Person
Every book Jennifer Egan recommended on podcasts
Across 3 podcasts. Every show Jennifer Egan appears on, in one place — not just one.
Jennifer Egan’s most recommended books
- A flag for sunrise by Robert Stone
- A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes
- Brightness Falls by Jay McInerney
- Light years by James Salter
- The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
- In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
- mutiny on the bounty by charles nordhoff and james norman hall
- The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by Perry Moore
Jennifer Egan is an acclaimed American author who has discussed her own writing process and recommended notable literature across various podcast appearances. On The Megyn Kelly Show, Egan shared a curated list of crime and historical fiction recommendations for Father's Day, beginning with Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which she considered the author's best work. She followed this with Chester Himes's A Rage in Harlem, Robert Stone's A Flag for Sunrise, and Jay McInerney's Brightness Falls, noting that the latter best captured the publishing world of the mid-1990s. During an interview on The Book Review, Egan named James Salter's Light Years as a beautiful book about time passing and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth as her most-read book. Furthermore, speaking on Freakonomics Radio, Egan discussed the fragmentary storytelling and lateral movement utilized in her own novel A Visit from the Goon Squad, as well as the tricky narrative strategies she initially planned for her historical fiction book Manhattan Beach.
Books recommended by Jennifer Egan
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A Visit from the Goon Squad
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel structured as a kaleidoscope of interconnected narratives exploring the passage of time, ambition, memory, and the shifting music industry.
Discussed“You know, having just written, for example, Goon Squad, which is very, it has a lot of lateral movement. It's fragmentary storytelling. A lot of the action is offstage.”
Where to get it
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Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan is a historical fiction novel set against the backdrop of wartime New York through a noir lens, exploring the experiences of Americans during a time of immense national power.
Discussed“And it's funny because with Manhattan Beach, I initially thought, oh, I'm going to use some tricky narrative strategies. I'm going to try to do something that isn't just straight up historical fiction.”
Where to get it
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The Candy House
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan is a compelling novel that functions as a structural sequel to A Visit from the Goon Squad, exploring themes of memory, technology, and interconnected lives.
Discussed“I dedicated The Candy House to them.”
Where to get it
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The Keep
The Keep by Jennifer Egan is a gothic thriller novel that unfolds inside an unusual prison setting and an unreal realm.
Discussed“but when as I worked on books after that I would think hm you know I wrote a Gothic novel a Gothic Thriller called the keep”
Where to get it
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A flag for sunrise
A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone is a political and psychological novel published in 1981 that explores moral decay and political turmoil in a fictional Central American country.
Recommended“number three, published in 1981, A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone. One of my favorite writers. I feel like he has been a bit eclipsed.”
Where to get it
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A Rage in Harlem
A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes is a gritty and groundbreaking mid-century crime novel that follows a down-on-his-luck man entangled in a chaotic scheme involving gold and deception in New York.
Recommended“number two is Chesterheims, A Rage in Harlem. So wonderful crime writer. He actually did write who done Dunits, but this is not a who done it.”
Where to get it
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Brightness Falls
Brightness Falls by Jay McInerney is a satirical contemporary novel that explores the personal and professional lives of ambitious young publishing executives in New York City during the roaring financial excesses of the 1980s.
Recommended“And I recommended Jay's book, Brightness Falls, which you just mentioned, as an example of the a novel that I think best captures the publishing world as it as it was when I first began to publish in the in the mid '9s.”
Where to get it
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Light years
Light Years by James Salter is an evocative, melancholic novel that meticulously charts the gradual dissolution of a seemingly idyllic bourgeois marriage and the relentless passage of time.
Recommended“and also James suter's light years which is a beautiful book about time passing”
Where to get it
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The House of Mirth
The House of Mirth is a classic novel by Edith Wharton that chronicles the tragic social descent of Lily Bart in high-society New York.
Recommended“mine is I think the house of Mirth by Edith Warden”
Where to get it
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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is Agatha Christie's ingenious 1926 detective novel that revolutionized the mystery genre with its shocking and unprecedented narrative twist.
Recommended“So, I went with a crime theme. Uh, and I'm going to actually go as it happens in chronological order. Uh, starting with Agatha Christie. Um, obviously, as we all know, Agatha Christie wrote many books. Um, and this is, in my opinion, her best.”
Where to get it
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In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust is a monumental, multi-volume modernist novel that explores memory, time, art, and the profound meaning of human existence through an immersive blend of narrative and philosophical essay.
Discussed“and I think the reason I was thinking about time was really because I had finally read in Search of Lost Time all of it byce seven volum six I think six a lot several volumes”
Where to get it
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mutiny on the bounty
Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall is a historical adventure novel recounting the infamous 1789 mutiny against Captain William Bligh aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty.
Discussed“and so you know it there's a kind of stylization of the Noir but also I at a certain point I thought you know I'm writing an old-fashioned adventure story on some level you know I was thinking about BS like Treasure Island Mutiny on the Bounty I mean big Stories full of danger and crime and survival and and”
Where to get it
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The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler is a seminal 1939 hardboiled detective novel that introduced the iconic investigator Philip Marlowe and established the atmospheric style of modern noir fiction.
Discussed“...William Faulner I think wrote this screenplay for the big sleep yeah he still doesn't know what it's about nobody knows what it's like that movie somebody said to him what's it about he said damned if I know try the multis falcon forget it fantastic”
Where to get it
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S.
Discussed“There's so many childhood narratives that are really about this. I mean, The Secret Garden, all of the Narnia books, you know, about passing through a membrane or a border or a door or jumping into a pool and being in another world.”
Where to get it
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The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a classic children's novel about an orphaned girl who discovers a hidden, neglected garden on a Yorkshire estate and helps restore it to life alongside her cousin.
Discussed“There's so many childhood narratives that are really about this. I mean, The Secret Garden, all of the Narnia books, you know, about passing through a membrane or a border or a door or jumping into a pool and being in another world.”
Where to get it
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Treasure Island
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is a classic adventure novel that follows young Jim Hawkins on a dangerous quest for buried pirate treasure.
Discussed“and so you know it there's a kind of stylization of the Noir but also I at a certain point I thought you know I'm writing an old-fashioned adventure story on some level you know I was thinking about BS like Treasure Island Mutiny on the Bounty I mean big Stories full of danger and crime and survival and and”
Where to get it
Books Jennifer Egan wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“...William Faulner I think wrote this screenplay for the big sleep yeah he still doesn't know what it's about nobody knows what it's like that movie somebody said to him what's it about he said damned if I know try the multis falcon forget it fantastic”
“I was promoting the keep at the book fair but I was researching this book with elderly ladies who were were all too eager to talk to me”
“yeah with some incredible masterpieces in it like Moby Dick and others that is one component of this book for sure”