Reading Envy 235: Nature of Humanity with Paula

Paula is back for the last regular episode of the year and we talk about biography, books from the backlist, and books from countries we don't know much about.

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Reading Envy 235: Nature of Humanity

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Books discussed:

Wrestling with the Angel by Michael King
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
The Owl Service by Alan Garner
Sovietistan by Erika Fatland, translated by Kari Dickson
Chronicle in Stone by Ismaeil Kedare, translated by Arshi Pipa and David Below

Other mentions:

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
An Angel at My Table by Janet Frame
Faces in the Water by Janet Frame
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Small Island by Andrea Levy
The Swing in the Summerhouse by Jane Longton
The Border by Erika Fatland
The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Embers by Sandor Marai

Related episodes: 

Episode 045 - Worlds Collide with Ross O'Brien
Episode 119 - Bread and Butter Writing with Paula
Episode 154 - Is If If with Paula
Episode 187 - Sentient Snails and Spaceships with Paula
Episode 210 - Reading Goals 2021
Episode 231 - Psychological Terrorism with Reggie
Episode 234 - Punctuation Marks with Nadine

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Paula is @centique on 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 219: These Chickens with Carol Ann

Carol Ann and I discuss the reading adventures she discovered during quarantine, and we both bring books to talk about that we've read and liked lately, from music to paradise to lesser known presidents.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 219: These Chickens

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Books discussed: 

The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
Brood by Jackie Polzin
Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
The Ensemble by Aja Gabel
The Unexpected President by Scott S. Greenberger

Other mentions:

Hidden Brain podcast
Adventures by the Book
Novel Network
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan
American Hookup by Lisa Wade
New York Times review of Brood
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky, translated by Jackie Smith
Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky, translated by Christine Lo

Related episodes:

Episode 103 - Duchess Potatoes with Carol Ann Ellison
Episode 164 - Character Driven with Carol Ann
Episode 187 - Sentient Snails and Spaceships with Paula

Stalk us online:

Carol Ann at Goodreads
Carol Ann is @thebookandbeyond on Instagram 
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 148: Multiple Lives with Jeff Koeppen

Jeff talks about visiting the actual place where his novels took place, and Jenny discovers Jeff has an entire shelf for a subgenre he's really into. Jenny experiences some weird moments while she's reading weird short stories, and they seem related. We discuss fascinating people and historical fantasy before we're through.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 148: Multiple Lives with Jeff

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Books discussed:




The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Susan Bernofsky
After the Quake: Stories by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin
Grass by Sheri S. Tepper
The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein
Rocket Men by Robert Kurson
The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson


Other mentions:

Grassic Gibbon Centre
Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Grey Granite by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Go Went Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Russian Doll (tv show)
The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett
Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore
Apollo 11 (film)
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson
The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction translated by Ken Liu
Mars by Asja Bakic
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Z by Therese Anne Fowler


Related Episodes:

Episode 090 - Reading Envy Readalong: East of Eden with Ellie and Jeff
Episode 093 - Spewing Science with Jeff Koeppen
Episode 099 - Reading Envy Readalong: The Secret History
Episode 116 - Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again with Jeff Koeppen


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

Reading Envy 142: Borders and Bails

Recent birthday boy Shawn Mooney returns to the Reading Envy pub to chat books. Shawn has had a fantastic year, but in his reading, he has somehow focused on a narrow window of literature. He will share more with us on this episode.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 142: Borders and Bails

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Books discussed:



Country Dance by Margiad Evans
Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Valerie Boyd
Aunty Lee's Delights by Ovidia Lu
Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel
The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose

Other mentions:

Shawn and Charlotte discuss Country Dance on YouTube
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
State of Emergency by Jeremy Tiang
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Old Baggage by Lissa Evans
Woman at 1,000 Degrees by Hallgrímur Helgason, translated by Brian FitzGibbon
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson


Related episodes:

Episode 077 - No One Messes With a Wolf with Shawn Mooney
Episode 086 - The Queen of Bailing with Shawn Mooney
Episode 100 - 100 Reasons Why 
Episode 107 - Reading Goals 2018 
Episode 111 - Emotional Dipsy Doodles with Shawn Mooney
Episode 140 - Woman Greets Bear (Reading Goals 2019)  

 
Stalk us online:
Jenny at Goodreads
Shawn at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Shawn on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Shawn is @shawnmooney on Litsy
BookTube channel: Shawn the Book Maniac

Reading Envy 064: Reading Down the Rabbit Hole

Jenny talks books with anyone who will listen, and finds a new reading friend in the library where she works. Tracy, who appeared at the tail end of episode 063, is back for a full episode. We discuss books that tie into movies, real life experiences, and more. (Caution: this episode may make you hungry!)

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 064: Reading Down the Rabbit Hole.

