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by state, restrictions apply, seaside for

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details. You're

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listening to All the Books,

0:33

a weekly show of recommendations

0:35

and enthusiasm regarding the

0:45

week's new book releases. This is

0:47

episode 449, and today we are talking

0:50

about books being released on February 13,

0:52

2024 and more. I'm Liberty Hardy here

0:54

with Vanessa Diaz, and

0:57

we're coming to you from bookriot.com.

1:01

Vanessa! Liberty! How's it going?

1:04

It's going. We're living

1:06

life. We are. I

1:10

told Liberty this already, but I'm going

1:12

through this weird cycle of having

1:14

a lot of headaches, which I already am a

1:16

headache person, but they've been wild lately. And like, that's,

1:19

we don't need to go too far into that, but I

1:21

just need to share that yesterday, I

1:23

was not feeling like myself and

1:25

was trying to prepare for this podcast. I put on an

1:27

audio book and I kept trying to increase the volume of

1:29

the audio book from on my phone and it wasn't working.

1:31

And I thought, oh my gosh, like it's

1:34

my phone, like, you know, whatever. And so I said,

1:36

Kim, I guess I'm going to get you to get a new phone because

1:38

it wasn't working. So I finally gave up, turned on

1:40

the TV and just what gave myself a heart attack

1:43

because I had been trying to adjust the

1:45

volume on my phone with my

1:48

TV remote. And I apparently had just

1:50

been steadily increasing the volume on a

1:52

show that I had paused. And

1:54

when I unpaused it, the volume was

1:56

very, very, very high. And that is

1:59

where we're at. Right now Omaha, don't

2:01

mess up trying to read an audio book

2:03

because I'm out of it. but you know

2:05

it finds to swim back to. Well,

2:08

as a make you feel better,

2:11

I read the new book and

2:13

the investigator's series with the two

2:15

alligators who investigate crimes. He

2:18

kept trying to make. Phone calls on

2:20

a calculator. Sell. See I him

2:22

and good for perfect Yes, apparently some

2:24

felt so if. It

2:27

happens. Pussy. There's so many buttons

2:29

and so many different things. You

2:32

know? I color

2:34

tv the not smart tv because the says

2:36

it's just a pain in a and I

2:38

wish we could go back to having like

2:40

the giant computer screen that we had suffered

2:42

by as easy cause a lot less so

2:45

it very armed forces families this is that

2:47

the by new do for this but in

2:49

this app it is and like. It. says

2:51

oh yeah I would. Flying up

2:53

to my parents have been really

2:55

first. Thought is

2:57

a different conversation. He ah

3:00

well, city of Messing Us I

3:02

think. A call last week's episode.

3:05

Four. Forty Nine or I forgot

3:07

to change. The. Area

3:09

Or change. Eric have another episode eight.

3:12

So. I called the air

3:14

goof. I don't know, I did

3:16

something fun having. This is Amazon

3:18

for Forty nine and the corresponding

3:20

area code serves the area surrounding

3:22

Montreal in soon as I love

3:24

hello to everyone there. Yes, it

3:26

is a good place. I've only

3:28

been. Three. Times. And

3:31

will have more Time was like eighteen

3:33

years ago. Oh wow. So

3:35

spent a very long, long time?

3:38

Yeah. full. Of my thirtieth birthday

3:40

I went on a motorcycle. Ride.

3:43

I did not drive a motorcycle says no

3:45

such as I know. We

3:48

went up to three remain. as

3:51

the top and to canada and then

3:53

went down the same lines the way

3:55

to vermont and then came back and

3:57

i'm and it was really fun is

3:59

it our way back in

4:01

the I

4:04

was I was with my boyfriend at the time and I

4:07

said to him I because we had to you

4:09

know give IDs at the border coming back in

4:11

the States I said I

4:13

need to get this out of my

4:15

wallet because where you have

4:17

your license picture usually in your wallet I

4:19

had made myself a Lelu Dallas multi pass

4:22

from the fifth element so like

4:24

when I opened my wallet that's what was

4:26

there so I need to take my wallet

4:28

that my license out of from behind there

4:30

but he heard hand him my wallet or

4:32

something so he just grabbed my wallet and

4:34

passed it to the guy and

4:36

then we had to sit there for like 10 minutes

4:38

while I tried to explain to him that I was

4:40

not trying to get into the country with a fake

4:42

ID oh no I had my real ID right there

4:45

but he didn't think it was funny at all

4:47

oh no yeah

4:50

well I

4:55

love Montreal yeah I've eaten some really

4:57

good food there they probably like called

4:59

and said you know we have Liberty

5:01

Hardy here at the border I mean

5:03

like yeah yeah give her back we don't we don't

5:05

want her fine like like Sender

5:08

Brack where she came from okay yeah

5:11

I'm glad you're here with me yeah

5:14

I got back and yeah

5:16

I don't have that wallet anymore I

5:18

don't have that boyfriend anymore don't

5:20

know where my multi path is it's still

5:22

in my loss yeah that

5:24

was the real loss anyway we're

5:26

gonna talk about books now but before we

5:28

do that we are going to hear from

5:31

a sponsor this

5:34

episode is sponsored by the Fox wife

5:36

by young Shichu stick around

5:38

afterwards to hear an excerpt from the

5:40

audiobook provided by the publisher Macmillan audio

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5:46

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to hear the excerpt from the audio

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7:36

this episode. Okay,

7:40

so. It's

7:42

the tenth year of the read Her

7:44

talents. You had us going on for

7:47

several weeks now. Haven't seen all kinds

7:49

of stuff going on on lines as

7:51

media people asking me to this was

7:53

an agree to that. Well you can

7:55

find out all about it. When.

