Person
Every book Alexandra Jacobs recommended on podcasts
Alexandra Jacobs appears on literary podcasts as a perceptive book critic with a sharp focus on biography, memoir, Hollywood history, and popular culture. During her discussions, she shares enthusiastic recommendations for books that offer intimate glimpses into the lives of notable figures and the behind-the-scenes realities of the entertainment industry. Jacobs expresses admiration for Joan Didion's posthumous book Notes to John, noting how publications surrounded by controversy or pre-publication buzz always capture her interest. She frequently recommends Ada Calhoun's memoir and biography Also a Poet as an engaging summer read and a go-to suggestion for fellow readers. For enthusiasts of cinema and show business, Jacobs champions Sam Staggs's book All About All About Eve as a brilliant exploration of one of the greatest films ever made, and she praises Mark Harris's Pictures at a Revolution for its meticulous look at 1960s Hollywood and the birth of a new era in filmmaking. Additionally, she highlights William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade as one of the definitive guides to the craft of screenwriting. Over the course of her podcast discussions, Jacobs also reveals her reading plans, such as diving into the massive unabridged volume of Mark Lewisohn's definitive Beatles biography, TuneIn, over the holidays.
Books recommended by Alexandra Jacobs
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All About All About Eve
All About All About Eve by Sam Staggs is a comprehensive and engaging nonfiction book that takes a deep dive into the making, cultural impact, and behind-the-scenes history of the classic Hollywood film.
Recommended“it's funny I was going to mention another book about the movies that I really like which is a book by a guy named Sam Stags called all about All About Eve”
Where to get it
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Pictures At A Revolution Five Movies And The Birth Of The New Hollywood
Pictures At A Revolution Five Movies And The Birth Of The New Hollywood by Mark Harris is a comprehensive examination of the films nominated for Best Picture in 1967 and the sweeping cultural shifts of that cinematic era.
Recommended“I also I love pictures out a Revolution by Mark Harris who's a wonderful writer that may know let's just put for our former colleague Mark Harris is a a wonderful who who contributes to the time sometimes he he is one of the greatest writers on Show Business”
Where to get it
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Adventures in the screen trade
Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman is a classic insider account of working as a screenwriter in Hollywood during the twentieth century.
Recommended“he wrote a book called adventures in the screen trade which is I think one of the probably one of the best books about screenwriting ever”
Where to get it
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Also a Poet
Also a Poet by Ada Calhoun is a compelling blend of memoir and literary biography that traces the author's complicated relationship with her father, art critic Peter Schjeldahl, alongside her obsessive quest to complete a biography of poet Frank O'Hara that her father had abandoned decades earlier.
Recommended“and one of the books that I enjoyed most the summer when I picked it up was one that I know you want to talk about Alexandre which was also a poet oh I love also a poet”
Where to get it
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Conversations with Wilder
Conversations with Wilder by Cameron Crowe is a full-length book featuring dialogue with the legendary filmmaker Billy Wilder.
Recommended“but then there is one called conversations with wilder and this is Cameron Crow wow full book length conversation with Billy Wilder”
Where to get it
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Notes to John
Notes to John is a posthumous collection of personal writings by Joan Didion that offers intimate glimpses into her thoughts and life.
Recommended“Another memoir that captivated me, although I don't even know if it could correctly fit into the memoir category, is Joan Ddian's Notes to John because when this this book came out, this is the kind of book that lights me a fire when there's a controversy preceding its publication or around its publication”
Where to get it
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On Consolation
On Consolation is a reflective work of nonfiction by Michael Ignatieff that examines how historical figures, artists, and thinkers throughout the centuries have found solace and meaning during times of personal crisis, grief, and political turmoil.
Recommended“but what I'd love to talk about delightful as Smith Memoir was was on consolation by Michael IGN and I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly the professor and former Canadian politician”
Where to get it
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People Collide
People Collide is a sophomore fiction novel by Isle McElroy that examines modern relationships through an imaginative and disruptive body-swapping premise involving a married couple.
Recommended“and the one that sticks out in my memory most recently is isle McElroy who did a sophomore fiction called people Collide and it's about a married couple that switch bodies”
Where to get it
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The Country of the Blind
The Country of the Blind is a compelling book by Andrew Leland that investigates the multifaceted experience of vision loss, weaving together personal memoir, historical context, and philosophical inquiry.
Recommended“one excellent book that I think was a contender for top whatever was the country of the Blind by and Leland”
Where to get it
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Tune In : The Beatles
Tune In : The Beatles by Mark Lewisohn is the definitive, exhaustively researched first volume of a projected multi-part biography chronicling the early years of the world's most famous rock band.
