Episode · The Book Review · 2024-05-03
Colm Toibin on The Book Review: books mentioned
Colm Toibin on His Sequel to 'Brooklyn'
Sarah Lyall discussed Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín. Colm Toibin recommended The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, and The Trial by Franz Kafka, and discussed Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Ulysses by James Joyce, The Golden Bowl by Henry James, and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Brooklyn
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín is a celebrated novel about a young Irish immigrant navigating homesickness, romantic choices, and a dual identity in 1950s New York and her native village.
Discussed“Long Island is the sequel to Brooklyn published in 2009”
Where to get it
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Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a classic novel that explores themes of love, class, and marriage in 19th-century England through the spirited relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy.
Discussed“if it was a sequel to Pride and Prejudice where Mr Darcy turned out to be a complete monster”
Where to get it
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Ulysses
James Joyce's landmark modernist novel Ulysses chronicles an ordinary day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mapping human consciousness and daily existence through a revolutionary stream-of-consciousness technique.
Discussed“if it was a sequel to for example if there was a sequel to James Joyce's ulyses and was going to start another day nobody would it would ruin the first one”
Where to get it
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The Golden Bowl
The Golden Bowl by Henry James is a complex, late-period psychological novel that explores betrayal, marriage, and moral ambiguity among a small circle of wealthy Americans in Europe.
Discussed“so so I was looking at something like the golden Bow by Henry James for example in which there really are only four characters”
Where to get it
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The Age of Innocence
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is a classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that explores the rigid social codes, hypocrisy, and romantic dilemmas of Gilded Age New York society.
Discussed“so I was sort of working with that and working as well with you know ideas in Edith Warton say Age of Innocence in which an outside woman seems more glamorous”
Where to get it
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The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James is a classic 1881 novel following the spirited young American heiress Isabel Archer as she navigates European society, independence, and a disastrous marriage.
Recommended“but there are books that haven't Chang for me such as po to Lady which I would have again read when I was 18 and I would have read regularly since”
Where to get it
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Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park is a classic Jane Austen novel that follows the quiet, moral upbringing of Fanny Price as she navigates the complex social hierarchies, etiquette, and romantic entanglements of her wealthy relatives' estate.
Recommended“but I also love Mansfield Park”
Where to get it
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The Trial
Franz Kafka's renowned novel "The Trial" tells the chilling story of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is abruptly arrested on his birthday for an unspecified crime by an amorphous, incomprehensible judicial system.
Recommended“and I certainly love the trial”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“he teaches literature among other things at Columbia University and he's here to talk about his new book Long Island”
“in Nora Webster which is about really set it's the most Auto autobiographical novel of mine”
“well it's in the novel The Blackwater light ship where the guy says I haven't told my parents that I'm gay”
“that was Sarah Lyle in conversation with the novelist colem toy Bean about his new book Long Island”