Person
Every book Jean Hanff Korelitz recommended on podcasts
Jean Hanff Korelitz appeared on The Book Review to discuss her literary works and share formative reading experiences that shaped her worldview and career. Korelitz discussed her childhood encounter with Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire's 'D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths', describing how reading the final pages of the book at age eight or nine directly contributed to her loss of religious belief and naming it the single most important book she ever read. She noted that the book remains her default gift for newborn babies. Transitioning to discussions on literary sequels, she recommended Stephen King's 'Doctor Sleep' as an exemplary follow-up to 'The Shining' and mentioned reading Erica Jong's 'How to Save Your Own Life', the sequel to 'Fear of Flying', during her teenage years. In contrast, she critiqued unwelcome literary follow-ups, specifically pointing to Harper Lee's later-released novel 'Go Set A Watchman' and noting how readers desperately wished that a sequel to 'To Kill a Mockingbird' had never been published. Korelitz also discussed her own writing, summarizing the moral ambiguities explored in her novel 'The Plot', thereby blending personal reading history, critical literary analysis, and insights into her own creative process as an author.
Books recommended by Jean Hanff Korelitz
-
D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire is a richly illustrated classic collection of traditional mythology that introduces readers to the gods, heroes, and timeless tales of ancient Greece.
Recommended“and one of the stories that I tell in that is the experience of becoming an atheist at age eight or nine in the final pages of do's book of Greek myths which I now feel is the single most important book I've ever read”
Where to get it
-
Doctor Sleep
Doctor Sleep is a gripping horror novel by Stephen King that serves as a direct sequel to his iconic 1977 masterpiece, The Shining, following an adult Dan Torrance as he protects a young girl with similar psychic abilities from a malevolent cult.
Recommended“and by the way another great sequel is Dr sleep with a sequel to The Shining”
Where to get it
-
84, Charing Cross Road
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff is a charming epistolary memoir chronicling decades of transatlantic correspondence between a New York writer and a London bookseller.
Discussed“the first thing that I ever published was a review of 84 Ching Crossroad in 17 magazine”
Where to get it
-
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.
Critiqued“because let's face it I keep thinking about to Kill a Mocking Bird and how desperately we all wished that sequel had not been written”
Where to get it
-
How to Save Your Own Life
Discussed“I read how to save your own life which is Erica jong's sequel to fear of flying”
Where to get it
-
The Plot
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is a literary thriller that follows a struggling, failed writer who commits a morally questionable act by stealing a deceased student's brilliant manuscript, only to find himself hunted by someone who knows the truth.
Discussed“the plot is about a failed writer who does something strictly correct and yet morally uh hazy”
Where to get it
-
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird explores racial injustice and moral growth in the American South through the eyes of young Scout Finch.
Discussed“because let's face it I keep thinking about to Kill a Mocking Bird and how desperately we all wished that sequel had not been written”
Where to get it
-
Underfoot in show business
Discussed“she began with a collection of Hela 's BBC broadcast called letters from New York and she's about to republish underfoot and show business which is hela's Memoir”
Where to get it
-
Wonder Boys
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon is a celebrated novel that follows the chaotic life of a blocked, middle-aged creative writing professor struggling to finish his massive second book while dealing with various personal eccentricities.
Discussed“there's that wonderful excerpt in uh Michael shon's Wonder Boys where this kind of washed up writers thinking”
Where to get it
Books Jean Hanff Korelitz wrote
- The Plot
- A jury of her peers
- Admission
- Letter from New York
- The White Rose
- The devil and Webster
- You Should Have Known
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jean Hanff Korelitz on "The Sequel" | The Book Review | 2024-10-04 | 10 |
| A Desperate Writer Steals 'The Plot' | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 1 |
Other mentions (8: passing, ad reads, own books)
“in general I don't read series I can think of one or two exceptions to that but I'm I never read a is for Alibi or B is for or C is for any of that”
“I vividly remember the day somebody ruined murder on the oran Express for me on the school bus on my way to high school”
“I read how to save your own life which is Erica jong's sequel to fear of flying”
“and as you know you know we carry around our sales record like Marley's ghost in Christmas Carol”
“she began with a collection of Hela 's BBC broadcast called letters from New York and she's about to republish underfoot and show business which is hela's Memoir”
“and by the way another great sequel is Dr sleep with a sequel to The Shining”
“somebody self-published a book called Harry and the Muggles”
“somebody self-published a book called Harry and the Muggles”