July 26, 2024 • 30 mins
The New York Times has released their Top 100 Books of the 21st Century so far. I discuss.
Book discussed:
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishuguro
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
2666 by Roberto Bolano
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Warm of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Educated by Tara Westover
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
H is Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen
Overstory by Richard Powers
There There by Tommy Orange
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Devil in the White by Erik Larson
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
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Episode Transcript
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Amy Mair (00:23):
Hello, welcome back to the Red Fern book. I am the
host, Tyler the dead of summer.
And I officially stoppedrecording for the season. But I
had to drop back on because Irecently received a copy of The
New York Times has publishedtheir top 100 books, the 21st
(00:45):
century. And it's kind of blownup the internet. And I just felt
the need to come on here andweigh in on it. And I'm really
curious what you think about thelist, what books you would
include, or exclude from thelist. So what I'm going to do is
I'm going to talk a little bitabout the list itself, and then
(01:08):
a few of the books that jumpedout to me either books that I
have been wanting to read, orthat I've read myself, and give
you my thoughts. And also, Iwant to talk a little bit about
some of the books that I thinkhave been excluded from the
list, and encourage you to thinkabout what books that you would
(01:30):
place on there, yourself. So oneof the things that I think is
really interesting about thislist, the New York Times has
pulled together their list ofthe top 20, top 100 books in the
21st century. And it'sinteresting because we're right
in the middle of it. In fact,we're only a quarter of the way
(01:50):
through the century. So in thatway, it's a living list. And it
will be interesting, at the endof the century, how that list
might be the same or change. Andmy guess is probably half of
them will say the same and halfof it will be different. But
what's fascinating is I thinkwe've all seen lots of lists
(02:13):
that talk about the top books ofthe 20th century. And how many
times have we thought about themerits of The Great Gatsby, The
Catcher in the Rye Lolita TheGrapes of Wrath in 1984.
Sometimes you wonder why booksremain on the list. Over time,
the most interesting books Ifind on those lists are the ones
(02:38):
closest to present day. Becausesometimes I just think these,
the books are canonized, butthey may or may not deserve
their spot. But what'sinteresting to me about the 21st
century list is that everyonelistening to this will have
remembered all kinds of majorevents that have happened since
(03:03):
2000. And remember the booksthat they've enjoyed and why.
And, you know, when you look atbooks from a 20th century, most
of us weren't around for most ofit. So we're really just basing
it on history and what othershave said or what we were taught
in school. Okay, so the way theNew York Times came up with this
(03:24):
list is they interviewed 500people, mostly authors, book
agents, people in the industry.
So with that said, and even Ilistened to an interview with
The New York Times desk talkingabout it, because it is the New
(03:45):
York Times and they also gavethis out to critics and other
kind of important people inindustry. I think the books kind
of skewed more towards literaryand what people thought are
important. And you'll find thatoften when, you know people read
or want to talk about books, arethey talking about books they
actually couldn't put down orbooks they think are important.
(04:07):
And it's nice if you can findsomething that's sort of the
intersection between the two,let's pull up the New York Times
top 10 lists, according tocritics and other authors. And
I'm going to start at number 10.
And number 10 is Gilead byMarilynne Robinson that came out
in 2004. actually haven't readthat book. Number nine is Never
Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Ihave mixed feelings about this
(04:35):
book. It came out in 2005. Itwas a beloved book. It's a
dystopian novel. So not everyoneloves that, including me. I
didn't like this book. But thenis it because the topic made me
uncomfortable? Yes. So it's kindof hard for me to say but this
book is interesting because itappeared on both sides. The
(04:57):
critics lists for the top 100,the 21st century and the readers
list for the top 100 books that21st century so there was an
intersection there. And just soyou know, there were 39 books
that were on both lists and thiswas one of them. One of my
objections to this book could bethe fact that one of my favorite
(05:18):
books of all time is anotherbook that kazoo wrote called The
remains the day, which you willundoubtedly be familiar with,
about a butler in postwarEngland. So, number eight is
Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald, Ihave not read that book. Number
(05:43):
seven is Colson Whitehead, theunderground railroad that came
out in 2016. Um, I wouldn't putthis in the top 10. I put it in
the top 100. I think it's cleverand important. I, I just
wouldn't put it in the top 10.
And it's kind of a fantasticalbook that talks about slavery.
(06:11):
It's very creative, and it'simportant, but I would not have
put it at number seven. Numbersix is to 666 by Roberto bolano.
I've also not read that this isnot very good. I have not read a
lot of the books in the top 10.
