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The Book Review12 Summer Books We're Looking Forward ToSummer arrives just over a month from now, and along with your last-minute scramble for a house share or a part-time job scooping ice cream, you’re probably also wondering what to read. On this week’s episode, Gilbert Cruz talks with Joumana Khatib about some of the books they're most looking forward to, from a James Baldwin biography to the true-life story of a young couple shipwrecked in the Pacific and a political thriller co-written by James Patterson and Bill Clinton.Books discussed:“The Beast in the Clouds: The Roosevelt Brothers’ Deadly Quest to Find the...2025-05-0932 minThe Book Review'The Interview': Isabel Allende Understands How Fear Changes a SocietyAt 82, Isabel Allende is one of the world’s most beloved and best-selling Spanish-language authors. Her work has been translated into more than 40 languages, and 80 million copies of her books have been sold around the world. That’s a lot of books.Allende’s newest novel, “My Name Is Emilia del Valle” is about a dark period in Chilean history: the 1891 Chilean civil war. Like so much of Allende’s work, it’s a story about women in tough spots who figure out a way through. Thematically, it’s not that far off from Allende’s own story. She was rai...2025-05-0242 minThe Book ReviewWhat It Was Like to Edit The 'Wolf Hall' BooksLast summer, when The New York Times Book Review released its list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, one of the authors with multiple titles on that list was Hilary Mantel, who died in 2022. Those novels were “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies,” the first two in a trilogy of novels about Thomas Cromwell, the all-purpose fixer and adviser to King Henry VIII.Those books were also adapted into a 2015 television series starring Mark Rylance as Cromwell and Damien Lewis as King Henry. It’s now a decade later and the third book in Mantel’s s...2025-04-1835 minThe Book Review'The Great Gatsby' at 100A century after “The Great Gatsby” was first published, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s slender novel about a mysterious, lovelorn millionaire living and dying in a Long Island mansion has become among the most widely read American fictions — and also among the most analyzed and interpreted. As the Book Review’s A.O. Scott wrote in a recent essay about the book’s centennial: “What we think about Gatsby illuminates what we think about money, race, romance and history. How we imagine him has a lot to do with how we see ourselves.”Scott joins the host Gilbert Cruz on the podc...2025-04-1131 minThe Book ReviewColum McCann on Undersea Cables and His New Novel "Twist"In his new novel, “Twist,” the National Book Award-winning Irish writer Colum McCann tells the story of a journalist deep at sea in more ways then one: A man adrift, he accepts a magazine assignment to write about the crews who maintain and repair the undersea cables that transmit all of the world’s information. Naturally, the assignment becomes more treacherous and psychologically fraught than he had anticipated. On this week’s episode, McCann tells host Gilbert Cruz how he became interested in the topic of information cables and why the story resonated for him at multiple levels.“Now...2025-04-0437 minThe Book ReviewSteven Soderbergh on His Reading Life (Rerun)The director Steven Soderbergh has just released his second film of 2025: the spy thriller "Black Bag," starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. In January 2024, Soderbergh spoke with host Gilbert Cruz about some of the more than 80 books that he read in the previous year. (This episode is a rerun.)Books discussed:"How to Live: A Life of Montaigne," by Sarah Bakewell"Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining,'" by Lee Unkrich and J.W. Rinzler"Cocktails with George and Martha," by Philip GefterThe work of Donald E. Westlake"...2025-03-2142 minThe Book ReviewSpring Preview: A Few Books We're Excited ForEvery season brings its share of books to look forward to, and this spring is no different. Host Gilbert Cruz is joined by Book Review editor Joumana Khatib to talk about a dozen or so titles that sound interesting in the months ahead.Books discussed on this episode:"Dream Count," by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie"Sunrise on the Reaping," by Suzanne Collins"The Buffalo Hunter Hunter," by Stephen Graham Jones"Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools," by Mary Annette Pember"Great...2025-03-0731 minThe Book ReviewCelebrating 100 Years of Edward GoreyYou’re familiar with Edward Gorey, whether you know it or not. The prolific author and illustrator, who was born 100 years ago this week, was ubiquitous for a time in the 1970s and 1980s, and his elaborate black-and-white line drawings — often depicting delightfully grim neo-Victorian themes and settings — graced everything from book jackets to the opening credits of the PBS show “Mystery!” to his own eccentric storybooks like “The Gashlycrumb Tinies,” in which young children come to unfortunate but spectacular ends.On this week’s episode, the Book Review’s Sadie Stein joins Gilbert Cruz for a celebration of all...2025-02-2135 minThe Book ReviewInside the Making of ‘Wicked’One day, several decades ago, the writer Winnie Holzman was shopping in a Manhattan bookstore where a particular cover caught her eye. It showed a woman with a green face, a black hat pulled down over her eyes. The book was “Wicked” by Gregory Maguire, a retelling of L. Frank Baum’s “Oz” stories from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West. “When I turned it over and read the little précis on the back, it blew my mind,” Holzman said. “I thought it was such a brilliant premise.” The book ended up on Holzman’s bookshelf, with its e...2025-02-1926 minThe Book ReviewAdapting the Twists and Turns of ‘Conclave’The screenwriter Peter Straughan has become adept at taking well known — and beloved — books and adapting them for the big and small screens. He was first nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay of the 2011 film “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” based on the classic John le Carré spy novel, and then adapted Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” trilogy into an award-winning season of television, with an adaptation of the third novel coming out soon. Now he has been nominated for a second Oscar: for his screenplay for “Conclave,” based on Robert Harris’s political thriller set in the secret world of a papal elec...2025-02-1423 minThe Book ReviewIs Bob Dylan Still a ‘Complete Unknown’?Elijah Wald’s 2015 book, “Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan and the Night That Split the Sixties,” traces the events that led up to Bob Dylan’s memorable performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The book is about Dylan, but also about the folk movement, youth culture, politics and the record business. For the writer and director James Mangold, Wald’s work provided an opportunity to tell an unusual story about the musician.