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Every book Pamela Paul recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Pamela Paul has recommended or discussed 955 books on podcasts, as of July 18, 2024.
- Pamela Paul has talked about books on 1 podcast, as of July 18, 2024.
- Those books came up in 319 episodes, as of July 18, 2024.
- The 3 books Pamela Paul has mentioned in the most episodes, as of July 18, 2024: Master of the Senate, Alexander Hamilton and Life After Life.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Pamela Paul aired on July 18, 2024.
Updated
Pamela Paul’s book club picks
Pamela Paul has picked 5 books for the book club on The Book Review. The latest is Dear Child by Romy Hausmann, first picked in October 2020. Every pick, newest first:
Pamela Paul’s most recommended books
- Master of the Senate by Robert A. Caro
- Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
- Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
- Exhalation by Ted Chiang
- The destiny of the republic by Candice Millard
- Working by Robert A. Caro
- How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
Pamela Paul recommended and discussed several books on episodes of The Book Review. She expressed deep admiration for Robert Gottlieb's memoir, Avid Reader, stating that she could not recommend it enough. Host Pamela Paul also highlighted David Bellos's The Novel of the Century, the extraordinary adventure of Liero, and Chris Bachelder's novel, The Throwback Special, noting how much she loved it. In addition, she reviewed Thomas L. Friedman's work, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, and she concluded a segment on David France's How to Survive a Plague, which tells the inside story of how citizens and science tamed AIDS. Furthermore, she named Bonnie Rochman's The Gene Machine to discuss how genetic technologies are changing modern families, reminded listeners of Maureen Dowd's The Year of Voting Dangerously: The Derangement of American Politics, and discussed Lauren Collins's When in French: Love in a Second Language at the end of an interview.
Books recommended by Pamela Paul
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Master of the Senate
Master of the Senate by Robert A.
Discussed“and you start off Master of the senate for example with a a woman who cannot vote it feels like your your your heart”
Where to get it
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Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow is a comprehensive historical biography that chronicles the life, political career, and lasting legacy of one of America's founding fathers.
Discussed“for those tracking my ongoing Hamilton uh the Ron turnout biography project”
Where to get it
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Life After Life
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson is a celebrated novel that follows protagonist Ursula Todd as she repeatedly dies and is reborn across different eras of the twentieth century, most notably the Second World War.
Discussed“this is your third novel in a row that's kind of taken place in this same sort of London World War II Blitz era period the first life after life then a God in Ruins why what was the attraction”
Where to get it
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The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is a classic gothic novella that follows a governess who becomes convinced that the remote estate where she cares for two children is haunted by malevolent spirits.
Discussed“it's a penguin Classics Collection and I I started reading it around Halloween because like many people in quarantine there's a certain sameness to the days”
Where to get it
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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“the book again is the Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead and it's reviewed on our cover this”
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.
Discussed“well there was recently as you know Jasmine Ward's Sing unburied Sing which continues her look also at African-American South”
Where to get it
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Exhalation
Exhalation by Ted Chiang is a critically acclaimed collection of philosophical science fiction short stories.
Discussed“listeners of this podcast heard me rave many times about his later collection exhalation which was one of our 10 best books of 2019”
Where to get it
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The destiny of the republic
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard is a riveting narrative history detailing the unexpected presidency, tragic assassination, and subsequent medical mismanagement of James A.
Recommended“so for those who have not read that book or for example Candace mallard's Destiny of the Republic which is a great narrative history of Garfield's assassination”
Where to get it
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Working
Working by Robert A.
Discussed“but instead you have written this other book working researching interviewing writing why did you decide to do this”
Where to get it
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How to Change Your Mind
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan is a comprehensive exploration of the history, science, and cultural renaissance surrounding psychedelic-assisted therapies.
Discussed“the other book that I thought of and there are shades of this in in his subtitle was how to change your mind by Michael pollen which came out a few years ago”
Where to get it
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Beautiful World, Where Are You
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney is a contemporary novel exploring the romantic and intellectual lives, friendships, and existential anxieties of four characters in their thirties.