Ah, number five is thecorrections by Jonathan Franzen.
An absolute delight, Iabsolutely love this book. It's
(06:35):
one of my favorite books. And ifyou haven't read it, you got to
go read it. It came out in 2001.
So just the beginning of the21st century. And it really, I
think, change literature. It'spart of a genre called
hysterical realism. And it's,it's about a family coming home
(06:58):
for Thanksgiving, which is superrelatable, and to satire on
mental health, self improvementand instant gratification. It's
hilarious. It's sad, and I thinkeveryone should read this book.
Number four is the known worldby Edward P. Jones, have read
(07:20):
that one either. Wolf Hall byHillary mental is number three.
And this is historical fictionabout Thomas Cromwell, I think
this is a really good book aswell. But I don't know that I
put it at number three. TheWarmth of Other Suns by Isabel
(07:43):
Wilkerson is number two. Andnumber one is My Brilliant
Friend by Elena Ferrante. Sothis book of My Brilliant
Friend, clocked in at numberone, and it also appeared, I
believe, in the top 10 on thethe readers list. And everyone
(08:05):
kind of loves this book, it wasclever, I think part of it is
Elena Ferrante, the author, it'sa nom de plume. It's never been
completely confirmed who theauthor is. And I think people
kind of love that book, but it'sabout two or two girls growing
up poor in Naples. And what itis, it's about the power, and
(08:30):
the dysfunction, and the beautyof deep female friendship and
deep female friendship that canreally only be forged when it
starts really young like this.
So it's about art and politicsand class and gender. And the
critics felt that the reason whythis came in at number one also,
(08:51):
is because it's part of a fourbook series. And the books
together kind of add up to 1000pages. So you really get super
involved in the characters. Andthat might be another thing or
you're just so committed that Ithink you have to say. Maybe it
(09:12):
is worth being number one. Okay,so I want to move over to the
reader list because I feel likethe reader list is a little bit
more relatable, and I think alot of people will know a lot of
these books. So, number 10 isstation 11 by Emily St. John
(09:33):
Mandel. An amazing book. I thinkif you haven't read it, you
should. She's a Canadian author.
And she wrote this book, it'sabout a pandemic. And she wrote
it before our actual pandemic,and it's really eerie on the
(09:55):
similarities. It's dystopian, soit's about a band of I'm
traveling or the band of atheater troupe that travels
around in a world that'sbasically over because of the
plague, but they continue tomove around and perform and
live, despite the destructionall around them. But the way I
(10:19):
found this relatable was in thebeginning chapters when the
pandemic is just being underway.
And the main characters are notreally fully computing what's
happening. And there's a scenewhere someone is at the grocery
store and kind of getting it thepeople are grabbing things off
shelves, and it's becoming quiteclear that this is something you
can't even conceive of, orreally understand and life is
(10:42):
not going to be the same. So Ithought that was super
relatable. Number nine is NeverLet Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, so
people love it. Number eight ismy brilliant friends. Number
seven is tomorrow and tomorrowand tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevon,
I completely agree. I love thisbook, one of my favorite books,
(11:05):
and it is about the video gameindustry and kind of the merits
of an art involved in videogames. And it's very, very
contemporary. Not like otherbooks I've read. She's a younger
author. Tomorrow and Tomorrowand tomorrow is a reference to
(11:26):
Shakespeare. I can't say enoughabout this book. I thought it
was great. Most of you will befamiliar with educated by Tara
Westover about a woman who grewup in kind of crazy off the grid
circumstances and goes on tobecome highly educated. I
thought it was great Pachinko,another one epic novel by Min
(11:49):
Jin Lee, I think that deservesits spot at number five, the
Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. lovedthat book. And that came in at
number four, about a paintingand a little boy, and a painting
that goes missing and how itkind of involves the under the
(12:11):
kind of the mob underworld ittakes place across decades. It's
it's an opus, I loved it. AGentleman in Moscow comes in at
number three, love that book byMr. Tolls. He's an excellent
writer. This is historicalfiction about a kind of a member
(12:33):
of the nobility and Russia, whospeaks out against the
government, by, through hiswriting, curates a poem. And he
gets locked up essentially, in abeautiful hotel. And he's never
allowed to leave. But he'sallowed to have a beautiful life
(12:55):
in the hotel. But it's you know,he gets dressed up every day, he
walks around the hotel, he hastea and coffee, he interacts
with people, but he's actuallyin a prison kind of, of his own
making, by speaking the truth.
