Person
Every book Lydia Davis recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Lydia Davis has recommended or discussed 9 books on podcasts, as of March 23, 2022.
- Lydia Davis has talked about books on 1 podcast, as of March 23, 2022.
- Those books came up in 1 episode, as of March 23, 2022.
- The 3 books Lydia Davis has mentioned in the most episodes, as of March 23, 2022: a sorrow beyond dreams, Beowulf and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Lydia Davis aired on March 23, 2022.
Updated
Lydia Davis’s most recommended books
- a sorrow beyond dreams by Peter Handke
- Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
- Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth Hardwick
- The afternoon of a writer by Peter Handke
- The Gray Notebook by Josep Pla
- The Left-handed Woman by Peter Handke
- Ulysses by James Joyce
Lydia Davis is a writer and translator known for her distinctive short fiction and literary translations. Speaking on Conversations with Tyler, Davis discussed her reading history and influences, noting that she struggled to read James Joyce's Ulysses twice before finally finishing it while living in Ireland. She talked about enjoying Josep Pla's The Gray Notebook in small portions over time and cited Elizabeth Hardwick's Sleepless Nights as a major influence that utilized deliberate fragmentation in writing. Davis also discussed Peter Handke's works, mentioning that A Sorrow Beyond Dreams conveys a similar sense of fragmentation, that she read The Left-Handed Woman in German due to its straightforward style, and that she found The Afternoon of a Writer much more complex with difficult constructions. Additionally, she discussed beginning to reread Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and expressed a strong critical perspective against J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, stating she disliked their style, characters, and overall quality.
Books recommended by Lydia Davis
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a sorrow beyond dreams
Discussed“and i think um i think also a sorrow beyond dreams by hank which i'm about to revisit by peter hanke also gives that impression of fragmentation”
Where to get it
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Beowulf
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney is a modern poetic translation of the ancient Anglo-Saxon epic detailing the hero Beowulf's battles against monsters like Grendel and a treasure-guarding dragon.
Discussed“we also read beowulf because that was another one i'd never read and thought that i should read”
Where to get it
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K.
Critiqued“but when i tried to read them i didn't like the style of writing and i didn't like the characters and i didn't like anything about them”
Where to get it
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Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is a classic novella by Joseph Conrad about a perilous journey up an African river into the unknown depths of colonial exploitation and human nature.
Discussed“for example we mentioned conrad i started the heart of darkness i had read it years ago and i started it you know a few months ago and really liked the writing and wanted to go on”
Where to get it
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Sleepless Nights
Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth Hardwick is a fragmented, deeply atmospheric 1979 novel that blends memoir, fiction, and sharp social observation to reflect on a woman's life across various American and European locations.
Discussed“but i was thinking even first of a book that influenced me a lot in in my writing of that and that was elizabeth hardwick's sleepless nights which i haven't revisited in a while”
Where to get it
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The afternoon of a writer
Discussed“so then i tried reading whatever it is the day in the in afternoon of a writer i think it's called afternoon of a writer and that was terribly complicated with difficult constructions and huge vocabulary”
Where to get it
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The Gray Notebook
Discussed“there's a there's a book by a catalan writer called joseph pla that's called the gray notebook i think or the other gray notebooks or the gray notebook”
Where to get it
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The Left-handed Woman
Discussed“one was the um the left-handed woman and that he he wrote in such a straightforward style and the material repeated so much that i was able to read it without a problem”
Where to get it
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Ulysses
James Joyce's landmark modernist novel Ulysses chronicles an ordinary day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mapping human consciousness and daily existence through a revolutionary stream-of-consciousness technique.
Discussed“i had a problem a long time ago trying to read ulysses by joyce and started it twice and finally read it when i lived in ireland”
Where to get it
Books Lydia Davis wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lydia Davis on Language and Literature | Conversations with Tyler | 2022-03-23 | 9 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“but i think of the novel i wrote the one novel the end of the story was meant to be give the impression of of fragmentation because the narrator is trying to remember remember incidents”