The Book Review

Today we are delighted to share an episode from our colleagues on “The Ezra Klein Show,” originally published on March 31. Ezra interviewed author Michael Pollan, whose best-selling books include “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “In Defense of Food,” and “How to Change Your Mind.” Pollan’s latest book, “A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness,” came out earlier this year. It’s an exploration of what consciousness is, and the book is — as our review put it — “highly pleasurable to read.”

Mentioned in the episode:

“The Descriptive Experience Sampling method” by Russell T. Hurlburt and Sarah A. Akhter

“What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” by Thomas Nagel

The Hidden Spring by Mark Solms

Descartes’ Error by Antonio Damasio

“The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought” by Kalina Christoff and Kieran C. R. Fox

Book Recommendations:

The Blind Spot by Adam Frank, Marcelo Gleiser and Evan Thompson

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

Being You by Anil Seth

You can find transcripts and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Kristin Lin. Fact-checking by Kim Freda. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota and Isaac Jones. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Michelle Harris, Rollin Hu, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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Matt Haig was already several books into his career as a writer by the time he published “The Midnight Library” in 2020. One of those books, the 2015 memoir “Reasons to Stay Alive,” had even been a best seller in England, his home nation. Yet, “The Midnight Library” was a true breakout phenomenon. The novel, about a depressed woman who, after deciding to end her own life, ends up in a magical library in which every book presents her with an alternative life, eventually sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.

The author’s new book, “The Midnight Train,” takes place on a parallel track. In it, an older man dies and finds himself on a train, able to revisit key moments in his life on his way to the hereafter. Like its blockbuster sibling, the book is concerned with questions of gratitude, regret and perspective.

Haig joined the “Book Review” podcast and spoke to the host, Gilbert Cruz, about his new book and why he returned to the world of “The Midnight Library.”

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

Books Discussed on This Episode

• “The Midnight Library,” by Matt Haig


• “Reasons to Stay Alive,” by Matt Haig


• “The Labrador Pact,” by Matt Haig


• “Winnie-the-Pooh,” by A. A. Milne


• “The House at Pooh Corner,” by A. A. Milne


• “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” Lewis Carroll


• “The Outsiders,” by S. E. Hinton


• “Walden,” by Henry David Thoreau


• “Paris Trance,” by Jeff Dyer


• “Invisible Cities,” by Italo Calvino


• “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue,” by V. E. Schwab


• “The History of Love,” by Nicole Krauss


• “We Burned So Bright,” by T. J. Klune


• “A Novel Love Story,” by Ashley Poston


• “The Someday Garden,” by Ashley Poston

Listen to and Follow the ‘Book Review’ Podcast

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Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

We Want to Hear From You

We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to thebookreview@nytimes.com.

Credits

The “Book Review” podcast is hosted by Gilbert Cruz and produced by Sarah Diamond, Amy Pearl, and Patricia Sulbarán. The show is edited by Larissa Anderson and mixed by Pedro Rosado.

Special thanks to MJ Franklin, Dahlia Haddad, and Brooke Minters.

Illustration by The New York Times; Photo: Andrew Testa for The New York Times

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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“Angel Down,” a grisly novel about World War I told in a single, almost 300-page-long sentence, was awarded this year’s Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In a review for The New York Times, Ben H. Winters described it as a “thunderous gallop” that captures the “cruel and self-perpetuating logic of war.” (It was also one of the Book Review’s Top 10 books of 2025.)

The day after the Pulitzers were awarded, the book’s author, Daniel Kraus — who has written horror, fantasy and young adult novels — spoke to the Book Review’s editor, Gilbert Cruz, about putting together his semi-experimental story.

Cruz also spoke with Patricia Cornwell, a best-selling author who rose to prominence in the 1990s with novels about the character Kay Scarpetta, a chief medical examiner. A Scarpetta series starring Nicole Kidman debuted this year on Amazon.

Cornwell has released a new memoir, “True Crime,” in which she tells the surprising story of her childhood and the events that led her to become a novelist.

Listen to and Follow ‘The Book Review’

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Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

We Want to Hear From You

We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to thebookreview@nytimes.com.