It's beautiful. It's sad. Andactually, it kind of reminded me
(13:18):
of the pandemic. So I wouldactually I would read any of Mr.
tols books. I love the Rules ofCivility as well. Number two is
All the Light We Cannot See. Andthat's an excellent book most of
you familiar with. I thought itwas super, super well done. It
(13:40):
takes place in World War Two,and a beautiful walled town in
France called St. Malo, that'sovertaken by the Germans. But
what I thought was reallyinteresting about this book,
which I have, since read, is thebook. When Anthony Doerr
envision this book, he came upwith the idea of wanting to
(14:01):
write about communication. Andthen he decided where it would
be set. And he picked thissetting because he went on a
book tour and ended up in thistown and thought it was
beautiful. And then he figuredout the time period and the
story, so I thought that waskind of interesting that he came
up with more a big picture ideaabout communication. And the way
(14:21):
communication comes to play inthis book, is people are not
allowed to have radios becauseotherwise they can understand
the outside world. And it's acrime and so people are hiding
their radios and some arelistening. And someone has kind
of a covert radio program. I'mnumber one on the reader survey
(14:43):
is demon Copperhead by BarbaraKingsolver. And most of you will
be familiar with this book. It'sa modern take on Charles Dickens
novel, David Copperfield. It isexcellent, but I didn't like it
because it was very He'sdifficult to read. And it's
about a young boy. And it'ssetting up a lot larger. And
(15:07):
it's explores kind of drugculture and poverty, and it won
the Pulitzer Prize. And BarbaraKingsolver grew up in that area.
So it's imbued with a lot oftruth. And it is excellent. But
it's, it's hard. It's hard toread. So I don't know. That's my
(15:29):
opinion there. Okay, so then thenext thing I want to just talk
to you about was, I scan throughthe list, and there's a few
books that I thought were leftoff the list. And also, I wanted
to just highlight a couple ofbooks that I think have stood
the test of the last 25 yearsand are worth going back and
reading if you haven't. So goingto the main list. At number
(15:55):
eight is the book bel canto byAnn Patchett. This is an
excellent book. It's in my topfive books of all time. And it's
about a famed opera singer who'sperforming for a Japanese
executive birthday in SouthAmerica. And what happens is,
(16:16):
you know it at this birthday,there's kind of famous people
and wealthy people andpoliticians and a group of young
gorillas swoop in and takeeveryone in the house hostage.
What makes this book special issort of the relationship that
forms between some of thehostages and the gorillas. And
(16:40):
how music kind of weaves throughand is the through line through
this whole book. I just thoughtit was gorgeous. One of the best
books. The other book I wantedto mention was George Saunders,
Lincoln in the Bardo, anotheramazing book. This is an
experimental book. And whatGeorge Saunders is a beloved
(17:03):
writer. He's a writers writer,he teaches writing at Serkis
University, and a lot of famouswriters have trained under him.
He is a bit more he can be a biton the difficult side. But
Lincoln in the Bardo isdefinitely worth a read. It is
about Lincoln's son, one of hissons died during his term from
(17:32):
an illness, and it greatlyaffected his presidency and is
thought to have actuallyimpacted the outcome of the
Civil War. And what this bookdoes is it is about Lincoln one
night, going to the graveyard,and grieving for his son, and
(17:54):
all the ghosts that come up andswirl up and kind of wish path
10 and reveal themselves andtalk about their lives. And it
is a beautiful book, it'sexperimental. People are kind of
coming and going. You'relearning about slavery, and
(18:15):
generals and all kinds ofthings. So it's just it's a
little bit hard to describe, butI think it's worth the
investment. Sometimes I'll tellyou when a book is hard, this is
a little bit challenging, butit's not very long. And I think
I think it's worth your time.
Middlesex by Jeffrey, JeffreyEugenides, excellent book. And
(18:38):
most of you have thought about aread it or you'll know about it.
And it is about when it came outvery early in the 21st century.
And it is interesting becauseit's about an intersex person.
And that really wasn't talkedabout that much. And there at
that time, and the person'strying to live a normal life.
(19:01):
There's a lot of references toGreek mythology and persons born
to Greek parents. I thought itwas very lyrical. It's super
long, but beautiful. Oh, this isa book you may not have heard
of, which I think is excellent.
(19:24):
It's called H is for Hawk byHelen Macdonald. It's a memoir,
and it's about a woman who isgrieving the death of her father
while also trying to train ahawk, which is an incredibly
difficult thing to do. And thebird is majestic and difficult.
