Episode · The Book Review · 2026-05-01
Books mentioned on ‘The Book Review’ Podcast Turns 20
Tina Jordan discussed A million little pieces by James Frey and Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Gilbert Cruz discussed Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgård and others, My Brilliant Friend by Chiara Lagani and others, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, and Blood, Bones, & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton. Dwight Garner recommended Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen and others, and discussed Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and The Sellout by Paul Beatty.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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A million little pieces
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey is a controversial autobiographical work that chronicles addiction, rehabilitation, and recovery.
Discussed“In January of 2006, there was a controversy involving a book called A Million Little Pieces.”
Where to get it
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Eat Pray Love
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is a widely read memoir that chronicles the author's transformative journey across Italy, India, and Indonesia following a painful divorce and personal crisis.
Discussed“another book from that year that turned out to be a very big deal, and I'm going to turn to you, Tina, to talk about this one was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.”
Where to get it
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The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a dystopian young adult novel set in a ruined nation where children are forced to compete in a televised death match.
Discussed“This is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The first book came out in 2008.”
Where to get it
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Twilight
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is a globally popular young adult fantasy romance novel that follows the intense and complicated relationship between a human high school girl and a century-old vampire.
Discussed“It inspired the same kind of fandoms that we saw with Twilight. The first Twilight book with was 2005.”
Where to get it
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The Road
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a bleak, post-apocalyptic novel that follows a father and his young son as they walk across a burned America, striving to survive while holding onto their morality.
Discussed“Because 2 years before The Hunger Games, um in 2006, um Cormac McCarthy's The Road came out”
Where to get it
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Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is a science fiction novel about an astronaut tasked with saving humanity from an extinction-level threat.
Discussed“Oh, uh Project Hail Mary. Mary. He loves that writer. Is it Andy Weir. Andy Weir.”
Where to get it
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson is a gripping psychological thriller that launched the global phenomenon of Scandinavian noir through its complex investigation into a decades-old disappearance.
Discussed“you know, we're talking here primarily about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which came out in 2008.”
Where to get it
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My Struggle
My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgård, translated by Don Bartlett, is a massive, multi-volume autobiographical novel that chronicles the intimate and mundane details of the author's daily life.
Discussed“We should go to 2009, which is when in America a book named My Struggle or the first volume in a in a multi-book series by Karl Ove Knausgard came out.”
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“The first book, My Brilliant Friend, uh, was published here, translated and published here in in 2011.”
Where to get it
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Wolf Hall
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is a historical fiction novel that chronicles the rise of Thomas Cromwell in the court of King Henry VIII.
Discussed“in 2009 there was a book published called Wolf Hall. What a book. I know, what a book.”
Where to get it
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Born to Run
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen and Michael Morpurgo is an introspective and critically acclaimed memoir that chronicles the legendary musician's working-class upbringing, struggles with mental health, and path to rock superstardom.
Recommended“I mean, Born to Run. Yeah, Born to Run.”
Where to get it
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Fifty Shades of Grey
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.
Discussed“50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James, came out in 2011. This was a a book that started as Twilight fan fiction.”
Where to get it
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Gone Girl
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is a dark psychological thriller that unravels the turbulent marriage and sudden disappearance of Amy Dunne through the increasingly suspect perspective of her husband, Nick.
Discussed“In 2012, there was a a giant thriller that came out, Gone Girl by uh Gillian Flynn. Uh this was another massive hit.”
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“This is a book called The Sellout by Paul Beatty. Paul Beatty.”
Where to get it
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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“Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Right. This was a a book that Reese Witherspoon's book club sort of propelled”
Where to get it
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American Dirt
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins is a gripping and intensely controversial novel that follows a mother and son fleeing their home in Mexico as migrants pursued by a violent drug cartel.
Discussed“Tina, we're going to jump ahead to 2020 when the book American Dirt was published. Oh, boy. This was this was you want to talk about controversies.”
Where to get it
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Crying in H Mart
Discussed“you're using the publication of 2021's Crying in H Mart -- book by Michelle Zauner,”
Where to get it
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Blood, Bones, & Butter
Blood, Bones, & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton is a celebrated food memoir that details the author's unconventional path to becoming a chef and running her restaurant.
