Reading Envy

Jenny divulges her top reads of 2019 and shares the top reads of sixteen other readers. All of us focus on books we read in 2019; they may or may not have been published in 2019. That's how regular readers work! If you listen past that section, there will also be some discussion of the Best of the Decade in reads and reading experiences. Thanks to all of you who participate, interact, and listen to the podcast! You have made this a marvelous year and decade.  Best wishes in the new year. The next episode will be all about reading goals, so feel free to share your 2020 reading goals with me and I might mention them. Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 176: Best of 2019 with Jenny and Menagerie. 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 Listen via Stitcher Listen through Spotify  Books Mentioned: Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman Castle of Water by Dane Kuckelbridge Lent by Jo Walton Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson Against Memoir by Michelle Tea Brute: Poems by Emily Skaja The Library of Small Catastrophes by Alison C. Rollins Halal if You Hear Me edited by Safia Elhillo and Fatimah Asghar Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trolloppe The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett The Way to the Sea by Caroline Crampton The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells Foundation by Isaac Asimov Tu by Patricia Grace The Last Act of Love by Cathy Rentzenbrink All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison East West Street by Philippe Sands The Great Believers by Rebekah Makkai Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vasquez Birdie by Tracey Lindberg They Will Drown in Their Mother's Tears by Johannes Anyuru The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose Cantoras by Caroline de Robertis The Deeper the Water, the Uglier the Fish by Katya Apekina Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell The Very Marrow of Our Bones by Christine Higdon The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa Metro 2035 by Dmitry Glukhovsky In the Distance by Hernan Diaz Mortality by Christopher Hitchens Train Dreams by Denis Johnson Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney Normal People by Sally Rooney Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk Nobber by Oisin Fagan Women Talking by Miriam Toews When Chickenheads Come Home To Roost by Joan Morgan Our Women on the Ground edited by Zahra Hankir The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal Sefira and Other Betrayals by John Langan Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami The Book of Night Women by Marlon James Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Fired Up by Andrew Johnston The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls by Mona Eltahawy This Tilting World by Colette Bellous Other Mentions: Jenny's Full Best of 2019 List Jenny's Best of the Decade List Safia Elhillo and Fatimah Asghar reading at The Strand Shedunnit Podcast Related Episodes: Episode 142 - Borders and Bails with Shawn Mooney Episode 150 - Rife with Storytelling with Sara  Episode 154 - Is If If with Paula Episode 157 - Joint Readalong of Gone with the Wind with Book Cougars Episode 159 - Reading Doorways with Lindy Episode 160 - Reading Plays with Elizabeth Episode 163 - Fainting Goats with Lauren Episode 166 - On Brand with Karen Episode 167 - Book Pendulum with Reggie Episode 173 - Expecting a Lot from a Book with Sarah Tittle  Episode 174 - Cozy Holiday Reads and TBR Explode 4 Episode 175 - Reading on Impulse with Marion Hill Stalk me online: Jenny at Goodreads Jenny on Twitter Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

The last regular episode of the year brings back someone who contributed to the best reads of 2018 - author and reader Marion Hill. We talk about the books that work for us and some great reads we've had recently. Jenny also asks Marion to talk about his recent trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair. Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 175: Reading on Impulse with Marion Hill. 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 Listen via Stitcher Listen through Spotify Books discussed: Go Went Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint The Tilting World by Colette Fellous, translated by Sophie Lewis The Chef's Secret by Crystal King Lot: Stories by Bryan Washington Other mentions: Diondray's Discovery (Kammbia Book 1) by Marion Hill Marion's 25 by Marion Hill Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Kim Stanley Robinson Frankfurt Book Fair Independent Booksellers Consortium Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck Bojack Horseman (tv show) Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King Ascending by Meg Pechenick The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow Related episodes: Episode 096 - Not Without Hope with Yanira Ramirez Episode 139 - Stocking Stuffer (Best Reads of 2018)  Episode 148 - Multiple Lives with Jeff Episode 152 - Kill 'em and Leave with Nadine  Stalk us online:   Marion Hill's website Marion on Goodreads Marion on Instagram Jenny at Goodreads Jenny on Twitter Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