7:58

You join us as we make our

8:00

way after. The twenty four tasks for

8:02

this year is Read Harder Challenge that

8:04

are meant to expand our reading horizons

8:06

and diversify our T V R's to

8:09

get book recommendations for each task you

8:11

can sign up for. The Read Harder

8:13

newsletter will also keep you informed about

8:15

other glorying challenges redesigned and more across

8:17

the bookish internet. If you became a

8:20

paid subscribers you get even more recommendations

8:22

as community features where you can connect

8:24

with a community as passionate like minded

8:26

readers and a cozy and support of

8:28

corner of the internet. Is

8:30

it Book right.com Sauce Read harder

8:33

To sign up that book right.com/read

8:35

harder. Will All

8:37

right? Yeah. I. Got. A

8:41

books you know? Ah so I have

8:43

traded in, buying like all kinds of

8:45

blanks, journals at the beginning of every

8:47

year and an underling them out. To.

8:49

This year. I I got

8:51

like four different books, journals, And.

8:54

And every the same information and each one. Looks

8:57

difference. And. They're different sizes and

8:59

a different color pens so it's very exciting

9:01

for me. I find it very relaxing

9:03

but one of the ones that I got.

9:06

I. Accidentally got the I thought it was

9:08

a book journal but it was a bookish.

9:11

Social. Media Turn. Also it's like

9:13

this whole book I'm gonna talk about

9:16

on this day on these sites here

9:18

alone sponsoring this I was like a

9:20

success success of both as us for

9:23

a successful like I can't even play

9:25

when I'm having for lunch I can't

9:27

plan what I'm gonna put on Instagram.

9:30

The success. That. A good for you

9:32

for trying. Is the cool

9:34

out and I saw the writing

9:36

things in it in only for

9:38

the one with the paper. Success

9:40

isn't that good anyway. So my

9:42

first pick for Tuesday I believe

9:44

I talked about on the of

9:46

books are excited about show. Little

9:48

months ago it is the Warm

9:51

Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden.

