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Every book Jennifer Szalai recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Jennifer Szalai has recommended or discussed 162 books on podcasts, as of August 28, 2026.
- Jennifer Szalai has talked about books on 1 podcast, as of August 28, 2026.
- Those books came up in 94 episodes, as of August 28, 2026.
- The 3 books Jennifer Szalai has mentioned in the most episodes, as of August 28, 2026: The Pigeon Tunnel, Doppelganger and Lives Other Than My Own.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Jennifer Szalai aired on August 28, 2026.
Updated
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. Appearing frequently on The Book Review podcast, she regularly discusses and evaluates contemporary non-fiction and fiction titles. Throughout various episodes, Szalai has recommended and explored numerous books with listeners and fellow critics. She highlighted Catherine Belton's non-fiction work Putin's People as a useful resource for readers looking to understand the broader context surrounding London and Russia. For exploring personal identity and storytelling, she recommended Rachel Aviv's Strangers to Ourselves, noting how it examines the narratives people tell themselves and others about who they are. In discussions about recent reading lists, Szalai introduced Haley Cohen Gilliland's A Flower Traveled in My Blood, which focuses on the Abuelas of the Plaza de Mayo, and Adam Becker's More Everything Forever, which examines Silicon Valley and technology. For road trips, she praised John le Carré's memoir The Pigeon Tunnel as an engaging audiobook. Additionally, she discussed Mariana Enriquez's story collection Things We Lost in the Fire, Dezső Kosztolányi's novel Skylark, and Ingeborg Day's book Ghost Waltz during her current reading segments.
Books recommended by Jennifer Szalai
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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
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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.
Discussed“so her book was called doppelganger and it starts off sort of As A Memoir of our own experience during the pandemic”
Where to get it
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Lives Other Than My Own
Lives Other Than My Own by Emmanuel Carrère is a deeply reflective non-fiction work that explores profound themes of grief, human connection, mortality, and resilience in the wake of tragedy.
Discussed“we have a book by Emanuel carrer which will be zero surprise to longtime listeners of the podcast um but is called lives other than my own”
Where to get it
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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.
Discussed“I thought the Chernobyl book by Adam Higginbotham I thought was fantastic... so this is midnight in ch midnight in Chernobyl”
Where to get it
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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.
Discussed“so there was the Orchid Thief there was rentin I think she wrote a book about what people do on Saturday night”
Where to get it
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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“and we have the surfing Memoir Barbarian Days by William fennan”
Where to get it
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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
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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
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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“well and I do okay so the book is called the rigor of angels and it's by William eginton and the three main people that he writes about”
Where to get it
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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
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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
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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
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The End of Bias
The End of Bias is a penetrating non-fiction book written by Jessica Nordell that examines the science and psychology behind unconscious prejudice and how societies can overcome it.
Discussed“so I reviewed a book called the end of bias and it's by a writer named Jessica Nordell”
Where to get it
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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
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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
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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
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Dark Money
Dark Money by Jane Mayer is a landmark investigative work exposing the hidden networks of billionaires and secretive funding channels behind 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
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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
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Intercourse
Discussed“and she was known particularly for two books pornography and intercourse both of which are excerpted here”
Where to get it
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Savage theories
Discussed“okay so the three books are fever Dream by samanta schweblin Savage theories by paa olarak”
Where to get it
- 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
Jennifer Szalai’s latest episodes with books
Jennifer Szalai’s book recommendations by year
All 162 books Jennifer Szalai recommended or discussed across 94 episodes, filed by the year each episode came out. Each year goes episode by episode, with the minute every book came up.