Episode · The Book Review · 2019-01-04
Books mentioned on Fugitive Slaves and the Road to the Civil War
Parul Sehgal recommended Making babies by Anne Enright, and discussed Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin, Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, and A life's work by Rachel Cusk. Jennifer Szalai discussed Act Natural by Jennifer Traig.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Mouthful of Birds
Discussed“I reviewed a book called mouthful of birds by samanta schweblin and Argentine writer and it's a book of 20 short stories that are all beautifully Godly insane and serialist and they belong to the same universe”
Where to get it
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Fever Dream
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin is a haunting and surreal contemporary novella that explores the deep anxieties of motherhood, environmental dread, and the fragile bond between a mother and her child through a disorienting dialogue.
Discussed“I first heard of schweblin when Jen reviewed her I think it was like her first book published in English called fever dream which is an incredibly deranged beautiful book you read in about 10 minutes you don't breathe once”
Where to get it
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Act Natural
Discussed“so the the book I reviewed this week is called act natural and it's by a writer named Jennifer trag and she calls it a cultural history in Misadventures and parenting”
Where to get it
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A life's work
A Life's Work by Rachel Cusk is a candid and intellectually rigorous memoir that explores the complex, often unsettling realities, cultural expectations, and psychological transformations of becoming a mother.
Discussed“in some way I think in terms of tone it's the books that are not parenting books that but that are books that in some way deal with Parenthood in a way that I find to be interesting where the tone I mean one example is Rachel cusk's book life's work which a lot of people are put off by”
Where to get it
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Making babies
Making Babies is a compelling book by Anne Enright that explores the emotional and physical realities of pregnancy, motherhood, and family life.
Recommended“going back to tone the book I love and that I sort of recommend sort of like most indiscriminately is an enright's book making babies which I think Dwight reviewed it's so good”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (19) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing The war before the war
“Andrew Del Bano will join us to talk about his new book The War before the war”
Passing Never Home Alone
“in his new book never home alone”
Passing The war before the war
“and now his new book is the War before the war fugitive slaves and the struggle for America soul from the revolution to the Civil War”
Plugged The war before the war
“so in in 1850 when the when the crisis over slavery had reached the boiling point for many other reasons the question of the federal territories and a number of other issues the Congress tried to solve the problem once and for all by passing a new law which I describe in the book I think fairly as a merciless”
Plugged The war before the war
“and uh that that group of Northerners included Abraham Lincoln who famously said in a letter to a friend of 1855 I think it was I hate to see the poor creatures hunted down and return to their stripes but I bite my lip and keep quiet and a large part of my book is devoted to trying to explain”
Plugged The war before the war
“so one of the things I learned I think readers of the book would learn is that black people were really caught between slave owners who wanted them to remain with them as non-persons and and Northerners who really had not much interest in having them in their neighborhood at all”
Plugged The war before the war
“but I think that in order to understand the complexity of our history we ought to try to see the world from multiple points of view and I try to do that in this book from the point of view of the fugitives themelves primarily which I think is something we've we've scanted in our in our history to the”
Passing The war before the war
“his most recent book is the war before the war fugitive slaves and the struggle for America's soul from the revolution to the Civil War”
Passing Never Home Alone
“Rob Dunn joins us now from North Carolina he is the author of never home alone from microbes to millipedes camel crickets and honeybees the natural history of where we live”
Passing A Natural History of the Future
“Rob Dunn joins us now from North Carolina he is the author of never home alone from microbes to millipedes camel crickets and honeybees the natural history of where we live”
Passing Never Home Alone
“Rob Dunn is the author of never home alone from microbes to millipedes camel crickets and honeybees the natural history of where we live”
Passing A Natural History of the Future
“Rob Dunn is the author of never home alone from microbes to millipedes camel crickets and honeybees the natural history of where we live”
Passing Fever Dream
“no I mean I I think and I I haven't I've only read a few of the stories in mouthful of birds but yeah fever dream is definitely you sort of see”
Passing Slow days, fast company
“one is called slow days Fast Company and the other one is called evees Hollywood and she's written some novels as well”
Passing Eve's Hollywood
“one is called slow days Fast Company and the other one is called evees Hollywood and she's written some novels as well”
Passing Slow days, fast company
“and then Lily aneli and Vanity Fair wrote a piece in 2014 and then the New York Review books reissue two of them and now Counterpoint is doing the novels”
Passing Eve's Hollywood
“and then Lily aneli and Vanity Fair wrote a piece in 2014 and then the New York Review books reissue two of them and now Counterpoint is doing the novels”
Passing Mouthful of Birds
“I discussed mouthful of birds by samanta schweblin”
Passing Act Natural
“and the book I reviewed this week was act natural by Jennifer T”