That Book
We pop back in from the void to tell you about a new project we've been working on: . It's a podcast about the experience of reading Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu – all seven volumes. Hosted by Hannah and Cambridge professor Emma Claussen with Michael producing, it's a fun, deeply-considered dive into one of the most intimidating novels in the canon. Please check it out at , on , or . And, for old times' sake, enjoy some book chat.
info_outline TBC: What We Actually Read, 2021!That Book
Our year-end survey. What the hell did we read in 2021???
info_outline RIP Eve Babitz (Rebroadcast: Bicoastal Season, Episode 3)That Book
RIP Eve Babitz. Here's her episode from September 2020.
info_outline RIP Anne Rice (Rebroadcast: Season 2, Episode 1)That Book
Re-releasing this episode in tribute to our vampire queen! RIP, Anne.
info_outline Ayn Rand Pt. 2 (Pseudonym Season, Episode 6)That Book
In Part 2 of our Rand investigation, we figure out what the deal is with Rand’s magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged.
info_outline Ayn Rand, Pt. 1 (Pseudonym Season, Episode 5)That Book
Sifting through the life of objectivist Ayn Rand.
info_outline Stephen King/Richard Bachman (Pseudonym Season, Episode 4)That Book
The man who launched a thousand screams and his alter-ego who launched a thousand "wait, who?"s. It’s Stephen King/Richard Bachman day! Happy scary season, everyone!
info_outline Nancy Drew/The Hardy Boys (Pseudonym Season, Episode 3)That Book
A dive into the hiveminds behind Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.
info_outline Alice Sheldon/James Tiptree Jr. (Pseudonym Season, Episode 2)That Book
Sci-fi savant James Tiptree Jr. had accolades, admirers and many, many pen pals. Problem was, he didn't exist.
info_outline Stacey Abrams/Selena Montgomery (Pseudonym Season, Episode 1)That Book
Our Pseudonym Season kicks off with a look into political miracle-worker Stacey Abrams' other life as romance author Selena Montgomery.
info_outlineOur year-end survey. What the hell did we read in 2021???
Books mentioned:
Run, Don’t Walk: The Listening House, Mabel Seeley; Hidden Valley Road, Robert Kolker; Piranesi, Susanna Clarke; Intimacies, Katie Kitamura; Visitation, Jenny Erpenbeck; Native Speaker, Chang-rae Lee;
Thumbs Up: The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz; The Copenhagen Trilogy, Tove Ditlevsen; To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, Christopher Paolini; The Stepford Wives, Ira Levin; Secondhand Time, Svetlana Alexievich; Clockwork Boys, The Wonder Engine, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher; My Year Abroad, Chang-rae Lee; No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood; Matrix, Lauren Groff; Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Grann; Under the Whispering Door, The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune; A Separation, Katie Kitamura; The 10,000 Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Patrick Süskind; Crossroads, Jonathan Franzen; Billion Dollar Loser, Reeves Wiedeman.
Thumbs Down: A Man of Parts, David Lodge; The Midnight Library, Matt Haig; The Decagon House Murders, Yukito Ayatsuji; Little, Big, John Crowley;
Pumped to Read: Klara and The Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro; To Paradise, Hanya Yanagihara; Leviathan Falls, James S.A. Corey; The Enchanted April, Elizabeth von Arnim; The Hare, Melanie Finn; Small Pleasures, Clare Chambers; Maggie Hope Series, Susan Elia MacNeal.
Articles and Links:
- Tweet Thread on Anne Rice
- Jenny Erpenbeck Profile (New Yorker)
- (Sigh) Bad Art Friend (NYT Magazine)
- Jeremy Strong Profile (New Yorker)
- Review of Yanigihara's To Paradise (Harpers)
- 100 Notable Books of 2021 (NYT)
- Joan Didion Archive at the New York Review of Books
- Sign up for Molly Young’s books newsletter here (NYT)