Episode · How I Write · 2025-12-03

Books mentioned on My Top 10 Writing Lessons from 2025

4 books · With Robert Macfarlane, Jayne Anne Phillips, Paul Harding, Henrik Karlsson, Alain de Botton, Lulu Cheng Meservey, Mitch Albom, Dana Gioia, David Whyte · Listen · Watch on YouTube

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Books mentioned, in the order they came up

  1. Is a River Alive?

    Robert Macfarlane · at 2:06

    Discussed
    “I was going through the book and I remember just being blown away by how vivid his descriptions of rivers were. He had just published a book called Is a River Alive?”
    Where to get it
  2. Machine dreams

    Jayne Anne Phillips · at 5:41

    Discussed
    “That's the first line of Machine Dreams. Yeah. My first novel.”
    Where to get it
  3. The Grapes of Wrath

    John Steinbeck · at 20:06

    The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a monumental American classic that chronicles the arduous migration of a dispossessed Oklahoma family fleeing the Dust Bowl for California during the Great Depression.

    Discussed
    “John Steinbeck, if you read The Grapes of Wrath, for all of Grapes of Wrath's imperfections, he has written one of the greatest American novels”
    Where to get it
  4. The Lord of the Rings

    J.R.R. Tolkien · at 21:46

    The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.

    Discussed
    “Tolken, I think The Lord of the Rings is the greatest novel in English written about the First World War”
    Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Night Watch
“We recorded in Boston. She was fresh off the Pulitzer Prize for a novel called Nightw Watch.”
Passing Tinkers
“I also recorded with him in Boston. He won the Pulitzer Prize for a novel called Tinkers.”