Book Club for Masochists: a Readers’ Advisory Podcast

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended

• Clementine by Cherie Priest
• Your Republic is Calling You by Young-Ha Kim, translated by Chi-Young Kim
• Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley
• League of Unexceptional Children by Gitty Daneshvari (Middle Grade)
• The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
• The Bletchley Girls by Tessa Dunlop (Non-Fiction)
• Women Heroes of World War II by Kathryn J. Atwood (Non-Fiction)
• Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger (YA on the younger side)
• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (try the audiobook - it’s good)
• Corporate Spies: the Pizza Plot (article)

Read

• By Tess Gerritsen:
• • In Their Footsteps
  • Call After Midnight
• Spy School by Stuart Gibbs (Middle Grade)
• Harriet Spies Again by Helen Ericson and maybe Louise Fitzhugh (Middle Grade)
• From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming
• Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

Did Not Finish

• The Agency by Y. S. Lee
• Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy (We can totally see why people like this one; it’s just not for Anna)
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré

Also read, not mentioned:

• Octopussy and the Living Daylights by Ian Fleming
• The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra (Recommended)
• Super Spy, and The Lost Dossiers by Matt Kindt (Comic)
• 2 Sisters by Matt Kindt (Comic)

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Zines Read (in order of appearance):

• Never Finish Grad School
• Skillshot
• Taking the Lane #1, #2, #9 by Elly Blue
• Culinary Cyclist (zine?!)
• Fix your clothes by Raleigh Briggs
• Fashion (We couldn’t find it in the catalogue!)
• Great Chicken Escape by Nikki McClure
• Eggheads by Rick Quemado
• Puddles of Cute by Leda Zawacki
• Samurai Dreams #6
• Velo Vixen #1, #2 by Rachel Krause
• Long Distance #1 by Sassy Fran Circus
• Dropping out for Students by Cavegirl
• He/Her/Him Free/Frer/Frim by Adrian Prawns Sinclair, Sylvie LS, Jewels Generic
• The Jaded Review
• Astronaut and Alien by Jen Deberux
• Fluffah by Kelsey Smith
• A Field Guide to the Aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation #1, #3, #6 by Joshua Chapman (aka Zachary)
• Peach Melba

Links:

• “Fa[n]zines by Teal Triggs and why you should not buy the book”
• The Copy Scams (music about making zines)
• Best Game Over (a card game about zines!)
• Meghan’s youtube video about making a zine
• Xtra Tuff (zine about fishing in Alaska)
• Zine Librarian Facebook Group
• Digitizing zines debate
• Kirk/Spock
• Interview with the creator of A Field Guide to the Aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Software tools

• Scribus
• Gimp

Places and Events

• The Anchor Archive Zine Library
• The Independent Publishing Resource Center
• Vancouver Public Library's Zine Collection
• Vancouver Comics Arts Festival
• Olympia Zine Fest
• The Zine Pavilion at ALA

Matthew’s zine things

• 365 Zines a Year
• Article about the VPL Zine collection
• Poster about creating zine collections in libraries
• Episode of the SS Librarianship podcast about zin...

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended:

• The Harem by Safia Fazlul (Muslim)
• Godless but Loyal to Heaven by Richard Van Camp (Dogrib [Tlicho] Dene)
• Les vacances de Jésus et Bouddha/Saint Young Men (Christian/Buddhist) (Manga/Comic not available in English due to weird reasons - see paragraph 2)
• Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (Christian)
• A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick (Philip K. Dickianism)
• Creature Tech by Doug TenNapel (Christian) (Comic/Graphic Novel)

Read:

• Therefore, Repent! by Jim Munroe, illustrated by Salgood Sam (Christian) (Comic/Graphic Novel)
• The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor (Christian)
• Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven by Mark Twain (Christian) (Short Story)
• Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (Christian)
• The Special Dead (Rhona MacLeod #10) by Lin Anderson (Wiccan)
• God in Pink by Hasan Namir (Muslim)
• Smile as They Bow by Nu Nu Yi (Burma/Myanmar Buddhism) Go check out the cover to help resolve our debate.
• Playing With Matches by Suri Rosen (Jewish) (YA)
• The Hebrew Tutor of Bel Air by Allan Appel (Jewish)
• The Negotiator by Dee Henderson (Christian)
• Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke (Christian) (Canadian content)
• Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed (Muslim) (YA)
• Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor (Christian)

Did Not Finish:

• The Heiress of Winterwood by Sarah E. Ladd (Christian - Regency Era Romance)

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Space Opera We Read (or kinda):