9:53

This. is a remarkable novel set during

9:55

world war one from the author

9:57

of the winter night fantasy trilogy

10:00

which started with the bear and the nightingale probably

10:02

sounds familiar and also

10:04

the small spaces middle grade horror quartet,

10:06

which I Thoroughly enjoy

10:09

this book is about a nurse

10:11

named Laura who was

10:13

working at a military

10:16

hospital in slanders When

10:18

she was severely injured the

10:20

hospital was bombed. She's

10:22

hurt very badly. She is sent

10:25

home to Halifax Canada

10:27

we were just talking about Canada and

10:31

Shortly after she arrives

10:33

in Halifax her parents are killed

10:36

in the Halifax

10:38

explosion that's what it's called now

10:40

it is the munitions explosion when

10:42

a ship

10:45

passing by carrying tons of

10:48

explosives for the war Exploded

10:52

in the middle of the river and just basically

10:55

leveled the town. It's a very famous

10:57

event Not only

10:59

did that happen, but then a couple hours later Halifax

11:02

received one of the biggest snow storms on

11:04

record and People who were

11:07

traveling to help with the explosion couldn't get

11:09

through they couldn't find survivors because it was

11:11

everything was covered in snow Boston

11:14

sent a train to help which

11:17

is why every year to this day Halifax provides

11:19

the big Christmas tree in Boston

11:21

there's an amazing amazing book about this called curse

11:23

of the narrows, but now I'm talking about the

11:25

wrong thing So let's get back to Laura. So

11:28

Laura has lost her parents in this

11:30

explosion And a little

11:32

while later she receives

11:34

a strange package It's

11:36

the belongings of her brother Freddie

11:39

who is a soldier over in Belgium. He's

11:41

still Across the

11:43

Atlantic now Laura knows that normally

11:45

if a soldier is killed in

11:48

action there would be

11:50

like a telegraph an official notification

11:53

and his things will be packed differently and This

11:56

is just a package with some of his things like

11:58

she knows that they were things he took to

12:01

Belgium, but you know she's

12:04

thinking she has no family left

12:06

in Halifax and there's the possibility

12:08

that her brother is dead, but with no

12:10

explanation, so what if he

12:12

isn't dead? Like why did she receive these

12:14

things? So she talks her

12:16

way back onto a

12:18

nursing staff that is headed back

12:21

to the front because she wants to

12:23

find out what happened to Freddie. This

12:25

is in January of 1918, this is

12:28

when this all starts, but in alternating

12:30

chapters we go back to November 1917

12:33

and find out what happens to Freddie. He

12:36

goes into battle and we

12:38

learn what happens. I don't want to tell

12:40

you anything about that because I feel like

12:42

that's where the really spoilery birds are, but

12:46

this is one of the most

12:48

brutal, heartbreaking, beautiful war novels I

12:51

have read in a long time, just

12:54

novel in general. I

12:56

know I say this all the time, but there

12:58

are so few novels about World War One compared

13:01

to novels about World War Two for

13:03

the various reasons. You know we have more things on

13:05

record, more film, more pictures. This

13:08

book is amazing. It has some

13:10

speculative elements, but it's truly one

13:13

of the best books I've read

13:15

about the pointlessness and horror of

13:17

war. Laura is obviously

13:19

traumatized by the horrific offense that she has

13:21

witnessed and finding out what happened to her

13:23

brother seems to be what she has fixated

13:25

on to keep herself going

13:28

to the point where she ignores everything

13:30

else. She ignores her health, she forgets to eat,

13:33

there's a cute doctor at the hospital

13:35

that she doesn't want to get

13:37

involved with because she just wants to find her

13:39

brother. Freddie feels like a very realistic portrayal

13:41

of a person dropped into a situation that

13:43

they want no part of and

13:46

they're terrified, but this

13:48

is happening with or without them. So

13:51

you know what are you going to do? Arden

13:53

clearly has a lot of love for her

13:55

characters and has done her research. I

13:58

do want to give content warnings. There a lot for

14:00

this one, including child harm

14:02

and death, violence, injury, war, ableism,

14:05

gore, loss of a loved one,

14:08

PTSD, animal

14:10

deaths, which are, they're

14:13

all instances of farm animals

14:15

being killed, substance

14:17

abuse, and

14:19

suicide. It is The Warm Hands

14:21

of Ghosts by Catherine Arden. That

14:24

one's very high on my list too, and I mean, I

14:26

was already gonna read it, but no, I'm

14:29

definitely gonna. Amazing. Wonderful.

14:32

I am very excited for my first pick, which

14:34

again, is the thing you hear us say all

14:36

the time, but it's true because we like books,

14:38

but it's Nefururah by Melina Evans. I do not

14:40

know if I'm pronouncing that right, because I'm

14:43

not super up to date on my ancient Egyptian, and

14:45

I keep wanting to pronounce it in Spanish, so that

14:47

might happen. But Melina Evans is

14:49

a historian, an author and a historian. She

14:51

has like a master's in Greek and Roman

14:54

history, and I think in the ancient Near

14:56

East and a PhD in Egyptian history. So,

14:58

you know, her stuff, which is great

15:00

when you're sitting out to write something like this, because it

15:02

just means that she adds a lot of really,

15:04

really rich detail from the time period. She's

15:07

also written the middle grade series that I actually didn't

15:09

know about called the, I think it's the

15:11

Jagger Jones series, also based in ancient Egypt,

15:13

so I'm definitely gonna be looking that up

15:16

next. But this is her adult debut, and

15:18

it's set in Egypt's 18th dynasty, and it's

15:20

all about the high priestess, Nefururah,

15:23

how I want to pronounce that.

15:26

And she is the kind of

15:28

forgotten daughter of the female pharaoh

15:30

Hatshepsut. As princess and high priestess,

15:32

her life is, you know, pretty much all

15:35

about duty, like duty to her mother, duty to

15:37

the court, duty to her people, and it's a

15:39

duty that is not easily forgotten, because

15:41

you know, that happens when your mother is pharaoh, and

15:43

a very famous one at that. Well

15:45

now, but so things get particularly

15:47

unpleasant for her at with the

15:49

arrival of her half brother Thutmose

15:52

at court, Thutmose, I think third,

15:54

if I remember, and so

15:56

anyway, he's an awful man who is determined to

15:58

get in her way and keep her. her from

16:00

ever ascending to power. And

16:03

she knows that's what's happening because

16:05

she overhears his plot to

16:07

end her mother's rule and, you know,

16:09

take things for himself. So

16:11

how he does that is he plants the

16:14

seeds of betrayal by starting a rumor that

16:16

Hatshepsut poisoned her husband,

16:18

the Faruah, and their father in his

16:20

sleep. So if he

16:22

goes public with this accusation, it could plunge

16:24

the kingdom into chaos and then, you know,

16:27

bring about her death. And so she sets

16:29

out to stop him, ends up partnering

16:31

with this mysterious woman and

16:33

her network of spies. She's getting, you know,

16:35

all this information, but like, does she trust

16:37

this lady all the way? Like, not really.

16:39

Did her mother in fact poison her father?

16:42

She's not so sure because she's beginning to see that

16:45

her mother is a lot more ruthless than she

16:47

realized. But does that mean that she killed her

16:49

father? Who knows? So she has to do that

16:52

thing where she decides where her loyalties lie, who she can

16:55

trust, what is she willing to sacrifice to protect her people,

16:57

to preserve, you know, her

16:59

own life and keep everything from just falling

17:01

apart at the hands of a tyrant. I

17:04

love Egyptology period. I

17:06

will watch The Mummy any old day

17:08

of the week. But I yeah,

17:10

I haven't read quite as many books set

17:13

in Egypt as I would like the way that I

17:15

read tons of mythology. This is very much like that

17:17

next kind of catnip that if you wait in front

17:19

of me, like, yes, give me more. I want that.

17:22

So I admittedly have not finished all of it. But

17:24

what I have read so far has been really, really

17:26

compelling. And again, you can tell she's a historian because

17:28

of how much beautiful detail is

17:30

really brought to like bring this world of ancient

17:32

Egypt to life. So if you two are an

17:34

Egypt nerd, or just like a really well plotted

17:36

book, this is really fun. So again,

17:39

that's Nefitra by Melina Evans. Excellent.

17:42

Adding it to my list. I

17:46

love reading about ancient Egypt. I

17:49

have a scarab tattooed. Oh,

17:51

yeah, I forgot. Yeah. Although I got

17:53

it for my 18th birthday. So now it kind of looks

17:55

like a sad bird

17:57

with a dinner plate. Great.

