Episode · EconTalk · 2022-08-29
Books mentioned on Amor Towles on A Gentleman in Moscow and the Writer's Craft
Author Amor Towles talks about his book, A Gentleman in Moscow, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Along the way they discuss the craft of writing, the wellsprings of persistence, and Towles's reading habits.
Russ Roberts discussed The Method by Isaac Butler, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, On Writing by Stephen King, and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. Amor Towles discussed The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenit︠s︡yn and The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Method
Discussed“there's a new book out called the method which is about stanislowski and modern acting uh which very Russian”
Where to get it
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A Gentleman in Moscow
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is a celebrated historical novel that follows an aristocratic Russian count who is sentenced to spend the remainder of his life inside a luxury hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal.
Discussed“he is a um he is an Exemplar which is reason his you know his t his the title of the book is is a gentleman in Moscow is not just a man in Moscow”
Where to get it
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On Writing
On Writing by Stephen King is a celebrated half-memoir and half-practical guide that explores the craft of writing and the author's personal experiences.
Discussed“I like that Stephen King's book on writing uh I'm not a big Stephen King fan all right but uh his book on writing is quite I think thoughtful and he similarly Works a fixed amount of time”
Where to get it
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Rules of Civility
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles is a celebrated historical fiction novel that follows a young woman navigating high society in New York City during the late 1930s.
Discussed“Rules of Civility is a masterpiece by the way you could argue I hope it becomes under consideration for the the Great American novel I think that's what you were aiming for and I could you could argue you succeeded it's an extraordinary book about American mores personalities philosophy and so on”
Where to get it
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The Gulag Archipelago
The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is a monumental historical exposé documenting the brutal realities of the Soviet forced labor camp system through personal testimony and archival research.
Discussed“and his experience um I knew that I was not going to write a new version of the gulag archipelago I was not going to write a book about a guy in a prison camp”
Where to get it
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The Cairo Trilogy
Discussed“and one of those was the works of uh reading nagoo maf's Cairo Trilogy you know where none of us had read MAFO he's the first Nobel Prize winner to write in write in Arabic”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (6) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“in 2011 at 46 he published his first book Rules of Civility was a big hit was followed in 2016 by a gentleman in Moscow and then in 2021 the Lincoln Highway”
“in 2011 at 46 he published his first book Rules of Civility was a big hit was followed in 2016 by a gentleman in Moscow and then in 2021 the Lincoln Highway”
“in 2011 at 46 he published his first book Rules of Civility was a big hit was followed in 2016 by a gentleman in Moscow and then in 2021 the Lincoln Highway”
“you know the character is like saying I would never do this you know and so uh you're like oh in in my first novel Rules of Civility one of the central characters is a character named Eve who was sort of a troublemaker in New York City in the mid-30s she leaves the city after some sort of turmoil”
“that was Rules of Civility that was published while I was still a partner at the firm and when that became a bestseller that's when I retired”
“and you know so yes these so I'm very interested in these kinds of constraints and uh they I think they can be very productive as as you know my new novel The Lincoln Highway which came out in the fall is a story about really few boys on their way from Nebraska to New York City in 1954”