Episode · How I Write · 2024-02-14
David Perell & Amor Towles: books mentioned on How I Write
The Mindset Behind An Unforgettable Novel (Amor Towles Interview)
Amor Towles discussed The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin, A good man is hard to find by Flannery O'Connor, The man in the gray flannel suit by Sloan Wilson, White Noise by Don DeLillo and others, Underworld by Don DeLillo, American Pastoral by Philip Roth, and The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
The Long Goodbye
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler is a celebrated hardboiled detective novel featuring the private investigator Philip Marlowe.
Discussed“planning o Connor's uh first collection of short stories uh A Good Man is Hard to Find I I read um James Baldwin's first novel uh Go Tell It on the Mountain I read the man with a gray flannel suit and I read uh Raymond Chandler's uh long goodbye”
Where to get it
-
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin is a deeply autobiographical novel that explores the spiritual awakening and domestic struggles of a young boy growing up in a religious Harlem household during the 1930s.
Discussed“planning o Connor's uh first collection of short stories uh A Good Man is Hard to Find I I read um James Baldwin's first novel uh Go Tell It on the Mountain I read the man with a gray flannel suit and I read uh Raymond Chandler's uh long goodbye”
Where to get it
-
A good man is hard to find
A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a celebrated collection of southern gothic short stories by Flannery O'Connor that explores themes of morality, grace, and human cruelty.
Discussed“planning o Connor's uh first collection of short stories uh A Good Man is Hard to Find I I read um James Baldwin's first novel uh Go Tell It on the Mountain I read the man with a gray flannel suit and I read uh Raymond Chandler's uh long goodbye”
Where to get it
-
The man in the gray flannel suit
Discussed“planning o Connor's uh first collection of short stories uh A Good Man is Hard to Find I I read um James Baldwin's first novel uh Go Tell It on the Mountain I read the man with a gray flannel suit and I read uh Raymond Chandler's uh long goodbye”
Where to get it
-
White Noise
White Noise by Don DeLillo is a seminal 1984 postmodern novel that chronicles contemporary consumerism, academic satire, and the omnipresence of mass media and pop culture.
Discussed“you work your way towards White Noise and you're like oh that's a masterpiece”
Where to get it
-
Underworld
Underworld by Don DeLillo is a sprawling postmodern masterpiece that traces the second half of the twentieth century through the interconnected lives of various characters against the backdrop of the Cold War and the nuclear age.
Discussed“and underworld even better you know”
Where to get it
-
American Pastoral
American Pastoral is a critically acclaimed 1997 novel by Philip Roth that examines the disintegration of a successful American family during the turbulent social upheavals of the late twentieth century.
Discussed“suddenly late in life he's writing this series of of longer increasingly long and complex Works um you know like American pastoral and things like that”
Where to get it
-
The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels is a foundational 1848 political pamphlet that outlines the core tenets of Marxism, class struggle, and the eventual overthrow of the capitalist system.
Discussed“the surrealist Manifesto of Breton or or the the the Communist Manifesto is amazing”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“I have a collection of short stories which is coming out in April called table for two”