Episode · The Book Review · 2024-07-22
Books mentioned on 21st Century Books Special Edition: Colson Whitehead on 'The Underground Railroad'
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historical fiction novel that reimagines the antebellum South by turning the secret network of abolitionist routes into a literal subterranean railway system utilized by an enslaved woman named Cora seeking freedom.
Discussed“and the Underground Railroad was the best book I could write when I was 46 and if I'm doing the best work I can each year I can be proud of each book and they'll hold up for me at least”
Where to get it
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John Henry Days
Discussed“so you're a second book John Henry days which incidentally is also in addition to me about a lot of other things about trains and African-American history it was reviewed in the times book review by I'm sorry if this is painful by Jonathan fransen in May 2001 several months before he put out the corrections”
Where to get it
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The intuitionist
The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead is a distinctive debut novel that blends municipal politics, architectural intrigue, and magical realism around the life of a pioneering elevator inspector.
Discussed“I mentioned some of my adjectives and the intuitionist and hopefully as you write more books and the years go by you're getting better at self-editing”
Where to get it
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Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Discussed“I was exposed to one of the most famous ones is by Harriet Jacobs incidents in the life of a slave girl and she writes about the particular hell of the female slave”
Where to get it
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Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift is a classic satirical masterpiece that uses fantastical voyages to different lands to mock human nature, political corruption, and societal follies.
Discussed“and then finally I use the analogy to Gold travels and they're like oh I get it even though I'm not like a big Gus travels fan and I I read it as research for the book”
Where to get it
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One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is a landmark masterpiece of magical realism that chronicles the multi-generational saga of the Buendía family in the fictional town of Macondo.
Discussed“and then I went back to 100 Years of Solitude which touched me very deeply when I was in high school and Garcia Marcus's use of magic realism became the the tool became the model for my Approach”
Where to get it
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Zone One
Zone One by Colson Whitehead is a dystopian zombie novel that blends genre tropes with sharp social commentary, serving as the author's literary precursor to his acclaimed works The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys.
Discussed“and I think if I look back at Zone one the zombie novel which was the fix the novel I wrote before underground ro road and then nickel boy”
Where to get it
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The Known World
The Known World by Edward P.
Discussed“your book Coulson appears in the top 10 of our list and it's a few spots down from Edward p Jones's the Known World which is another pullit surprise winning novel historical novel about enslaved people in America”
Where to get it
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Beloved
Beloved by Toni Morrison is a powerful, haunting novel about a formerly enslaved woman haunted by the trauma of her past and the literal ghost of the daughter she lost.
Discussed“and I was like I'll read them and see how these great people have tackled the subject and I got 30 pages into beloved and I was like I'm totally screwed Tony Morrison genius”
Where to get it
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The Crying of Lot 49
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon is a complex postmodern novel that follows Oedipa Maas as she uncovers a vast, centuries-old conspiracy involving a rival postal service known as Tristero.
Recommended“it would be crying abot 49”
Where to get it
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Drown
Drown by Junot Díaz is a powerful collection of interconnected short stories exploring the immigrant experience, poverty, and coming of age between the Dominican Republic and New Jersey.
Recommended“it would be Juno Diaz's drown the rings of Saturn and stuff I've”
Where to get it
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The book of lists
The Book of Lists by David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace is a legendary compendium filled with bizarre trivia, historical rankings, and fascinating cultural facts.
Recommended“it is the book of lists by David malachinski Irving and Amy Wallace it is a compendium of the most useful knowledge in the world”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (9) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“today I'm joined by Coulson Whit most recently the author of crook Manifesto and Harlem Shuffle two crime novel set in Harlem during the' 60s and' 70s”
“today I'm joined by Coulson Whit most recently the author of crook Manifesto and Harlem Shuffle two crime novel set in Harlem during the' 60s and' 70s”
“he is sometimes known as the writer of two Pulitzer Prize winning novels the nickelbys and the Underground Railroad”
“it was reviewed in the times book review by I'm sorry if this is painful by Jonathan fransen in May 2001 several months before he put out the corrections”
“you know you had a Zone one which is a very fun post-apocalyptic zombie novel”
“you had a sort of a non-fiction Memoir about uh playing poker called The Noble Hustle and then you followed it up with this one which You Then followed up with the nickel boys”
“both books arguably exist in the shadow of Tony Morrison's beloved which is like one of the Great American novels full stop”
“Charles Johnson's the Middle Passage another novel about the Middle Passage”
“I wrote a book called Sag Harbor about growing up in the 80s”