Recommended

• Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding (lukewarm recommendation by a reader who is deeply ambivalent about anything speculative, Sci-Fi, or Fantasy in nature)
• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (not spectacular but a slow-burn, exploratory read)
• Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (difficult to like narrator warning)
• Ancillary Mercy (and the entire Ancillary Justice series) (HIGHLY recommended series)
• Accessing the Future: A Disability-Themed Anthology of Speculative Fiction edited by Kathryn Allan
• Lightless by C.A. Higgins

Read

• Sassinak by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon
• Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 1 by Tsutomu Nihei, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian
• Space Opera edited by Brian W. Aldiss (Features stories from 1900 (!) - 1972. Most are from the 1950s)
• More Adventures on Other Planets edited by Donald A. Wollheim
• Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis (Not so much Space Opera and not enough girl mechanic)
• The Year’s Best Military SF & Space Opera 2015 edited by David Afsharirad

Did Not Finish

• Armada by Ernest Cline (read this Wikipedia article about a video game urban legend instead)
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks (would try another one by this author)
• The Star Dancers by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson
• The Sheriff of Yrnameer by Michael Rubens
• A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge (so long - for 900+ pages, would prefer to try the better known A Fire Upon the Deep, which was recommended by another group member)

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended

• A Short History of Indians in Canada: Stories by Thomas King (Cherokee)
• The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene)
• Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis (Gwich'in Athabascan)

Read

• The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (The Tribe #1) by Ambelin Kwaymullina (Aboriginal Australian - Palyku)
• Sweat by Lesley Belleau (Anishinaabe)
• Three Feathers by Richard Van Camp (Dogrib [Tlicho] Dene) (Comic)
• Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction edited by Grace L. Dillon (contributors include Native American, First Nations, Aboriginal Australian, and Maori)
• War Dances by Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene)

Children's Picture Books

• The Giant Bear: An Inuit Folktale by Jose Angutingunrik, illustrated by Eva Widermann (Inuit folktale - not certain how the author identifies)
• Missing Nimama by Melanie Florence (Cree), illustrated by François Thisdale (Québécois)
• The Son of the Sun and the Daughter of the Moon by Holly Young Huth, Illustrated by Anna Vojtech (Sami folktale by non-Sami author & illustrator)
• The Reindeer People by Ted Lewin (American writing about Lapland)

Did Not Finish

• Forty Days Without Shadow by Olivier Truc (French author writing about Sami)
• Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles by Gerald Vizenor (Anishinaabe)
• Born with a Tooth by Joseph Boyden (Métis) (worth returning to)

Other titles mentioned

• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (our youthful memories recommend this one)
• • Recently featured on the Overdue podcast
• Morning Girl by Michael Dorris

Anna Ferri | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended

• The Great Christmas Knit Off by Alexandra Brown
• Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
• Greetings from Christmas Past by Bevis Hillier

Other Books Read

• The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas by Edward Gorey
• Undead and Unreturnable (Undead, #4) by MaryJanice Davidson
• The Christmas Escape (Christmas Stories #13) by Anne Perry
• Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
• Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story by Paul Auster
• Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies
• The Red Satin Collection by Giselle Renarde (recommended if lesbian transgender erotica is of interest to you. Won a Rainbow Award, which it turns out are given out each year by blogger Elisa Rolle - older site )

Did Not Finish

• Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
• Holiday in Death by J. D. Robb

More “books” we mentioned

• The Fat Man: A Tale of North Pole Noir by Ken Harmon.
• A Very Klingon Khristmas by Paul Ruditis
• The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey by Roger Highfield
• Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

Links/Other

• The Great Automatic Grammatizator by Roald Dahl
• Books lists: Alternative Christmas, not so Christmas Christmas, the horror of Christmas and Christmas Askew

Check out our

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Cozy Mysteries We Read (or kinda):

Recommended

• The Handsome Man's Deluxe Café (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, #15) by Alexander McCall Smith
• Books Can Be Deceiving (Library Lover's Mystery, #1) by Jenn McKinlay
• The Pigeon Pie Mystery by Julia Stuart (I finally finished it!)
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1) by Alan Bradley

Read

• Ming Tea Murder (Tea Shop Mystery, #16) by Laura Childs
• Swag Bags and Swindlers (Haley Randolph #8) by Dorothy Howell
• The Body in the Library (Miss Marple, #3) by Agatha Christie
• The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing (Vish Puri, #2) by Tarquin Hall
• Thread and Gone (Mainely Needlepoint #3) by Lea Wait (almost recommend; not terribly badly written; I just felt the plot/mystery solution was a bit weak)
• Pushing Up Daisies (Dirty Business, #1) by Rosemary Harris

