Reading Envy 092: Reading Friends Sarah and Preston

Sarah makes another visit to the Reading Envy Pub, and this time she brought the reading friend she mentioned on Episode 072. We chat reading friendships, books we've read recently, and the difference between mystery and true crime. Cats are the bonus!

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 092: Reading Friends Sarah and Preston.

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Books featured:



Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners by Therese O'Neal
Walkaway by Cory Doctorow
Marlena by Julie Buntin
While the City Slept by Eli Sanders
The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

Other mentions:

Liza Marklund - Annika Bengzton series
S.J. Bolton
List of female detectives on The Guardian, 2010
Karin Slaughter - Grant County series
Karin Slaughter - Will Trent series
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
Boing Boing
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow
For the Win by Cory Doctorow
The Center for Fiction -  First Novel Prize
Tournament of Books Summer Reading Challenge
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The Rumpus book club
"The Bravest Woman in Seattle" by Eli Sanders
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Colm Toibin review of The End of Eddy (NYRB)
The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Camino Island by John Grisham

Related Episodes:

Episode 072 - Books Are My Bag with Sarah K
Episode 089 - Hodge Podge with Jenny alone 
Episode 091 - Watching Our Stories with Tracy Landrith  


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Preston is not available on the internet

New Books In, March 2017

When I travel to a new place for the first time, I usually look for interesting bookstores and libraries. When I knew I would be heading to Baltimore for a conference, that translated to Red Emma's and the George Peabody Library. (links go to my photos in Instagram) Some of the preparation for the trip, and some of the purchases made on the trip are represented in this pile of new books added in March 2017.

A Small Key Can Open a Large Door: The Rojava Revolution
Suite for Barbara Loden by Nathalie Leger
The Outrun by Amy Liptrot
After Delores by Sarah Schulman
In Memoriam to Identity by Kathy Acker
The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn
The Protester Has Been Released by Janet Sarbanes
The Waking Comes Late by Steven Heighton
Whereas: Poems by Layli Long Soldier
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
The Experiment of West Kurdistan by Zaher Baher

Audio purchases (not pictured):
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
Christadora by Tim Murphy
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Deliverance by James Dickey
Stormy Cove by Bernadette Calonego
The Idiot by Elif Batuman

When I went to Red Emma's, and spent hours there along with a Goodreads friend, I decided to only buy books I'd never heard of. I was also hoping to find books that fit my borders reading project. Win/win! That's where the unnamed "small key" book comes from, along with Schulman, Acker, Sarbanes, and Baher.

I received my monthly subscriptions - Hamid and Warner from Book of the Month, and the Leger from Malaprops. I already had the Leger due to a previous purchase of all the Dorothy Project titles.

Soldier and Heighton were purchased for National Poetry Month, Gay since she was speaking at ACRL, and the Liptrot because I read a review copy and wanted it in my collection.

The Desmond was a gift from another reader in a book swap group, because she finished it and saw it on my tbr list. I won the Ahlborn from a Goodreads Giveaway.

For the audio list, the Finnegan, Murphy, Dickey, and Calonego were purchased during an Audible BOGO credit sale (and I had credits to spend!) I bought the Vowell to listen to on the way home from DC with my husband, and the Ness as a quick listen I initially thought I could discuss on the podcast. The Batuman is a review copy from Penguin Random House Audio.

New books in, February 2017

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
Sula by Toni Morrison
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
Follow Me Into the Dark by Felicia C. Sullivan
No Knives in the Kitchens of This City by Khaled Khalifa
Dance of the Jakaranda by Peter Kimani
Island Home by Tim Winton
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Not pictured:
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

The Book of Etta (The Road to Nowhere #2) by Meg Elison

Daughter of a Thousand Years by Amalia Carosella

I feel like my book acquisition is changing! Most of these are either review copies or subscription services, all except two.

The Adichie, Morrison, and Bennett came in a review copy of the Quarterly.co fiction box, which I'll review as a set soon (I've read 2/3 of the books.) I was happy to end up with a copy of the Bennett due to its position on the Tournament of Books shortlist, and I had not selected it when it was a Book of the Month option.

The Sullivan and Winton came directly from the publishers, which was great (and Sullivan herself contacted me when she saw I was reading another book from Feminist Press, Black Wave. The Saunders, Elison, and Carosella are all audio review books from their respective publishers.

Sheffield was a gift from my Litsy postal book swap for Valentines Day and I'm looking forward to reading it! It's been on my TBR list forever. The Khalifa is a book I wanted to buy in January for my borders reading project, but it was out of stock on Amazon for at least a month. It is set in Aleppo and I don't expect it to be exactly a light read.

The Kimani was the February selection for the Malaprops subscription, and the Wilson and Lee were selections through Book of the Month. I had a few bonus credits so I picked two this month. Have I read them yet? Nope. Ha.