The best thing about 2018 was the day it ended, and the second-best thing about it was recording this podcast. It’s our Year in Review! The Jennys talk through the highs and lows of our 2018 reading, then chat about the New Year’s Resolutions we failed and succeeded at, and the New Year’s Resolutions we’ve decided on for 2019. You can listen to the podcast using the embedded player below, or download the file directly to take with you on the go!
Here are the time signatures if you want to skip around.
1:02 – What we’re reading
2:26 – The best of what we learned in 2018
4:15 – Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Book 5, Chapters 1-4
17:42 – Books we got for Christmas
20:17 – What we read in 2018
31:49 – Update on 2018 resolutions
40:28 – 2019 resolutions
What we talked about:
The Blackhouse, Peter May
Nick of Time, Anne Lindbergh
The Return of the King, JRR Tolkien
the tweet about Faramir that makes me cry-laugh
Remember Who You Are, Paula Brown Stafford and Lucy T. Grimes
The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle, Malinda Maynor Lowery
Accidental Birds of the Carolinas, Marjorie Hudson
Giant Days, John Allison
Misfit City, Kirstin Smith and Kurt Lustgarten
A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution, Toby Green
Rude Mechanicals, Kage Baker
Jane Eyre (BBC version)
Whiskey Jenny’s worst: A Kind of Intimacy, Jenn Ashworth
Gin Jenny’s worst: The House at the Edge of Night, Catherine Banner (but The Nakano Thrift Shop as a runner-up)
Whiskey Jenny’s best: The Color Purple, Alice Walker
Gin Jenny’s best: Washington Black, Esi Edugyan
Books we unexpectedly disliked
The Royal Runaway, Lindsay Emory
The Cruel Prince, Holly Black
Books we unexpectedly loved
The Color Purple, Alice Walker
Pyromantic, Lish McBride
Freshwater, Akwaeke Emezi
Books we wish had gotten more attention
The Ensemble, Aja Gabel
Zero Sum Game, SL Huang
Blanca and Roja, Anna-Marie McLemore
Best dude teams in books
Ready to Roll, Suzanne Brockmann
Endurance, Alfred Lansing
Check Please, Ngozi Ukazu
Best book title
Rafe, A Buff Male Nanny, Rebekah Weatherspoon
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
How Long Til Black Future Month?, NK Jemisin
Best book cover
City on Fire, Garth Risk Hallberg
Kay from Not Now I’m Reading is our fanfic guru!
Renay from Fangirl Happy Hour is our SFF guru!
World War Z, Max Brooks
Wives of the Leopard, Edna Bay
The World and a Very Small Place in Africa, Donald Wright
A Separate Peace, John Knowles
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Miss Wyoming, Douglas Coupland
Eleanor Rigby, Douglas Coupland
The Great Brain, John D. Fitzgerald
“Stet,” Sarah Gailey
“The Kite Maker,” Brenda Peynado
“Extracurricular Activities,” Yoon Ha Lee
“Especially Heinous,” Carmen Maria Machado
“Always Open, the Eureka Hotel,” Jamey Hatley
“Fandom for Robots,” Vina Jie-Min Prasad
2019 Resolutions for Whiskey Jenny
1) Keep an eye on diversity of personal reading.
2) Read three books by Native American authors.
3) Read three books by queer authors.
2019 Resolutions for Gin Jenny
1) Read four histories of four African countries.
2) Read 15 of my own books (purchased before 2019), of which 10 are fiction.
3) For every nonfiction book of my own that I read, I can then check one 1 nonfiction book from the library. NO MORE.
4) Read 40% non-American authors.
2019 Podcast Resolutions
1) Have seven guests, of which two are authors!
2) Read at least one book by a nonbinary author.
3) Read at least one book by an indigenous author.
Get at me on Twitter, email the podcast, and friend me (Gin Jenny) and Whiskey Jenny on Goodreads. If you like what we do, support us on Patreon. Or if you wish, you can find us on iTunes (and if you enjoy the podcast, give us a good rating! We appreciate it very very much).
Credits
Producer: Captain Hammer
Photo credit: The Illustrious Annalee
Theme song by: Jessie Barbour
Transcripts by: Sharon of Library Hungry
Transcript is available under the jump!
THEME SONG: You don’t judge a book by its cover. Page one’s not a much better view. And shortly you’re gonna discover the middle won’t mollify you. So whether whiskey’s your go-to or you’re like my gin-drinking friend, no matter what you are imbibing, you’ll be better off in the end reading the end.
GIN JENNY: Welcome back to the Reading the End Bookcast with the demographically similar Jennys. I’m Gin Jenny.
WHISKEY JENNY: And I’m Whiskey Jenny.
GIN JENNY: And we are here in the new year to talk to you about books and literary happenings. This episode, we’re going to get back into Return of the King. We’re going to talk about our Christmas gifts that we got that are books. We’re going to do a review of our podcast reading and our general reading for 2018. And we’re going to discuss New Year’s resolutions. But before we get into all that, Whiskey Jenny, what are you reading?
WHISKEY JENNY: I am reading The Blackhouse, by Peter May, which is a mystery set in one of the Hebrides islands in Scotland. The detective is a dude from that island, and then he’s been detectiving on the mainland in Edinburgh. And then he has to go back home and solve some crime, and there’s things in his past that come up, apparently.
GIN JENNY: Cool.
WHISKEY JENNY: I’ve only just begun it.
GIN JENNY: I love people go home to their hometowns to solve things.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. Yeah, I like the Hebrides as a setting purely based on The Decoy Bride, so. [LAUGHTER] should be just like that.
GIN JENNY: A really strong foundation.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. What are you reading?
GIN JENNY: I am rereading this book by Charles Lindbergh’s daughter called Nick of Time, which is a middle grade, I guess, science fiction fantasy story about these kids in a boarding school who discover that they can travel forward through time. And this one kid from the future is able to travel back in time to hang out with them. So it’s all about all their shenanigans and school stuff, and it’s really sweet.
WHISKEY JENNY: Is the main character named Nick?
GIN JENNY: Let me tell you what. This is going to be a twist.
WHISKEY JENNY: [GASP] OK, tell me.
GIN JENNY: No.
WHISKEY JENNY: No? Come on!
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: The kid from the future is named Nick. Nick of Time.
WHISKEY JENNY: All right, I’ll allow it. As long as there’s a Nick time traveling somewhere.
GIN JENNY: We’re doing something fun with our something else-ing, which is that for the month of January, we’re going to be talking about the best of what we something elsed in 2018. So the winner of the vote this time was what we learned. So Whiskey Jenny, what was the best thing you learned in 2018?
WHISKEY JENNY: Well, I hesitate saying this, because the past tense makes it feel like I’m already done, but I’ve been learning the guitar. And I would say that has been my favorite thing to be learning. Though I have not learned the guitar. [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: That’s false. I’ve heard that you can play at least seven chords.
WHISKEY JENNY: I think I’m up to seven now. My favorite is still the real easy one.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Me too, man.
WHISKEY JENNY: I had a lovely session with my brother where we were just picking out easy songs, and he would call out the chords a little bit in advance of when the change was coming along as we were playing the song, but he would work them into the lyrics.
GIN JENNY: Nice.
WHISKEY JENNY: Which was really fun.
GIN JENNY: The best thing that I learned this year—I have told people for many years, because I heard this somewhere, that it’s easy to rip someone’s ear off. Like, comparatively.
