Episode · The Book Review · 2022-07-01
Books mentioned on A Novel About Brilliant Young Game Designers
John Williams recommended Jesus' son by Denis Johnson, and discussed Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty. Gabrielle Zevin discussed The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Passage by Justin Cronin. Elizabeth Harris discussed The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Dwight Garner discussed I Used to Live Here Once - the Haunted Life of Jean Rhys by Miranda Seymour and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a bestselling novel that follows the complex, decades-long creative and personal partnership of two friends who design video games.
Discussed“Gabrielle Zan joins us to talk about her new novel tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow which takes us inside the world of video game design through the lives of three characters”
Where to get it
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Night of the Living Rez
Discussed“Morgan talty is here to talk about his debut Story collection Night of the Living Rez plus my colleague Liz Harris will be here with news from the publishing world and the times as critics Dwight Garner and Alexandra Jacobs will be here to talk about books they've recently reviewed”
Where to get it
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The Road
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a bleak, post-apocalyptic novel that follows a father and his young son as they walk across a burned America, striving to survive while holding onto their morality.
Discussed“so I'm thinking of something like the last of us which feels quite a bit like the road or the passage by Justin Cronin games call on literature all the time”
Where to get it
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The Passage
The Passage by Justin Cronin is an epic post-apocalyptic horror novel that chronicles the collapse of human civilization following a catastrophic government experiment involving a viral contagion that turns people into vampire-like creatures, tracking a small band of survivors over a century.
Discussed“so I'm thinking of something like the last of us which feels quite a bit like the road or the passage by Justin Cronin games call on literature all the time”
Where to get it
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Jesus' son
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson is a slender, potent 1992 collection of interconnected short stories that explores the stark and harrowing experiences of its narrator and other fringe characters.
Recommended“Tommy orange said of the collection that it took me in the same way Dennis Johnson's Jesus's son did when I first read it and it's hard to think of higher praise than that for a short story writer”
Where to get it
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The Song of Achilles
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a lyrical and moving reimagining of the Iliad that focuses on the deep romance between Achilles and Patroclus.
Discussed“the song of Achilles which uh came out in 2012 and is a love story between Achilles and Petras has now sold two million copies because of book talk which is amazing because as its editor said to me this is a book about The Iliad and it just so million copies”
Where to get it
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I Used to Live Here Once - the Haunted Life of Jean Rhys
Discussed“and anyway this book is called I used to live here once the haunted life of Jee ree by Miranda Seymour”
Where to get it
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Wide Sargasso Sea
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is a classic postcolonial novel written as a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, detailing the early life of Antoinette Cosway.
Discussed“she was 76 and published wide saraso C the book that most people know of her in 1966 when she was as I said she was 76 and she had come out of the blue and people didn't even know she was alive anymore”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (6) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Gabriel zevan is the author of several novels including the story life of AJ ficker her new book is tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and she's here to talk about it”
“The Collection again is KN of the living Rez by Morgan talty Morgan thanks so much for being here”
“the song of Achilles which uh came out in 2012 and is a love story between Achilles and Petras has now sold two million copies because of book talk which is amazing because as its editor said to me this is a book about The Iliad and it just so million copies”
“but that's a prequel of sorts to Jane air and so very not autobiographical although it draws on her childhood”
“something like you know the power broker I don't know”
“mine was I used to live here once the haunted life of Jee ree by Miranda Seymour”