Jenny decided to do a bonus episode recommending some cozy holiday reading and finishing up the 2019 TBR Explode project. If you listen prior to December 14, you still have time to contribute your best book of 2019 to be included in the last episode of the year. Read more about it! Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 174: Cozy Holiday Reading and TBR Explode 4. 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 Listen via Stitcher Listen through Spotify Cozy Holidays:We Met in December by Rosie Curtis 25 Days 'Til Christmas by Poppy Alexander Let it Snow by Nancy Thayer The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street by Karen White Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Meg and Jo by Virginia Kantra Snowflakes at Mistletoe Cottage by Katie Ginger The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller Louise Miller Instagram One Day in December by Josie Silver 2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino Winter by Karl Ove Knausgaard Winter by Ali Smith Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson Home Made Christmas by Yvette van Boven Feast by Nigella Lawson Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson A Castle in the Clouds by Kerstin Gier, Romy Fursland 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff TBR Explode 4 Removed from TBR: The Girl in the Italian Bakery by Kenneth Tingle Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner Sway by Ori Brafman Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson The Apocalypse Reader by Justin Taylor If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This by Robin Black Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky Three Ways to Capsize a Boat by Chris Stewart Everything I Want to Do is Illegal by Joel Salatin All You Can Eat by Joel Berg Terra Madre by Carlo Petrini The Taste for Civilization by Janet A. Flammang The Dying Animal by Philip Roth The Kitchen and the Cook by Nicolas Freeling Went ahead and read: Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery First Light by Charles Baxter Mockingbird by Walter Tevis Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain Left on TBR: The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner Brick Lane by Monica Ali Oblivion by David Foster Wallace Between Meals by A.J. Liebling La Bonne Table by Ludwig Bemelmans The Belly of Paris by Emile Zola When Gravity Falls by George Alec Effinger Related Episodes: Episode 123 - Godlets and Forests with Lauren Weinhold Episode 141 - Profound and Tedious Work with Yanira Ramirez  Episode 149 - TBR Explode! Episode 158 - TBR Explode 2 Episode 168 - TBR Explode 3   Episode 172 - The It Book of NYC with Jon Laubinger  Episode 173 - Expecting a Lot from a Book with Sarah Tittle Stalk me online:   Jenny at Goodreads Jenny on Twitter Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

Jenny was happy to welcome Sarah Tittle in person to chat books we have read and liked recently. Sarah's past in publishing, her own writing, and her book club experiences all come together to form the reader she is today. We found our way to a few unintentional themes of female empowerment and radicalism, with a little reader's memory lane of one Nicholson Baker. Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 173: Expecting a Lot from a Book with Sarah Tittle 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 Listen via Stitcher Listen through Spotify Books discussed: The Gloaming by Melanie Finn The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery Unfollow by Megan Phelps West with the Night by Beryl Markham Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls by Mona Eltahawy Other mentions: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker Vox by Nicholson Baker The Fermata by Nicholson Baker Double Fold by Nicholson Baker The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker Away from You by Melanie Finn Women's Prize for Fiction Antigone by Sophocles Circe by Madeleine Miller Headscarves and Hymens by Mona Eltahawy Agent Running in the Field by John Le Carré Less by Andrew Sean Greer The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward Stalk us online:   Sarah is @sarahcrosbytittle on Instagram Sarah on Facebook Sarah at Goodreads Jenny at Goodreads Jenny on Twitter Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

Jenny welcomes Jon Laubinger of the Film Baby Film Podcast back to the Reading Envy Pub for a chat on books, the multimedia versions they connect to, and more. We spend some time chatting about recent book awards, including more on the Booker Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature. If you're not that interested in award chatter, jump ahead to 15:15. And make sure to listen to the end for information on one Reading Envy guest who had a movie made from his work! Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 172: The It Book of NYC with Jon Laubinger 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 Listen via Stitcher Listen through Spotify Books discussed: The Need by Helen Phillip The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes Satantango by László Krasznahorkai, translated by George Szirtes First Light by Charles Baxter The Devils of Loudon by Aldous Huxley Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin, read by Frances McDormand Other mentions: Booker Prize 2019 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Quichotte by Salman Rushdie Nobel Prize for Literature Flights by Olga Tocarczuk Wings of Desire (film) Kindred by Octavia Butler ZEAL & ARDOR "We Are in the Future" - This American Life 623 Interview with Rivers Solomon Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates Citizen by Claudia Rankine Satantango (film) Werckmeister Harmonies (film) The Turin Horse (film) Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky Tinkers by Paul Harding Brave New World by Aldous Huxley The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley The Devils (film) Black Wave by Michelle Tea Beanpole (film) 21 Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich, translated by P&V Related Episodes: Episode 041 - Grotesque Beauty with Nathan Ballingrud  Episode 080 - The Wild Things Helped with Jason Roland Episode 102 - The Reading Women Reading Envy Crossover Episode  Episode 106 - Falling Asleep During Tarkovsky Films with Jon Laubinger Episode 126 - Bernice Bobs her Hair with Jon Laubinger Episode 165 - Delightful Reads with Claire Episode 166 - On Brand with Karen Episode 167 - Book Pendulum with Reggie Episode 170 - Permission to Read with Joshua Greer    Stalk us online: Jon's podcast website, Film Baby Film FBF on Instagram Jon at Goodreads Jenny at Goodreads Jenny on Twitter Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy

