Episode · The Book Review · 2015-12-04
Books mentioned on Inside The New York Times Book Review: The 10 Best Books of 2015
Pamela Paul recommended Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff, Beauty is a wound by Eka Kurniawan, and Skyfaring by Mark Vanhoenacker, and discussed Outline by Rachel Cusk, A manual for cleaning women by Lucia Berlin, The door by Magda Szabó, The Sellout by Paul Beatty, The Neapolitan Novels : My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante and others, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Empire of cotton by Sven Beckert, H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf, One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway by Asne Seierstad, My Brilliant Friend by Chiara Lagani and others, Mr. Bridge by Evan S. Connell, Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell, Negroland by Margo Jefferson, Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill, Of Beards and Men by Christopher Oldstone-Moore, True style by G. Bruce Boyer, First bite by Bee Wilson, and Bread and jam for Frances by Russell Hoban. Also mentioned: The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson, Cross Justice by James Patterson, SPQR by Mary Beard and others, and Boys in the Trees by Carly Simon.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Outline
Outline by Rachel Cusk is a critically acclaimed contemporary novel known for its minimalist style and unique narrative structure where the protagonist reveals herself primarily through the stories told to her by others.
Discussed“Outline by Rachel kusk the sellup by Paul batty”
Where to get it
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A manual for cleaning women
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin is a celebrated short story collection that showcases the author's remarkable talent for capturing the grit, humor, and dignity of everyday working-class lives.
Discussed“Emanual for cleaning women by Lucia Berlin”
Where to get it
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The door
The door by Magda Szabó is a powerful psychological novel translated from Hungarian that delves into the intense and complex relationship between a writer and her enigmatic housekeeper, Emerence.
Discussed“in fiction we have the door by MDA Zabo”
Where to get it
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The Sellout
The Sellout by Paul Beatty is a bold, satirical novel about race and racism in contemporary America that made history as the first American novel to win the Booker Prize in 2016.
Discussed“the sellup by Paul batty”
Where to get it
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The Neapolitan Novels : My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante form a gripping literary tetralogy comprising My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child, tracing the lifelong friendship of two women in Naples.
Discussed“the story of The Lost Child by Lena fonte”
Where to get it
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Between the World and Me
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a powerful, epistolary memoir structured as a letter from a father to his teenage son regarding the realities of growing up Black in America.
Discussed“and in non-fiction Jen in non-fiction we have between the world and Me by Tanana hassy coats”
Where to get it
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Empire of cotton
Empire of Cotton by Sven Beckert is a groundbreaking global history that examines how the industrialization of a single commodity spurred the creation of modern capitalism, globalization, and systemic exploitation.
Discussed“Empire of cotton by Sven beckert”
Where to get it
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H Is for Hawk
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald is a critically acclaimed memoir that chronicles the author's harrowing journey through grief following the sudden death of her father, which she processes by training a notoriously aggressive goshawk.
Discussed“H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald”
Where to get it
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The Invention of Nature
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf is a celebrated biography that chronicles the life, travels, and revolutionary scientific ideas of the pioneering naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.
Discussed“the invention of nature by Andrea wolf”
Where to get it
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One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway
One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway by Åsne Seierstad is a meticulous and harrowing journalistic account of the 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway and the radicalization of the perpetrator.
Discussed“one of us by AOS cot”
Where to get it
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My Brilliant Friend
My Brilliant Friend by Chiara Lagani, Elena Ferrante, and Mara Cerri is the acclaimed opening volume of the Neapolitan quartet tracking the lifelong friendship of two women in Italy.
Discussed“yeah there is especially the first one my brilliant friend I I finished it I I was AVID for that book as well”
Where to get it
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The Argonauts
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson is a genre-bending work of autotheory that intertwines memoir, queer theory, and cultural criticism to explore pregnancy, love, identity, and gender transition.
Recommended“so the book that I was hoping would be on the list was the Argonauts by Maggie Nelson which I thought reviewed which I did review”
Where to get it
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Fates and Furies
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff is a celebrated novel that examines the complex dynamics of a marriage by exploring the same relationship from two distinctly different perspectives.
Recommended“I was a big advocate for Lauren gr's Fates and Furies this year a book that in in some ways you know has Echoes of Gone Girl in it”
Where to get it
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Mr. Bridge
Mr.
Discussed“she started it off actually as two different books almost like a Mr bridge and Mrs Bridge kind of thing which which does the same thing”
Where to get it
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Mrs. Bridge
Mrs.
Discussed“she started it off actually as two different books almost like a Mr bridge and Mrs Bridge kind of thing which which does the same thing”
Where to get it
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Beauty is a wound
Beauty is a Wound is a sprawling historical novel by Indonesian author Eka Kurniawan that blends magical realism, family saga, and dark political history.
Recommended“one is the eeka cornean he's an Indonesian novelist his book beauty is a wound which is impossible to describe”
Where to get it
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Negroland
Margo Jefferson's Negroland is a powerful memoir exploring race, class, and the expectations placed upon the African American elite in mid-century America.
Discussed“and it's on our notable list and it's negrand by Margot Jefferson the critic and it's a memoir”
Where to get it
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Skyfaring
Skyfaring by Mark Vanhoenacker is a reflective and lyrical exploration of modern commercial aviation that illuminates the poetic and technical realities of flight.
Recommended“so my runner up I think uh one book I really admired this year was Mark Van honer's uh book Sky fairing”
Where to get it
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Dept. of Speculation
Dept.
Discussed“if I had to compare it to a book of last year's list it would be Jenny oil's uh Department of speculation”
Where to get it
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Of Beards and Men
Discussed“the revealing history of facial hair by Christopher oldstone Moore sounds like a very appropriate name for that title”
Where to get it
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True style
Discussed“and true style the history and principles of classic Men's Wear by G Bruce Boer”
Where to get it
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First bite
Discussed“she is the author of consider the fork and her new book is called First Bite how we learn to eat”
Where to get it
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Bread and jam for Frances
Discussed“this is uh this is the lesson of bread and jam for Francis that you're overturning here”
Where to get it
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SPQR
Discussed“the uh classicist and historian Mary beard uh has a book called spqr that is all about the Civic life of ancient Rome”
Where to get it
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Boys in the Trees
Discussed“and then at number nine the um singer and member of the Simon and Schuster family Carly Simon has a memoir called boys in the trees”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (8) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“um it's the finalist included George pelicanos Joshua Cohen for the Book of Numbers”
“Erica for fear of dying um which I thought was you know there's a lot of sex in that book”
“Lauren gra for Fates and Furies and maissi for his novel which got some tough reviews”
“so the the award was handed out this Tuesday and it went to morisy for his novel the list of the lost”
“the books again are true style the history and principles of classic men's wear and of beards and Men”
“the books again are true style the history and principles of classic men's wear and of beards and Men”
“she is the author of consider the fork and her new book is called First Bite”
“B Wilson is the author of first bite how we learned to eat which is reviewed this week in the book review by Jenny rosenak”