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You Must Read This "You Must Read This" presents conversations with writers about the books they love to read and recommend.
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You Must Read This

Writers recommend their all-time favorite books

Monday

Monday

Review

A Salute To James' Dense, Intense 'Ambassadors'

Ann Patchett first read The Ambassadors — that notoriously opaque Henry James novel — at the suggestion of a good friend. Little did she know she was about to discover "the literary equivalent of a religious text."

A Salute To James' Dense, Intense 'Ambassadors'

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Monday

Review

Wisdom For The Ages In 'Tao Te Ching'

Henry Alford recommends one of the least "ooey-wooey books about religion or philosophy" he's ever read: the Tao Te Ching, a collection of aphorisms that dates back two millennia and invites constant reinterpretation.

Wisdom For The Ages In 'Tao Te Ching'

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Monday

Review

Dear World: Lighten Up. Sincerely, Groucho

Shalom Auslander believes that life is short and silly and probably ought to be treated that way — which is why he keeps a copy of The Groucho Letters on his bedside table.

Dear World: Lighten Up. Sincerely, Groucho

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Thursday

Review

Celebrating Grace Paley's Uniquely Feminine Voice

Writer Alix Kates Shulman remembers the 1960s as an age where men dominated the literary scene — that is, until Grace Paley's quirky urban voice and modernist short stories began to challenge the notion of what constituted great reading.

Celebrating Grace Paley's Uniquely Feminine Voice

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Friday

Review

Rushdie On Calvino's Absurd, Charming Masterpiece

The 12 short stories that make up Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics mix scientific erudition and wild fantasy to tell a wonderfully unique story of creation. Salman Rushdie calls it "possibly the most enjoyable story collection ever written."

Rushdie On Calvino's Absurd, Charming Masterpiece

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Friday

Review

In Praise Of Drive-Ins And Doris Day

Movie Love In The Fifties offers a view of America as it was 50 years ago, a postwar nation whose struggle to understand race and sex and fashion was reflected in films that weren't all pitched to the appetites of teenage boys.

In Praise Of Drive-Ins And Doris Day

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Thursday

Thursday

Review

In 'Replay,' A Life Full Of Second Chances

A man drops dead of a heart attack but awakens as a younger version of himself. He reaches 43 and dies (and returns) again. Author Brad Meltzer first read Ken Grimwood's novel, Replay, when he was 19. He never forgot it.

In 'Replay,' A Life Full Of Second Chances

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Tuesday

Review

Hitler's Coming; Time For Cocktails And Gossip

Jonathan Raban remembers his first encounter with the aging, aimless socialites of Evelyn Waugh's Put Out More Flags, a novel of cocktails, clandestine affairs and the looming threat of World War II.

Hitler's Coming; Time For Cocktails And Gossip

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Monday

Review

An Unflinching, 'Street' View of the American Dream

Twenty years ago, author and literature professor Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina was looking for an undiscovered classic for her African-American-fiction class. What she found was Ann Petry's The Street, and she's been teaching it ever since.

An Unflinching, 'Street' View of the American Dream

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Friday

Review

'Golden Memories' of Father-Daughter Bonding

As a teenager, the scariest person in Jen Lancaster's life wasn't Freddie Krueger or Michael Myers, but Ronald Lancaster, her father — until the night they laughed themselves silly, courtesy of Jean Shepherd.

'Golden Memories' of Father-Daughter Bonding

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Friday

Review

Pain, Betrayal and Love in Old Russia

Doctor Zhivago offers a day-by-day portrait of the lives of ordinary Russians through the Revolution of 1917. Nearly 40 years after reading it for the first time, Ursula Le Guin credits Boris Pasternak's sweeping epic for making her the novelist she is today.

Pain, Betrayal and Love in Old Russia

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Friday

Review

A Slow, Glorious Trip Down the Mississippi

Tony Horwitz revels in the meandering adventures and wry observations of Old Glory, Jonathan Raban's story of floating "like a piece of human driftwood" through the heart of America.

A Slow, Glorious Trip Down the Mississippi

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Wednesday