Arts

Books That Made Me

Interviews about books and the nerds who love them. Presented by the Strand Bookstore. Hosted by Aidan Flax-Clark.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest Episodes:

Vidura Bandara Rajapaksa Nov 04, 2026

Show notes

Find us on patreon! Comedian Vidura Bandara Rajapaksa explains inside/outside books, cozy bedtime listens, and the overly demure applause of German comedy audiences.

Books that made Vidura Bandara Rajapaksa

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Shehan Karunatilaka
Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa

Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky: @booksthatmademepod

Let us know what you think! Email us at booksthatmademepod@gmail.com

Vidura Bandara Rajapaksa! Sign up for his newsletter to find out when his latest special, Paradise Gothic, is dropping. In the meantime, watch his latest special, Woodapple Jam on YouTube.

Also discussed!

George Eliot
Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
Cinnamon Gardens, Shyam Selvadurai
Pity the Reader, Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Welcome to the Monkey House, Kurt Vonnegut
Galápagos, Kurt Vonnegut
The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
Swamp Thing, Alan Moore
Laughter in the Dark, Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
A Cook’s Tour, Anthony Bourdain
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Medium Raw, Anthony Bourdain
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Leo Tolstoy
Anton Chekhov
The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Gunn Oct 28, 2026

Show notes

Find us on patreon! Tim and Aidan compete for who's the biggest dork while sharing their love for Mary Beard, Robert Massie, and Diana Vreeland. Also discussed: Schitt's Creek, weird Etruscan urns, snakes in academia.

Books that made Tim Gunn:

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, Mary Beard
Peter the Great: His Life and World, Robert K. Massie
D.V., Diana Vreeland

Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky: @booksthatmadepod

Let us know what you think! Email us at booksthatmademepod@gmail.com

Also discussed!

Twelve Caesars, Mary Beard
Emperor of Rome, Emperor of Rome
Greek and Roman Art galleries, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, Robert K. Massie
Nicholas and Alexandra, Robert K. Massie
Schitt’s Creek
Big Mistakes
30 Rock, S1 E12: "Black Tie”
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel
Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work, Tim Gunn
Diana Vreeland Bazaar Years: Including 100 Audacious Why Don’t Yous...?
Memos: The Vogue Years, 1962–1971, Diana Vreeland
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, Bill Bryson
Adam’s Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form, Michael Sims

Recorded at Moss, a new and inspired kind of members club where New Yorkers of all types gather in the shared pursuit of intelligent leisure and physical culture.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Wilson Oct 21, 2026

Show notes

Translator extraordinaire Emily Wilson goes deep on everything from proto-YA novels to John Milton. Her latest book is Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea. Support uson Patreon!

Books That Made Emily Wilson:

Dogsbody, Diana Wynne Jones
The Aspern Papers, Henry James
Paradise Lost, John Milton

Also discussed!

Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin, Tranlsated by Vladimir Nabokov
“Problems of Translation: Onegin in English,” Vladimir Nabokov
“On Translating ‘Eugene Onegin,” Vladimir Nabokov
Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
Middlemarch, George Eliot
The Wings of the Dove, Henry James
Tolstoy: A Biography, A.N. Wilson
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat, Bee Wilson
Mocked with Death: Tragic Overliving from Sophocles to Milton, Emily R. Wilson
Areopagitica and Other Writings, John Milton
The Aeneid, translated by Scott McGill and Susannah Wright

Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky: @booksthatmadepod

Let us know what you think! Email us at booksthatmademepod@gmail.com

Recorded at Moss, a new and inspired kind of members club where New Yorkers of all types gather in the shared pursuit of intelligent leisure and physical culture.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coming October 21st! Books That Made Me Oct 14, 2026

Show notes

Coming October 21st! The podcast about books and the nerds who love them. Presented by the Strand and hosted by Aidan Flax-Clark.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.