Person
Every book Jennifer Szalai recommended on podcasts
Jennifer Szalai’s most recommended books
- The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carré
- Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
- Lives Other Than My Own by Emmanuel Carrère
- Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
- The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
- Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
- Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
- The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
- The Rigor of Angels by William Egginton
- Lucky by Jonathan Allen
Jennifer Szalai is a book critic and journalist. On The Book Review podcast, she has recommended and discussed numerous fiction and non-fiction books. For readers wanting to learn more about the political and social context of London and Russia, Szalai recommended Catherine Belton's Putin's People. She recommended Rachel Aviv's Strangers to Ourselves for its thoughtful exploration of personal identity and storytelling, and introduced Haley Cohen Gilliland's non-fiction book A Flower Traveled in My Blood, which details the Abuelas of the Plaza de Mayo. Szalai also recommended Adam Becker's More Everything Forever regarding Silicon Valley and technology, and suggested John le Carré's memoir The Pigeon Tunnel as an ideal audiobook for road trips. Additionally, she highlighted Mariana Enriquez's story collection Things We Lost in the Fire as a favorite among reviewed titles, discussed reading Dezső Kosztolányi's novel Skylark for a current reading segment, and mentioned Ingeborg Day's Ghost Waltz as a book originally recommended to her by Barry Goan.
Books recommended by Jennifer Szalai
-
The Pigeon Tunnel
John le Carré's memoir The Pigeon Tunnel offers a fascinating look into the renowned spy novelist's extraordinary life, blending personal anecdotes with reflections on espionage and storytelling.
Recommended“I really love John Lar's memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, where he reads it.”
Where to get it
-
Doppelganger
Doppelganger by Naomi Klein is a piercing work of nonfiction that explores the psychic distortions, political fragmentation, and public confusion of modern life, particularly examining the isolation and paranoia amplified online during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommended“I definitely recommend it as well as doppelganger”
Where to get it
-
Lives Other Than My Own
Lives Other Than My Own by Emmanuel Carrère is a deeply reflective French work that blurs the boundaries between memoir and journalism, examining mortality, grief, and human connection in the wake of tragedy.
Recommended“and then it sat on my desk for about 3 months until I fin other than my own that's the one that's nominally about the tsunami that is nominally about the Tsunami”
Where to get it
-
Midnight in Chernobyl
Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham is a gripping historical account documenting the untold story of the world's greatest nuclear disaster.
Recommended“so the book I reviewed this week is midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham”
Where to get it
-
The Orchid Thief
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean is a non-fiction narrative exploring the eccentric world of orchid poachers and the fascinating obsession surrounding rare flowers in Florida.
Recommended“it's based on a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman and it's essentially about his attempt to write a screenplay of Susan orene's book The Orchid Thief which is the book that I'm reading right now and so after seeing that I I realized that you know I had never read the Orchid thief”
Where to get it
-
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life is a memoir by William Finnegan that chronicles a lifelong passion for surfing alongside his distinguished career as a New Yorker staff writer and war reporter.
Discussed“well so I've got two books here one of which I had talked about a bit last week which is called New World by William finegan”
Where to get it
-
Say Nothing
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe is a true story of murder and memory in Northern Ireland that investigates political violence, justice, and the heavy personal cost of what individuals kill and die for.
Discussed“there's another book say nothing which I've also reviewed, which is at the heart of it. There's the story of a young mother who was kidnapped in front of her family in the 1970s in Belfast”
Where to get it
-
The Color of Law
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein is an influential historical examination that exposes how local, state, and federal government policies deliberately imposed racial segregation in American cities and neighborhoods.
Discussed“there was a book that came out a couple years ago by Richard Rothstein the color of law forgotten history of how our government segregated America”
Where to get it
-
The Rigor of Angels
The Rigor of Angels by William Egginton is an ingenious group biography and philosophical exploration that examines the ultimate nature of reality by weaving together the lives and ideas of Jorge Luis Borges, Werner Heisenberg, and Immanuel Kant.
Discussed“so it's called the rigor of Angels by William eginton and it's about the ultimate nature of reality”
Where to get it
-
Lucky
Discussed“I reviewed a book called lucky how Joe Biden barely won the presidency by Jonathan Allen and Amy parns two journalists they're the authors of shattered which came out four years ago”
Where to get it
-
Shattered
Discussed“they're the authors of shattered which came out four years ago which some listeners might remember it was about the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016 and basically how everything went wrong for her”
Where to get it
-
Accidental Gods
Accidental Gods by Anna Della Subin is a historical exploration of mortals who were elevated to divine status, examining the intersection of religion, empire, and political power across various cultures.
Discussed“so I reviewed something recently that's a very different kind of book it's called accidental gods and it's by anadel subin”
Where to get it
-
The End of Bias
The End of Bias is a non-fiction book by journalist Jessica Nordell that examines the science and psychology of unconscious bias and explores how individuals and institutions can overcome prejudice.
Discussed“so I reviewed a book called the end of bias and it's by a writer named Jessica Nordell”
Where to get it
-
The Impeachers
The Impeachers by Brenda Wineapple is a rigorous historical work that explores the dramatic political conflict surrounding the first impeachment of a United States president.
