We asked 2016’s podcast-guests for their favorite books in 2016 and the books they hope to read in 2017 for our special year-end Guest List episode! More than 30 guests participated, so listen to the show to hear about their picks, and use this page to check out all the books, as well as their past episodes!
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If you’d like a guide to the episode, detailing the order of the speakers and when their segments begin, please scroll to the bottom of the page.
Visit the archives, and follow The Virtual Memories Show on iTunes, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and RSS! And check out the 2013, 2014 and 2015 editions of The Guest List! And drop me an e-mail if you have guest ideas for 2017!
THE GUESTS
Glen Baxter (25:30)
- The Other Paris
– Luc Sante
- Cronopios and Famas
– Julio Cortazar
– Luc Sante
– Julio CortazarGlen’s 2017 goal
- Alfred Jarry: A Pataphysical Life
– Alastair Brotchie
– Alastair BrotchieRoss Benjamin (28:05)
- Hystopia: A Novel
– David Means
– David MeansRoss’ 2017 goal
- works by – Ivy Compton-Burnett
Harold Bloom (33:20)
- The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works
– William Shakespeare
– William ShakespeareHarold’s 2017 goal
- The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works
MK Brown (26:00)
- The Light Between Oceans: A Novel
– ML Stedman
- All the Light We Cannot See
– Anthony Doerr
- Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warp goals, and the 10th Dimension
– Michiko Kaku
– ML Stedman
– Anthony Doerr
– Michiko KakuMK’s 2017 goal
- The Alexandria Quartet
– Lawrence Durrell
– Lawrence DurrellNina Bunjevac (17:40)
- Distant Light
– Antonio Moresco
– Antonio MorescoNina’s 2017 goal
- The Customer is Always Wrong
– Mimi Pond
– Mimi PondHayley Campbell (16:55)
- Sabbath’s Theater
– Philip Roth
- American Pastoral
– Philip Roth
- Undisputed Truth
– Mike Tyson
- The Fight
– Norman Mailer
– Philip Roth
– Philip Roth
– Mike Tyson
– Norman MailerHayley’s 2017 goal
- The Crying of Lot 49
– Thomas Pynchon
– Thomas PynchonDavid M. Carr (19:50)
- The Buried Giant
– Kazuo Ishiguro
– Kazuo IshiguroDavid’s 2017 goal
- Swann’s Way: In Search of Lost Time, Vol. 1
– Marcel Proust
– Marcel ProustMyke Cole (30:15)
- Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the Bloody Fight for His Empire
– James Romm
– James RommMyke’s 2017 goal
- Lots of history of the Crusades
Liza Donnelly (23:50)
- Three Stages of Amazement: A Novel
– Carol Edgarian
– Carol EdgarianLiza’s 2017 goal
- In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India
– Edward Luce
– Edward LuceBob Eckstein (11:30)
- Based on a True Story: A Memoir
– Norm Macdonald
– Norm MacdonaldBob’s 2017 goal
– Thomas DolbyGlynnis Fawkes (14:40)
- My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Novels, Book One
– Elena Ferrante
- The Story of a New Name: Neapolitan Novels, Book Two
– Elena Ferrante
- Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay: Neapolitan Novels, Book Three
– Elena Ferrante
- The Story of the Lost Child: Neapolitan Novels, Book Four
– Elena Ferrante
- Lo, Melo Pop, Tresor, and Orage et Despoir – Lucie Durbiano (not available in US)
– Elena Ferrante
– Elena Ferrante
– Elena Ferrante
– Elena FerranteRachel Hadas (13:00)
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
– Yuval Noah Harari
- The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature
– David George Haskell
– Yuval Noah Harari
– David George HaskellLiz Hand (20:30)
- The Round House: A Novel
– Louise Erdrich
- The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil
– Al Ridenour
- Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-first Century
– Simon Reynolds
– Louise Erdrich
– Al Ridenour
– Simon ReynoldsGlenn Head (27:20)
- George Orwell
– Gordon Bowker
– Gordon BowkerVirginia Heffernan (26:50)
- Nutshell: A Novel
– Ian McEwan
– Ian McEwanVirginia’s 2017 goals
- Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland
– Jeff Biggers
- Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
– JD Vance
- Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History
– Norman O Brown
– Jeff Biggers
– JD Vance
– Norman O BrownHarry Katz (5:00)
– Ed SorelEd Koren (25:00)
- The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir
– Riad Sattouf
- Midnight in Europe: A Novel
– Alan Furst
- Dusk and Other Stories
– James Salter
- The Portrait of a Lady
– Henry James
– Riad Sattouf
– Alan Furst
– James Salter
– Henry JamesEd’s 2017 goal
- Suite Française
– Irene Nemirovsky
– Irene NemirovskyDavid Leopold (3:20)
- Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage
– Robert Bader
– Robert BaderDavid’s 2017 goal
- Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
– Steve Silberman
– Steve SilbermanArthur Lubow (17:55)
- Stoner
– John Williams
– John WilliamsArthur’s 2017 goal
- Lolita
– Vladimir Nabokov
– Vladimir NabokovMichael Maslin (24:25)
- John Wayne: The Life and Legend
– Scott Eyman
– Scott EymanMichael’s 2017 goal
- The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915-1964