“You could structure a screenplay along the lines of what Peter Shaffer did with “Amadeus,’” Mangold told the Book Review editor Gilbert Cruz. “I don’t really know wh...2025-02-1122 minThe Book ReviewHow ‘Nickel Boys’ Became One of the Year’s Most Visually Striking FilmsWhen the filmmaker and photographer RaMell Ross first read “The Nickel Boys,” Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about two Black boys in a dangerous reform school in the 1960s, he couldn’t help but put himself in the shoes of its protagonists, Elwood and Turner.In his film adaptation of the book, Ross does that to the audience: You see what the characters see, because it’s filmed from the main character’s point of view. “I wondered,” Ross said, “how do you explicitly film from the perspective of a Black person?”It was an experiment that h...2025-02-0722 minThe Book ReviewAlafair Burke On Writing Crime Novels and Teaching LawIn Alafair Burke’s new thriller, “The Note,” three friends are vacationing together in the Hamptons when they have an unpleasant run-in with a couple of strangers and decide to exact drunken, petty revenge. But the prank they pull — a note reading “He’s cheating on you” — snowballs, eventually embroiling them in a missing-persons investigation and forcing each woman to wonder what dark secrets her friends are hiding.Burke joins host Gilbert Cruz and talks about how she came up with the idea for “The Note,” and how she goes about writing her books in general.“I always have a f...2025-01-2434 minThe Book ReviewThe Books We’re Excited About in Early 2025And we're back! Happy new year, readers. On this week’s episode, Gilbert Cruz and Joumana Khatib talk about some of the upcoming books they’re most anticipating over the next several months.Books discussed on this episode:"Stone Yard Devotional," by Charlotte Wood"Aflame: Learning from Silence," by Pico Iyer"Onyx Storm," by Rebecca Yarros"Glyph," by Ali Smith"The Dream Hotel," by Laila Lalami"The Colony," by Annika Norlin"We Do Not Part," by Han Kang"Playworld," by Adam Ross...2025-01-1037 min
Deborah Lebree's podcastThe Year in BooksAs 2024 comes to a close, critics, reporters and editors at The New York Times are reflecting on the year in arts and culture, including books.The deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle, Melissa Kirsch, speaks with the editor of The New York Times Book Review, Gilbert Cruz, about the best books of 2024 — and of the century. Also, The Times’s book critics detail their favorite reads of the year.Guest: Melissa Kirsch, the deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle for The New York Times.Gilbert Cruz, the editor of The New York Times Book Review.M.J. Franklin, an editor for T...2024-12-3127 min
The DailyThe Year in BooksAs 2024 comes to a close, critics, reporters and editors at The New York Times are reflecting on the year in arts and culture, including books.The deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle, Melissa Kirsch, speaks with the editor of The New York Times Book Review, Gilbert Cruz, about the best books of 2024 — and of the century. Also, The Times’s book critics detail their favorite reads of the year.Guest: Melissa Kirsch, the deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle for The New York Times.Gilbert Cruz, the editor of The New York Times Book Revie...2024-12-3126 minThe Book ReviewOur Book Critics On Their Year in ReadingDwight Garner, Jennifer Szalai and Alexandra Jacobs — staff critics for The New York Times Book Review — join host Gilbert Cruz to look back on highlights from their year in books.Books discussed:"Intermezzo," by Sally Rooney"All Fours," by Miranda July"You Dreamed of Empires," by Álvaro Enrigue"When the Clock Broke," by John Ganz"Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring," by Brad Gooch"Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood's Hidden Genius," by Carrie Courogen"My...2024-12-1331 minThe Book ReviewThe 10 Best Books of 2024Don't let anyone tell you differently — end of year list time is a wonderful time, indeed. And, as we do every December, we are ready to discuss the 10 best books of the year. Host Gilbert Cruz gathers the editors of the New York Times Book Review to discuss the most exciting fiction and nonfiction of the year.The New York Times Book Review's Top 10 Books of 2024"James," by Percival Everett"You Dreamed of Empires," by Álvaro Enrigue; translated by Natasha Wimmer"Good Material," by Dolly Alderton"All Fours," by Mir...2024-12-031h 18The Book ReviewPatrick Radden Keefe on Taking "Say Nothing" From Book to ShowAs part of The New York Times Book Review's project on the 100 Best Books published since the year 2000, Nick Hornby called "Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland" one of the "greatest literary achievements of the 21st century." The author Patrick Radden Keefe joins host Gilbert Cruz to talk about his book, which has now been adapted into an FX miniseries.Keefe has now seen his reporting on the life of Irish Republican Army soldier Dolours Price and others make its way from a New Yorker magazine article to an acclaimed nonfiction...2024-11-1544 min
The Ezra Klein ShowBook Review: Robert Caro on 50 Years of ‘The Power Broker’As of this week, the archive of this show is behind a paywall. The three most recent episodes are free, but earlier episodes are available only to New York Times subscribers. If you don’t want the whole subscription, there’s an audio-only subscription for $1.50 a week. That gets you access to our archives, as well as the archives of all the other great Times podcasts.To help make the pitch here, I wanted to share an episode from our friends at the “Book Review” podcast. It’s hosted by Gilbert Cruz, the editor of The Times’s Book Revie...2024-10-1547 minThe Book ReviewStanley Tucci on His Year in Eating and a Look at the National Book AwardsThe actor-director-producer Stanley Tucci is also, famously, an avid eater, who has explored his enthusiasm for food through his travel show “Searching for Italy” and through two books: “Taste,” in 2021, and now a food diary, “What I Ate in One Year." In this week’s episode, Tucci discusses his new book with host Gilbert Cruz and talks about bad meals, his food idol and his path to tracking a year’s worth of eating.