Episode · The Book Review · 2025-10-10
Books mentioned on Brandon Taylor On His New Novel, 'Minor Black Figures'
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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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
Charlotte Brontë's timeless masterwork Jane Eyre follows the harrowing and triumphant journey of its spirited titular orphan as she overcomes a bleak childhood, secures employment as a governess at Thornfield Hall, and confronts the dark secrets of Edward Rochester.
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
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert is a classic nineteenth-century French novel that tells the tragic story of a provincial doctor's wife who engages in extra-marital affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities of her provincial life.
Recommended“Well, I'm reading Madame Bovery, which hot take so good.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — 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.”
“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”