

I had a review copy of the print but ended up listening to the audio, which I found very soothing.

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Reading Envy 206: Black Sheep with Tina Porubsky

Jenny welcomes a new guest - Tina - and we chat about reading more books from our own shelves and great books we've read recently. Jenny also asks about Tina's knitting, a new hobby she enjoys alongside reading.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 206: Black Sheep

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
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New! Listen through Google Podcasts


Books discussed:

The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea
Silences So Deep by John Luther Adams
A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa, translated by Risa Kobayashi
Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley
Two Wings to Fly Away by Penny Mickelbury
The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste

Other mentions:

#audioknitting
Rizzoli & Isles novels by Tess Gerritsen
I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee
2 Knit Lit Chicks (podcast)
Ravelry
RBG dissent sweater and Empower cowl
#yarnbombing
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea
Queen of America by Luis Alberto Urrea
PBS Reads July 2019
Urrea Facebook page
The Writer's Library edited by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
Mimi Patterson books by Penny Mickelbury
Smart Podcast, Trashy Books - Beverly Jenkins, episode 421
Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli
New York Society Library - Maaza Mengiste
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

Related episodes:

Episode 088 - Author Head Space with Sara Moore
Episode 133 - To Understand the World with Lauren Weinhold
Episode 160 - Reading Plays with Elizabeth
Episode 161 - Women in Translation Month Recommendations with Lauren
Episode 183 - Birthing Rabbits with Jessica
Episode 189 - Surreal Superpowers with Tim
Episode 203 - Backlist with Marion

Stalk us online:

Tina at Goodreads
Tina is @godmotherx5 on Instagram and Litsy
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

All links to books are through Bookshop.org, where I am an affiliate. I wanted more money to go to the actual publishers and authors.

Review: Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Moon of the Crusted Snow

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: Burnt Sugar

Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am grateful to the publisher for granting me access to this book early since it doesn't come out in the USA until January but was on the Booker Prize shortlist. I very much wanted to read it since it has to do with an ashram, a mother-daughter relationship, and as one Instagram friend called him, a "Mr. Big" character.

Well this book was excruciating. A mother who raised her child poorly, inflicting endless bodily trauma on her through neglect while she pursued a guru in an ashram is now old and forgetful and that same daughter is faced with having to care for her. I found the details almost too much as a reader. For me there is far too much bodily horror between incredible digestive issues relayed to trauma, to regular old weight gain and not being beautiful and being viewed with disgust, to other forms of abuse I don't even want to get into. The writing also went in circles and I swear some of the story lines were left incomplete. Definitely not my pick to win the prize- I'm still rooting for Brandon Taylor and Maaza Mengiste.

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Review: Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land

Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land by Noé Álvarez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Noé Álvarez, a Mexican-American with Purépecha ancestry, participated in a 6,000-mile ultramarathon relay through North America in 2004 that sought to bring awareness and healing to indigenous peoples from Canada to Guatemala. The author also surrounds the run with more about his life - from his childhood in Yakima, Washington with parents who worked in backbreaking agricultural jobs, to flailing as a first-generation college student, to the places he created for himself after this journey. He follows up in the end with many of the other runners, and it seems to have been a transformative experience for all of them (or, these are people who are most likely to seek out such an experience.)

I liked experiencing the individual stories of the runners, the challenges of trying to pull it off for this higher purpose when individuals are not so high-minded, and various indigenous places and traditions they got to interact with along the way. (Did I watch all the videos on the internet about Purépecha language and history, mostly in Spanish? I did! They were never conquered by the Aztecs and from my limited understanding are the ancestors of the people who would attempt to reclaim land in the Zapatista movement.)

It was interesting to see North America through an indigenous, feet on the ground (literally) perspective. That lens connects to the natural world and the rich history more easily, but doesn't shy away from the tensions of borders, military movements, police presence, poverty, and control.

Side note, or personal note - the community in which I grew up in rural Oregon was heavily populated by seasonal workers, and I had several classmates who were only in school half the year until their parents were able to relocate more permanently. I grew up maybe 5 miles from at least one "migrant housing" situation. I did a project in high school where I interviewed a man who had grown up as a child of a seasonal workers and ended up going to college, etc., and was at that time working for the State of Oregon in the employment office, often assisting people who were new to the area for similar reasons. This is backbreaking work, but I never really saw it from the inside. Like most parents who hope their children will be in a better situation, both my parents didn't want us doing that kind of work. They both had to spend their summers working in agricultural jobs to help their families make ends meet, as soon as they were able, and until they either got better jobs or left home. My Dad picked beans and worked at a maraschino cherry plant. My Mom picked beans, cucumbers, and berries (but quickly found a fast food job instead!) We still picked fruit in the summer and canned/froze it for our own consumption but that is very different from the demands of the industry itself which only thrives if you can push your body to the limit as Álvarez describes his mother doing in this book. It sent me on my own path of reflection.

I believe the publisher sent this to me way back in the beforetimes, the author did a lot of virtual book talks, because it came out in March.

