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Gilbert Cruz’s book recommendations in 2020

102 books · 25 episodes · Gilbert Cruz’s most recommended books, all years →

Every episode from 2020, newest first

Jo Nesbo Talks About 'The Kingdom'

The Book Review · 2020-12-11

You learn by living by Eleanor Roosevelt · recommended · at 38:09

Talking About the 10 Best Books of 2020

The Book Review · 2020-11-27

A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet · discussed · at 3:53
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar · discussed · at 9:24
Deacon King Kong by James McBride · discussed · at 14:28
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell · discussed · at 18:44
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett · discussed · at 23:34
Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker · discussed · at 28:54
Shakespeare in a Divided America by James Shapiro · discussed · at 42:11
Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener · discussed · at 50:17
War: How Conflict Shaped Us by Margaret MacMillan · discussed · at 54:05

A Writing Career Among Trailblazing Music Stars

The Book Review · 2020-10-30

Looking to Get Lost by Peter Guralnick · discussed · at 0:15
Da Capo best music writing 2000 by Peter Guralnick · discussed · at 0:15
Wagnerism by Alex Ross · discussed · at 0:30
Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralnick · discussed · at 0:55
Careless Love by Peter Guralnick · discussed · at 0:55
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross · discussed · at 21:44

Real-Life Political Violence Fuels Fiction in ‘The Abstainer’

The Book Review · 2020-10-23

The Abstainer by Ian McGuire · discussed · at 1:01

The Fate of Refugees After World War II

The Book Review · 2020-10-09

The Last Million by David Nasaw · discussed · at 0:14
What Were We Thinking by Carlos Lozada · discussed · at 26:02
White Fragility by Dr. Robin DiAngelo · discussed · at 35:03

Hari Kunzru on Writing ‘Red Pill’

The Book Review · 2020-10-02

Red Pill by Hari Kunzru · discussed · at 0:45
White tears by Hari Kunzru · discussed · at 17:03
A Spy Among Friends Kim Philby And The Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre · discussed · at 21:10
Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre · discussed · at 21:24

C.I.A. Operatives in the Early Years of the Cold War

The Book Review · 2020-09-25

Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson · discussed · at 1:04
The Quiet Americans by Scott Anderson · discussed · at 6:32
The Quiet American by Graham Greene · discussed · at 19:50
The Man Who Ran Washington by Peter Baker · recommended · at 21:59
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson · recommended · at 59:41
Just Us by Claudia Rankine · discussed · at 1:05:14

Ayad Akhtar on Truth and Fiction

The Book Review · 2020-09-18

Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar · discussed · at 0:13
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie · discussed · at 10:21
Cry Havoc by Michael Signer · discussed · at 20:41
The Violence Inside Us by Chris Murphy · discussed · at 20:45

Brian Stelter on Fox News and Reed Hastings on Netflix

The Book Review · 2020-09-11

Hoax by Brian Stelter · discussed · at 7:24
No Rules Rules: Netflix and the culture of reinvention by Reed Hastings · discussed · at 30:48
The Overstory by Richard Powers · discussed · at 32:09
The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery · recommended · at 49:12
The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson · recommended · at 49:12

The Fictional World of Edward P. Jones

The Book Review · 2020-08-14

Luster by Raven Leilani · discussed · at 2:34
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa · discussed · at 5:59

Isabel Wilkerson Talks About 'Caste'

The Book Review · 2020-08-07

The Vapors by David Hill · discussed · at 0:20

Newt Gingrich and the Start of an Era

The Book Review · 2020-07-17

Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford · discussed · at 0:23

David Mitchell's Vast and Tangled Universe

The Book Review · 2020-07-10

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell · discussed · at 0:08
The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova · discussed · at 0:24
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell · discussed · at 9:45
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt · discussed · at 15:16
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell · recommended · at 19:59
Cloud Atlas by David Stephen Mitchell · recommended · at 19:59
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell · recommended · at 19:59
The confidence game by Maria Konnikova · discussed · at 31:48
Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl · discussed · at 56:21