Recommended“so going to get the unabridged version of it's called TuneIn”
Where to get it
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Academy and the Award
Discussed“well it is an it's an Insider view but interestingly Bruce Davis I thought he he did an amazing job he really stepped outside he the the book is about the the he calls it a buildings Raman about the Oscars”
Where to get it
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American Psycho
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is a satirical psychological horror novel that explores the depraved and hyper-materialist life of a wealthy New York City investment banker named Patrick Bateman.
Discussed“I mean when Dwight said suggested American Psycho for this list and I'm not I think I was shocked into silence but then I read his very eloquent explanation and I was convinced”
Where to get it
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Beautyland
Discussed“are you going to say Beautyland I want to ask you about Beauty Land”
Where to get it
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Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding is a landmark contemporary comedic novel that popularized the Bridget Jones series and captured the experiences of a single British woman navigating romance and professional life in the 1990s.
Discussed“I know that all our all our readers clocked the extra words there in the middle but I mean there's again there's so many different kinds of funny that the slap stickness of Bridget Jones's Diary where the these absurd situations pile up and the narrator's self-deprecation accumulates to the point where I don't know somebody help me”
Where to get it
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Christopher Isherwood Inside Out
Discussed“Brad G is the perfect person to write this biography”
Where to get it
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Gypsy
Discussed“I was amazed that they let me sneak Gypsy onto this list because most people of course think of Gypsy as the musical”
Where to get it
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Heartburn
Heartburn is Nora Ephron's semi-autobiographical novel about a culinary writer navigating the painful dissolution of her marriage amidst humor and betrayal.
Discussed“I found uh rereading heartburn very interesting um because I remembered it in such a pure way and the fact is heartburn should probably run with a couple foot and it you know there's some questionable passages in there”
Where to get it
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Lolita
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is a controversial 1955 novel told primarily from the perspective of Humbert Humbert, an academic who becomes obsessed with and entraps a young girl named Lolita.
Discussed“I am absolutely furious that Lolita is not on this list. I don't know how it dropped off.”
Where to get it
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Lonesome Dove
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is a sweeping epic western novel that follows former Texas Rangers on an ambitious cattle drive from the Rio Grande to Montana.
Discussed“I read Lonesome Dove on a road trip through the Southwest.”
Where to get it
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Money
Money by Martin Amis is a satirical 1984 novel that skewers the excesses, crass consumerism, and moral bankruptcy of 1980s celebrity culture through the chaotic perspective of protagonist John Self.
Discussed“there's a book by Martin Amos on here 1984 book called money”
Where to get it
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My Beloved Monster
Discussed“and Pressly before he died Caleb Carr published a memoir a Meir about his a Meir which I got into the my fi my proudest accomplishment this year is that neologism is now in The Archives of the New York Times”
Where to get it
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The Diana Chronicles
Discussed“obviously her first book was the Diana Chronicles which I also reviewed back in ancient times at the New York Observer and that was more or less a biography”
Where to get it
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The Grapes of Wrath - An Opera in 3 Acts
Discussed“Ricky Ian Gordon the composer also came out from behind some kind of veil to write his Memoir seeing through a Chronicle of sex drugs and Opera”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our Book Critics on Their 2025 in Reading | The Book Review | 2025-12-12 | 1 |
| It's Still Summer. Let's Talk Road Trip Books. | The Book Review | 2025-08-01 | 3 |
| Our Book Critics On Their Year in Reading | The Book Review | 2024-12-13 | 4 |
| The Critics’ Picks: A Year in Reading | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 2 |
| Books About the Oscars | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 10 |
| Books That Make Our Critics Laugh | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 5 |
| Our Critics' Year in Reading | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 2 |
| Jennifer Egan Talks About 'The Candy House' | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 1 |
| Ann Patchett on ‘These Precious Days’ | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 1 |
Other mentions (11: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Susan Chver, who I really applaud. She's written memoirs before, most famously Home Before Dark and she's written other many other across genres.”
“And she's she becomes a major leftist activist and she wrote the American Way of Death. And she just was a fascinating sizzling creature.”
“it's like a version of Feel the fear and do it anyway and Elaine was an early adopter of that as as she was of so many other things”
“it's like a version of Feel the fear and do it anyway and Elaine was an early adopter of that as as she was of so many other things”
“he wrote the books The Princess Bride and Marathon Man”
“he wrote the books The Princess Bride and Marathon Man”
“and he worked on The English Patient which is where the two met Mike gach wrote The English Patient”
“what about Kingsley what about lucky gym which you know was published before our cut off our arbitrary cut off”
“I actually feel my my year was not intentionally but by coincidentally book bookended by these huge this Prince Harry's spare and then Barbara strien”
“and then Barbara strien my name is Barbara those were the book ends of my year practically”
“something like you know the power broker I don't know”