Person
Every book Chuck Bryant recommended on podcasts
Chuck Bryant appeared on the podcast Stuff You Should Know to discuss and recommend several books across various episodes. He mentioned a photography book titled The Drake Equation by Paul Kranzler and Andrew Phelps, thanking the listeners who sent a copy to the show. When discussing chess-related works, he suggested Searching for Bobby Fischer by Fred Waitzkin as a good alternative option. In another episode, Bryant brought up Douglas Coupland and his novel Gen X while joking about how that generation was notoriously ignored by adults. He also heavily praised Keith Rosson's horror duology consisting of Fever House and The Devil by Name, describing them as great horror books with real heart, while also promoting Rosson's upcoming release, Coffin Moon, and encouraging listeners to sign up for the pre-sale. Additionally, Bryant briefly noted that More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz is an equally good sequel, and he touched on Agatha Christie's first published work, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, noting how the author immediately draws readers in and establishes the cozy mystery style found in many of her works.
Books recommended by Chuck Bryant
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Generation X
Generation X by Douglas Coupland is a defining cultural novel that captured the disillusionment of young adults coming of age in the late twentieth century and famously popularized the generational label.
Recommended“Just ask Douglas Copelan. Who's that? He's the guy who wrote Gen X.”
Where to get it
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Uncle John's Bathroom Reader
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader by the Bathroom Readers' Institute is a long-running, highly popular series of trivia and bathroom entertainment compendiums filled with thousands of fascinating short facts and anecdotes.
Discussed“I learned this years ago from the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, and I looked into it, and I think it actually may be correct.”
Where to get it
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And Then There Were None
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is a masterclass in suspense, following ten strangers lured to a remote island who are systematically murdered one by one.
Recommended“I started reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which I think was her first published work um last night, and it's just great. She just sucks you right in like you she does what's um she creates in a lot of books, not all of them, but she creates what's called a cozy mystery with an S because it's British.”
Where to get it
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Backyard fairies
Backyard fairies by Phoebe Wahl is a wonderful children's book series about fairies that appeals to young readers.
Recommended“what was that that was the series I think I I think it's backyard fairies okay I might be wrong though you sounded like you knew what it was a second ago well I'm I'm looking yeah yeah backyard fairies by Phoebe wall Wahl it it's wonderful”
Where to get it
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Coffin Moon
Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson is an upcoming novel written by the acclaimed author, anticipated by readers of contemporary fiction and dark storytelling.
Recommended“and his book publisher sent me a galley of his new book out this fall. It's called Coffin Moon.”
Where to get it
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Fever House
Fever House by Keith Rosson is a fast-paced, high-concept horror novel featuring a terrifying world where the supernatural violently intrudes upon everyday reality.
Recommended“It's a duogy um called Fever House. Okay. And the second book is called The Devil by Name.”
Where to get it
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Guinness Book of World Records
The Guinness Book of World Records is a well-known annual reference book that compiles globally recognized human achievements and natural extremes.
Recommended“or even better go buy a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records comes out every year”
Where to get it
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More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a famous children's horror anthology by Alvin Schwartz featuring folklore-inspired scary tales and illustrations.
Recommended“Yeah, there's also more scary stories to tell in the dark pretty much equally good. Uh, so maybe we should flip it and start with Little Free Libraries since I mentioned that one first as insp.”
Where to get it
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SCUM Manifesto
SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas is a radical feminist text written in the 1960s that outlines a scathing critique of patriarchal society.
Recommended“author of the scum Manifesto which is definitely worth reading I think I've mentioned before on the show”
Where to get it
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Searching for Bobby Fischer
Searching for Bobby Fischer by Fred Waitzkin is a compelling biographical book that chronicles the early life and chess prodigy journey of Josh Waitzkin.
Recommended“Searching for Bobby Fisher could be a good one, though, for her.”
Where to get it
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The Devil By Name
The Devil by Name by Keith Rosson is a horror sequel that follows the chilling events of Fever House.
