Person
Every book Jumana Katib recommended on podcasts
Jumana Katib is a vibrant participant on The Book Review podcast, frequently sharing her enthusiasm for engaging contemporary fiction, anticipated debuts, and immersive memoirs. From her podcast contributions, Katib emerges as a reader who keeps a close pulse on both upcoming literary trends and comforting modern classics. She recommended Lisa Halliday's clever novel Asymmetry and praised Linda Rosenkrantz's novel Talk as an ideal casual summer read. Katib also expressed her literary itinerary by planning to read Elena Ferrante's acclaimed Neapolitan novel Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. During preview segments, she championed Percival Everett's thought-provoking works The Trees and Erasure, while also introducing listeners to Kaveh Akbar's powerful debut novel Martyr! and Leslie Jamison's deeply personal memoir about motherhood, Splinters. Katib's recommendations reflect a balanced appreciation for narrative innovation, emotional depth, and structural experimentation, making her a reliable guide for listeners seeking out fresh and resonant voices in contemporary publishing.
Books recommended by Jumana Katib
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Chain Gang All Stars
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is a gripping futuristic dystopian novel that explores institutionalized violence and the American prison-industrial complex through a high-stakes gladiatorial combat program.
Recommended“and it's for Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame AJ Brena it's incredible”
Where to get it
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Asymmetry
Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday is a structurally innovative and critically acclaimed novel exploring power dynamics, ambition, and global politics through two seemingly distinct narratives that ultimately interconnect.
Recommended“hypothetically speaking I also really like Lisa halliday's novel asymmetry which I think is a fictionalized account”
Where to get it
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Erasure
Erasure by Percival Everett is a sharp satirical novel that explores identity, the publishing industry, and the commodification of Black trauma.
Discussed“I was reading eraser over the weekend which is of course the novel that the screenplay for American fiction is based on and the epigraph for that novel 20 years ago is from Mark Twain”
Where to get it
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The color of water
The Color of Water by James McBride is a celebrated memoir about growing up in Red Hook as one of twelve children born to a Black father and a white mother who grew up Jewish, converted, and started a church.
Discussed“I love his Memoir called the color of water which is about growing up in Red Hook as one of 12 born to a black father a white mother who grew up Jewish and converted and literally started a church with her first husband a wild story”
Where to get it
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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
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, which include My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child, are a celebrated multi-volume exploration of female friendship, class, and identity set against the backdrop of changing Italian society.
Recommended“and What's the title of that one it's called those who leave and those who stay”
Where to get it
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All the Sinners Bleed
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A.
Recommended“it's called all the Sinners bleeds by ESS Cosby”
Where to get it
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Crook Manifesto
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead is a gritty, atmospheric crime novel and a direct sequel to Harlem Shuffle, following its protagonist through the turbulent criminal underworld of 1970s New York.
Recommended“he has a new book out called crook Manifesto”
Where to get it
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Daughter of the Dragon
Daughter of the Dragon by Yunte Huang is a captivating non-fiction work that examines the extraordinary life and cultural impact of early Hollywood icon Anna May Wong.
Recommended“yeah so this is called daughter of the dragon by Yun hang who's an academic at UC Santa Barbara”
Where to get it
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Day
Day by Michael Cunningham is a poignant novel that unfolds across three successive Aprils—2019, 2020, and 2021—capturing the profound shifts in a family's life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommended“one of the other books that I was hoping we could talk about was Day by Michael Cunningham... it's been a while since Michael Cunningham has had a Bookout”
Where to get it
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Deacon King Kong
Deacon King Kong by James McBride is a vibrant novel set in a 1960s Brooklyn housing project, following the colorful fallout after an aging church deacon inexplicably shoots a local drug dealer.
Recommended“and I said oh my gosh you've got to read Deacon King Kong by James McBride it's great”
Where to get it
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson is a widely discussed biography detailing the life, ventures, and management style of the high-profile entrepreneur.
Recommended“the next book is one of the biggest non-fiction releases of the entire season yes this is a hotly anticipated biography of Elon Musk by Walter isacon”
Where to get it
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Enter Ghost
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad is a critically acclaimed contemporary novel that follows characters staging a production of Hamlet in Palestine and the West Bank.
Recommended“so I landed on enter ghost by Isabella hammad this is her second novel”
Where to get it
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Happiness Falls
Happiness Falls is a contemporary novel by Angie Kim that delves into the complex dynamics of a family in crisis after a father goes missing.
