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Every book Greg Cowles recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Greg Cowles has recommended or discussed 616 books on podcasts, as of December 2, 2025.
- Greg Cowles has talked about books on 1 podcast, as of December 2, 2025.
- Those books came up in 212 episodes, as of December 2, 2025.
- The 3 books Greg Cowles has mentioned in the most episodes, as of December 2, 2025: Ulysses, The Power Broker and The Girl on the Train.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Greg Cowles aired on December 2, 2025.
Updated
Greg Cowles’s most recommended books
- Ulysses by James Joyce
- The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
- Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
- 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
- Mating by Norman Rush
- Bright dead things by Ada Limón
- Delinquent palaces by Danielle Chapman
- How to be drawn by Terrance Hayes
Greg Cowles appeared frequently on The Book Review podcast to discuss and recommend a diverse variety of titles ranging from contemporary fiction and memoirs to poetry collections. During a segment focusing on poetry, Greg Cowles introduced several prominent works, including Shane McCrae's poetry collection New and Collected Hell, Alexandra Teague's fourth book of poetry Ominous Music Intensifying, and Marie Howe's New and Selected Poems, noting that the latter collection won the Pulitzer Prize. In other episodes, Greg Cowles recommended Jonathan Lethem's 2003 novel The Fortress of Solitude as a story about the relationship between two friends, and highlighted Hua Hsu's memoir Stay True, which also centers on friendship. During lightning rounds and general discussions on the podcast, Greg Cowles additionally mentioned John Knowles's novel A Separate Peace as a beautiful book, and brought up Joy Williams's Ninety-Nine Stories of God as a work he was currently reading. Through these discussions across multiple episodes of The Book Review, Greg Cowles shared his literary interests with listeners, highlighting works that explored interpersonal relationships, poetic craft, and contemporary fiction.
Books recommended by Greg Cowles
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Ulysses
James Joyce's landmark modernist novel Ulysses chronicles an ordinary day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mapping human consciousness and daily existence through a revolutionary stream-of-consciousness technique.
Discussed“well you haven't heard me talking about ulyses for a while and there's I that there is a good reason for that namely shame I've pretty much stalled out in the the long very long night Town section of ulses”
Where to get it
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The Power Broker
The Power Broker by Robert A.
Discussed“yeah exactly the the power broker”
Where to get it
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The Girl on the Train
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is a psychological thriller novel that follows an unstable commuter who becomes dangerously entangled in a missing person investigation after observing something suspicious from her train window.
Discussed“and then finally I knew at number two on the hard cover fiction list and it's number one on the combo list um a novel called the girl on the train by a British author named Paula haw”
Where to get it
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The Days of Abandonment
The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante is a searing and intense novel that follows a woman's psychological unraveling after her husband abruptly leaves her and their two children.
Discussed“I have read all of the Neapolitan series I've also read the days of Abandonment a very short novel that she wrote”
Where to get it
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Go Set A Watchman
Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee is a novel written before To Kill a Mockingbird that follows an adult Scout returning to Maycomb, Alabama, and confronting her aging father's complex racial views.
Discussed“uh it has reached a rolling boil as pasta makers like to say but nothing so far has proved capable of displacing ghost at a Watchman by Harper Lee which remains at number one in its fourth week”
Where to get it
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2666
2666 is a massive, complex novel by Roberto Bolaño that explores a wide range of themes, most famously centering on the unsolved femicides in a fictional Mexican border city.
Discussed“the reason casting about is that I've finally finished a book I talked about I I think a couple months ago on the podcast which is the massive the 900 page 2666 by Roberto Balano”
Where to get it
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Mating
Mating by Norman Rush is a sprawling, intellectually ambitious novel following a brilliant female American anthropologist in Botswana as she navigates an intellectual and romantic entanglement with a utopian community leader.
Discussed“earlier this year I read uh Norman Rush's mating and both of those books are books about anthropologists”
Where to get it
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Bright dead things
Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón is a poignant poetry collection that explores themes of grief, survival, and a deep connection to the natural world.
Recommended“aah Leon has a book coming out in September from milked press called bright dead things”
Where to get it
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Delinquent palaces
Delinquent Palaces by Danielle Chapman is a compelling debut poetry collection that explores complex themes through lyrical and evocative verse.
