New Books to Read This Winter

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It – "New Books to Read This Winter"

Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Jordan Loft, Producer of All Of It and Get Lit
Episode Title: New Books to Read This Winter
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Duration: Approximately 50 minutes

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of WNYC's All Of It, host Alison Stewart teams up with producer Jordan Loft to explore the literary landscape of the upcoming winter season. The discussion centers around setting reading goals, discovering new book releases, and sharing listener recommendations, catering to a diverse array of interests from classic literature to contemporary fiction and non-fiction.

Setting Reading Goals

Jordan Loft opens the conversation by reflecting on her personal reading ambitions, inspired by the previous year's summer reading challenge. She emphasizes the importance of diversifying her literary intake through translated works and tackling substantial Russian novels.

Jordan Loft [02:14]: "I have found that every time I've read a translated book, it's opened up my eyes in a new way either to a different culture or different way of tackling fiction or stories I hadn't thought of before."

Her goal for the year includes reading more translated literature, with aspirations to dive into epic novels such as Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace, and Crime and Punishment. Loft also aims to maintain a consistent reading pace, striving to complete one book per week.

Jordan Loft [03:18]: "I'm trying to push to 54. I haven't made it yet, but maybe this will be my year."

Listener Book Recommendations

The show actively engages listeners by taking live calls, each bringing unique book recommendations and personal anecdotes related to their reading experiences.

Centennial Classics

A listener highlights the significance of this year's 100th anniversaries of iconic literary works.

Listener [03:50]: "It's the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby and the 100th birthday of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf."

Jordan suggests contemporary adaptations to celebrate these classics:

Jordan Loft [04:05]: "If you’re looking for a more contemporary way in, you could read The Hours by Michael Cunningham, a retelling of Mrs. Dalloway through the perspective of three different women."

Diverse Voices

Another caller, Harimi, recommends The Vegetarian by Han Kang, praising its intricate layers that delve into themes like patriarchy, mental health, and human cruelty.

Harimi [08:15]: "It’s about cruelty on animals and the cruelty by human beings in general... about freedom from cruelty."

Timeless Russian Literature

Tony emphasizes the enduring relevance of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, highlighting its deep exploration of psychosis and isolation.

Tony [09:38]: "It is one of my favorite books of all time. It delves deep into psychosis and particularly what happens with isolation."

Queer Narratives

Nina from Brooklyn introduces We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin, a novel that features complex queer characters navigating life with mental health challenges.

Nina [18:32]: "Her books feature mentally ill autistic lesbians... super literary and fun and relatable."

Featured New Fiction Releases

Jordan Loft spotlights several upcoming fiction titles poised to capture readers' attention this winter.

All the Water in the World by Erin Kaphal

Set in a future New York City after an apocalyptic event, this novel explores a resilient community living atop the Museum of Natural History, striving to preserve humanity's cultural heritage amidst climate-induced chaos.

Jordan Loft [10:31]: "It's based on some sort of real-life history... inspired by museum curators dealing with treasures during times of war or unrest."

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

A blend of science fiction and realistic fiction, this book follows a paraplegic author whose dystopian novel becomes a bestseller, intertwining personal trauma with societal change.

Jordan Loft [12:04]: "It's about how she is dealing with her newfound fame and what that means, and also how this book might change the world."

Disillusionment Solution by Michael Binge

A thriller featuring an elderly woman uncovering the truth behind her husband's supposed Alzheimer's, blending elements of sci-fi and psychological suspense.

Jordan Loft [15:27]: "She learns someone has been trying to erase his memories on purpose... It seems like a book that would be a really good fit for people who love Blake Crouch."

Non-Fiction Segment

After a brief interlude, the conversation transitions to non-fiction, with recommendations spanning African history, the intersection of race and color, and the evolution of NPR.

An African History: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence by Zainabadawi

A comprehensive survey of Africa's rich history, this book serves as an accessible introduction for readers eager to expand their knowledge beyond a Eurocentric perspective.

Jordan Loft [34:18]: "It's a really good survey for people like me who want to learn more."

Black and How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry

Perry explores the multifaceted relationship between Black Americans and the color blue, delving into cultural, historical, and societal implications.

Jordan Loft [35:14]: "It's a history of the relationship between Black Americans and the color blue in a variety of different ways."

Taking the Extraordinary Events that Created New York and Shaped America by Russell Shorto

A deep dive into New York City's Dutch roots and early history, integrating indigenous perspectives and newly translated documents to provide a nuanced narrative.

Jordan Loft [38:19]: "He really worked hard to include sources from indigenous Americans and enslaved people to tell their perspective."

Staff Reading Goals

Jordan shares insights into the reading ambitions of the show's production team, highlighting their diverse literary interests.

Jordan Loft [49:11]: "Our senior producer Kate Hines is really excited for the new essay collection King of Ashes."

Conclusion

As the episode wraps up, Alison Stewart and Jordan Loft reflect on the diverse array of books discussed, encouraging listeners to explore new genres and authors. The episode underscores the importance of community engagement in building a vibrant cultural dialogue, embodying the show's mission to celebrate and curate the rich tapestry of New York City's literary offerings.

Alison Stewart [50:10]: "We'll let you know what she picks next time she's on All Of It."

Listeners are invited to submit their own book recommendations and reading goals for future episodes, fostering an interactive and inclusive literary community.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jordan Loft [02:14]: "I'm hoping to read some more translated literature this year."
• Harimi [08:15]: "It's about cruelty on animals and the cruelty by human beings in general... about freedom from cruelty."
• Tony [09:38]: "It is one of my favorite books of all time. It delves deep into psychosis and particularly what happens with isolation."
• Jordan Loft [10:31]: "It's based on some sort of real-life history... inspired by museum curators dealing with treasures during times of war or unrest."
• Jordan Loft [34:18]: "It's a really good survey for people like me who want to learn more."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the essence of the episode, providing a structured overview of the discussions, key book recommendations, and insightful exchanges between the host and producer, enriched with direct quotes and timestamps for added context.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

All of it is supported by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the Name youe Price Tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.

