Over on the newsletter, our book concierge threads — when people ask for specific book recommendations, and readers then offer their suggestions — regularly top 1500 comments. We wanted to bring the same energy to the podcast, and Maris Kreizman, author of The Maris Review and I Want To Burn This Place Down, reads more (and more widely) than anyone else I know. I promise: you’ll leave this episode with a new pile of books you want to read immediately. (And honestly, that’s the Back to School Adult Energy I crave).

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Go to HelloFresh.com/CULTURESTUDY10FM to get 10 free meals + a free item for life
Get 35% off your entire order at LolaBlankets.com using code CULTURE at checkout
Get a great night’s sleep with a new mattress from Birch. Go to BirchLiving.com/CULTURE to get 27% off sitewide
Try OneSkin for 15% off using code CULTURE at oneskin.co

Show Notes:

Subscribe to Maris’s newsletter, The Maris Review, here.
Buy Maris’s new book, I Want To Burn This Place Down, here!

Listen to our previous episode with Maris on How Goodreads Got SO BAD

BOOKS WE MENTION IN THIS EPISODE

Everyone Is Lying To You by Jo Piazza
The Parisian and Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
Flashlight and Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Audition by Katie Kitamura
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
The Trees by Percival Everett
Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earning
Outlawed by Anna North
Whiskey When We’re Dry by John Larison
News of the World by Paulette Giles
The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco
Liquid: A Love Story by Mariam Rahmani
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
Writers & Lovers and Euphoria by Lily King
The Giant’s House by Elizabeth McCracken
Happy All The Time by Laurie Colwin
The Boys of my Youth by Jo Ann Beard
Cowboys are my Weakness by Pam Houston
The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy
Freedom; The Corrections; and Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
Love Medicine; The Master Butchers Singing Club; The Night Watchman; and LaRose by Louise Erdrich
The God of the Woods and Long Bright River by Liz Moore
Dare Me; The Fever; and The Turnout by Megan Abbott
The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley
Nevada by Imogen Binnie
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly
The Company She Keeps by Mary McCarthy
Mutual Interest by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman
My Friends by Hisham Matar
The Catch by Yrsa Daley-Ward
On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
Fight Night and All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst
Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
The First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith

We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

Running a Small Business — and How to Make It Sustainable & Survivable (with Jen Hewett!)
All things Love is Blind with Audie Cornish
Different Modalities of Hanging Out (aka, best ways to hang out with different people) with Mary HK Choi
Baseball Culture (with Ali Liebegott and Melody as additional co-host!!!)
The history/utility/culture of OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE GEAR with Avery Trufelman (of Articles of Interest)
What an actually family-friendly society would look like (with Elliot Haspel)
An ADULT HOBBIES crossover episode with Forever35!
Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!
As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Show Notes:

BOOKS WE MENTION IN THIS EPISODE

We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

For this week’s discussion: In addition to our recs… what other books would you suggest for our question-askers?

Culture Study Podcast

Culture Study Podcast

Episodes

Clips featuring Culture Study Podcast