Person
Every book Lauren Christensen recommended on podcasts
Lauren Christensen serves as an engaging host and contributor on The Book Review podcast, where her reading selections highlight a strong interest in contemporary fiction, ambitious biographies, and character-driven narratives. Across her podcast appearances, Christensen demonstrates a particular fondness for modern novels written from compelling perspectives, such as Sarah Manguso's Liars and Danyel Smith's Colored Television, both of which center on female writers married to artists. She also shared her immersive reading experiences with Naomi Alderman's speculative novel The Power, Emma Cline's atmospheric coming-of-age story The Girls, and Raven Leilani's striking debut novel Luster. In addition to contemporary fiction, Christensen demonstrated her appetite for monumental nonfiction by diving into Robert A. Caro's massive multi-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, starting with The Path to Power. Her literary explorations further extend to timeless classics and edgy biographies, including Toni Morrison's evocative novel Tar Baby and Jennifer Clement's raw biographical work Widow Basquiat. Through these varied discussions, Christensen proves herself to be an attentive reader who appreciates bold narrative voices, deeply felt character studies, and sweeping historical documentation.
Books recommended by Lauren Christensen
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Klara and the Sun
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is a dystopian novel narrated by an artificial intelligence companion who observes human society and reflects on the nature of love and loneliness.
Recommended“so when I picked up Clara and the sun his latest book and found out it was about a robot I was just a little bit worried about which side I would end up on”
Where to get it
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Tar Baby
Toni Morrison's novel Tar Baby received thoughtful reflection and recommendation across multiple episodes of The Book Review in July 2024.
Recommended“I just finished Tar baby”
Where to get it
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Luster
Luster is a striking debut novel by Raven Leilani that explores the complexities of youth, race, art, and modern intimacy.
Recommended“I have been dying to talk about it since I I read it a little bit earlier this summer but but it just came out Raven Leilani's luster”
Where to get it
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Truth & Beauty
Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett is a 2004 memoir that chronicles the deeply complex and enduring friendship between the author and the late poet and essayist Lucy Grealy.
Recommended“Lauren let's start with you sure I am reading or I finished reading Anne patchett's truth and Beauty her Memoir from 2004”
Where to get it
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A visitation of spirits
A Visitation of Spirits by Randall Kenan is a powerful southern gothic novel that explores the struggles of a young gay Black boy named Percy James in a rural North Carolina community, blending magical realism and deep psychological insight.
Recommended“I'm halfway through the late Randall Keenan's debut novel a visitation of spirits”
Where to get it
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Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is a sweeping nineteenth-century masterpiece examining love, infidelity, and societal norms in imperial Russia.
Recommended“and another one that I really loved was Anna kenina brought of before Maggie Gyllenhaal really hits that sweet spot obviously she knows act for the screen but she reads Tolstoy like like she wrote it”
Where to get it
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Blood Orange Night
Blood Orange Night by Melissa Bond is a powerful memoir documenting the author's harrowing experience with benzodiazepine dependence and her journey toward healing.
Recommended“this is a more recent book it is called blood orange night it is a memoir by this woman named Melissa Bond she reads it which is something I I really love when an author reads their own Memoir”
Where to get it
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Cherry
Cherry by Nico Walker is a gritty debut novel following an anonymous narrator who drops out of college to serve as an army medic in Iraq, only to return home battling severe PTSD and opioid addiction.
Recommended“I am reading uh Cherry it's a debut novel by Nico Walker”
Where to get it
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Four Treasures of the Sky
Four Treasures of the Sky is a novel by Jenny Tinghui Zhang that follows a young Chinese woman's harrowing journey of survival in the American West during the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Recommended“so I'm reading four treasures of the Sky by an author named Jenny tingu Zang”
Where to get it
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Friday black
Friday black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is a piercing short story collection that confronts modern consumerism, systemic racism, and violence with sharp speculative energy.
Recommended“my one of my favorite books of the year uh was actually a debut short Story collection called Friday Black by nanak kuame a brna”
Where to get it
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Intimacies
Intimacies by Katie M.
