Reading Envy 241: Feral Pigeons with Laurie

Laurie is back and we talk about book challenges, even one in French! Since she is a biologist, science comes up as a theme in multiple ways.

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Reading Envy 241: Feral Pigeons

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Books discussed:

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
The Trees by Percival Everett
A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching by Rosemary Mosco
Broken Halves of a Milky Sun: Poems by Aaiún Nin
The Unwinding and Other Dreams by Jackie Morris

Other mentions: 

Think Again by Adam Grant
The Hall of the Singing Caryatids by Victor Pelevin, translated by Andrew Bromfield
The Possessed by Elif Batuman
Putin's Russia by Darryl Cunningham
Lilly Library - Kurt Vonnegut collection
Telephone by Percival Everett
The American Pigeon Museum
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Pigeonetics
Unbound Publisher
The Silent Unwinding by Jackie Morris
My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
Great Plains by Ian Frazier
Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
  by Ali Hazelwood
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
The Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer

Related episodes: 

Episode 065 - Creeping through the Uncanny Valley with guest Bryan Alexander 
Episode 069 - Evil Librarian/SFBRP Crossover Episode with Luke and Juliane 
Episode 201 - Wrestling with Complexity with Elizabeth and Laurie
Episode 216 - Eloquent and Elegant with Kala
Episode 231 - Psychological Terrorism with Reggie
Episode 233 - Get Into Trouble with Ruth
 

Stalk us online:

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


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: When We Cease to Understand the World

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I didn't catch this book when it was on the International Booker list, but when it was named a finalist for the translated lit category of the National Book Award, I finally decided to give it a go, especially once I found the audio in Hoopla and it was under 6 hours.

At first, it feels like non-fiction, well researched information about science and math, death and destruction, the usual. It slowly morphs to include details about the characters that might be true, I guess, but would he unlikely to be known without a detailed journal or analysis records. And as it nears the end, the stories start linking and it feels more like a fictional experience.

I always enjoy books that take me on a journey. The characters do not have to be on a journey, but I like the author to have a clear goal in mind even if I don't know what it is... It's one of those undefinable things that I like and is present here. I also am a sucker for books about math and mathematicians and boy did this qualify. I wish it had won the International Booker and I hope it wins the National Book Award for translation.

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

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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 186: This is Gravity with Jeff Koeppen

Jeff joins Jenny to chat books we have read and enjoyed recently, but also what it's like to work from home, what kind of reading we feel like doing right now, and more.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 186: This Is Gravity

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Books discussed:



Letters from an Astrophysicist by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin  
Real Life by Brandon Taylor  
A Woman in the Polar Night by Christine Ritter


Other mentions:

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner
Carrie Brownstein
StarTalk Radio Show
Cosmos (tv show)
The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli
Meet Me in the Future by Kameron Hurley
Kameron Hurley blog post about timeline for The Light Brigade
The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley
God's War by Kameron Hurley
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin - speech for the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the 65th National Book Awards on November 19, 2014.
Unformed Landscape by Peter Stamm
An Intimate View of Robert G. Ingersoll by Isaac Newton Baker
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey


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
Episode 148 - Multiple Lives with Jeff
Episode 167 - Book Pendulum with Reggie
Episode 172 - The It Book of NYC with Jon Laubinger 
Episode 185 - The Loyal Swineherd (Odyssey readalong)


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 179: Think of the Bees

Courtney is a listener who contacted me to chat books on an episode (you can do this too!) She talks about herself as a reader, including a unique book club, and then we talk about books we've read and liked recently - three are fantastical and two are far more realistic.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 179: Think of the Bees with Courtney.