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Books discussed:



The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik
Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Baker
Julia Child: A Life by Julie Shapiro
The First Wife: A Tale of Polygamy by Pauline Chiziane; translated by David Brookshaw

Other mentions:

Walter Edgar - SC writers
Dorothea Benton Frank
Mary Alice Monroe
Fran Rizer
Carolyn Hart
The Big Year (film)
John Adams by David McCullough
1776 by David McCullough
Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen series
Diane Mott Davidson
The Forgotten Recipe by Amy Clipston
JennyBakes raspberry pie
The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss by Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper
As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto by Joan Reardon
My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prudhomme
Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
Julie & Julia (film)
The Last Queen of England by Steve Robinson
My Husband's Sweethearts by Bridget Asher
#scifijuly
Apex by Ramez Naam
The Big Book of Science Fiction ed. by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
BookBub


Related Episodes:

Reading Envy 005: The Second Definition of Geek (mention of Penguin Lives)
Reading Envy 048: Reading Goals 2016
Reading Envy 063: Desolation Road (Tracy makes another brief appearance)


Stalk us online:

Jenny at GoodReads
Jenny on Twitter

Books Added July 2015

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss
The Big Sea: An Autobiography by Langston Hughes
Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman
The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

The Dornenburg and Ruhlman were birthday gifts. I have already made pancakes out of the Ruhlman!

I knew I would be seeing the VanderMeers when they were in South Carolina for Shared Worlds, and was very fortunate to interview Ann VanderMeer for the next episode of the podcast. I really enjoyed talking to her and hope you will enjoy that episode, posting next Tuesday.

Reiss is for my in-person book club, and the Hughes was near the Reiss on the shelf in the "African American" section of the used book store.  Mental note: check out all these divisional groupings of history and literature because they are taking books away from the "literature" and "history" sections where I might expect to find them.

Jenny's Library Books Mid-February 2015

I am really reading a lot of non-fiction this year!  In the entire list of library books I have brought home or downloaded in the last month, only one is a novel.  

Comfort Found in Good Old Books by George Hamlin Fitch
Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead
A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C.S. Lewis by Devin Brown
Jack: a Life of C.S. Lewis by George Sayer
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Where the Spirits Dwell: an Odyssey in the Jungle of New Guinea by Tobias Schneebaum
Our Enduring Values: Librarianship in the 21st Century by Michael Gorman
The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action by Stephen Denning
Under the Mountain Wall: A Chronicle of Two Seasons in the Stone Age by Peter Matthiessen
Secret Places: My Life in New York and New Guinea by Tobias Schneebaum

The Scar (Bas Lag #2) by China Miéville (eBook)

In my work as a librarian, I work with many First Year Writing seminars.  This semester I have two with C.S. Lewis as a topic. I had read the Chronicles of Narnia and some of the planet trilogy, but never any of Lewis's non-fiction.  The students I am working with are reading quite a bit of his theology alongside biographies on Lewis, so I picked up a few of those titles (Brown, Sayer, Lewis.)

More New Guinea books have found their way home with me - Schneebaum x2, and the Matthiessen. I won't be reading about Samoa until another month but it was just sitting there near the Matthiessen, whoops.

Another book that I brought home because it appealed to me from the shelf is the Fitch - it was near the book on librarianship by Michael Gorman.  It seems to be written because a father's son died, and his son loved to read, so he re-reads and writes about some of the classics.  I might not read it but it is over 100 years old with hand-attached illustrations.  Beautiful!

Both the Gorman and the Denning were brought to my attention because of a MOOC I'm participating in - Library Advocacy Unshushed.  I've been getting a lot out of it, not to mention an epic reading list.  The Denning may also be useful for my Storytelling class, if enough people sign up for it. I like to include elements of "applied" storytelling.

The Miéville was a book club selection, and luckily the public library had it as an eBook!

Jenny's Books Added January 2014

This has been a great book month, with quite a few titles coming in the mail and another full set in electronic format, most of those titles for review.  But they count because I have access to them and I may read them.  So I'll do this in two chunks. First, the physical items! 

Justine by Lawrence Durrell (audiobook)
Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell (audiobook)
Clea by Lawrence Durrell (audiobook)
The Sharpshooter Blues by Lewis Nordan
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Growing Up in New Guinea by Margaret Mead
The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson

Justine, Balthazar, and Clea are three books out of four of the Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.  I actually think this may be the fourth copy of Justine to come into my house, but I've never tried listening to them in audio.  I'm missing one and it might be coming in a separate box. I love the covers on these, black and white photos. I've never made it past the second book, more because I was savoring them than I couldn't read them. I'm hoping they are fantastic in audio!  I did get these from Brilliance Audio to review, just full disclosure.

The Mead and the Jones are for my Oceania reading project. The Nordan is for my southern book group and Wilson is a book club pick for the ACRL Conference I'll be attending in March.  G. Willow Wilson is one of our keynote speakers and I'm looking forward to that! I need to track down copies of her Marvel comics and Alif the Unseen, a book I loved but had read from the library.

One of the great perks of being both a librarian and a blogger/podcaster is that publishers are interested in sending you review copies of books.   After the initial understandable reaction of READING ALL THE THINGS, I now only request books I have a specific interest in.  Apparently this month that has been quite a few titles. I use both NetGalley and Edelweiss.

Digital review copies:



At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen (NetGalley)
The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig (NetGalley)
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson (Edelweiss)
The Glittering World by Robert Levy (NetGalley)
Our Only World: Eleven Essays by Wendell Berry
Words Without Music: A Memoir by Philip Glass


I do have reasons for requesting all of these! The Gruen? Cold weather island. The Haig? New post-apocalyptic series. The Atkinson? Follow-up to the very intriguing, very successful Life After Life. The Levy? Dark fantasy that I may or may not connect with considering who they claim it is similar to (Gaiman, Mott, etc.) The Berry? I need to read more of him and I've only read fiction. Glass? Only one of the most interesting living composers of our time. Can't wait!