– Zachary Leder
- Bellow: A Biography
– James Atlas
- There Is Simply Too Much to Think About: Collected Nonfiction
– Saul Bellow
- Collected Stories
– Saul Bellow
- Saul Bellow: Letters
– Saul Bellow
– Zachary Leder
– James Atlas
– Saul Bellow
– Saul Bellow
– Saul BellowDavid Mikics (12:10)
- Napoleon: A Political Life
– Steven Englund
- A Horse Walks into a Bar: A novel
– David Grossman
– Steven Englund
– David GrossmanBen Model (7:00)
- The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks
– Tracey Goessel
– Tracey GoesselBen’s 2017 goals
- After the Silents: Hollywood Film Music in the Early Sound Era, 1926-1934 (Film and Culture Series)
– Michael Slowik
- Slapstick Divas – Steve Massa
– Michael SlowikChristopher Nelson (18:30)
- Collection of Sand
– Italo Calvino
– Italo CalvinoChristopher’s 2017 goals
- The Givenness of Things: Essays
– Marilynne Robinson
- Middlemarch
– George Eliot
– Marilynne Robinson
– George EliotJim Ottaviani (15:55)
- Station Eleven
– Emily St. John Mandel
- The Buried Giant
– Emily St. John MandelJim’s 2017 goal
- Jerusalem
– Alan Moore
– Alan MooreAnn Patty (25:45)
- Don Quixote
– Cervantes
- On Trying To Keep Still
– Jenny Diski
– Cervantes
– Jenny DiskiAnn’s 2017 goal
- Middlemarch
Burton Pike (27:40)
- Moby-Dick
– Herman Melville
– Herman MelvilleFrank Sorce (29:00)
- Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
– Phil Knight
– Phil KnightWillard Spiegelman (14:30)
- Avid Reader: A Life
– Robert Gottlieb
- Collected Poems: 1950-2012
– Adrienne Rich
– Robert Gottlieb
– Adrienne RichLeslie Stein (8:45)
- A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories
– Lucia Berlin
Blammo #9 – Noah Van Sciver
– Lucia BerlinLeslie’s 2017 goal
- more stuff by Jean Rhys
Tom Tomorrow/Dan Perkins (21:55)
- All the Kremlin’s Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin
– Mikhail Zygar
- The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev’s Freedom to Putin’s War
– Arkady Ostrovsky
- Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia
– Peter Pomeratsev
- Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin
– Piers Bizony, Jamie Doran
- Laika
– Nick Abadzis
- All the Birds in the Sky
– Charlie Jane Anders
- Sandman Slim
– Richard Kadrey
- Tatiana: An Arkady Renko Novel
– Martin Cruz Smith
– Mikhail Zygar
– Arkady Ostrovsky
– Peter Pomeratsev
– Piers Bizony, Jamie Doran
– Nick Abadzis
– Charlie Jane Anders
– Richard Kadrey
– Martin Cruz SmithTom/Dan’s 2017 goals
- The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin
– Masha Gessen
- The Romanovs: 1613-1918
– Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon
– James Harford
– Masha Gessen
– Simon Sebag Montefiore
– James HarfordAndrea Tsurumi (9:25)
- Libby’s Dad
– Eleanor Davis
- Spectacles
– Sue Perkins
– Eleanor Davis
– Sue PerkinsAndrea’s 2017 goal
- Coquelicots d’Irak
– Brigitte Findakly, Lewis Trondheim (English language version coming fall ’17)
– Brigitte Findakly, Lewis Trondheim (English language version coming fall ’17)Carol Tyler (2:45)
- The Leopard: A Novel
– Giuseppe Di Lampedusa
– Giuseppe Di LampedusaCarol’s 2017 goal
- The Rivers Ran Backward: The Civil War and the Remaking of the American Middle Border
– Christopher Phillips
– Christopher PhillipsJim Woodring (7:30)
– Paula BeckerGil Roth (33:50)
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle: A Novel
– George V. Higgins
- Nitro Mountain: A novel
– Lee Clay Jackson
- Based on a True Story: A Memoir
- Diane Arbus: Portrait of a Photographer
– Arthur Lubow
- The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy
– Kliph Nesteroff
- Avid Reader: A Life
- The Speed of Sound: Breaking the Barriers Between Music and Technology: A Memoir
– Thomas Dolby
- Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores: True Tales and Lost Moments from Book Buyers, Booksellers, and Book Lovers
– Bob Eckstein
– George V. Higgins
– Lee Clay Jackson
– Arthur Lubow
– Kliph Nesteroff
– Bob EcksteinGil’s 2017 goals
- The Radetzky March
– Joseph Roth
- The Portrait of a Lady
– Henry James
- Sword of Honor
– Evelyn Waugh
- Sweet Theft: A Poet’s Commonplace Book
– JD McClatchy
– Joseph Roth
– Henry James
– Evelyn Waugh
– JD McClatchyPodcast: Play in new window | Download
Guest List Sequence
Carol Tyler – begins at 2:45
David Leopold – 3:20
Harry Katz – 5:00
Ben Model – 7:00
Jim Woodring – 7:30
Leslie Stein – 8:45
Andrea Tsurumi – 9:25
Bob Eckstein – 11:30
David Mikics – 12:10
Rachel Hadas – 13:00
Willard Spiegelman – 14:30
Glynnis Fawkes – 14:40
Jim Ottaviani – 15:55
Hayley Campbell – 16:55
Nina Bunjevac – 17:40
Arthur Lubow – 17:55
Christopher Nelson – 18:30
David M. Carr – 19:50
Liz Hand – 20:30
Tom Tomorrow – 21:55
Liza Donnelly – 23:50
Michael Maslin – 24:25
Ed Koren – 25:00
Glen Baxter – 25:30
Ann Patty – 25:45
MK Brown – 26:00
Virginia Heffernan – 26:50
Glenn Head – 27:20
Burton Pike – 27:40
Ross Benjamin – 28:05
Frank Sorce – 29:00
Myke Cole – 30:15
Harold Bloom – 33:20
Gil Roth – 33:50
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