Episode · The Book Review · 2026-04-17
Books mentioned on The Time Loop Book Series You Should Be Reading
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust is a monumental multi-volume modernist novel that explores memory, time, and human consciousness.
Discussed“One thing that that's been interesting to me that I've been thinking about a lot of people who've written about these books compare them to the great modernist time novels, you know, to to Proust's In Search of Lost Time and to James Joyce's Ulysses, right?”
Where to get it
-
Ulysses
Ulysses by James Joyce is a monumental modernist novel that chronicles a single day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mirroring the structure of Homer's Odyssey.
Discussed“compare them to the great modernist time novels, you know, to to Proust's In Search of Lost Time and to James Joyce's Ulysses, right? Which is cuz Proust is about time and the experience of time, but it's about memory.”
Where to get it
-
Heaven
Discussed“They were the ones who worked on the first books by Mieko Kawakami to come into English, and she's obviously still something of a sensation among and what does she write? Um she's the author of Breasts and Eggs, Heaven.”
Where to get it
-
Sisters in Yellow
Critiqued“She has a new sort of noir out called Sisters in Yellow. They did not work on that book, and I did feel that, frankly.”
Where to get it
-
King Kong Theory
King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes is a provocative feminist manifesto that examines gender, sexuality, and power through the lens of the author's own life experiences.
Recommended“She has a sort of like feminist manifesto called King Kong Theory. And he he really was an incredible conduit for her voice.”
Where to get it
-
Vernon Subutex 1
Vernon Subutex 1 by Virginie Despentes is the first installment of a gritty contemporary trilogy chronicling the life of a displaced former record store owner navigating the social landscapes of Paris.
Recommended“And she has this trilogy of books that I think everybody should read. Vernon Subutex, it's about a sort of unemployed record dealer just bouncing around the right bank of Paris meeting a bunch of very colorful characters.”
Where to get it
-
Time Shelter
Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov is an inventive novel by a Bulgarian writer, translated by Angela Rodel, that explores a clinic of the past offering a promising treatment for Alzheimer's sufferers by recreating decades past down to the finest detail.
Recommended“So as a specific comp for On the Calculation of Volume, I'm going to recommend Time Shelter. This is by a Bulgarian writer, Georgi Gospodinov, and translated by Angela Rodel. Um this won the International Booker in 2023.”
Where to get it
-
The Betrothed
The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni is a celebrated historical romance and Italian literary classic set against the backdrop of seventeenth-century Lombardy during Spanish rule.
Recommended“But I did just finish an Italian classic that I really liked. Um it's called The Betrothed in English. Uh in Italian, it's uh I Promessi Sposi by Alessandro Manzoni... But it's also just a lovely translation. Um that's translated by Michael F. Moore, whose translations from Italian into English I highly recommend.”
Where to get it
-
Kairos
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck is a nuanced and complex age-gap novel by the acclaimed German writer that explores the fraught dynamics of a relationship against the historical backdrop of the collapsing East German regime.
Recommended“I love this book. This is Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck who's German. All of her books are great. Go Went Gone, etc. Um so Kairos was translated by Michael Hofmann and is a very very nuanced and complex, I guess you could just call it an age gap novel”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Like I really really need to go reread Like classics in quotes? Class Yeah. Yeah. What What is classics out of quotes? I don't know why I said that. Okay, anyway. So, like I need to go back and reread like Turgenev and all the you know, Anna Karenina.”