[Jordan Loft]

Listener supported.

[Gary Goleman]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Coming up on tomorrow's show, we're going to talk with the director of a fascinating new HBO documentary series. It's called An Update on Our Family and it looks at the entertainment ecosystem of families who video blog, you know, people who connect with millions of people over YouTube and through their subscriptions, who chronicle their lives with their kids. And as you can imagine, the ethics of family vlogging are murky. An Update on Our Family debuts on HBO tomorrow and we'll talk about it with the director of the series, Rachel Mason. And on Friday, musician Josh Stokes will be here in studio. He's got a new album out titled Won't Stop Rockin and he joins us for a live performance in WNYC's Studio 5. That's in the future. Now let's get started with books. A new year means a whole new set of books to read. Whatever your reading goals are, there's sure to be a brand new book that you'll be excited to add to your to read pile. So joining me now to walk us through some of her most anticipated new books of the winter is all of it and get lit producer Jordan Loft. Hi Jordan. Hello listeners. We want to hear from you. What book are are you most excited to read in 2025? What are your reading goals for the new year? What reading book are you reading right now that you wanna recommend? We're taking your calls. 2124-3396-9221-2433-933. WNYC. All right. We're setting new goals for the year. We're setting new reading goals. Do you have any new reading goals for the new year?

[Jordan Loft]

I have a couple and some of them are honestly inspired by our summer reading challenge that we did last summer. One of the catego was to read a work of translated literature. And I have found that every time I've read a translated book, it's opened up my eyes in a new way either to a different culture or different way of tackling fiction or stories I hadn't thought of before. So I'm hoping to read some more translated literature this year. I also this winter have felt inspired to tackle one of those big fat Russian novels. I have only ever read Anna Karenina.

[Alison Stewart]

And.

[Jordan Loft]

And honestly, listeners, if you want to call in and also tell me what the other one I should read is, I'm considering Brothers Karamzov. I'm considering War and Peace. I'm considering Crime and Punishment. Is there another one I haven't thought of? Which one am I going to be least bored trying to get through? Please let me know. And then I don't think setting a numerical goal is always the best, but one year and for a couple, actually, the last couple years, I've been able to hit 52. So book a week, which feels good.

[Alison Stewart]

That does feel good.

[Jordan Loft]

I'm trying to push to 54. I haven't made it yet. I haven't made it yet, but maybe this will be my year.

[Gary Goleman]

All right, what are you reading this winter? We want to know. 2124-3396-9221-2433 wnyc. Maybe it's a book you're looking forward to or whatever you're reading right now. 212-433-969-2212-4433 w nyc. So we had we've got a hundredth anniversary. That's our centennial. But there's also 100th anniversary of two big literary books.

[Jordan Loft]

So true. So probably high schoolers around the country know that it's the 100th anniversary of the Great Gatsby because probably your school is making you read it or do all kinds of different celebrations. That's obviously F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel. I also learned that it's the 100th birthday of Mrs. Dalloway, the Virginia Woolf novel, also from 1925. I have not read that one, so I might think about picking it up this year. Or if you're someone who's looking for a more contemporary way in, you could read the Hours by Michael Cunningham, which is sort of his, like, retelling of Mrs. Dalloway through the perspective of three different women. And then if you really love that, you can watch the movie starring Nicole Kidman. It's on the Criterion Channel right now.

[Gary Goleman]

I have interesting goals for 2025.

[Jordan Loft]

I would love to hear them.

[Gary Goleman]

All right, so I missed a piece of 2024.

[Jordan Loft]

I don't know if our listeners are aware of what was going on with.

[Gary Goleman]

You back then for about six months. So I decided that for the part of 2025, I was gonna get to the books that I missed in 2024.

[Jordan Loft]

Oh, that's a great goal.

[Gary Goleman]

Yeah. So, like rejection. I want to read. I read Miranda July All Fours.

[Jordan Loft]

I was just gonna say that.

[Gary Goleman]

Yeah, that was an excellent book. Intermezzo.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes. I still haven't read Intermezzo.

[Gary Goleman]

Yeah. So those are some of my. 2025 is a look back at 2024. What I missed. I also have the idea that I wanna go to different bookstores than I normally go to. I have my favorites I love to go to, but I haven't been to book club on in East 3rd Street. I think it is like this cool lounge. Bibliotec is a wine bar.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes.

[Gary Goleman]

So I did that last week. I grabbed a book and I went to a bar, and I just sat and read, and it was great.

[Jordan Loft]

Nice. I love that. And I also want to give a shout out to Liz's Book Bar in Carroll Gardens, which is a new bookstore that opened on my block that's also a bookstore bar. It's so fun to have the environment that's like, you can browse or you can just hang out.

[Gary Goleman]

Both. And for 2025, I do want to read a love story. Has that come across your desk yet?

[Jordan Loft]

Okay. Yes. I'll give you a cop. I am, too. I was almost gonna recommend it today, and then I was like, maybe Allison will think that's too weird. But it turns out you love the idea. That's a new novel coming out for those who aren't aware about a woman who encounters this amorphous blob and she shapes it into the man of her dreams.

[Gary Goleman]

I love that so much.

[Jordan Loft]

It sounds so fun. I think that's out this month. I don't have it right in front of me, but I'm pretty sure it's out. If it's not out this month, it's out, I believe, in February.

[Gary Goleman]

All right, we're getting our texts in. This text says War and Peace for sure.

[Jordan Loft]

Okay.

[Gary Goleman]

A little knot next to that. All right, biggest reading goal, to read some of the many books on my shelves that I bought following a recommendation and never got to facepalm. This is Long island by Colm Tobin, a continuation from his book in Brooklyn. Oh, he was on the show to talk about that?

