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John Williams’s book recommendations in 2017

80 books · 41 episodes · John Williams’s most recommended books, all years →

Every episode from 2017, newest first

The Fire Next Time

The Book Review · 2017-12-29

The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrère · discussed · at 43:17

Mary Beard on 'Women & Power'

The Book Review · 2017-12-15

Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy · discussed · at 52:23
The Idiot by Elif Batuman · recommended · at 52:56

The Second Coming of the KKK

The Book Review · 2017-12-08

These possible lives by Fleur Jaeggy · recommended · at 59:34
The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy · discussed · at 1:00:13
Child of God by Cormac McCarthy · critiqued · at 1:00:31

O Pioneers!

The Book Review · 2017-11-21

Killer on the Road by Ginger Strand · discussed · at 42:39

Mother Knows Best?

The Book Review · 2017-11-17

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward · discussed · at 53:07

Kurt Andersen on Channeling President Trump

The Book Review · 2017-11-10

The Evolution of Beauty by Richard O. Prum · discussed · at 55:57
Darwin's dangerous idea by Daniel C. Dennett · discussed · at 56:32

The American Revolution in Six Lives

The Book Review · 2017-11-03

Travels with Lizbeth by Lars Eighner · recommended · at 47:12

Marilyn Stasio on True Crime

The Book Review · 2017-10-27

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean · recommended · at 38:57
Niels Lyhne by Jens Peter Jacobsen · recommended · at 41:31

Jennifer Egan Talks About 'Manhattan Beach'

The Book Review · 2017-10-06

The lost weekend by Charles Jackson · discussed · at 45:17
We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates · discussed · at 46:18

Recent Romances

The Book Review · 2017-09-29

Undue Influence by Anita Brookner · discussed · at 40:22
Odyssey : a Father, a Son and an Epic by Daniel Mendelsohn · discussed · at 40:45
Leave It to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse · discussed · at 42:21

Jesmyn Ward on 'Sing, Unburied, Sing'

The Book Review · 2017-09-22

The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy · discussed · at 50:48

Jill Abramson on the 2016 Presidential Campaign

The Book Review · 2017-09-15

Aftermath by Rachel Cusk · discussed · at 1:01:49

Gorbachev: His Life and Times

The Book Review · 2017-09-08

Our spoons came from Woolworths by Barbara Comyns · recommended · at 40:39
Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns · recommended · at 41:27
The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns · discussed · at 41:35

An American Abroad

The Book Review · 2017-09-01

But Beautiful by Geoff Dyer · discussed · at 29:09
Miles, the autobiography by Miles Davis · discussed · at 29:27
Deep in a Dream by James Gavin · discussed · at 30:15

The Joys of Children’s Literature

The Book Review · 2017-08-25

But Beautiful by Geoff Dyer · recommended · at 44:12

Analyzing Freud

The Book Review · 2017-08-18

Lives Other Than My Own by Emmanuel Carrère · recommended · at 34:09
The Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrère · discussed · at 35:37
Jesus by A. N. Wilson · discussed · at 36:16
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee · recommended · at 39:24

New Books About Parenting

The Book Review · 2017-08-11

My private property by Mary Ruefle · recommended · at 40:11
Madness, Rack, and Honey by Mary Ruefle · recommended · at 40:26

Lights On, Rats Out

The Book Review · 2017-07-28

Dunbar by Edward St. Aubyn · recommended · at 35:33
Money by Martin Amis · recommended · at 36:49

Steve Bannon's Road to the White House

The Book Review · 2017-07-21

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood · recommended · at 54:07
Lives Other Than My Own by Emmanuel Carrère · discussed · at 54:37

The World of Jane Austen Fans

The Book Review · 2017-07-14

Under the Glacier by Halldór Laxness · recommended · at 34:26
Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood · recommended · at 34:54

Silk on a Stick

The Book Review · 2017-06-30

Under the Glacier by Halldór Laxness · discussed · at 35:28
The end of vandalism by Tom Drury · recommended · at 35:42
The Driftless Area by Tom Drury · recommended · at 36:02
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins · recommended · at 41:07