Recommended“I just finished Katie kimura's new novel intimacies and I hadn't read her earlier books I'd read the previous one separation and loved it”
Where to get it
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Klara and the Sun: A GMA Book Club Pick
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is a thought-provoking dystopian novel that explores the nature of artificial intelligence, companionship, and humanity through the eyes of an engineered solar-powered friend.
Recommended“and I'll kind of spare all the details but I think I just basically love this book for a lot of the same reasons that I loved a very different story but Kazo ishiguro Clara and the sun I think these are two writers who are just pure storytellers”
Where to get it
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Liars
Liars is a darkly witty and psychologically astute novel by Sarah Manguso that explores the complex dynamics of marriage, female ambition, and domestic resentment from the perspective of a writer married to a visual artist.
Recommended“but I guess just in recent reading and viewing there's Dany senna's colored television as well as Sarah Mango's Liars which are both told from the perspectives of female writers who are married to artists”
Where to get it
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Love That Story
Love That Story is an essay collection by author and television personality Jonathan Van Ness that shares personal reflections, humor, and insights on identity, culture, and self-acceptance.
Recommended“I am here with Jonathan vaness who's the author most recently of love that story and Essay collection”
Where to get it
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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb is a candid, illuminating memoir by a psychotherapist that explores both her patients' struggles and her own experiences inside the therapy room.
Recommended“the first one is definitely maybe you should talk to someone by Lori gotle I think actually it does speak to what we were just talking about in terms of episode podcast structure”
Where to get it
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Sing, Unburied, Sing
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward is a powerful Mississippi-set novel that functions simultaneously as a raw road trip narrative and a haunting ghost story.
Recommended“and another novel that I had thought of was sing unburied Singh Jasmine Ward's Mississippi novel”
Where to get it
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The Chiffon Trenches
The Chiffon Trenches by André Leon Talley is a candid memoir by the late fashion journalist that chronicles his trailblazing career, high-society relationships, and personal struggles within the elite fashion industry.
Recommended“so I just finished listening to the audio book of Andre Leon Tally's Memoir the chiffon trenches”
Where to get it
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The Dutch House
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett is an immersive, decades-spanning family saga that traces the complex bond between a brother and sister locked out of their childhood home.
Recommended“I am reading Anne patchett's latest novel The Dutch house I confess I'm certainly not an aacha completist”
Where to get it
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The Girls
The Girls by Emma Cline is a critically acclaimed debut novel that explores the dark and mesmerizing allure of a 1960s cult through the eyes of a vulnerable, impressionable teenage girl.
Recommended“so let me just backtrack to the the plot um Eevee is sort of narrating from later in life she's middle-aged and sort of a drift she she's kind of lost herself and um she remembers a story of when she was a young teenager very impressionable”
Where to get it
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The Path To Power
The Path To Power by Robert A.
Recommended“Im about 400 pages into the more than 3000 in counting pages that robert Carol has written about Lyndon Johnson”
Where to get it
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The Power
The Power by Naomi Alderman is a speculative science fiction novel set in a world where teenage girls develop the physical ability to emit deadly electrical shocks, fundamentally upending global power dynamics and patriarchy.
Recommended“Lauren so I am about 3/4 of the way through naomi alderman the power which has just gotten so much attention lately”
Where to get it
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The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw is a critically acclaimed debut short story collection that explores the inner lives, desires, and complexities of Black women navigating faith, church culture, and autonomy.
Recommended“I am reading the debut collection by daa filia The Secret Lives of church ladies”
Where to get it
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The Swimmers
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka is a poignant novel that centers on an eclectic community of regular swimmers who frequent a subterranean municipal pool, before shifting into a deeply moving and powerful narrative about a specific mother and daughter.
Recommended“mine is a swimmers by juliao which came out a couple years ago it's a just it's a book about this community of Swimmers at a community pool”
Where to get it
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The Undocumented Americans
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is a powerful and deeply personal work of nonfiction that explores the lives of undocumented immigrants in the United States.
Recommended“one of the books that I really loved this year that did not make it on to the list is undocumented Americans by Carla kjo V vieno”
Where to get it
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The Yellow House
The Yellow House by Sarah M.
Recommended“and and one that came to mind set in Louisiana was the yellow house by Sarah broom a contemporary really a biography but of a house which which was the house that the author Sarah and broom grew up in with her many siblings and her mother”
Where to get it
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a contemporary novel following the decades-long creative and personal partnership of two friends who achieve massive success as video game designers.
