Reading Envy 246: Unsettling Endings with Yanira

Yanira shares why she deleted Goodreads and how it's improved her reading life, and we talk about rereading books before we dig into books we've read and liked lately.

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Reading Envy 246: Unsettling Endings

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Books discussed:

 

Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso
End of the World House by Adrienne Celt
A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp
The Memory Librarian and Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe, Yohanca Delgado, Eve L. Ewing, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Danny Lore, and Sheree Renee Thomas
Joan is Okay by Weike Wang

Other mentions: 

A House of My Own: Stories from My Life by Sandra Cisneros
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
The Hating Game (film)
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Conversations with Friends (tv adaptation)
Bridgerton (Netflix)
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Dirty Computer (album)
Dirty Computer [Emotion Picture]
Chemistry by Weike Wang
Either/Or by Elif Batuman
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
The Possessed by Elif Batuman
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, read by Miranda Raison

Related episodes: 

Episode 070 - Words Like Weapons with Yanira Ramirez
Episode 096 - Not Without Hope with Yanira Ramirez
Episode 108 - Venn Diagram with Yanira Ramirez  
Episode 141 - Profound and Tedious Work with Yanira Ramirez
Episode 181 - An Awkward Woman with Yanira Ramirez

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 240: Air Quotes with Chris Carey

Chris visits the podcast for the first time, where we discuss web comics and where they live, book clubs and book goals, book slumps and book challenges. We also manage to discuss several debut novels across a wide range of genres, but all with strong representation!

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 240: Air Quotes

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Books discussed:

The Wolf at the Door by Charlie Adhara
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
Islands of Decolonial Love by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, performed by Tantoo Cardinal
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

Other mentions: 

Gotham Outsiders
Thirsty on Toon
Talking Comics
My Gentle Giant
WEBTOON
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures
Wattpad
Reading Glasses Podcast
Reading Glasses Challenge
Heaving Bosoms Podcast
Heaving Bosoms' Reading Embrace
Big Bad Wolf Series by Charlie Adhara
Gail Carriger
Nagamatsu playlist at Largehearted Boy
Stiff by Mary Roach
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
Sunshine Cleaning (film)
The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnosteinrom
Indigenous Reading Circle in Patreon
Noopiming by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Bojack Horseman (tv show)
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
Woman Eating by Claire Kohda
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
The Employees by Olga Gavn, translated by Martin Aitken

Related episodes: 

Episode 060 - A Good Era for Communists with Rose Davis
Episode 148 - Multiple Lives with Jeff
Episode 191 - Stealthy yet Sparkly with Gail Carriger
Episode 231 - Psychological Terrorism with Reggie

Stalk us online:

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


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 239: Gross but Subtle with Katie

Katie joins me for the first time from the far north to discuss her own reading, plus one very creative solution for reading short stories with a book club.

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Reading Envy 239: Gross but Subtle

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Books discussed:

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Sufferance by Thomas King
Seek You: A Journey through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke
Gutter Child by Jael Richardson

Other mentions: 

Well-Read Books
Coles Books
"The Great Awake" by Julia Armfield
Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire
Tournament of Books
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
The Break by Katherena Vermette
The Strangers by Katherena Vermette (forthcoming, hopefully)
Drawing Loneliness with Kristen Radtke (video)
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?: Stories by Kathleen Collins
Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
In Concrete by Anne Garrétta, translated by Emma Ramadan

Related episodes: 

Episode 077 - No One Messes With a Wolf with Shawn Mooney
Episode 181 - An Awkward Woman with Yanira Ramirez
Episode 190 - The Good Life with Alex
Episode 202 - Jacket Flap with Chris and Emily

Stalk us online:

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


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 234: Punctuation Marks with Nadine

Jenny and Nadine reconvene to talk about reasons not to set reading goals, look back on the year, and discuss which books we've read and enjoyed lately.