[Jordan Loft]

Yeah, he was. He's so delightful. And yes, Long island is the sequel to Brooklyn, and it picks up with our protagonist as she's in her middle age and learns that her husband has had a child with someone else. And the husband of that woman is threatening to bring the child to them the minute it's born, saying, like, this is your problem. You're gonna Take this kid. So she decides to go back home to Ireland and try to figure her life out. And there's a love triangle again. If you were a fan of Brooklyn, you'll definitely like the sequel.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's talk to Tracy. Is Tracy there? Hi, Tracy.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi, I'm here.

[Gary Goleman]

Yes, you're on the air.

[Alison Stewart]

How are you doing?

[Gary Goleman]

Great.

[Alison Stewart]

How cool. So I listened to Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, which is narrated by Meryl Streep. And in listening to that, Our Town, the play, is a main character in the book. And so then I went on and watched the movie Our Town, because I never watched that. And then the play is on Broadway, so then I went to see the play on Saturday. So the book prompted me to know more about Our Town.

[Gary Goleman]

That's so cool. That's what I love about books. They can lead you to the next thing, and then the next thing, and you zig and you zag. It's so great. Thank you for calling in.

[Jordan Loft]

Totally. It's like the original Wikipedia rabbit hole. Instead of clicking links, you're like, oh, yeah, what about that? Our Town? I should check that out. I thought the production with Jim Parsons was just excellent, so I'm glad you got to see it.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's talk to Harimi. Hi, Harimi, you're on the air.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi.

[Gary Goleman]

Hi.

[Alison Stewart]

How are you? How are you?

[Gary Goleman]

It's going great. What are you going to recommend?

[Alison Stewart]

The Vegetarian by Han Kang.

[Gary Goleman]

Tell us why you loved it.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, it's a very intense book. Easy read. But then, you know, there's a lot of. Lot of things going on in the book with multiple layers on the exterior. It looks like, you know, very confusing, very graphic. But then it makes you sit back and think about so many layers inside it. About patriarchy, about the Korean culture, about mental health and about freedom, about, you know, like, siblings. So many things, you know, like. Yeah. I mean, so many things. And then free. The freedom from cruelty. And it's about cruelty on animals and the cruelty on. By human beings in general. You know, whether it's on the. On nature or whether it's on women, you know, like just human beings, how they can be cruel, you know, And I appreciate.

[Gary Goleman]

You know what? I appreciate your calling in. I do. Let's talk to Tony, because Tony's got a recommendation for you. Jordan. Hi, Tony.

[Alison Stewart]

Hello. Good morning, Allison. Your show is amazing. And I remember you from mtv. You're a wonderful host. Thanks. I wanted to recommend another Russian book, and that's Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. It is one of my favorite Books of All time I've read so many times has a very deep dive into psychosis and particularly what happens with isolation, which I think is highly important in our society these days.

[Jordan Loft]

All right, that's one vote for war and peace and one vote for crime and punishment.

[Gary Goleman]

Thanks for calling in Jordan Loft. She produces our get lit and she's just a general fantastic all of it producer. She's giving us her picks for 2025. Let's get into it. There's a new one for museum lovers set in New York City. Oh, it's New York City in the future.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes. Yeah. And that's something I've noticed with the spring books this year. A lot of them seem to be set in, like, the near future. A lot of them seem to be speculative fiction, and there's often a lot of anxiety in them about climate change, understandably, especially with what's going on right now in Los Angeles. So this book is titled all the Water in the World. It's by Erin Kaphal, and it's set in a sort of future version of New York City in which there's been a sort of apocalyptic event of some kind. There are very few people left, but it centers on this community that has started living on the roof of the Museum of Natural History. They have some rules for their society. They are harvesting food that they're growing in Central Park. They're only allowed to take things from the exhibit of the Museum of Natural History when they really, really need it. And part of what they're doing is trying to catalog what's in there to save it, to make sure that if there are still humans alive, we'll know about the stuff that was in this museum. And then Manhattan floods and they have to flee and somehow save some of the things that are in the museum or keep a catalog. What I thought was really interesting about this book is the author was inspired by. She did talking to museum curators from Leningrad and from parts of the Middle east that had to deal with, you know, what to do with all these treasures they have in the museum during a time of war or unrest. So I thought it was interesting that it's based on some sort of real life history and that is out now.

[Gary Goleman]

A book that was just released today is a new science fiction one, and he's a fantasy writer. This was recommended by our senior producer, Kate Hynes.

[Jordan Loft]

It is. It is. Kate is a big fan of this author, Nettie Okorafor. Excuse me. The title is Death of the Author. It's about a paraplegic author who decides to write this book that's sort of like a robot drama opera about the end of humanity, and it becomes a bestseller. But it's also about how she is dealing with her newfound fame and what that means, and also how this book might change the world and might change the way that people are thinking about society in that time. My understanding is it's like her first sort of attempt at realistic fiction. Obviously there's sci fi elements in it, but it's a person who's living today in this world. So that should be an accessible book for people who want to maybe dip their toe into sci fi, but not go all the way in. And that one, I believe, was just published today.

[Gary Goleman]

This one says, so far this year, I have read the Safekeep, Compelling historical, strange, in a good way, unexpected Shred Sisters and just sorted Orbital recommendation. War and Peace. Orbital was really good.

[Jordan Loft]

Oh, two. Two for War and Peace.

[Gary Goleman]

Oh, but wait, this one says, no, do not read War and Peace. The biggest regret of my reading Life is spending nine months slogging through 900 of its 1300 pages. I should have quit by page 200.

[Jordan Loft]

Okay, does that. Do I subtract?

[Gary Goleman]

I don't. I don't know. I don't know.

[Jordan Loft]

I don't know how that works.

[Gary Goleman]

This is a cute one. Hi, Alison. Hope you're doing well. I highly recommend taking the PATH train over to Little City Books in Hoboken. Best, cutest bookshop ever. Anyone would love it. Thank you for helping me reach my goal. Let's talk about another goal. This is Allegra Goodman. It's called Isola.

