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Michiko Kakutani's Reading List

The Times's former chief book critic, and author of The Death of Truth, doesn't think in terms of genre: J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books are no more Y.A. reading, to me, than John le Carre's Smiley novels are spy stories.

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By the Book: Michiko Kakutani (2018)

NYT By the Book column (2018-07-12).

Source: www.nytimes.com

Cover of The Origins of Totalitarianism
The Origins of Totalitarianism
Hannah Arendt · Buy on Amazon
"I went back to the writings of thinkers like Hannah Arendt (The Origins of Totalitarianism) and George Orwell who chronicled how cynicism and weariness and fear can make people susceptible to propaganda."
Cover of 1984
1984
George Orwell · 1949 · Buy on Amazon
"I went back to the writings of thinkers like George Orwell (1984, A Collection of Essays) who chronicled how cynicism and weariness and fear can make people susceptible to propaganda."
Cover of Democracy in America
Democracy in America
Alexis de Tocqueville · Buy on Amazon
"I hope to remind readers of classics (like Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America) that shed light on some of the larger social and political dynamics at work in the age of Trump."
Cover of The Power Broker
The Power Broker
Robert Caro · 1974 · Buy on Amazon
"I often find myself returning to books because of prompts from news events (The Power Broker, by Robert Caro)."
The Sleepwalkers
Christopher Clark · Buy on Amazon
"It was impossible to ever binge read a favorite author, or to indulge in the sort of in-depth, stream-of-consciousness reading that might take one from Christopher Clark's The Sleepwalkers to Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August to Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern Memory."
A Wrinkle in Time
Unknown · Buy on Amazon
"I read anything and everything, but especially loved A Wrinkle in Time, the Oz books, Winnie-the-Pooh."
Cover of Dispatches
Dispatches
Michael Herr · 1977 · Buy on Amazon
"These are some of the books I've given multiple copies of to friends over the years: Dispatches, by Michael Herr."
Cover of Sleepless Nights
Sleepless Nights
Elizabeth Hardwick · Buy on Amazon
"These are some of the books I've given multiple copies of to friends over the years: Sleepless Nights, by Elizabeth Hardwick."
White Noise
Don DeLillo · Buy on Amazon
"These are some of the books I've given multiple copies of to friends over the years: White Noise, by Don DeLillo."
Cover of A Brief History of Seven Killings
A Brief History of Seven Killings
Marlon James · Buy on Amazon
"These are some of the books I've given multiple copies of to friends over the years: A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James."

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