(19:46):
And she has to give this womanhas to give everything she has
to the hawk in order to trainit. And while she does that, she
kind of saves herself. It's Justa beautiful book. It's
it's also a little bit hard todescribe, but I would check that
out. Another book on the listthat I thought was excellent is
(20:09):
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.
It's a very challenging book,maybe one of the more
challenging books that I'veread. But I think it's worth
your time. If you're up for it.
Kind of, as I say a lot, I'm amood reader. So I'd read a book
like this. And then I'd pick upa book probably by Ellen
Hildebrand, and just have a goodtime. But this book is basically
(20:33):
it's a bit of a puzzle box of abook. And it's a bunch of short
stories basically strungtogether across all different
time periods. And each sectionis seemingly unrelated. But
somewhere within each section,you see, kind of a link in the
(20:56):
last story that was in adifferent country, a different
time period. It's just beautifuland clever and ambitious.
atonements by Ian McEwan makesthe list. And this, of course,
is a story of Briony Tallis is a13 year old in post war or pre
(21:17):
war England. And she seessomething happen in the
household that she reveals andit changes everyone's life. It's
a beautiful book. It's a sadbook. It's an excellent movie.
But definitely worth your time.
Okay, now on to wrap up on thelist, there were a couple of
(21:39):
books that I've been wanting toread. And they popped up on the
list. And I'm wondering ifyou've read them. I have not
read the Copenhagen trilogy. Butit's supposed to be excellent.
And it's a memoir about growingup, kind of underprivileged in
Copenhagen. I've just heardgreat things about it. And I'm
(22:01):
kind of curious. Another bookthat caught my eye is the
overstory around by Richardpowers. And it's about the power
of trees. And it's a novel withas follows nine characters, and
they're all somehow involved arerelated to trees, or the wood
(22:24):
industry. Or they'reenvironmentalists. And it is
supposed to be excellent. Andthis sections have to do with
kind of the different parts ofthe tree like there's, I think,
a section called trunk andanother called seeds. And I
(22:45):
don't know, it just seems kindof creative and different. And
we've heard a lot lately abouttrees and how trees can actually
feel things and talk to eachother. And I don't know, I just
think the idea of something, youthink of a large soaring tree
and how it's more powerful thanourselves and think that's kind
(23:06):
of interesting. Okay, now, thethings not on the list, which
I'm going to argue I thinkshould be on the list. They're
there by Tommy orange. It wasnot on the main list, but it was
on the readers list. This is anexcellent book about Tommy
Orange is a First Nationswriter. This book was a finalist
(23:30):
for the Pulitzer Prize. And itis about a group of First
Nations people living inOakland, California, where
there's a large population ofFirst Nations people living
there, and they're all gettingready to go to a drum circle.
And it's essentially kind ofshort stories interwoven. But it
(23:51):
was sad. It was funny. Youreally cared about these
characters, even if they weren'talways the best. And you
sometimes you just did you justlearned a lot about the culture.
And I just loved it. I can't sayenough about it. I thought, You
(24:11):
know what it did best? Was itwas it illuminated a different
culture without being preachy.
And I think that's that can be areally great way to reach
people. American wife by CurtisSittenfeld. I think this was on
the readers list, but not on themain list. In fact, another book
(24:34):
by Curtis Sittenfeld, prepanything by Curtis Sittenfeld, I
think should be on this list andit wasn't American wife is
historical, a historical fictionnovel about Laura Bush. Laura
Bush has not mentioned by namebut it is basically her entire
(24:54):
life lived kind of lived out inthese pages and the thought was
winner Her husband, George Bush,was in office. She always just
kind of stood behind and sort ofserenely. And he always just
wondered what was she about? Andshe's been through a lot. She's,
she accidentally killed someonein a traffic accident, a friend
(25:15):
of hers when she was a teen.
She's been through her husband'salcoholism. She's stood by his
side, through all aspects of hispresidency, and you're kind of
thinking, What Does she reallythink? And they actually seem to
have a real marriage or like astrong marriage. So it's a good
book. Prep is about someone'sexperience of boarding school.
(25:38):
And it's excellent, it'ssearing. It's funny, it's scary.
A little Lord of the Flies.
Another book that was not on themain list was Hamlet by Maggie
O'Farrell. And that's just anexcellent book. It came out in
(26:00):
recent years, anything by MaggieO'Farrell. But it's historical
fiction about WilliamShakespeare's son who died, and
how that might have actuallyimpacted his art his life. And
you name him that draws obviousparallels with Hamlet. So that's
kind of interesting. And thelast book I wanted to mention
(26:23):
that was not on the main list isDevil in the White City by Erik
Larson. And it is a true crimestory about a serial killer that
was terrorizing the 1893 ChicagoWorld's Fair. And anything by
Erik Larson is excellent. HeRead
Hello, welcome back to the Red Fern book. I am the
host, Tyler the dead of summer.
