Episode · The Book Review · 2024-07-18
Books mentioned on An American Abroad
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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But Beautiful
But Beautiful by Geoff Dyer is a richly imagined, critically acclaimed book about jazz that blends biography, fiction, and impressionistic criticism to capture the lives and music of legendary jazz icons.
Discussed“last week I talked about having read Jeff Dyer just richly imagined an incredibly written book about jazz called but beautiful and because of that I kind of not only listened to some of the musicians that he wrote about”
Where to get it
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Miles, the autobiography
Discussed“and the first one that I picked up is Miles Davis's autobiography which a Jazz playing friend of mine had recommended just as kind of an outrageous you know storytelling exercise because it's I was expecting it to be chatty”
Where to get it
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The Dark Dark: Stories
Discussed“so right now I just picked up actually or I picked up again a book that I had started a while back and then put it aside for a bit called the dark dark which is a collection of stories by Samantha hunt”
Where to get it
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The invention of everything else
The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt is an imaginative historical novel that weaves together the later years of inventor Nikola Tesla's life in New York City with the contemporary story of a young chambermaid.
Recommended“yes okay she has a her her book I think it's called The Invention of every everything else which was her sort of second ago novel is really great”
Where to get it
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Mr. Splitfoot
Mr.
Recommended“and I I can vouch for Mr splitfoot too which is a kind of ghost story you know really a wonderful also dark and very much like a a kind of fairy tale”
Where to get it
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Born to Run
Born to Run is a deeply personal and acclaimed memoir by legendary musician Bruce Springsteen that chronicles his journey from a young guitar player in New Jersey to a global rock icon.
Discussed“well so I um have just spent two weeks on the beach in Nantucket and the books that I brought with me were both books that I had talked about on this show one was Bruce Springsteen's autobiography Born to Run”
Where to get it
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The Kingdom
The Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrère is a sweeping and introspective work exploring the origins and early days of Christianity through historical analysis and personal narrative.
Discussed“the other was the ual career book The Kingdom which is about the early days of Christianity and John took up the kingdom after you left on vacation and he was hoping last week career wouldn't come up”
Where to get it
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The Baron in the Trees
Discussed“but I had never read his short novel The Baron in the trees which was one of the ones on this new releas table it's not a new release it was published like 60 years ago”
Where to get it
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Pachinko
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a sweeping historical fiction novel that follows four generations of a Korean family living in Japan.
Discussed“so I left with reading Pinko which I talked about on an earlier podcast by Menin Lee and I had that funny experience where you know when you you are talking to someone”
Where to get it
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The Man in the High Castle
The Man in the High Castle is a prominent dystopian alternative history novel by Philip K.
Discussed“and then the next book I picked up was the man in the High Castle by Philip K dick and I'd never read Philip K dick and I didn't know what I guess many other readers of Philip K dick know which is that his books are much better movies than they are books”
Where to get it
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South Pole Station
Discussed“and the next book I picked up was one that elot Becker our colleague reviewed in the times called South Pole station which I thought had a really fun premise it's a first novel by a woman named Ash asley Shelby”
Where to get it
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Jane, Unlimited
Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore is a genre-bending young adult novel that follows a young woman navigating a mysterious and multifaceted estate.
Discussed“and then I started reading uh a novel that I'll talk about in few weeks on the podcast because the author is going to come on um which is a ya novel by a writer Kristen Kure who I like a lot called Jane unlimited”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“and it has this whole critique of the Moosewood cookbook and its related books the enchanted broccoli forest and and the fact that this other Chef who was really terrible relied so heavily on those books that that was a really good chapter”
“and it has this whole critique of the Moosewood cookbook and its related books the enchanted broccoli forest and and the fact that this other Chef who was really terrible relied so heavily on those books that that was a really good chapter”