18:00

Yeah. Anyway,

18:04

my next pick for today is

18:06

The Book of Doors by Gareth

18:08

Brown. This is a debut that

18:10

is going to be the next

18:12

big book for fans of V.E.

18:15

Schwab and Erin Morgenstern and for

18:17

people who love the novel The

18:19

Cartographers. I thoroughly enjoyed

18:21

it. I know

18:24

I keep saying this, but I can't really

18:26

give too much away without spoiling it. But

18:29

I can tell you it's about books, which is exciting.

18:31

That's all you really need to know. But

18:34

it's about a woman named Kathy. She's a young

18:36

woman who works as a bookseller who

18:38

befriends a lonely old man who

18:41

hangs out in the bookstore where she works. He

18:43

comes in, he's very polite, they chat a little

18:45

bit, he sits at the table, he leaves. But

18:48

at the beginning of the book, the

18:50

man dies. He's at the store and

18:53

he passes away. And,

18:55

you know, it's very sad. And Kathy, you

18:57

know, calls for help. And after

18:59

all this, she discovers that he

19:02

has left a package for her.

19:04

It's an unusual gift. It's

19:06

a book titled, say it

19:08

with me now, The Book of Doors. Now, Kathy

19:10

is like, Oh, that's nice.

19:13

Thanks, random old man for this

19:15

random book that I can't

19:17

find anything about

19:19

on the internet. But

19:22

soon she learns that

19:24

whoever is in possession of this

19:26

book on their person can

19:28

open a door anywhere in the

19:31

world. You just have to have the

19:33

book on you. You think of a door

19:35

anywhere on the planet, like picture

19:37

it. And then when you open the door in

19:39

front of you, it's like your apartment door, you

19:41

know, the bathroom door, whatever, you'll see

19:44

that place that you want to go, like on the other

19:46

side of that door. You can

19:48

just walk right through to that place.

19:51

And Kathy is like, this is pretty nifty.

19:53

No more running for the

19:55

subway and being late for work. I will just think

19:58

of the back door to the bookstore and just go

20:00

to work. She also does a lot of globe

20:02

hopping because why not? You know, why

20:04

not pop into Paris for dessert if

20:07

you can? But with

20:09

great power comes great responsibility

20:12

and Cassie learns that not

20:15

only are there more books out in the

20:17

world, each with

20:19

their own special power, but

20:21

there are very dangerous people who

20:23

seek them for their own uses.

20:27

Most of those uses are not good. They just want

20:29

to make themselves more powerful and rich. And

20:32

here she has just advertised that she

20:34

has one of these books by searching for

20:36

it on the internet. So

20:39

now she's in danger. Her friend

20:41

gets pulled into the adventure and she is in danger.

20:43

The people who know she has the book and want

20:45

to help her are in danger. And just everyone

20:48

is in danger, even the bad people who would hurt

20:50

Cassie for the book of doors, because

20:53

the woman is

20:56

coming. Basically, the

20:58

woman. That's all she's called. She's

21:01

like the most evil woman on the planet. She

21:03

is definitely one of the best new villains

21:05

that I've read in a while. Just pure

21:08

evil. While I was reading

21:10

this book, I kept thinking of Gwyneth Paltrow

21:12

and Sliding Doors saying, you know, today I

21:14

met Cruella Deville's less nice sister. But

21:18

she's so bad. But this is

21:20

just so much fun. And also

21:22

it gets really dark

21:24

in places, which I also

21:26

loved. So and

21:30

the like, I just love how everything

21:32

came together. I love the story. It

21:35

just kept me guessing, which is something

21:37

that I appreciate because it's hard to

21:39

do. It's really an

21:41

ambitious debut that is sure to

21:43

delight so many of you. And

21:45

it has a

21:47

lot of content warnings,

21:51

including fat phobia, grief,

21:53

loss of a loved one,

21:56

cancer, racism, misogyny, child harm,

21:58

graphic torture. an injury, gore,

22:02

graphic violence, murder, substance

22:04

addiction and death, animal

22:07

harm and death involving

22:09

the mass killing of a bunch of animals. And

22:13

yeah, so just know that

22:15

going in. But I mean, it's

22:17

like, it's like nothing that you haven't read

22:19

in all these other, you know, amazing

22:22

dark fantasy books. And

22:24

it's not even that dark all the time. So I just

22:26

love it. It's called the book of

22:28

doors by Gareth Brown. I

22:31

appreciate that assurance because I definitely spent the first part

22:33

of your description be like, yes, this is everything I

22:35

want. And at the end, I was like, wait, but

22:37

it does sound like you can get through it. Well,

22:40

I've discovered, you know, since since we've been

22:42

doing like TBR for so long now that,

22:46

you know, there are people who like to know

22:48

when there's animal death. And then there are people

22:50

who like to know when there is specific animals

22:54

like pets or cats or dogs.

22:56

So I try to make that distinction, you

22:59

know, and like for me, it

23:01

helps knowing upfront because that's just that's the thing

23:03

that really bothers me like when I'm reading. Of

23:05

course. Someone was just telling me they're

23:07

like, I just started reading this book that I really wanted to read.

23:10

And in the first chapter is from the first person of well,

23:13

it's just horrible. Anyway, I'm not going to talk about

23:15

it. But I'm like, okay, thank you for letting me

23:18

know. Thank you. I am leaving.