Recommended“so I am reading a book that just came out this month tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zan who I know has been a guest on this podcast”
Where to get it
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Widow Basquiat
Widow Basquiat by Jennifer Clement is a biographical portrait of Suzanne Mallouk, the bohemian muse, musician, and primary romantic partner of the iconic 1980s New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Recommended“and one of the books that I chose immediately was Widow basat by Jenifer Clement”
Where to get it
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Wild seed
Wild Seed by Octavia E.
Recommended“when you first said Pig Earth I think I was like oh wow I've never read this I have no no idea how we're going to transition from what you're reading to what I'm reading but um the themes sound really resonant I'm reading that's my first Octavia Butler book it's called wild seed and it's in a tetrology”
Where to get it
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A Higher Loyalty
Discussed“The next book I picked up was Jim comey's a higher loyalty”
Where to get it
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A separation
A Separation by Katie M.
Discussed“I'd read the previous one separation and loved it it was a few years ago”
Where to get it
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Bad Blood
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou is an investigative non-fiction book that exposes the massive fraud behind Theranos, the high-profile Silicon Valley blood-testing startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes.
Discussed“so I'm reading something that I think a lot of people either have read already or are also reading Bad Blood by John keru about the Theos story”
Where to get it
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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.
Discussed“and I think we've all all three of us have read um Chang gang Allstars by Nana kuame AJ Ena I think that book too had had a real to use the word again a kinetic quality”
Where to get it
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Conversations With Friends
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney is a critically acclaimed contemporary debut novel exploring the intricate relationships among a group of young adults in Ireland.
Discussed“interestingly right after I finished that book picked up conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney”
Where to get it
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Heavy
Heavy by Kiese Laymon is a powerful coming-of-age memoir that confronts generational trauma, systemic racism, weight, and the complexities of growing up Black in the American South.
Discussed“in the beginning your description really reminded me of heavy the K Layman yes the K Layman book”
Where to get it
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Invisible Child
Discussed“well everything you're describing is really making me think of the book that I have been reading in a new way I I've been reading Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott and it grew out of a 2013 series of articles in the newspaper”
Where to get it
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My Brilliant Friend
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante is the captivating first volume of the internationally acclaimed Neapolitan quartet, chronicling the complex lifelong friendship of two girls growing up in a poor yet vibrant neighborhood in Naples.
Discussed“and it's funny because I I tried to read my brilliant friend which is the first novel when it came out was like I more than 10 years ago at this point and for some reason I I just couldn't get into it”
Where to get it
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Passing
Discussed“it brought me back to the the classic Nell Larson book called passing which has has been recently reissued”
Where to get it
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Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson is an acclaimed biography that chronicles the tumultuous life, career, and visionary leadership of the Apple co-founder through extensive interviews and personal access.
Discussed“I just I can't really get into these books and I felt that way about Walter isaacson's Steve Jobs biography”
Where to get it
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Stoner
Stoner by John Williams is a quiet, powerful mid-century novel that traces the unassuming academic life and quiet tragedies of William Stoner, an impoverished farmer's son who discovers a profound, enduring passion for English literature at the University of Missouri.
Discussed“well I'm actually going to talk about a book I don't like I'm halfway through John Williams's Stoner”
Where to get it
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Sula
Sula by Toni Morrison is a powerful, lyrical novel that explores the complex dynamics of female friendship, community expectations, and identity within a small Ohio town across several decades.
Discussed“and Sula and and so much of her work”
Where to get it
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X is a towering pillar of American literature that chronicles a transformative journey from street life and imprisonment to becoming a powerful voice for civil rights and Black dignity.
Discussed“whether it's in a memoir like the autobiography of Malcolm X or coming of AG in the Mississippi or in a novel”
Where to get it
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The Bluest Eye
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is a powerful and haunting debut novel that examines the tragic experiences of a young Black girl growing up in post-depression America who desperately longs for blue eyes.
Discussed“as well as you know Echoes of Tony Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Tar baby and Sula”
Where to get it
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The Corrections
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen is a sweeping, critically acclaimed novel that explores the complex dynamics of an American family at the turn of the twenty-first century, ultimately propelling the author to massive mainstream prominence.