Recommended“And the second book is called The Devil by Name. great great horror books.”
Where to get it
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The Drake Equation
The Drake Equation is a distinctive photography book created by Paul Kranzler and Andrew Phelps.
Recommended“and they named their book Drake Equation and they sent us a copy. So, hats off to those guys for the the book, for making the book and sending it to us.”
Where to get it
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The Head Trip
The Head Trip by Jeff Warren is an engaging and exploratory non-fiction book that takes readers on a fascinating journey through the various states of consciousness and the human mind.
Recommended“it's got to me uh which I learned about from Jeff Warren's awesome book The Head trip”
Where to get it
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The hurt locker
The Hurt Locker is a war film exploring the high-stress world of an explosive ordnance disposal team during the Iraq War.
Recommended“had you just seen uh The Hurt Locker or something I've never seen The Hurt Locker really yeah you should check it out it's great movie”
Where to get it
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The Wok
The Wok by J.
Recommended“Jay Kenji Lopez all this written quite a few but had one out this year called The Wok recipes and techniques where he just basically sings the Praises of the walk and it's like you can do so many things in a walk and it's not just about making a stir fry”
Where to get it
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A Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is an absurdist, darkly comedic masterpiece centered on the eccentric and pompous protagonist Ignatius J.
Discussed“A Confederacy of Dunces. And A Confederacy of Dunces still hasn't been made. I It's a very weird curse.”
Where to get it
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A Study in Scarlet
A Study in Scarlet is Arthur Conan Doyle's foundational 1887 detective novel that introduced the legendary fictional character Sherlock Holmes to the reading public.
Discussed“I think when the first one that you just mentioned a study in Scarlet was published in Breitton's um Christmas annual.”
Where to get it
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Ancient Dragons of the Sky
Discussed“another paleontologist named Harry Seeley even wrote a book called dragons of the sky in which he said birds were the descendants of these”
Where to get it
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Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret is a classic young adult novel by Judy Blume that addresses the physical and emotional trials of adolescence.
Discussed“Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, that I remember the most. Yeah, uh I read both of those.”
Where to get it
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Blubber
Discussed“Blubber is the one, aside from Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, that I remember the most.”
Where to get it
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Cherokee English Dictionary
Discussed“What's called the Durbin feeling Language Center uh named after this guy Durbin feeling who wrote the Cherokee English dictionary”
Where to get it
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Do you see what I see?
Discussed“I think the the cream of the crop of like additional stuff that came out of this was a book that beshe put together a Magic Eye Book for Christmas called do you see what I see that's just precious”
Where to get it
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Fairy and folk tales of the Irish peasantry
Discussed“none other than William Butler Yates published I don't know if it was the first one but maybe one of the first big guide books almost about fairies it was called fairy and folktales of the Irish peasantry uh published in 1888”
Where to get it
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Five Bullets
Discussed“One of those books was Five Bullets and the author's name is Elliot Williams.”
Where to get it
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For Esme - with Love and Squalor
Discussed“I read uh for Esme with love and squalor as recently as last night and that was it”
Where to get it
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For Esme-With Love and Squalor, and Other Stories
Discussed“I read uh for Esme with love and squalor as recently as last night and that was it”
Where to get it
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Freckle Juice
Freckle Juice by Judy Blume is a beloved children's chapter book about a young boy named Andrew who goes to great lengths to buy a secret recipe for freckles.
Discussed“Uh Freckle Juice? Did not read that one. I did.”
Where to get it
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Future shock
Future Shock by Alvin Toffler is a seminal work examining the psychological and cultural distress experienced by individuals and societies when subjected to overwhelming rates of technological and social change.