23:20

I'm not going to read that. But I'm

23:22

not going to traumatize people any further. You

23:24

can also buy your next book. Great.

23:27

Which I am also very, very happy to be talking about.

23:29

This one actually came out last week, but I couldn't not

23:32

talk about it because I was very excited. And

23:34

that is Relit 16 Latinx remixes

23:36

of classic stories. It's edited by

23:38

Sandra Proudman. It is

23:41

the title, it's a

23:44

collection really of 16 different retellings. And

23:46

I love this for a few reasons. One I'm always going to

23:48

be here for more Latinx lit. This

23:52

one is cool because it is a remix

23:54

of so many different types of stories in

23:56

different categories. Typically,

23:58

I feel... Could be wrong, but

24:00

all examples I can think of of these sort of

24:02

in a retelling collections are all sort of lumped in

24:04

which there's nothing wrong with. This is is great, but

24:07

it's more. Of a specific were like

24:09

these: a retelling of Shakespeare, these reasonings up

24:11

mythology or a fairy tales and this one

24:13

really is just like you to retell something

24:15

great. Take a seat and the list of

24:17

offers or will read all of them but

24:19

David Balls sort of a quarter. Why I

24:21

can was Castillo and Tory Muzzle. now on

24:24

I'm at. Ya know, I'm bottle or peace

24:26

and unique of our. Most Eric Smith

24:28

who used to be appropriate. Person Mister

24:30

has one of our podcast Long time to

24:32

the lot of really great names in the

24:34

Why A space. And so I set

24:36

out to read as many of these stories as I could

24:38

for today in a didn't finish all of them, but I

24:40

just wanna shout out some of the ones I. I

24:43

can remember really loving. Third, there's the very

24:45

very first story actually as this. Series

24:48

set on a ship not on Earth like

24:50

in space and there's a girl who's doing

24:52

a little live stream at talking about earth

24:54

sort of as look at earth as over

24:57

type of thing. I love the prospective from

24:59

which it's told it's a remix of Friend

25:01

Prejudice i don't think I said that part.

25:04

There. Is a lot another like a

25:06

real. Bag. of which he remake

25:09

of Jane Eyre is a really cool

25:11

haiti's and for seventy retelling. There's.

25:13

One about Goldilocks. like what a school

25:15

lox was. A Latina had a taste

25:17

for blood. And and a

25:19

hamlet relax with like Mack

25:21

suits and digital breeding card

25:24

nation and like a vengeance.

25:26

Arc that's really cool and I just that

25:28

these were all so inventive and because again,

25:30

they're like telling different kinds of stories and

25:33

sony different categories are kind of something for

25:35

everybody. and thirty you really and don't know

25:37

what to expect next like it's very very.

25:40

Very the and very varied. Yeah I went to

25:43

school but yeah had similar so much Monica Can't

25:45

wait to finish the rest of the stories. The

25:47

some other ways that people think to remake thinks

25:49

is completely blow my mind like it's one thing

25:52

to just retell a thing and make it modern

25:54

but then to add all these extra elemental jump

25:56

live streaming from a different planet and have a

25:58

crush on again in farsi. The who's for any

26:00

sports to be Darcy bang and the other like which

26:03

you Jane Eyre thing like that there's a lot of

26:05

sorry that kind of tap into like that side of

26:07

exotic part of the storm it be lends itself to

26:09

it if you know the ending. but it did it

26:11

in a different way that I wasn't expecting. See

26:14

it was super fun! I I'm so glad

26:16

to see all these amazing author's coming together

26:18

to put together this really cool projects. So

26:20

again that is real it sixteen Let the

26:22

next Remixes of Classic Stories edited by Sandra

26:25

Problem. right? Now.

26:27

Those of us are we have read

26:29

read some Oz and he enjoys that

26:31

might you are definitely going to be

26:34

I think of my top ten of

26:36

the are just many fans are my

26:38

next one I have not read but

26:40

I am very interested in it. It

26:42

is called Smoke and Asses Opium Hidden

26:44

History by Amish Have goes on and

26:46

Have Goes is the author of the

26:48

best selling in this trilogy which include

26:50

See A Puppies. We had been shortlisted

26:52

for the Man Booker Prize. He also

26:54

read a lot of non. According

26:58

to his bio his or his

27:00

to lifetime achievement awards and five

27:02

honorary doctorates which is amazing and

27:04

in two thousand and eighteen he

27:06

became the first English language writer

27:08

to in India as high as

27:10

literary honor smoke and as is

27:12

his part history part memoir about

27:15

the opium trade till both through

27:17

history. And. A how

27:19

it affected his own family. A

27:21

He recounts opium trading. With.

27:24

Out I did not know anything about this

27:26

part of history. Except for the

27:28

racist stereotypes involving opium in

27:30

old books and movies and

27:32

I'd like to think know

27:34

that probably involving some new

27:36

ones to and I was

27:38

fascinated. just just buy the

27:40

book description. Apparently the British.

27:43

Started. Getting opium from India.

27:46

To. Trade with China and that's

27:48

how it started really moving around

27:50

the globe and then Britain was

27:52

reliant upon those deals for their

27:55

economy and some of the most

27:57

powerful wealthy families in the world

27:59

today. As. Got there

28:01

are some part of. Their.