And I officially stoppedrecording for the season. But I
had to drop back on because Irecently received a copy of The
New York Times has publishedtheir top 100 books, the 21st
(00:45):
century. And it's kind of blownup the internet. And I just felt
the need to come on here andweigh in on it. And I'm really
curious what you think about thelist, what books you would
include, or exclude from thelist. So what I'm going to do is
I'm going to talk a little bitabout the list itself, and then
(01:08):
a few of the books that jumpedout to me either books that I
have been wanting to read, orthat I've read myself, and give
you my thoughts. And also, Iwant to talk a little bit about
some of the books that I thinkhave been excluded from the
list, and encourage you to thinkabout what books that you would
(01:30):
place on there, yourself. So oneof the things that I think is
really interesting about thislist, the New York Times has
pulled together their list ofthe top 20, top 100 books in the
21st century. And it'sinteresting because we're right
in the middle of it. In fact,we're only a quarter of the way
(01:50):
through the century. So in thatway, it's a living list. And it
will be interesting, at the endof the century, how that list
might be the same or change. Andmy guess is probably half of
them will say the same and halfof it will be different. But
what's fascinating is I thinkwe've all seen lots of lists
(02:13):
that talk about the top books ofthe 20th century. And how many
times have we thought about themerits of The Great Gatsby, The
Catcher in the Rye Lolita TheGrapes of Wrath in 1984.
Sometimes you wonder why booksremain on the list. Over time,
the most interesting books Ifind on those lists are the ones
(02:38):
closest to present day. Becausesometimes I just think these,
the books are canonized, butthey may or may not deserve
their spot. But what'sinteresting to me about the 21st
century list is that everyonelistening to this will have
remembered all kinds of majorevents that have happened since
(03:03):
2000. And remember the booksthat they've enjoyed and why.
And, you know, when you look atbooks from a 20th century, most
of us weren't around for most ofit. So we're really just basing
it on history and what othershave said or what we were taught
in school. Okay, so the way theNew York Times came up with this
(03:24):
list is they interviewed 500people, mostly authors, book
agents, people in the industry.
So with that said, and even Ilistened to an interview with
The New York Times desk talkingabout it, because it is the New
(03:45):
York Times and they also gavethis out to critics and other
kind of important people inindustry. I think the books kind
of skewed more towards literaryand what people thought are
important. And you'll find thatoften when, you know people read
or want to talk about books, arethey talking about books they
actually couldn't put down orbooks they think are important.
(04:07):
And it's nice if you can findsomething that's sort of the
intersection between the two,let's pull up the New York Times
top 10 lists, according tocritics and other authors. And
I'm going to start at number 10.
And number 10 is Gilead byMarilynne Robinson that came out
in 2004. actually haven't readthat book. Number nine is Never
Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Ihave mixed feelings about this
(04:35):
book. It came out in 2005. Itwas a beloved book. It's a
dystopian novel. So not everyoneloves that, including me. I
didn't like this book. But thenis it because the topic made me
uncomfortable? Yes. So it's kindof hard for me to say but this
book is interesting because itappeared on both sides. The
(04:57):
critics lists for the top 100,the 21st century and the readers
list for the top 100 books that21st century so there was an
intersection there. And just soyou know, there were 39 books
that were on both lists and thiswas one of them. One of my
objections to this book could bethe fact that one of my favorite
(05:18):
books of all time is anotherbook that kazoo wrote called The
remains the day, which you willundoubtedly be familiar with,
about a butler in postwarEngland. So, number eight is
Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald, Ihave not read that book. Number
(05:43):
seven is Colson Whitehead, theunderground railroad that came
out in 2016. Um, I wouldn't putthis in the top 10. I put it in
the top 100. I think it's cleverand important. I, I just
wouldn't put it in the top 10.
And it's kind of a fantasticalbook that talks about slavery.
(06:11):
It's very creative, and it'simportant, but I would not have
put it at number seven. Numbersix is to 666 by Roberto bolano.
I've also not read that this isnot very good. I have not read a
lot of the books in the top 10.
Ah, number five is thecorrections by Jonathan Franzen.
An absolute delight, Iabsolutely love this book. It's
(06:35):
one of my favorite books. And ifyou haven't read it, you got to
go read it. It came out in 2001.
