Sarah Longwell’s book recommendations on The Ezra Klein Show take a turn from politics to fiction. In the October 23, 2026 episode, the Bulwark publisher and host of The Focus Group Podcast joins Ezra Klein to discuss what her conversations with voters reveal about Donald Trump’s changing support.
Her closing reading list features Intermezzo by Sally Rooney, Stoner by John Williams, and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. After writing her own nonfiction book, How to Eat an Elephant, Longwell wanted to immerse herself in novels. She singles out Stoner for particular praise and describes discovering—or rediscovering—Kingsolver’s novel.
“I wanted to just surround myself with fiction.”
Sarah Longwell, on reading after writing her nonfiction book
Guest: Sarah Longwell
Episode: What Hundreds of Focus Groups With Trump Voters Revealed
Released: October 23, 2026
Sarah’s three picks
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Intermezzo
Two brothers navigate grief, love, and their uneasy relationship after their father’s death. Sally Rooney follows their overlapping lives in contemporary Ireland.
Stoner
A Missouri farm boy discovers literature and becomes a university professor. John Williams traces the quiet ambitions, disappointments, and attachments that shape an ordinary life.
The Poisonwood Bible
A missionary brings his wife and four daughters from Georgia to the Belgian Congo in 1959. Their alternating perspectives reveal a family unraveling amid colonialism, faith, and political upheaval.
An independent reading guide. Not affiliated with The Ezra Klein Show or The New York Times. Recommendations are sourced from the episode’s published show notes.