Episode · The Book Review · 2020-01-10
Books mentioned on Life in Tech’s ‘Uncanny Valley’
Alexandra Alter discussed Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Pamela Paul discussed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell and Long Bright River by Liz Moore. Elisabeth Egan discussed Dopesick by Beth Macy. Tina Jordan recommended Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts by Christopher de Hamel. John Williams recommended The odd women by George Gissing, and discussed New Grub Street by George Gissing, The men in my life by Vivian Gornick, and The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup and others. Greg Cowles discussed Thelonious Monk by Robin D.G. Kelley and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Where the Crawdads Sing
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is a bestselling fiction novel that combines a coming-of-age narrative with a murder mystery set against the backdrop of the North Carolina marshes.
Discussed“it's where the croad sing by dilia Owens which is a DW novel that we wrote about you know we covered the rise of that book and sort of its surprising staying power”
Where to get it
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How to Do Nothing
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell is an exploration of attention, the attention economy, and the value of stepping away from constant productivity.
Discussed“it was Jenny Odell's how to do nothing which coincidentally was also on Barack Obama's list of his favorite books of of 2019 and and therefore a lot of people have started reading it”
Where to get it
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Long Bright River
Long Bright River by Liz Moore is a suspenseful literary thriller centered on an opioid epidemic ravaging a Philadelphia neighborhood and the strained relationship between two estranged sisters, one a police officer and the other struggling with addiction.
Discussed“long bright River it's a novel by lizmore”
Where to get it
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Dopesick
Dopesick by Beth Macy is a harrowing chronicle of the opioid epidemic and the pharmaceutical companies that fueled addiction in America.
Discussed“and it puts a face on the opioid crisis in a way that I think a lot of the non-fiction we've been reading like Beth Macy's dopesick”
Where to get it
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Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts by Christopher de Hamel is a richly illustrated and scholarly exploration of twelve significant medieval manuscripts, offering readers a fascinating journey into the history, creation, and cultural context of these rare texts.
Recommended“it's called meetings with remarkable manuscripts 12 Journeys into the Medieval World and it's by somebody named Christopher day and I'm gonna butcher his last name haml h m l”
Where to get it
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New Grub Street
New Grub Street is a sprawling, 550-page realist novel by George Gissing that explores the grueling economic and moral realities of the literary marketplace in late-nineteenth-century London.
Discussed“when I read a book fairly recently by George gissing called new grub street I'm reading another novel by gissing now called the odd women”
Where to get it
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The odd women
The Odd Women by George Gissing is a sharp, late-Victorian social novel that examines the shifting roles of women, marriage, and independence in industrial England.
Recommended“I'm reading another novel by gissing now called the odd women which is uh fantastic I'm I'm highly recommending it”
Where to get it
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The men in my life
The Men in My Life by Vivian Gornick is an incisive collection of literary essays exploring female autonomy, reading, and personal growth through the lens of the author's intellectual influences.
Discussed“well the reason I'm reading it and the reason I read new grub street is because she has an essay about gessing in her book the men in my life”
Where to get it
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Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G.
Discussed“I the last time I was on the podcast I had just started Robin Kelly's biography of tonius Monk which is called thonus monk The Life and Times of an American original”
Where to get it
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The Chestnut Man
The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup, translated from Danish by Caroline Waight, is a chilling and intricate Nordic Noir thriller that follows two detectives hunting a sadistic killer who leaves a small figurine made of chestnuts at every crime scene.
Discussed“I left reading a book that I talked about briefly on the last episode which was the chestnut Man by Soren vrp a Nordic Noir kind of thriller book”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (20) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“she'll talk about her first month pick long bright River by Liz Moore”
“it's kind ofama well above Michelle Obama”
“number three is actually dog man Dave pky”
“because in 2018 you really saw the Trump bump there were books like Bob Woodward's fear”
“and before that you had fire and fury and Publishers were just racing to sign up”
“if you look at the print bestsellers that NPD pulled together the only political book on the list is becoming by Michelle Obama”
“there are other non-fiction books that are appealing to people particularly educated by Tara West which is still selling incredibly well”
“you know there was a moment where all the light we cannot see was the one book everybody was talking about”
“and and you know there was the Gone Girl era”
“there was the girl on the train era”
“the pachenko period”
“the first is heft”
“and the second is the Unseen World”
“Tina you um recently read the corner that held them the novel by Sylvia Tansen Warner which is also set in medieval times”
“and she actually I think titled her Memoir the odd woman in the city because of this book The Odd women”
“I think it was 1893 a few years after Henry James's the bostonians was published it's actually a book that has a lot in common with that”
“so I read meetings with remarkable manuscripts by Christopher deel”
“I'm reading the odd women by George gissing”
“I'm reading Thelonius Monk The Life and Times of an American original by Robin DG Kelly”
“and I read the chestnut Man by saurin spyr”