Discussed“it's Alvin toffler's future shock”
Where to get it
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Irish Fairy and Folk Tales
Discussed“none other than William Butler Yates published I don't know if it was the first one but maybe one of the first big guide books almost about fairies it was called fairy and folktales of the Irish peasantry uh published in 1888”
Where to get it
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Just Kids
Just Kids by Patti Smith is a celebrated memoir chronicling the author's profound artistic relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe during their youth in New York City and the Chelsea Hotel.
Discussed“I have that book I haven't read it yet it's on the the Shelf with a bunch of other rock and roll books that I have yet to get to but boy can I tell a quick Patty Smith Bob Dylan story... Patty Smith's book that she wrote about her time with Maple Thorp I think it's called Just Kids”
Where to get it
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Kamasutra
The Kamasutra by Vātsyāyana is a classical ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered the primary Sanskrit guide to human sexual behavior and romantic love.
Discussed“I think a lot of times you think about something like the Kama Sutra and there are definitely contortionist poses in the Kama Sutra.”
Where to get it
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Kindred
Kindred by Octavia Butler is a classic science fiction and time-travel novel that examines slavery, history, resilience, and human connection.
Discussed“uh and there's a TV show last year or the year before from her book Kindred yeah from 1979 which I wasn't I didn't see it”
Where to get it
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Llama, Llama Red Pajama
Discussed“I 683 1382.0 I kind of forgot until I started researching this that there was a uh 684 1386.4 there's a book series for kids called llama 685 1388.9 llama 686 1389.7 okay and boy 687 1389.6 oh boy 688 1390.5 did 689 1391.0 I have to read a lot of llama llama for those first few years”
Where to get it
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Make Room! Make Room!
Discussed“of course soent green yeah great uh great movie from the novel make room make room I no idea what was called that I didn't either”
Where to get it
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Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Discussed“Within 10 years of being at Lordon Blue, uh she had sold her bestselling cookbook that you just bought, I guess. Did you get the OG? Yeah. Yeah. What's the name of that? Mastering the art of French cooking.”
Where to get it
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MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick; or, The Whale explores the obsessive, destructive quest of Captain Ahab to hunt down the white whale that maimed him, weaving a sprawling narrative that blends high-seas adventure, philosophical inquiry, and encyclopedic maritime lore.
Discussed“He is a Moby Dick afficionado and collects copies and versions of that and he said that is the best book of all time. He said it's not my favorite book. He said, 'It's the best book.' You mean The Scarlet Letter, the one with the Great White Whale?”
Where to get it
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On Thermonuclear War
Discussed“he kind of was a bit of a celebrity at the time he wrote a book um in 1961 called on Thermonuclear War”
Where to get it
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Peter Pan
Peter Pan by J.
Discussed“Tinkerbell of course created by the great and wonderful JM Barry author of the play and then eventually the novel Peter Pan um what a great character and what a great just thing that JM Barry launched into the world like all about Peter Pan”
Where to get it
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Pygmalion
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is a classic theatrical play about a professor who attempts to transform a working-class flower girl into a refined society lady, which later inspired the musical My Fair Lady.
Discussed“I was the English major so I read George Bernard Charles play pigmon in college in a class”
Where to get it
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Richard III
Discussed“uh when a a really well-balanced biography came out in the 1950s from Paul Murray Kindle uh called Richard III uh a woman named Philippa Langley read it and got very interested uh she's a historian and a screenwriter obviously a Ricardian and she was like I want to figure out what happened to this body that's still the mystery”
Where to get it
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [12 stories]
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle is a renowned collection of twelve short stories featuring the iconic detective Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr.
Discussed“Uh I think they ended up collecting those short stories in well a collection called The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. And like you said, that was where I mean, I'm I'm sure the novels are great”
Where to get it
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The Andy Warhol Diaries
Discussed“he would dictate his diary by phone every morning and um those became published later on as Andy warhol's Diaries”
Where to get it
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley is a classic account of coming of age, civil rights, and speaking truth to power.
Discussed“So, I saw the movie in '92 and then read the autobiography that with Alex Haley Mhm.”
