Episode · The Book Review · 2023-02-03
Books mentioned on A Look Ahead at the Season's Big Books
Tina Jordan discussed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond, and The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) by Abraham Verghese. Gilbert Cruz discussed Victory City by Salman Rushdie, Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson, Lone Women by Victor LaValle, Monsters by Claire Dederer, The Wager by David Grann, and Oscar Wars by Michael Schulman.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Station Eleven
Station Eleven by Emily St.
Discussed“and let me give you an example years ago Emily St John Mandel station 11 was a book like that the editor who was previewing it for the book review read it passed it around and said you guys have to read this”
Where to get it
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Victory City
Discussed“it's going to come out right around the time that this podcast drops and it is called Victory City and it's by salmon rushy”
Where to get it
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Birnam Wood
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton is a gripping literary thriller set in modern-day New Zealand that follows an undercover eco-activist guerrilla gardening group that clashes with an American tech billionaire over a disputed plot of land.
Discussed“and that is out February 7th a book that's coming out a month later on March 7th is Burnham Wood by Elanor katton”
Where to get it
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Pineapple Street
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson is a contemporary novel set in Brooklyn Heights that follows the complicated lives and emotional entanglements of an affluent family.
Discussed“the next book we're going to talk about is totally contemporary it is set in Brooklyn in New York and it's called pineapple Street and it's by Jenny Jackson”
Where to get it
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Poverty, by America
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond is a rigorous, eye-opening non-fiction investigation that examines why the United States maintains such high levels of systemic poverty despite being one of the wealthiest nations in history.
Discussed“so this new book called poverty by America clearly grew out of the research he was doing for his last book”
Where to get it
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Lone Women
Lone Women is a historical horror novel by Victor LaValle that follows a woman escaping her past with a heavy trunk in early twentieth-century Montana.
Discussed“Tina what can you tell us about lone women by Victor lavali”
Where to get it
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Monsters
Discussed“our next title seems like it may be a book of hor and in many ways it is it's essentially a book length essay called Monsters by Claire derer and it has to do with real life monsters”
Where to get it
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The Wager
The Wager by David Grann is a historical non-fiction book detailing the harrowing 18th-century shipwreck of a British naval vessel and the dramatic mutiny and survival trials that followed.
Discussed“and his new book is the wager a tale of shipwreck Mutiny and murder”
Where to get it
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The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club)
Abraham Verghese's The Covenant of Water is a sweeping, big-hearted epic novel set in Kerala, India, following a family over three generations that suffers from a peculiar affliction where at least one person dies by drowning in every generation.
Discussed“so this book is the Covenant of Water by Abraham vazi”
Where to get it
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Oscar Wars
Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman is a comprehensive cultural history chronicling the Academy Awards, highlighting the intense rivalries, political battles, and dramatic turning points behind Hollywood's most famous night.
Discussed“and there's a book that comes out the near the end of February called Oscar Wars and it's by Michael Schulman”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (9) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“just to remind that following the 1989 publication of his novelist Satanic Verses rushy had to spend years in hiding because of the f issued against him”
“and I think that what is interesting about that is that there have been a lot of naysayers who said for years oh all of his best work was pre fatwa people sight Midnight's Children”
“a little bit of backstory on Cen first for those of you who don't remember her and you might not because it's been more than a dozen years since her last book The Luminaries it won the booker prize”
“maty Desmond is the author of a book called evicted which followed eight families who were struggling to pay rent in Milwaukee”
“he is a a guy who I spoke to on this podcast many years ago in summer 2018 we were both both here talking about the work of uh Stephen King an author who was extremely formative in both of our lives a year before he had written his well-received novel The Changeling”
“several of his books have been made into films including the lost city of Z The Old Man and the gun and this year's killers of the flower Moon which after what seems like several years is actually going to finally come out”
“several of his books have been made into films including the lost city of Z The Old Man and the gun and this year's killers of the flower Moon”
“several of his books have been made into films including the lost city of Z The Old Man and the gun and this year's killers of the flower Moon”
“and it's been more than a decade since his last book cutting for stone which was a huge bestseller in like 2010 11”