Discussed“I'm thinking um of a of a of a book by the uh chef Gabrielle Hamilton... Right, that was um Blood, Bones and Butter.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (53) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Harry Potter if I'm recalling correctly, the last book, the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, had come out the year before.”
“Harry Potter if I'm recalling correctly, the last book, the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, had come out the year before.”
“I mean you know, I mean Jane Eyre is is auto fiction, you know, David Copperfield, Joyce,”
“I mean you know, I mean Jane Eyre is is auto fiction, you know, David Copperfield, Joyce,”
“We're talking here about people like Rachel Cusk in her Outline Trilogy, Sheila Heti who wrote a book called How Should a Person Be,”
“The fourth book was published in 2015. Uh, it's called The Story of the Lost Child.”
“I remember women passing them around the same way we passed around, you know, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret when we were when we were in fifth grade.”
“The other books are Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light.”
“The other books are Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light.”
“Life, which was a Keith Richards memoir, and Just Kids by Patti Smith.”
“Life, which was a Keith Richards memoir, and Just Kids by Patti Smith.”
“you reference Bob Dylan's memoir, which came out in 2004, Chronicles Volume One.”
“And E.L. James and the up writing the trilogy of books, 50 Shades of Grey, 50 Shades Darker, and 50 Shades Free.”
“And E.L. James and the up writing the trilogy of books, 50 Shades of Grey, 50 Shades Darker, and 50 Shades Free.”
“George Saunders won the Booker Prize the following year for Lincoln in the Bardo.”
“two of the finalists were Train Dreams by Denis Johnson and Swamplandia.”
“two of the finalists were Train Dreams by Denis Johnson and Swamplandia.”
“And The third one was The Pale King. Oh, The Pale King. Foster Wallace.”
“Listen, in 1977, the previous time this happened, that was the year of Gravity's Rainbow. People were apoplectic.”
“In 2017 for The Underground Railroad, and in 2020 for The Nickel Boys, making him one of only a handful of authors who has received the Pulitzer twice for fiction.”
“In 2017 for The Underground Railroad, and in 2020 for The Nickel Boys, making him one of only a handful of authors who has received the Pulitzer twice for fiction.”
“and books like Bill Buford, Dirt and Heat, I believe, were his books.”
“And the first hits that that came out of BookTok were actually old books. Um Song of Achilles from 2011,”
“Um Song of Achilles from 2011, um We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.”
“She's the author of the ACOTAR series, if I'm saying the the abbreviation right, A A Court of Thorns and Roses. A Court of Thorns and Roses, right?”
“So both her and Rebecca Yarros, The Fourth Wing.”
“The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright, The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford, and Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. What year?”
“The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright, The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford, and Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. What year?”
“The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright, The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford, and Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. What year?”
“Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, Room by Emma Donoghue, and A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.”
“Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, Room by Emma Donoghue, and A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.”
“Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, Room by Emma Donoghue, and A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.”
“The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, There There by Tommy Orange, and Educated by Tara Westover.”
“The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, There There by Tommy Orange, and Educated by Tara Westover.”
“The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, There There by Tommy Orange, and Educated by Tara Westover.”
“Trust by Hernan Diaz, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, and Stay True by Hua Hsu.”
“Trust by Hernan Diaz, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, and Stay True by Hua Hsu.”
“Trust by Hernan Diaz, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, and Stay True by Hua Hsu.”
“Angel Down by Daniel Kraus, The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, and Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy.”
“Angel Down by Daniel Kraus, The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, and Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy.”
“Angel Down by Daniel Kraus, The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, and Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy.”
“Stoner. Stoner. That is correct.”
“Andre Agassi. That is correct. It's a good book.”
“Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code famously spent 136 weeks on top of the New York Times bestseller list.”
“Those novels are The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Origin, and The Secret of Secrets.”
“Those novels are The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Origin, and The Secret of Secrets.”
“Those novels are The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Origin, and The Secret of Secrets.”
“Meryl Streep reading Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, which only came out a few years ago.”
“I believe this is the first book, which is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or if you live in the United Kingdom, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.”
“I believe this is the first book, which is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or if you live in the United Kingdom, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.”
“The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. yes.”
“It's it's uh Tom Sawyer. It is. It's Tom Sawyer. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
“James. James by Percival Everett, that is correct.”