“The people at Simon & Schuster wanted me to write another book after ‘Taste,’ and I really didn’t know what to write,” Tucci says. “My wife said, Jus...2024-10-1146 minThe Book ReviewJean Hanff Korelitz on "The Sequel"In 2021, the novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz had a hit with “The Plot,” a book that was partly a mystery, partly a thriller and entirely a delicious sendup of the publishing industry. It told the tale of a once-promising writer, Jacob, who steals somebody else’s story idea and reaches undreamed-of levels of success before things go very badly for him.Korelitz’s new novel, “The Sequel,” is — yes — a sequel to “The Plot.” It follows Jacob’s widow, Anna, who has unexpectedly become a writer herself, only to be confronted with her own dark secrets. On this week’s episode, Koreli...2024-10-0438 minThe Book ReviewThe Fall Books We're Looking Forward ToThis weekend marks the official start of autumn, so what better time to take a peek at the fall books we’re most excited to read? On this week’s episode, Gilbert Cruz chats with Joumana Khatib and Anna Dubenko about the upcoming season of reading and the books on the horizon that they’re looking forward to most eagerly.Books mentioned in this week’s episode:“Intermezzo,” by Sally Rooney“Playground,” by Richard Powers“Sonny Boy: A Memoir,” by Al Pacino“Cher: The Memoir, Part One,” by Cher“The Sequel,” by Je...2024-09-2031 minThe Book ReviewRobert Caro on 50 Years of 'The Power Broker'Robert Caro’s 1974 biography “The Power Broker” is a book befitting its subject, Robert Moses — the unelected parochial technocrat who used a series of appointed positions to entirely reshape New York City and its surrounding environment for generations to come. Like Moses, Caro’s book has exerted an enduring and outsize influence. This week, Caro joins the podcast and tells the host Gilbert Cruz how he accounts for its enduring legacy.“People are interested in power,” Caro says. “This is a particular kind of power. Robert Moses’ power was unchecked power. We all live in a democracy where we think tha...2024-09-1346 minThe Book Review21st Century Books Special Edition: Isabel Wilkerson on 'The Warmth of Other Suns'As part of its recent "100 Best Books of the 21st Century" project, The New York Times Book Review is interviewing some of the authors whose books appeared on the list. This week, Isabel Wilkerson joins host Gilbert Cruz to discuss "The Warmth of Other Suns," her sweeping history of the movement of Black Americans from the south to points north over the course of the 20th century.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2024-08-2639 minThe Book Review21st Century Books Special Edition: Jennifer Egan on 'A Visit from the Goon Squad'As part of its recent 100 Best Books of the 21st Century project, The New York Times Book Review is interviewing some of the authors whose books appeared on the list. This week, Jennifer Egan joins host Gilbert Cruz to discuss her Pulitzer-winning novel about the music industry, “A Visit From the Goon Squad,” and talks, among other things, about the early challenges it faced in finding an audience, the meaning of its title and her initial reluctance to decide whether the book was a novel or a story collection.
Unlock full access to New York Times podc...2024-08-1941 minThe Book ReviewLiz Moore on Her Summer Camp Mystery "The God of the Woods"A summer camp in the Adirondacks. A rich girl gone missing, 14 years after her older brother also disappeared. A prominent local family harboring dark secrets. Liz Moore’s new novel, “The God in the Woods,” turns these elements into a complex and suspenseful meditation on parenting and social class and the rituals of summer friendship.On this week’s podcast, Liz Moore chats with Gilbert Cruz about her new novel. (Spoiler alert: the last 10 or so minutes address the book's ending.)
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop c...2024-08-1639 minThe Book ReviewWhat We're Reading This SummerIt’s August, which means that Labor Day and back-to-school are just around the corner. The vacation that seemed so leisurely a month ago suddenly feels a little more frantic. But there’s still time to squeeze in a last batch of summer reading. On this week’s episode, host Gilbert Cruz chats with his colleagues Joumana Khatib and Anna Dubenko about the books that have been occupying their attention this season.Books mentioned on this episode:"Talk," by Linda Rosencrantz"Crossroads," by Jonathan Franzen"You Like It Darker," by Stephen King2024-08-0932 minThe Book Review21st Century Books Special Edition: George Saunders on 'Lincoln in the Bardo'As part of its recent "100 Best Books of the 21st Century" project, The New York Times Book Review is interviewing some of the authors whose books appeared on the list. This week, George Saunders — who had three books on the list, including his short story collections "Pastoralia" and "Tenth of December" — joins host Gilbert Cruz to discuss his novel "Lincoln in the Bardo."
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2024-08-0541 minThe Book ReviewSarah Jessica Parker on Her Life in PublishingSarah Jessica Parker has been a familiar presence on TV, movie screens and Broadway stages for five decades. But since 2016 she has also been a force in the book world, initially at the helm of the fiction imprint SJP for Hogarth and for the past two years with SJP Lit, an imprint at the independent publisher Zando.Parker visits the podcast this week to chat with the host Gilbert Cruz about her lifelong love of reading, the kinds of books that excite her most and her entry into the publishing business, among other topics.“I ju...2024-08-0235 minThe Book Review21st Century Books Special Edition: Min Jin Lee on 'Pachinko'As part of its recent "100 Best Books of the 21st Century" project, The New York Times Book Review is interviewing some of the authors whose books appeared on the list. This week, Min Jin Lee joins host Gilbert Cruz to discuss her novel, as well as the book she's read the most times — George Eliot's "Middlemarch."“I’m willing to say it’s the best English language novel, period. Without question,” Lee says. “George Eliot is probably the smartest girl in the room ever as a novelist. She really was a great thinker, a great logician, a great empath...2024-07-2934 minThe Book Review21st Century Books Special Edition: Colson Whitehead on 'The Underground Railroad'As part of its recent "100 Best Books of the 21st Century" project, The New York Times Book Review is interviewing some of the authors whose books appeared on the list. This week, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead joins host Gilbert Cruz to discuss his 2016 novel.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2024-07-2236 min
The DailySunday Special: The 100 Best Books of the Century (So Far)Earlier this month, the New York Times Book Review rolled out the results of an ambitious survey it conducted to determine the best books of the 21st century so far. On this special episode of the Book Review Podcast, host Gilbert Cruz chats with some fellow Book Review editors about the results of that survey and about the project itself.To read the full list, please visit: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.htmlFor more episodes, search “Book Review podcast” wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the show. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and expl...2024-07-2138 min
The DailySunday Special: The 100 Best Books of the Century (So Far)Earlier this month, the New York Times Book Review rolled out the results of an ambitious survey it conducted to determine the best books of the 21st century so far. On this special episode of the Book Review Podcast, host Gilbert Cruz chats with some fellow Book Review editors about the results of that survey and about the project itself.To read the full list, please visit: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.htmlFor more episodes, search “Book Review podcast” wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the show.
