Episode · How I Write · 2026-05-06
Books mentioned on Yann Martel: Life of Pi Author Reveals His Writing Process | How I Write
Yann Martel is famous for writing "Life of Pi", which wasn't just a standout book but also an Academy Award-winning movie. What stood out to me about him is that he's strikingly well-read, and he's developed a unique approach to storytelling.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby by F.
Discussed“Like I think of The Great Gatsby with the book The Great Gatsby.”
Where to get it
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The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.
Discussed“So, if we both read The Lord of the Rings and you say, "Hey, I'm going to describe the the Shire and then I do the same thing," our descriptions will be very different.”
Where to get it
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The Hobbit
The Hobbit by J.R.R.
Discussed“I found them so boring where an entire generation loved The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.”
Where to get it
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The Metamorphosis and Other Stories
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka is a collection of surreal fiction best known for its opening novella where a traveling salesman named Gregor Samsa wakes up transformed into a giant insect.
Discussed“You know, the metamorphosis, obvious example, Gregor Samsa wakes up and he's a dung beetle.”
Where to get it
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Josephine the Singer, Or The Nation of the Mice
Discussed“There's also one that I mentioned in this next book called Josephine and the mouse people. It's about mice.”
Where to get it
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Animal Farm
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a classic allegorical novella that uses a farmyard setting to satirize the corruption of socialist ideals and the rise of totalitarianism following the Russian Revolution.
Discussed“Why do you think animals work so well in Animal Farm?”
Where to get it
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Murder On The Orient Express
Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express is a celebrated detective novel featuring Hercule Poirot investigating a murder aboard a snowbound luxury train.
Discussed“Like, you know, Murder on the Orient Express, there's a scene where a porter knocks on the door of a cabin”
Where to get it
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The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima is a dark novel about a young boy in Yokohama, a group of rebellious peers, and a sailor who becomes romantically involved with the boy's mother.
Recommended“I like things like like I remember loving one of the great like a few of the great books of my life have been very individual stories like for example the sailor who fell from grace with the sea by Yukio Mishima story of a sailor who meets a woman”
Where to get it
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Hunger
Hunger is a classic psychological novel by Knut Hamsun that chronicles the desperate experiences of a starving writer wandering through the streets of Christiania, the old name for Oslo.
Discussed“Thompson who was a Norwegian writer. He wrote a book called Hunger and it's about a homeless man in Christiania which was the old name for Oslo.”
Where to get it
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The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories
The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy is a profound novella exploring mortality, self-deception, and the existential reckoning of a dying man.
Discussed“And the first one I sent him was the death of Ivan Illich by Leo Toltoy. Dead white male but it's amazing you.”
Where to get it
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Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Discussed“Speaking of punctuation, remember that movie Eats, Shoots, and Leaves? Who would have thought that a book about punctuation could do so well?”
Where to get it
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Ten Days That Shook the World
Discussed“about an American communist journalist who wrote a book called 10 Days That Shook the World about the October Revolution.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“So let's take the example of life of pie best known book of mine you know I did research on on on animal behavior zoo biology.”
“Like one of my my novel afterlife of pi was called Beatus and Virgil and there I used a donkey and a monkey and here they were heavily anthromorphized.”