Credits

The “Book Review” podcast is hosted by Gilbert Cruz and produced by Amy Pearl, Sarah Diamond and Patricia Sulbarán. The show is edited by Larissa Anderson and mixed by Pedro Rosado.

Special thanks to Dahlia Haddad and Brooke Minters.

Illustration by The New York Times; Inset cover: via Grand Central

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Since its first episode in April 2006, the “Book Review” podcast has played host to hundreds of authors talking about their new works and possibly as many conversations about the best (and sometimes worst) that books have to offer. In this anniversary episode, the Book Review editor Gilbert Cruz is joined by the deputy editor Tina Jordan and the critic Dwight Garner to look back at some of the titles, trends and turning points that have helped define the last two decades in publishing.

They revisit blockbuster hits, literary movements and industry-shifting moments, starting with an unforgettable Oprah-related controversy and moving through several hit genres and literary trends. To close out this two-decade retrospective, Cruz puts his colleagues’ literary memories to the test with an only slightly grueling quiz.

Books discussed on this episode:

“A Million Little Pieces,” by James Frey

“Eat, Pray, Love,” by Elizabeth Gilbert

“The Hunger Games,” by Suzanne Collins

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” by J.K. Rowling

“The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy

“Twilight,” by Stephenie Meyer

“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” by Stieg Larsson

“My Struggle,” Book 1, by Karl Ove Knausgaard

“How Should a Person Be?,” by Sheila Heti

“My Brilliant Friend,” by Elena Ferrante

“The Story of the Lost Child,” by Elena Ferrante

“Wolf Hall,” by Hilary Mantel

“Bring Up the Bodies,” by Hilary Mantel

“The Mirror and the Light,” by Hilary Mantel

“Life,” by Keith Richards with James Fox

“Just Kids,” by Patti Smith

“Born to Run,” by Bruce Springsteen

“Chronicles: Volume 1,” by Bob Dylan

“Fifty Shades of Grey,” by E.L. James

“Gone Girl,” by Gillian Flynn

“The Sellout,” by Paul Beatty

“Where the Crawdads Sing,” by Delia Owens

“American Dirt,” by Jeanine Cummins

“Crying in H Mart,” by Michelle Zauner

“Blood, Bones & Butter,” by Gabrielle Hamilton

“Heat,” by Bill Buford

“Dirt,” by Bill Buford

“The Song of Achilles,” by Madeline Miller

“We Were Liars,” by E. Lockhart

“A Court of Thorns and Roses,” by Sarah J. Maas

“Fourth Wing,” by Rebecca Yarros

Listen to and Follow ‘The Book Review’

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadio

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

We Want to Hear From You

We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to thebookreview@nytimes.com.

Credits

The “Book Review” podcast is hosted by Gilbert Cruz and produced by Sarah Diamond and Amy Pearl with help this week from Alex Barron. The show is edited by Larissa Anderson and mixed by Pedro Rosado.

Special thanks to MJ Franklin, Dahlia Haddad and Brooke Minters.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Dilara, the heroine of Kenan Orhan’s debut novel, is a Turkish exile living in Italy and undergoing a routine bathroom renovation that turns out to be not so routine: When the contractors leave, she steps into the refurbished space and finds herself somehow transported to an actual cell in Istanbul’s infamous Silivri Prison.

Initially dismayed, she soon grows resigned and even magnetically attracted to the cell, which offers a connection in its way to the lost homeland where her father — now dying of Alzheimer’s disease — was labeled a dissident by the ruling government. Is this strange portal a retreat or a trap, a bridge to the country she misses or a gateway for the danger she fled? And what will she sacrifice for a taste of home?

On this episode of the Book Review Book Club, host MJ Franklin discusses “The Renovation” with fellow editors Joumana Khatib and Dave Kim. 

Other books mentioned in this episode:

“Man of My Time,” by Dalia Sofer

“The Spare Room,” by Helen Garner

“The Trial,” by Franz Kafka

“The Disconnected” and “Waiting for the Fear,” by Oguz Atay

“The Anthropologists,” by Aysegul Savaş

“What We Can Know,” by Ian McEwan

“Exit West,” by Mohsin Hamid

“The Memory Police,” by Yoko Ogawa

“We Do Not Part,” by Han Kang

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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