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 234: Punctuation Marks

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Books discussed:

Mr. Eternity by Aaron Their
Mud Sweeter than Honey: Voices of Communist Albania by Margo Rejner; translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
History in Pieces (short story) by Beth Goder
Em by Kim Thuy
Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Narine Abgaryan, translated by Lisa C. Hayden

Other mentions:

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Actual Star by Monica Byrne
Svetlana Alexievich
bethgoder.com
The Punctuation Factory by Beth Goder (short story. behind paywalll)
How to Say I Love You w/ Wikipedia by Beth Goder (short story)
Ru by Kim Thuy
The Space between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity by Jill Louise Busby
The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Related episodes: 

Episode 008 - Gone Rogue with guests Steve Richardson, Libby Young, and Mike Winiski
Episode 038 - Monica Byrne Wants to Make People (Want to) Scream with guest Monica Byrne
Episode 129 - Coming Back to Books with Nadine
Episode 152 - Kill 'em and Leave with Nadine
Episode 195 - Muchness with Nadine
Episode 229 - Second Contact with Tom
Episode 232 - Barkskins Readalong

Stalk us online:

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

Reading Envy 231: Psychological Terrorism with Reggie

Reggie is back for a horror-specific episode, just in time for the second half of October. We discuss what works for us in horror (and what doesn't) and share a few books that have gotten under our skin.

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 231: Psychological Terrorism

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Books discussed: 

Infested by Carol Gore
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo
Sing Your Sadness Deep by Laura Mauro
The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke
The Good House by Tananarive Due

Other mentions:

The Missing by Sarah Langan
Nos4A2 by Joe Hill
Bonkers Romance Podcast
Cackle by Rachel Harrison
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Podcast
Professional Book Nerds Podcast
Books in the Freezer Podcast
Earth Fathers are Weird by Lyn Gala
Rewind or Die Series, Unnerving Press (Reggie recommends volumes 2-6, 12-14, 16)
The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones
@SincerelyWinona in Litsy
The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson
Kindred by Octavia Butler
The Shining by Stephen King
Under the Dome by Stephen King
North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud
Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James
Hild by Nicola Griffith
A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian
Velvet was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Related episodes: 

Episode 041 - Grotesque Beauty with Nathan Ballingrud
Episode 045 - Worlds Collide with Ross O'Brien
Episode 070 - Words Like Weapons with Yanira Ramirez
Episode 167 - Book Pendulum with Reggie
Episode 191 - Stealthy yet Sparkly with Gail Carriger

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Reggie is @reggie 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 218: Reading Gaps with Kendra

Jenny and Kendra catch up on books they've read and liked recently. Kendra also shares how the Reading Women Podcast has changed in the last two years, what her Read Appalachia project is all about, and how she organizes her books (it's unusual!)

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 218: Reading Gaps

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner
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Books discussed: 

 

Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
Gilgamesh by Joan London
F*ckface: And Other Stories by Leah Hampton
We Trade Our Night for Someone Else's Day by Ivana Bodrozic, translated by Ellen Elias-Bursac
Even as we Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle

Other mentions:

Read Appalachia
The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels
Southernmost by Silas House
"Dear America" books
The Stella Prize
Tracker by Alexis Wright (link goes to Google since Bookshop didn't have it yet)
All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
"Lost in a (Mis)Gendered Appalachia" by Leah Hampton, in Guernica
The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanet Khan
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
National Gingerbread House Competition at the Omni Grove Park Inn
University of Kentucky - Fireside Industries
Crystal Wilkinson, Kentucky Poet Laureate
Randall Kenan
The International Booker Prize
The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, translated by Michele Hutchison
Black Bone: 25 Years of the Affrilachian Poets edited by Bianca Lynne Spriggs et al
An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky, translated by Jackie Smith

Related episodes:

Episode 102 - The Reading Women Reading Envy Crossover Episode
Episode 195 - Muchness with Nadine
Episode 199 - Awkward Melancholy with Karen
Episode 212 - Subtly Fascinating with Vinny
Episode 213 - Funicular Reads with Bianca

Stalk us online:

Reading Women Podcast
Kendra on Instagram,  Twitter, Goodreads, and YouTube
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 213: Funicular Reads with Bianca

Bianca returns to talk about last year's reading, new goals, and comfort reads like found families and historical romance. There are a lot of geeky and nerdy characters in this episode as well.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 213: Funicular Reads.