28:04

Wealth. From Opium

28:06

trading and and he also it

28:08

also says that. The. Book

28:10

talks about court A. Cultural history,

28:13

the mythologies of capitalism, and

28:15

the social and cultural repercussions

28:18

of colonialism. It. Sounds

28:20

absolutely fascinating, and I'm

28:22

sure. It will be

28:24

as he spent many years working

28:26

on this book. It is smoking

28:29

asses. Opium is hidden Histories by

28:31

Ahmed Have Gauche. Music

28:33

Meanings the retirement of us were very

28:35

long time and me to Atlanta or

28:38

pile of I remember. Your

28:40

Eyes! I do believe I own all three books

28:42

in the Abyss Trilogy because one of my coworkers

28:44

at the bookstore many years ago I was like

28:46

her favorite series and I can say yes, I'll

28:49

read it and know I did. Not. Have

28:51

we all have one or seven of those? Kind

28:53

of the older though? The many, many, many I

28:56

know. I love

28:58

that were just constantly reading each other's recommendations down

29:00

this episode. And okay

29:02

so my first one that I have not read

29:04

and I was very very much meaning to and

29:06

will be reading this week because the Just Loves

29:08

He concept to his called The Frame and Women

29:10

of Our To More House by Brandy Skoloff Che.

29:13

Screen Names: Clottey So the book

29:15

is about a woman named Joe

29:17

Jones who has always sort of

29:19

felt like she didn't fit in

29:21

and she's especially feels that way

29:23

right now because she has been

29:25

through it and has found herself

29:27

in the English countryside. Barry unexpectedly,

29:29

she lost her job, her mom,

29:31

and her marriage all in one

29:34

year. And so she's pretty

29:36

jazzed about the fact that she has

29:38

a degree, been arrested, inherited or just

29:40

found out about an unwanted because it

29:42

might be haunted heavily. Stay in North

29:44

Yorkshire in English countryside so sticks off

29:46

but again with have some like the

29:48

issues that kind of from the beginning

29:51

and she's not sure that know her

29:53

American isms or for autism So we

29:55

have this your divergent hyper lox thick

29:57

book editor protagonists already got me excited

29:59

to. The Great see some more

30:01

narrow deborah to representation. But.

30:04

Of course you know she gets it

30:06

is house article on kind of fish

30:08

or water and then the body of

30:10

like a really the movie pounds groundskeeper

30:12

turns up on the property with three

30:15

bullets and his back and of course

30:17

she is both fearful for like a

30:19

my next up or my a suspect

30:21

neither one of those things that I

30:23

want to happen to me and then

30:26

she also finds out that a peculiar

30:28

family portrait has vanished from this secret

30:30

room in the house the she hit

30:32

know about and that picture. Had there's

30:35

a strange connection to. Both.

30:37

This that buddy that has showed up on

30:39

her doorstep and also her own family history

30:41

so it sounds really fun like some of

30:43

the other can. A key words I saw

30:46

in the description is that there's like a

30:48

Welsh and Peaks dealer who helps can solve

30:50

the crime. There's a morose local detective. And

30:52

innkeepers five like all of the. Motley.

30:55

Crew of like eclectic side characters that I look

30:57

for him, this kind of thing all seem to

30:59

be present with the guns and cool nerd of

31:01

urgent representation and the mystery that sounds fun to

31:04

try to solve. The look A Secret Room. So

31:06

yeah I'm excited about this. One of the framed

31:08

women of our to More House by Brandy Still

31:10

object. Okay, Sponsor:

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Today's episode is brought to you by

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Make sure to check out the new book, and

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33:27

right, so I meant to do this

33:30

at the beginning of the show and

33:32

I completely forgot. So before I tell

33:34

you about my last pick, which I

33:36

have not read, you're probably wondering, Liberty,

33:39

why aren't you talking about The Book of Love by

33:41

Kelly Link? Because we know that it's your favorite book

33:43

of the year and you worship

33:45

her. And that is because, thankfully,

33:49

we love them for this. The

33:52

Book of Love is a sponsor of Book Riot this week. So

33:55

we don't usually endorse sponsors,

33:59

even though I do love... But that

34:01

is the reason why. I

34:03

just thought I should point that out. I didn't

34:05

want anyone to think that it wasn't amazing or

34:08

that Kelly Link is not

34:10

my favorite author anymore because she

34:12

is. So that

34:14

is why. And

34:16

now I'm going to tell you about another book today that I

34:18

have not read, but I'm

34:20

excited to. It's called

34:22

Private Equity, a memoir by

34:25

Carrie Sun. This was

34:27

supposed to come out a while back.

34:29

I even included it in a book

34:31

riot January roundup of books

34:33

to watch for that year. I think it

34:35

was 2022, you know, and put

34:38

it under November. And then by

34:41

February of that year, it had disappeared.

34:43

Like they had removed the release date and

34:45

you couldn't find it anywhere. But

34:48

it sounded so good. And now it's back. Here it

34:50

is now. And it still sounds so good. Carrie

34:53

Sun went to MIT. She

34:55

graduated early and became

34:57

an analyst and

35:00

worked very hard at that. Got engaged

35:02

by as she was approaching 30. She

35:04

realized she was very unhappy with her life. So

35:08

when someone asked her if she wanted to

35:10

work at one of the most powerful hedge

35:12

funds in the world, she said,

35:14

yes, she wanted to change. So

35:18

there she is. I honestly

35:21

was like, I don't know what a hedge fund is. Like

35:23

I know it involves money and I kind of know what it

35:25

is, but I had to look it up. So I

35:27

want to tell you because in case you're like, I don't know what

35:29

a hedge fund is. Google tells me a

35:32

hedge fund is a limited

35:34

partnership of investors that uses

35:36

high risk methods such as

35:38

investing with borrowed money in

35:40

hopes of realizing large capital

35:42

gains. So there you have it.