Where to get it
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The Beanie Baby Phenomenon
Discussed“This woman Peggy Gallagher, she was a parillegal. She made 200 grand on a book that she self-published called The Beanie Baby Phenomenon and then started making, I imagine, a pretty good deal of money as an official, well, not official, but as just an experienced Beanie authenticator.”
Where to get it
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The book of the cow
Discussed“I mean, the word homunculus is fun in and of itself, but uh yeah, there's something called the book of the cow. Uh this is an Arabic book in the 9th century uh that apparently Plato had something to do with. And there was a recipe for a homunculus in there, which is one hunculi.”
Where to get it
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The Daughter of Time
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is a popular 1950s detective novel that reimagines the disappearance of the two princes as a modern Scotland Yard murder mystery, offering an alternative historical theory that challenges the traditional view of Richard III.
Discussed“Uh it was a very popular detective novel called A Daughter of Time in which they reimagine the disappearance of the two princes as a modern murder mystery where Scotland Yard gets involved and Scott Lanyard says Henry VIIIth was the guy who murdered these two boys. It wasn't Richard III. was a very big book uh bestseller in fact”
Where to get it
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The Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth is a gripping thriller detailing the meticulous planning and execution of a high-stakes political assassination.
Discussed“Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsight had been published a few years before and it and it appears that he literally kind of followed the steps of how to obtain a false identity from that book kind of note by note.”
Where to get it
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The Doomsday Book
The Doomsday Book by Marshall Brain is an investigative work that examines humanity's greatest existential threats and potential catastrophic futures.
Discussed“uh one of his books is called the Doomsday Book colon uh the science behind Humanity's greatest threats something that Josh has particular interest in”
Where to get it
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The Greatest Generation
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw is a 1998 non-fiction work that documents the experiences of Americans who grew up during the Great Depression and fought in World War II, popularizing the term used to describe that demographic cohort.
Discussed“Tom Brokaw wrote the book The Greatest Generation, and that in that was 1998, and that really took off and kind of stuck.”
Where to get it
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The Guinness Book of Records
Discussed“in August August 27th in fact 1955 the very first edition came out uh it was titled Guinness Book of Records”
Where to get it
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The Limits to Growth
Discussed“one of the books that came out of the club of Rome uh in 1972 was called limits to growth by uh danella H Meadows Dennis Meadows Jurgen randers and William Barons at MIT”
Where to get it
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The Lost World
Discussed“He wrote uh the original um book The Lost World uh which is also a film in 1925 and Michael Kiteon directly paid homage uh with his own novel The Lost World.”
Where to get it
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The Penelopiad
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood is a 2005 novel that brilliantly retells Homer's epic poem The Odyssey primarily from the perspective of Penelope, while also examining the tragic fates of the enslaved women murdered by Odysseus.
Discussed“Margaret Atwood in 2005 wrote a novel called the Penelope ad.”
Where to get it
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The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman is a foundational 1956 sociology book that explores human interaction through dramaturgical theory, comparing social life to theatrical performance.
Discussed“Uh he wrote a book in 1956 called the presentation of self in everyday life. What a great title. No colons. It's exactly what it says it is.”
Where to get it
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The Seven-per-cent Solution
Discussed“There was one pretty famous case where uh the movie 7% Solution from the 70s from 1974 from director Herbert Ross. Uh, apparently they thought it was in the public domain and it wasn't.”
Where to get it
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The Sixth Extinction
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert is a deeply researched examination of the ongoing mass extinction event driven by human activity and its catastrophic implications for global biodiversity.
Discussed“we picked up on um there's a woman named uh Elizabeth um Colber or Co Colbear depending on if you watch the Col Bear Report. Yeah. Um and she is basically a leading expert as far as journalists go on extinction. She wrote a book called The Sixth Extinction.”
Where to get it
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The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is a classic Lost Generation novel chronicling the disillusionment, travels, and romantic entanglements of a group of American and British expatriates in Europe.
