Reading Envy 192: Sly Milieu with Thomas

Thomas is back! We discuss reading during a pandemic and more importantly, the books we've managed to order online during the pandemic. Jenny gets Thomas to talk about audiobooks, and we follow every tangent from E.M. Forster to epistolary novels.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 192: Sly Milieu

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Books discussed:



Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut
The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya
No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn


Other mentions:

In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
"Every Song" by Vivek Shraya (both versions in Spotify)
Camp ToB
"Italy Before the Plague" (Thomas's blog entry)
The Mirror and the Light by Hillary Mantel
Timothy West
Simon Vance
Sinclair Lewis
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Graham Greene
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Patrick Modiano
WG Sebwald
Helen MacInnes
Charles McCarthy
Malaprop's Bookstore
Old Town Books
Blue Hill Books
Boulder Book Store
Three Lives & Company
Bear Pond Books
Nonsuch Book
Mahogany Books
Furrowed Middlebrow from Dean Street Books
Stuck in a Book
Powells
Lion Cross Point by Masatsugu Ono
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
A Room with a View (film)
Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
The Longest Journey by E.M. Forster
Howards End by E.M. Forster
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Maurice by E.M. Forster
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
Hotels of North America by Rick Moody
Interview between Tommy Orange and Kawai Strong Washburn
Stories of Hawaii by Jack London
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym


Related episodes:

Episode 085 - An Acquired Taste with Thomas Otto
Episode 144 - For the Fans with Thomas of Hogglestock
Episode 155 - Books About Music Recommendations Episode with Thomas
Episode 191 - Stealthy yet Sparkly with Gail Carriger


Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Thomas on Twitter
Thomas at his blog, hogglestock

Review: These Ghosts Are Family

These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This (debut!) novel covers multiple generations of a Jamaican family and it starts in the middle, when a dying man decides to admit that he faked his death to his adult daughter. This isn't a typical family saga in the sense of a linear story; each chapter features characters related to Abel/Solomon either as offspring or ancestors. It deals with the ghosts of slavery; immigration, and memory. (Some reviews use the word colonialism instead of slavery, which masks the actual content.)

Along the way, I also learned some Jamaican history, some I feel sheepish for not knowing, for instance the connection between Haile Selassie and Rastafarianism (and now that I've read more about it, I feel pretty dumb! I mean I've even been to Jamaica!)

Maisy Card was born in Jamaica but raised in Queens; this is a great selection for ReadCaribbean month!

View all my reviews

Review: The Book of Longings

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you are a fan of myth retellings or Biblical tale reimaginings, this is likely a book for you. Sue Monk Kidd also takes the material she wrote a memoir about over a decade ago and uses it in this novel. That memoirhad an impact on me when I first read it so the connection - The Dance of the Dissident Daughter - about her discovery of Gnosticism, feminist spirituality, and how that changed her perspective of her own faith. It was easy for me to see how those ideas are wound through this novel.

Okay, so if that didn't scare you away, I feel I should also say that you will get more out of this book the more you know about the Biblical/Historical Jesus. But many who know a lot about that may be turned off by the idea of Jesus having a wife. The author addresses this very well in the back of the book, and I would encourage reading that if it is something you are not sure about. She acknowledges which things she changed from the traditional Biblical narrative, which things she borrowed from other places, and which came from her own mind. If anything, Kidd is a master of threading her research into her stories. I read The Thunder: Perfect Mind first when I read Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels so I definitely recognized it when it came up in this story; I was relieved to see her credit it and explain where it comes from after the end of the novel.

That is a lot of overture and caveat, but any reader of Sue Monk Kidd should not be surprised by feminist underpinnings to this novel. It is about Ana, the wife of Jesus, from her childhood to later in life. Ana begs her father to allow her to learn how to read and write so in an era of expensive parchment and lack of education for women, she learns how to read and write, and in more than one language. Learning and writing, inspiration and calling are all important themes in the book as Ana navigates feeling called while also being told it isn't appropriate (from her family) or possible (once she is married and much poorer) by the people around her.

