Person
Every book Dwight Garner recommended on podcasts
Dwight Garner’s most recommended books
- The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
- Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe
- Normal People by Sally Rooney
- The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
- Godsend by John Wray
- I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore
- Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg
- The Empathy Diaries by Sherry Turkle
- Colorization by Wil Haygood
- Devil House by John Darnielle
Dwight Garner appeared on The Book Review podcast to share his insights on reading and discuss various literary works with fellow critics. He praised Bruce Springsteen's memoir Born to Run for its strong writing and championed Kiran Desai's novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, arguing that it deserved to win both the Booker Prize and the National Book Award. Garner also brought up Adam Ross's novel Playworld to praise it during a discussion of the year's releases. He recommended Keith McNally's memoir I Regret Almost Everything, praising its riotously mean, funny, and hilarious nature. For readers interested in political history and cultural figures, Garner recommended Andrew Rice's The Year That Broke America as a foundational look at the year 2000, and Carrie Courogen's Miss May Does Not Exist, praising its fresh writing style about Elaine May. Furthermore, he mentioned Tony Tulathimutte's earlier novel Private Citizens as terrific and recommended Zadie Smith's essay collection Feel Free, highlighting Martin Amis as a favorite critic and practitioner.
Books recommended by Dwight Garner
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The Passenger
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy is an intricate, companion-style novel following a salvage diver in New Orleans who navigates grief, mathematics, and shadowy government conspiracies alongside his late sister.
Discussed“but I really thought about it because the in in the novel that came out last fall the passenger it set large in New Orleans and cormax hero Billy Western is a lover of the cuisine and he has a lot of he doesn't really pay very often”
Where to get it
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Love, Nina
Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe is a charming epistolary memoir chronicling the author's experiences as a young nanny in 1980s London while working for Mary-Kay Wilmers.
Recommended“there's a beautiful book written by uh Mary Kay Wilmer is nanny called love Nina I love one my favorite books”
Where to get it
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Normal People
Normal People by Sally Rooney is a bestselling contemporary novel that chronicles the complex, evolving relationship between two Irish teenagers, Marianne and Connell, as they navigate class differences and university life.
Recommended“and now she has a new novel called normal people and if you haven't read her she's just a treat”
Where to get it
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The Old Drift
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell is an ambitious, multi-generational debut novel tracing the history of Zambia through interconnected families.
Recommended“and I read this novel this week called the old drift by a first novelist she's born in Zambia her name is namwali surel if I'm getting that correctly”
Where to get it
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Godsend
Godsend by John Wray is an immersive and gripping contemporary novel that explores complex themes of identity, radicalization, and human displacement through a compelling narrative lens.
Discussed“I I read a novel this week by uh youngish writer now named John Ray w a y this new one is called godsend”
Where to get it
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I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore is a contemporary novel that follows a man on a melancholic road trip with his undead girlfriend.
Discussed“It's called I am homeless if this is not my home.”
Where to get it
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Candy
Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg is a wildly irreverent satirical novel that mirrors and mocks the classic picaresque themes of Voltaire’s Candide.
Recommended“um I I reviewed this week candy which is which is now 60 years old the the uh satire of volaras candid”
Where to get it
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The Empathy Diaries
The Empathy Diaries by Sherry Turkle is a deeply moving and revealing memoir that traces the author's personal journey, family dynamics, and intellectual evolution as a pioneering scholar of technology and human psychology.
Recommended“but her new book The empathy Diaries is a memoir and it's beautiful it is simply beautiful it works on so many levels”
Where to get it
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Colorization
Colorization by Wil Haygood is a comprehensive historical book chronicling one hundred years of Black representation and cinema within a predominantly white film industry.
Discussed“I had the good luck Pamela to review will ha Good's new book it's called colorization 100 Years of black films in a white world”
Where to get it
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Devil House
Devil House is a compelling novel by John Darnielle that delves deep into true crime, memory, and the moral complexities of storytelling through the experiences of a true-crime writer investigating a dark past.
Recommended“at any rate that's the prologue to a prologue to his new book which is called devil house which I think is terrific”
Where to get it
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Doxology
Doxology is a contemporary novel by Nell Zink that explores complex modern themes, character development, and intricate interpersonal relationships within an engaging narrative framework.
Recommended“she's really upped her game in her new novel which is called doxology”
Where to get it
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Eat the Buddha
Eat the Buddha is a poignant and deeply reported non-fiction book by Barbara Demick that explores the tumultuous history, life, and tragic deaths within a Tibetan town under Chinese rule.
Discussed“I reviewed a new book by Barbara demic it's called Eat the Buddha”
Where to get it
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Feel Free
Feel Free by Zadie Smith is a wide-ranging collection of essays offering insightful cultural, political, and literary critique.
