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Gilbert Cruz’s book recommendations in 2023

107 books · 30 episodes · Gilbert Cruz’s most recommended books, all years →

Every episode from 2023, newest first

Book Club: 'The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store'

The Book Review · 2023-12-22

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride · book club pick · at 0:18

How to Tell the Story of a Giant Wildfire

The Book Review · 2023-12-15

Fire Weather by John Vaillant · discussed · at 1:13
Ducks by Kate Beaton · recommended · at 8:39

10 Best Books of 2023

The Book Review · 2023-11-28

The Fraud by Zadie Smith · recommended · at 2:19
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray · recommended · at 2:19
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah · recommended · at 2:19
Fire Weather by John Vaillant · recommended · at 2:43
Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo · recommended · at 2:43
Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista · recommended · at 2:53
Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen · recommended · at 3:00
Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett · discussed · at 18:44
Strangers to Ourselves by Rachel Aviv · discussed · at 19:57

Talking Barbra Streisand and Rebecca Yarros

The Book Review · 2023-11-10

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros · discussed · at 12:40
My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand · discussed · at 18:58

Happy Halloween: Scary Book Recommendations

The Book Review · 2023-10-27

Ghost Hunters by Deborah Blum · recommended · at 4:17
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz · discussed · at 15:00
The Terror by Dan Simmons · discussed · at 25:48
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson · discussed · at 29:06
Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand · discussed · at 30:47

How Did Marvel Become the Biggest Name in Movies?

The Book Review · 2023-10-20

MCU by Joanna Robinson · discussed · at 0:39

What Big Books Have Yet to Come Out in 2023?

The Book Review · 2023-10-13

A Shining by Jon Fosse · recommended · at 6:37
Septology by Jon Fosse · discussed · at 7:16
Absolution by Alice McDermott · recommended · at 9:17
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott · discussed · at 9:27
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears · recommended · at 11:28
My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand · discussed · at 13:33
Worthy by Jada Pinkett Smith · discussed · at 14:26
Class by Stephanie Land · recommended · at 16:08
Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista · recommended · at 17:45
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim Alberta · recommended · at 20:40
American Carnage by Tim Alberta · discussed · at 21:21
Ghosts by Edith Wharton · recommended · at 23:30

What It's Like to Write a Madonna Biography

The Book Review · 2023-10-06

Madonna by Mary Gabriel · recommended · at 0:44
Ninth Street women by Mary Gabriel · discussed · at 2:02

Audiobooks are the Best

The Book Review · 2023-09-29

The Fraud by Zadie Smith · discussed · at 11:13
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee · discussed · at 12:09
A Promised Land by Barack Obama · discussed · at 15:13
The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carré · recommended · at 24:30

Elon Musk's Biography and Profiling Naomi Klein

The Book Review · 2023-09-15

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson · discussed · at 0:29
Doppelganger by Naomi Klein · discussed · at 0:45
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson · discussed · at 4:53
The Rigor of Angels by William Egginton · discussed · at 21:54

Talking to Stephen King and September Books to Check Out

The Book Review · 2023-09-08

Holly by Stephen King · discussed · at 0:52
Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang · recommended · at 11:41
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King · discussed · at 18:01
The Outsider by Stephen King · discussed · at 18:08
On Writing by Stephen King · discussed · at 22:22

Amor Towles Sees Dead People

The Book Review · 2023-08-18

Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023 by Amor Towles · discussed · at 1:25
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles · discussed · at 12:43
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles · discussed · at 12:43
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles · discussed · at 12:43
Slow Horses by Mick Herron · recommended · at 24:13
Table for Two by Amor Towles · discussed · at 26:06
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett · discussed · at 27:55

Ann Patchett on Her Summery New Novel

The Book Review · 2023-08-04

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett · discussed · at 0:07
Our Town by Thornton Wilder · discussed · at 0:46
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett · discussed · at 1:08
Vintage Contemporaries by Dan Kois · discussed · at 18:17
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus · discussed · at 32:04

It's Getting Hot Out There

The Book Review · 2023-07-28

Fire Weather by John Vaillant · discussed · at 0:42
The Parrot and the Igloo by David Lipsky · discussed · at 0:58
The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell · discussed · at 1:17
The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell · discussed · at 1:25
Blight by Emily Monosson · discussed · at 9:19
What an Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman · discussed · at 14:53