And what do you do with a woman who believes she has something to say? I enjoyed the thought experiment of such a woman and what the man Jesus (based on a blending of Biblical text and historical documents) would have done with such a wife. I kind of hate that I enjoyed it but growing up in fundamentalism it's pretty hard not to want to imagine the what if's from the women excluded from stories.

The other thing that I think Kidd does very well is the way she weaves in the stories of the New Testament into Ana's story but gives them a little twist. The first time this is hinted at is when Ana visits the temple in Jerusalem, but you really see different contexts for the stoning ("let he who is without sin cast the first stone"), the "Good Samaritan," and that's just the beginning.

Ana loves Jesus, but she only really knows him as a kind man, who has a calling of his own. The way they release each other into that calling is an incredible act of love, but she never sees him as magical Jesus; she never sees any miracles for instance. There are reasons for this in the text but I like how it gives her a very specific personal version of him, and she loves him.

I had a copy of this from the publisher through Edelweiss; it came out April 21, 2020.

View all my reviews

Review: Miss Iceland

Miss Iceland by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hekla is a writer living in Iceland in the 1960s but because she is a woman, everyone around her keeps trying to tuck her back into more traditional roles of wife and mother. She is beautiful and pursued relentlessly by men who want her to compete to be Miss Iceland with somewhat questionable promises. The other key characters are her father, who is obsessed with volcanoes so much so that she is named after one and their conversations and gifts tend to revolve around whichever volcano is currently active; her close friend who is not straight and gets seasick, leaving him without a lot of options for work or relationships; her other close friend who has her own writing muse but is trapped in a basement apartment (no sun, no room) as a housewife and seems destined to be the mother of many children, close together.

Hekla has kept her writing life a secret and manages to do so even after moving in with her boyfriend who fancies himself a writer, a poet, and joins the other self-declared poets to have coffee and be seen writing in the cafes. In this way the author manages to capture the creative spirit of people living in Iceland but with a somewhat mocking way of revealing how people see themselves vs. where the true talent lies.

After reading Icelandic literature for a year, I'm still drawn back to it - it's a place I still haven't visited and want to, but I learn more about it in every book set there. This one has a lot about the culture of Reykjavik in the 1960s, where whale carving would take place down the block from a bookstore. The post-war years play a role, for instance did you know that an entire island was created by a volcano around the same time JFK was assassinated? There are a lot of place names and it's clearly translated by a British-English speaker because of some of the word choices, but all these things just work together to make it feel more Icelandic, of a certain time and place.

This video is a nice little summary of Icelandic literature featuring several authors I've read and liked, and they do a good job explaining why literature is so important there, and what it is that fuels their creativity. They are all speaking English; I would like to learn Icelandic!

I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher through NetGalley. It comes out June 16, 2020. The author teaches art at the University of Iceland, writes song lyrics for a band, and has won several awards for her fiction and plays.

View all my reviews

Books Read May 2020: 108-135

Pictured: May's 5-star reads

108. Starling Days by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
109. Written in Black by K.H. Lim ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Kindle eBook; my review)
110. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (library book; my review)
111. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
112. Raised in Ruins by Tara Neilson ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
113. Writing Wild by Kathryn Aalto ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
114. On Lighthouses by Jazmine Barrera, translated by Christine MacSweeney ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
115. Alligator and Other Stories by Dima Alzayat ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (ARC from publisher; my review)
116. Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Susan Bernofsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
117. Strange Hotel by Eimear McBride ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
118. Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Hoopla eBook; my review)
119. The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
120. My Part of Her by Javad Djavahery, translated by Emma Ramadan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
121. Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy eBook; my review)
122. Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Hoopla eBook; my review)
123. And Then They Stopped Talking to Me by Judith Warner ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
124. Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (ARC from publisher; my review) *Note - I added the fifth star later so this book isn't represented in the image above or in my social media posts*
125. Lion Cross Point by Masatsugu Ono, translated by Angus Turvill ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
126. If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
127. Silence of the Chagos by Shenaz Patel, translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
128. The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)
129. The Story Prize ed. Larry Dark ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (ARC from publisher; my review)
130. Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from NetGalley; my review)
131. The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from publisher; my review)
132. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
133. Walking the Nile by Levison Wood ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Hoopla eBook; my review)
134. Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong, translated by Natascha Bruce ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (personal copy; my review)
135. They Say Sarah by Pauline Delabroy-Allard, translated by Adriana Hunter ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (eARC from Edelweiss; my review)

