For its October 16, 2026 episode, The Book Review from The New York Times brings together critics Jennifer Szalai, Alexandra Jacobs, and Dwight Garner to discuss recent favorites and books that shaped their reading lives.
Podcast: NYT’s The Book Review
Participants: Jennifer Szalai, Alexandra Jacobs, and Dwight Garner
Released: October 16, 2026 · 42 minutes
Four books to explore
Our four selections move between modernist fiction, a working-life memoir, social criticism, and a postwar American novel. They are an editorial starting point drawn from the episode’s list, not the critics’ collective ranking or a measure of airtime.
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To the Lighthouse
A family’s holiday on the Scottish coast becomes an exploration of memory, art, loss, and the passage of time. Virginia Woolf finds lasting consequence in apparently ordinary moments.
On Fire
Larry Brown looks back on seventeen years as a Mississippi firefighter and the working life that preceded his decision to write full time. The memoir joins daily danger with family, responsibility, and artistic ambition.
Class
Paul Fussell examines the signals through which Americans communicate social status, from tastes and possessions to language and manners. His account turns familiar habits into evidence of a persistent class system.
Rabbit, Run
Former high-school basketball star Harry Angstrom leaves his wife and young son. John Updike follows the restless impulses, evasions, and consequences of his search for another life.
Books discussed in the episode*
The titles below come from the episode’s published show notes. They include recommendations, formative reading, and other works discussed; inclusion here does not mean every participant endorsed every title.
- Nothing Random — Gayle Feldman
- Will and Attention — Meghan O’Gieblyn
- The Disappearers — Marlon James
- American Hagwon — Min Jin Lee
- Lives Other Than My Own — Emmanuel Carrère
- To the Lighthouse — Virginia Woolf
- The American Way of Death — Jessica Mitford
- Class: A Guide Through the American Status System — Paul Fussell
- The Great War and Modern Memory — Paul Fussell
- American Fried — Calvin Trillin
- Alice, Let’s Eat — Calvin Trillin
- Third Helpings — Calvin Trillin
- On Fire — Larry Brown
- Betsy-Tacy — Maud Hart Lovelace
- Betsy-Tacy and Tib — Maud Hart Lovelace
- Rabbit, Run — John Updike
- Into the Wood Chipper — Nicholas Enrich
- Cool Machine — Colson Whitehead
- The Oyster Diaries — Nancy Lemann
- Biological War: A Scenario — Annie Jacobsen
- Nuclear War: A Scenario — Annie Jacobsen
- The Story of Your Life — Kathryn Jezer-Morton
- Transcription — Ben Lerner
- The Wonderful World That Almost Was: A Life of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek — Andrew Durbin
- Contrapposto — Dave Eggers
- Brother of the More Famous Jack — Barbara Trapido
- Love and Hydrogen — Jim Shepard
- Trash!: A Garbageman’s Story — Simon Paré-Poupart
*We compile this list from the episode’s published show notes and aim to include every book mentioned. Show notes may omit passing references, and our list may contain omissions or errors. A mention does not necessarily indicate a recommendation.
Source: Publisher-supplied notes for NYT’s The Book Review on Apple Podcasts.
This is an independent reading guide, not affiliated with The New York Times or its podcasts.