The Second Annual Listeners’ Questions Episode
The Book Review7 Jan 2022

The Second Annual Listeners’ Questions Episode

Throughout the year, we hear from many of you, and are always glad when we do. From time to time, we try to answer some of your questions on the podcast. This week, for the second time, we dedicate an entire episode to doing just that. Some of the many questions addressed this week:

  • Who are literature’s one-hit wonders?
  • What are some of our favorite biographies?
  • What are empowering novels about women in midlife?
  • How do we assign books to reviewers?
  • Who are writers that deserve more attention?
  • How does the practice of discounted books work?

Providing the answers are the book critic Dwight Garner, the editors Lauren Christensen, MJ Franklin and John Williams, and the reporters Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth Harris. Pamela Paul is the host.

We mention many more books than usual on this episode. Here’s a list for reference:

“A Confederacy of Dunces,” by John Kennedy Toole

“Gilead,” by Marilynne Robinson

“The Master and Margarita,” by Mikhail Bulgakov

“The Goldfinch,” by Donna Tartt

“The Secret History,” by Donna Tartt

“Natural Opium,” by Diane Johnson

“In Trouble Again,” by Redmond O’Hanlon

“Into the Heart of Borneo,” by Redmond O’Hanlon

“Venice,” by Jan Morris

“On the Road,” by Jack Kerouac

“Minor Characters,” by Joyce Johnson

“The Life of Samuel Johnson,” by James Boswell

“William James,” by Robert D. Richardson

“Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley,” by Peter Guralnick

“Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley,” by Peter Guralnick

“Samuel Pepys,” by Claire Tomalin

“No One Here Gets Out Alive,” by Jerry Hopkins

“The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” by Paul Elie

“Virginia Woolf,” by Hermione Lee

“The Stone Angel,” by Margaret Laurence

“Memento Mori,” by Muriel Spark

“The Friend,” by Sigrid Nunez

“What Are You Going Through,” by Sigrid Nunez

“The Journals of John Cheever”

“A Manual for Cleaning Women,” by Lucia Berlin

“The Blood of the Lamb,” by Peter De Vries

“Go Tell It on the Mountain,” by James Baldwin

“Sula,” by Toni Morrison

“Lot,” by Bryan Washington

“Little Fires Everywhere,” by Celeste Ng

“The Yellow House,” by Sarah M. Broom

“Sing, Unburied, Sing,” by Jesmyn Ward

“The Topeka School,” by Ben Lerner

“Modern Lovers,” by Emma Straub

The fiction of Randall Kenan

“Popisho,” by Leone Ross

“Detransition, Baby” by Torrey Peters

“The Magician,” by Colm Toibin

“When We Cease to Understand the World,” by Benjamín Labatut

“Say Nothing,” by Patrick Radden Keefe

“Empire of Pain,” by Patrick Radden Keefe

“Bad Blood,” by John Carreyrou

The poetry of Emily Dickinson

The poetry of Ada Limón

“Piranesi,” by Susanna Clarke

“Klara and the Sun,” by Kazuo Ishiguro

We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Avsnitt(584)

Book Club: Let's Talk About 'The Catch,' by Yrsa Daley-Ward

Book Club: Let's Talk About 'The Catch,' by Yrsa Daley-Ward

In this month’s installment of the Book Review Book Club, we’re discussing “The Catch,” the debut novel by the poet and memoirist Yrsa Daley-Ward. The book is a psychological thriller that follows sem...

25 Juli 202552min

The Best Books of the Year (So Far)

The Best Books of the Year (So Far)

We’re halfway through 2025, and we at the Book Review have already written about hundreds of books. Some of those titles are good. Some are very good. And then there are the ones that just won’t let u...

18 Juli 202546min

The True Story of a Married Couple Stranded at Sea

The True Story of a Married Couple Stranded at Sea

Some time ago, the British journalist Sophie Elmhirst was reporting a story about people who try to escape the land and to live on the water. “I found myself trolling around as you do in these moments...

11 Juli 202531min

Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Mrs. Dalloway" at 100

Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Mrs. Dalloway" at 100

“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself”: So reads one of the great opening lines in British literature, the first sentence of Virginia Woolf’s classic 1925 novel, “Mrs. Dalloway.”The bo...

27 Juni 202542min

A.O. Scott on the Joy of Close Reading Poetry

A.O. Scott on the Joy of Close Reading Poetry

On this week's episode, A.O. Scott joins host Gilbert Cruz to talk about the value of close reading poetry. And New York Times Book Review poetry editor Greg Cowles recommends four recently published ...

20 Juni 202533min

50 Years After ‘Jaws’ Terrified Filmgoers, a Reporter Looks Back

50 Years After ‘Jaws’ Terrified Filmgoers, a Reporter Looks Back

Steven Spielberg’s movie “Jaws” hit theaters 50 years ago this month, in June 1975, and became a phenomenon almost instantly. In some ways that was no surprise: The Peter Benchley novel it was based o...

14 Juni 202537min

S.A. Cosby on Writing Southern Crime Fiction

S.A. Cosby on Writing Southern Crime Fiction

In S.A. Cosby’s latest thriller, “King of Ashes,” a successful and fast-living financial adviser is called suddenly back to the small Virginia hometown he fled, where his family runs the local cremato...

6 Juni 202537min

Book Club: Let's Talk About 'The Safekeep'

Book Club: Let's Talk About 'The Safekeep'

MJ Franklin, who hosts the Book Review podcast’s monthly book club, says that whenever someone asks him, “What should I read next?,” Yael van der Wouden’s “The Safekeep” has become his go-to recommend...

30 Maj 202539min

Populärt inom Fritid

somna-med-henrik
uggla-ugglas-podcast
man-i-grupp
roda-vita-rosen
rss-livsreglerna
svenska-fpl-podden
spokhistorier
jordkommissionen
rss-horrujeje
billgren-wood
elbilsveckan
bilar-med-sladd
avsuttet-med-elsa-johanna
travpodden
nordigt
kontrollbehov
rss-max-tant-med-max-villman
sexet
rss-vara-klassiker
jag-ar-kinky