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Books discussed: 

Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
The Chain by Adrian McKinty
White Ivy by Susie Yang
One by One by Ruth Ware

Other mentions:

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
#readwhatyouown
Pop Sugar Reading Challenge
Book Riot Read Harder Challenge
Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV
The Backstagers by James Tynion IV
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop by Kelly Thompson
Comixology
The Guild (tv show)
Magic the Gathering
Read or Dead podcast
Article about Spotify
It Takes Two to Tumble by Cat Sebastian
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

Related episodes:

Episode 094 - House Arrest with Libby Young
Episode 127 - The Sadness Between Books with Bianca Escalante
Episode 145 - Things Get Dark with Bianca Escalante

Stalk us online:

Bianca is @bianca on Litsy
Bianca 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: The Beadworkers

The Beadworkers by Beth Piatote
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These short stories, some poetics, and one play/script type story focus on relationships between people in the northwest that have some kind of indigenous background, most often Nez Perce. The author includes some Nez Perce language and some elements of traditional tales (Coyote may show up) but for the most part the stories are contemporary people navigating their lives.

I was immediately drawn in by the cover because Mt Hood was my closest mountain growing up and my morning bus ride often included a view of the sun coming up behind it. Looking closer, the image is rendered in beadwork by Marcus Amerman (beadwork is a tradition mentioned in multiple stories.)

My Mom had a close friend who grew up on the Yakama rez which is mentioned here, and I went to a few salmon bakes in my childhood, so in some ways the characters feel familiar to me. They are diverse - a wide range of rural, suburban, and urban people with shared ancestry that comes along with its own set of expectations and traditions often unknown to the non indigenous people around them, including gifts of blankets and specific locations for ceremonies. Some stories are experimental in form (one revolves around the creation of a board game) while others are more narrative. Highly recommended!

View all my reviews

Reading Envy 204: BookTube Season with Scott

While a lot of readers have struggled during the pandemic, Scott had a reading breakthrough this past year. We talk about BookTube, places for readalongs, and books we've read and liked recently.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 204: BookTube Season

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Books discussed:

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
How Long 'Til Black Future Month by N.K. Jemisin
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
Last Call by Tim Powers

Other mentions:

The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Coode St. Podcast with Arkady Martine
Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
Sistah Scifi
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
The Great & Secret Show by Clive Barker
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Get Booked Podcast
Hugos There Podcast
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Everyone who Reads Must Converse (YouTube)
Endymion by Dan Simmons
A Case of Conscience by James Blish
Welcome Home: An Anthology of Love and Adoption edited by Eric Smith

Related episodes:

Episode 009 - Pirates and Noonday Demons
Episode 039 - Paranoid Squint with Fred
Episode 058 - Wishing for a Sequel with Scott D. Danielson
Episode 123 - Godlets and Forests with Lauren Weinhold
Episode 202 - Jacket Flap with Chris and Emily

Shelf Wear - Book 3 - The Only Good Indians
 

Stalk us online:

Scott on A Good Story is Hard to Find (podcast)
Scott on Shelf Wear (blog and podcast)
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, and less to Jeff Bezos. I only link to Amazon in cases where Bookshop.org does not carry a backlist title, which took place a few times for this list.

Books Read September 2020: 229-257

This was a strange reading month because I started out refocusing on my 2020 reading goals, plus reading challenges from Instagram to read your own books, read books about science, and read Latinx heritage books (which goes September 15 - October 15.) But the eARC backlog started to feel overwhelming, and you can almost see the shift in my list. I also had to give myself permission to bail on a few books I was stuck on, and that freed up my reading flow. I don't know why I can't learn that lesson better; it's one I learn over and over again. But this month I found a lot of great reads, particularly in non-fiction, which is unusual for me. I read a lot of one-word title books, which was just a strange thing I observed. I also read books from the library for the first time since March (that I hadn't already checked out or accessed electronically) - I utilized curbside pickup. I hope doing so is in support of wanting my libraries to do what they feel is safe and not putting anyone at risk There are a lot of conflicting opinions about this topic.

