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Pamela Paul’s book recommendations in 2021

151 books · 48 episodes · Pamela Paul’s most recommended books, all years →

Every episode from 2021, newest first

David Sedaris’s Diaries and Paul McCartney’s Songs

The Book Review · 2021-12-23

A Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris · discussed · at 0:53
Theft by Finding by David Sedaris · discussed · at 1:10
The Lyrics by Paul McCartney · discussed · at 24:03
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot · recommended · at 47:11
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen · discussed · at 53:01

The Life of a Jazz Age Madam

The Book Review · 2021-12-17

Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson · recommended · at 48:35

A New Oral History of HBO

The Book Review · 2021-12-10

Tinderbox by James A. Miller · discussed · at 8:03
Taste Makers by Mayukh Sen · recommended · at 47:36

Talking About the 10 Best Books of 2021

The Book Review · 2021-12-03

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue · discussed · at 4:14
Intimacies by Katie M. Kitamura · discussed · at 7:16
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut · discussed · at 11:16
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers · discussed · at 16:24
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood · discussed · at 20:12
Red Comet by Heather Clark · discussed · at 26:21
Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark · discussed · at 26:21
How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith III · discussed · at 32:04
On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed · discussed · at 40:02
Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott · discussed · at 41:20
The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen · discussed · at 46:17
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney · recommended · at 58:07
Life of the Mind by Christine Smallwood · recommended · at 1:00:14
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart · recommended · at 1:04:05

Ann Patchett on ‘These Precious Days’

The Book Review · 2021-11-25

These Precious Days by Ann Patchett · discussed · at 1:11
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins · discussed · at 13:02
Garner's Quotations by Dwight Garner · recommended · at 53:28

Ross Douthat on Dealing With Lyme Disease

The Book Review · 2021-11-19

Nomadland by Jessica Bruder · discussed · at 34:05
Amity and Prosperity by Eliza Griswold · discussed · at 34:05
The Overstory by Richard Powers · recommended · at 49:01

Alan Cumming Talks About ‘Baggage’

The Book Review · 2021-11-12

Baggage by Alan Cumming · discussed · at 0:53

Huma Abedin Talks About 'Both/And'

The Book Review · 2021-11-05

Both/and by Huma Abedin · discussed · at 0:12
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart · discussed · at 0:23
Ghost Light by Frank Rich · recommended · at 1:09:57
The flight attendant by Christopher A. Bohjalian · discussed · at 1:10:39
Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah · discussed · at 1:10:39

Katie Couric Talks About 'Going There'

The Book Review · 2021-10-29

Going There by Katie Couric · recommended · at 27:32
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi · discussed · at 36:59

One Factory and the Bigger Story It Tells

The Book Review · 2021-10-22

American Made by Farah Stockman · discussed · at 0:57
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney · discussed · at 1:03:11

Thomas Mallon on the Career of Jonathan Franzen

The Book Review · 2021-10-15

Middlemarch by George Eliot · discussed · at 16:29
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen · discussed · at 17:48
A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris · discussed · at 28:21

Andrea Elliott on ‘Invisible Child’

The Book Review · 2021-10-08

Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes by Phoebe Robinson · discussed · at 25:38
The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina · recommended · at 52:43

Richard Powers on ‘Bewilderment’

The Book Review · 2021-10-01

The Overstory by Richard Powers · discussed · at 0:07
Bewilderment by Richard Powers · discussed · at 0:13
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers · discussed · at 0:21
The Age of Phillis by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers · discussed · at 20:12
Congratulations, by the way by George Saunders · recommended · at 52:39
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders · discussed · at 52:57
A Motor-Flight Through France by Edith Wharton · recommended · at 53:56
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro · critiqued · at 57:47
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler · critiqued · at 57:56
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf · critiqued · at 1:01:33
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf · recommended · at 1:01:53
The Golden Bowl by Henry James · critiqued · at 1:01:59
Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney · critiqued · at 1:02:18
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James · recommended · at 1:02:37
The hours by Michael Cunningham · recommended · at 1:03:37

Randall Kennedy on 'Say It Loud!'

