Jennifer Szalai Book Recommendations & Book Mentions

Jennifer Szalai

This book is really quite a joy to read... it asks us as humans, as readers to step outside what he calls our sensory bubble, to try to experience the world in a completely different way... this is really a book about animals as animals as they don't relate to us.

Jennifer Szalai

Civil Rights Queen is the result of diligent research ... The book as a whole offers little else by way of gossip or Motley’s own idiosyncrasies, beyond what Motley herself was willing to reveal in her memoir.

Jennifer Szalai

The bulk of So Help Me God is given over to tracing his relationship with Trump. The most obvious conclusion to draw from So Help Me God is that Pence continues to have political—perhaps presidential—ambitions and so finds himself in bit of a pickle...

Jennifer Szalai

Guided by Mukherjee’s granular narration...I was repeatedly dazzled by his pointillist scenes, the enthusiasm of his explanations, the immediacy of his metaphors.

Jennifer Szalai

Fascinating story by @jennyschuessler on Graeber and Wengrow’s “The Dawn of Everything.” “The dazzling range of references raises a question: Who is qualified to judge whether it’s true?” https://t.co/leuBjGTunI

Jennifer Szalai

Isaacson has ably conveyed that Musk doesn’t truly like pushback. Some of his lieutenants insist that he will eventually listen to reason, but Isaacson sees firsthand Musk’s habit of deriding as a saboteur or an idiot anyone who resists him.

Jennifer Szalai

Also grateful for the excuse to revisit this memorable index from Martin Amis's "Experience" (photo doesn't even include all the entries listed under "dental problems," which continue onto the next page): https://t.co/rfUQpPLOb4

Jennifer Szalai

Sometimes a book is so attuned to subtlety and complexity that any summary risks distorting what it does. Aviv's book is smart and complicated and elegantly written — a searching exploration of the stories we tell in our attempts to understand who we are.

Jennifer Szalai

He [Jentleson] doesn’t pretend to distance himself from the action to give the view from 10,000 feet. But his intimacy with the Senate turns out to be his book’s greatest strength…showing precisely how arcane procedural rules can be leveraged to dramatic effect.

Jennifer Szalai

As Gerstle’s book shows, neoliberal ideas proved so seductive because they also happened to dovetail with the stories that Americans wanted to tell about themselves, emphasizing individuality and freedom.