WHISKEY JENNY: Compared to what?
GIN JENNY: Biting off a finger. Any other body part, basically.
WHISKEY JENNY: OK, all right, all right. Sorry, yes, carry on.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, so this year I verified it with some self-defense videos on YouTube. Because I was like, is this true or am I perpetrating a myth? But if it is false, then self-defense videos are perpetrating this myth also, so let’s pass the blame onto them. But what they said was, it takes the same amount of force as it takes to rip 12 pieces of paper at a time. So I went over to my parents’ house, and I went in their recycling and got out twelve pieces of paper. My dad’s doing grants, so he has a bunch of scrap paper that he’s been throwing away. It’s very, like disturbingly easy to rip twelve sheets. You have to, you know, you have to try, but it’s well within your capacity. So that’s real exciting. That’s really exciting self-defense news. In case I ever need to rip someone’s ear off, it’s quite easy.
WHISKEY JENNY: All right, cool. Good to know.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. All right, do you want to get into Return of the King?
WHISKEY JENNY: I sure do.
GIN JENNY: OK, so we read Return of the King, book five, chapters one through four this time. I have to say, the “previously on” synopses at the beginning of these books are so useful.
WHISKEY JENNY: So helpful. I was like, oh yeah, I totally forgot about all this that happened in book one, because that seemed like it was ages ago.
GIN JENNY: Everything is just so lucidly explained. You know how sometimes you’ll start reading the third book in a series and it’s been a minute, and you remember Sauron’s bad, Pippin’s good, but you’re also like, if someone could remind me why everyone’s mad at Pippin? You know what I mean?
WHISKEY JENNY: Right. I had totally forgotten that it was recent knowledge to some people and not everyone that Aragorn is a long lost king. So that was a good reminder, because it comes up. I think all trilogies should do this. I think we should pass a law that they have to.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: I couldn’t agree more. I think this should be a norm. Publishers, that’s my 2019 resolution for you.
WHISKEY JENNY: Ah, great idea.
GIN JENNY: We start with Gandalf and Pippin heading to Gondor.
WHISKEY JENNY: Gandalf gives the worst pep talk ever maybe in this book. [LAUGHTER] Pippin is a little anxious. And Gandalf’s pep talk is, don’t worry, we’re going to Minas Tirith, where you’ll be fine. Well, not necessarily fine, but as safe as anyone. Because either if Minas Tirith falls or the ring falls, then everyone’s screwed. So that didn’t help.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: So good luck to us all! [LAUGHTER]
WHISKEY JENNY: That didn’t help at all, Gandalf!
GIN JENNY: And then they get to Gondor and they meet the steward there, Denethor, who’s Boromir’s father.
WHISKEY JENNY: Ugh.
GIN JENNY: OK, I have to say, I do understand why he’s mad at Gandalf. That’s fair enough.
WHISKEY JENNY: Why is he mad at Gandalf?
GIN JENNY: Because Boromir’s dead. Gandalf called Boromir on this quest that led to his death. I would be mad, also.
WHISKEY JENNY: I feel like Boromir volunteered.
GIN JENNY: Just if my child volunteered to do a dangerous thing with someone, obviously I can’t be mad at the dead child. I’m going to be mad at the person who was leading them.
WHISKEY JENNY: I guess. I still really have strong feelings against him.
GIN JENNY: No, yeah, Denethor is horrible.
WHISKEY JENNY: Gah. He’s so mean to his other son, too, Faramir.
GIN JENNY: Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, I know. Well, hang on.
WHISKEY JENNY: Sorry, yeah.
GIN JENNY: Before we get to that, I need to address the fact that—so he’s kind of snotty to Pippin. Again, not justifiable, but I probably would be, too. I’d be like, oh, you’re alive? You seem useful. On the other hand, my city’s going to fall. Thanks a lot. But Pippin is like nettled and pledges his service to Denethor. And what’s weird to me is that when they leave, Gandalf is like, listen. Denethor is power hungry and can kind of read minds, but I think you made the right decision. Like, why? Why was that the right decision?
WHISKEY JENNY: I don’t understand. I think it was such a weird decision. And I feel like Gandalf should have stopped it. Like should have been, quick talk. You don’t want to pledge your service to this guy. He’s bad news.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. And he is bad news.
WHISKEY JENNY: In fact he is bad news.
GIN JENNY: So anyway, then there’s a lot of really lengthy descriptions of the stone works at Minas Tirith. [SIGH]
WHISKEY JENNY: For serious, I feel like I’ve handled the nature descriptions in this book pretty well. There’s a river and there’s woods, I’ve got it. Sounds great, sounds great. But the descriptions of this city—they broke me, I think. [LAUGHTER] It’s just like, what are you talking about? I don’t care!
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Not only that, but they’re preparing for a last stand against Mordor, so there’s troops coming in from various parts of Middle Earth. And the descriptions of them, and So-And-So, Son of So-And-So and their 500 whatever. It’s like, oh my god.
WHISKEY JENNY: Where they’re from, what the land is like where they’re from.
GIN JENNY: It’s so much.
WHISKEY JENNY: It was a lot.
GIN JENNY: I was so relieved when we went back to Aragorn.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh yes, me too. Also because there was more of his weird, racist “fair blood” talk every time he was talking about the different people coming in. They’re like, well, he’s tall and blue-eyed, so these people are great.
GIN JENNY: Yeah.
WHISKEY JENNY: All right, that’s weird, Tolkien! So yeah, so for several reasons, I was glad that we were able to leave that behind.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Plus a lot of cool stuff is happening on the Aragorn end of things. Like the Rangers show up, that rules. Aragorn talks to Sauron, that’s really cool.
WHISKEY JENNY: That was such a—I have a couple of questions about this. [LAUGHTER] Number one, I really wanted there to be, yeah, more about Aragorn’s cool team of Rangers assembling.
GIN JENNY: Me, too. And they brought a bunch of cryptic messages.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. And they seem like a SWAT team, basically. These are the real badass guys, you know? So I really want more from them. And yeah, so casually do they mention—Aragorn’s like, oh yeah, I talked to Sauron some last night, but I wrenched control of the palantir away from him, so. He just drops it in the conversation and we don’t really talk about it anymore. It’s such a badass moment. [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: Right? That’s what I thought. I was like, this is boss. I love it.
WHISKEY JENNY: It’s so boss! And we don’t spend a lot of time on it. I was like, wait. [LAUGHTER] So you mentally battled Sauron last night? So let’s talk more about that.
GIN JENNY: So what he learns is, if he wants to thwart Sauron, he has to go through [OMINOUSLY] the Paths of the Dead.
WHISKEY JENNY: And so he learns that he has to act quickly, basically, to go help Gondor, right? That’s what he learns?
GIN JENNY: Yeah, which you kind of already knew, Aragorn.
WHISKEY JENNY: Right? I guess but it’s super urgent now, so he has to even be quicker than Rohan is going to be.
GIN JENNY: And everyone’s like, Aragorn, no! And he’s like, Aragorn, yes.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. [LAUGHTER] I do like how dramatic that title is, and also how every time someone would say it, there would be whispers around, like ooh, [WHISPERING] the Paths of the Dead, the Paths of the Dead! [WHISPERING AND MURMURING] [LAUGHTER] What? The Paths of the Dead!
