Reading Envy 225: Books About Libraries and Librarians

I'm joined first by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray to discuss their joint novel, and decided to ask my co-workers for their favorite books on libraries and librarians. The episode finishes up with a few reading recommendations based on questions I've answered from listeners.

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Reading Envy 225: Books About Libraries and Librarians

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Books discussed:

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

Other mentions:

My review of The Personal Librarian
An Illuminated Life by Heidi Ardizzone
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Lirael by Garth Nix
The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith
The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai
A Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter
American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera
Bear by Marian Engel
Kitsy Babcock: Library Assistant by Joan Sargent
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
The Library by Sarah Stewart
Penelope Popper, Book Doctor by Toni Buzzeo
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen
Wild About Books by Judy Sierra
Help! I’m a Prisoner in the Library by Eth Clifford

Related episodes:

Episode 138 - Shared Landscape with Lauren Weinhold

Stalk me online:

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. I link to Amazon when a book is not listed with Bookshop.

Review: The Startup Wife

The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"No one wants to be married to the guy everyone thinks is going to save the world."

Asha is a skilled coder and drops out of a PhD program to start an app with her high school crush, at the same time they decide to marry on a whim. Cyrus only wants to be involved if they can "do things differently," and goes on to be the guru-CEO of their company that helps people create rituals and connect outside of a traditional religious background.

I like the combination of start-up culture with marriage dynamics, the guru persona and what it's like to be connected to it, and then the author even writes in the pandemic (which works perfectly with this start-up!)

You may recognize the author from historical fiction novel A Golden Age which is set in 1971 East Pakistan; I read that at the end of 2019. Both books include women who are in a high-stress situations but they have very different feels and sensibilities.

I had a copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss, which I sought out after seeing it on The Millions' list.

View all my reviews

Review: The Personal Librarian

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Belle la Costa Greene was J.P. Morgan's personal librarian (and rare books and art collector) who went on to run The Morgan Library after his death, converting it into the public serving institution he always planned. Her story is fascinating, having to pass as white to live/work/move in the circles she did, how this issue separated her parents, etc. The authors did a great job at blending research with imagination; Belle may have burned her personal papers but all the people she wrote to and did business with over the years did not!

An interview with the authors will come up on the podcast but in the meantime I can recommend this book of historical fiction!

View all my reviews

Reading Envy 224: School's Out with Elizabeth

Elizabeth is back, and on a school break, when she can read more of the books she has been meaning to get to. We also solve a literary mystery before the end of this episode.

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 224: School's Out

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 
Or listen through Google Podcasts

Books discussed:

 

The Push by Ashley Audrain
The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein (Knight)
Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
One Long River of Song by Brian Doyle

Other mentions:

The Overstory by Richard Powers
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
The Heartbeat of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
Tides by Jonathan White
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Hex by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
Helen Keller
El Deafo by Cece Bell
Nick by Michael Farris Smith
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Mink River by Brian Doyle
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
How to Carry Water by Lucille Clifton
Rememberings by Sinead O'Connor
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter

Related episodes:

Episode 033 - An Undulating Thrum with guests Ruth and Elizabeth
Episode 051 - Dreaming in Books with Karen
Episode 061 - Never Do That to a Book with Elizabeth
Episode 136 - Six Pack with Elizabeth
Episode 160 - Reading Plays with Elizabeth
Episode 201 - Wrestling with Complexity with Elizabeth and Laurie
Episode 202 - Jacket Flap with Chris and Emily

Stalk us online:

Elizabeth at Goodreads   
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. I link to Amazon when a book is not listed with Bookshop.

Review: Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my last read for the Tournament of Books Camp ToB, and I think this is my favorite, although none were five-star reads for me.

Johannes Kepler is known for his astronomy discoveries but the context of that work is the era of the plague, and people not understanding disease, much less the universe. His mother Katharina is accused of being a witch in her old age and this is the (fictionalized) story of the trial, largely told through testimonies of her neighbors, who looking back now blame all ailments, failures, and deaths on her. There are also letters from Katharina to her son and others. It is historical fiction, recentering a female character, with some humor and conjecture. The ending was rather fun.

The audiobook is narrated by Natasha Soudek she does a lot of different voices for the characters.

And kudos to me for making it through a historical fiction novel, which is just usually not my thing. 🥴

View all my reviews

Review: The Seed Keeper

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you loved Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, this is a novel along similar themes. When Rosalie's husband dies, she returns to her father's home in Minnesota on Dakhota land, a place she has not been since she was removed and placed into foster care as a child. The timeline moves back and forth and sometimes the pov switches to another character as it tells the story of a people, the land, the seeds, and those who keep them.

CW for those already experiencing trauma surrounding residential schools, foster care, and the general removal of culture and home that so many endured.

View all my reviews

Books Read June 2021: 142-165

I read slightly less in June, but also bailed on a few books I wasn't into. I should have bailed on more! The absolute highlight is The Actual Star by Monica Byrne - I can't wait for more people to read it when it comes out in September.

A gentle reminder that all reviews can still be seen on my Goodreads profile (the review will be with the book; the format will be specified unless it's in print.) And the books with green outlines are my 5-star reads for the month!

142. Milkman by Anna Burns, narrated by Brid Brennan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
143. The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser ⭐️⭐️⭐️
144. Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
145. Fifty Miles from Tomorrow by William L. Iggiagruk Hensley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
146. The Mountain and the Sea by Kwame Dawes, narrated by Paula-Anne Jones ⭐️⭐️⭐️
147. We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
148. Sansei and Sensibility by Karen Tei Yamashita ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
149. Getaway Girl by Tessa Bailey, narrated by Joe Hempel and Lori Prince ⭐️⭐️⭐️
150. The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein (Knight) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
151. Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri; narrated by Susan Vinciotti Bonito ⭐️⭐️⭐️
152. The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
153. Folk Stories from the Hills of Puerto Rico by Rafael Ocasio ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
154. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
155. Songs in Ursa Major by Emma Brodie ⭐️⭐️⭐️
156. The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
157. The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
158. The Courage to Teach by Parker J. Palmer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
159. Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, narrated by Renata Friedman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
160. The Actual Star by Monica Byrne ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
161. nîtisânak by Lindsay Nixon ⭐️⭐️⭐️
162. Hang the Moon by Alexandria Bellefleur ⭐️⭐️⭐️
163. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, narrated by Sura Siu ⭐️⭐️⭐️
164. Art for the Ladylike by Whitney Otto ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
165. Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

Total Books Read: 24

Reread:2

audio: 7
eBook: 10
print: 7

borrowed: 1
library: 5
personal copy: 9
review copy: 8
subscription:0

Around the World: 4
Erin & Dani's Book Club: 2
Europe 2021: 2
Read the World 21 (Scandinavia): 1
Tournament of Books: 5
Upstate International Book Club: 1
Work book club: 1

Graphic Novel/Comic: 1
Memoir: 3
Music: 1
Nature: 0
Poetry: 0
Translated: 1
Women in Translation:1