Recommended“um tell us about the last book on your list which is called Happiness Falls”
Where to get it
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Happy all the time
Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin is a witty and charming 1978 novel that explores the complexities of urban romance, marriage, and friendship among a circle of New Yorkers.
Recommended“I'm going to recommend happy all the time which is you got to read it MJ I haven't read it oh my God I know Liz you like her too and especially home cooking even though I don't cook”
Where to get it
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Home cooking
Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin is a beloved collection of essays and culinary reflections by a celebrated novelist who found deep meaning in the kitchen and the act of feeding others.
Recommended“and especially home cooking even though I don't cook that is an endorsement”
Where to get it
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How to End a Story
How to End a Story by Helen Garner is the final, deeply intimate volume of diaries by the celebrated Australian author, chronicling the painful dissolution of a significant relationship.
Recommended“so one book that I just finished is the last volume of Diaries by an Australian novelist named Helen Garner... this last volume it's called how to end a story”
Where to get it
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Lightning Rods
Lightning Rods by Helen Dewitt is a daring, highly satirical novel known for its provocative premise, dark humor, and unconventional narrative structure.
Recommended“I will say lightning rods by Helen dwit”
Where to get it
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Martyr!
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar is a dazzling debut novel about an orphaned young Iranian-American poet in recovery seeking meaning, legacy, and a dramatic exit through art.
Recommended“yes so this is Martyr by kava Akbar”
Where to get it
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My search for Warren Harding
My Search for Warren Harding by Robert Plunket is a satirical novel that follows an eccentric graduate student's obsessive quest to uncover the private life of the former United States president.
Recommended“I recommend my search for Warren Harding by Robert plunket first published in the 80s cult classic”
Where to get it
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Mythologies
Mythologies is a collection of seminal essays by French literary theorist and philosopher Roland Barthes that deconstructs cultural myths and everyday phenomena.
Recommended“rolon Bart you guys I'm not yeah guys yeah yeah Challengers so that is actually the opening essay in his collection mythologies which is good”
Where to get it
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Nothing Special
Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery is a compelling debut novel that delves into the lives of typists working for Andy Warhol during the height of the 1960s Pop art movement.
Recommended“so this is Nicole flattery's dayb she is an Irish writer”
Where to get it
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Pearl
Pearl by Sian Hughes is a poignant novel that explores grief, family absence, and the lingering emotional reverberations of a mother's disappearance in childhood.
Recommended“so this is Pearl by Shan Hughes this was actually longlisted for the booker last year when it came out in the UK and now we are getting our taste of it and frequent listeners of the book review know that I have a particular attachment to stories about sad little girls particularly if they have lost their parents”
Where to get it
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Quietly Hostile
Quietly Hostile is an essay collection by Samantha Irby that offers readers a humorous and relatable look at contemporary life through the author's signature witty perspective.
Recommended“so uh Samantha irvy who is a hysterical essayist has a new book coming out called quietly hostile”
Where to get it
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Splinters
Splinters by Leslie Jamison is a deeply introspective memoir exploring motherhood, heartbreak, and the complexities of personal transformation.
Recommended“let's start with you a book called splinters yes so this is splinters by Leslie Jameson”
Where to get it
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Talk
Talk by Linda Rosenkrantz is a unique experimental novel composed entirely of transcripts from tape-recorded conversations among three young friends living in Los Angeles in the summer of 1965, capturing the unfiltered mundanity and intimacy of their daily lives.
Recommended“so one thing that I've been dipping into all summer has been Linda Rosen cr's book called talk”
Where to get it
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The Elegance of the Hedgehog
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery is a critically acclaimed French philosophical novel that follows the secret inner lives of an intellectual Parisian concierge and a precocious, disillusioned young girl.
Recommended“she reminded me of the Elegance of the Hedgehog which is French cannon at this point I don't know”
Where to get it
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The Fraud
The Fraud by Zadie Smith is a rich historical novel set in Victorian London during the era of Charles Dickens, centering around the famous Tichborne claimant case and themes of complicity and imposture.
Recommended“so let's start today with the fraud by Zade Smith”
Where to get it
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The Iliad
The Iliad by Homer is an ancient epic poem that recounts the wrath of Achilles and the pivotal events during the final weeks of the Trojan War, remaining a foundational cornerstone of Western literature.
Recommended“let us go to a book that has been around for centuries yes we have a fresh translation of The Iliad by Homer his epic poem”
Where to get it
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The Sellout
The Sellout by Paul Beatty is a bold, satirical novel about race and racism in contemporary America that made history as the first American novel to win the Booker Prize in 2016.