So just the beginning of the21st century. And it really, I
think, change literature. It'spart of a genre called
hysterical realism. And it's,it's about a family coming home
(06:58):
for Thanksgiving, which is superrelatable, and to satire on
mental health, self improvementand instant gratification. It's
hilarious. It's sad, and I thinkeveryone should read this book.
Number four is the known worldby Edward P. Jones, have read
(07:20):
that one either. Wolf Hall byHillary mental is number three.
And this is historical fictionabout Thomas Cromwell, I think
this is a really good book aswell. But I don't know that I
put it at number three. TheWarmth of Other Suns by Isabel
(07:43):
Wilkerson is number two. Andnumber one is My Brilliant
Friend by Elena Ferrante. Sothis book of My Brilliant
Friend, clocked in at numberone, and it also appeared, I
believe, in the top 10 on thethe readers list. And everyone
(08:05):
kind of loves this book, it wasclever, I think part of it is
Elena Ferrante, the author, it'sa nom de plume. It's never been
completely confirmed who theauthor is. And I think people
kind of love that book, but it'sabout two or two girls growing
up poor in Naples. And what itis, it's about the power, and
(08:30):
the dysfunction, and the beautyof deep female friendship and
deep female friendship that canreally only be forged when it
starts really young like this.
So it's about art and politicsand class and gender. And the
critics felt that the reason whythis came in at number one also,
(08:51):
is because it's part of a fourbook series. And the books
together kind of add up to 1000pages. So you really get super
involved in the characters. Andthat might be another thing or
you're just so committed that Ithink you have to say. Maybe it
(09:12):
is worth being number one. Okay,so I want to move over to the
reader list because I feel likethe reader list is a little bit
more relatable, and I think alot of people will know a lot of
these books. So, number 10 isstation 11 by Emily St. John
(09:33):
Mandel. An amazing book. I thinkif you haven't read it, you
should. She's a Canadian author.
And she wrote this book, it'sabout a pandemic. And she wrote
it before our actual pandemic,and it's really eerie on the
(09:55):
similarities. It's dystopian, soit's about a band of I'm
traveling or the band of atheater troupe that travels
around in a world that'sbasically over because of the
plague, but they continue tomove around and perform and
live, despite the destructionall around them. But the way I
(10:19):
found this relatable was in thebeginning chapters when the
pandemic is just being underway.
And the main characters are notreally fully computing what's
happening. And there's a scenewhere someone is at the grocery
store and kind of getting it thepeople are grabbing things off
shelves, and it's becoming quiteclear that this is something you
can't even conceive of, orreally understand and life is
(10:42):
not going to be the same. So Ithought that was super
relatable. Number nine is NeverLet Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, so
people love it. Number eight ismy brilliant friends. Number
seven is tomorrow and tomorrowand tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevon,
I completely agree. I love thisbook, one of my favorite books,
(11:05):
and it is about the video gameindustry and kind of the merits
of an art involved in videogames. And it's very, very
contemporary. Not like otherbooks I've read. She's a younger
author. Tomorrow and Tomorrowand tomorrow is a reference to
(11:26):
Shakespeare. I can't say enoughabout this book. I thought it
was great. Most of you will befamiliar with educated by Tara
Westover about a woman who grewup in kind of crazy off the grid
circumstances and goes on tobecome highly educated. I
thought it was great Pachinko,another one epic novel by Min
(11:49):
Jin Lee, I think that deservesits spot at number five, the
Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. lovedthat book. And that came in at
number four, about a paintingand a little boy, and a painting
that goes missing and how itkind of involves the under the
(12:11):
kind of the mob underworld ittakes place across decades. It's
it's an opus, I loved it. AGentleman in Moscow comes in at
number three, love that book byMr. Tolls. He's an excellent
writer. This is historicalfiction about a kind of a member
(12:33):
of the nobility and Russia, whospeaks out against the
government, by, through hiswriting, curates a poem. And he
gets locked up essentially, in abeautiful hotel. And he's never
allowed to leave. But he'sallowed to have a beautiful life
(12:55):
in the hotel. But it's you know,he gets dressed up every day, he
walks around the hotel, he hastea and coffee, he interacts
with people, but he's actuallyin a prison kind of, of his own
making, by speaking the truth.