Recommended“and then finally Danielle Chapman has a debut collection called delinquent palaces which Tri quarterly brought out in April”
Where to get it
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How to be drawn
How to Be Drawn is a striking collection of poetry by Terrance Hayes that explores identity, art, and American culture through innovative verse.
Recommended“uh then Terrence Hayes had a book come out I think it was in April from penguin called how to be drawn”
Where to get it
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Roll Deep
Roll Deep is a captivating poetry collection by Major Jackson that delves into themes of memory, community, and personal history with lyrical precision.
Recommended“the poet major jackon has a collection called roll deep that Norton is bringing out in August”
Where to get it
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Scattered at sea
Scattered at Sea by Amy Gerstler is a vibrant and imaginative poetry collection that blends humor, melancholy, and keen observations of human nature.
Recommended“Amy gerler has a new book called scattered at Sea which penguin brought out in May”
Where to get it
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The Body in Question
The Body in Question by Jill Ciment is a remarkably short novel, described almost as a novella, featuring precise and artistic construction.
Recommended“and in fiction similarly a very small um beautifully constructed artistically book um almost a noela more than a novel an a book called The Body in question by a writer named Jill cement”
Where to get it
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Turning into dwelling
Turning into Dwelling by Christopher Gilbert is a reissued and expanded poetry collection that brings together previously published work alongside a substantial body of unreleased writing.
Recommended“well Greywolf is reissuing that book but um also combining it with a complete second collection that was never published in his life um instead of being called across the mutual landscape this book is uh called turning into dwelling and that book comes out from grey wolf next week on July 7th”
Where to get it
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Zero K
Zero K by Don DeLillo is a thought-provoking contemporary novel exploring themes of cryonics, mortality, and modern alienation.
Recommended“a book that I really loved this year was um D dilo's zero”
Where to get it
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Born to Run
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen and Michael Morpurgo is an introspective and critically acclaimed memoir that chronicles the legendary musician's working-class upbringing, struggles with mental health, and path to rock superstardom.
Discussed“well so I um have just spent two weeks on the beach in Nantucket and the books that I brought with me were both books that I had talked about on this show one was Bruce Springsteen's autobiography Born to Run”
Where to get it
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Field guide
Field Guide by Robert Hass is the acclaimed debut poetry collection by the esteemed American poet, which originally earned the prestigious Yale Series of Younger Poets prize.
Recommended“his first book which won the Yale younger poets prize it's called Field Guide um was on the Shelf there and I plucked it off and started reading it and I was really captivated”
Where to get it
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Goodbye, Vitamin
Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong is a poignant and humorous novel that follows a young woman who returns home to help care for her father, who has been diagnosed with dementia.
Recommended“at the same time I've also turned to a book that I had started a few years ago and had to put down for other reasons it it's a book called goodbye vitamin by a woman named Rachel Kong”
Where to get it
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Jesus' son
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson is a slender, potent 1992 collection of interconnected short stories that explores the stark and harrowing experiences of its narrator and other fringe characters.
Discussed“and I also see why it didn't break through the way that Jesus's son did”
Where to get it
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Lincoln in the Bardo
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders is a historical fiction novel that follows Abraham Lincoln in a Washington cemetery grieving his young son Willie amid a supernatural bardo of ghosts.
Recommended“well I I think it will surprise nobody who knows me that I would have loved to have seen George saunders's Lincoln and the BAU end up on on the fiction list”
Where to get it
- My Ántonia by Willa Cather
- The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar
- Tribes by Nina Raine
- A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear
- A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
- A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
- A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
- Across the mutual landscape by Christopher Gilbert
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
- All the Stars in the Heavens by Adriana Trigiani
- Angle of repose by Wallace Stegner
- Binge by Tyler Oakley
- City on fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
- Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
- Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
- Frank by Barney Frank
- H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
- Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
- Hell's Foundations Quiver by David Weber
- Heretic by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Humans Of New York by Brandon Stanton
- Killing Reagan by Bill O'Reilly
- Last of the President's Men by Bob Woodward
- NYPD Red 3 by James Patterson
- Outline by Rachel Cusk
- See me by Nicholas Sparks
- So long, see you tomorrow by William Maxwell
- The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
- The Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrère
- The Paris wife by Paula McLain
Greg Cowles’s latest episodes with books
Greg Cowles’s book recommendations by year
All 616 books Greg Cowles recommended or discussed across 212 episodes, filed by the year each episode came out. Each year goes episode by episode, with the minute every book came up.