2024-07-2138 min
Deborah Lebree's podcastSunday Special: The 100 Best Books of the Century (So Far)Earlier this month, the New York Times Book Review rolled out the results of an ambitious survey it conducted to determine the best books of the 21st century so far. On this special episode of the Book Review Podcast, host Gilbert Cruz chats with some fellow Book Review editors about the results of that survey and about the project itself.To read the full list, please visit: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.htmlFor more episodes, search “Book Review podcast” wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the show.2024-07-2139 min
The DailySunday Special: The 100 Best Books of the Century (So Far)Earlier this month, the New York Times Book Review rolled out the results of an ambitious survey it conducted to determine the best books of the 21st century so far. On this special episode of the Book Review Podcast, host Gilbert Cruz chats with some fellow Book Review editors about the results of that survey and about the project itself.To read the full list, please visit: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.htmlFor more episodes, search “Book Review podcast” wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the show. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and expl...2024-07-2139 minThe Book ReviewWhat It's Like to Write a King Arthur TaleLev Grossman, author of fantasy novel "The Magicians" and its two sequels, joins host Gilbert Cruz to talk about writing his version of Camelot in "The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur."
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2024-07-1932 minThe Book ReviewThe 100 Best Books of the 21st CenturyThis week The New York Times Book Review rolled out the results of an ambitious survey it conducted to determine the best books of the 21st century so far. On this week’s episode, Gilbert Cruz chats with fellow editors Tina Jordan, Scott Heller and Joumana Khatib about the results of that survey and about the project itself, including the willingness of some participants to let us share their ballots with the public.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on...2024-07-1237 minThe Book Review10 Books to Check Out This SummerSummer is upon us and you're going to need a few books to read. Book Review editors Elisabeth Egan and Joumana Khatib join host Gilbert Cruz to talk through a few titles they're looking forward to over the next several months.Books discussed in this episode:"Farewell, Amethystine," by Walter Mosley"The Cliffs," by J. Courtney Sullivan"Horror Movie," by Paul Tremblay"Liars," by Sarah Manguso"The God of the Woods," by Liz Moore"The Bright Sword," by Lev Grossman"Pearl," by Sian...2024-06-1428 minThe Book ReviewElin Hilderbrand on Her Final Nantucket Summer BookFor many years now, Elin Hilderbrand has published a novel every summer set on the island of Nantucket. With her 30th book, 'Swan Song,' the bestselling author says she will step off that hamster wheel and try something new. On this week's episode, she and host Gilbert Cruz talk about her career, what she's reading, and what's next.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2024-06-0737 minThe Book ReviewWriting About NASA's Most Shocking MomentThe year 1986 was notable for two big disasters, both of them attributable to human error and bureaucratic negligence at competing super powers: the Chernobyl nuclear accident in the Soviet Union and the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in the United States.The journalist Adam Higginbotham wrote about Chernobyl in his 2019 book, “Midnight in Chernobyl.” Now he’s back, with a look at the American side of the ledger, in his new book, “Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space.” On this week’s episode, Higginbotham tells host Gilbert Cruz why he was drawn...2024-05-1743 minThe Book ReviewFantasy Superstar Leigh Bardugo on Her New NovelIn the world of fantasy fiction, Leigh Bardugo is royalty: Her Grishaverse novels are mainstays on the young adult best-seller list, her “Shadow and Bone” trilogy has been adapted for a Netflix series and her adult novels “Ninth House” and “Hell Bent” established her as a force to reckon with in the subgenre known as dark academia.Now Bardugo is back with a new fantasy novel, “The Familiar,” and it’s also her first work of historical fiction: Set during the Inquisition in 16th-century Spain, it deals with literal royalty (King Philip II of Spain) through the story of a young s...2024-05-1041 minThe Book ReviewLooking Back at 50 Years of Stephen KingThis month marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Stephen King’s first novel, “Carrie.” In the decades since, King has experimented with length, genre and style, but has always maintained his position as one of America’s most famous writers.On this week’s episode, host Gilbert Cruz talks to the novelist Grady Hendrix, who read and re-read many of King’s books over several years, writing an essay on each as well as King superfan Damon Lindelof, the TV showrunner behind shows such as “Lost” and “The Leftovers.”Some of the books discussed in this ep...2024-04-051h 05The Book ReviewBooks That Make Our Critics LaughEarlier this month, the Book Review’s staff critics — Dwight Garner, Alexandra Jacobs and Jennifer Szalai — released a list of 22 novels they have found reliably funny since Joseph Heller’s landmark comic novel “Catch-22” came out in 1961. On this week’s episode, they tell Gilbert Cruz why “Catch-22” was their starting point, and explain a bit about their process: how they think about humor, how they made their choices, what books they left off and what books led to fights along the way. (“American Psycho” turns out to be as contentious now as it was when it was first published.)