[Jordan Loft]

Isola, yes. Yes. This is a work of historical fiction. So for people who like historical fiction, this might be a good one to pick up. It's based on the real story of a 16th century French noblewoman who was orphaned at a young age and taken in by this wealthy guardian, and taken by that guardian to New France, AKA Canada and parts of America. And there she falls in love with a servant. And when her guardian finds this out, he decides to take her and her. Her, you know, love interest and drop them on an abandoned island off the coast of Canada.

[Gary Goleman]

I read the review of this. I was like, what?

[Jordan Loft]

And. And just say like, here, figure it out, see what happens. So it's about how they try to survive. It's a love story, obviously. And again, it's based on true events. So if you want to go look up what happened, you could go do that. If you don't want to look it up, you could read Isola by Allegra Goodman.

[Gary Goleman]

I'm speaking with Olivet and Get lit producer Jordan Loff about some of the new books she's excited to read this winter. And we're taking your calls. What books are you excited to read this year? What reading goals do you have? And what book are you reading right now? 212-433-969-2212, wnyc. After the break, we will dive into a thriller and and something that's a really big deal in literature. Stay tuned. You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart in studio. With me is all of it and Get Loose, get lit producer Jordan Loff. We're talking about the books that we are excited to read. All right. I gave a tease a thriller. What kind of thriller can I look out for?

[Jordan Loft]

Yes, I'm really excited about this book. It's called Disillusionment Solution by Michael Binge. And the protagonist, which is maybe unusual for a thriller, is an elderly woman. And she's been caring for her husband with Alzheimer's for many years. And, you know, it's obviously a very sad process, except that one day she learns from a mysterious visitor that he doesn't actually have Alzheimer's. Someone has been trying to erase his memories on purpose. So through some sort of thriller sci fi process, she's able to get in his head, get inside his memories as they're being removed and try to figure out what is it that these people are trying to get rid of and are the memories actually reliable? It seems like a book that would be a really good fit for people who love Blake Crouch, who tends to write these sort of like sci fi thrillers, multiple dimensions, stuff with memory. And that one is out March 25th.

[Gary Goleman]

All right. Brothers Karamazov has everything a great novel should, plus Snow and his Antri Piciapil to boot. Do it.

[Jordan Loft]

All right. That's one for the Brothers Karamazov.

[Gary Goleman]

I love that. Let's talk to Barbara. Hi, Barbara, thanks for calling in.

[Alison Stewart]

Hey, Alison, thanks for taking my call. You know, I'm a person. I'm sure many of your listeners to this show have a similar experience that I love to learn through a fictional lens. And I think that it's powerful to understand through the arc of a narrative and through the experience of characters, some of the most painful events in human history. And I think the book Beloved, I think exemplifies this in one of the most profound ways possible, the history of human enslavement in the Americas. And so I wanted to recommend several books to your listeners about the current conflagration in Israel, Palestine. I really dove in this year to reading a lot of books, fictional works by Palestinian authors. And I just want to list three of them here. One is Mornings in Jenin by the author Susan Abu Hawa, a book by Hala Aliyan, who is also a poet and a psychotherapist. Her book is called Salt Houses. And then there's a third book which I just read, which was super interesting by an author named Ibizam Azem A Z E M called the Book of Disappearances.

[Gary Goleman]

Oh, well, thank. Oh, thank you so much for calling, Barbara. Thank you so much for your recommendations. By the way, this says Karamazov, accent of the third syllable. Karamazov.

[Jordan Loft]

Karamazov. My Russian is not existing. Non existent.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's say, let's go to Nina, Brooklyn. Hi, Nina, thanks for calling all of it.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi, nice to be here.

[Gary Goleman]

Yeah. I want to hear what you want to. What you're reading.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah. So I am the founder of a queer book club called Saflit, and we've been around for about four years. And the book we're reading right now is We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin. Emily Austin is a Canadian author and she has a wonderful backlist. Everyone in this room will someday be dead. Interesting facts about space. And her books feature mentally ill autistic lesbians just moving through life and are super literary and fun and relatable. And I would highly recommend them to anyone really looking to expand into more queer and LGBTQ literature.

[Gary Goleman]

Thank you for the recommendations. Up next, a really big deal in literature.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes. So Chimamanda Ngozi Udichie has a new novel out. That's the author of Americana, which I believe was published all the way back in maybe 2012.

[Gary Goleman]

Yeah, it was.

[Jordan Loft]

It was like a real sort of like Obama era. Like, huge, huge novel. And she hasn't written another work of fiction or full length novel since then. So her new one is coming out. It's called Dream Count. It's about a group of interconnected Nigerians who are living in Africa and America. And each of them are taking the time of the pandemic to reflect on their lives and their choices and how their lives are interconnected. So it is sort of pandemic fiction in a way. But this is probably gonna be the big literary event of the spring. I know people are really, really excited for her to have a new one. And that one should be out March 4th I'm glad.

[Gary Goleman]

You know what? I'm a little tired of memoirs. I am, too. Everybody kind of wrote one during the pandemic.

[Jordan Loft]

I was just talking about this with a friend yesterday.

[Gary Goleman]

We have to talk really quietly.

[Jordan Loft]

I know it like a taboo topic. I just think a lot of people are given a book deal and it'll be like, you wrote a great novel. Do you have a memoir in you? And they say, okay, and sometimes. Sometimes you just don't. Really great memoirs. I almost love nothing more than a really great memoir. How to say Babylon, from a couple years ago by Sophia Sinclair, I thought was excellent. So if someone's looking for a memoir recommendation, that's the most recent one that I really liked, Consent by Jill Cement, I thought was really interesting and really good. But I agree with you that sometimes there are too many memoirs.

[Gary Goleman]

There's just so many good fiction books. We'll just say that there's so many good fiction books.

[Jordan Loft]

So much. So many good novels to read.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's talk to Mary Jane from the Upper west side. Hi, Mary Jane. Thanks for calling, all of it.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi, thank you for taking my call.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's hear it. Which one? What are you reading?