35:44

That's a hedge fund. So they

35:46

said, do you want to work here? She

35:48

said, yes, they still made her sit through

35:50

14 interviews. But eventually she got the job.

35:53

She was hired as the assistant to the

35:55

firm's billionaire founder. And

35:58

she was his only assistant. She made all

36:00

the trains run. She knew everything that

36:02

he knew. She went everywhere that he did.

36:05

And she became really wrapped up

36:07

in his high pressure life and

36:10

his extravagant lifestyle. But

36:12

it was taking a serious toll on her

36:14

mind and her body. And she began to

36:16

question what she was doing. What

36:19

was this all for? What

36:21

good was working at a hedge fund

36:24

doing in her life? And

36:26

this highly anticipated memoir is about the answers

36:28

she came up with when she started asking

36:30

the right questions. Like

36:32

Jodie Foster says, in True Detective 4, you know,

36:35

what is the right question? Everything

36:37

comes back to True Detective 4 for me right now. So

36:40

I'm very excited to read this. It is

36:42

called Private Equity, a Memoir by Carrie Sun.

36:45

I learned something today, in spite of hearing the

36:47

word hedge fund over and over many times in

36:49

my life. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

36:51

That's the thing people with much more money than I do

36:53

know about. And it sounds like

36:55

you're treating the person. Yep, and then just

36:57

found some cash. Great.

37:02

Well, this, my next pick is in no way

37:04

about hedge funds. I'm also so excited to get to

37:06

it. I'm bummed I couldn't get to it before.

37:08

I just did not have the time and space. But

37:10

it's The Fox Wife by Yang Zi Chu. I

37:13

loved The Night Tiger. I've been meaning to

37:15

get to the rest of her books. I

37:17

just haven't. But I really, really, really loved

37:19

that one. So I was super excited to

37:22

pick this one up because it is all,

37:24

well, it's not all about, but it really

37:26

taps into the Asian tradition of Fox folklore.

37:29

So it opens, it's set in

37:31

Manchuria in the early 1900s during the waning days of the King

37:35

Empire. And at the

37:37

beginning of the book, a courtesan is found

37:39

frozen in a doorway. And

37:42

her death is sort

37:44

of clouded by rumors about these

37:46

foxes, which are believed to be

37:48

like these sort of mythical beings

37:51

that lure people into dangerous situations

37:53

by transforming themselves into beautiful women

37:55

or men. So

37:57

That has just happened and the detective is.

38:00

Lying to figure out like what's going

38:02

on the A because it's a mystery,

38:04

the just need something but because. About

38:06

Bow has always the detectives name is

38:08

now has been intrigued by the City

38:11

of the Fox Gods forever and ever

38:13

and like now the seems to be

38:15

bringing all that home and then meanwhile

38:17

in another not timeline but like another

38:19

story that eventually to collide with Bows.

38:22

there's a family who owns a really

38:24

famous Chinese medicine shop that can cure

38:26

ailments but can't escape this awful curse

38:28

which is that the eldest sons of

38:31

that family all die. Before.

38:33

Their twenty fourth, twenty

38:35

fourth birthdays. Then This.

38:38

Servant. Named Snow shows up

38:40

at this households and map. Seems

38:42

like maybe the families like has

38:44

mysteriously begun to change. Maybe, but

38:46

Snow has many, many secrets on

38:48

one of them. As a she's

38:50

actually a mother that is looking

38:52

for vengeance for a child of

38:54

hers that was killed. So she's

38:57

hunting a murderer and that pursuit

38:59

is going to take her from

39:01

Northern China to Japan and bows.

39:03

story line and Snows like collide

39:05

at this point and it all

39:07

comes together. And what I understand to be like a

39:09

mix of. Miss and. He

39:12

what is myth? What is not like? is there something

39:14

and play that something were you know every day. There.

39:17

Are things that we cannot explain with

39:19

her every day explanations that was repetitive

39:21

but you know Op's go with that

39:23

soaks. Yeah I just love the way

39:26

that Yankees who does this and of

39:28

we being in of mythical paranormal otherworldly

39:30

stories into a look what? really or

39:32

even without all the elements it's just

39:34

really compelling read and the sounds like

39:36

it spread up. See Melly So yeah

39:38

I'm really excited for that. That is

39:40

the fox wife making the to. I.

39:43

Am very excited for that! One as well

39:45

and we're late. There is what

39:47

is it? There another book out

39:49

today. I think it's a way. Graphic.

39:52

Novel. Called the

39:54

Fox Maiden so that's race by

39:56

Robin Ha. Ha

39:58

ha ha ha Yeah, It's.

40:00

Similar in any way to great know

40:02

better. I don't know,

40:04

but yeah, So. Those

40:07

are bucks bad for. Come here

40:09

today mostly and we're excited about

40:11

them. I think we the adjective

40:13

like a hundred times you know?

40:15

So where he went to read

40:17

next. I am definitely going to

40:19

be reading the Fox Way for him see

40:21

framed Women of Order More House because I

40:23

truly believe I'm excited to read them. I'm

40:26

also going to read A Come and Get

40:28

It Spike highly Read A Been meaning to

40:30

use of had a copy of it for

40:32

a while now just haven't got around. but

40:34

now that all of the the buzz is.

