Episode · EconTalk · 2025-07-21
Books mentioned on James Marriott on Reading
Is long form reading a dying pastime? Journalist and cultural critic James Marriott joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to defend the increasingly quaint act of reading a book in our scrolling-obsessed, AI-summarized age.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
Sum
Sum by David Eagleman is a work of speculative fiction exploring forty different tales from the afterlives.
Recommended“So, the book I give away pretty often now is Sum by David Eagleman. And if you're at home listening and you haven't read Sum, it's short and lovely and thoughtprovoking and quite extraordinary.”
Where to get it
-
Seiobo There Below
Discussed“The book I've given away the most recent in recent years uh is Siobbo there below by Lo Kra Horai the Hungarian novelist.”
Where to get it
-
Gilead
Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning epistolary novel, Gilead, is a profound meditation on faith, family history, and grace, told through the extended letter of an aging Congregationalist minister to his young son.
Discussed“Just to take an example, uh I love Gilead by uh Marian Robinson. It's not vacation reading.”
Where to get it
-
The Corrections
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen is a sweeping contemporary novel that chronicles the struggles and dysfunction of an aging Midwestern couple and their three adult children as they navigate the turn of the millennium.
Recommended“uh The Corrections by Jonathan Franson is on it. Okay. Nobody's ever regretted taking that book on hold in my experience.”
Where to get it
-
Breathing Lessons
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler is a Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary novel that explores the complexities, quiet struggles, and enduring humor within a decades-long American marriage.
Recommended“Beautiful little novel called Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler. Highly recommend.”
Where to get it
-
The Line of Beauty
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst is a critically acclaimed Booker Prize-winning novel that explores political and social life in Britain during the Thatcher era through the experiences of a young scholar.
Recommended“uh I always put The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst on that list.”
Where to get it
-
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“um my brilliant friend, right? It's the first one in the trilogy.”
Where to get it
-
A History of Reading
Discussed“And I picked up us a book uh from a shelf called A History of Reading by Alberto Manuel, which is just a lovely book about the history of reading.”
Where to get it
-
The WEIRDest People in the World
Joseph Henrich's influential nonfiction work, The WEIRDemt People in the World, examines how Western populations became psychologically distinct—Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic—due to historical shifts in marriage and family structures driven by the Catholic Church.
Recommended“A book called The Weirdest People in the World by Joseph Henrik, who is an anthropologist and a psychologist, really transformed the way that I think about people”
Where to get it
-
The Social Contract
Discussed“Um I remember reading this a book called The Social Contract by Robert Arrey.”
Where to get it
-
The Three Languages of Politics
The Three Languages of Politics by Arnold Kling is a non-fiction book that presents a framework for understanding how different ideological groups interpret social and political issues through distinct moral vocabularies.
Recommended“uh the three languages of politics by Arnold Kling which we've had at least three two or three episodes about it on this program is a book that changed the way I think about politics”
Where to get it
-
The World of Late Antiquity
The World of Late Antiquity by Peter Brown is a foundational historical study that reinterprets the cultural and religious transformation of the Mediterranean world between the third and eighth centuries.
Recommended“Peter Brown I think the book to start with is a book called The World of Late Antiquity. quite a slim book”
Where to get it
-
The Rise of Western Christendom
The Rise of Western Christendom by Peter Brown is an expansive historical work that traces the development of Christian culture and society across Europe and the Mediterranean from late antiquity through the early medieval era.
Recommended“And uh he's got an even he's got an even longer book which is maybe if you if you love the world of late antiquity called the rise of western christryendom which takes the same period again.”
Where to get it
-
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys by Claire Tomalin is a widely praised biographical work that chronicles the life of the famous seventeenth-century diarist who documented the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London, and the restoration of the monarchy.
Recommended“The book to read by her in my opinion is her biograph her biography of Samuel Peeps which is just an utterly charming book.”
Where to get it
-
The World of Yesterday
The World of Yesterday is a haunting and poignant memoir by Stefan Zweig that chronicles the author's life in Vienna and across Europe during the turbulent period between the First and Second World Wars, capturing the devastating rise of Nazism and the collapse of a liberal European order.
Recommended“Uh I love his memoir uh the world of yesterday. That's a really wonderful book.”
Where to get it
-
What Good Are the Arts?
Discussed“That's from a wonderful book uh that he wrote called What Good Are the Arts, which is”
Where to get it
-
CAN YOU FORGIVE HER?
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope is a classic Victorian novel that examines the complex romantic choices, financial pressures, and social expectations faced by independent-minded women in nineteenth-century England.
Recommended“Uh, I just would put in a plug for Can You Forgive Her if you've never read Trollup.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“I have a friend who reads To Kill a Mockingbird every year.”
“similarly, I used to give away The Fatal Conceit by FA Hayek a lot. Uh, it'sund I think 113 I think it's 113 pages.”
“sorry I have read uh all three volumes of the goule archipelago by snniten.”