“The...2024-03-2930 minThe Book ReviewTalking ‘Dune’: Book and MoviesFrank Herbert’s epic novel “Dune” and its successors have been entrenched in the science fiction and fantasy canon for almost six decades, a rite of passage for proudly nerdy readers across the generations. But “Dune” is experiencing a broader cultural resurgence at the moment thanks to Denis Villeneuve’s recent film adaptations starring Timothée Chalamet. (Part 2 is in theaters now.)This week on the podcast, Gilbert Cruz talks to The Times’s critic Alissa Wilkinson, who covers movies, culture and religion, about Herbert’s novel, Villeneuve’s films and the enduring hold of Fremen lore on the audience’s i...2024-03-1539 minThe Book ReviewThe Rise and Fall of The Village VoiceTricia Romano’s new book, “The Freaks Came Out to Write,” is an oral history of New York’s late, great alternative weekly newspaper The Village Voice, where she worked for eight years as the nightlife columnist. Our critic Dwight Garner reviewed the book recently — he loved it — and he visits the podcast this week to chat with Gilbert Cruz about oral histories in general and the gritty glamour of The Village Voice in particular.“You would pick it up and it was so prickly,” Garner says. “The whole thing just felt like this production that someone had really thought...2024-02-2336 minThe Book Review4 Early-Year Book RecommendationsThe early part of a year can mean new books to read, or it can mean catching up on older ones we haven’t gotten to yet. This week, Gilbert Cruz chats with the Book Review’s Sarah Lyall and Sadie Stein about titles from both categories that have held their interest lately, including a 2022 biography of John Donne, a book about female artists who nurtured an interest in the supernatural, and the history of a Jim Crow-era mental asylum, along with a gripping new novel by Janice Hallett.“It’s just so deft,” Stein says of Hallett’s...2024-02-0934 minThe Book ReviewOur Early 2024 Book PreviewIt's gonna be a busy spring! On this week’s episode, Gilbert Cruz talks with Tina Jordan and Joumana Khatib about some of the upcoming books they’re anticipating most keenly over the next several months.Books discussed in this week’s episode:“Knife,” by Salman Rushdie“James,” by Percival Everett“The Book of Love,” by Kelly Link“Martyr,” by Kaveh Akbar“The Demon of Unrest,” by Erik Larson“The Hunter,” by Tana French“Wandering Stars,” by Tommy Orange“Anita de Monte Laughs Last,” by Xochitl Gonza...2024-01-1925 minThe Book ReviewSteven Soderbergh on His Year in ReadingEvery January on his website Extension765.com, the prolific director Steven Soderbergh looks back at the previous year and posts a day-by-day account of every movie and TV series watched, every play attended and every book read. In 2023, Soderbergh tackled more than 80 (!) books, and on this week's episode, he and the host Gilbert Cruz talk about some of his highlights. Here are the books discussed on this week’s episode:"How to Live: A Life of Montaigne," by Sarah Bakewell"Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining,'" by Lee Unkrich and J.W. Rinzler"...2024-01-1242 minThe Book ReviewHow to Tell the Story of a Giant WildfireJohn Vaillant’s book “Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World” takes readers to the petroleum boomtown of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, in May 2016, when a wildfire that started in the surrounding boreal forest grew faster than expected and tore through the city, destroying entire neighborhoods in a rampage that lasted for days.On this week’s episode, Vaillant (whose book was one of our 10 Best for 2023) calls it a “bellwether,” and tells the host Gilbert Cruz how he decided to put the fire itself at the center of his story rather than choosing a human char...2023-12-1541 minThe Book ReviewOur Critics' Year in ReadingThe Times’s staff book critics — Dwight Garner, Jennifer Szalai and Alexandra Jacobs — do a lot of reading over the course of any given year, but not everything they read stays with them equally. On this week’s podcast, Gilbert Cruz chats with the critics about the books that did: the novels and story collections and works of nonfiction that made an impression in 2023 and defined their year in reading, including one that Garner says caught him by surprise.“Eleanor Catton’s ‘Birnam Wood’ is in some ways my novel of the year,” Garner says. “And it’s not really my kind o...2023-12-0837 minThe Book Review10 Best Books of 2023It’s that time of year: After months of reading, arguing and (sometimes) happily agreeing, the Book Review’s editors have come up with their picks for the 10 Best Books of 2023. On this week’s podcast, Gilbert Cruz reveals the chosen titles — five fiction, five nonfiction — and talks with some of the editors who participated in the process.Here are the books discussed on this week’s episode:“The Bee Sting,” by Paul Murray“Chain-Gang All-Stars,” by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah“Eastbound,” by Maylis de Kerangal“The Fraud,” by Zadie Smith“North Woods,” b...2023-11-281h 12The Book ReviewTalking Barbra Streisand and Rebecca YarrosBook Review reporter Alexandra Alter discusses two of her recent pieces. The first is about Georgette Heyer, the "queen of Regency romance," and recent attempts to posthumously revise one of her most famous works in order to remove stereotypical language. The second looks at Rebecca Yarros, author of one of this year's most surprising and persistent bestsellers: the "romantasy" novel "Fourth Wing." Then, staff critic Alexandra Jacobs joins Book Review editor Gilbert Cruz to discuss her review of Barbra Streisand's epic memoir, "My Name is Barbra."