[Alison Stewart]

Well, I have read, and I'm now reading again. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman. And he was a journalist during the Second World War, and he worked for the Communist newspaper called Red Star, and he reported on the defense of Stalingrad. So Life and Fate is his fictionalized account of the fall of Stalingrad and also on. Or the defense of Stalingrad and also on the fall of Berlin.

[Gary Goleman]

Thank you. I'm sorry.

[Alison Stewart]

Sorry.

[Gary Goleman]

Go ahead, finish.

[Alison Stewart]

Okay. But it also is an example of what it's like to look. To live under a dictatorship. And in fact, although his book was published in 1960, which was after the death of Stalin, the book itself was arrested and destroyed. And so it was smuggled out.

[Gary Goleman]

Thank you so much. Listen to that. That's a. Our engineer little trickier on the trigger finger. Let's talk to. Let's see. Is Maria there? Yeah, is Maria there? Hi, Maria.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi. I wanted to recommend Moby Dick. It's not Russian, but it's a classic in America.

[Jordan Loft]

And I remember Garrison Keillor saying that nobody could possibly read that book, but I did.

[Alison Stewart]

You have to take out all the whale gut stuff, you know, like, go through that. But the book starts, call me Ishmael, and you get this creepy feeling immediately, which is appropriate.

[Jordan Loft]

And he and his mates, including Queequeg.

[Alison Stewart]

Who is a, I think Samoan, Polynesian.

[Jordan Loft]

Something But very quiet, very tattooed.

[Alison Stewart]

Take this whaling vessel, which is sometime in the 1800s. And everybody knows that those vessels will either make a great deal of money.

[Jordan Loft]

If they come home or the men will die. There's no other option.

[Gary Goleman]

Thank you for your recommendation, by the way. We are talking with all of it and get lit producer Jordan Loff about some of the new books she's excited to read this winter. We want to know what you're reading. 2124-3396-9221-2433, wnyc. I love this that there's a book coming out in March from one of your favorite horror writers from Argentina and your mom told you to stop recommending horror books.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes. So my mom, when I was home for Christmas, said, you know, it's so nice when you go on the air. I love listening to you. But why are you always recommending these horrible sounding books where these scary things happen, things are disgusting. I'm sorry, Mom. I'm going again because Augustina Basturika has a new novel out. I'm actually reading it right now. She wrote Tender Is the Flesh for those who are familiar. It was a really big deal in the horror community. I recommended it on here before, which I think was what grossed my mom out so badly. This new novel is about a nun who joins this kind of religious cult while the world outside is descending into climate chaos. So again, that sort of similar theme. But a new arrival in this community shakes things up and our protagonist begins to question the structure of this cult and why is she here? And is the stuff that they're telling her about what the outside world is like, is that really real? I think if you like Ottessa Moshfegh, like, if you can handle a little bit of grossness, you will really like her. But she's definitely like, for example, this book starts with someone's eyes being sewed shut. So take that as a warning. If that sounds really horrible to you, don't pick this up. But if you're like, ooh, I kind of want to know more about what's going on in this cult, then that is the Unworthy by Augustina Baztarica. She's from Argentina and that book is out March 4th.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's talk to Daniel from Harlem. Hi, Daniel, you're on the air.

[Alison Stewart]

I really enjoyed the show. I wanted to recommend a novel set in on an island off the coast of Maine. It's called the Islanders. It's by Lewis Robinson, and it was. It just came out at the end of Last year. So I think a good book for people in 2025, and it really. The City Dweller, just kind of recovering from the political season. It really transported me to a beautiful place. It's also a thriller about class and criminal justice. And Robinson is from Maine and really, really nailed the coast of Maine. I've spent some time up there, so it's a book I really enjoyed.

[Gary Goleman]

Thanks for the tip. Let's talk to Josh, who's calling us from Brooklyn. Hi, Josh. Thanks so much for calling all of it. What do you want to recommend?

[Alison Stewart]

Hi, I would like to recommend the latest novel by Haruki Murakami, the Japanese writer. I believe it's called the City and Its Uncertain Walls. For anybody who hasn't read Murakami, it will be an absolute delight. I haven't started it yet. I've read everything else he's written. I don't know what you'd call his literature. Combination of sort of magic realism and fantasy. But in any case, it's wonderful.

[Gary Goleman]

Good luck to you.

[Jordan Loft]

I once took a whole class on Murakami in college, taught by a professor who was friends with him. And something that was really interesting was that this guy was from Japan and he didn't like our English translations. So he would often bring in full sections of the book that he had translated himself, and we would compare them side by side with the English translation that's available to us. And he would say, you know, this isn't quite right. Like this is how I would phrase it, and you're sort of losing the meaning here. This is more what I would say. And. And that part of the class alone was just a really interesting look into the art of translation and that it really is an art and that what one person thinks the sentence says in English, another Japanese speaker would say, no, no, no, it's much more like this. So that was a really interesting way for me to encounter his work.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's talk to Katya. Hi, Katya, are you there?

[Alison Stewart]

Hi. Hi, I'm here. Can you hear me?

[Gary Goleman]

I do. You're on the air.

[Alison Stewart]

Okay, great. I wanted to recommend a novel, a Norwegian novel called Kristin Lavren's Daughter by Sigrid. I think it's unstead. It was written and published about a hundred years ago, and it's about the life. It's set in medieval Norway, about the life of a woman. From start to finish. The author won the Nobel Prize. I had never heard of her or the book until friends started insisting I read it. And it was one of the most wonderful novels I've ever read. So I wanted to let everybody else know about it. There's. You should read the new translation by Tina, I think it's called. Her name is Nunn, Tina Nunn. And it brings a real contemporary feel to the storytelling so that it feels super relatable. It was 1100 pages long and I was sad when it, when it ended. I wanted more.

[Jordan Loft]

Wow.

[Gary Goleman]

Wow.

[Jordan Loft]

That's the best feeling. I just finished Play World by Adam Ross, who we had on the show a couple maybe last week. And that was a long book, not 1100 pages, but, you know, it's like 500. But it was one of those books where I was so immersed in the world. It's about a child actor growing up in the 80s in New York City, that I was also sad. I finished it last night and I was kind of sad to leave those characters behind. So that's the absolute best feeling.