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Review: Simmer Down

Simmer Down by Sarah Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nikki relocates to Maui after her father's death to help her mother run a food truck serving Filipino food, and has an encounter with the new (hot, English) food truck owner who parks in her space.

I like the foodie elements and the location, the tension between the characters, but sometimes it's like the author gets sidetracked (random trip to London! Luxury resort!) and adds elements to the story that actually detract from the central romance. I also do not like epilogues especially in romance. Give me my happy ending and walk away!

Still when I needed something to read during election week insomnia, this was a fair distraction.

I had a copy of this from the publisher through NetGalley; it came out October 13, 2020.

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Review: Migrations

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In a near future where entire species have gone extinct and the numbers of birds and fish are catastrophically low, Franny convinces a fishing boat captain to bring her aboard to follow the Arctic Tern (which she thinks will also follow the fish.) As the story goes on, more of her past is revealed. It sometimes feels like a story churning in its own destruction because obviously Fanny knows everything that has happened and the reader doesn't, but I liked the premise and the landscape. The crew is interesting as is the people they encounter, usually in cold and remote places, my favorite.

I had a copy of this from Flatiron Books through Netgalley although it came out August 4th so I'm obviously in catch-up mode with eARCs.

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Reading Envy 205: Life and Time with author Bryan Washington

Jenny speaks with author Bryan Washington about his new novel, Memorial, and also gets to know more about him as a reader. This bonus episode also contains information about a last-minute readalong, how to contribute to the best of the year episode, and what to expect for the rest of 2020.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 205: Life and Time

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Books discussed:

Memorial by Bryan Washington
Lot: Stories by Bryan Washington

Other mentions:

Nights when Nothing Happened by Simon Han
Luster by Raven Leilani
Pieces by Helen Oyeyemi
Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
Bestiary by K-Ming Chang
My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame
Breasts & Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
Dubliners by James Joyce
Daily Beast: Bryan Washington recommends 5 Books
Polar Vortex by Shani Mootoo
Book Cougars
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
Reading Envy Readers on Goodreads - Readalong discussion

Related episodes:

Episode 145 - Things Get Dark with Bianca Escalante
Episode 175 - Reading on Impulse with Marion Hill
Episode 196 - Miscommunication with Lindy

 
Stalk us online:

Bryan Washington website
Bryan on Twitter
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

All links to books are through Bookshop.org, where I am an affiliate. I wanted more money to go to the actual publishers and authors, and less to Jeff Bezos. I only link to Amazon in cases where Bookshop.org does not carry a backlist title, which took place a few times for this list.

Review: Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America's Poets Respond to the Pandemic

Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America's Poets Respond to the Pandemic by Alice Quinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This collection of poetry comes from poets coping with the pandemic and all its associated issues - loss (of loved ones or work), disconnect, loneliness, isolation; but also discoveries - creativity, quiet, nature. As always it is hard to give an overall rating but as I read and listened to these during Election Week and reflected on how this has been a very hard and long year, I found them to be a balm.

Favorites:

Haunt by April Bernard
"...This is her kind
of catastrophe, rife with irony and fear
and small domestic refinements...."

Say Thank You Say I'm Sorry by Jericho Brown
(about the people who have to work during the pandemic)

The End of Poetry by Ada Limón (read at The New Yorker by the poet)
"...enough of the brutal and the border,
enough of can you see me, can you hear me..."

I Hear the Wild Birds Singing Tangled Roads by Shane McCrae
(of noticing more, hearing more, when people are doing less, out less)

Corona by Dante Micheaux
(similar theme)

Because We Want to Imagine by Laura Mullen
"...didn't we think mostly
About dead bodies and what
We would do with a whole
Lot of money..."

Poem for My Students by Sharon Olds
(like it sounds)

Aftermaths by Tommy Orange
"...Quarantine comes from the Latin meaning forty days. How
long has it been and how long will it be and is it the same kind of forty as from
the ark and the flood, the devil in the desert and the forty-hour workweek?
How we will our lives into something more?"

Weather by Claudia Rankine (listen to the poet read the poem)
"...I say weather but I mean
a November that won’t be held off. This time
nothing, no one forgotten. We are here for the storm
that’s storming because what’s taken matters."

Canal Nocturne by Rex Wilder
"...We are stranded, too near each other to breathe."

I had a copy of the extended edition of the eBook from the publisher, and listened to the original version of the audio, where the poems are read by a host of audiobook narrators, but not necessarily the poets themselves. The Jericho Brown and Claudia Rankine are just a few of the newly added titles, so I would definitely go for the expanded edition which comes out November 17.

