Episode · The Book Review · 2024-07-18
Books mentioned on Our Critics' Year in Reading
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Be Mine
Discussed“I mean the Richard Ford was the closeout it's the novel was called be mine it's the last novel in his Frank baskam series”
Where to get it
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Onlookers
Discussed“and batty has a new book of stories called onlookers that came out this year and what's interesting about it and it's very good is that it's really a portrait of a town”
Where to get it
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I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore is a contemporary novel that follows a man on a melancholic road trip with his undead girlfriend.
Discussed“and finally Lori Moore published this really odd book this year called I am homeless if this is not my home and it verges on emo horror”
Where to get it
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People Collide
People Collide is a sophomore fiction novel by Isle McElroy that examines modern relationships through an imaginative and disruptive body-swapping premise involving a married couple.
Recommended“and the one that sticks out in my memory most recently is isle McElroy who did a sophomore fiction called people Collide and it's about a married couple that switch bodies”
Where to get it
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Best Minds
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions is a deeply personal and investigative memoir by Jonathan Rosen that examines the tragic trajectory of his childhood friend Michael Laudor, a brilliant legal scholar who developed severe schizophrenia.
Discussed“I feel like thematically there are parts of that book that dove somewhat with one of the books on our top 10 books of the year list which is the best Minds by Jonathan Rosen”
Where to get it
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Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs
Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs by Kerry Howley is a dark, probing exploration of the American surveillance state and the legal persecution of whistleblower Reality Winner.
Discussed“but I really want to give you a little bit more Runway to talk about Bottoms Up and the devil laughs by Carrie Howley”
Where to get it
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The Country of the Blind
The Country of the Blind is a compelling book by Andrew Leland that investigates the multifaceted experience of vision loss, weaving together personal memoir, historical context, and philosophical inquiry.
Recommended“one excellent book that I think was a contender for top whatever was the country of the Blind by and Leland”
Where to get it
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Doppelganger
Doppelganger by Naomi Klein is a sharp, timely work of nonfiction that uses the author's personal confusion with conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf to examine the psychic distortions and political fragmentation of the pandemic era.
Discussed“so her book was called doppelganger and it starts off sort of As A Memoir of our own experience during the pandemic”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“and then Barbara strien my name is Barbara those were the book ends of my year practically”
“I actually feel my my year was not intentionally but by coincidentally book bookended by these huge this Prince Harry's spare and then Barbara strien”
“read like The Win wrote about the epistolary book 44 cheering Crossroad which I uh have never read”