Reading Envy 242: Dark and Gloomy with Claire

I was happy to sit down and talk to Claire, a reader from the upcoming generation. She likes dark and gloomy books! Jenny also took the opportunity to read a few YA books she had not yet gotten to, and went dark and gloomy too.

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 242: Dark and Gloomy

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:

 

Took by Mary Downing Hahn
Truly, Devious by Maureen Johnson
Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz
Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Other mentions: 

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
Maus by Art Spiegelman
The Hunger Games series
Divergent series
Maze Runner series
Dangerous by Shannon Hale
A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Related episodes: 

Episode 010 - YA Literature: Death and Mayhem with guests Alex and Carissa
Episode 022 - Gods and Cannibals with guest Chris
Episode 173 - Expecting a Lot from a Book with Sarah Tittle
 

Stalk us 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.

Reading Envy 215: Lovely Pile with Lola

I hope you have been enjoying our string of new guests, four out of the last five. Lola talks about her life as a "serial book clubber" and shares books she's read and loved lately.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 215: Lovely Pile.

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 Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Home is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Days in the Caucasus by Banine, translated by Anne Thompson-Ahmadova
Deacon King Kong by James McBride

Other mentions:

Elizabeth Acevedo
Make Me a World imprint
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson (memoir mentioned)
Normal People by Sally Rooney
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Lisa Dillman
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
We the Animals by Justin Torres
Santino Fontana
Armie Hammer
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene; read by Colin Firth
Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Schaffer
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
The January Children by Safia Elhillo
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Bahni Turpin
Rosamund Pike
Thandi Newton
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell
Rich & Pretty by Rumaan Alam
The Need by Helen Philips
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
The Push by Ashley Audrain
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
Beneath the Keep by Erika Johansen

Related episodes:

Episode 051 - Dreaming in Books with Karen
Episode 067 - Rain and Readability with Ruth(iella)
Episode 147 - Bonus Poetry Recommendations with Lauren
Episode 202 - Jacket Flap with Chris and Emily

Stalk us online:

Lola at Goodreads
Lola is @ferociousreader on Instagram and @Lola on 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. I link to Amazon when a book is not listed with Bookshop.

Review: Home Is Not a Country

Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Safia Elhillo is one of my absolutely favorite poets (check out her earlier collection, The January Children, and then watch her perform her work on YouTube!)

This is a YA novel in verse about a Sudanese (pre)teen named Nima who has moved with her mother to the United States after the death of her father (and rising conflict in her country.) Themes include a tumultuous friendship with her friend Haitham, the alternate girl with the alternate name (Yasmeen) whose life she imagines (the one who she might have been if her father hadn't died,) and the difficulties of finding friendship and community in a place that doesn't feel quite like home. Safia includes themes familiar to her earlier work about language, homeland, music, and belonging.

This comes from the Make Me a World imprint from Random House, alongside Pet by Akwaeke Emezi among others. It comes out today (March 2) and I had a copy from the publisher through NetGalley. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, who blurbed the book!

View all my reviews

Review: The Marrow Thieves

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I finally read this YA dystopian novel where people perceived as being indigenous are kidnapped in hopes their bodies will help everyone else regain the ability to dream. The novel is more about the groups of people living on the run and the ways they connect and build community - very little is about the mad scientist component (this is okay but was a bit surprising based on how much it is included in most summaries of the book.) Also in the background are the history of the "residential schools," climate change, and human-directed environmental destruction. It's set in the future so California is gone, the Great Lakes are toast, etc.

If you waffle on YA, there is much less angst than in the Hunger Games or Divergent. The majority of the novel features characters from a broader range of ages.

I had a strange experience (twice!) where I fell asleep while reading it and sank into deep dreams, so beware!

This was the January 2021 pick for Sword and Laser with guest co-host Mallory O'Meara. It was also discussed on Episode 202 of the Reading Envy Podcast with the Book Cougars.

View all my reviews

Reading Envy 202: Jacket Flap with Chris and Emily of the Book Cougars

Chris and Emily, known fondly as Book Cougars, join me to discuss books we've read and liked recently. We address the controversy of one of the books selected, new books by well-loved authors, and authors that we're just discovering (and whose back files we need to read.) Links to Book Cougars are included at the end of the shownotes so check out their podcast too.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 202: Jacket Flap

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:

 

All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny
Rage Baking edited by Kathy Gunst and Katherine Alford
Tides by Jonathan White
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Other mentions:

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Book Cougars Goodreads Group - Sapphira and the Slave Girl discussion
Hurma by Ali Al-Muqri (book mentioned from Yemen)
Booktopia (at Northshire Bookstore)
Ann Kingman
Michael Kindness
Books on the Nightstand podcast (no new episodes)
Powells City of Books
Library of Congress - National Book Festival
Bloody Scotland Festival
Decatur Book Festival
Beowulf by Maria Dahvana Headley
The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson
Circe by Madeline Miller*
Emily's Lists
Tangerine Jones @ragebaking
Jenny's video playlist to accompany Tides
Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Bestiary by K. Ming Chang
Trumbull Park by Frank London Brown
Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

*I kept referring to Madeline Miller as a translator. I do think she has the scholarly chops to translate, but her works that I've read and loved are novels that are retellings of myths. I know this, but misspoke during our discussion. Sorry!