GIN JENNY: He’s going where? [LAUGHTER] There’s also a very good, but also very annoying scene where Eowyn is trying to dissuade him, and Aragorn is such a jerk to her.
WHISKEY JENNY: Do you think so?
GIN JENNY: Yes, I do. He’s like, oh, your job is important, too. I’m not mad at him for not taking her, because she’s pretty key in what’s to come.
WHISKEY JENNY: Right.
GIN JENNY: But I do think he—I think her burn on him is super valid.
WHISKEY JENNY: OK, see, maybe I’m just blinded by my love for Aragorn and I don’t want to see it. [LAUGHTER] But I don’t think he was quite that awful to her. He’s like, the honorable thing is not to abandon your post here, which is running the country while your father’s gone. I didn’t see that role as a typically feminine one, I guess?
GIN JENNY: Yeah, I don’t think that role is unimportant, but I do think that her gender is playing into this a lot.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, I definitely agree. And the thing that really got me about his refusal was when she asked him the second time, right before he’s leaving, and he’s like, well, I’d have to get your dad and your brother’s permission. And I was like, all right, that’s not cool.
GIN JENNY: I know.
WHISKEY JENNY: That’s not cool. That one I didn’t like. The other reasons that he gave, I was like, I can see how that would be OK to say. But it gives the opportunity for Eowyn to make her amazing speeches.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, so this is what she says when she’s asking him the first time. He’s like, no, you gotta stay here and tend the realm. She says, “All your words are but to say, you are a woman and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honor, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more.” I was like, damn.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. Right after she says that, Aragorn asks, “What do you fear, lady?” And she says, “A cage. To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
GIN JENNY: That is really good.
WHISKEY JENNY: A cage! That’s just such a baller answer to what do you fear.
GIN JENNY: And that’s in the movie, but the other one is not, which I think is too bad. I think they preserved Aragorn’s reputation at the expense of a really, really good speech.
WHISKEY JENNY: It’s such a good speech.
GIN JENNY: So then there’s a really, really creepy sequence on the Paths of the Dead. It is so much creepier than in the movie, because you know the ghost army is there, but they can never see the ghost army. Aragorn’s making a deal with them and stuff. They really, really know they’re there.
WHISKEY JENNY: They’re for sure there. They call out from the darkness.
GIN JENNY: Eugh. [LAUGHTER]
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. I still think the creepiest thing for me so far overall, though, has been that time when there were faces in the water.
GIN JENNY: That is very creepy. But the dead faces were not doing anything, so to me this is more creepy. Because this is so close to real fear. Like when you’re somewhere dark that you’re unfamiliar with and you hear sounds, and you’re like, what was that sound? So that’s this, but the sound was ghosts.
WHISKEY JENNY: It’s ghosts. It’s the ghost army. It’s the oathbreakers.
GIN JENNY: So Aragorn gets this ghost army, and they’re now his army, and they’re going to come help with the fight against Mordor. And then continuing the patronizing male leaders thing, Theoden is kind of—everyone, actually, is kind of snotty to Merry in this section. They’re like, oh, you can’t really help us. You just sit tight right here, buddy.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, did not appreciate that on Merry’s behalf.
GIN JENNY: And Merry’s like, are you kidding me? And Theoden was like, no, you can’t come to war. Everyone else you know and love is going to die, but you stay here.
WHISKEY JENNY: All my friends, I definitely want to go fight them. I’m very brave. And why did you accept me being like, I’m going to fight on your behalf if you were just going to patronize me?
GIN JENNY: Yeah. But what happens, Whiskey Jenny?
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh. My. God. I think I had sort of forgotten how awesome this is.
GIN JENNY: It’s so awesome.
WHISKEY JENNY: But Eowyn—she hasn’t revealed herself to us yet, but we all know it’s Eowyn. Eowyn has dressed up and disguise herself as a man in the army and is riding along with them. And Eowyn pulls Merry aside as he’s about to sad walk back to the castle alone and is like, just ride with me. It’s fine.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: It’s really sweet.
WHISKEY JENNY: It’s so great. She’s like, I’m not that heavy. The horse will be fine. You can hide under my cloak. You deserve a shot, too. And I also really appreciate that they laid the groundwork a little bit for a good Merry/Eowyn relationship. Because they’ve previously had good conversations and gotten along, and she’s the one who brought him—
GIN JENNY: Believes in him!
WHISKEY JENNY: Believes in him, and the one who outfitted him with his gear. Which, I don’t know why they did that if they weren’t going to bring him, but anyway.
GIN JENNY: I know! It’s so mean. Whatever.
WHISKEY JENNY: The groundwork is laid so you believe totally that she would do this for him. And it’s so baller!
GIN JENNY: It really is. It’s really [INAUDIBLE].
WHISKEY JENNY: [INAUDIBLE] Merry!
GIN JENNY: [SIGH] And then back to Gondor.
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: Stupid effing Denethor. [LAUGHTER] Oh my god.
GIN JENNY: Denethor is so mean to Faramir. The thing he says to Faramir is, “Ever your desire is to appear lordly and generous, as a king of old.” And I was like, god damn, man. That’s so mean. Faramir is lordly and generous. That’s just a really mean thing to say.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, he also—I’m not going to quote it, but he also basically says, I wish my other son was alive and you were dead, which is just a real awful thing to say to your son. And then Faramir is like, OK fine, I’ll go sacrifice myself on the bridge if that’s what you really want. And he’s like—
GIN JENNY: Denethor’s like, cool, thanks.
WHISKEY JENNY: Faramir’s like, maybe you’ll love me if I come back. And he’s like, only if you come back having won. [LAUGHTER] God, I can’t handle it. I can’t do it.
GIN JENNY: The thing is, there’s this tweet I saw a while ago—and I don’t know why I find it so funny, but I literally can’t think of it without laughing—which is that Faramir says, “Since you were robbed of Boromir, I will do what I can in his stead. If I should return, think better of me, Father.” And Denethor says, “This is so sad. Peregrine Took, sing ‘Desposito.’”
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: Oh man. That is amazing. Because that is the scene when Pippin starts singing, right?
GIN JENNY: Yeah.
WHISKEY JENNY: And it’s a really tragic song. OK, that’s pretty great.
GIN JENNY: So the chapter is extremely grim. The enemy is laying siege to Gondor. And like a siege is, it’s just a battle of attrition.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, but there’s way more of them than there are of Gondor.
GIN JENNY: No one seems to hold out much hope that Rohan is going to get there in time to make any difference. And then Faramir is injured. They bring him back to the tower grievously injured. And then what happens?
WHISKEY JENNY: Denethor loses his mind.
GIN JENNY: Yes, he completely loses the plot. He completely stops participating in the war as its leader. So he gives up. Gandalf has to do every damn thing.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, I get that he’s pretty grief stricken over his, I guess, second son—
GIN JENNY: Second favorite son.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, but I don’t know, man, don’t send him out there in the first place, then. This is your fault. He completely gives up and is like, I don’t care what happens. Or, we’re all going to lose anyway, it doesn’t matter. And then he’s like, you know, we should just die now anyway, and starts building a funeral pyre for both of them. Faramir is still unconscious and he calls for wood to be like, OK, now burn us alive, cool, thanks.
GIN JENNY: It is so disturbing.
WHISKEY JENNY: He tries to murder Faramir.