Discussed“it's by Brenda wineapple and it's called the impeachers”
Where to get it
-
The journalist and the murderer
The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm is a critical nonfiction examination of the complex, often exploitative relationship between reporters and their subjects, famously opening with a stark line about the moral compromises inherent in journalism.
Discussed“the journalist and murderer is perhaps one of the most famous on that begins with a line about journalists”
Where to get it
-
Things We Lost in the Fire
Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez is a dark and chilling collection of contemporary horror and suspense short stories that examine the unsettling realities of modern life in Argentina.
Discussed“and then Things We Lost in the fire uh a collection of stories by Mariana Enriquez”
Where to get it
-
Dark Money
Dark Money by Jane Mayer is an investigative journalism book that exposes the hidden history of wealthy conservative billionaires and their foundational role in funding the rise of the radical right in American politics.
Discussed“I mean probably most famously by Jane Mayer and dark money and in the New Yorker as well as by Daniel Schulman whose book sons of Witchita is really about the family story of the Cokes”
Where to get it
-
Hitler
Hitler by Volker Ullrich is a comprehensive, two-volume biographical exploration written by a German journalist and historian that chronicles the life and rise to power of the Nazi dictator.
Discussed“yes so vulker rrich is a German journalist and historian and he's written now his second and final volume of a mammoth biography of Hitler”
Where to get it
-
Intercourse
Discussed“and she was known particularly for two books pornography and intercourse both of which are excerpted here”
Where to get it
-
Savage theories
Discussed“okay so the three books are fever Dream by samanta schweblin Savage theories by paa olarak”
Where to get it
The other 143 books Jennifer Szalai recommended or discussed, ranked
- Where Law Ends by Andrew Weissmann
- A Flower Traveled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland
- A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch
- Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
- Evicted by Matthew Desmond
- Forty-One False Starts by Janet Malcolm
- Ghost waltz by Elizabeth McNeill
- Hattiesburg by William Sturkey
- How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt
- Life by Keith Richards
- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
- More everything forever by Adam Becker
- Old in art school by Nell Irvin Painter
- Psychoanalysis, the impossible profession by Janet Malcolm
- Putin's People by Catherine Belton
- Severance by Ling Ma
- Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi
- Strangers to Ourselves by Rachel Aviv
- The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrère
- The friend by Sigrid Nunez
- The Hidden History of Burma by Thant Myint-U
- The Years by Annie Ernaux
- Thus were their faces by Silvina Ocampo
- Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
- Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt
- War and turpentine by Stefan Hertmans
- What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez
- 1984 by George Orwell
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama
- A Russian Novel by Emmanuel Carrère
- A separation by Katie M. Kitamura
- Act Natural by Jennifer Traig
- All Fours by Miranda July
- American Carnage by Tim Alberta
- American innovations by Rivka Galchen
- Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Amity and Prosperity by Eliza Griswold
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Anna by Dezső Kosztolányi
- Antisocial by Andrew Marantz
- Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday
- At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell
- Biased by Jennifer L. Eberhardt
- Billion Dollar Loser by Reeves Wiedeman
- BRIEF HISTORY OF MISOGYNY: THE WORLD'S OLDEST PREJUDICE by JACK HOLLAND
- Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
- Cold new world by William Finnegan
- Crashed by J. Adam Tooze
- Dark Mirror by Barton Gellman
- Dedicated by Pete Davis
- Democracy Rules by Jan-Werner Müller
- Devils in daylight by 谷崎潤一郎
- Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
- Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance
- Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
- Enemies by Tim Weiner
- Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker
- Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
- Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
- Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
- Franchise by Marcia Chatelain
- Free and Equal by Daniel Chandler
- Fun by Unknown
- God Save Texas by Lawrence Wright
- Going Clear by Lawrence Wright
- Hitler by Ian Kershaw
- How Civil Wars Start by Barbara F. Walter
- How should a person be? by Sheila Heti
- How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr
- How to Make a Slave and Other Essays by Jerald Walker
- Ice and fire by Andrea Dworkin
- In Praise of Shadows by 谷崎潤一郎
- It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
- Kill Switch - the Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy by Adam Jentleson
- Last Days at Hot Slit by Andrea Dworkin
- Libres e Iguales: un Manifiesto Por una Sociedad Justa / Free and Equal: a Manifesto for a Just Society by Daniel Chandler
- Life sentences by William H. Gass
- Locking up our own by James Forman
- Look at me by Anita Brookner
- Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
- Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
- Mercy by Andrea Dworkin
- Mind Fixers by Anne Harrington
- Mindf*ck by Christopher Wylie
- My life as a Russian novel by Emmanuel Carrère
- My War Criminal by Jessica Stern
- Ninth Street women by Mary Gabriel
- Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O'Connell
- Omensetter's Luck by William H. Gass
- Outline by Rachel Cusk
- Poems by the author of “Paul Ferroll” [i.e. Caroline Clive]. Including a new edition of IX Poems by V, with former and recent additions by Caroline CLIVE
- Pornography by Andrea Dworkin