[Gary Goleman]

There are good laugh out loud lines in that book.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes, it's very funny and heartbreaking and really captures what it feels like to be a teenage boy, I think. I don't know, I've never been one, but maybe.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's talk to Rich from Garden City. Hi, Rich, thank you so much for calling all of it. You're on the air.

[Alison Stewart]

Wow, thanks, Alison. First time caller. I just wanted to say I read a book by a Dr. Kenneth Kamler, devising the Extreme. And he's a guy that NASA says we need a doctor, and they take him along. They were doing an exposition expo, you know, going to the top of Mount Everest. And he was the doctor, so he dealt there. The bookstore. I'm sorry, the book starts where he's a doctor that's going down to the Amazon and, you know, with scientists. And so what, what you find out is that Ken is dealing with, you know, a guy used a machete and he cut part of his hand off. And. And he talks about the pain and he talks about the body and he explains it, but it's living in the extreme. And. But he's going in, in a sense, in a world where this is not the extreme for these people in the Amazon. And when he goes up to Mount Everest, the Sherpas, one of them is practically frozen to death. And he comes back to life. So he talks about life in the extreme. He talks about going down with NASA down, you know, under the water, because this is how they have to train and the types of extremes that's going on there. And then one of the other things was where he's on an Expedition going in the deserts of North Africa, and people he finds are gonna die, but they don't die. I don't want to say how they survive, but they need liquids, and they're licking the bottoms of stuff like this.

[Gary Goleman]

Oh, Surviving with the Extreme. That's the name of that book. Okay, Jordan, I think we have time for, like, two more fiction books. Then we're gonna take a break and finish out with nonfiction. Does that work?

[Jordan Loft]

That works for me.

[Gary Goleman]

All right, what do you want to pick?

[Jordan Loft]

Okay, I will pick. Let's start with. Okay, One I'm really, really excited about is called Wild Dark shore by Charlotte McConaughey. I think is how you say that last name. It is a thriller set at a seed bank. So it's about a family who are on this remote island off the coast of Antarctica, and they've been there to guard the seed bank that contains, like, almost all of the world's seeds. It's the largest one still surviving, and again, we're in a sort of, you know, close reality. But climate change has maybe made some things a little bit apocalyptic, and they're the last people remaining on this island. But one day a woman washes ashore, and so sort of like the other, the story, the Augustina Basherica story of someone arriving at the convent. This person arrives at the seed bank, and they're unsure what her purpose is. And then we come to find out that maybe the father of this family hasn't been altogether truthful about what they're doing here and what their mission is. Her books, Migrations and Once There Were Wolves, have been really popular with readers. And this one sounds really, really exciting to me.

[Gary Goleman]

And your final book, your final pick this time.

[Jordan Loft]

Anyway, you know what? I am going to give a shout out to. O Sinners by Nicole Cuffy. I love to read about cults. So this is a novel about a young journalist who embeds with a cult who is led by an elderly black Vietnam veteran who formed it in the wake of his experiences with Vietnam and that trauma. And the longer this journalist spends with this group, the more he begins to question his own beliefs, as I think sometimes often happens, the more time you spend in a cult. That one is out March 18th, and I'll just give one shout out to our friend Stephen Graham Jones.

[Gary Goleman]

He's so busy.

[Jordan Loft]

He is the most prolific man, maybe, other than Stephen King in horror. He is just writing a book a year, and so he's got another one out in March. This one is called the Buffalo Hunter. Hunter. That's Not a typo. Hunter X Hunter. And it's about a Blackfeet vampire. What more could you want?

[Gary Goleman]

We'll have more books. We're talking nonfiction after the break. This is all of it. You are listening to ALL of IT on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest is all of it. And get lit producer Jordan Loft. We're talking about new books she's excited to read this winter. Okay, we've cleared the phone lines because now we're talking about nonfiction books. Are you interested in nonfiction? Have you read any recently? You want to recommend some, give us a call. 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. For the rest of the hour, we're gonna talk about nonfiction books. Up first, you have some history, the history of Africa.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes. I am not exaggerating when I say I'm quite literally going to go buy this book after work today. This is an African History of From the dawn of Humanity to Independence by Zainabadawi. This is just an area of history I'm woefully uneducated in. I was a history major, but my concentration was Europe. Eurocentric. I know, but I just finished Mary Beard's SPQR about the history of ancient Rome. And they talked a lot about ancient Carthage in that book, which I believe is now in present day Tunisia. And it got me more interested about ancient African history and learning what was going on there at this time. So this seems like a really good survey again, from the dawn of humanity to independence. So you're going to get a wide range of what was going on in the continent from the beginning of humans to now. And it just seems like a good survey for people like me who want to learn more. And that is out today. So I'm going to go grab it.

[Gary Goleman]

Imani Perry has a new book out sitting on my shelf right now.

[Jordan Loft]

She does. It's titled Black and How a Color Tells the Story of My People. It's a history of the relationship between black Americans and the color blue in a variety of different ways and interpretations, from music, rhythm and blues, obviously to the role that indigo dies played in the slave trade to the term black blue to refer to someone's skin. That book is out January 28th, and I don't want to jump the gun, but get lit, fans might want to just, you know, you might want to pick that one up.

[Gary Goleman]

Could be, could happen, could happen. Could be a Monty Perry.

[Jordan Loft]

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's talk to Susan from Astoria. Hi, Susan.

[Alison Stewart]

Hello Yeah. I want to recommend a book by John Lloyd Stevens, who was a New Yorker printed about. Written about 1847. He's a young man who went down to the Yucatan in Mexico because he heard all these cities and sculptures and stuff were found down there. And so he's really the discoverer of the Mayan re. Finder of Mayan places like pyramids, Chichen Itza, all of those places. And he's a very good storyteller. He went down when there were civil wars going on and he kind of experienced everything. Civil wars going between those, just exploring and really seeming to enjoy traveling through a really jungle and meeting different people and living the life down there and then finding these amazing places, these ruins that were just covered by. Covered by undergrowth. And he, he. He clears, for example, when he first came.