It's beautiful. It's sad. Andactually, it kind of reminded me
(13:18):
of the pandemic. So I wouldactually I would read any of Mr.
tols books. I love the Rules ofCivility as well. Number two is
All the Light We Cannot See. Andthat's an excellent book most of
you familiar with. I thought itwas super, super well done. It
(13:40):
takes place in World War Two,and a beautiful walled town in
France called St. Malo, that'sovertaken by the Germans. But
what I thought was reallyinteresting about this book,
which I have, since read, is thebook. When Anthony Doerr
envision this book, he came upwith the idea of wanting to
(14:01):
write about communication. Andthen he decided where it would
be set. And he picked thissetting because he went on a
book tour and ended up in thistown and thought it was
beautiful. And then he figuredout the time period and the
story, so I thought that waskind of interesting that he came
up with more a big picture ideaabout communication. And the way
(14:21):
communication comes to play inthis book, is people are not
allowed to have radios becauseotherwise they can understand
the outside world. And it's acrime and so people are hiding
their radios and some arelistening. And someone has kind
of a covert radio program. I'mnumber one on the reader survey
(14:43):
is demon Copperhead by BarbaraKingsolver. And most of you will
be familiar with this book. It'sa modern take on Charles Dickens
novel, David Copperfield. It isexcellent, but I didn't like it
because it was very He'sdifficult to read. And it's
about a young boy. And it'ssetting up a lot larger. And
(15:07):
it's explores kind of drugculture and poverty, and it won
the Pulitzer Prize. And BarbaraKingsolver grew up in that area.
So it's imbued with a lot oftruth. And it is excellent. But
it's, it's hard. It's hard toread. So I don't know. That's my
(15:29):
opinion there. Okay, so then thenext thing I want to just talk
to you about was, I scan throughthe list, and there's a few
books that I thought were leftoff the list. And also, I wanted
to just highlight a couple ofbooks that I think have stood
the test of the last 25 yearsand are worth going back and
reading if you haven't. So goingto the main list. At number
(15:55):
eight is the book bel canto byAnn Patchett. This is an
excellent book. It's in my topfive books of all time. And it's
about a famed opera singer who'sperforming for a Japanese
executive birthday in SouthAmerica. And what happens is,
(16:16):
you know it at this birthday,there's kind of famous people
and wealthy people andpoliticians and a group of young
gorillas swoop in and takeeveryone in the house hostage.
What makes this book special issort of the relationship that
forms between some of thehostages and the gorillas. And
(16:40):
how music kind of weaves throughand is the through line through
this whole book. I just thoughtit was gorgeous. One of the best
books. The other book I wantedto mention was George Saunders,
Lincoln in the Bardo, anotheramazing book. This is an
experimental book. And whatGeorge Saunders is a beloved
(17:03):
writer. He's a writers writer,he teaches writing at Serkis
University, and a lot of famouswriters have trained under him.
He is a bit more he can be a biton the difficult side. But
Lincoln in the Bardo isdefinitely worth a read. It is
about Lincoln's son, one of hissons died during his term from
(17:32):
an illness, and it greatlyaffected his presidency and is
thought to have actuallyimpacted the outcome of the
Civil War. And what this bookdoes is it is about Lincoln one
night, going to the graveyard,and grieving for his son, and
(17:54):
all the ghosts that come up andswirl up and kind of wish path
10 and reveal themselves andtalk about their lives. And it
is a beautiful book, it'sexperimental. People are kind of
coming and going. You'relearning about slavery, and
(18:15):
generals and all kinds ofthings. So it's just it's a
little bit hard to describe, butI think it's worth the
investment. Sometimes I'll tellyou when a book is hard, this is
a little bit challenging, butit's not very long. And I think
I think it's worth your time.
Middlesex by Jeffrey, JeffreyEugenides, excellent book. And
(18:38):
most of you have thought about aread it or you'll know about it.
And it is about when it came outvery early in the 21st century.
And it is interesting becauseit's about an intersex person.
And that really wasn't talkedabout that much. And there at
that time, and the person'strying to live a normal life.
(19:01):
There's a lot of references toGreek mythology and persons born
to Greek parents. I thought itwas very lyrical. It's super
long, but beautiful. Oh, this isa book you may not have heard
of, which I think is excellent.
(19:24):
It's called H is for Hawk byHelen Macdonald. It's a memoir,
and it's about a woman who isgrieving the death of her father
while also trying to train ahawk, which is an incredibly
difficult thing to do. And thebird is majestic and difficult.
(19:46):
And she has to give this womanhas to give everything she has
to the hawk in order to trainit. And while she does that, she
kind of saves herself. It's Justa beautiful book. It's
it's also a little bit hard todescribe, but I would check that
out. Another book on the listthat I thought was excellent is
(20:09):
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.