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Books discussed:



A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
The Islanders by Christopher Priest
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2018 edited by Sam Kean



Other mentions:

The Missing by Sarah Langan
The Hunger by Alma Katsu
The Deep by Alma Katsu
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Annihilation (film)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Let Her Fly: A Father's Memoir by Ziauddin Yousafzai
Fashion is Freedom by Tala Raassi
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
The Deep by Rivers Solomon et al
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
The Kingkiller Chronicles
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2019 edited by Sy Montgomery
Caitlin Doughty
The People of the Mist by Kathleen and Michael Gear
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
Flags in the Dust by William Faulkner


Related episodes:

Episode 115 - Quote, Unquote with Scott Eaton
Episode 167 - Book Pendulum with Reggie
Episode 172 - The It Book of NYC with Jon Laubinger 


Stalk us online:

Courtney at Goodreads
Courtney is @conservio on Litsy
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

Books Read September 2019: 206-229

This month I really zeroed in on getting through some of my eARC backlog from Edelweiss and NetGalley, and it really worked with 16 of the books I read coming from that list (and a few more that I started or didn't review publicly.)

It was also a good month for five star reads, with seven! And even stranger, four of them were non-fiction and one was poetry.



206. The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library book; my review)
207. Cantoras by Caroline de Robertis ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
208. The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
209. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
210. Clear My Name by Paula Daly ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
211. Permission to Feel by Mark Brackett ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (print ARC; my review)
212. Minutes from the Miracle City by Omar Sabbagh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
213. Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers by Jake Skeets ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
214. Safe Houses I Have Known by Steve Healey⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
215. The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Féret-Fleury ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
216. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (purchased audiobook; my review)
217. Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library copy; my review)
218. Heart: A History by Sandeep Jauhar ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library copy; my review)
219. Make it Scream, Make it Burn by Leslie Jamison ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
220. Come to Me: Stories by Amy Bloom ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library copy; my review)
221. The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantu ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (interlibrary loan; my review)
222. High School by Tegan and Sara ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
223. Devotion by Madeline Stevens ⭐️⭐️½ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
224. Who Put This Song On? by Morgan Parker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
225. Modern Love ed. Daniel Jones ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
226. The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls by Mona Eltahawy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
227. Erosion by Terry Tempest Williams ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
228. The Restaurant of Love Imagined by Ito Ogawa ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (interlibrary loan; my review)
229. Ellie and the Harpmaker by Hazel Prior ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)

Books Read: 24

Audiobooks: 1
eBooks: 16
Print: 7

Library copy: 6
Personal copy: 1
Review copy: 17

Asia 2019 goal: 1
#scienceseptember: 4
TBR Explode project: 1

Reading Envy 166: On Brand with Karen

Karen and Jenny discuss books they've read and liked recently, although Jenny was reading up to the minute we started recording because she wanted to talk about one of these books with Karen specifically. We talk about graphic novels in other languages, romance representation, and obscure science. And, as usual, we laugh a lot.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 166: On Brand with Karen

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Books discussed:



Tomboy by Liz Prince
Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Thaw by Elyse Springer
Paper Girls, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli


Other mentions:

Perla by Carolina de Robertis
Anthony Bourdain's Uruguay episode of Parts Unknown
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books - Episode 357. Aro and Ace Representation...
World Turned Upside Down by Elyse Springer
Saga (Compendium 1) series by Brian K. Vaughan
Y: The Last Man series by Brian K. Vaughan
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell
Florida by Lauren Groff
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Orange World by Karen Russell
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse


Related Episodes:

Episode 004 - Home, Frightening and Banned with guest Karen Acosta
Episode 015 - The Time for Exclaiming Over Costumes with Jean and Karen
Episode 051 - Dreaming in Books with Karen Acosta
Episode 066 - When Time Stops with Karen Acosta
Episode 100 - 100 Reasons Why 
Episode 101 - A Different Kind of Time Travel with Karen Acosta
Episode 114 - Raised by Wolves with Karen Acosta 
Episode 145 - Things Get Dark with Bianca Escalante
Episode 146 - Complicated, Crazy, and Loud with Karen  
Episode 151 - The Stories They Tell with Karen 


Stalk us online:

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