Recommended“Sally Rooney's beautiful world where are you encapsulates kind of where she is in her career right now”
Where to get it
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Skyfaring
Skyfaring by Mark Vanhoenacker is a reflective and lyrical exploration of modern commercial aviation that illuminates the poetic and technical realities of flight.
Recommended“so my runner up I think uh one book I really admired this year was Mark Van honer's uh book Sky fairing”
Where to get it
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Avid Reader
Avid Reader by Robert Gottlieb is a celebrated memoir by the legendary book editor that offers a fascinating look inside the world of publishing and literature.
Recommended“he also wrote A Memoir and one of the things I loved about this Memoir which is called Avid Reader”
Where to get it
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Less
Less by Andrew Sean Greer is a comedic novel that follows a failed novelist nearing fifty who accepts a series of haphazard international literary events to escape a wedding.
Recommended“I'm going to talk a little bit more about Andrew Shan Greer who listeners of this podcast will remember was a guest last year when the book came out in hard cover”
Where to get it
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Pachinko
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a sweeping historical novel that follows four generations of a Korean immigrant family living in Japan.
Discussed“so I left with reading Pinko which I talked about on an earlier podcast by Menin Lee and I had that funny experience where you know when you you are talking to someone”
Where to get it
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Outline
Outline by Rachel Cusk is a critically acclaimed contemporary novel known for its minimalist style and unique narrative structure where the protagonist reveals herself primarily through the stories told to her by others.
Discussed“Heidi jivitz is here to talk about her review this week of Rachel cusk's new novel outline”
Where to get it
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How to Do Nothing
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell is an exploration of attention, the attention economy, and the value of stepping away from constant productivity.
Discussed“and the other book that I read while I was away is called Jenny Odell's book how to do nothing which of course is a really excellent title the subtitle is resisting the attention economy”
Where to get it
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Transcription
Transcription by Kate Atkinson is a historical spy novel that follows a young woman recruited to monitor British fascist sympathizers during the Second World War.
Discussed“so tell us about transcription it's um set in two time frames 1940 1950 and sent us around a girl called Juliet Armstrong who in 1940 is 18 and she's smart but she's naive”
Where to get it
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H Is for Hawk
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald is a critically acclaimed memoir that chronicles the author's harrowing journey through grief following the sudden death of her father, which she processes by training a notoriously aggressive goshawk.
Recommended“Vicky Constantine croak will tell us about Helen McDonald's H is for Hawk a memoir which she reviews this week on our cover there's nothing clich in this book whatsoever”
Where to get it
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Far From the Tree
Andrew Solomon's Far From the Tree is a comprehensive non-fiction exploration of how parents and children who are significantly different from each other navigate their relationships.
Recommended“and I think maybe reading Andrew Solomon's excellent book far from the tree was probably helpful in thinking about that in a more compassionate or nuanced way”
Where to get it
- Tightrope by Nicholas D. Kristof
- Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
- Grand Union Stories by Zadie Smith
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- 1984 by George Orwell
- How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
- The examined life by Stephen Grosz
- The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
- The Stand by Stephen King
- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
- A life's work by Rachel Cusk
- Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff
- Hamilton by Ron Chernow
- Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance
- Middlemarch by George Eliot
- Sick in the Head by Judd Apatow
- The English and their history by Robert Tombs
- The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
- Ulysses by James Joyce
- Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
- The North water by Ian McGuire
- Calypso by David Sedaris
- Shrinks by Jeffrey A. Lieberman
- Dear Child by Romy Hausmann
- Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
- Life isn't everything by Ash Carter
- The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County by Kristen Green
- Richard Nixon : the life by John A. Farrell
- American prison by Shane Bauer
Pamela Paul’s latest episodes with books
Pamela Paul’s book recommendations by year
All 955 books Pamela Paul recommended or discussed across 319 episodes, filed by the year each episode came out. Each year goes episode by episode, with the minute every book came up.