The Book Review · 2021-09-24

Say It Loud! by Randall Kennedy · discussed · at 1:04
The Godfather by Mario Puzo · discussed · at 34:35
Fuzz by Mary Roach · recommended · at 52:26

Colson Whitehead on 'Harlem Shuffle'

The Book Review · 2021-09-17

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead · discussed · at 0:44
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead · discussed · at 1:08
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead · discussed · at 1:15
The Magician by Colm Tóibín · discussed · at 22:09
The Master by Colm Tóibín · discussed · at 23:26
Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor · discussed · at 55:48
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki · recommended · at 1:01:38

Brandon Taylor on the Sally Rooney Phenomenon

The Book Review · 2021-09-10

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney · discussed · at 0:18
Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney · discussed · at 2:48
Normal People by Sally Rooney · discussed · at 2:48
Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor · discussed · at 19:51
Real life by Brandon Taylor · discussed · at 20:23
About Time by David Rooney · discussed · at 24:48

Andrew Sullivan on Being ‘Out on a Limb’

The Book Review · 2021-09-03

The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani · discussed · at 32:05
Adele by Leïla Slimani · discussed · at 32:05

A.O. Scott Talks About William Maxwell

The Book Review · 2021-08-27

So long, see you tomorrow by William Maxwell · discussed · at 11:20
They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell · discussed · at 11:20
Time will darken it by William Maxwell · discussed · at 11:20
Dirty Work by Eyal Press · discussed · at 18:34
Beautiful Souls by Eyal Press · discussed · at 20:00

Life at Seven Miles Below the Sea

The Book Review · 2021-08-20

Last Best Hope by George Packer · discussed · at 48:50

Dana Spiotta Talks About ‘Wayward’

The Book Review · 2021-08-13

Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta · discussed · at 9:02
Innocents and others by Dana Spiotta · discussed · at 9:02
Wayward by Dana Spiotta · discussed · at 10:01
So much for that by Lionel Shriver · discussed · at 47:43
The Post-Birthday World LP by Lionel Shriver · recommended · at 47:57
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson · discussed · at 48:50
We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver · discussed · at 53:57
Double fault by Lionel Shriver · discussed · at 53:57

Katie Kitamura Talks About ‘Intimacies’

The Book Review · 2021-08-06

Intimacies by Katie M. Kitamura · discussed · at 1:47
Putting It Together by James Lapine · discussed · at 25:24
Sunday in the park with George by James Lapine · discussed · at 25:24
Finishing the hat by Stephen Sondheim · discussed · at 34:19

A Heartbreaking Novel About Mothers, Daughters and Secrets

The Book Review · 2021-07-23

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby · recommended · at 54:10
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz · recommended · at 54:13
The Disappearing Act by Catherine Steadman · recommended · at 54:34

S.A. Cosby on 'Razorblade Tears'

The Book Review · 2021-07-16

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby · discussed · at 0:13
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett · discussed · at 11:43
The Stand by Stephen King · recommended · at 26:15
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer · recommended · at 26:48
Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream by Dean Jobb · discussed · at 27:02

The Lives of Flies

The Book Review · 2021-07-09

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats · discussed · at 23:27
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne · critiqued · at 27:32
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry · discussed · at 29:24
My Family and other Animals by Gerald Malcolm Durrell · recommended · at 39:57

An Outsider Finds Suspense in Hollywood

The Book Review · 2021-07-02

King Richard by Michael Dobbs · discussed · at 19:56

Clint Smith on ‘How the Word Is Passed’

The Book Review · 2021-06-25

The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen · discussed · at 1:02:33
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood · discussed · at 1:02:33

George Packer on Our Divided America

The Book Review · 2021-06-18

Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard · recommended · at 45:14

A More Perfect Union

The Book Review · 2021-06-11

Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks · discussed · at 38:37

Reimagining the Aftermath of a Wartime Attack

The Book Review · 2021-06-04

Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford · discussed · at 0:55
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford · discussed · at 8:47
How Iceland Changed the World by Egill Bjarnason · discussed · at 19:36
Languages of Truth by Salman Rushdie · discussed · at 46:01