Did Not Finish

• Ghoul Interrupted (Ghost Hunter Mystery #6) by Victoria Laurie
• Gretel and the Case of the Missing Frog Prints (A Brothers Grimm Mystery #1) by P. J. Brackston
• From Fear to Eternity (Immortality Bites Mystery, #3; Immortality Bites, #8) by Michelle Rowen
• Six and a Half Deadly Sins (Dr. Siri Paiboun #10) by Colin Cotterill
• Brewed, Crude and Tattooed by Sandra Balzo
• Little Shop of Homicide (A Devereaux Dime Store Mystery #1) by Denise Swanson

More “books” we mentioned

• Shutterbug Follies by Jason Little (recommended)
• Bucko by Jeff Parker and Erika Moen
• Detective Conan/Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama
• From ...

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Jorge Cardenas | Matthew Murray

Recommended

• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; translated by H.T. Willetts (Russian)
• If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino; translated by William Weaver (Italian)
• Bitter Rose by Martine Delvaux; translated by David Homel (Quebec)
• Closely Watched Trains by by Bohumil Hrabal; translated by Edith Pargeter (Czech)
• Silk by Alessandro Baricco; translated by Guido Waldman (Italian)
• Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa; translated by Gregory Rabassa (Peru)
• The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac; illustrations by Quentin Blake; translated by Sarah Adams (French)
• HHhH by Laurent Binet; translated by Sam Taylor (French)
• Arvida by Samuel Archibald; translated by Donald Winkler (Quebec)

Other Books Read/Listened

• 70% Acrylic 30% Wool by Viola Di Grado; translated by Michael Reynolds (Italian)
• The Cyclist Conspiracy by Svetislav Basara; translated by Randall A. Major (Serbian)
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery; translated by Alison Anderson (French)
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy; translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Russian)
• The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin; translated by Ken Liu (Chinese)
• Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō; translated by Cathy Hirano (Japanese) (audiobook)

DNF

• The Alphabet House by Jussi Adler-Olse; translated by Steve Schein (Danish)
• The Dinner by Herman Koch; translated by Sam Garrett (Dutch)

Questions:

• Do you seek out or avoid works in translation?
• Do you ever feel like you are missing context/need more footnotes?
• Have you read a book than was significantly better or worse in one language than another?
• Are there genres that exist only (or predominantly) in non-English languages?

Links/Other

• Good-Bye and Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi - “a bo...

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray

Religion (Non-Fiction) We Read (or kinda):

Recommended

• Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright (Scientology)

Read

• Silence and Noise: Growing Up Zen in America by Ivan Richmond (Buddhism)
• Holy Laughter and the Toronto Blessing: An Investigative Report by James A. Beverley (Christianity)
• Generation J by Lisa Schiffman (Judaism)
• Speaking of Faith by Krista Tippett (interfaith)
• Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East by Gerard Russell (Various - Middle East)
• How Good Do We Have to Be?: A New Understanding of Guilt and Forgiveness by Harold S. Kushner (interfaith?)

Did Not Finish

• From Stone to Flesh: A Short History of the Buddha by Donald S. Lopez Jr.
• Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by John Krakauer

More “books” we mentioned

• Buddha by Osamu Tezuka

Other Links

• Should atheists read the great books of religion?
• Oh, Dewey Decimal - you so screwy
• Two-Fisted Librarians

Interpreting Meghan

• Eschatology
• One Church Problem

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Religious non-fiction people in our club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray

Recommended

• Hellboy in Mexico by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Comic) (Recommended)
• Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Girl With Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson
• Vermilion by Molly Tanzer
• The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke
• His Majesty’s Dragon - Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik
• The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe
• The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

Read

• The Bone Collector’s Son by Paul Yee
• The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
• The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
• The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson
• New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear

Did Not Finish

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Other Books and Comics by order of mention:

• The SEA is Ours: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia (Recommended)
• John Carter by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
• The Sixth Gun by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurt
• The entire Hellboy universe by Mike Mignola and others (Recommended)
• Wise Child by Monica Furlong (Middle Grade) (Recommended)
• The Beetle by Richard Marsh
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Recommended)
• Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear (steampunk via science, no magic)
• The Professor’s Daughter by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert (Recommended)
• Obsidian and Blood by Aliette de Bodard (Recommended)
• The Others by Anne Bishop (Recommended—not historical at all, just really good contemporary pseudo-urban fantasy)
• The Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Links/Other