Episode · The Book Review · 2025-10-10
Brandon Taylor on The Book Review: books mentioned (Oct 2025)
Brandon Taylor On His New Novel, 'Minor Black Figures'
Brandon Taylor recommended Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, and discussed Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion, Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, Fierce Poise by Alexander Nemerov, Ninth Street women by Mary Gabriel, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Play It as It Lays
Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion is a stark and haunting 1970 novel that captures the profound existential alienation and emotional desolation of a former actress adrift in the desolate landscapes of Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Discussed“But no, he's named after Mariah Wyth from a Joan Ddian novel from Play It As Lays, I believe it is.”
Where to get it
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Commonwealth
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett is a sweeping novel that explores the complex dynamics of two intertwined families over several decades following an unexpected kiss at a christening party.
Discussed“Even in my first book, Wallace is named people thought it was like Wallace Stegner, but it was in fact Wallace named after a character in Anne Patchet's Commonwealth.”
Where to get it
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Fierce Poise
Discussed“I read this really wonderful book called Fierce Ambition by Alexander Nimmerov that it's a biography of Helen Frankenthaler.”
Where to get it
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Ninth Street women
Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel is a sweeping and acclaimed biography that details the lives and artistic triumphs of five pivotal abstract expressionist painters, including Lee Krasner and Elaine de Kooning.
Discussed“I read Ninth Street Women, which is another really great biography.”
Where to get it
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Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is a celebrated Victorian novel following the turbulent life and emotional maturation of its eponymous orphaned protagonist.
Discussed“it had to have joking around with his friend Bernard and them riffing on Jane Air and the trope of the tragic Mulatto.”
Where to get it
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Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert's classic 19th-century novel tells the tragic story of Emma Bovary, a provincial doctor's wife who engages in extramarital affairs to escape the banalities of her daily life.
Recommended“Well, I'm reading Madame Bovery, which hot take so good.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Brandon's first book, Real Life, published in February 2020, right before the pandemic, changed life as we know it.”
“He followed that up with two other books, Filthy Animals in 2021 and The Late Americans in 2023.”
“He followed that up with two other books, Filthy Animals in 2021 and The Late Americans in 2023.”
“Now Brandon is back with a brand new book, Minor Black Figures.”
“or I should probably say welcome back because you joined the book review podcast in 2021 to talk about Sally Rooney's beautiful world where are you which you reviewed for us”