Person
Every book Yann Martel recommended on podcasts
Yann Martel is an author who appears on the podcast How I Write. During his appearance, Martel recommended Yukio Mishima's novel The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, describing it as one of the great, narrow-focused individual stories of his life. He also discussed several other literary works in the context of his writing process and inspirations. He referenced Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Josephine the Singer, Or The Nation of the Mice to illustrate the use of animals as characters, and compared his approach in addressing the Holocaust to George Orwell's use of Animal Farm to tackle Stalinism. Additionally, Martel mentioned Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express for its clever plotting, Knut Hamsun's Hunger to highlight his preference for subjective single-character narratives, Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich as a masterclass in literary instruction for living, and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, which he contrasted with his own youthful boredom.
Books recommended by Yann Martel
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The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima is a dark novel about a young boy in Yokohama, a group of rebellious peers, and a sailor who becomes romantically involved with the boy's mother.
Recommended“I like things like like I remember loving one of the great like a few of the great books of my life have been very individual stories like for example the sailor who fell from grace with the sea by Yukio Mishima story of a sailor who meets a woman”
Where to get it
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Animal Farm
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a classic allegorical novella that uses a farmyard setting to satirize the corruption of socialist ideals and the rise of totalitarianism following the Russian Revolution.
Discussed“I was trying to do in a sense with the Holocaust, what Animal Farm, what George Or did with Stalinism, with Animal Farm tell a light, engaging, delightful story that's about a very heavy topic”
Where to get it
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Hunger
Hunger is a classic psychological novel by Knut Hamsun that chronicles the desperate experiences of a starving writer wandering through the streets of Christiania, the old name for Oslo.
Discussed“Thompson who was a Norwegian writer. He wrote a book called Hunger and it's about a homeless man in Christiania which was the old name for Oslo.”
Where to get it
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Josephine the Singer, Or The Nation of the Mice
Discussed“There's also one that I mentioned in this next book called Josephine and the mouse people. It's about mice.”
Where to get it
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Murder On The Orient Express
Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express is a celebrated detective novel featuring Hercule Poirot investigating a murder aboard a snowbound luxury train.
Discussed“Like, you know, Murder on the Orient Express, there's a scene where a porter knocks on the door of a cabin”
Where to get it
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Ten Days That Shook the World
Discussed“about an American communist journalist who wrote a book called 10 Days That Shook the World about the October Revolution.”
Where to get it
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The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories
The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy is a profound novella exploring mortality, self-deception, and the existential reckoning of a dying man.
Discussed“And the first one I sent him was the death of Ivan Illich by Leo Toltoy. Dead white male but it's amazing you.”
Where to get it
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The Hobbit
The Hobbit by J.R.R.
Discussed“I found them so boring where an entire generation loved The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.”
Where to get it
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The Metamorphosis and Other Stories
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka is a collection of surreal fiction best known for its opening novella where a traveling salesman named Gregor Samsa wakes up transformed into a giant insect.
Discussed“You know, the metamorphosis, obvious example, Gregor Samsa wakes up and he's a dung beetle.”
Where to get it
Books Yann Martel wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yann Martel: Life of Pi Author Reveals His Writing Process | How I Write | How I Write | 2026-05-06 | 10 |
Other mentions (2: passing, ad reads, own books)
“So let's take the example of life of pie best known book of mine you know I did research on on on animal behavior zoo biology.”
“Like one of my my novel afterlife of pi was called Beatus and Virgil and there I used a donkey and a monkey and here they were heavily anthromorphized.”