40:37

Buzzing! Of the book Since it's been

40:39

picked for book clubs and stuff it's a sort of reminded me

40:41

any to get to know. Can be reading that

40:43

you're going to read read. Yup. Well.

40:46

As but it is a earlier very very and

40:48

and I'm very varied services her face yes I

40:51

know, lots of worry. About

40:54

you. I'm. Going to read

40:57

there is no Ethan How three

40:59

women caught America's biggest cat passed

41:01

by Anna act Cari I've noticed

41:04

I've never watched like. That.

41:06

An even of it's still on the

41:08

cat missing shows or any of that

41:10

stuff and resume watching them. but I

41:12

do. I I do love a scam

41:14

book and they said about that. And

41:16

as I just got my hands on

41:19

the gathering by Cj to door which

41:21

I'm excited read because I hear it's

41:23

about one buyers who? yeah yeah. So.

41:25

I'm down for that. And and

41:27

you. Get

41:30

you back. To year and

41:32

are no ice pack advil.

41:35

Lots of both. A male exactly is happening.

41:39

But thank you for sticking out

41:41

with me today And thank you

41:43

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in the meantime, happy reading.

43:04

And now please enjoy this excerpt from

43:06

the audio book of the Foxwife written

43:08

and performed by young Shichu, thanks to

43:10

Macmillan Audio. Perhaps

43:13

you know this story. Late

43:16

one evening, a beautiful woman

43:18

comes knocking on an unsuspecting

43:21

scholar's door. Who

43:23

is it? The young man asks

43:26

peering out into the neglected

43:28

garden where flowers and

43:30

shrubs bend into strange

43:32

shapes in the moonlight. Let

43:36

me in. She has a

43:38

bewitching smile and a

43:40

jar of his favorite rice wine.

43:44

And he does hesitant at

43:46

first, as you supposed

43:48

to be studying for the Imperial

43:50

examinations. Why is

43:52

she alone outside this remote

43:54

country villa? And why

43:57

do our eyes gleam strangely

43:59

in the rain-wet darkness.

44:02

But he tells himself, it's all

44:04

right, she's likely a prostitute sent by

44:06

his friends as a joke. They

44:09

drink the wine, one thing leads to another,

44:12

and despite her blushes

44:14

and his untouched pile of books,

44:17

he has one of the most enjoyable

44:19

evenings he can recall. Except

44:23

he can't really remember it. The

44:26

details are misted in lamp light

44:28

and laughter. But he must

44:31

see her again. He sees as her

44:33

hands, such long-fingered,

44:35

sharp-nailed hands, and

44:38

won't let her go. My

44:40

home is over there, she says, pointing

44:43

at a curious little hill. If

44:46

you follow the road, it's the

44:48

fourth house from the top. The

44:51

next night he sets out after his

44:54

old servant has gone to bed. If

44:57

he paid attention, he'd see

44:59

that the road peters out

45:01

until it's barely a trail

45:03

through overgrown grass. But

45:05

he doesn't notice. So besotted

45:07

is he. There are

45:10

many curious houses along the

45:12

way, all with darkened windows

45:14

like empty sockets, fine

45:17

mansions, little hovels,

45:20

each with the name of a family

45:22

prominently written on its lintel. The

45:25

fourth house from the top of the

45:27

hill is an imposing mansion. The

45:30

name on its gate is

45:32

Huu or Fox. Again

45:36

and again he visits her, neglecting

45:38

his while a

45:40

pile of unopened letters accumulates

45:43

from his angry parents. His

45:46

skin shrivels like a withered

45:48

leaf, his tonsils swell, and

45:50

his spine curves. Finally,

45:53

the worried old servant

45:55

brings in a monk to

45:57

exorcise evil spirits. When

46:00

the spell is broken, the scholar

46:02

howls and weeps in humiliated fury,

46:05

tearing his clothes with

46:07

trembling hands. A

46:10

raiding party is made up of

46:12

local peasants who swear there are

46:14

no houses or grand estates on

46:17

that crooked little hill. Only

46:20

a long abandoned graveyard. The

46:23

fourth grave from the top is

46:25

constructed as Chinese graves are,

46:28

like a little house half-sunk into

46:31

the hill. Using

46:33

hoes and spades, they

46:36

break into it to discover

46:39

that it has become a fox's

46:41

den. This

46:44

story usually ends with a

46:46

shape-shifting fox boiled to death or

46:49

skewered by an angry mob. That

46:52

shouldn't happen, however, if you're careful.

46:55

Most foxes are. How

46:58

else could we survive for hundreds of

47:00

years? The fox in

47:02

that tale was greedy and

47:05

stupid, giving the rest of us

47:07

a bad reputation. Foxes,

47:10

people say, are

47:12

wicked women. Even

47:15

in the best of times, it isn't

47:17

easy for someone like me to make

47:19

a living, to catch a train

47:21

from Mukden to Dalien, for example.

47:24

I had to make my way out of

47:26

the grasslands of Kirin. The

47:28

first day was the hardest, as

47:31

I required clothing. I

47:33

ended up dragging a peasant's blouse and

47:35

cotton trousers off a washing line. A

47:39

virtuous fox should not steal,

47:41

but I needed

47:43

the clothes desperately. Going

47:46

by the roadside as a naked

47:48

young woman is just asking

47:50

for trouble.