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Katya Cengel

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.katyacengel.com

Twitter

kcengel

Genre

Nonfiction, Psychology, Memoir

Influences

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Member Since

August 2012

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Katya Cengel is the author of four non-fiction books, including most recently Straitjackets and Lunch Money, which the San Francisco Chronicle called “incredibly affecting” and Kirkus Reviews called “harrowing but engrossing”. Cengel’s earlier titles cover everything from minor league baseball in Bluegrass Baseball to falling in love at Chernobyl in From Chernobyl with Love. She has received an Eric Hoffer Academic Press award, an Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY), and a Foreword INDIES.

As a journalist Cengel has written for New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine and Atavist Magazine among others. Her writing has taken her to Utah to search for Bigfoot (she didn’t find him) and to Mongolia to write about female street artists. ...more

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Katya Cengel’s books

Average rating: 3.86 · 174 ratings · 71 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	From Chernobyl with Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union 3.60 avg rating — 89 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Straitjackets and Lunch Money: A 10-year-old in a Psychosomatic Ward 4.52 avg rating — 29 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bluegrass Baseball: A Year in the Minor League Life 3.76 avg rating — 34 ratings — published 2012 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Exiled: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to California and Back 4.23 avg rating — 22 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Down syndrome students get a taste of college life.: An article from: Community College Week 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Katya Cengel…

13 posts
Katya Cengel's Blog

Unreliable narrators

Unreliable narrators are intriguing. In AMORALMAN author Derek DelGaudio plays around with this style and it works well considering he is writing about how the time in his life he spent living a lie. You can read my New York Journal of Books review here

https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book... Read more of this blog post »

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Published on March 08, 2021 11:28

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Katya is Currently Reading

Katya Cengel is currently reading

The Sugar King of Havana: The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba's Last Tycoon

by John Paul Rathbone

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jun 01, 2019 09:28AM

Katya’s Recent Updates

Katya Cengel rated a book it was amazing Bearded Lady: When You’re a Woman with a Beard, Your Secret is Written All Over Your Face by Allison Landa	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Allison Landa’s voice is like that of a child before the world has taught it to conform and lie. She is honest about her imperfections and an excellent observer of human nature. Landa doesn’t want you to like her, which makes her all the more likeabl ...more
Oct 27, 2026 09:59AM · like · see review
Katya Cengel wants to read All Hands on Deck by Lucy Jane Bledsoe (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 03, 2026 02:40PM · like
Katya Cengel rated a book it was amazing The Poster: A family torn apart by war and The State: can they reunite? by James Marshall (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A gripping account of a dystopian future that both entertains and challenges the reader. The not unfamiliar premise of an all-controlling state is made fresh with characters who act in unexpected yet very human ways. By following the trials of two yo ...more
Apr 12, 2026 11:30AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Poster by James Marshall. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Poster by James Marshall <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Katya Cengel rated a book it was amazing Before & After You & Me by Dallas Woodburn (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Through gripping story lines Dallas explores the deeper questions young and old must deal with in life. I may not be a teen anymore but Dallas' YA books always pull me in and teach me something. In this book the main character's struggle with art and ...more
Apr 04, 2025 10:58AM · like · see review
Katya Cengel rated a book it was amazing Vivaldi's Virgins by Barbara Quick (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
In this historical novel secret upon secret, unraveled like the layers of an onion, keep you absorbed until the last page. Through the imagined letters and remembrances of Anna Maria dal Violin readers are offered an inside look at the hidden life of ...more
Dec 26, 2024 08:21PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Vivaldi's Virgins by Barbara Quick. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Vivaldi's Virgins by Barbara Quick <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Katya Cengel is now following Barbara Quick Author of Vivaldi's Virgins
Dec 26, 2024 08:21PM · like