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Every book Taffy Brodesser-Akner recommended on podcasts
Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a novelist and journalist who frequently appears on literary programs like The Book Review to discuss contemporary fiction, her own writing process, and the books that shaped her literary worldview. Brodesser-Akner enthusiastically recommended A. O. Scott's Better Living Through Criticism, noting that she frequently gifts copies to others and praising its opening premise about art trying to recreate the Garden of Eden. She also recommended Jess Walter's audiobook Beautiful Ruins. Reflecting on her personal reading journey and formative experiences with modern fiction, she discussed reading Philip Roth's American Pastoral around the same time she encountered Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, describing the profound impact those books had on her early appreciation of literature. Additionally, Brodesser-Akner referenced Roth's Exit Ghost while discussing the author's recurring themes and characters, read excerpts from her own novel Fleishman Is in Trouble, and discussed reading Nathan Hill's novel The Nix while working on her own writing projects.
Books recommended by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
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American Pastoral
American Pastoral is a critically acclaimed 1997 novel by Philip Roth that examines the disintegration of a successful American family during the turbulent social upheavals of the late twentieth century.
Discussed“Right before this I had read American Pastoral. Before that I was reading classics because I had gone to a yeshiva where I felt that we were not like prepared to go out into the world literature-wise.”
Where to get it
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Beautiful Ruins
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter is a whimsical, sweeping novel that weaves together disparate characters and storylines across decades, moving from a sleepy Italian coastal village to the glitz of Hollywood.
Recommended“and I downloaded the audio book beautiful ruins”
Where to get it
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Better Living Through Criticism
Better Living Through Criticism by A.
Recommended“And I think very often of our friend and colleague Ao Scott um if you've never read his book better living through criticism um I keep like 20 of them around and I give them to people. Um, and the way it starts is saying that all art is trying to photocopy and recreate the Garden of Eden.”
Where to get it
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Exit Ghost
Discussed“yeah he did a little the there was this there was this moment in exit ghost where he's exiled himself to Connecticut”
Where to get it
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Fleishman Is in Trouble
Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a widely acclaimed contemporary novel that examines the complexities of middle-aged divorce, modern relationships, and urban professional life through the perspective of a newly single father.
Discussed“Toby fleshman awoke one morning inside the city hed lived in all his adult life”
Where to get it
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The Corrections
Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections is a sprawling, multi-generational novel that explores the complexities, dysfunction, and shifting fortunes of an American Midwestern family at the turn of the twenty-first century.
Discussed“So I read American Pastoral and then I read this and I thought wow books are amazing but then it wasn't true.”
Where to get it
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The Nix
The Nix by Nathan Hill is an expansive, satirical debut novel that follows a disgruntled college professor and failed writer as he reconnects with his estranged mother after she commits a bizarre political crime.
Discussed“I am reading the Knicks by Nathan Hill and for the past couple of years I've been both writing my own novel and I was doing a story about Jonathan Franzen”
Where to get it
Books Taffy Brodesser-Akner wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“every time I read this book and I told your producer I didn't know how many times because to tell you how many times and to tell you I still haven't read Middle March is to my great 20 this was this was the 20th”