Jules Feiffer on His Long, Varied Career

The Book Review · 2020-07-02

Smart George by Jules Feiffer · discussed · at 0:17
Imperfect Union by Steve Inskeep · discussed · at 0:22
Bark, George by Jules Feiffer · discussed · at 1:44
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster · discussed · at 4:17
Jules Feiffer's America by Jules Feiffer · discussed · at 6:51
The man in the ceiling by Jules Feiffer · discussed · at 15:00

A Short Guide to 'The World'

The Book Review · 2020-06-26

The World by Richard N. Haass · discussed · at 0:13
The Room Where It Happened by John R. Bolton · discussed · at 1:04
A world in disarray by Richard N. Haass · discussed · at 15:42
Tokyo Ueno station by Yu Miri · discussed · at 28:41
The Fallen by Carlos Manuel Alvarez · discussed · at 28:41
Minor Detail by عدنية شبلي · discussed · at 28:41

André Leon Talley on 'The Chiffon Trenches'

The Book Review · 2020-06-18

The Chiffon Trenches by André Leon Talley · discussed · at 0:11

A Manhunt on the 17th Century’s High Seas

The Book Review · 2020-05-29

The Outsider by Stephen King · recommended · at 29:32
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King · recommended · at 32:51
Different Seasons by Stephen King · discussed · at 36:53
Dreamcatcher by Stephen King · critiqued · at 38:57
The Gunslinger by Stephen King · recommended · at 39:55
On Writing by Stephen King · recommended · at 40:11

Immigration Reform, Past and Present

The Book Review · 2020-05-22

The Price of Peace by Zachary D. Carter · recommended · at 7:11
Simply Living Well by Julia Watkins · discussed · at 23:34
Overkill by Paul Offit · discussed · at 23:44
Project 333 by Courtney Carver · discussed · at 23:49
Simplify your life by Elaine St. James · discussed · at 24:12
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld · discussed · at 58:24
Dark Mirror by Barton Gellman · discussed · at 58:29
Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance · recommended · at 58:39
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner · recommended · at 58:40
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt · recommended · at 58:51

The Angry Children Are Our Future

The Book Review · 2020-05-08

A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet · discussed · at 0:13
The Inevitability of Tragedy by Barry Gewen · discussed · at 0:20
Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet · discussed · at 10:49

Lawrence Wright on Researching a (Fictional) Pandemic

The Book Review · 2020-05-01

The End of October by Lawrence Wright · discussed · at 0:46
The Road by Cormac McCarthy · discussed · at 2:39
Thirteen days in September by Lawrence Wright · discussed · at 11:21
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright · discussed · at 11:21
Wolf Hall by Mantel Hillary · discussed · at 14:07
Man of my time by Dalia Sofer · discussed · at 26:31
The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer · discussed · at 33:52
The Witch Elm by Tana French · discussed · at 44:30

Samantha Irby Talks About ‘Wow, No Thank You’

The Book Review · 2020-04-17

Wow, No Thank You. by Samantha Irby · discussed · at 0:48

From the Archive: Michael Lewis and Tana French

The Book Review · 2020-03-13

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis · discussed · at 0:43
Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers by Tom Wolfe · discussed · at 18:38
The Witch Elm by Tana French · discussed · at 20:24
In the Woods by Tana French · discussed · at 22:22

Unjust America

The Book Review · 2020-02-21

Supreme Inequality by Adam Cohen · discussed · at 0:11

Leslie Jamison on Jenny Offill’s ‘Weather’

The Book Review · 2020-02-07

Make It Scream, Make It Burn by Leslie Jamison · discussed · at 0:50
Weather by Jenny Offill · discussed · at 1:00
Last things by Jenny Offill · discussed · at 2:13
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill · discussed · at 2:15
Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum · discussed · at 26:19

Andrea Bernstein on 'American Oligarchs'

The Book Review · 2020-01-24

American Oligarchs by Andrea Bernstein · discussed · at 0:10
Wilmington's Lie by David Zucchino · discussed · at 0:18

Other mentions in 2020 (72: passing, ad reads, own books)