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Reading Envy 204: BookTube Season with Scott

While a lot of readers have struggled during the pandemic, Scott had a reading breakthrough this past year. We talk about BookTube, places for readalongs, and books we've read and liked recently.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 204: BookTube Season

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:

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
How Long 'Til Black Future Month by N.K. Jemisin
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
Last Call by Tim Powers

Other mentions:

The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Coode St. Podcast with Arkady Martine
Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
Sistah Scifi
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
The Great & Secret Show by Clive Barker
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Get Booked Podcast
Hugos There Podcast
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Everyone who Reads Must Converse (YouTube)
Endymion by Dan Simmons
A Case of Conscience by James Blish
Welcome Home: An Anthology of Love and Adoption edited by Eric Smith

Related episodes:

Episode 009 - Pirates and Noonday Demons
Episode 039 - Paranoid Squint with Fred
Episode 058 - Wishing for a Sequel with Scott D. Danielson
Episode 123 - Godlets and Forests with Lauren Weinhold
Episode 202 - Jacket Flap with Chris and Emily

Shelf Wear - Book 3 - The Only Good Indians
 

Stalk us online:

Scott on A Good Story is Hard to Find (podcast)
Scott on Shelf Wear (blog and podcast)
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

All links to books are through Bookshop.org, where I am an affiliate. I wanted more money to go to the actual publishers and authors, and less to Jeff Bezos. I only link to Amazon in cases where Bookshop.org does not carry a backlist title, which took place a few times for this list.

Books Read October 2020 - 258-295

In October, a few unique situations occurred which had an impact on my reading for the month. I know it looks like I read 5-7 more books than normal, but that can entirely be chalked up to the seven very short Amazon Prime/Audible Originals I listened to - six from Mindy Kaling, one from Kate Atkinson. I was also a guest commentator for a round of the Super Rooster from The Morning News' Tournament of Books - that was a lot of fun but meant I reread two books - the Rooney and the Whitehead. I also got a chance to interview author Bryan Washington, coming soon to the podcast, so I prioritized reading his book as well (which, as is pictured in my 5-star reads, was great.) Oh and then Tropical Storm Zeta blew through and left us without power for 2 days, so all I could DO was read.

 
Pictured: October's 5-star reads, with Amazon affiliate links (Bookshop doesn't provide direct image links, sorry!)

258. Just Like You by Nick Hornby ⭐️⭐️⭐️  (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
259. Sisters by Daisy Johnson ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
260. Just Us by Claudia Rankine ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Graywolf Galley Club; my review)
261. This Mournable Body by  Tsitsi Dangarembga ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library copy; my review)
262. I Have Something to Tell You by  Chasten Buttigieg ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from publisher; my review)
263. Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library copy; my review)
264. Kind of Hindu by Mindy Kaling, narrated by Mindy Kaling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Audible original; my review)
265. Help is on the Way by Mindy Kaling, narrated by Mindy Kaling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Audible original; my review)
266. Please Like Me by Mindy Kaling, narrated by Mindy Kaling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Audible original; my review)
267. Searching for Coach Taylor by Mindy Kaling, narrated by Mindy Kaling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Audible original; my review)
268. Once Upon a Time in Silver Lake by Mindy Kaling, narrated by Mindy Kaling ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Audible original; my review)
269. Big Shot by Mindy Kaling, narrated by Mindy Kaling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Audible original; my review)
270. Shine, Pamela, Shine! by Kate Atkinson, narrated by Gwendoline Christie ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Audible original; my review)
271. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library eBook; my review)
272. Wake Up Grateful by Kristi Nelson ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
273. Welcome Home edited by Eric Smith ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
274. Fardwor, Russia! by Oleg Kashin, translated by Will Evans ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
275. Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger by Lisa Donovan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
276. Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (print galley; my review)
277. Summer of the Cicadas by  Chelsea Catherine ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (print galley; my review)
278. The Book of Lamps and Banners by Elizabeth Hand ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
279. The Kill Club by Wendy Heard ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (print galley; my review)
280. Normal People by Sally Rooney ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library eBook; my review)
281. This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett, read by Ann Patchett ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Hoopla audiobook; my review)
282. All My Mother's Lovers Ilana Masad ⭐️⭐️⭐️  (print galley; my review)
283. The Shadow King Maaza Mengiste ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library copy; my review)
284. Silences So Deep by John Luther Adams ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
285. Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
286. Memorial by Bryan Washington ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
287. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
288. Very Nice by Marcy Dermansky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal eBook copy; my review)
289. Travels with a Tangerine by Tim Mackintosh-Smith ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (interlibrary loan; my review)
290. Burning Roses by S.L. Huang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (print galley; my review)
291. Suicide Woods by Benjamin Perry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Graywolf Galley Club; my review)
292. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library eBook; my review)
293. Galileo by Ann McMan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (print galley; my review)
294. Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (print galley; my review)
295. How Long 'Til Black Future Month by N.K. Jemisin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)

Total Books Read: 38

audio: 8
eBook: 13
print: 17

library: 8
personal or borrowed from Amazon: 12
review: 18

Around the World: 6
Booker Prize: 2
Crime/mystery: 3
Indigenous reads: 1
Memoir/biography/personal essay: 11
MiddleEast2020: 1
ReadtheWorld21: 1
Scifi/fantasy: 8
Spooktober (horror and dark fantasy, gothic too):6
Tournament of Books Super Rooster: 2

Review: Plain Bad Heroines

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews