Person
Amor Towles's book recommendations
Key facts
- Amor Towles has recommended or discussed 13 books on podcasts, as of February 14, 2024.
- Amor Towles has talked about books on 3 podcasts, as of February 14, 2024.
- Those books came up in 3 episodes, as of February 14, 2024.
- The 3 books Amor Towles has mentioned in the most episodes, not counting Amor Towles's own, as of February 14, 2024: A good man is hard to find, American Pastoral and Go Tell It on the Mountain.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Amor Towles aired on February 14, 2024.
Updated
Across 3 podcasts. Every show Amor Towles appears on, in one place — not just one.
Amor Towles’s most recommended books
- A good man is hard to find by Flannery O'Connor
- American Pastoral by Philip Roth
- Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
- The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz
- The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
- The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenit︠s︡yn
- The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
- The man in the gray flannel suit by Sloan Wilson
- Underworld by Don DeLillo
- White Noise by Don DeLillo
Amor Towles is an American novelist known for his bestselling novels Rules of Civility (2011), A Gentleman in Moscow (2016), and The Lincoln Highway (2021). Towles began writing following a career in investment banking. During appearances on programs like The Book Review and How I Write, Towles discussed both his own celebrated works and the books that influenced his writing process. He reflected on the publication and reception of his debut novel, Rules of Civility, noting how a charismatic character named Eve inspired a new novella in his short story collection Table for Two. He also recounted how Otto Pensler included A Gentleman in Moscow in his bookstore's first editions club upon release. When preparing to write historical fiction set in the mid-1950s, Towles immersed himself in the period's cultural sensibilities by reading several prominent works. He mentioned reviewing Flannery O'Connor's collection of short stories A Good Man is Hard to Find, James Baldwin's debut novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, and Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye. Through these discussions, Towles provided listeners with insight into the literary research and developmental milestones behind his acclaimed fiction.
Books recommended by Amor Towles
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A Gentleman in Moscow
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is a celebrated historical novel that follows an aristocratic Russian count who is sentenced to spend the remainder of his life inside a luxury hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal.
Discussed“but for my novel a gentleman in Moscow Otto really loved the book and so he included it in his first editions Club the year that it came out”
Where to get it
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Rules of Civility
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles is a celebrated historical fiction novel that follows a young woman navigating high society in New York City during the late 1930s.
Discussed“then I wrote Rules of Civility and then when that became a seller I retired from the firm and and I I think that in retrospect for me that worked out”
Where to get it
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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
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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
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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
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Table for Two
Table for Two by Amor Towles is a collection of short stories and novellas encompassing both urban narratives set in New York and tales situated in Hollywood.
Discussed“but so you have the six New York stories and you have even Hollywood that's a part of this collection called table for two and that which will come out in April and I'm at work at my next novel”
Where to get it
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The Cairo Trilogy
Discussed“and one of those was the works of uh reading nagoo maf's Cairo Trilogy you know where none of us had read MAFO he's the first Nobel Prize winner to write in write in Arabic”
Where to get it
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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
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The Gulag Archipelago
The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is a monumental historical exposé detailing the brutal Soviet forced labor camp system through survivor testimonies, archival research, and the author's own imprisonment.
Discussed“and his experience um I knew that I was not going to write a new version of the gulag archipelago I was not going to write a book about a guy in a prison camp”
Where to get it
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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
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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
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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
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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
Books by Amor Towles
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A Gentleman in Moscow
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Rules of Civility
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The Lincoln Highway
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Table for Two
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Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023
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Best Crime Stories of the Year Volume 3
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Mindset Behind An Unforgettable Novel (Amor Towles Interview) | How I Write | 2024-02-14 | 8 |
| Amor Towles Sees Dead People | The Book Review | 2023-08-18 | 4 |
| Amor Towles on A Gentleman in Moscow and the Writer's Craft | EconTalk | 2022-08-29 | 3 |
Other mentions (4: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I have a collection of short stories which is coming out in April called table for two”
“you know the character is like saying I would never do this you know and so uh you're like oh in in my first novel Rules of Civility one of the central characters is a character named Eve who was sort of a troublemaker in New York City in the mid-30s she leaves the city after some sort of turmoil”
“that was Rules of Civility that was published while I was still a partner at the firm and when that became a bestseller that's when I retired”
“and you know so yes these so I'm very interested in these kinds of constraints and uh they I think they can be very productive as as you know my new novel The Lincoln Highway which came out in the fall is a story about really few boys on their way from Nebraska to New York City in 1954”