Episode · The Book Review · 2024-07-18
Books mentioned on Book Club: Dolly Alderton's 'Good Material'
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Good Material
Good Material by Dolly Alderton is a sharp and humorous contemporary novel that explores the messy aftermath of a breakup from the perspective of a heartbroken male comedian.
Book club“Emily Aken and Leah greenblat in our book club conversation about Dolly alderton's good material”
Where to get it
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Dear Dolly
Discussed“first she had a memoir come out called Everything I Know About Love then she has a novel called ghosts and she has a collection of columns called dear Dolly”
Where to get it
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Everything I Know About Love
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton is a bestselling memoir that chronicles the author's turbulent twenties, navigating friendship, romance, and self-discovery in London.
Discussed“i actually I was I was working out of London the summer of 2018 when everything I know about love was out and it was Dolly was everywhere”
Where to get it
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Ghosts
Ghosts by Dolly Alderton is a poignant and sharply observed contemporary novel that examines modern dating, friendship, and the painful phenomenon of sudden abandonment in romantic relationships.
Discussed“I think especially considering that her last book was not dissimilar but from a woman's point of view and in ghosts she literally does get ghosted by a guy who seems to be the perfect boyfriend”
Where to get it
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Best Minds
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions is a deeply personal and investigative memoir by Jonathan Rosen that examines the tragic trajectory of his childhood friend Michael Laudor, a brilliant legal scholar who developed severe schizophrenia.
Discussed“you gave that like stirring very evocative dive into Jonathan rosen's best Minds I love that book great great narrative non-fiction”
Where to get it
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High Fidelity
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby is a widely recognized breakup novel published in 1995 that explores romance, music obsession, and personal growth through the lens of a struggling record store owner.
Discussed“I think it's interesting what you say about plot too because a lot of people have compared Dolly to um Nick Hornby and to uh High Fidelity which High Fidelity has this almost like Heroes Quest right”
Where to get it
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Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding is a landmark contemporary comedic novel that popularized the Bridget Jones series and captured the experiences of a single British woman navigating romance and professional life in the 1990s.
Discussed“and Bridget Jones Diary was 1996 and I feel that this I think dolly alderton is very self-consciously descendant of those writers”
Where to get it
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Trust
Trust by Hernan Diaz is a structurally ambitious and celebrated novel that delves into themes of wealth, power, and multiple perspectives in historical America.
Discussed“that happens in ulyses James Joyce's ulyses and it happens in hernand Diaz's trust do also spoil aler for that book”
Where to get it
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Ulysses
Ulysses by James Joyce is a monumental modernist novel that chronicles a single day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mirroring the structure of Homer's Odyssey.
Discussed“that happens in ulyses James Joyce's ulyses and it happens in hernand Diaz's trust do also spoil aler for that book”
Where to get it
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Great Expectations
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a classic Victorian coming-of-age novel that follows the orphan Pip as he navigates social class, ambition, guilt, and personal reinvention in 19th-century England.
Discussed“a few weeks ago in another podcast on book club discussion we discussed Miss havam for instance from Great Expectations which is certainly not a breakup book”
Where to get it
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Kairos
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck is a nuanced and complex age-gap novel by the acclaimed German writer that explores the fraught dynamics of a relationship against the historical backdrop of the collapsing East German regime.
Recommended“and it's chyros by Jenny erpenbeck the German novelist who is a perennial Nobel long Lister”
Where to get it
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Acts of Desperation
Acts of Desperation is a contemporary novel by Megan Nolan that explores the intense, often destructive nature of a toxic relationship through the eyes of a young woman living in Dublin and London.
Recommended“one more recent book I really enjoyed was Megan Nolan acts of desperation I thought was really good”
Where to get it
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Heartburn
Heartburn is Nora Ephron's semi-autobiographical novel about a culinary writer navigating the painful dissolution of her marriage amidst humor and betrayal.
Discussed“and obviously heartburn is about a true story of a person that we know and we've also seen it played out on screen by Merl stre and Jack Nicholson”
Where to get it
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Splinters
Splinters by Leslie Jamison is a deeply introspective memoir exploring motherhood, heartbreak, and the complexities of personal transformation.
Recommended“it is splinters by Leslie Jameson”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“you may have heard him on previous episodes in which he and others discussed even Copperhead and the Heaven and Earth grocery store”
“you may have heard him on previous episodes in which he and others discussed even Copperhead and the Heaven and Earth grocery store”
“you may have heard him on previous episodes in which he and others discussed even Copperhead and the Heaven and Earth grocery store”