Recommended“well we have to talk about the sellout by Paul batty”
Where to get it
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The Trees
The Trees by Percival Everett is a genre-bending novel that blends biting racial commentary with elements of a buddy cop narrative set in the American South.
Recommended“Dr no of course or the trees”
Where to get it
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The Vulnerables
The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez is a contemporary novel that follows an unnamed narrator during times of uncertainty, exploring themes of connection, isolation, and empathy.
Recommended“the first one is the vulnerable by SEC Nunes... it's called the vulnerables and it follows an unnamed narrator”
Where to get it
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Yellowface
Yellowface by R.
Recommended“yeah yeah we could call it capital S satire called it's called yellow face by RF Quang this writer”
Where to get it
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Harlem Shuffle
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead is a richly textured historical crime novel set in 1960s New York that follows a furniture salesman navigating the criminal underworld while trying to maintain his respectability.
Discussed“his first one came out in 2021 it was called Harlem Shuffle”
Where to get it
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Life of the Mind
Life of the Mind by Christine Smallwood is a contemporary novel that follows a modern academic navigating precarious employment, personal life, and bodily anxieties.
Discussed“and it also reminded me of the ending of the life of the Mind by Christine Smallwood which also involves some trash”
Where to get it
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Maid
Discussed“Stephanie land is the bestselling writer of a previous Memoir called maid”
Where to get it
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My Pathology
Discussed“my pathology which is is such a perfect example of how Monk and person of all is able to weaponize language and expectation and and like stereotype to hold a mirror up to the reader to the public and to himself”
Where to get it
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Out
Discussed“a friend recommended a Japanese crime Thriller called out by natsuo Corino it was originally published in 97”
Where to get it
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The Good Lord Bird
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride is a historical novel that won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2014.
Discussed“so you might know James McBride who's the author he won the national book award for the good Lord bird which has been turned into a really great miniseries”
Where to get it
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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride is a critically acclaimed historical novel set in a vibrant, multi-ethnic Pennsylvania neighborhood in the mid-twentieth century.
Book club“and all of that is here in the Heaven and Earth grocery store”
Where to get it
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The hours
The Hours by Michael Cunningham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that weaves together the lives of three women across different eras, deeply connected to Virginia Woolf's Mrs.
Discussed“he's best known for the hours”
Where to get it
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Transactions in a foreign currency
Transactions in a foreign currency is the debut short story collection by Deborah Eisenberg, showcasing her sharp wit and remarkable command of narrative voice.
Discussed“so I ransacked them so I read deborah eisenberg's first Story collection i didn't know she started out as a playwright before she started writing fiction but this was hysterical it's called transactions in a foreign currency”
Where to get it
Appearances
Other mentions (21: passing, ad reads, own books)
“he I think people know him from a previous book called Skippy dies which is a sendup of barding school”
“there was Elizabeth Stout Lucy by the Sea”
“this is a a follow-up novel by Angie Kim who became something of a sensation with her debut Miracle Creek”
“I Loved Her First book which was called the Parisian it was this big historical novel set in Palestine”
“she wrote The Last Samurai”
“You might know her from her previous books White Teeth was her debut”
“she's also written swing time in Northwest and she writes criticism”
“he tends to take these big swings in his biographies he's taken up Steve Jobs Leonardo da Vinci”
“he tends to take these big swings in his biographies he's taken up Steve Jobs Leonardo da Vinci”
“this is done by Emily Wilson who is a classicist she really made waves with her previous translation of the Odyssey back in 2017”
“there's a new book by Nathan Hill who's the author of the Knicks called Wellness”
“there's a new novel by one of our regular contributors ay matys you might know her from her essays in the New York Times book review or her novel The 12 Tribes of Hattie her latest is called the unsettled”
“her last book came out in 2020 it was called wow no thank you”
“she's the author of a best-selling fantasy series called the poppy War”
“I think a couple years ago he's had black top Wasteland and razor blade tears”
“one for underground railroad one for nickelbys”
“one for nickelbys”
“I think she may have been best known for Shanghai Express which she appeared in with Marlene Dietrich”
“because California books are so much more then the day of the locusts and ask the dust”
“because California books are so much more then the day of the locusts and ask the dust”
“and then I was thinking of Katie kimura's debut which is called the long shot I think that's actually about an MMA fighter who's been out of the ring for but you know functionally it's the same Vibe I have never read that but I read a separation and I've read intimacies”