"...No marriage makes sense. Especially not to the outside world. A marriage is its own world." This is said to the narrator by her mother fairly deep into the book, but if you replace "marriage" with "person" it might better encapsulate the novel. ↘️

This is my 6th Litsyversary! Huzzah.

This was a quick read for the non fiction quarter of #readingenvyrussia - the artist was present for many 21st century protests in Russia, and also did some reportage with groups of people like "working women" and a group of people who had been basically slaves imported from bordering countries but the local government turned a blind eye.↘️

Leah and Miri were married when Leah went on a deep sea expedition that went missing. The novel starts with her back at home but definitely not the same. In some ways the change could symbolize any partner becoming somewhat of a stranger over time, but in other ways it's a literary horror novel watching her wife's body become unfamiliar. The chapters alternate between points of view which always works for me, and I couldn't put it down. ↘️

This was longlisted (but not shortlisted) for the Booker Prize in 2021 but is just now coming out in the United States later this month. I had early access from Random House in audio.↘️

My last read of April, the latest book of short stories included in the Indigenous Reading Circle - I really enjoyed the voice in the stories, and quite a bit of internal dialogue, something I've learned I like when done well.

This is a feat of research and writing about Ukraine in the 1930s, and how Stalin's policies intentionally targeted Ukrainians, resulting in widespread famine and what many consider genocide. From collectivization to dekulakization, the author shows how Ukraine was stripped of its resources and culture and then punished further for not being able to provide more. ↘️

I like the world building of an alternate history/ steampunk / fantasy Egypt and the forefront of Cairo and Egyptian culture, detached a bit from the British empire even if they are a presence and central to the main plot. It feels like the primary message is don't underestimate women! Ha.

I do think my enjoyment of the novel was enhanced by my reading of the three connected novellas.

I've had this on my TBR forever but it took the non-fiction quarter of #readingenvyrussia to finally get to it. If you're like me and struggle to read history, make it a cultural history like this one, where the history is told sideways through the life and work of an artist, in this case the composer Dmitri Shostakovich and his hometown of Leningrad, up until and during the Siege itself. ↘️

I always try to read before watching, so I had to wait for this one on hold at the public library. A very sweet graphic novel about crushes, first love, rugby, and whether or not to be out in high school.

I really loved the last book by this author - A Girl Returned - and this one is good too, focused more on a sister relationship, with one sister trying to support/rescue her sister without ever knowing the full story. Set largely in a fishing community in an Italian coastal town, and a quick read.

Reading Envy Podcast Episode 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.

Listen and subscribe:
https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy246

I have always meant to read this collection and what better time than when Ukraine is in the news - the poet was born in Odessa, although it was the Soviet Union at the time - and this collection tells the story of a village fighting back. I recommend finding the poet reading his work - he lost most of his hearing at age 4 and that figures into this collection for sure. My favorite is still We Lived Happily During the War.

These stories link back to Dirty Computer the album and Dirty Computer [Emotion Picture] that you can watch in YouTube. Written in collabortion with Yohanca Delgado, Eve L. Ewing, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Danny Lore, and Sheree Renée Thomas, all stories are set in this dystopian tech-totalitarian society where people who are outside the norms (aka Dirty Computers) are hunted down and imprisoned, memories wiped, and more.↘️

Bertie and Kate are the kind of friends who reconnect in an instant, have inside jokes and their own universe when they are together. The world around them is falling apart with bombings and refugees, and Kate decides to move to Los Angeles instead of buying a house in northern California like they'd planned.↘️

Black scholars are gathered together to discuss solutions for several areas where Black people are specifically marginalized and underserved. From health care to technology to the environment to the justice system, these are important ideas that should be not just included but centered. Chapters are short, by different scholars in each field, and use a variety of sources - academic and recent news rhetoric, etc.

Reading Envy Podcast Episode 245: Looking Back at the Russian Novel

At the end of March, a handful of us gathered to discuss what we had read for the Russian novel quarter of Reading Envy Russia. We also discuss the works we abandoned, some dips into Ukrainian literature, and talked more about what makes a novel quintessentially Russian.

Listen and subscribe!
https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy245

I expected there to be memorable characters and there are - Simon, Ralph, Piggy, Roger, etc. - I don't think I expected some of the ethereal writing that I encountered. It made me wish I was reading the same author on different content

I'd always meant to read this and the years went by, and finally it came up in Hoopla and I downloaded the audio version, narrated by multiple voices. This comes in handy since several of these stories have multiple points of view, often the male and female in a relationship with both of their perspectives. (I specify male and female since the stories only have heterosexual relationships.)