[Gary Goleman]

Excuse me, I'm going to interrupt you there because we have so many recommendations. Thank you so much for call. I do wanna thank you. This one is an hour before Memories of a Rural Boyhood by Jimmy Carter. It's about his life growing up on his family farm and how it built his discipline. I'd like to recommend Ketanji Brown Jackson's lovely one. All right, so for people who love Saturday Night Live, 50th anniversary is this year. There's a book to go along with that.

[Jordan Loft]

That's exactly right. The book is titled Lorne the Man who Invented Saturday Night Live. It's by Susan Morrison. It is obviously a biography of Lorne Michaels. I recently watched the movie Saturday Night about the first ever episode of Saturday Night Live, a fictionalized account. But from that, and also from listening to the Lonely Island Seth Meyers podcast, I realized I learned I know very little about Lorne Michaels. He's sort of this, like, mysterious man behind the scenes who's pulling the levers. But I don't actually know anything about his life or his comedic sensibilities or how he got to helm this show. So I'm very interested to learn more about the man behind the Cipher. That one is out February 18th.

[Gary Goleman]

Your next recommendation is for people who want to learn more about our city.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes. So there is a new book coming out from Russell Shorto. I have not read the island at the center of the World, but I hear it's one of the very best books about early New York history, about our Dutch roots here in the city. He's got a new one out. It's titled Taking the Extraordinary Events that Created New York and Shaped America. So it's the history of the Dutch arriving in Manhattan. And also the sort of conflicts between the Dutch and the English over who is going to have control over these territories. I understand he had newly translated documents to work with and that he also tried really hard to include sources from indigenous Americans and enslaved people to tell, you know, what their perspective was like during this time of early Manhattan. And that one is out March 4th.

[Gary Goleman]

Send us your recommendations if you have nonfiction books that you'd like to read or one that you're reading right now. Our Phone number is 2124-3396-9221-2433, WNYC. I'm speaking with all of it. And get lit producer Jordan Loff. It says hello. My mom sent me a book I'm currently reading called Wilding Returning Nature to Our Farm by Isabella Tree. Thanks for that text. John Green has a new nonfiction book coming out. This looks really interesting.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes. This book is titled Everything Is Tuberculosis the History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. So he dives into the history of tuberculosis and how it still affects people currently. And I understand he was inspired to tackle this subject because he befriended a young tuberculosis patient during some work he was doing in Sierra Leone. And part of the book is telling this man's story and also just chronicling the history of a really terrible illness. And John Green and his brother Hank do such a good job of making science and anthropology and all different kinds of subjects accessible to people. So I think even if you're not super interested in science or you think that you're not, his work is always really good to pick up and sort of get not a beginner's understanding, but a layman's understanding of what's going on. And that one is out March 18th.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's talk to Beth in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Hi, Beth, you're on the air.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi, Allison. So glad you're back and healthy. I just wanted to recommend a book by a judge named David Tatel, and it's called Vision, and it talks about his career as a civil rights lawyer in the 70s. And he's someone who's blind, and he lost most of his vision over his teenage years and early twenties, but he ended up taking the Vacancy by Ruth Bader ginsburg on the U.S. court of Appeals of the D.C. circuit. So he was involved in a lot of really important cases. And it also talks about just navigating his life as a man who lost his eyesight and eventually, like at a much older age, got a seeing eye dog. But it's really wonderful.

[Gary Goleman]

How did you learn about that book Beth, Terry Gross.

[Jordan Loft]

Ah, Terry, our friend. Three at 2:00.

[Gary Goleman]

Sticking with slightly sad topics, there's a new history of a very famous. This is sad. It's a history of a very famous event in Irish history.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes. This is titled An Imperial History of the Irish Famine by. Oh boy. I think in English we pronounce this Patrick exscanlan, but it's padrek exscanlan. Sorry to this author. I should have looked that up beforehand. But it's a history of the Irish famine and I honestly actually feel like I know nothing about this event other than that it brought a lot of Irish immigrants here to our great city. So this looks like an accessible look at what happened, the root causes of it and how. And I think what's interesting is also it's an imperial history, so it's also looking at the impacts of the British empire and what was going on during that time. That one is out March 11th.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's talk to Tony who is calling us from Sydney, Australia. Hi Tony.

[Alison Stewart]

Good morning. Well, good evening. How are you?

[Gary Goleman]

I'm doing well, sir.

[Alison Stewart]

Good morning. Morning. For me. The book that I enjoyed is out of my Mind by Shannon Draper and it's about a little girl who has cerebral palsy and her story of growing up and the people around her, the, the adults, the teachers, the doctors just not understanding what her cognitive ability was. It was greater than they thought and she ended up proving. I don't want to spoil it. How much should I tell about the story?

[Gary Goleman]

Tony, thank you for calling in. Let's talk to Robert from Manhattan. Hi Robert, thanks for calling all of it.

[Alison Stewart]

Hey, how are you? Longtime listener, not exactly a first time caller, but anyway, the book I'd like to recommend is Bone of the Bone by Sarah Marsh. It's a book from a about a farm girl from humble beginnings who made good in the world of writing. And it's just fantastic. She starts out in Kansas, she ends up going to Ivy league school teaching, loses, loses her money when her mother dies and has to start over and becomes an author and the rest is history.

[Gary Goleman]

I think we had her on the show.

[Jordan Loft]

Yeah, we did have Sarah Smarsh on the show. She's great. And I think if you are someone who is trying to understand the way that the media covers, quote, unquote, Trump voters, quote unquote, white working class Americans. She's someone who comes from that background and really understands it both as someone who has that lived experience and as a journalist covering it. So it's a collection of essays, I think that spans about 10 years from around 2013 to today or last year. And it's really worth picking up.