The Boy Who Loved Too Much

The Book Review · 2017-06-23

Independent people by Halldór Laxness · discussed · at 37:14
Under the Glacier by Halldór Laxness · discussed · at 37:51

Al Franken on Life in the Senate

The Book Review · 2017-06-09

Latecomers by Anita Brookner · recommended · at 46:47

David Sedaris Talks About His Diaries

The Book Review · 2017-06-02

Train dreams by Denis Johnson · recommended · at 32:11
I love Dick by Chris Kraus · discussed · at 32:36

Paris, London and New York in the Age of Revolution

The Book Review · 2017-05-26

Smile by Roddy Doyle · discussed · at 36:15
I love Dick by Chris Kraus · discussed · at 36:36

Joshua Ferris on ‘The Dinner Party’

The Book Review · 2017-05-19

The Risk Pool by Richard Russo · recommended · at 39:44

Elizabeth Warren on Fighting for the Middle Class

The Book Review · 2017-05-12

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig · discussed · at 37:32

Gabourey Sidibe and Neil deGrasse Tyson

The Book Review · 2017-05-05

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers · discussed · at 43:03
Ballad Of The Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers · discussed · at 43:15

Hamlet Globe to Globe

The Book Review · 2017-04-21

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann · discussed · at 34:31
Wedding toasts I'll never give by Ada Calhoun · recommended · at 35:31

Power and Punishment

The Book Review · 2017-04-14

The Possessed by Elif Batuman · discussed · at 44:43
The Idiot by Elif Batuman · discussed · at 44:55

Lives on the Line

The Book Review · 2017-04-07

Approaching Eye Level by Vivian Gornick · recommended · at 39:02
Odd Woman and the City by Vivian Gornick · discussed · at 39:20
Ties by Domenico Starnone · discussed · at 39:49
The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante · discussed · at 40:02

'Ties' to Ferrante?

The Book Review · 2017-03-24

Jesus' son by Denis Johnson · recommended · at 36:02
Poets in their youth by Eileen B. Simpson · recommended · at 37:00
Essays in disguise by Wilfrid Sheed · recommended · at 37:42

The Definition of Adulthood

The Book Review · 2017-03-17

Big Bad Love by Larry Brown · discussed · at 48:14
Shadowbahn by Steve Erickson · discussed · at 49:47

Points of No Return

The Book Review · 2017-03-10

EXIT WEST by Moshin Hamid · recommended · at 54:37
Patrimony by Philip Roth · discussed · at 55:17

Happy Trails

The Book Review · 2017-03-03

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid · discussed · at 39:53
Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth · discussed · at 40:25

Neil Gaiman's Myths

The Book Review · 2017-02-17

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth · discussed · at 56:58
Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth · discussed · at 58:15

George Saunders on Lincoln and Lost Souls

The Book Review · 2017-02-10

Autumn by Ali Smith · discussed · at 37:34

A Brave Look at Depression

The Book Review · 2017-02-03

My Utmost by Macy Halford · discussed · at 36:53
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers · discussed · at 37:14

Barack Obama's Legacy

The Book Review · 2017-01-20

What we do now by Dennis Loy Johnson · discussed · at 18:53
The Book That Changed America by Randall Fuller · discussed · at 20:46
From Battlefields Rising by Randall Fuller · discussed · at 21:04
Emerson's Ghosts by Randall Fuller · discussed · at 21:04
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin · discussed · at 24:04
Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West · recommended · at 41:23
The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West · discussed · at 42:23

Edward Snowden: Hero, Traitor or Spy?

The Book Review · 2017-01-13

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann · discussed · at 38:23

Should You Stop Eating Sugar?

The Book Review · 2017-01-06

Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks · discussed · at 33:43
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher · discussed · at 34:12
Transit by Rachel Cusk · discussed · at 35:58
Outline by Rachel Cusk · discussed · at 35:58

Other mentions in 2017 (23: passing, ad reads, own books)