 

Pictured: 5-star reads for September

229. Oranges in No Man's Land by Elizabeth Laird ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
230. Whale Day by Billy Collins, read by Billy Collins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (review copy audiobook; my review)
231. The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hadeyat, translated by Naveed Noori ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
232. Blizzard: Poems by Henri Cole ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC in Edelweiss; my review)
233. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC in NetGalley; my review)
234. Hurma by Ali Al-Muqri, translated by T.M. Aplin ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
235. Earth Almanac by Ted Williams, illustrated by John Burgoyne ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC in NetGalley; my review)
236. Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Díaz, narrated by Almarie Guerra ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Hoopla audiobook; my review)
237. Glory and Its Litany of Horrors by Fernanda Torres, translated by Eric M.B. Becker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
238. Homesick by Nino Cipri ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (review copy; my review)
239. Before You Say I Do Clare Lydon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from publisher; my review)
240. Eat a Peach by David Chang and Gabe Ulla, narrated by David Chang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (review copy audiobook; my review)
241. Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library book; my review)
242. Tides by Jonathan White ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
243. Igifu by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated by Jordan Stump ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
244. Bestiary by K-Ming Chang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
245. Iwigara by Enrique Salmon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
246. No Offense by Meg Cabot ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
247. A Highlander is Coming to Town by Laura Trentham ⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
248. Guillotine by Eduardo C. Corral ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from publisher; my review)
249. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow, narrated by January LaVoy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy audiobook; my review)
250. What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
251. The Selected Works of Audre Lorde by Audre Lorde ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (print galley from publisher; my review)
252. The Writer's Library by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
253. Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library copy; my review)
254. Our Women on the Ground by Zahra Hankir, ed. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
255. Headscarves and Hymens by Mona Eltahawy, narrated by Mona Eltahawy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Hoopla audiobook; my review)
256. Farewell, Ghosts by Nadia Terranova, translated by Ann Goldstein ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
257. Nine Moons by Gabriela Wiener, translated by Jessica Powell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)

Books read: 29 

Audiobooks: 5
eBooks: 13
Print books: 11

Library: 4
Personal: 8
Review: 17

Challenges
LatinxHeritage 2
readwhatyouown 9
scienceseptember 3
readtheworld21 2

Goals
Middle East 5
Indigenous writers 3
Around the World 13

Genres
Fantasy 2
Foodie 2
Horror 2
Memoir 2
Poetry 4
Romance 2

Reading Envy 197: Surly Magnificence

Lauren is back and fresh from June's Read Caribbean challenge and July's Sci-Fi July. We also talk summer reading, Women in Translation Month, and colonization.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 197: Surly Magnificence

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Books discussed:

Dancing in the Baron's Shadow by Fabienne Josaphat
That We May Live edited by various
Soviet Milk by Norah Ikstena
Mountolive by Lawrence Durrell
The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull

Other mentions:

Contribute to the 200th episode (words, not money)
Chef by Jaspreet Sing
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
Hadriana in All My Dreams by Rene Depestre
Everything is Wonderful: Memories of a Collective Farm in Estonia by Sigrid Rausing
Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich
Dublin Murder Squad by Tana French
Justine by Lawrence Durrell
Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell
Clea by Lawrence Durrell
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
The Durrells in Corfu (tv show)
Arc of a Scythe trilogy by Neal Shusterman
Wayfarers by Becky Chambers
Dawn by Octavia Butler
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

 
Related episodes:

Episode 097 - Blank Spaces with Lauren Weinhold
Episode 123 - Godlets and Forests with Lauren Weinhold
Episode 133 - To Understand the World with Lauren Weinhold
Episode 138 - Shared Landscape with Lauren Weinhold 
Episode 147 - Bonus Poetry Recommendations with Lauren
Episode 161 - Women in Translation Month Recommendations with Lauren
Episode 163 - Fainting Goats with Lauren
 

Stalk us online:

Lauren at Goodreads
Lauren is @end.notes on Instagram
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