GIN JENNY: It’s really disturbing. And so Pippin, luckily, is there. And he goes running to find Gandalf. He’s like, Denethor is going to burn himself and his son alive, so I need someone to intervene.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, and Pippin also—so Denethor is telling the servants, bring me wood! And Pippin is like, you could go real slow on that. We don’t need the wood real fast. [LAUGHTER] Feel free to drag your feet on that one. [LAUGHTER] Which I appreciate.
GIN JENNY: That’s a very hobbity, practical response. And so he does eventually find Gandalf. And right when he finds Gandalf, the enemy breaks through the gate of Gondor.
WHISKEY JENNY: No!
GIN JENNY: But also, the Rohirrim arrive.
WHISKEY JENNY: Woo!
GIN JENNY: This was a good cliffhanger moment for us to pause on.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. Literally nothing else happens. There’s still a match hanging over Faramir and Denethor’s heads. Like, “Rohan had come at last” is the last line of that chapter.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, it’s a really, really good.
WHISKEY JENNY: What’s going to happen?
GIN JENNY: And like, I hate Denethor, but I think Denethor is a really great and interesting character, so I’m glad he exists as a character, even though as a person he is the worst.
WHISKEY JENNY: I don’t know, I feel like I could do without him. [LAUGHTER] How does he drive the plot along, really?
GIN JENNY: I think he has some good emotional moments.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, I’m not into it.
GIN JENNY: I’ll tell you what, you wouldn’t love Faramir as much if he were not—
WHISKEY JENNY: That’s true. You’re right, you’re right. Man, Faramir. How great is he?
GIN JENNY: Oh, so great. I feel so sorry for him. The thing Denethor—everything Denethor says to him is so mean.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, so I mean. You’re right, it really does cement your love for Faramir, so I’ll accept it on that reason.
GIN JENNY: All right, do you want to talk about books you got for Christmas?
WHISKEY JENNY: Yes, I do. I’m also including things that I acquired over Christmas, not necessarily as gifts, but if I went to a bookstore over the holiday, that counts, too. I got a book about being a working woman called Remember Who You Are, by some local North Carolina CEOs.
GIN JENNY: Cool.
WHISKEY JENNY: Remember Who You Are, by Paula Brown Stafford and Lisa T. Grimes, which I have to started, but I like that format, which is they talk a bunch, and then also there’s nine other female executives sharing their perspectives.
GIN JENNY: Oh, that’s awesome.
WHISKEY JENNY: So that’s cool. From the bookstore trip, I got two books. I got The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle, which is non-fiction by Malinda Maynor Lowery, which is about the Lumbee tribe, which is a tribe in North Carolina that still doesn’t have full federal recognition. It’s published by University of North Carolina Press, where the author is a professor, and she also is a member of the Lumbee. And then I got a book called Accidental Birds of the Carolinas, which is short stories by Marjorie Hudson.
GIN JENNY: That’s a great title.
WHISKEY JENNY: Isn’t it great? It says on the cover it got honorable mention from the PEN/Hemingway Society for distinguished first fiction. It’s about the lives of Yankees who escape to the rural south and their different perspectives on what they encounter there. And then lastly, I borrowed from my dad The Blackhouse, by Peter May.
GIN JENNY: Awesome.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. What did you acquire?
GIN JENNY: Oh, gosh, so many things. My parents got me the hardback compendiums of Giant Days, which is one of my favorite comics. It’s about three girls at the University of Sheffield, and it’s just their college adventures. It’s so funny and sweet. Whiskey Jenny, I can’t remember, have you read this yet?
WHISKEY JENNY: I haven’t. I was just thinking, I was like, wait, why haven’t I read this yet?
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Well, I was going to say, definitely read it as soon as possible. But if you don’t, expect to find it on your nightstand the next time that you visit.
WHISKEY JENNY: Excellent.
GIN JENNY: My friend Alice sent me a comic called Misfits, which is about lady adventurers, and also this book called A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution, by Toby Green.
WHISKEY JENNY: Ooh.
GIN JENNY: I know.
WHISKEY JENNY: Sounds very up your alley. Yeah.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. [LAUGHTER] My sister got me a new book—or new to me—by Kage Baker, who’s a fantasy author I really like. Yeah, and then my little sister got the 2006 BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre on DVD, which is weirdly hard to get, starring Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh yeah, I do like that one.
GIN JENNY: I love that one. Yeah, and then also I bought myself a new tablet, which is really exciting.
WHISKEY JENNY: Ooh.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, so I have something to read comics on again. All right, do you want to get into our reading statistics?
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, let’s do the stats.
GIN JENNY: OK, so we read 17 books this year. One of our plans for this year was we really wanted to read more women than men and to maintain a good level of diversity in our reading. And I think we did a good job. So I’m going to really quickly run down our 2017 statistics.
In 2017, we read 54% men and 46% women, and we read 38% authors of color vs. 62% white authors, and then that same split for non-American versus American authors. So how did we do in 2018, Whiskey Jenny, demographically?
WHISKEY JENNY: For not American authors, we read 41%. For not white authors, we read 47%. And then we read 71% female authors, which is a big increase over last year. So yeah, I think all of those numbers went up this year, so I am pleased with that. And something that we should continue to strive for.
GIN JENNY: And I think we both made an effort to pick books by authors who were from other countries and not dudes. I was really definitely focusing on that. And it paid off.
WHISKEY JENNY: It did.
GIN JENNY: OK, do you want to guess each other’s worst and best? Do you want to start with best or—
WHISKEY JENNY: Worst.
GIN JENNY: Man, I had a hard time with your worst. The two were A Kind of Intimacy and Halsey Street, and I think A Kind of Intimacy is your worst.
WHISKEY JENNY: It was indeed.
GIN JENNY: Yes!
WHISKEY JENNY: I guess I’m sort of warming up in retrospect to Halsey Street. And I think at the time, also, we were like, this just isn’t the book for us, but we appreciate what it’s doing. So that’s why I didn’t even really consider it.
GIN JENNY: OK, what do you think my worst one was?
WHISKEY JENNY: I think your worst one was The House at the Edge of Night.
GIN JENNY: Yes, it was. [LAUGHTER] So a really successful Hatening.
WHISKEY JENNY: Very successful Hatening. Yeah. Extremely well done all around. I didn’t even have a runner up for this one. I think we also both really had trouble connecting with The Nakano Thrift Shop.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, if there was a runner up, that’s the one that I would have said. But The House at the Edge of Night was just such a chore, and so yeah, that’s definitely mine.
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: I can’t even hear the word bougainvillea now without bursting into laughter. [LAUGHTER] It’s such the perfect representation of the kind of book you hate and the kind of book that, against all odds, I still enjoy. I don’t know why. I like a bougainvillea book. I do. [LAUGHTER] So all right, great. I’m glad you got those right.
GIN JENNY: Me, too. All right, so we’re guessing best now. OK, this may be vain, but I’m guessing The Color Purple.
WHISKEY JENNY: You are right, it’s The Color Purple.
GIN JENNY: Oh my god, this is my most successful Hatening/Forcening year ever.
WHISKEY JENNY: What a great combo. You really nailed it on both, yeah.
