Episode · The Book Review · 2024-07-18
Books mentioned on The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone
Gilbert Cruz discussed Sticky Fingers by Joe Hagan, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, and Just Kids by Patti Smith. Also mentioned: Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel, A childhood, the biography of a place by Harry Crews, Dancing with Cuba by Alma Guillermoprieto, Stop-time by Frank Conroy, With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, The Liars' Club by Mary Karr, The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison, Fierce attachments by Vivian Gornick, Travels with Lizbeth by Lars Eighner, Negroland by Margo Jefferson, Unreliable memoirs by Clive James, Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala, Growing up by Russell Baker, Open by Andre Agassi, The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer, Lives Other Than My Own by Emmanuel Carrère, Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward, Patrimony by Philip Roth, Fun, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson, Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood, Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens, Minor characters by Joyce Johnson, Self-consciousness by John Updike, On Fire by Larry Brown, Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy, Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett, Experience by Martin Amis, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, and This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Sticky Fingers
Sticky Fingers is a comprehensive and revealing biography by Joe Hagan that chronicles the life and times of Jann Wenner alongside the turbulent history of Rolling Stone magazine.
Discussed“this seemed like a great moment to revisit a conversation from December 2017 when Pamela Paul and John Williams interviewed the journalist Joe Hagen upon the release of his winter biography Sticky Fingers”
Where to get it
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Giving Up the Ghost
Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel is a poignant memoir that reflects on the author's childhood, health struggles, and the formative experiences that shaped her literary imagination.
Discussed“like Hillary mantel's giving up the ghost for example is not a Soup To Nuts”
Where to get it
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A childhood, the biography of a place
A Childhood: The Biography of a Place by Harry Crews is a evocative and gritty memoir in which the author chronicles his formative early years growing up in a deeply impoverished, isolated farming community in rural Georgia.
Discussed“yeah one of my favorite books on here which is a childhood by Harry Cruz I think only covers maybe the first five or six years of his life his early childhood at least”
Where to get it
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Dancing with Cuba
Dancing with Cuba is an evocative memoir by Alma Guillermoprieto that recounts her transformative experiences living and teaching dance in revolutionary Cuba.
Discussed“yeah other ones I'm all gto's Memoir I hope I pronounced her name correctly dancing with cubis”
Where to get it
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Stop-time
Stop-Time by Frank Conroy is a classic, beautifully rendered memoir that recounts the author's turbulent and eccentric childhood growing up in America.
Discussed“for me I missed were uh stop time which is Frank Conroy Memoir which is beautiful”
Where to get it
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With the Old Breed
With the Old Breed is a harrowing and widely acclaimed military memoir by E.
Discussed“and the other one is is a military Memoir called with the old Breed by a man named eie Sledge”
Where to get it
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The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a powerful memoir detailing the author's unconventional, nomadic upbringing by eccentric and profoundly dysfunctional parents.
Discussed“and some of them you mentioned I think The Glass Castle and the Liars club and there was Catherine Harrison's the kiss Memoirs that Were Somehow pivotal points”
Where to get it
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The Liars' Club
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr is a celebrated memoir that recounts the author's turbulent, vivid childhood in a Texas refinery town marked by eccentric family dynamics and dark secrets.
Discussed“and some of them you mentioned I think The Glass Castle and the Liars club and there was Catherine Harrison's the kiss Memoirs that Were Somehow pivotal points”
Where to get it
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The Kiss
The Kiss is a controversial and boundary-pushing memoir by American author Kathryn Harrison that details her harrowing experiences with familial trauma.
Discussed“and some of them you mentioned I think The Glass Castle and the Liars club and there was Catherine Harrison's the kiss Memoirs that Were Somehow pivotal points”
Where to get it
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Fierce attachments
Vivian Gornick's 1987 memoir Fierce Attachments offers a searing, electric exploration of a complex relationship between a mother and her daughter in New York City.
Discussed“but like you talk about something like Fierce attachments and the way that it's just it's electric those pages especially those early first few paragraphs you know she's trying to create a grammar for this world”
Where to get it
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Travels with Lizbeth
Travels with Lizbeth by Lars Eighner is a powerful memoir documenting the author's experience of homelessness on the streets of Austin, Texas, and elsewhere during the late 1980s.
Discussed“you look at someone like larser who wrote this Memoir called travels with lisabeth about a period of time when he was homeless on the streets of Austin Texas and elsewhere”
Where to get it
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Negroland
Margo Jefferson's Negroland is a powerful memoir exploring race, class, and the expectations placed upon the African American elite in mid-century America.
Discussed“Margot Jefferson's book negrand Bard Kafka was the rage”
Where to get it
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Unreliable memoirs
Clive James's Unreliable Memoirs is the celebrated first installment of the author's autobiographical writings, capturing his early life with wit and sharp observation.
Discussed“Clive James unreliable memo”
Where to get it
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Wave
Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala is a harrowing and deeply moving memoir documenting the author's survival of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which tragically claimed the lives of her entire family, including her husband, two children, and parents.
Discussed“yeah her Memoir wave is about this horrific tragedy where she essentially lost her entire family in the in the tsunami and she's an economist”
Where to get it
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Growing up
Growing up is a Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir by American journalist, humorist, and columnist Russell Baker.
Discussed“and then Russell Baker comes to mind growing up he he wasn't a Serial memoirist”
Where to get it
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Open
Open by Andre Agassi is a candid and acclaimed memoir detailing the tennis legend's turbulent athletic career, complex relationship with his father, and internal psychological battles.
