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Every book Jenny Schusler recommended on podcasts
Jenny Schusler appears on The Book Review podcast as a literary critic and editor who discusses new book releases, theatrical adaptations, and archival literary discoveries. Throughout her appearances, she highlights prominent contemporary novels and explores how earlier works have influenced modern literature. Schusler discusses Colson Whitehead's novel The Underground Railroad, noting its widespread acclaim and high-profile selection by Oprah Winfrey, and pairs it with her reading of Ben H. Winters's alternative history thriller Underground Airlines as a complementary riff on the same historical premise. She also examines James Baldwin's legacy, noting how his essay collection The Fire Next Time served as an inspiration for Ta-Nehisi Coates's memoir Between the World and Me, and discusses discovering a television adaptation of Baldwin's 1956 novel Giovanni's Room within a newly acquired archive. Additionally, Schusler discusses Roberto Bolaño's massive novel 2666 in connection with a theatrical adaptation at the Goodman Theatre, sharing an anecdote about Patti Smith requiring her entire band to read the nine-hundred-page book. Through these varied discussions, Schusler demonstrates a comprehensive engagement with contemporary fiction, theatrical adaptations of major novels, and the enduring connections between landmark historical and literary works.
Books recommended by Jenny Schusler
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The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historical fiction novel that reimagines the antebellum South by turning the secret network of abolitionist routes into a literal subterranean railway system utilized by an enslaved woman named Cora seeking freedom.
Recommended“starting with the book everybody seems to be talking about this week Coulson Whit heads the Underground Railroad or as Oprah said when she announced it for her pick the Underground Railroad”
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“I recently spent a couple of days in Chicago where the Goodman Theater is preparing an adaptation of his novel 2666”
Where to get it
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Between the World and Me
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a bestselling epistolary book written as a letter from the author to his teenage son, exploring the reality of growing up Black in America.
Discussed“James Baldwins the fire next time was sort of an inspiration for tanahi coats's Memoir between the world and me”
Where to get it
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Giovanni's Room
Giovanni's Room is a 1956 novel by James Baldwin that explores the complex romantic and existential struggles of an American man living in Paris.
Discussed“one kind of amazing thing I saw was a a teleplay I think it was sort of a screen television screenplay adaptation of giovan's room his great 1956 novel”
Where to get it
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The fire next time
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin is a searing and brilliant collection of essays examining race, religion, and American identity through letters and personal reflection.
Discussed“James Baldwins the fire next time was sort of an inspiration for tanahi coats's Memoir between the world and me”
Where to get it
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Underground airlines
Discussed“oh I also by um maybe not coincidence but a couple of weeks before that I had been reading a Ben winter sort of Al alternative history Thriller underground Airlines also a kind of Riff on the Underground Railroad”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power and Punishment | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 4 |
| Inside The New York Times Book Review: ‘How to Be a Person in the World’ | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 2 |
| Inside The New York Times Book Review: Bill Bryson on Britain | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 2 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I think she talks about him a lot in her recent Memoir Avenue M after my story ran yesterday I heard a great anecdote”