- Private Notebooks: 1914-1916 by Ludwig Wittgenstein
- Profiles in courage by John F. Kennedy
- Race for Profit by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
- Radetzky march by Joseph Roth
- Rage by Bob Woodward
- Reckoning by Linda Hirshman
- Reign of Terror by Spencer Ackerman
- Right and left ; The legend of the holy drinker by Joseph Roth
- Rise and kill first by Ronen Bergman
- Run Towards the Danger by Sarah Polley
- Scarlet A by Katie Watson
- She Said by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey
- Simple justice by Richard Kluger
- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
- So Help Me God by Mike Pence
- Sons of Wichita by Daniel Schulman
- Sontag by Benjamin Moser
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
- Street shadows by Jerald Walker
- Swing Time by Zadie Smith
- Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
- Targeted by Brittany Kaiser
- The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
- The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
- The Contrarian by Max Chafkin
- The Crying Book by Heather Christle
- The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
- The Failed Promise by Robert S. Levine
- The history of White people by Nell Irvin Painter
- The Last Days of Roger Federer by Geoff Dyer
- The Library Book by Susan Orlean
- The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
- The man without a face by Masha Gessen, Marcos Pérez Sánchez, Juan Manuel Ibeas Delgado
- The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand
- The Neapolitan Novels : My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante
- The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby
- The Power Notebooks by Katie Roiphe
- The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
- The restless wave by John McCain
- The Room Where It Happened by John R. Bolton
- The Spider's Web by Joseph Roth
- The Trump Realignment by Spencer Goidel
- The War Comes Home by Aaron Glantz
- The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell
- Time of the Magicians by Wolfram Eilenberger
- Unmaking the Presidency by Susan Hennessey
- Until Justice Be Done by Kate Masur
- Until Proven Safe by Geoff Manaugh
- Working by Robert A. Caro
Appearances
Other mentions (37: passing, ad reads, own books), the 30 most recent
“I had read Rebellion a number of years ago”
“and I've actually never read I guess his most famous book which is the retsky March”
“when I was reading about Mariana Enriquez it turns out that she actually wrote a book about sylvina OKO who is a well-known Argentine writer now deceased”
“and then he goes on to talk about his book that adversary which was about the man who killed his entire family”
“was Sophie the one in lives other than my own which was written a couple years after this”
“so last last week we I I was talking about devils in Daylight by junichiro tanaki and as it turns out I didn't realize it but when my husband saw I was reading that he said that he had read a book of tanizaki in one of his aesthetic classes in college”
“alongside with the other book which she is much more famous for which was written under pseudonym and it's N9 and a half weeks and so she wrote that under turned into famously the movie turned into the movie of course and she wrote that under the pseudonym Elizabeth mcneel”
“who is a an English Professor who also wrote a book about Charlie Chan”
“so so he was a a longtime journalist and then eventually he started writing books and I read a book I think in the '90s that he wrote about the history of the cigarette industry called ashes to ashes”
“no I mean I I think and I I haven't I've only read a few of the stories in mouthful of birds but yeah fever dream is definitely you sort of see”
“and the book I reviewed this week was act natural by Jennifer T”
“especially the history of white people”
“she also came onto the scene I guess in the early 90s when she wrote a book called The Morning After in which she said that she wanted to argue against what she called I think think the feminist preoccupation with sexual harassment”
“she had a whole book I think you know six or seven years ago called In Praise of messy lives”
“so there was the Orchid Thief there was ronon I think she wrote a book about what people do on Saturday night”
“and she wrote an entire book A Memoir about she wrote A Memoir about that exactly called denial which came out about a decade ago”
“hubris”
“and the second one was called Nemesis and Nemesis actually began a few years before where rrich picks up”
“and I reviewed Hitler downfall 1939 to 1945 by vulker olrick which is the second and Final volume of his enormous Hitler biography”
“I reviewed notes from an apocalypse a personal Journey to the end of the world and back by Marco Connell and I reviewed 52 stories by Anton of translated by Richard pav and L volansky”
“basically the prequel in a way to evicted right the Matthew Desmond book”
“I'd read one of his other novels several months ago which I think I talked about a bit on the podcast right and right and left which I enjoyed”
“the New Yorker writer who wrote the surfing Memoir Barbarian days and I actually had no idea he had written this book”
“have you read Annie Murphy Paul's book I took a look at it yeah and he talks about sort of the way that these social or these personality indicators so Annie Murphy Paul who wrote this book The Cult of Personality about 10 years ago”
“I mean she's been writing she's still quite young but she's been writing I think white teeth came out when she was 24 so it's been more than a decade now”
“actually one of the books that I read earlier this year that I really like called the age of anger by punas Mishra”
“and I was trying to think you know like a book like the second sex I think in a way even though it's much larger MH it's in a way more readable”
“and I read democracy rules a book by Yan Verner Muller”
“okay until proven safe the history and future of quarantine by Jeff Maya and Nicola twilly and After parties short stories by Anthony vzna”
“so I reviewed reign of terror how the 911 era destabilized America and produced Trump by Spencer auran”