Discussed“well Andre Memoir open which is a pretty terrific book ghost written I mean by terrific writer JM minger”
Where to get it
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The Tender Bar
The Tender Bar by J.
Discussed“the tender bar which is was quite a good Memoir”
Where to get it
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Lives Other Than My Own
Lives Other Than My Own by Emmanuel Carrère is a deeply reflective non-fiction work that explores profound themes of grief, human connection, mortality, and resilience in the wake of tragedy.
Discussed“we have a book by Emanuel carrer which will be zero surprise to longtime listeners of the podcast um the book is called lives other than my own”
Where to get it
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Men We Reaped
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward is a powerful and poignant memoir that examines the tragic deaths of the author's brother and four other young Black men in her rural Mississippi community, exploring systemic poverty, racism, and grief.
Discussed“and how much can it be about other people too that came up with Jasmine Wards The Men We reaped as well”
Where to get it
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Patrimony
Patrimony by Philip Roth is a moving memoir detailing the author's relationship with his aging father and the harrowing experience of watching an 86-year-old parent face declining health.
Discussed“patrimony by Philip Roth”
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.
Discussed“fun home by Allison beell”
Where to get it
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Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson is a deeply moving and searingly honest memoir in which the acclaimed author explores her traumatic adoption, her fierce intellectual awakening, and the lifelong quest to heal from emotional wounds inflicted by her fiercely religious adoptive mother.
Discussed“but it really is a lot about the Jette winteron as well why be happy when you could be normal”
Where to get it
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Priestdaddy
Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood is a sharply witty and unconventional memoir recounting the author's eccentric upbringing in the Midwest as the daughter of a married Catholic priest.
Discussed“I mean Patricia Lockwood's priest daddy which is one of my favorite books on this list is um just the portrait of her father in that book is Central to it”
Where to get it
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Hitch-22
Hitch-22 is a candid and intellectually robust memoir by the late British-American essayist and critic Christopher Hitchens, reflecting on his political evolution, literary friendships, and eventual battle with cancer.
Discussed“James unreliable Memoirs you know Christopher Hitchens is way up there at number what six um his Memoir hitch 22 at five”
Where to get it
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Minor characters
Joyce Johnson's memoir Minor Characters provides a compelling look into the lives of women orbiting the Beat generation and sheds light on the heavily masculine atmosphere of that literary movement.
Discussed“include Joyce Johnson's minor characters which is down in the in the second half of the list I revered that book”
Where to get it
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Self-consciousness
Self-consciousness is an introspective memoir by American novelist and writer John Updike.
Discussed“uh high would be I think John Up's Memoir is self-consciousness it's a book that I I really admire”
Where to get it
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On Fire
On Fire by Larry Brown is a compelling memoir written by a Mississippi fireman who transitioned into a celebrated novelist, chronicling his rugged life experiences.
Discussed“and there's a smaller book which I just it's just one of my favorite books called on fire by a Mississippi fireman named Larry Brown who became a novelist”
Where to get it
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Autobiography of a Face
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy is a poignant memoir recounting the author's battle with Ewing sarcoma during childhood, the subsequent extensive facial reconstructive surgeries she endured, and her painful journey toward self-acceptance amidst relentless scrutiny of her physical appearance.
Discussed“and then another one I was happy to see on here was autobiography of a face by Lucy gley and Lucy gy is a a poet also”
Where to get it
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Truth & Beauty
Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett is a deeply moving memoir published in 2004 that chronicles the complex, enduring friendship between the author and the late poet Lucy Grealy.
Discussed“that she's also the subject of another Memoir that we we considered and that people really love and patchet truth and Beauty which is about her friendship with gy”
Where to get it
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Experience
Experience by Martin Amis is a deeply reflective and acclaimed memoir by the celebrated British author, exploring his literary upbringing, his complex relationship with his father Kingsley Amis, and his broader observations on life and aging.
Discussed“and so does experience by Martin Amos yes the book I love is it's it's an untidy book but I love that book”
Where to get it
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Wild
Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling memoir, Wild, chronicles her grueling 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail as a journey of emotional healing and personal transformation following profound personal loss.
Discussed“Pamela mentioned The Glass Castle that's not on there Cheryl str's wild which I really enjoyed but didn't make the cut”
Where to get it
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Just Kids
Just Kids by Patti Smith is a celebrated memoir chronicling the author's profound artistic relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe during their youth in New York City and the Chelsea Hotel.
Discussed“and maybe in particular Patty Smith just kids which some people on social media have already griped about”
Where to get it
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Angela's Ashes
Angela's Ashes is a memoir by Frank McCourt that recounts the author's impoverished and challenging upbringing in Ireland before moving to New York City.
Discussed“or Angela's Ashes Angela's Ashes or This Boy's Life”
Where to get it
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This Boy's Life
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff is a classic American memoir detailing the author's tumultuous and rebellious childhood in the Pacific Northwest.
Discussed“Angela's Ashes Angela's Ashes or This Boy's Life”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Yan wner the former editor of Rolling Stone magazine has just released a memoir titled not surprisingly perhaps Like a Rolling Stone”
“is that what you think made Rolling Stone as a magazine work that it transcended the music that it was also culture that was where bonfire the vanities was serialized the right stuff”
“is that what you think made Rolling Stone as a magazine work that it transcended the music that it was also culture that was where bonfire the vanities was serialized the right stuff”
“you had Tina Brown's Vanity Fair Diaries New York Magazine just had a huge coffee table 50-year anniversary”