Discussed“so the books are feel free is the Zade Smith title”
Where to get it
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Killer Cocktails
Killer Cocktails, widely known as The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails edited by David Wondrich with Noah Rothbaum, is an exhaustive reference volume chronicling the history, production, and culture of potable alcohol.
Discussed“you know I I read and reviewed this monsterized book it's called the uh Oxford companion to spirits and Cocktails and it's edited by David wondrich who's sort of one of the one of the key figures in the cocktail Renaissance”
Where to get it
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Orange World and Other Stories
Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell is a whimsical and inventive collection of contemporary short fiction exploring strange, darkly humorous landscapes.
Discussed“the book is called orange World and Other Stories”
Where to get it
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Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails
Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails is a comprehensive reference book edited by David Wondrich and Noah Rothbaum that explores the history, culture, and production of alcoholic beverages.
Discussed“you know I I read and reviewed this monsterized book it's called the uh Oxford companion to spirits and Cocktails and it's edited by David wondrich who's sort of one of the one of the key figures in the cocktail Renaissance”
Where to get it
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The Bonfire of the Vanities
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe is a satirical novel chronicling ambition, greed, and urban decay in 1980s New York City.
Discussed“there are many people including Harold Bloom who would take bonfire the vanities over John Up's best work”
Where to get it
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The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe is a classic work of New Journalism chronicling Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and their psychedelic adventures across America in the 1960s.
Discussed“um and reading books like the electri coate acid test about the bus and Ken key so different from his pieces about say Lena Bernstein and maing the FL catchers”
Where to get it
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The Elephant in the Room
The Elephant in the Room by Tommy Tomlinson is a candid memoir chronicling one man's quest to lose weight in a culture shaped by excess.
Discussed“and so he's written a memoir now called the elephant in the room one fat man's quest to get smaller in a growing America”
Where to get it
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Turbulence
Turbulence by David Szalay and Victoria Alonso Blanco is a contemporary work of fiction comprised of a sequence of interconnected short pieces exploring modern human mobility and connection across various global cities.
Discussed“his new one is called turbulence and and these began as BBC Radio pieces very short and there are 12 of them in 140 pages so they're very short”
Where to get it
The other 159 books Dwight Garner recommended or discussed, ranked
- Cleanness by Garth Greenwell
- Don't erase me by Carolyn Ferrell
- Inside the NRA by Joshua L. Powell
- Milkman by Anna Burns
- Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
- The Book of Unconformities by Hugh Raffles
- The Information by Martin Amis
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
- Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
- Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
- Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
- Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford
- Deliverance by James Dickey
- Hello, Molly! by Molly Shannon
- Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance
- I Regret Almost Everything by Keith McNally
- Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
- Meet Me in the Bathroom by Lizzy Goodman
- Miss May Does Not Exist by Carrie Courogen
- Money by Martin Amis
- Night Boat To Tangier by Kevin Barry
- Night Train by Martin Amis
- Patricia Highsmith : Her Diaries and Notebooks by Patricia Highsmith
- Playworld by Adam Ross
- Private Citizens by Tony Tulathimutte
- The Capital by Robert Menasse
- The cost of living by Deborah Levy
- The End of October by Lawrence Wright
- The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
- The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison by Ralph Ellison
- The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) by Jeffrey Eugenides
- The world is what it is by Patrick French
- The Year That Broke America by Andrew Rice
- A Tokyo Romance by Ian Buruma
- A tour of America's national parks by Reik, Henry Ottridge
- A Very Stable Genius by Carol Leonnig
- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
- Airport by Arthur Hailey
- All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
- Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
- An exact replica of a figment of my imagination by Elizabeth McCracken
- Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
- Ball Four by Jim Bouton
- Be Mine by Richard Ford
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Biography of a Phantom by Robert Mack McCormick
- Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
- Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
- Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
- Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
- Cross Creek Cookery by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
- Crudo by Olivia Laing
- Dear Miss Metropolitan by Carolyn Ferrell
- Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
- Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp
- Edie by Jean Stein
- Experience by Martin Amis
- Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
- Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson
- George, Being George by Nelson W Aldrich
- Going for a beer by Robert Coover
- Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth
- Growing up by Russell Baker
- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- History by Elsa Morante
- Hold still by Sally Mann
- Hot milk by Deborah Levy
- How We Die by Sherwin Nuland
- Human Relations and Other Difficulties by Mary-Kay Wilmers
- I Came As a Shadow by John Thompson
- I Used to Live Here Once - the Haunted Life of Jean Rhys by Miranda Seymour
- King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
- Life by Keith Richards
- Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