It's a very challenging book,maybe one of the more
challenging books that I'veread. But I think it's worth
your time. If you're up for it.
Kind of, as I say a lot, I'm amood reader. So I'd read a book
like this. And then I'd pick upa book probably by Ellen
Hildebrand, and just have a goodtime. But this book is basically
(20:33):
it's a bit of a puzzle box of abook. And it's a bunch of short
stories basically strungtogether across all different
time periods. And each sectionis seemingly unrelated. But
somewhere within each section,you see, kind of a link in the
(20:56):
last story that was in adifferent country, a different
time period. It's just beautifuland clever and ambitious.
atonements by Ian McEwan makesthe list. And this, of course,
is a story of Briony Tallis is a13 year old in post war or pre
(21:17):
war England. And she seessomething happen in the
household that she reveals andit changes everyone's life. It's
a beautiful book. It's a sadbook. It's an excellent movie.
But definitely worth your time.
Okay, now on to wrap up on thelist, there were a couple of
(21:39):
books that I've been wanting toread. And they popped up on the
list. And I'm wondering ifyou've read them. I have not
read the Copenhagen trilogy. Butit's supposed to be excellent.
And it's a memoir about growingup, kind of underprivileged in
Copenhagen. I've just heardgreat things about it. And I'm
(22:01):
kind of curious. Another bookthat caught my eye is the
overstory around by Richardpowers. And it's about the power
of trees. And it's a novel withas follows nine characters, and
they're all somehow involved arerelated to trees, or the wood
(22:24):
industry. Or they'reenvironmentalists. And it is
supposed to be excellent. Andthis sections have to do with
kind of the different parts ofthe tree like there's, I think,
a section called trunk andanother called seeds. And I
(22:45):
don't know, it just seems kindof creative and different. And
we've heard a lot lately abouttrees and how trees can actually
feel things and talk to eachother. And I don't know, I just
think the idea of something, youthink of a large soaring tree
and how it's more powerful thanourselves and think that's kind
(23:06):
of interesting. Okay, now, thethings not on the list, which
I'm going to argue I thinkshould be on the list. They're
there by Tommy orange. It wasnot on the main list, but it was
on the readers list. This is anexcellent book about Tommy
Orange is a First Nationswriter. This book was a finalist
(23:30):
for the Pulitzer Prize. And itis about a group of First
Nations people living inOakland, California, where
there's a large population ofFirst Nations people living
there, and they're all gettingready to go to a drum circle.
And it's essentially kind ofshort stories interwoven. But it
(23:51):
was sad. It was funny. Youreally cared about these
characters, even if they weren'talways the best. And you
sometimes you just did you justlearned a lot about the culture.
And I just loved it. I can't sayenough about it. I thought, You
(24:11):
know what it did best? Was itwas it illuminated a different
culture without being preachy.
And I think that's that can be areally great way to reach
people. American wife by CurtisSittenfeld. I think this was on
the readers list, but not on themain list. In fact, another book
(24:34):
by Curtis Sittenfeld, prepanything by Curtis Sittenfeld, I
think should be on this list andit wasn't American wife is
historical, a historical fictionnovel about Laura Bush. Laura
Bush has not mentioned by namebut it is basically her entire
(24:54):
life lived kind of lived out inthese pages and the thought was
winner Her husband, George Bush,was in office. She always just
kind of stood behind and sort ofserenely. And he always just
wondered what was she about? Andshe's been through a lot. She's,
she accidentally killed someonein a traffic accident, a friend
(25:15):
of hers when she was a teen.
She's been through her husband'salcoholism. She's stood by his
side, through all aspects of hispresidency, and you're kind of
thinking, What Does she reallythink? And they actually seem to
have a real marriage or like astrong marriage. So it's a good
book. Prep is about someone'sexperience of boarding school.
(25:38):
And it's excellent, it'ssearing. It's funny, it's scary.
A little Lord of the Flies.
Another book that was not on themain list was Hamlet by Maggie
O'Farrell. And that's just anexcellent book. It came out in
(26:00):
recent years, anything by MaggieO'Farrell. But it's historical
fiction about WilliamShakespeare's son who died, and
how that might have actuallyimpacted his art his life. And
you name him that draws obviousparallels with Hamlet. So that's
kind of interesting. And thelast book I wanted to mention
(26:23):
that was not on the main list isDevil in the White City by Erik
Larson. And it is a true crimestory about a serial killer that
was terrorizing the 1893 ChicagoWorld's Fair. And anything by
Erik Larson is excellent. HeRead
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