Person
Every book Soman Chainani recommended on podcasts
Soman Chainani’s most recommended books
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney
- Life by Unknown
- Ever After High: Briar Beauty's Story by Shannon Hale
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Soman Chainani is a writer and filmmaker best known as the author of the bestselling fantasy series The School for Good and Evil. Appearing on podcasts, Chainani shared several literary recommendations for readers seeking emotionally compelling fiction and deep character work. He recommended Donna Tartt's The Secret History as a go-to choice for anyone asking what to read, praising its meticulous world-building and contrasting it with other works for its immersive qualities. Alongside it, he suggested Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life and Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends, noting that the latter offers the most accurate depiction of being in a feminine state of mind during one's twenties. Chainani also reflected on his own writing process, comparing his deep attachment to new story ideas with the intense feelings he experienced while creating The School for Good and Evil, and discussing the competitive landscape of the fantasy market when his first book debuted.
Books recommended by Soman Chainani
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The Secret History
The Secret History by Donna Tartt is a gripping psychological thriller following a tightly knit circle of eccentric classics students at an elite New England college whose intellectual arrogance leads to moral decay and murder.
Discussed“And Donna Tartt wrote Goldfinch, Secret History. She's only written three books. She writes one every 10 years, and she's due for exactly 10 years.”
Where to get it
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The School for Good and Evil
Discussed“It's what I felt with School for Good and Evil, which is I don't care who reads this, I don't care what happens to this. This is mine.”
Where to get it
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The School for Good and Evil #3: The Last Ever After
Discussed“It's what I felt with School for Good and Evil, which is I don't care who reads this, I don't care what happens to this. This is mine.”
Where to get it
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Conversations With Friends
Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney is a celebrated contemporary debut novel that explores complex interpersonal relationships, modern romance, and youthful identity among a circle of characters in Ireland.
Recommended“So there's this category of book that I can recommend to anybody who comes to me and says, "What book should I read?" I always tell them Secret History by Donna Tartt, A Little Life by Hanya, Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney.”
Where to get it
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Life
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is an emotionally devastating contemporary novel that traces the decades-long bond between four college classmates in New York City while deeply exploring trauma, friendship, and endurance.
Discussed“And then Hanya wrote A Little Life, which — Tim Ferriss: A Little Life. Soman Chainani: — yes. Which I read — Tim Ferriss: Yanagihara.”
Where to get it
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Ever After High: Briar Beauty's Story
Discussed“And Mattel was putting one out called Ever After High, which was, Ever After High, School for Good and Evil, they were so similar, and I was never worried because I'm like, mine is so weird.”
Where to get it
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The Goldfinch
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is a sprawling novel that follows a young boy whose life is upended by a museum bombing, eventually drawing him into the underworld of art forgery and antique trade.
Discussed“And Donna Tartt wrote Goldfinch, Secret History. She's only written three books. She writes one every 10 years, and she's due for exactly 10 years.”
Where to get it
Books Soman Chainani wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (5: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I wrote a series called The School for Good and Evil for 10 years. There's six books in the series, and Netflix made a movie out of it that came out last year.”
“I wrote a series called The School for Good and Evil for 10 years. There's six books in the series, and Netflix made a movie out of it that came out last year.”
“And then another book a little bit for older audiences is called Beats and Beauty, which is going to be a TV show sometime soon.”
“The same thing when we did Beasts and Beauty. We were presenting it to the studios to get a buyer for the TV series. I said, "How do we present this?"”
“And then, during COVID, I read The Body Keeps the Score. And I had struggled with some things for my entire life in terms of anxiety and just getting stuck in kind of ruts of feeling.”