GIN JENNY: Alice Walker was recently in the New York Times peddling a super anti-Semitic book, and I was like, god. It made me really sad, because The Color Purple remains one of my favorite books of all time, and it’s really, really important to me as a person. And I just want to mention that, because I feel like it’s weird to let it pass by and not say anything, since I’ve praised the book so highly.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, no, same. And I think it’s one of my favorite books that I read overall this year, not just for a podcast, as well.
GIN JENNY: Yay! Oh, that makes me so happy.
WHISKEY JENNY: I loved it so much. And then, yeah, god damn it, Alice Walker. My runner up, I think, for best book was—I just had a really great time reading Endurance and then talking about it with you.
GIN JENNY: Gosh, me too.
WHISKEY JENNY: That was just a really great time. Your best. I keep flip flopping between two, being like, OK, today I’m very sure it’s this one. And then the next day I’m like, I don’t know, I think it might be the other one. And the two are Confessions of the Fox and Washington Black. Is it one of those two?
GIN JENNY: Yes.
WHISKEY JENNY: OK, I think it was Confessions of the Fox.
GIN JENNY: It was actually Washington Black.
WHISKEY JENNY: Dammit! [LAUGHTER] Dammit.
GIN JENNY: I did love Confessions of the Fox. I did. But I had more issues with—
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah.
GIN JENNY: —with parts of it before I circled back around to loving it. So I think Washington Black, for me, is going to have more—I’m going to want to reread it more. And I also think I’m going to recommend it more.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. You were just so giddy about Confessions of the Fox.
GIN JENNY: I know, and I still am. I think it’s really cool. I really was into it, I’m glad it exists. But I think Washington Black has the edge.
WHISKEY JENNY: Aw, man. I’m so bummed.
GIN JENNY: I’m sorry. But that was still good! I mean, you got it within two.
WHISKEY JENNY: It doesn’t count.
GIN JENNY: [LAUGHTER] All right, do you want to talk about some of our reading superlatives in 2018?
WHISKEY JENNY: I do. Shall we begin with a book that we unexpectedly hated?
GIN JENNY: Yeah, go for it.
WHISKEY JENNY: So my pick for this is The Royal Runaway, by Lindsay Emory.
GIN JENNY: Oh, I also didn’t like it.
WHISKEY JENNY: I was really forward to this book. I put it on my, I think, a season’s preview. I mostly was enjoying it all the way through, with some issues. And then at the end it just took a real turn for me. And I hated the ending, which is why I am putting it on there as hating the book. Because I feel like for me, this kind of book, the ending is really important. What did you think of it?
GIN JENNY: I didn’t like it. I haven’t brought it up to you because I wasn’t sure if you’d read it yet, and I didn’t want to pooh-pooh a book before you got a chance to enjoy it.
WHISKEY JENNY: Sure.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, I just thought the characterization was really inconsistent. I wasn’t wild about either of the leads. I just really didn’t care for it.
WHISKEY JENNY: And then—I guess this is a spoiler—the end, I felt, took a very strangely anti-democracy position, which was very confusing. And I’m supposed to be happy because they make this incredibly shady backroom deal involving billions of dollars. So that was the political wrap up that I hated. And then the romantic wrap up, I’m not sure what the status of their relationship is, and I think you need to be clear about that in a romance book. [LAUGHTER] They’re together, but I don’t know in what capacity. I don’t know if they’re just like, let’s try it and date, or if it’s like, you’re going to be my lover on the side, or if it’s going to be like, you’re the king now and we’ll get married. I don’t know. Just a real bummer.
GIN JENNY: Yeah.
WHISKEY JENNY: All right, what was one that you unexpectedly hated?
GIN JENNY: So I didn’t have any that I unexpectedly hated, but a book that disappointed me was Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince, because I really love Holly Black. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown rules. I loved The Darkest Part of the Forest. And The Cruel Prince is about creepy fairies, and you know how I love creepy fairies.
WHISKEY JENNY: You love a creepy fairy, yeah.
GIN JENNY: But I did not like it. I didn’t like the protagonist, I didn’t like her love interest, I didn’t like her sisters. No, I liked one of her sisters. I wanted the whole thing to be about her oldest sister. But I didn’t like her other sister. It was just so disappointing. And it’s also the first in a series, so now I feel like the whole series has just been snatched away from me.
WHISKEY JENNY: Aw.
GIN JENNY: Oh well. Let’s turn to happier subjects.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yay! See, I’m glad that we did that one first.
GIN JENNY: Me too.
WHISKEY JENNY: I feel like I have to mention The Color Purple again for a book that I unexpectedly loved, because I was very trepidatious about it. But, because we’ve talked about how much I love that already enough, I picked a different one.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: It’s never enough!
WHISKEY JENNY: And that is Pyromantic, by Lish McBride.
GIN JENNY: Oh, yeah, you did like that.
WHISKEY JENNY: I liked her Hold Me Closer, Necromancer series a lot. But then I didn’t like the first book of this series so much, which I think is Firebug. But I gave the second one a chance, and I really loved it. I had so much fun with all the different characters. There’s a bunch of different mythical creatures in it. There was one terrifying mythical creature who takes a shine to a young human friend of the main girl and is very, very protective of her.
GIN JENNY: Oh, that’s right. I remember you telling me about that. Yeah.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, and there’s magic knitting. Magic knitting is a pretty cool thing that I haven’t seen before. And I really love that book. I think I mentioned it as one of our gift guides, and I said maybe just start with this one. If you want the background on the first one, I’ll give it to you, but I love this one so much more than the first one, and I feel like the payoff is way greater. Yeah, so Pyromantic. What was the book that you unexpectedly loved?
GIN JENNY: So mine was Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi. I was not sure what to expect from this book. It’s a strange one. And I wasn’t sure that I was following what was going on when it started, not in a fun way. I feel like I have more tolerance than you for not being sure what’s going on.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yes. I agree with that assessment.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: But I was still struggling with it. But the main character’s alter ego shows up, and I loved their voice. I thought the writing was amazing. I ended up really loving it. It’s a very dark book—trigger warnings for rape and mental illness and all these other things. But the author’s ability to use different narrative voices for different aspects of the protagonist was really great. It was a really terrific book. Freshwater is the title, by Akwaeke Emezi. And I can’t wish that one got more attention, because it has gotten a lot of attention, deservedly.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yay!
GIN JENNY: But what is a book that you thought should have gotten more attention than it did?
WHISKEY JENNY: I would just like to mention that I’m very happy that Washington Black is getting a lot of attention, deservedly so.
GIN JENNY: Oh my gosh, me too.
WHISKEY JENNY: If it was not, I would definitely put that here, but it is, so that’s good. So I will say The Ensemble by Aja Gabel. Which, I actually had a real crisis of faith in the middle of, but then it really pulled through for me. I think you enjoyed it as well. It was one of those ones that you saw in all the tables in bookstores when it first came out, and then I didn’t really hear anything afterwards. I wish it had gotten more attention, so.
GIN JENNY: Fair enough.
WHISKEY JENNY: Well what is one that you want to hear more from?
GIN JENNY: I chose two, and they arrived late in the year, so it may just be that they haven’t had as long to breathe yet. But I chose Zero Sum Game, by S.L. Huang, and Blanca & Roja, by Anna-Marie McLemore. Zero Sum Game is just a really fun action adventure sci-fi story. And Blanca & Roja is this really excellent, it’s like a dreamy, queer, weird story about sisters and families. And Anna-Marie McLemore has written, I think, four or five books, and I have really enjoyed following her career. I think she just gets better and better as a writer. And I think being in YA makes it so that a lot of mainstream outlets don’t review these books, and I think it’s a real mistake, because I think they are remarkable and deserve as broad an audience as possible.