Discussed“specifically in this case, uh it was from the book The Sun Also Rises in the epigraph Ernest Hemingway quoted Stein Uh-huh. saying you are all a lost generation.”
Where to get it
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Tiger Eyes
Discussed“Yeah, and then the one, what is it, Tiger Eyes, sounded familiar, but I'm not sure if I read those.”
Where to get it
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What's Wrong With The Rorschach
Discussed“This um Howard Garb in this one article you sent, he's a co-author of what's wrong with the Roarshack and he is head of psych or at least at the time of this article, he may still be head of psychological testing for the Air Force.”
Where to get it
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Zero Dark Thirty
Zero Dark Thirty is a dramatic thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow that chronicles the decade-long international manhunt for Osama bin Laden.
Discussed“what else did she made besides Zero Dark 30”
Where to get it
Books Chuck Bryant wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (28: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I started Moby Dick, by the way, just so everyone knows it's officially happening.”
“Well, he put his guitar up, and it's the one that's on the cover of the his book, Black Postcards, and he's huge in the studio and on tour, and I was like, huh, so then let me just see how much he wants.”
“You think it's a the um the the United States transition toward the becoming the society from a Handmaid's Tale? Yeah. That might have something to do with it.”
“You never saw Jungle Book? Oh, very very long ago and all I remember is Baloo doing his thing. Yeah, the bare necessities. Yeah, it's so great. Still probably my favorite even among the moderns, my favorite Disney cartoon.”
“My favorite's long been Robin Hood. That was always my favorite as a kid.”
“The author Patricia Highsmith, who's a very interesting person in her own right. She wrote the Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley novels. She was a snail pal, like the snail wrangler in that video that I talked about.”
“The author Patricia Highsmith, who's a very interesting person in her own right. She wrote the Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley novels. She was a snail pal, like the snail wrangler in that video that I talked about.”
“Uh eat shoots and leaves. That's right.”
“Somebody just sends us uh Man in the High Castle, right? No plagiarism, please. Which I never saw or read.”
“It'd make a really cool like title for a Harry Potter book or a Willie the Wizard book or something, you know? Are you making philosophers stone? Um no, I think it's just kind of like it it's just na it fits naturally, you know. Well, that was the original title of the Harry Potter book. Uh, sorcerer stone.”
“I remember I think I might have learned this from Uncle John's bathroom reader that it meant leftovers in Chinese.”
“But Carrie, an adaptation of the Stephen King horror novel as a musical uh in 1988 closed after 16 previews and five regular performances uh at an $8 million budget.”
“Um, has she ever read any of the scary stories to tell in the dark books? Uh, I don't think.”
“She signed my uh Murder on the Orient Express copy, first edition.”
“She was nice enough. She signed my uh Murder on the Orient Express copy, first edition. Oh, wow.”
“I saw it in Silence of the Lambs right oh yeah that's right”
“and then I remembered Anton sugar in No Country for Old Men it's essentially they're they're kind of saying”
“after Miles Davis's kind of blue of course yeah”
“don kote really which makes sense because it was sort of one of the first great novels”
“A Tail of 2 cities is next at 200 million”
“then Lord of the Rings The Little Prince and the Hobbit”
“then Lord of the Rings The Little Prince and the Hobbit”
“then Lord of the Rings The Little Prince and the Hobbit”
“The Da Vinci Cod is the number 10 bestselling Noel”
“what's his name ER Ernest Klein who wrote the book Ready Player one he showed up in his uh back to the Future”
“and Jaffe was also uh popular for something that I had the little side books I bought of uh Snappy answers to stupid questions”
“and apparently in World War II Subs would run silent by going in and out of the Mediterranean without their engines on just using that current oh really yeah so they would uh run style like a glider Run Deep Run silent Run Deep Exactly”
“the mystery of the twin B tiles Josh's love of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents the three detectives books”