Jenny reached out to the host of her favorite foodie podcast to see if she would be interested in collaborating on a recommendations episode - just in time for the holidays! We cover a range of types of books - cookbooks, essays, memoir - and have a few titles from the backlist to recommend as well. The second season of the Skillet podcast goes live the same day this episode, so I hope you'll give both a listen! Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 171: Foodie Recommendations with Jen Nathan Orris 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 Listen via Stitcher Listen through Spotify Books discussed: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver  The Nordic Baking Book by Magnus Nilsson Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi  Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over by Alison Roman Women on Food ed. by Charlotte Druckman Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumphs by Julia Turshen The Modern Cook's Year by Anna Jones Mixtape Potluck Cookbook by Questlove South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations by Sean Brock The Jewish Cookbook by Leah Koenig The Best American Food Writing 2019 edited by Samin Nosrat Other mentions: ASAP's Farm Tour (Western North Carolina) Chef's Table - Magnus Nilsson (tv show) Nilsson - Thick Oven-Baked Pancake with Apple on JennyBakes The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty Top Chef Season 13 Kith and Kin Where I Come From by Aaron Sanchez Alison Roman on Instagram Feed the Resistance by Julia Turshen Dorie Greenspan Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan and Julia Child Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan Keep Calm and Cook On podcast Jones - Whole-wheat spelt, date, and molasses scones on JennyBakes Jones - Cauliflower rice with fried eggs and green chutney on JennyBakes Chef's Table episode with Sean Brock Heritage by Sean Brock Brock - Peanut Butter Chess Pie on JennyBakes Best American Food Writing 2018 edited by Ruth Reichl The Bitter Southerner Related Episodes (and Posts): Episode 064 - Reading Down the Rabbit Hole with guest Tracy Landrith Episode 143 - Reading the Pain with Kala Recommended Reads in Biography and Memoir: Foodie (July 2017) Stalk us online: Jenny at Goodreads Jenny on Twitter Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy Skilletpodcast.com Jen is @skilletpodcast on Instagram Jen is @skilletpod on Twitter Some of these links are Amazon affiliate links, where I do get a minor kickback when people click on them. Since I never beg for donations, I don't feel too bad about it.

Joshua Greer has known Jenny since he worked for her in the music library as a new college student, and since then has gone on to become a librarian. We have been talking about having him on the podcast for a while, so I'm glad it finally worked out! Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 170: Permission to Read with Joshua Greer 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 Listen via Stitcher Listen through Spotify Books discussed:   I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver Crossing by Pajtim Statovci Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton Little Weirds by Jenny Slate Other mentions: Beaufort County (SC) Library Bahni Turpin (narrator) The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Frazer Douglas (narrator) The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller Tuvan throat singers Russian Doll (tv show) Circe by Madeleine Miller Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling Jim Dale (narrator) The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt The Secret History by Donna Tartt Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo The Guardian Books podcast interview with Lucy Ellmann Booker Prize Podcast Related Episodes: Episode 099 - Readalong: The Secret History Episode 100 - 100 Reasons Why Episode 139 - Stocking Stuffer (Best Reads of 2018) Episode 162 - Heat Rating with Sara DeSantis Episode 167 - Book Pendulum with Reggie Stalk us online: Jenny at Goodreads Jenny on Twitter Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy Joshua at Goodreads Some of these links are Amazon affiliate links, where I do get a minor kickback when people click on them. Since I never beg for donations, I don't feel too bad about it.