WHISKEY JENNY: Cool. I haven’t read either of those, or Freshwater, so I’ve just added three to my want to read.
GIN JENNY: Yay! [LAUGHTER] So did you have a favorite character? We talked about favorite character, but I do not have one for 2018.
WHISKEY JENNY: I did not. But I do have an award I would like to give out in place of this.
GIN JENNY: Oh, great. OK.
WHISKEY JENNY: All the favorite characters that I was debating between were on dude teams from books that I read this year. I would just like to award word 2018 the Year of Really Good Dude Teams.
GIN JENNY: Boat Squad John, for sure.
WHISKEY JENNY: Right. So Boat Squad John, for sure. Endurance had so many great characters.
GIN JENNY: Oh my gosh, yeah.
WHISKEY JENNY: And then this year I also read Check, Please, the adorable comic series about hockey and college. So Year of the Dude Teams.
GIN JENNY: Nice. I like it.
WHISKEY JENNY: Hopefully there will be more in 2019. Send me all your dude team up books.
GIN JENNY: All team up books, really.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, for sure.
GIN JENNY: OK, what was the best book title that you encountered?
WHISKEY JENNY: I have two. Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny is an amazing title.
GIN JENNY: So strong.
WHISKEY JENNY: Does what it says on the tin. I really appreciate it. That’s by Rebekah Weatherspoon. I also really enjoyed the book. And then I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for the first time this year. And that’s just such a great title.
GIN JENNY: My best one, and I read this very late in the year, was How Long ‘til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin. It’s a collection of stories. The cover’s great, and I love that title.
WHISKEY JENNY: That’s a good title.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. Did you have any favorite covers this year?
GIN JENNY: I think my favorite cover of this year was Tess of the Road, by Rachel Hartman, which is a companion novel to the Seraphina duology.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh.
GIN JENNY: I think I did not like it as much as some people did. And I don’t know if that’s because it was too hyped up before I read it or what, but I didn’t like it as much as the Seraphina books. But the cover is just gorgeous, and a really great representation of the book.
WHISKEY JENNY: Cool.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. Did you have a favorite cover?
WHISKEY JENNY: I was debating between several, and they’re all very bright and colorful, so I definitely have a type.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Yeah.
WHISKEY JENNY: The Ensemble, I feel like, had a really gorgeous cover with these very bright flowers. And then The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwan, had a great cover. It was a really cool graphic representation of an explosion, basically. It’s just all these shards of color. So I would mention those two, but then I think my favorite one was the Number One Chinese Restaurant, by Lillian Li. It’s this really pretty turquoise, and there’s an upside down duck, and it’s got a really cool gold border. And it just kept catching my eye in the bookstore.
GIN JENNY: Well, do you want to do personal resolutions or podcast resolutions first?
WHISKEY JENNY: Let’s do personal first. Because I did not do well on those, so let’s get that out of the way.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, let’s knock that out.
WHISKEY JENNY: We did better on our podcast resolutions that our personal ones, so let’s do personal.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Do you want to go first or should I?
WHISKEY JENNY: I’ll go first and get them out of the way.
GIN JENNY: [LAUGHTER] OK.
WHISKEY JENNY: So I was listening back to me making resolutions in 2017. And I was like, I’m going to keep this really pared down, and then I made six resolutions.
GIN JENNY: Yeah.
WHISKEY JENNY: Or five, I guess. And then City on Fire, I was like, this is not a resolution but I’m going to do it. I don’t know what Past Jenny meant. That’s a resolution. [LAUGHTER] So I said I was going to finish my fanfic recommendation list. I did not finish it, but I did make a lot of progress on that.
GIN JENNY: You’re also reading other fanfic, it sounds like.
WHISKEY JENNY: I am. Yeah, I would say it was extremely successful as an introduction to fanfiction, because I now feel comfortable to find my own fanfiction sometimes. I’m a big fan of Molly and Moriarty from Sherlock. So been exploring the world of Molliarty fiction. So yeah, I have three more to go, and they’re all in the Harry Potter world, so I’m very excited about those.
GIN JENNY: Let me just say, I feel like you fulfilled the spirit of the resolution.
WHISKEY JENNY: I feel like I did, too.
GIN JENNY: I feel so excited that you have a ship that you’re into and like reading the fanfiction in it. That makes me so happy.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. I had the best time. You know, was weeping on the subway and missed my stop only a few days ago reading a Winter Soldier fanfiction. So I agree. I feel like I read more fanfiction this year. And nothing that I read was I like, meh. Everything I loved. So great job on the recommendations, Kay. It is giving me the false assumption that just all fanfiction is great. So that’s a nice feeling to have, but I feel sure that there has to be bad stuff out there somewhere. [LAUGHTER] I haven’t found it yet, though. So that’s that one.
I also said I wanted to finish the science fiction fantasy pack from Renay, and I did not make any progress on this. I started World War Z, but I did not finish it. And so I still have four left on that starter pack. I don’t know why I didn’t on this. I think I forgot that I made this resolution.
GIN JENNY: That’s often the problem, honestly.
WHISKEY JENNY: I think I didn’t write it down and put it in the right place. But I am really looking forward to them in 2019, though, because I really enjoyed all the previous ones. So there’s four great books awaiting me.
GIN JENNY: Excellent.
WHISKEY JENNY: I’m not done yet. [LAUGHTER] I said I was going to read three plays. I read zero plays.
GIN JENNY: But we are reading one for the next podcast, so.
WHISKEY JENNY: So it’ll get done in January. And I’ve acquired another one that I’m going to read, so I’ll read two in January. Maybe even three. And I feel like if I read it in January, it’s basically like reading it in the previous year.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Fiscal year resolutions.
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: I said I was going to read all of my book club books on time. I did not meet that one.
GIN JENNY: When you said that I was like, that is a lot, though.
WHISKEY JENNY: That was too ambitious. I’d said I was going to increase my own personal reading diversity, which I did do. I went from pretty low, 21.6%, to 29.5%.
GIN JENNY: Nice.
WHISKEY JENNY: So I accomplished that small increase and hopefully will be able to do the same next year.
GIN JENNY: That’s a big increase. That’s really good.
WHISKEY JENNY: Well, yeah. And I didn’t finish City on Fire.
[MUSIC AND ALARMS] City on fire! City on fire! City on fire!WHISKEY JENNY: I am now 70% through City on Fire. I did read some more of City on Fire December 30, to be like, oh crap, I haven’t touched City on Fire yet.
GIN JENNY: I don’t understand, three years into this book, why you won’t just let it go.
WHISKEY JENNY: I tried to have a real come to Jesus moment with myself. Like, do I really want to do this? And then I kept thinking of all the good things that I do like about it. It’s just too damn long. But everything else I’m pretty into. How am I only 70% through this book? I’m 700 pages in!
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Let me tell you a good thing about this. I do enjoy putting the City on Fire sting into the podcast as I edit. So I’m excited for myself.
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. So in that little moment when I was remembering all the good things about it, it did make me want to keep reading it, and not just for goal achievement reasons. So maybe that is the approach that will guide me to success in 2019. [LAUGHTER] It’s just so damn long.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. I mean, you know my position on this.