[Gary Goleman]

For those who are huge fans of public radio and npr, which I hope is everybody who's listening right now, there's a new book for people who want to learn more.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes, it's kind of a biography of npr. It's called on the the Triumph and Tumult of NPR by journalists Steve Oney. And it's exactly as it sounds. It's a history from the 1970s until today. So if you are listening to this now and you love wnyc, you love listening to npr, and maybe you want to learn a little more. That one comes out on March 11th. You can pick it up. And I wanted to also mention to one of the callers who called in about the explorer who had discovered the Mayan ruins and sounded like she was really interested in that topic. Another nonfiction book that's older that I really recommend is 1491. It's by Charles C. Mann, and it's 1491 New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. So if you find that topic interesting, this really takes a deep dive into Mayan and Aztec history and what was going on on that continent back then before he discovered those ruins. So you might find that interesting.

[Gary Goleman]

Yeah, it might be interested. The on air, the triumphant tumult of npr. The former NPR people, they call them nippers.

[Jordan Loft]

Oh.

[Gary Goleman]

They get together and they have a little coffee clutch. So we should maybe get some of them in here and have them review the book.

[Jordan Loft]

That would be fun. I think that would be great. We would get so many calls. I'm sure they'll have opinions about what's in there. So I don't know. I don't know if we want to throw Steve Onian into the firing squad. But yeah, maybe.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's talk to Jeff from Morris County, New Jersey. Hi, Jeff.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi. How you doing?

[Gary Goleman]

Doing well.

[Alison Stewart]

Okay. The book I want to Recommend is by Dr. Christine Silverstein, and it's called Wrestling Through Empowering Children, Teens and Young Adults to Win in Life. And she's a registered nurse, a peak performance coach, and a clinical hypnotherapist. And in her book, she describes the history of mental health and psychiatry in the US that includes mental health institutions with the horrific things that they did to people with lobotomies and using insulin therapy, none of which were really helpful for people. And where we've evolved now, as she describes in the book, is that about the only thing that psychiatrists can offer now are drugs? There's no more self. There's no more therapeutic talk. You go in and you get drugs. So Dr. Silverstein, she describes in her practice, she uses. She's developed a set of techniques that she calls mindful toughness and using, which does not involve drugs.

[Gary Goleman]

You know, Jeff, I'm gonna. I'm cut you off there because we're running out of time. You gave us a great recommendation. Thank you so much. For people who are interested in that. I did want to get to your final. Yeah. Your final recommendation. Historical true crime.

[Jordan Loft]

Yeah. So for people who really like that, we did a whole series last year on women behaving badly, which is basically like criminal women throughout New York City. It's so good, though. It was so good, this one. Sadly, the woman is the victim. It is called A Story of a the Wives, the mistress and Dr. Crippen. It's by Hallie Rubenhold, and it is the story of a popular New York City singer who, in the early 1920s or early 1900s, was found dead and her husband immediately goes on the Lamont, maybe with his mistress in tow. How was she involved? We don't exactly know. Or maybe we do, if you have to read to find out. And apparently he's also. He's a doctor, but maybe he's a medical fraudster. So it's a whole investigation into what's going on with this guy and the sad murder in early 20th century New York City.

[Gary Goleman]

Let's try to get in another call. This is Katie from Staten Island. Hi, Katie, you're on the air.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi.

[Gary Goleman]

Hi.

[Alison Stewart]

I love this. I want to know the whole list. Can I go to your website?

[Gary Goleman]

We're thinking about it, but it's always in a transcript on the website. You can always find that that way.

[Alison Stewart]

Cool. Okay, so the book I'd like to recommend is Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.

[Gary Goleman]

Yes. It's such a beautiful book. Tell us why you like it.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, it's about aging and death and our medical system and the priorities that we've made as a society. And it just makes you think about things that are going to affect you. It's going to affect all of us.

[Gary Goleman]

Katie, thanks so much for calling. All right, people on the team, they come to you. They say to you, jordan, I have a reading goal. Tell us about some of the staff's reading goals real quick.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes. So I'll shout out two of our producers. Luke Green has an extensive reading list. He wants to read James by Percival Everett, which is a big book from last year. He wants to read Demon Copperhead because I guilted him into it. Because my daily, every time I come on the show, I shout out demon. Copperhead. Read it if you haven't. And Kate Hines, I have to say.

[Gary Goleman]

He finished the Power Broker, though.

[Jordan Loft]

Luke Greene finished the Power Broker in like what must be record time, maybe two months, maybe. That is shocking.

[Gary Goleman]

Had a shout it out.

[Jordan Loft]

Yes, no, good shout out. And our senior producer Kate Hines is really excited for the new essay Cosby novel, King of Ashes. He's a great crime writer. This one apparently is inspired by the Godfather. It's out in June, so that should be really exciting. And I just want to conclude by saying the vote tally on what Russian novel I should read was inconclusive. So I'm left no better than where I started. But the conclusion seems to be I should just pick one.

[Gary Goleman]

Just pick one. We'll let you know what she picks next time she's on all of it. And get lit. Producer Jordan Loft. Thanks for being with us, Jordan.

[Jordan Loft]

Such a pleasure as always.

[Gary Goleman]

Tomorrow, comedian and writer Gary Goleman will be here to talk about his new Off Broadway show, Grand Eloquent. And we'll talk with pre loved podcast host Emily Stoeckel about how to score great vintage finds. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you. I will meet you back here next time.

[Alison Stewart]

WNYC Studios is supported by Carnegie hall, which presents pianist Bruce Liu in recital performing works by Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Scriabin and Prokofiev's Piano Sonata no. 7. January 24. Tickets and [e-mail] do you have a.

[Jordan Loft]

Car, truck, boat, motorcycle or RV that is no longer of use to you.

[Gary Goleman]

No matter what shape it's in? You can donate it to WNYC even.

[Jordan Loft]

If it's a hundred years old. Donating is easy, the pickup is free and you'll get a tax deduction.

[Gary Goleman]

Learn [e-mail] car.