Unlock full access to New York T...2023-11-1033 minThe Book ReviewHappy Halloween: Scary Book RecommendationsYou don’t need Halloween to justify reading scary books, any more than you need sand to justify reading a beach novel. But the holiday does give editors here a handy excuse to talk about some of their favorite spooky reads. On this week’s episode, the host Gilbert Cruz talks with his colleagues Tina Jordan and Sadie Stein about the enduring appeal of ghost stories, Gothic novels and other scary books.Titles discussed:“Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death,” by Deborah Blum“Something Wicked This Way C...2023-10-2733 minThe Book ReviewHow Did Marvel Become the Biggest Name in Movies?In 2008 — the same year that Robert Downey Jr. appeared in the action comedy “Tropic Thunder,” for which he would earn his second Oscar nomination — he also appeared as the billionaire inventor and unlikely superhero Tony Stark in “Iron Man,” the debut feature from the upstart Marvel Studios.Downey lost the Oscar (to Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”), but Marvel won the day. In the 15 years since “Iron Man” came out, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has expanded to 32 films that have earned a staggering $26 billion and changed the world of moviemaking for a generation. In a new book, “MCU: The...2023-10-2033 minThe Book ReviewWhat It's Like to Write a Madonna BiographyMadonna released her first single in 1982, and in one guise or another she has been with us ever since — ubiquitous but also astonishing, when you consider the usual fleeting arc of pop stardom. How has she done it, and how have her various personae shaped or reflected the culture she inhabits? These are among the questions the renowned biographer Mary Gabriel takes up in her latest book, “Madonna: A Rebel Life,” which casts new light on its subject’s life and career.On this week’s episode, the host Gilbert Cruz chats with Gabriel about all things Madonna, a...2023-10-0636 minThe Book ReviewAudiobooks are the BestYou love books. You love podcasts. Ergo, we assume you love audiobooks the way we do — we hope you do, anyway, because this week we’ve devoted our entire episode to the form, as Gilbert Cruz is joined by a couple of editors from the Book Review, Lauren Christensen and Tina Jordan, to discuss everything from favorite narrators to regional accents to the ideal listening speed and the way audiobooks have to compete with other kinds of media.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at n...2023-09-2926 minThe Book ReviewTalking to Stephen King and September Books to Check OutStephen King’s new novel, “Holly,” is his sixth book to feature the private investigator Holly Gibney, who made her debut as a mousy side character in the 2014 novel “Mr. Mercedes” and has become more complicated and interesting with each subsequent appearance. King appears on the podcast this week to tell the host Gilbert Cruz about Holly’s hold on his imagination and the ways she overlaps with parts of his own personality. Along the way, he also tells a dad joke, remembers his friend Peter Straub, and discusses his views on writing and life.Also on this episode...2023-09-0838 minThe Book ReviewAmor Towles Sees Dead PeopleThe novelist Amor Towles, whose best-selling books include “Rules of Civility,” “A Gentleman in Moscow” and “The Lincoln Highway,” contributed an essay to the Book Review recently in which he discussed the evolving role the cadaver has played in detective fiction and what it says about the genre’s writers and readers.Towles visits the podcast this week to chat with the host Gilbert Cruz about that essay, as well as his path to becoming a novelist after an early career in finance.Also on this week’s episode, Sarah Lyall, a writer at large for The Times, i...2023-08-1852 minThe Book ReviewColson Whitehead and His Crime Novel SequelGilbert Cruz is joined by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead, who talks about his novel "Crook Manifesto" and Harlem in the '70s. He also reflects on his famous post-9/11 essay about New York City.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2023-07-2129 minThe Book ReviewGreat Books from The First Half of 2023Gilbert Cruz is joined by fellow editors from the Book Review to revisit some of the most popular and most acclaimed books of 2023 to date. First up, Tina Jordan and Elisabeth Egan discuss the year’s biggest books, from “Spare” to “Birnam Wood.” Then Joumana Khatib, MJ Franklin and Sadie Stein recommend their personal favorites of the year so far.Books discussed on this week’s episode:“Spare,” by Prince Harry“I Have Some Questions for You,” by Rebecca Makkai“Pineapple Street,” by Jenny Jackson“Romantic Comedy,” by Curtis Sittenfeld“You Could...2023-07-1438 minThe Book ReviewThe Magic of Literary Translation and 'Bridget Jones' at 25The editors of The Book Review talk about the nitty gritty of literary translation. And then, a conversation about the legacy of the novel “Bridget Jones’s Diary."What makes translation an art? How does a translator’s personality affect their work? Why do we see so many translations from some countries and almost none from others? These are just some of the questions addressed in a recent translation issue of the Book Review, which Gilbert Cruz breaks down with the editors Juliana Barbassa and Gregory Cowles.Also on this week’s episode, Elisabeth Egan and Tina...2023-07-0736 minThe Book ReviewRemembering Cormac McCarthy and Robert GottliebRecently, two giants of modern American literature died within a single day of each other. Gilbert Cruz talks with Dwight Garner about the work of Cormac McCarthy’s work, and with Pamela Paul and Emily Eakin about the life and legacy of Robert Gottlieb.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2023-06-2442 minThe Book ReviewWhat It’s Like to Write an MLK Jr. BiographyJonathan Eig’s book “King: A Life” is the first comprehensive biography in decades of Martin Luther King Jr., drawing on reams of interviews and newly uncovered archival materials to paint a fuller picture of the civil rights leader than we have received before. On this week’s podcast, Eig describes the process of researching and writing the book, and tells the host Gilbert Cruz how he tracked down resources that were unavailable to earlier biographers.