Colson Whitehead and His Crime Novel Sequel

The Book Review · 2023-07-21

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead · recommended · at 0:30
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead · discussed · at 5:51
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead · discussed · at 6:02
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead · discussed · at 6:02
The hot rock by Donald E. Westlake · discussed · at 13:21
The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead · recommended · at 25:22

Great Books from The First Half of 2023

The Book Review · 2023-07-14

The Wager by David Grann · recommended · at 0:46
Lone Women by Victor LaValle · recommended · at 0:46
Spare by Prince Harry · discussed · at 1:27
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig · discussed · at 15:45

The Magic of Literary Translation and 'Bridget Jones' at 25

The Book Review · 2023-07-07

Where the wild things are by Maurice Sendak · discussed · at 12:09
The Iliad by Homer · discussed · at 13:17
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding · discussed · at 21:19

Remembering Cormac McCarthy and Robert Gottlieb

The Book Review · 2023-06-23

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy · discussed · at 2:31
Suttree by Cormac McCarthy · discussed · at 2:38
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy · discussed · at 6:17
The Road by Cormac McCarthy · book club pick · at 11:07
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy · discussed · at 11:40

What It’s Like to Write an MLK Jr. Biography

The Book Review · 2023-06-16

King: A Life by Jonathan Eig · discussed · at 0:11

Summer Book Preview and 9 Thrillers to Read

The Book Review · 2023-06-09

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier · discussed · at 2:39
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride · recommended · at 33:30
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia · recommended · at 33:55

On Reading ‘Beloved’ Over and Over Again

The Book Review · 2023-06-02

Beloved by Toni Morrison · discussed · at 1:15

Essential Neil Gaiman and A.I. Book Freakout

The Book Review · 2023-05-19

Death of an Author by Aidan Marchine · discussed · at 17:45
MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE by Herman Melville · discussed · at 20:25

Pulitzer Winners

The Book Review · 2023-05-12

Stay True by Hua Hsu · discussed · at 3:43
Trust by Hernan Diaz · discussed · at 20:47
In the distance by Hernán Díaz · discussed · at 22:58

Book Bans and What to Read in May

The Book Review · 2023-05-05

The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) by Abraham Verghese · recommended · at 22:15
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin · recommended · at 22:40
the Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks · recommended · at 23:30
The Guest by Emma Cline · recommended · at 23:42

Eleanor Catton on ‘Birnam Wood’

The Book Review · 2023-04-28

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton · discussed · at 0:12
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton · discussed · at 0:38
Emma by Jane Austen · discussed · at 22:55

The Enduring Appeal of Judy Blume and Gabriel García Márquez

The Book Review · 2023-04-14

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume · discussed · at 0:38

Victor LaValle Talks About Horror and ‘Lone Women’

The Book Review · 2023-03-31

The Outsider by Stephen King · recommended · at 0:04
Lone Women by Victor LaValle · discussed · at 0:55
The Black Guy Dies First by Robin R. Means Coleman · discussed · at 13:39
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson · discussed · at 18:56
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson · recommended · at 33:52

Books About the Oscars

The Book Review · 2023-03-10

Oscar Wars by Michael Schulman · discussed · at 1:56
Academy and the Award by Bruce Davis · discussed · at 2:06
Five Came Back by Mark Harris · discussed · at 14:30
Biographical Dictionary of World War II by Mark Mayo Boatner · discussed · at 14:30

Public Libraries, and Profiling Paul Harding

The Book Review · 2023-02-17

The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe · discussed · at 1:29
Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe · discussed · at 1:38
This Other Eden by Paul Harding · discussed · at 16:48
Tinkers by Paul Harding · discussed · at 16:56

A Look Ahead at the Season's Big Books

The Book Review · 2023-02-03

Victory City by Salman Rushdie · discussed · at 3:15
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton · discussed · at 5:49
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson · discussed · at 7:23
Lone Women by Victor LaValle · discussed · at 10:40
Monsters by Claire Dederer · discussed · at 12:04
The Wager by David Grann · discussed · at 14:09
Oscar Wars by Michael Schulman · discussed · at 17:56

Other mentions in 2023 (95: passing, ad reads, own books)