Discussed“I picked up Jonathan fransen's the corrections recently”
Where to get it
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The Diving Pool
Discussed“last summer I went on vacation I I took her book the diving pool which is a collection of three novellas and that was that was really great”
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.
Discussed“when you just said that I was thinking about the Zade Smith recording of her most recent novel The fraud and it's an audiobook I really love and I can get into that the plot”
Where to get it
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The Idiot
The Idiot by Elif Batuman is a brilliant coming-of-age novel that follows a young woman navigating her freshman year at Harvard and her nascent, epistolary romance with an older student.
Discussed“so I've actually just finished El batuman the idiot having never read the DVI I now am moved to for the first time so I guess she's gotten me over that hump uh which is a Real Testament to her”
Where to get it
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The Magician
The Magician by Colm Tóibín is a historical fiction novel that offers a novelized chronicle of the life of the celebrated German author Thomas Mann.
Discussed“I'm thinking of colum toyin's the magician his novelization of the life of Thomas man”
Where to get it
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The Neapolitan Novels
The Neapolitan Novels are a series of interconnected, globally acclaimed books by Elena Ferrante that chronicle the lifelong friendship and complex rivalry of two women growing up in a poor yet vibrant neighborhood in Naples.
Discussed“I have very belatedly embarrassingly belatedly just gotten into the Alena fante Neapolitan novels and I was telling John that I was binge listening to the audio books”
Where to get it
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The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James is a classic 1881 novel following the spirited young American heiress Isabel Archer as she navigates European society, independence, and a disastrous marriage.
Discussed“I'm reading portrait of a novel by Michael Gora which is s of a book about a book it's about Henry James's the portrait of a lady”
Where to get it
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The Topeka School
The Topeka School by Ben Lerner is a deeply resonant and intricate novel that explores the shifting tactics and complex politics of high school debate in the American Midwest during the 1980s and 1990s.
Discussed“and then you know Kansas Ben learner's Trilogy you know especially the Topeka school but if it is an autofictional three-part story of a boy man who is very closely based on the author himself who was born in TOA Kansas”
Where to get it
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The Vanishing Half
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is a compelling contemporary novel that examines family, racial identity, and the choices that shape our lives through the lives of twin sisters who choose to live in very different worlds.
Discussed“speaking to Britt Bennett about her recently published novel her second called The Vanishing half”
Where to get it
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The Warmth of Other Suns
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson is an epic, deeply researched work of narrative nonfiction that chronicles the historic decades-long Great Migration of Black citizens leaving the American South.
Discussed“right before George Floyd came into the news I had actually picked up the warmth of other Sons The Epic story of America's Great Migration”
Where to get it
Appearances
Other mentions (13: passing, ad reads, own books)
“and so I feel like it was just almost like going I just read creation lake so caves are in my mind it's almost like going into a cave and seeing this cavernous room”
“because then it's it really is like a good Counterpoint to Helter Skelter because in Helter Skelter you really don't understand those girls at all”
“the last novel I read was belcanto in college and I absolutely loved it”
“and incidentally completely by coincidence the last book we read was small fry”
“so um I also read intimacies by Kitty kidura and I just that's not the book I'm about to discuss”
“I read visitation of Spirits by Randall Keenan”
“he was previously the author of A Memoir called over-the-top and many listeners may know him as a star and the grooming expert on Netflix's queery”
“she's also written the answers nobody is ever missing and Pew this book to me was just indisputably I would say a hugely ambitious work of fiction”
“she's also written the answers nobody is ever missing and Pew this book to me was just indisputably I would say a hugely ambitious work of fiction”
“she's also written the answers nobody is ever missing and Pew this book to me was just indisputably I would say a hugely ambitious work of fiction”
“before I describe the book I want to clarify that this is not the same Jenny Zang as the woman who wrote sour heart”
“but in terms of reader investment in this young woman's coming of age it made me think so much of Kora in Coulson whiteheads the Underground Railroad from a few years ago”
“I mean I don't know this book feels like you're gonna I I don't know how you're G to feel about this but it feels like Middle March to me”