Person
Every book Emily Eakin recommended on podcasts
Emily Eakin’s most recommended books
- Billion Dollar Whale By Tom Wright, Bradley Hope & Bad Blood Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup By John Carreyrou 2 Books Collection Set by Bradley Hope Tom Wright
- How to Be a Family by Dan Kois
- Good Material by Dolly Alderton
- Baldwin by Nicholas Boggs
- Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor
- Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
- Las inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir
- Red Comet by Heather Clark
- Sabrina by Nick Drnaso
- The evening of the holiday by Shirley Hazzard
Emily Eakin contributed to multiple episodes of The Book Review podcast, sharing her insights on biographies, novels, graphic novels, and memoirs. Eakin recommended Nicholas Boggs's biography Baldwin, focusing on the life of writer James Baldwin, and discussed Simone de Beauvoir's novelized memoir Les Séparés as a compelling exploration of friendship. She also introduced Nick Drnaso's contemporary graphic novel Sabrina and explored Shirley Hazzard's debut novel The Evening of the Holiday following the author's passing. For readers interested in investigative journalism and contemporary non-fiction, Eakin recommended John Carreyrou's Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, emphasizing its gripping narrative of corporate deception. Additionally, she discussed Dan Kois's memoir How to Be a Family, which chronicles a family's year traveling the globe to find new ways of living together. Across these discussions, Eakin highlighted a diverse selection of literary works, offering listeners thoughtful commentary on both contemporary releases and enduring classics.
Books recommended by Emily Eakin
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Billion Dollar Whale By Tom Wright, Bradley Hope & Bad Blood Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup By John Carreyrou 2 Books Collection Set
The Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope alongside Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou are prominent investigative journalism books detailing massive corporate scandals and startup fraud.
Recommended“I'm reading Bad Blood secrets and lies in a Silicon Valley startup by John carero”
Where to get it
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How to Be a Family
How to Be a Family by Dan Kois is a memoir chronicling the author's year spent dragging his children around the world in search of a new way to live together.
Recommended“I'm reading how to be a family the year I dragged my kids around the world to find a new way to be together by Dan koise”
Where to get it
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Good Material
Good Material by Dolly Alderton is a sharp and humorous contemporary novel that explores the messy aftermath of a breakup from the perspective of a heartbroken male comedian.
Recommended“I wanted a literary experience but I wanted a comic novel and good material was recommended by a colleague and I thought huh you not knowing anything about Dolly alderton”
Where to get it
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Baldwin
Baldwin by Nicholas Boggs is an intimate and comprehensive biography exploring the life, relationships, and literary legacy of the iconic American writer and activist James Baldwin.
Recommended“I will go with the biography Baldwin by Nicholas Bogs. It's a biography of the writer James Baldwin.”
Where to get it
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Hurricane Season
Hurricane Season is a visceral, turbulent novel by acclaimed Mexican writer Fernanda Melchor that explores the dark underbelly of a rural community following a gruesome discovery.
Recommended“my pick is Hurricane season by firanda meltor this is the first novel to appear in English by meltor who is a young Mexican writer”
Where to get it
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Kairos
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck is a nuanced and complex age-gap novel by the acclaimed German writer that explores the fraught dynamics of a relationship against the historical backdrop of the collapsing East German regime.
Recommended“and it's chyros by Jenny erpenbeck the German novelist who is a perennial Nobel long Lister”
Where to get it
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Las inseparables
Las inseparables is a novelized memoir by Simone de Beauvoir that explores a lifelong, intense female friendship during youth, written in the 1950s but published posthumously.
Recommended“this is one I actually thought maybe Jam would mention it is in separable by Simone deovir which is a novelized memoir written in the 50s”
Where to get it
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Red Comet
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark is an acclaimed biographical work that delves deeply into the complex life and brilliant artistry of the iconic poet.
Recommended“yes I've been reading a very different kind of book the book I want to talk about is red comet the short life and blazing art of Sylvia PL by by Heather Clark”
Where to get it
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Sabrina
Sabrina by Nick Drnaso is a contemporary graphic novel that explores modern anxiety, surveillance, and the fallout of a tragedy.