“I was a newspaper reporter for a long, long time — and you know, working on daily stories, if you got five days to work...2023-06-1632 minThe Book ReviewSummer Book Preview and 9 Thrillers to ReadThere’s no rule that says you have to read thrillers in the summer — some people gobble them up them year round, while others avoid them entirely and read Kafka on the shore — but on a long, lazy vacation day it’s undeniably satisfying to grab onto a galloping narrative and see where it pulls you. This week, Gilbert Cruz talks to our thrillers columnist Sarah Lyall about some classics of the genre, as well as more recent titles she recommends.Also on this week’s episode, Joumana Khatib offers a preview of some of the biggest books to w...2023-06-0935 minThe Book ReviewOn Reading ‘Beloved’ Over and Over AgainFor readers, a book’s meaning can change with every encounter, depending on the circumstances and experiences they bring to it each time. On this week’s podcast, Gilbert Cruz talks to Salamishah Tillet, a Pulitzer-winning contributing critic at large for The Times, about her abiding love for Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved” — in which a mother chooses to kill her own daughter rather than let her live in slavery — and about the ways that Tillet’s personal experiences have affected her view of the book.“I was sexually assaulted on a study abroad program in Kenya.” Tillet say...2023-06-0220 minThe Book ReviewRemembering Martin AmisThe writer Martin Amis, who died last week at the age of 73, was a towering figure of English literature who for half a century produced a body of work distinguished by its raucous wit, cutting intelligence and virtuosic prose.On this week’s podcast, Gilbert Cruz talks with The Times’s critics Dwight Garner (who wrote Amis’s obituary for the paper) and Jason Zinoman (who co-hosts a podcast devoted to Amis’s career, “The Martin Chronicles”) about the life and death of a remarkable figure who was, as Garner puts it, “arguably the most slashing, articulate, devastatingly...2023-05-2627 minThe Book ReviewEssential Neil Gaiman and A.I. Book FreakoutAre you ready to dive in to the work of the prolific and inventive fantasy writer Neil Gaiman? On this week’s episode, the longtime Gaiman fan J.D. Biersdorfer, an editor at the Book Review, talks with the host Gilbert Cruz about Gaiman’s work, which she recently wrote about for our continuing “Essentials” series.Also this week, Cruz talks with the Times critic Dwight Garner about “The Death of the Author,” a murder mystery that the novelist Stephen Marche wrote with the assistance of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence programs. Is A.I. in fact a harbinger...2023-05-1931 minThe Book ReviewPulitzer WinnersThe Pulitzer Prizes were announced on Monday, bestowing one of America’s most prestigious awards in journalism and the arts on writers across a range of categories. Among the winners were three authors who had also appeared on the Book Review’s list of the 10 Best Books of 2022: the New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu, for his memoir “Stay True,” and two novelists who (in a first for the Pulitzers) shared the prize in fiction, Barbara Kingsolver for “Demon Copperhead” and Hernan Diaz for “Trust.”On this week’s episode, Hsu and Diaz chat with the host Gilbert Cruz about...2023-05-1234 minThe Book ReviewBook Bans and What to Read in MayBook-banning efforts remain one of the biggest stories in the publishing industry, and on this week’s episode of the podcast, our publishing reporters Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth Harris chat with the host Gilbert Cruz about the current state of such attempted bans and how they differ from similar efforts in the past.“It is amazing to see both the upward trend in book bans but also the ways that the process of getting bans has evolved,” Alter says. “This has happened really quickly. … We’ve seen a lot of the book bans that have taken place in the last...2023-05-0526 minThe Book ReviewEleanor Catton on ‘Birnam Wood’Eleanor Catton’s new novel, “Birnam Wood,” is a rollicking eco-thriller that juggles a lot of heady themes with a big plot and a heedless sense of play — no surprise, really, from a writer who won Britain’s prestigious Man Booker Prize for her previous novel, “The Luminaries,” and promptly established herself as a leading light in New Zealand’s literary community.On this week’s podcast, Catton tells the host Gilbert Cruz how that early success affected her writing life (not much) as well as her life outside of writing (her marriage made local headlines, for one thing). She al...2023-04-2833 minThe Book ReviewDavid Grann on the Wreck of the H.M.S. WagerDavid Grann is one of the top narrative nonfiction writers at work today; a staff writer at The New Yorker, he has previously combined a flair for adventure writing with deep historical research in acclaimed books including “The Lost City of Z” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” His latest, “The Wager,” applies those talents to a seafaring tale of mutiny and murder, reconstructing the fate of a lost British man-of-war that foundered on an island off the coast of Patagonia in the 18th century. On this week’s podcast, Grann tells the host Gilbert Cruz that one of the things tha...2023-04-2134 minThe Book ReviewThe Enduring Appeal of Judy Blume and Gabriel García MárquezIt’s been more than 50 years since the publication of Judy Blume’s middle-grade novel “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” a coming-of-age tale that has become a classic for its frank discussion of everything from puberty to religious identity to life in the New Jersey suburbs. Despite its grip on generations of readers, though, the book has never been adapted for film — until now, in a screenplay written by the director Kelly Fremon Craig and opening for wide release on April 28. To mark the occasion, our editor Elisabeth Egan appears on this week’s podcast and talks with the...2023-04-1423 minThe Book ReviewWhat We're ReadingAs you might guess, the folks who work at the Book Review are always reading — and many of them like to juggle three or four books at once. In this episode, Gilbert Cruz talks to the editors Tina Jordan and Greg Cowles about what they’ve been reading and enjoying, and then, in honor of National Poetry Month, interviews Cowles — who, in addition to about a million other things, edits the Book Review's poetry coverage — about how he came to love it.“I’ve always loved good sentences and surprising language,” Cowles says. “A novel has room — and is even requir...2023-04-0727 minThe Book ReviewVictor LaValle Talks About Horror and ‘Lone Women’After a spate of more or less contemporary horror novels set in and around New York, Victor LaValle’s latest book, “Lone Women,” opens in 1915 as its heroine, Adelaide Henry, is burning down her family’s Southern California farmhouse with her dead parents inside, then follows her to Montana, where she moves to become a homesteader with a mysteriously locked steamer trunk in tow.