Episode · The Book Review · 2018-09-14
Books mentioned on A Memoir From the Hard-Working ‘Heartland’
Pamela Paul discussed Heartland by Sarah Smarsh, Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance, What's the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank, One Person, No Vote by Carol Anderson and others, and Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris. Alexandra Alter discussed Full disclosure by Stormy Daniels and Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward. John Williams recommended Calypso by David Sedaris and others, The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda, and Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda, and discussed Ulysses by James Joyce. Tina Jordan recommended The Fiend by Margaret Millar, How like an angel by Margaret Millar, Beast in View by Margaret Millar, and Something in the water by Catherine Steadman, discussed The Snowman by Jo Nesbø, and criticized Social creature by Tara Isabella Burton and Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Heartland
Heartland by Sarah Smarsh is a powerful memoir detailing the author's experiences growing up in poverty and working hard in the American Midwest.
Discussed“her new book is called Heartland A Memoir of working hard and being broke in the richest country on Earth”
Where to get it
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Hillbilly Elegy
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D.
Discussed“there are some you know sort of easy description s of your book that compare it with JD Vance's hillbilly elgy and say you know here is the sort of liberal version to his more conservative story”
Where to get it
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What's the Matter with Kansas?
What's the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank is a penetrating political analysis that investigates why working-class voters in conservative heartlands frequently support political platforms and economic policies that appear to run counter to their own financial self-interest.
Discussed“there was an early another earlier book about Kansas called of course what's the matter with Kansas by Tom Frank in which he asked the question why did so many canans vote against their own economic self-interest”
Where to get it
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One Person, No Vote
Discussed“in a review of another book that comes out this week by Carol Anderson one person no vote the figure was cited that voting by African-Americans decreased 7% in the 2016 election”
Where to get it
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Full disclosure
Full Disclosure by Stormy Daniels is an explosive and candid memoir detailing the author's personal history, career in the adult film industry, and heavily publicized encounters with public figures.
Discussed“St Martin's press announced this week that they have a memoir by her the title is full disclosure”
Where to get it
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Fear: Trump in the White House
Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward is a bestselling investigative work examining the inner workings, chaos, and decision-making processes of the Donald Trump administration.
Discussed“in the same the same day that this news came out Simon and Schuster put out its extraordinary sales figures for Bob Woodward's book fear Trump in the white house which went on sale this Tuesday and sold more than 750,000 copies”
Where to get it
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Ulysses
James Joyce's landmark modernist novel Ulysses chronicles an ordinary day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mapping human consciousness and daily existence through a revolutionary stream-of-consciousness technique.
Discussed“it's funny I I met the poet Ross gay yesterday and one of the very first things he asked me was are you still reading ulyses um the answer Ross and Pamela and everyone else is yes I'm still reading ulyses”
Where to get it
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Calypso
Calypso by David Sedaris is a darkly humorous essay collection in which the author explores aging, mortality, family eccentricities, and political shifts from the vantage point of his home in coastal North Carolina.
Recommended“um I read David Sedaris Calypso the the latest essay collection um which I had given to my wife as a present”
Where to get it
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Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris is a collection of humorous and deeply observational personal essays by the acclaimed satirist.
Discussed“I was listening this summer to Let's explore diabetes with owls um in the car and I had to pick up one of my kids from Camp”
Where to get it
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The Fiend
The Fiend is a suspenseful novel written by Margaret Millar.
Recommended“I just finished one called the fiend which is about set in a very small town in California where a young man who served some prison time for being a pedophile has come back to town and he's living with his brother”
Where to get it
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How like an angel
How Like an Angel is a compelling novel written by Margaret Millar.
Recommended“I read an incredible one called how like an angel I believe also written in the 1950s which was about a doomsday cult like I had no okay I'm naive”
Where to get it
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Beast in View
Beast in View by Margaret Millar is a classic psychological thriller focusing on a reclusive young woman living in a hotel suite who becomes increasingly terrorized by a series of unsettling prank phone calls.
Recommended“and I'm reading one right now called beast in View and it's about a young woman 30 or so an ays and a recluse who's living in a suite in a hotel and she's becoming increasingly terrorized by these prank phone calls”
Where to get it
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Something in the water
Something in the Water is a gripping thriller novel by Catherine Steadman that follows suspenseful events and intricate plot twists.
Recommended“so I read Something in the Water by Catherine Stedman written by a woman who is also an actress in down Ali and I assume other things and that was that was pretty entertaining”
Where to get it
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The Snowman
The Snowman is a gripping crime thriller by Jo Nesbø that follows detective Harry Hole as he investigates a chilling series of murders.
Discussed“and then I decided I would read my first ybo uh and chose uh the Snowman”
Where to get it
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Social creature
Critiqued“then I tried a third Thriller social creature which had gotten positive reviews including in the times and I it was one of two books that I actually put down”
Where to get it
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Conversations With Friends
Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney is a celebrated contemporary debut novel that explores complex interpersonal relationships, modern romance, and youthful identity among a circle of characters in Ireland.
Critiqued“the other was conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney and I just felt with both of them both of them were very Millennial novels and I'm sure appealed to many many people maybe even some of whom are not Millennials themselves but I felt like the stakes were very low”
Where to get it
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The Time of the Doves
The Time of the Doves is a celebrated twentieth-century Catalan novel by Mercè Rodoreda that explores the harrowing experiences of a young woman living through the Spanish Civil War in Barcelona.
Recommended“I came back and one of the things I read was a novel called the time of the doves by a Catalan writer named and I think I'm pronouncing this right marce rudar which is r o d o r d a”
Where to get it
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Death in Spring
Death in Spring is a haunting and surreal novel by Catalan author Mercè Rodoreda that delves into the dark, idiosyncratic traditions of an isolated mountain village through a distinctly atmospheric lens.
Recommended“she wrote a novel called death in Spring that I liked a lot I just bought a copy of that also very kind of psychologically immersive”
Where to get it