Recommended“um I want to talk about two books one very recent the other um many decades old and the the Contemporary book is Sabrina which is a graphic novel by Nick duraso”
Where to get it
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The evening of the holiday
The evening of the holiday is a novel by Australian author Shirley Hazzard.
Recommended“um I just wanted to talk about Shirley Hazard today because I also recently read her first novel Shirley Hazard being the Australian novelist recently deceased who wrote uh the transit of Venus her first novel was called the evening of the holiday”
Where to get it
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The evolution of Calpurnia Tate
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly is a charming middle-grade historical novel following a young girl growing up in Texas at the turn of the twentieth century as she develops a passion for science and nature.
Recommended“it's called the evolution of caleria Tate by jacn Kelly”
Where to get it
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The Magician
The Magician by Colm Tóibín is a historical fiction novel that offers a novelized chronicle of the life of the celebrated German author Thomas Mann.
Recommended“the book I want to mention is the magician by colum toin the Irish novelist this is a work of historical fiction”
Where to get it
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The Undocumented Americans
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is a powerful and deeply personal work of nonfiction that explores the lives of undocumented immigrants in the United States.
Recommended“I'm reading a really interesting book the book is undocumented Americans by Carla corneo via venio”
Where to get it
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What You Have Heard Is True
What You Have Heard Is True by Carolyn Forché is a haunting and powerful memoir that chronicles the author's harrowing experiences in El Salvador at the onset of the Salvadoran civil war when she was just twenty-seven years old.
Recommended“so the book I want to mention today is what you have heard is true by Carolyn forche”
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“and Bridget Jones Diary was 1996 and I feel that this I think dolly alderton is very self-consciously descendant of those writers”
Where to get it
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Conditional Citizens
Discussed“There have been books by immigrants like Leila Lamy I was thinking about her book she just published a book conditional citizen”
Where to get it
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Dear America
Discussed“the only other one I can think of is Dear America by Jose Antonio Vargas”
Where to get it
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High Fidelity
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby is a 1995 breakup novel that follows an obsessive record store owner reflecting on his past relationships through the lens of his favorite music and top-five lists.
Discussed“because I wanted to pick up on Nick Hornby because that this High Fidelity was a breakup novel published in 1995”
Where to get it
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Mrs Osmond
Discussed“I'm reading Mrs Osmond by John banville which is Believe It or Not a sequel to portrait of a lady”
Where to get it
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My Year of Rest and Relaxation
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh is a darkly comic and provocative novel about a privileged young New York woman who attempts to hibernate for an entire year using a cocktail of heavy psychiatric pharmaceuticals.
Discussed“this was a book that we were talking about for months there were a lot of such so many good books this year but I wanted to talk about my year of rest and relaxation by otessa mosag”
Where to get it
The other 11 books Emily Eakin recommended or discussed, ranked
- One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
- Patricia Smith Performs Always in the Head and Selected Poems by Patricia Smith
- The economy of prestige by James F. English
- The Happiest Kids in the World by Rina Mae Acosta
- The Intentions of Thunder by Patricia Smith
- The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
- The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
- The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine
- The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
- There Is No Place for Us by Brian Goldstone
- We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
Appearances
Other mentions (9: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I think it belongs on a shelf with Evicted by Matthew Desmond and Invisible Child by Andrea Elliot.”
“I think it belongs on a shelf with Evicted by Matthew Desmond and Invisible Child by Andrea Elliot.”
“We were spoiled by that and Martyr too, I think maybe.”
“Some book that nobody's ever heard of called Paco's Story won that year.”
“I realize we haven't mentioned Flashlight by Susan Choi. That was another finalist.”
“Shirley Hazard being the Australian novelist recently deceased who wrote uh the transit of Venus her first novel was called the evening of the holiday”
“if you've read priest daddy her h I ious and Brilliant Memoir you know that she grew up in rectories across the Midwest with a priest father a very eccentric one”
“because the sheer amount of writing that pla left her journals and scrapbooks her poems and short stories her novel The Bell jar and letters so many letters it's dazzling”
“she of course she she wrote poetry and she wrote a brilliant autobiographical novel The belar”