A Desperate Writer Steals 'The Plot'

The Book Review · 2021-05-28

Lenin by Victor Sebestyen · discussed · at 59:19
What is to be done? by Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky · discussed · at 1:00:59

Maggie O’Farrell on ‘Hamnet’

The Book Review · 2021-05-21

A life's work by Rachel Cusk · discussed · at 24:57
Aftermath by Rachel Cusk · discussed · at 25:36
Outline by Rachel Cusk · discussed · at 34:42

Louis Menand on 'The Free World'

The Book Review · 2021-05-14

Beijing Payback by Daniel Nieh · discussed · at 59:29
Yoga by Emmanuel Carrère · discussed · at 1:03:53

Amy Klobuchar on 'Antitrust'

The Book Review · 2021-04-30

So much for that by Lionel Shriver · discussed · at 57:58
How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue · recommended · at 58:07

Patrick Radden Keefe on ‘Empire of Pain’

The Book Review · 2021-04-23

True Grit by Charles Portis · recommended · at 53:33
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro · recommended · at 57:30

Celebrating Our 15th Anniversary

The Book Review · 2021-04-16

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson · recommended · at 1:01:13
The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro · recommended · at 1:01:35
Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon · recommended · at 1:11:44
Middlemarch by George Eliot · discussed · at 1:15:20
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot · recommended · at 1:15:24

Carl Zimmer on Defining Life

The Book Review · 2021-04-02

She Has Her Mother's Laugh by Carl Zimmer · discussed · at 0:49
Life's Edge by Carl Zimmer · recommended · at 22:49
I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell · recommended · at 51:22
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell · discussed · at 51:43

Tillie Olsen and the Barriers to Creativity

The Book Review · 2021-03-26

The Ravine by Wendy Lower · discussed · at 20:57

Four Decades of Downs and Ups in New York City

The Book Review · 2021-03-19

AMORALMAN by Derek DelGaudio · discussed · at 25:49

Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler · recommended · at 20:50
Kindred by Octavia Butler · discussed · at 38:48

Writing About Illness Without Platitudes

The Book Review · 2021-02-19

Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad · recommended · at 0:14
Treadmill to Oblivion by Fred Allen · discussed · at 32:33
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron · discussed · at 40:31
A Promised Land by Barack Obama · discussed · at 58:22

This Land Is Whose Land?

The Book Review · 2021-02-12

Land by Simon Winchester · recommended · at 0:04
Made in China by Amelia Pang · recommended · at 0:19
The Professor and the Madman CD by Simon Winchester · discussed · at 6:12
Krakatoa by Simon Winchester · discussed · at 6:12

Chang-rae Lee on His New Novel: ‘It’s Kind of a Crazy Book.’

The Book Review · 2021-02-05

Nine perfect strangers by Liane Moriarty · discussed · at 1:00:06
Dear Child by Romy Hausmann · recommended · at 1:01:45
Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore · recommended · at 1:03:13
Graceling by Kristin Cashore · recommended · at 1:03:40

Navigating the Maze of Paying for College

The Book Review · 2021-01-29

The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams · recommended · at 59:04
1984 by George Orwell · discussed · at 1:05:40

The Ethics of Adoption in America

The Book Review · 2021-01-22

Troubled by Kenneth R. Rosen · discussed · at 0:21

Charles Yu Talks About ‘Interior Chinatown’

The Book Review · 2021-01-08

The Last Million by David Nasaw · recommended · at 46:30
Present at the Creation by Dean Acheson · recommended · at 49:27

Fareed Zakaria on Life After the Pandemic

The Book Review · 2021-01-01

Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria · discussed · at 0:56
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett · discussed · at 51:42
Identical Strangers by Elyse Schein · recommended · at 52:04
Light in August by William Faulkner · discussed · at 54:03

Other mentions in 2021 (133: passing, ad reads, own books)