Kathleen Collins is a strong voice ... ↘️

This has been lingering on my eARC list for a while and I finally read it! It's about motherhood in your 30s and how relationships change with the added dimension of LA's classist culture and a pretty strong anti-vax storyline, pre-covid.

There's a bit of a revenge plot that made me not 100% on the protagonist's side but I guess at least she's not just letting life happen to her. There are also some funny and/or absurd moments.

I bought this because it won the 2021 New Southern Voices Poetry Prize.

The poems are about the poet's multi-generational background and rural childhood, full of Gullah-Geechee culture as a living vibrant element the poet also participates in while also queering that experience, all serving to look at these details with fresh eyes. The poems about parents and grandparents are particularly memorable, as is "Hurricane Family."

So you know how romance and cozy mystery share the truth that you can always find your flavor? I think one of mine is people who work in publishing. Not authors themselves (that is almost too common) but editors and interns and publishers. Thanks, Younger.↘️ #romantsy

Publisher summary excerpt:
"[This novel] follows four individuals over the course of a volatile Ukrainian winter, as their lives are forever changed by the Euromaidan protests. Katya is a Ukrainian-American doctor stationed at a makeshift medical clinic; Misha is an engineer originally from Pripyat; Slava is a fiery young activist; and Aleksandr Ivanovich, a former KGB agent, climbs atop a burned-out police bus and plays the piano."↘️

1143 pages later, I finally finished Pandora's Star, the March pick for the Sword and Laser book club. I didn't love every minute but kept going because the whole point is exposure to a wide variety of fantasy and science fiction books!

Where to even begin. If lives can be repeated through rejuvenation and the entire universe is your worldbuilding, how can an author even fit it into one book? (He didn't, this ends on a cliffhanger!) ↘️

Reading Envy Podcast Episode 244: 2nd Quarter - Russian Non-Fiction

Lauren W. will be co-hosting this non-fiction quarter of Reading Envy Russia. We share books we have already read and freely recommend, and also chat about the piles and shelves of books we are considering. The book covers pictured are only a small slice!

Listen and subscribe:
https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy244

I slid into the non-fiction quarter of #readingenvyrussia with a short illustrated memoir of a childhood under the "iron curtain." I loved the illustrations, particularly of the mother, always shown in one ballet position or another. These were difficult times and moreso for this family, being Jewish. There is no indication of what happened later on in his life, so it just feels like a capture of a moment in time.

Those of us who have read Vuong's previous works will be familiar with his mother, and she died of cancer in 2019. So some of these poems deal with grief, also recovery, rural realities, family, and more. I listened to the audio of the poet reading them while reading the eARC and Ocean is a very small statured person with a quiet voice, but it's deceptive because his words always pack a punch.

This is the third (and assumed last) STEMinista novella from Ali Hazelwood where Hannah the aerospace engineer is rescued in Svalbard by someone who has tried keeping her from the mission. But why? ... I assume this is the last because at the end the three heroines from the novellas have a gathering.

I listened to the audio in the Volumes app, narrated by Savannah Peachwood. It comes out April 5.

It's a so-so because it's fine! Fluff. #romantsy

Mira Jacob writes about what it is like to be brown (for her, Indian with darker skin than her other family members) in the America post 9/11 up through Trump's election win. Not only that but married to a Jewish (white) man whose parents refuse to see the harm in voting for Trump, and mother of a young mixed race boy with Questions. ↘️

Reading Envy Podcast Episode 243: Russian Novel Speed Date *BONUS EPISODE*

It's been a while since I've done a speed dating bonus episode, and this one is all about Russian novels for the Reading Envy Russia novel quarter. I discuss books I tried, what I thought of them, and books I read previously.

Listen and subscribe:
https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy243

The story is set in Russia in the mid 20th century, about a factory worker who is an unwed mother. She ends up living with three old women and together they try to navigate the bureaucracy to have enough to eat, to wash, to heat, but also to keep young Suzanna/Sofia at home. I liked how much it shows a daily slice of life for normal people with a little bit of drama. ↘️

Those of you who read The Possessed and/or a Russian novel for the first quarter of #readingenvyrussia - reminder we are having an online discussion at 2 pm EST today!
Send me an email if you aren't part of the Goodreads group and want a link, my username at gmail.

If you switched course and went with Ukrainian lit, I'd love to have you join us too!

This was the original March pick for Indigenous Reading Circle but it was discovered to be out of print. I took advantage of interlibrary loan to read it anyway.

First of all, I skipped the Gwen Benaway story after learning she had lied about an indigenous background.

My favorite stories were ALIENS by Richard Van Camp, LEGENDS ARE MADE, NOT BORN by Cherie Dimaline, and NÉ LE! by Darcie Little Badger.