WHISKEY JENNY: So that’s where I am. I accomplished one for sure and another one in spirit, and did not do great on the other ones. You know, a lot was going on in 2018. I’m not making excuses, but I really also need to not forget about them. Write them down, Whiskey Jenny. Which I did, but then I lost the piece of paper.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: You know what I’ll do this year? I’ll put our resolutions in the show notes. So you’ll always be able to check back on them.
WHISKEY JENNY: That’s a good idea.
GIN JENNY: I should also say, 2018 was a rough year, I think for both of us and also the country.
WHISKEY JENNY: I agree.
GIN JENNY: I blame you for nothing.
WHISKEY JENNY: Well, thank you.
GIN JENNY: So I had five resolutions and I did four of them.
WHISKEY JENNY: Whoa! My god, you’re amazing.
GIN JENNY: So I’m pretty happy. I said I was going to read 15% comics and I read 16%, so finally.
WHISKEY JENNY: [GASP] You did it! You finally did it!
GIN JENNY: I did it!
WHISKEY JENNY: I’m so proud of you.
GIN JENNY: Thank you. The one that I did not do—and I don’t really even know why. It just fell out of my head, I guess. I wanted to read four histories of four African countries, specifically Mali and Mauritania. And I was so thwarted trying to find books about Mali and Mauritania. It was really frustrating. But I read two. I read Wives of the Leopard, which is about Benin, and The World and a Very Small Place in Africa, which is about the Gambia. And those are both great. So I still love the project. I just need to stay focused in 2019.
I said I was going to read 10 of my own books, and I was like, I am going to acquire a lot of books this year, and I acquired so many. So let’s not think about that too much.
WHISKEY JENNY: Did you read the 10, though?
GIN JENNY: I read actually 29 of my own books.
WHISKEY JENNY: Whoa. Nice.
GIN JENNY: But only 13 of those were books that I acquired before 2018 started, so I’m kind of only counting 13 of them as legitimate.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah. You can—Yeah. You can’t buy it and read it and be like, great, I did it.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Yay me! [LAUGHTER] My other resolution about my own damn books was that I was going to reread books that I first read in a different life stage, and I was going to do that for five books. So I read two books by Douglas Coupland, I read A Separate Peace, The Great Gatsby, and this children’s book, The Great Brain, all by white dudes. And one of them really held up. The Great Gatsby is still really, really good.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, I’m so pleased for you. I know you really like it.
GIN JENNY: Yeah I was pleased for myself, too. I’ve been scared all these years, but I shouldn’t have been. And then A Separate Peace and Eleanor Rigby, by Douglas Coupland, were both books where I was like, this is fine but I don’t need to own them. So I got rid of them. The second Douglas Coupland book, Miss Wyoming, isn’t amazing, but I was just this side of fond enough of it to keep it. And then The Great Brain was shockingly cruel and upsetting.
WHISKEY JENNY: I don’t think I remember reading that one. The Great Brain.
GIN JENNY: It’s a fictionalized version of the author’s own childhood growing up. He lived in a Utah town with mostly Mormons, but I don’t think his family was Mormon. And he had a really smart older brother who was always running scams. It was just upsetting in a lot of different ways. It was upsetting in terms of displacement of indigenous people. It was upsetting in terms of anti-Semitism, prejudice against people with disabilities. It was really—
WHISKEY JENNY: Goodness. That’s a real hat trick there.
GIN JENNY: In addition to the biases that I discovered in it, which I kind of expected, the tone of the book to me felt really cruel and mean in a way that I really didn’t remember.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yikes.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. So that was actually great. I’m really glad I did it, because I think that I learned a lot, and also got some perspective on myself as a changing reader. So that was cool.
And then my last one was crazy successful. I decided I wanted to read more SF short stories with the goal of discovering three that I really loved. Totally did this. Not only have I read tons and tons of short stories this year, but I enjoyed it so much I commissioned a logo about it so that I could have a regular monthly blog post about it with a logo.
WHISKEY JENNY: And what a great logo it is.
GIN JENNY: Oh my gosh, it’s so great. Ira made it for me. I’m going to link to their website in the show notes so you guys can commission art from them if you wish, which you should, because they’re great.
I read so many good ones I had a hard time choosing just three, but three that I definitely really liked were “Stet,” by Sarah Gailey, “The Kite Maker,” by Brenda Peynado, and “Extracurricular Activities,” by Yoon Ha Lee, who is the author of Nicefox Gambit. But I could also have said “Especially Heinous,” by Carmen Maria Machado, or “Always Open, the Eureka Hotel,” by Jamey Hatley. And I also could have said a million more, because I read a ton of awesome short fiction this year.
WHISKEY JENNY: I have a question. Did you not read “Fandom for Robots” this year?
GIN JENNY: No, I read that last year. That’s what inspired the whole project.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, that’s the one that inspired it. I was like, wait, you have to mention—OK, sorry. No, that’s from last year. So sorry.
GIN JENNY: So that was a really good one. I’m really excited about that.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, and I feel like that really fulfilled the goal of the resolution of opening up new reading avenues, I feel like, extremely successfully.
GIN JENNY: Definitely. Might be my most successful New Year’s resolution ever.
WHISKEY JENNY: Cool.
GIN JENNY: All right, so what are you resolving for 2019?
WHISKEY JENNY: All right. I really am paring it down.
GIN JENNY: OK, keep it simple.
WHISKEY JENNY: I’ve already said that I would like to continue to increase my personal diversity, but it feels weird to keep making that a resolution. It’s just something that I feel like one should always keep an eye on, so I’m no longer going to make it an official resolution. I don’t know what my weird thing is about making things official resolutions or not. [LAUGHTER] But yeah, so that one is something that I would like to do, but it’s not an official resolution.
So my official resolutions, there are two. I would like to read at least three books by Native American authors.
GIN JENNY: Oh my god! That was one of my suggested podcast ideas. So continue.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, man! All right, cool. Well, maybe we can do them for podcast. But yeah, three Native American authors. As I said, I already acquired one about the Lumbee tribe, and I’m really excited to find two other ones at least. I’m hoping I will get more than three, but I was really trying to keep these manageable and achievable. And I would also like to read three books by queer authors. Again, very excited about that. Hopefully it will be more, but three, I feel like, is extremely doable.
GIN JENNY: Definitely. And that’s the main thing about goals, in my opinion. Make them doable.
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: So what are your personal reading resolutions for 2019?
GIN JENNY: I want to read four African history books this year. And what I’ve done this year, and I hope this will make it easier on myself, is I’ve picked out four, so that when I’m like, oh, you know what I should do? Check in on those African history books, I’ll have some lined up. I picked books about Niger, Chad, Sudan, and Mozambique. No real reason for that. They’re just countries I happen to think of and look for history books of.
WHISKEY JENNY: Cool.
GIN JENNY: I want to avoid running into the situation I got into this year, where I was dead set on Mali and then I just kept getting mad about it over and over throughout the year. So that’s one.
I would like to read 15 of my own books—and by that I mean books purchased before 2019. I want—oh. I want 10 of those to be fiction. Because I know that I have a non-fiction problem. But in my mind, I had told myself, I don’t really buy fiction books that I don’t read right away. And then I looked at my TBR shelf, and I was like, that’s false. [LAUGHTER] So I’m going to try and rectify that in a little bit.