Jenny sits down in the Reading Envy Pub with author and publisher Jon Sealy. After we talk about the state of publishing and Jon's current projects, we also discuss books we've read and liked recently. Some books are just better in audio, some are necessarily dark, while others clear away the gloom. Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 169: Simulacrum with Jon Sealy 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 Listen via Stitcher Listen through Spotify Books discussed: The Overstory by Richard Powers The Circle of Karma by Kunzang Choden Faithful Place by Tana French The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein The Restaurant of Love Regained by Ito Ogawa, translated by David Karashima Other mentions: Jenny's trip to the South Carolina Book Festival in 2014 (where she saw Jon Sealy talk about his book right before a panel of Pat Conroy's siblings) The Whiskey Baron by Jon Sealy Hub City Press Eureka Mill by Ron Rash Like a Family by Jacquelyne Dowd Hall et al Fate Moreland's Widow by John Lane The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash The Edge of America by Jon Sealy Haywire Books Hummingbird House by Patricia Henley Firebird by Mark Powell Small Treasons by Mark Powell The Good Luck Stone by Heather Bell Adams The Echo Maker by Richard Powers Orfeo by Richard Powers In the Woods by Tana French The Witch Elm by Tana French My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (Neopolitan Novels #1) Chocolat by Joanne Harris Tiny Love: The Complete Stories of Larry Brown by Larry Brown (forthcoming) All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates Related Episodes: Episode 012 - Some Bookers and Some Madness  Episode 024 - The Attention of Humanity with guests Seth Wilson and Barret Newman  Episode 130 - All the Jennifers with Fern Ronay Episode 167 - Book Pendulum with Reggie Stalk us online: Jenny at Goodreads Jenny on Twitter Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy Jon on Twitter Jon on Facebook Jon's website with tour info Haywire Books website Haywire Books on Facebook Some of these links are Amazon affiliate links, where I do get a minor kickback when people click on them. But many of the links on today's post link to the small presses publishing the books, and although I receive no kickback on those links, I would love for you to support those publishers and writers.

Jenny uses part of her Fall Break to record a bonus episode that has some end of the year stuff but is almost all the third part of her 2019 TBR Explode Project. Jenny mocks herself for thinking she'd ever want to read philosophy, and tries to use less harsh language to talk about an author she doesn't care for. Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 168: TBR Explode 3. 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 Listen via Stitcher Listen through Spotify Link to Best of 2019 contribution form Books Discussed: JulyThe Jung Cult by Richard Noll Eros and the Mysteries of Love: The Metaphysics of Sex by Julius Evola Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon You Are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel American Genius: A Comedy by Lynne Tillman The Master by Colm Toibin The Infinities by John Banville Mortals by Norman Rush Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie AugustThe Statement by Brian Moore The Animal-Lover's Book of Beastly Murder by Patricia Highsmith Islandia by Austin Tappan WrightThe Accordionist's Son by Bernardo Atxaga Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music by Greg Milner Divine Music by Suruchi MohanEverything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer Concrete Island by J.G. Ballard The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Egan, Timothy September The Onion Field by Joseph Wambaugh Family Pictures by Sue Miller The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine Flatterland by Ian Stewart The Wind in the Woods by Rose Senehi Vurt by Jeff Noon Night Sky Mine by Melissa Scott Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun Come to Me by Amy Bloom (September) Princess Noire by Nadine Cohodas Other Mentions Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett    Related Episodes: Episode 149 - TBR Explode! Episode 158 - TBR Explode 2 Stalk me online: Jenny at Goodreads Jenny on Twitter Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy  

Reggie is a reading friend Jenny made in Litsy. Together we discuss coming back to reading, international postal book groups, plant blindness, and Reggie tries to talk Jenny into giving a book a second try. Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 167: Book Pendulum with Reggie 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 Listen via Stitcher Listen through Spotify Books discussed: Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hyomi Kawakami, translated by Allison Markin Powell The Girl who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury The Book of Night Women by Marlon James Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson The Testaments by Margaret Atwood Other mentions: Clive Barker Anna Castillo Julia Alvarez For Real (Book Riot podcast) Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes The Fireman by Joe Hill The Stand by Stephen King Swan Song by Robert McCammon A Boy's Life by Robert McCammon A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara Haruki Murakami Natsumi Sashimi Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori The Overstory by Richard Powers The Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (tv show) Stray City by Chelsea Johnson Chasing Amy (film) Black Wave by Michelle Tea The Troop by Nick Cutter The Deep by Nick Cutter Nobody Cries at Bingo by Dawn Dumont Frankly in Love by David Yoon Erosion: Essays of Undoing by Terry Tempest Williams Related Episodes: Episode 079 - Deliberately Silenced and Preferably Unheard with Rima Abunasser Episode 080 - The Wild Things Helped with Jason Roland Episode 086 - The Queen of Bailing with Shawn Mooney Episode 101 - A Different Kind of Time Travel with Karen Acosta Episode 105 - Best Reads of 2017  Episode 112 - Reset Button with Eleanor Thoele Episode 130 - All the Jennifers with Fern Ronay Episode 161 - Women in Translation Month Recommendations with Lauren Stalk us online: Jenny at Goodreads Jenny on Twitter Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy Reggie is @reggie on Litsy