Library haul!

Two for foster son, one for April Sword and Laser, one I've been meaning to read forever, one for #readingenvyrussia non-fiction quarter, and one Booker International longlist title that followed me home.

Most of these stories share a theme of the destruction of the earth, from climate change or alien intervention, and how characters (queer, 2 spirit) from indigenous communities are dealing with circumstances. If you are a guardian of the earth, do you stay to the end? What kind of new communities can be formed? What about AI or VR?

I listened to the audio edition of the only short story Toni Morrison ever wrote, narrated by Bahni Turpen. If you get the audio, which is under two hours, the story doesn't start until 59:21, because the entire first half is an essay on the story by Zadie Smith. I'm of the personal opinion that one should read the work before reading commentary on said work, and continue to skip intros, prefaces, and more. ↘️

"The Shao family had become a textbook case study in trauma. But with aliens."

I first heard of Mike Chen on the Reading Glasses podcast, as he's a friend of their show. This book is a different sort of read because it really is more about this one family than it is a more traditional science fiction novel, and even the idea of whether it is a science fiction novel depends on which character you find most trustworthy. ↘️

Reading Envy Podcast Episode 242:
Dark and Gloomy with Claire

I was happy to sit down and talk to Claire, a reader from the upcoming generation. She likes dark and gloomy books! Jenny also took the opportunity to read a few YA books she had not yet gotten to, and went dark and gloomy too.

What are your teens reading these days?

Listen and subscribe:
https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy242

This 21st century Russian novel, by a woman and about a woman, rose to the top of the novels I was considering for #readingenvyrussia - it is set in the 1930s as the Red Army is moving through rural regions of the country, removing people from land they owned and had worked while moving toward collectivism for all farming. ↘️

It's time for the first quarter discussion for #readingenvyrussia - the novels. Please send me a message or find the Zoom link in the Goodreads group. It will be May 27th at 2 pm EST.

I know this has been the worst year ever to focus on Russia. If you ended up reading Ukrainian lit instead, feel free to join the discussion. ↘️

Frida has a bad day, and leaves her infant at home alone. Her neighbor turns her in and she ends up sent to a rehabilitation school for bad mothers. This is dystopia but doesn't feel very far off, and I actually found it hard to read, but in your usual dystopian way.

Phyllis is a 40 year old suburban housewife in 1967 when the son of friends kisses her in the dark after a dinner party. She leaves her family on somewhat of a whim and enters his world of artists and socio-political upheaval, much to the confusion of her husband and kids.↘️

CW for violence, harm to children, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, self-harm.

Oof. Well I went looking for books from the new Booker International Prize longlist for 2022, and found this one in #hoopla. It was originally published in Japan in 2009, and published in the English translation by Sam Bett and David Boyd, the same team that translated Breasts and Eggs. ↘️

Violet is a popular but anonymous advice columnist for a NC newspaper, until her husband of 12 years leaves her and it ends up in her column. She meets a local firefighter when she lights her ex-husband's prized belongings on fire. I guess ultimately this is a romance but it is also about opening up to other people in general, and what to do instead of seeking revenge.

#romantsy

I was in the mood for a good old boarding school mystery novel but nobody told me this was the start of a series and nothing resolves completely until the last book! But this was an engaging read I found in #hoopla.

Reading Envy Podcast Episode 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.

Listen and subscribe:
https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy241

Can I squeeze this into my mid-century women reading project if it came.out in 1923? I read all the Anne of Green Gables books but for some reason was never really interested in Emily as a child. (Looking at covers, I remember the dark gloomy book on the left, this newer refreshed cover may have compelled me!) ↘️

The second novella in The STEMinist series by Ali Hazelwood is possibly the first lovers to enemies story I've read, and moves between two days, one which also has a forced proximity situation.

This comes out March 8 and I listened to the audio read by Meg Sylvan.

#romantsy

After sticking with this one through the first 3/4 I skimmed the last bit, like, it's really not going anywhere, it's not going to improve, you're still going to randomly italicize four emotion words in the middle of this paragraph, okay.

It's about illness and family and writer's block, and also it's not. Everything is fragmented. Nothing goes anywhere.

The novel is by Karina Sainz Borgo and translated by Elizabeth Bryer. The author is a journalist from Venezuela who relocated to Madrid, and the main character of the novel follows a similar path. The novel is so focused on her life and struggles without a lot of context so I had to do a lot of reading about Venezuela - its government, the poverty, the violence - it's all there in the background but not something I knew a lot about. ↘️

Reading Envy Podcast Episode 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!

Listen and subscribe:
https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy240