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!
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