Related episodes:

Episode 037 - Breakdancing to Bach with Juliane Kunzendorf
Episode 131 - Tartan Noir and More with Claire Duffy
Episode 133 - To Understand the World with Lauren Weinhold
Episode 157 - Joint Readalong of Gone with the Wind with Book Cougars
 

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Book Cougars website/podcast
Book Cougars are @bookcougars in Instagram

Reading Envy 201: Wrestling with Complexity with Elizabeth and Laurie

Elizabeth and Laurie join me in the pub to chat about books we've read and liked lately, from memoirs to fantasy to YA to poetry. I'd love to hear feedback on the three-person episodes; there will be a few before the end of the year.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 201: Wrestling with Complexity

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:

Voices in the Air by Naomi Shihab-Nye
The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg
Eat a Peach by David Chang
The Liars of Mariposa Island by Jennifer Mathieu
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Other mentions:

The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2020
MountTBR challenge
#readwhatyouown challenge (in Instagram)
yutori
How to Fly by Barbara Kingsolver
Devotions by Mary Oliver
Elizabeth's review of Devotions
Orangette blog
A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
Delancey by Molly Wizenberg
Tin Man by Sarah Winman
Lucky Peach magazine
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein*
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Apeirogon by Colum McCann
All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny
Tides by Jonathan White

*I was foolish and referred to this as "Music Makes Me a Modern Girl"
 

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
 

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Elizabeth at Goodreads   
Laurie on Twitter
Laurie is @dryapyapi on Instagram
Laurie at Goodreads

Reading Envy 162: Heat Rating with Sara DeSantis

Sara used to only read self-help books but now has shifted to being a major romance reader, especially in audio. Jenny has reformed from her early skepticism (it might have been a certain royal wedding) and decided to talk about some of the romance she's read and liked lately.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 162: Heat Rating with Sara

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
Listen via Stitcher
Listen through Spotify


Books discussed:



Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase
Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
P.S. from Paris by Marc Levy, translated by Sam Taylor


Other mentions:

Reluctant Royals series by Alyssa Cole
The Princess Diaries (film)
V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum
Forbidden Hearts series by Alisha Rai
American Hookup by Lisa Wade
To All the Boys I've Loved Before (film)
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han
Always Be My Maybe (film)
Just Like Heaven (film)
Kiss and Break Up by Ella Fields
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson


Related Episodes:

Episode 056 - The Wall of Romance
Episode 074 - The Books We Didn't Love in High School with Blaine DeSantis

Stalk us online:

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

Reading Envy 136: Six Pack with Elizabeth

I wanted to call this episode "Raised by Wolves" for obvious reasons, but Episode 114 already did that! Whoops. Both Elizabeth and I seemed to be in an animal reading mood lately, and that permeates our picks. Elizabeth talks about some YA book events she attended in Houston, and Jenny talks about her home library, and both of us talk about books we've read and enjoyed lately.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 136: Six Pack with Elizabeth.

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
Listen via Stitcher
NEW! Listen through Spotify


Books Discussed:




Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West by Nate Blakeslee
Being Caribou: Five Months on Foot with an Arctic Herd by Karsten Heuer
Foe by Iain Reid
Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones


Other Discussion:

Tweens Read - Houston
Lumberjanes chapter books version (first one is Unicorn Power!)
Rick Riordan
Storm Runner series by J.C. Cervantes (first one is The Storm Runner) - this is the Mayan myth series Elizabeth mentions
Becky Albertelli
Adam Silvestri
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Ron Rash
George Singleton
Carmelo by Sandra Cisneros
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathy Appelt
The Underneath by Kathy Appelt
Maybe a Fox by Kathy Appelt
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Wishtree by Katherine Applegate
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean
Kings of the Yukon: One Summer Paddling Across the Far North by Adam Weymouth
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Dogsong by Gary Paulsen
I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
In the Distance by Hernan Diaz
And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
More Than This by Patrick Ness
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Saturday by Ian McEwan


Related episodes:

Episode 010 - YA Literature: Death and Mayhem with guests Alex and Carissa
Episode 033 - An Undulating Thrum with guests Ruth and Elizabeth
Episode 061 - Never Do That to a Book with Elizabeth 
Episode 065 - Creeping through the Uncanny Valley with guest Bryan Alexander 
Episode 098 - Just a Bunch of Stuff that Happened with Bryan Bibb
Episode 114 - Raised by Wolves with Karen Acosta
Episode 128 - Poetry and Whale Guts (Bonus episode; Speed Dating 2018, round 3)

Stalk us online:

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

Reading Envy 127: The Sadness Between Books with Bianca Escalante

Bianca Escalante joins Jenny to talk about great books we've read recently. Discussions include the craft of story, representation in YA literature, and good examples of character studies. Jenny knows Bianca from Litsy, and this is her first appearance on the Reading Envy Podcast.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 127: The Sadness Between Books.

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
Listen via Stitcher


Books Discussed:



The Devil and Winnie Flynn by Micol Ostow, illustrated by David Ostow
The Shepherd's Hut by Tim Winton
White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks
Feral Youth edited by Shaun David Hutchison
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively

Other Mentions: 

Camp NaNoWriMo
After Atlas by Emma Newman
The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel
Among Others by Jo Walton
The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Anne With an E (tv series)
Matthew Dicks - "This is Going to Suck" story
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchison
At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchison
The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchison
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susana Clarke
The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr
The Wrong Heaven by Amy Bonnaffons
A Working Woman by Elvira Navarro, translated by Christina MacSweeney


Related Episodes:

Episode 086 - The Queen of Bailing with Shawn Mooney
Episode 120 - Summer Reading; Speed Dating 2018, round 3
Episode 125 - Strong Tea and Suspicious Penguins with Luke Burrage and Juliane Kunzendorf

Stalk us online:


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