Episode · The Book Review · 2022-07-22
Diana Goetsch on The Book Review: books mentioned
Diana Goetsch on ‘This Body I Wore’
Gilbert Cruz discussed This Body I Wore by Diana Goetsch and The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser. John Williams recommended Norwood by Charles Portis and The Dog of the South by Charles Portis, and discussed Family of Origin by CJ Hauser, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, and True Grit by Charles Portis. Alexandra Alter discussed Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis, Harry Sylvester Bird by Chinelo Okparanta, The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron, and Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Lauren Christensen recommended Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Joumana Khatib recommended Mating by Norman Rush, and discussed The Secret History by Donna Tartt and The Last Samurai by Helen Dewitt and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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This Body I Wore
Discussed“the poet Diana gch is here to talk about her new book this body I wore which our reviewer calls an achingly beautiful Memoir about a trans woman's often vexed relationship with her own body”
Where to get it
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The Crane Wife
Discussed“CJ Hower talks about her essay collection the crane wife including the title piece which went viral when the Paris review published it in 2019”
Where to get it
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Family of Origin
Discussed“she is the author of two novels family of origin and the from a ways”
Where to get it
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High Fidelity
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby is a 1995 breakup novel that follows an obsessive record store owner reflecting on his past relationships through the lens of his favorite music and top-five lists.
Discussed“I was reminded of a line in Nick hornby's High Fidelity something about how if someone's favorite things you know them their favorite movies their favorite music”
Where to get it
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Otherbound
Discussed“one of them which is just out is Harry Sylvester Bird by Chinelo oara and this is her second novel her third book and her first really overt satire I would say”
Where to get it
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Harry Sylvester Bird
Discussed“one of them which is just out is Harry Sylvester Bird by Chinelo oara and this is her second novel her third book and her first really overt satire I would say”
Where to get it
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The Last White Man
Discussed“so that was one of the books that I wrote about another that's coming out soon called the last white man is also very overtly about racial identity”
Where to get it
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Exit West
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid is a contemporary magical realist novel that explores migration, refugees, and global upheaval through the lens of a couple fleeing a war-torn country.
Discussed“his last novel exit West was about the refugee crisis and migration um particularly migration from countries in the Middle East and Asia where war and extremism has been a problem”
Where to get it
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The Confessions of Nat Turner
Discussed“in 's case she started thinking about it several years ago when she was teaching a class at Colombia a writing class and they were talking about the issue of cultural appropriation in novels like William styron's the confession of Nat Turner or in Memoirs of AA books where white writers had tried to write about someone from another background”
Where to get it
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Memoirs of a Geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha is a historical fiction novel by Arthur Golden that chronicles the life of a Japanese woman who rises from poverty to become a celebrated geisha in Kyoto before and during World War Two.
Discussed“in 's case she started thinking about it several years ago when she was teaching a class at Colombia a writing class and they were talking about the issue of cultural appropriation in novels like William styron's the confession of Nat Turner or in Memoirs of AA books where white writers had tried to write about someone from another background”
Where to get it
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a bestselling novel that follows the complex, decades-long creative and personal partnership of two friends who design video games.
Recommended“so I am reading a book that just came out this month tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zan who I know has been a guest on this podcast”
Where to get it
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Klara and the Sun
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is a dystopian novel narrated by an artificial intelligence companion observing the shifting human world.
Recommended“and I'll kind of spare all the details but I think I just basically love this book for a lot of the same reasons that I loved a very different story but Kazo ishiguro Clara and the sun I think these are two writers who are just pure storytellers”
Where to get it
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The Secret History
The Secret History by Donna Tartt is a gripping psychological thriller following a tightly knit circle of eccentric classics students at an elite New England college whose intellectual arrogance leads to moral decay and murder.
Discussed“well there is still a threat of a severe illness in this book that I'm reading and dedicated listeners of the book review podcast will remember that I am reading tremendously out ofd books between the secret history and The Last Samurai”
Where to get it
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The Last Samurai
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt is a critically acclaimed and inventive novel that follows a single mother raising a precocious young boy in Tokyo as he becomes obsessed with Akira Kurosawa's film.
Discussed“well there is still a threat of a severe illness in this book that I'm reading and dedicated listeners of the book review podcast will remember that I am reading tremendously out ofd books between the secret history and The Last Samurai”
Where to get it
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Mating
Mating by Norman Rush is a sprawling, intellectually ambitious novel following a brilliant female American anthropologist in Botswana as she navigates an intellectual and romantic entanglement with a utopian community leader.
Recommended“so I am now going to Norman Rush's meeting oh boy yes”
Where to get it
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Norwood
Norwood by Charles Portis is a slender, humorous novel following an ex-marine named Norwood Pratt on a strange mission to New York City commissioned by a shady character.
Recommended“it's very slender and it's Charles Porto's first novel Norwood which I'm rereading which is rare for me”
Where to get it
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True Grit
True Grit by Charles Portis is a classic American novel following the fierce young Mattie Ross as she hires a one-eyed U.S.
Discussed“pis is by far I think still most famous as the author of True Grit but he was written about for so long as an undervalued or underere writer that I think he probably became as read as he was going to be”
Where to get it
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The Dog of the South
The Dog of the South by Charles Portis is a darkly humorous comic novel following an eccentric protagonist on a sprawling, unpredictable road trip across America and Central America.
Recommended“True Grit is fantastic the dog of the South is a comic novel that's really funny”
Where to get it