And since I do have a non-fiction problem, my 2019 resolution for non-fiction is that for every non-fiction book of my own that I read, I can then check out one—one!—non-fiction book from the library. That’s the rule.
WHISKEY JENNY: So it’s a one to one relationship.
GIN JENNY: Yes.
WHISKEY JENNY: Are there any rules about acquiring new nonfiction books?
GIN JENNY: No.
WHISKEY JENNY: No. All right. Cool. Great!
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: And then my last one, last year I non-officially—again, I’m not sure what this distinction is—[LAUGHTER] but last year I non-officially said I wanted to read books from authors from more different countries in 2018, and I super didn’t do that. So for this year, I would like to read 40% non-American authors.
WHISKEY JENNY: Oh, wow.
GIN JENNY: It’s actually not that huge an increase. This year 63% of my books were by American authors. So I’m just downing that by 3%. I just want to keep it in mind a little more this year than I did last year. And that’s it.
WHISKEY JENNY: Great. Man, hearing all of those goals really made me want to add some more goals. But I’m not going to do it.
GIN JENNY: Don’t do it. Set yourself up for success.
WHISKEY JENNY: I’m not going to do it. But I also should read some of the books that I already own.
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Yeah.
WHISKEY JENNY: Man. I don’t know what to do about that.
GIN JENNY: I don’t either.
WHISKEY JENNY: There’s so many books in the world, I’ll never, ever be able to read them all. It’s very depressing.
GIN JENNY: I try not to think about it too much.
WHISKEY JENNY: It’s what makes me particularly angry when I don’t like a book, because it’s like, I could’ve read a good book, you jerk! You’re taking up valuable time!
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: Well you know what actually does make me feel better about this concept? When people are like, oh, but if we don’t read so-and-so because they’re a sexual predator, then no one will get the benefit of that book. And I’m always like, you know what? I can’t read the good books there are anyway.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, exactly. I totally agree. There are so many good books out there.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, more than I’ll ever possibly get to. And more coming every year.
WHISKEY JENNY: They just keep coming. Don’t they?
[LAUGHTER]GIN JENNY: It’s a non-stop stream.
WHISKEY JENNY: I don’t know what’s up with this industry, but my god, they just will not stop.
GIN JENNY: Yeah, I mean we’re hashtag blessed, but it can be overwhelming.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, it’s constantly overwhelming. Well, great.
GIN JENNY: Yeah.
WHISKEY JENNY: I think we have some very good resolutions for ourselves. What did you think of for the podcast?
GIN JENNY: Going back to our 2018 resolutions for podcast, we did one of them and we did not do one of them. No, we had three. So we did two and did not do one.
WHISKEY JENNY: We did two. We did not do one. The one that we did not do, I believe you’re referring to, is we wanted to have seven guests on, two of which were authors.
GIN JENNY: We did do two author interviews.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, so I feel good about that. But then I think we only had five guests.
GIN JENNY: So we also resolved to be equally diverse in our reading as last year, and to read more ladies than men, and we totally did those two things.
WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, we did.
GIN JENNY: Yay, us. For 2019, I would like to again try to resolve to have seven guests. Do you think that’s fair?
WHISKEY JENNY: I think that’s very fair, yeah.
GIN JENNY: Of which two are author interviews.
WHISKEY JENNY: I think yeah, let’s keep that one stable.
GIN JENNY: All right. And then I would also like to resolve—I was looking at our stats. I don’t think we’ve ever read a book by a non-binary author. We’ve only read books by men and women. So I would like to read at least one book by someone of another gender.
WHISKEY JENNY: There we go.
GIN JENNY: And I would like to read at least one book by an indigenous author.
WHISKEY JENNY: Cool. I like it.
GIN JENNY: Which I think will be great, because I saw a lot of really terrific indigenous fiction come out in 2018. So I think if that pattern continues, then we’ll have a lot to choose from.
WHISKEY JENNY: Hooray.
GIN JENNY: I also want to mention one small change that we’re instituting relating to our Patreon, which is that if you are a patron at the $15 level—and I don’t know why I didn’t do this before—we send you a book every three months, a personalized recommendation that we give you. So my small change is, I’m going to use indie bookstores to buy those books from now on. And you can tell me which indie bookstore you want me to use if you have a preference, or I can just choose one that I like. So if you become a patron at this level, you can now choose where we buy your book from.
WHISKEY JENNY: Great.
GIN JENNY: Yeah. I think it has been a very medium year overall, 2018.
WHISKEY JENNY: Reading-wise, or in general?
GIN JENNY: Medium reading-wise. Pretty not great in general.
WHISKEY JENNY: Sure, OK. Yeah.
GIN JENNY: What’s your assessment?
WHISKEY JENNY: Um, I would say more than medium reading-wise.
GIN JENNY: Oh, good. I’m glad for you. I had such a good reading year in 2017, I read so many books that I loved. So I feel like now my standards are unrealistically high.
WHISKEY JENNY: You did have a great 2017.
GIN JENNY: Oh my gosh, I really did.
WHISKEY JENNY: There’s so much coming on in 2019 that I’m already excited, too, for as well. So I’m optimistic for the future
GIN JENNY: Same.
WHISKEY JENNY: Mine was, yeah, I think higher than medium. Most everything I read, I was sort of like, oh, great. That was great. I didn’t have anything that I wanted to die for very much.
GIN JENNY: Right, that’s what I was thinking. I didn’t read anything I really crazy loved. Well, that’s not true. I really loved watching Washington Black. But yeah, I didn’t read anything I wanted to die for. And in 2017, I feel like every third book I read was life changing. But that’s true, I also didn’t really read stuff that I intensely hated.
WHISKEY JENNY: I mean, there were a couple I would die for, but not enough to bump it up to a banner year.
GIN JENNY: Cool. I wish us the best, and all of you listeners the best reading in 2019.
WHISKEY JENNY: Absolutely. And in general.
GIN JENNY: Oh, gosh, yeah.
WHISKEY JENNY: This has been the Reading the End bookcast with the demographically similar Jennys. You can visit the blog at readingtheend.com. You can follow us on Twitter @readingtheend. We’re both Goodreads as Whiskey Jenny and Gin Jenny. You can email us, please do, at readingtheend@gmail.com. If you like what we do, you can become a podcast patron at patreon.com/readingtheend. And if you’re listening to us on iTunes, please leave us a review. And until next time, happy new year!
GIN JENNY: Happy new year!
WHISKEY JENNY: Clink.
GIN JENNY: Clink.
[GLASSES CLINK]THEME SONG: You don’t judge a book by its cover. Page one’s not a much better view. And shortly you’re gonna discover the middle won’t mollify you. So whether whiskey’s your go-to or you’re like my gin-drinking friend, no matter what you are imbibing, you’ll be better off in the end reading the end.
[BEEP]GIN JENNY: If my little godson grew up and volunteered for a quest to go off with you—well, let’s not use that example. That bums me out actually.
[LAUGHTER]WHISKEY JENNY: Yeah, can we use fake people for both people involved?
[LAUGHTER] [BEEP]WHISKEY JENNY: The reason I knew I lost you was I said, man, how great is Faramir and there was dead silence. And I was like, well obviously there was an answer. [LAUGHTER] Something has definitely happened. [LAUGHTER]
GIN JENNY: It’s a good litmus test.