Books Read: 28

Audiobook: 0
eBook: 17
Print: 11

Library book: 4
Review copy: 15
Personal copy: 9

Booker Prize: 1
Fantasy: 1
Middle East 2020: 2
ReadtheWorld21 (May focus: Asia and Pacific Islands): 6
Science fiction: 1
Short Stories: 3
Translated: 8

Black Lives Matter

I was going to work on my May books read post tonight but I am going to follow the lead of other bookish people and use my space to bring more attention to black voices.  And as much as I love Octavia and James I'll be focusing on living voices so that you can go out and buy their books! The links here do not pay me anything, I'm trying to link to original publishers or authors as much as possible.


I love the the Breakbeat Poets collections from Haymarket Press so much. Most of them feature black poets but my two favorites are Volume 2 - Black Girl Magic, featuring black female poets across the diaspora, and Volume 3 - Halal if You Hear Me, is one co-edited by Safia Elhillo and Fatimah Asghar. All the poets included are Muslim, so of course some of them are black.


Nicole Dennis-Benn was born and raised in Jamaica, and I just saw her in conversation with Roxane Gay last night. Her first novel, Here Comes the Sun, goes deep into the lives of three generations of women in a family, one who is a lesbian deep in the closet because of the danger of being out at that time. Patsy is the story of a woman who leaves her daughter in Jamaica to try to make a better life for them in New York, and it doesn't go well. It is heartbreaking but shows a side not always seen, about motherhood, about the immigrant experience.

Jesmyn Ward is best known for her fiction, specifically Salvage the Bones and Sing Unburied Sing, both of which won the National Book Award.

Her non-fiction includes The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, which she edited and is in homage to James Baldwin and a reflection of this era. The root to most of her writing seems to be her own life, some of which is revealed in Men We Reaped, chronicling five black men she lost who were close to her. It is heartbreaking but not unique.

I'm going to mention one more poet because to me there is nothing like poetry to bring you into another person's experience. Danez Smith is a powerful voice; I can't believe I have not yet read Homie, their newest collection, but Don't Call Us Dead is powerful, and just look them up in YouTube to experience poems such as Dear White America, or various poetry publications to read others, for instance not an elegy for Mike Brown. 

Memoirs from Roxane Gay, Mychal Denzel Smith, Ta Nehisi Coates, Kiese Laymon, novels from Brandon Taylor, Brit Bennett... I am only scratching the surface but if you are frozen, if you want to do something but don't know what, if you have not at least given time and space in your library bag or your bookshelves for black voices, here is one place to start.

 

Reading Envy 191: Stealthy Yet Sparkly with Gail Carriger

Author Gail Carriger sits down with me at the Reading Envy Pub, and we discuss her voracious reading habits, and topics in books ranging from little squiddies to magical chocolate pots. Ms. Carriger must have a happy ending, and Jenny is content with fragmentary reads.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 191: Stealthy Yet Sparkly

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:

 

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton
Sorcery & Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
On Lighthouses by Jazmina Barrera, translated by Christina MacSweeney
Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan

Other mentions:

Defy or Defend by Gail Carriger
Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger
Meat Cute by Gail Carriger
Soulless by Gail Carriger
The Lightning-Struck Heart by TJ Klune
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ranson Riggs
Wolfsong by TJ Klune
Court of Fives by Kate Elliot
LitHub The 50 Best Contemporary Novels under 200 Pages
The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
My Enemy the Queen by Victoria Holt
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Grace Draven
Taji Beyond the Rings by R. Cooper
The 5th Gender by G.L. Carriger
Earth Fathers are Weird by Lyn Gala
White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn

Related episodes:

Episode 015 - The Time for Exclaiming Over Costumes with Jean and Karen
Episode 060 - A Good Era for Communists with Rose Davis
Episode 187 - Sentient Snails and Spaceships with Paula


Stalk us online:

Gail Carriger website (includes more social media links)
Gail Carriger on Twitter
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy