Episode · The Book Review · 2022-01-21
Books mentioned on The Chinese Language Revolution
Gilbert Cruz discussed Kingdom of Characters by Jing Tsu, Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz, and Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz. Kathryn Schulz recommended H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and others, and Fun, and discussed A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis. John Williams recommended Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, and discussed Middlemarch by George Eliot. Greg Cowles recommended 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, and discussed The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño. Pamela Paul recommended The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier, and discussed Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Kingdom of Characters
Discussed“and her new book is called Kingdom of characters the language Revolution that made China modern”
Where to get it
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Being Wrong
Being Wrong is a nonfiction book by Kathryn Schulz that explores the psychology, philosophy, and inevitability of human error and changing one's mind.
Discussed“so this is your second book but before we get into it I just want you to talk for a moment about your first book the title Alan of course is Evergreen”
Where to get it
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Lost & Found
Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz is a reflective and deeply philosophical memoir-essay that explores the universal human experiences of losing physical objects, cherished relationships, and profound grief, while discovering what those losses reveal about our lives.
Discussed“okay with this book it started also with an essay and that essay was about losing things talk about that this book grew out of a piece I wrote in 2017 for the New Yorker”
Where to get it
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H Is for Hawk
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald is a critically acclaimed memoir that chronicles the author's harrowing journey through grief following the sudden death of her father, which she processes by training a notoriously aggressive goshawk.
Recommended“what an enormous admirer I am of Helen McDonald's HS for Hawk a truly beautiful and unusual book about her grief over her father's death”
Where to get it
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Notes on Grief
Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a deeply personal and reflective book documenting the author's experience following the death of her father.
Recommended“I really admired Chim manda's book notes on Grief about the death of her father”
Where to get it
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Fun
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is a celebrated graphic memoir exploring family dynamics, sexuality, and the complex relationship between a daughter and her closeted father.
Recommended“I was devastated by wave by Fun home”
Where to get it
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A Grief Observed
A Grief Observed by C.S.
Discussed“but but I think if there's one book that this book is sort of obliquely in conversation with it's probably CS Lewis's a grief observed which is about the death of a partner not the death of a parent and which is a profoundly Christian Reckoning with grief”
Where to get it
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Middlemarch
Middlemarch by George Eliot is widely celebrated as a masterwork of Victorian literature, chronicling the lives and aspirations of provincial society in the fictional town of Middlemarch.
Discussed“well as listeners will know I have been reading and I am continuing to read Middle March by George Elliott but that will take me a bit longer”
Where to get it
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Small Things Like These
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is a poignant and concise novella set in Ireland during the weeks leading up to Christmas, focusing on a coal merchant named Bill Furlong who confronts local complicity in the Magdalene laundries.
Recommended“uh and there're small Pages short little book called small things like these by CLA Keegan”
Where to get it
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2666
2666 is a massive, complex novel by Roberto Bolaño that explores a wide range of themes, most famously centering on the unsolved femicides in a fictional Mexican border city.
Recommended“I am starting Roberto balan's Monumental novel 2666 which is famously based on the femicides that plagued suad Warez in Mexico”
Where to get it
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The Savage Detectives
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño is a sprawling, multi-perspective novel that follows a group of avant-garde poets searching for a vanished female writer across Mexico and various international landscapes.
Discussed“I've really loved all of the other bologan I've read maybe the Savage Detectives especially”
Where to get it
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Our Mutual Friend
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens is a sweeping Victorian novel exploring wealth, corruption, and societal hypocrisy against the backdrop of the River Thames.
Discussed“so the book I am actually reading and I'm not going to talk about it for a few weeks is our mutual friend by Dickens”
Where to get it
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The Anomaly
The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier is an inventive, high-concept literary thriller in translation that examines the chaotic societal and philosophical fallout after a commercial flight duplicates itself mid-air.
Recommended“there was a copy in the office so I grabbed the Anomaly by irve latelier and just a couple things”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (17) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Jing Su will be here to talk about her new book Kingdom of characters the language Revolution that made China modern”
“Katherine Schultz will join us to talk about her Memoir lost and found”
“the book again is called Kingdom of characters the language Revolution that made China modern by Jing Su Jing”
“her new book is called Lost and Found”
“for listeners frantically taking notes about some of those books wave is sonali dagala”
“my partner is Casey SE my my fellow New Yorker staff writer and and author of furious hours a book about Harper Lee”
“Katherine Schultz's new book is called Lost and Found”
“well partly inspired by John in your reading of Middle March”
“along with a guy named Chris Andrews who translated the short feverish novel by night and Chile and The Story collection last evenings on Earth and a lot else”
“along with a guy named Chris Andrews who translated the short feverish novel by night and Chile and The Story collection last evenings on Earth and a lot else”
“and then like I remember I did that with Warren piece originally and you know speaking of a large cast of characters”
“I did that with bring up the bodies the H did Hall the first I'm sorry Wolf Hall is what I mean”
“I did that with bring up the bodies the H did Hall the first I'm sorry Wolf Hall is what I mean”
“I remember at the beginning of the pandemic the book book I first picked up I'm pretty sure was Ian Frasier in Siberia”
“I read small things like these by CLA Keegan”
“I'm reading 2666 by Roberto Balan”
“and I read the Anomaly by irve latelier”