- Life studies by Robert Lowell
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
- Lives Other Than My Own by Emmanuel Carrère
- Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
- Machine dreams by Jayne Anne Phillips
- Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
- Memoirs by Robert Lowell
- Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
- Minor characters by Joyce Johnson
- Mitch, Please! by Matt Jones
- Motherhood by Sheila Heti
- My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgård
- Native speaker by Chang-rae Lee
- No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
- No one here gets out alive by Jerry Hopkins
- Nobody's Looking at You by Janet Malcolm
- Nothing to envy by Barbara Demick
- Odetta by Ian Zack
- Odetta's One Grain of Sand by Matthew Frye Jacobson
- On Fire by Larry Brown
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- One Grain of Sand by Odetta
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
- Onlookers by Ann Beattie
- Open by Andre Agassi
- Orientalism by Edward W. Said
- Our Women on the Ground by Zahra Hankir
- Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
- Phil by Alan Shipnuck
- Places of Mind by Timothy Brennan
- Playlist for the Apocalypse by Rita Dove
- Please kill me by Legs McNeil
- Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle
- Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
- Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth
- Saturday by Ian McEwan
- Self-consciousness by John Updike
- Serious eats by Ed Levine
- Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon
- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
- Spring by Ali Smith
- Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
- Stop-time by Frank Conroy
- Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
- Swimming home by Deborah Levy
- Tacky by Rax King
- Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
- Terrorist by John Updike
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- The Book of Eating by Adam Platt
- The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad
- The Dog of the South by Charles Portis
- The Empathy Exams Essays by Leslie Jamison
- The Giant's House by Elizabeth Mccracken
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- The Gulf by Jack Emerson Davis
- The new journalism by Tom Wolfe
- The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy
- The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis
- The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer
- The Rub of Time by Martin Amis
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- The Sellout by Paul Beatty
- The Shining by Stephen King
- The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer
- The threat by Andrew McCabe
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
- The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
- Travels with Lizbeth by Lars Eighner
- Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
- Vox by Nicholson Baker
- Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
- Weather by Jenny Offill
- What Becomes a Legend Most by Philip Gefter
- When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter
- Where You Are Is Not Who You Are by Ursula Burns
- Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
- With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge
Appearances
Other mentions (64: passing, ad reads, own books), the 30 most recent
“I mean you know, I mean Jane Eyre is is auto fiction, you know, David Copperfield, Joyce,”
“I mean you know, I mean Jane Eyre is is auto fiction, you know, David Copperfield, Joyce,”
“and books like Bill Buford, Dirt and Heat, I believe, were his books.”
“Stoner. Stoner. That is correct.”
“Andre Agassi. That is correct. It's a good book.”
“The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. yes.”
“It's it's uh Tom Sawyer. It is. It's Tom Sawyer. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
“and her as I was reminded I think of her as the author of the prime of Miss Gene Brody. She was so prolific and there's a there's an element of the supernatural”
“Yeah, there's a new biography of Dennis Johnson, the writer of Jesus Son and other books. It's not a great biography, but it's good enough.”
“Sheila hetti her new one is called motherhood the one on our Vanguard list was how should a person be”
“I remember the controversy when the New Yorker assigned for review Daniel gold hogins book about the Holocaust title that book Hitler's willing executioners willing executioners and they gave the book to Clive James for review”
“the book is the capital by Robert”
“her second novel came out seven or eight years later called nagara Falls all over again and this is the first one”
“We know Kathy AER was sort of the downtown Punk writer and performance artist the author of blood and guts in high school and other books who died in 1997 far too young of of cancer”
“I reviewed turbulence by David saloy”
“The Classic example is the Godfather Mario PUO novel I Haven I haven't to like that novel”
“iris is an example Iris the iris Murdoch movie I thought was quite nice”
“I think this is maybe considered kind of a wrong idea I'll get Tony's eyes rolling here but I I really like Empire of the Sun the Spielberg movie that's one of my favorites of his”
“oh bonfire the vanities that's what I was about to say”
“you know books like James con's a higher loyalty and and Michael Hayden's The Assault on intelligence”
“you know books like James con's a higher loyalty and and Michael Hayden's The Assault on intelligence”
“that's a very good question for me like I think a suitable boy which was like7 6 no earlier than that”
“one is called slow days Fast Company and the other one is called evees Hollywood and she's written some novels as well”
“one is called slow days Fast Company and the other one is called evees Hollywood and she's written some novels as well”
“the town reminded me of the Savannah Georgia of John baren novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”
“and then Lily aneli and Vanity Fair wrote a piece in 2014 and then the New York Review books reissue two of them and now Counterpoint is doing the novels”
“and then Lily aneli and Vanity Fair wrote a piece in 2014 and then the New York Review books reissue two of them and now Counterpoint is doing the novels”
“I reviewed a very stable genius by Philip Rucker and Carol leonik”
“I reviewed Mitch please how Mitch McConnell sold out Kentucky in America 2 by Matt Jones with Chris Tomlin”
“and I reviewed unworthy Republic the dispossession of Native Americans and the road to Indian Territory by Claudio Sant”