“Nothing in this genre-melding book is as it seems,” Chanelle Benz writes in her review. “The combination of LaValle’s agile prose, the velocity of the narrative and the pleasure of upended expectations makes this book...2023-03-3134 minThe Book ReviewWhat We're ReadingIt should come as no surprise that writers and editors at the Book Review do a lot of outside reading — and, even among ourselves, we like to discuss the books that are on our minds. On this week’s episode, Gilbert Cruz talks to the critic Jennifer Szalai and the editors Sadie Stein and Joumana Khatib about what they’ve been reading (and in some cases listening to) recently.For Szalai, that includes a novel she’s revisiting some two decades after she first read it: Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Remains of the Day,” which she’s listening to thi...2023-03-1723 minThe Book ReviewBooks About the OscarsThe 95th Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday evening in Hollywood, with top contenders including “Tár,” “Women Talking” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” For readers, it’s a perfect excuse to revisit two recent books about the Oscars.On this week’s episode, the host Gilbert Cruz talks to our critic Alexandra Jacobs about “The Academy and the Award,” by Bruce Davis, a former executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and “Oscar Wars,” by the journalist Michael Schulman, which she recently wrote about for the paper.“We like to think that this is...2023-03-1020 minThe Book ReviewRevisiting 'Wisconsin Death Trip,' 50 Years LaterIt's been 50 years since Michael Lesy's influential cult classic "Wisconsin Death Trip" was published. A documentary text of found material, the book gathered prosaic historical photos of Wisconsin residents from the turn of the 20th century and paired them to haunting effect with fragmentary newspaper archives from the same time period reporting on often garish deaths — what our critic Dwight Garner, evaluating the book for its anniversary, called "horrific local news items that point, page by page, toward spiritual catastrophe. Nearly every person in it looks as if they are about to be struck by lightning."Garner ap...2023-03-0323 minThe Book ReviewOn Reading "A Wrinkle in Time"Some books find us at the right age and in the right frame of mind to lodge an enduring hold on our imagination; these are the books we turn to again and again, which become the cherished classics of our personal canon.On this week's episode, the Book Review's thriller columnist and writer at large Sarah Lyall talks to the host Gilbert Cruz about Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 novel "A Wrinkle in Time," in which the protagonist and her younger brother set out to rescue their father from the supernatural embodiment of evil that is holding him captive. Lyall f...2023-02-2419 minThe Book ReviewPublic Libraries, and Profiling Paul HardingAt a time when public libraries and librarians are facing budget headwinds and sometimes intense political scrutiny for the roles they play in their communities, the Times photo editor Erica Ackerberg last fall dispatched photographers to seven libraries in cities, suburbs and rural areas across the country to document what daily life in those public institutions really looks like in today's world. The resulting photographs, published this week with an accompanying essay by the Book Review editor Elisabeth Egan, revealed libraries to be essential community centers and far more than the hushed and beloved book depositories you may remember f...2023-02-1725 minThe Book Review"Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages"Admit it: It's fun to look at other people's marriages — and all the more fun if those marriages are messy. In a new group biography, "Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages," the author Carmela Ciuraru peers into some relationships that are very messy indeed: the tumultuous marriages of Kenneth Tynan and Elaine Dundy; Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal; Kingsley Amis and Elizabeth Jane Howard; Radclyffe Hall and Una Troubridge; and Alberto Moravia and Elsa Morante. As Ciuraru's title suggests, the book focuses especially on the role — and toll — of being a wife, stifling one's own creative impulses for the sa...2023-02-1021 minThe Book ReviewA Look Ahead at the Season's Big BooksHow do you define a "big book"? It might be a new offering from a beloved author or a deep dive into a timely subject or a story that has generated unusual enthusiasm among editors and other early readers: One way or another, these are the books that build "buzz" and create momentum in the weeks and months before their publication. On this week's podcast, the Book Review's editor, Gilbert Cruz, talks with Tina Jordan, the deputy editor, about the books they're most looking forward to this season, including new fiction from Salman Rushdie, Eleanor Catton and Victor LaValle...2023-02-0321 min
The Book ReviewA Manhunt on the 17th Century’s High SeasSteven Johnson talks about “Enemy of All Mankind,” and Gilbert Cruz offers a guide to Stephen King’s work.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2020-05-291h 07
PopcastBeyond ‘Trolls’ and ‘Frozen’: What Are Our Kids Listening To?Children’s films lean heavily on pop, but the elementary school set has access to a whole universe of music now. Guests: The New York Times's Gilbert Cruz, Jeremy Egner, Dave Itzkoff and Dave Renard.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2020-04-191h 00
The Book ReviewDinosaurs, the Master of Horror and Philip RothSteve Brusatte talks about “The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs”; Victor Lavalle and Gilbert Cruz discuss the work of Stephen King; and Dwight Garner, A.O. Scott and Taffy Brodesser-Akner talk about the legacy of Philip Roth.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2018-06-011h 05
Inside The Times‘Game of Thrones’ Conference CallListen in as Gilbert Cruz, The Times’s television editor, and Jeremy Egner, our in-house “Game of Thrones” expert, offer a debrief at the conclusion of Season 7.
2017-09-1243 min
Inside The TimesHow The Times Covers TelevisionGilbert Cruz, The Times’s television editor, talks TV with Margaret Lyons and John Koblin.2016-11-1852 min
Inside The TimesHow The Times Covers TelevisionGilbert Cruz, The Times’s television editor, talks TV with Margaret Lyons and John Koblin.
2016-11-1852 minInside The TimesTalking Broadway With “Hamilton” star Lin-Manuel MirandaMr. Miranda spoke with Gilbert Cruz, The Times’s television editor, at a Viva Broadway event in September.2016-10-0533 min
Inside The TimesTalking Broadway With “Hamilton” star Lin-Manuel MirandaMr. Miranda spoke with Gilbert Cruz, The Times’s television editor, at a Viva Broadway event in September.
2016-10-0533 min
PopcastOn ‘Empire’: The Show, the Music and the Calamitous FinaleJon Caramanica and Gilbert Cruz, of The Times, and Justin Charity, of Complex, discuss “Empire.”
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.2015-03-2047 min