Reading Envy 196: Miscommunication with Lindy

Lindy is back, just in time to share about her appointment to the Shadow Giller Jury. We talk about the Canadian book prize and its shadow, recent crafting projects, and recent reads. Jenny is focused on Persian lands in fantasy and a debut novel while Lindy has been reading Canadians from other places. If you would like to contribute to the 200th episode, please see the link in the show notes.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 196: Miscommunication

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Or listen via Stitcher
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New! Listen through Google Podcasts


Books discussed:



Polar Vortex by Shani Mootoo
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya
Daughters of Smoke and Fire by Ava Horna
How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa


Other mentions:

Contribute to the 200th episode (words, not money)
Scotiabank Giller Prize
Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo
Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust
Helen Humphreys
Thomas King
Sorcery & Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Vanishing Monuments by John Elizabeth Stintzi
Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford


Related episodes:

Episode 095 - Lose the Outside World with Lindy Pratch
Episode 107 - Reading Goals 2018 
Episode 124 - Mush Creatures with Lindy Pratch
Episode 159 - Reading Doorways with Lindy
Episode 191 - Stealthy yet Sparkly with Gail Carriger (Sorcery & Cecelia)
Episode 192 - Sly Milieu with Thomas (The Subtweet)
 

Stalk us online:

Lindy Reads and Reviews (blog)
Lindy on Twitter
Lindy is @Lindy on Litsy
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Follow ShadowGiller on Twitter

Review: That We May Live

That We May Live by Chen Si'an
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"The essential idea behind Calico is, let's talk to the translators... find out what's interesting, what's not being published in English, what's percolating in other parts of the world that we haven't heard about yet. THAT WE MAY LIVE is a collection of speculative Chinese fiction... of unnerving, uncanny, weird stories about urbanization and late capitalism." - Chad Felix of Two Lines Press in this interview.

I've been reading these stories very slowly, just one every few days/weeks or so, since I shelved it next to my computer where I work all the time. They definitely feel like they are in conversation with other works from Asia, particularly South Korea, but that connection may be more about what has been translated vs. what hasn't been.

Sour Meat by Dorothy Tse
A surreal story about a stinky brew, also about women's bodies... would have loved some editor or translator notes with some context as it seems intentionally sexual as if it is trying to push boundaries, but what are the boundaries in China, I don't know....

Auntie Han's Modern Life by Enoch Tam
"Every time she came home, she felt as if it were to a different house on a different street."
garden-keepers cultivating skyscrapers
houses that move, houses that are depressed

Lip Service by Zhu Hui
Oof! A punchy tale of what a naturally beautiful woman has to be willing to do to stay on top.

The Elephant by Chan Chi Wa
Clearly in conversation with "The Elephant Vanishes" by Haruki Murakami, the narrator of this story has a similar emotional experience about an elephant but it has the added layer of living in a state of surveillance.

The Mushroom Houses Proliferated in District M by Enoch Tam
Continuing the themes of the earlier story by the same author, it's about the garden keepers and their war with the mushrooms.

A Counterfeit Life by Chen Si'an
"He started roaming around every corner of the city, searching for those spots in which people being waited for might fail to show up."

Flourishing Beasts by Yan Ge
Are you a [woman] or are you a [beast]?
View all my reviews

Reading Envy 182: Reading Slump with Ellie

Ellie is back and we get honest about reading slumps. We all have them, and it's a pretty bad feeling when books betray you. What can you do? We talk about how we have found our way out of reading slumps (or hope to) and then talk about some books we've read and liked recently.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 182: Reading Slump with Ellie.

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Books discussed:



Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson
Virtuoso by Yelena Moskovich
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey


Other mentions:

Black Wave by Michelle Tea
The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
Mary Higgins Clark
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
Slade House by David Mitchell
Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
Why Be Happy, When You Can Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
2020 Tournament of Books


Related episodes:

Episode 046 - Books for Your Kitty Party with Libby Young and many other guests
Episode 090 - Reading Envy Readalong: East of Eden with Ellie and Jeff
Episode 099 - Readalong: The Secret History
Episode 112 - Reset Button with Eleanor Thoele
Episode 121 - Love, Lust, Loss, and Longing with Casey Hampton


Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Ellie at Goodreads
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Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Ellie is @elliedottie on Litsy