A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life Cover
Podcast Mentions

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

George Saunders

NEW YORK TIMES For the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In

Podcasts 4
Quotes 6
The Daily

Podcast

The Daily

His 2021 bestseller was described as a distillation of his teaching that offers close readings of Russian short stories.

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His 2021 bestseller, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, was a distillation of his teaching, featuring close readings of Russian short stories.

— Episode: 'The Interview': George Saunders Says Di...

Episode: 'The Interview': George Saunders Says Ditching The...

His 2021 bestseller was described as a distillation of his teaching that offers close readings of Russian short stories.

"

His 2021 bestseller, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, was a distillation of his teaching, featuring close readings of Russian short stories.

The Ezra Klein Show

The book was highlighted as a writing guide that also deepened the speakers' thinking, with one host noting it helped improve their own writing process. A guest later praised it as an extraordinary work that, while rooted in Russian literature, offered far broader literary insights. Both mentions conveyed strong enthusiasm for the title.

Highly Recommended

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It was noted as a book on writing that, while not fiction, offers insight into thinking and has helped improve the speaker's writing process.

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It's not really fiction, but George Saunders' book, A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, is a book on writing. But all really great books about writing are actually great books about thinking.

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The guest described A Swim in a Pond in the Rain as an extraordinary book that, while referencing Russian literature, offers a much broader literary experience.

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And then my favorite graduation gift, so I'm giving it a lot right now, is A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders, which is kind of about Russian literature, but it's about much, much more than that. And it's just a really extraordinary book.

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Ezra said Saunders' new book examined seven Russian short stories and their craft.

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His new book, A Swim in the Pond and the Rain is about seven short stories by Russian masters and about what he took from them and how the stories work on a basic level.

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

The book was identified as a nonfiction work by George Saunders that teaches writing and life lessons.

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It's called A Swim in the Pond in the Rain. He teaches a class on writing, but it's really kind of about life. It's nonfiction.

— Episode: 673: Daniel Coyle - Opening Yellow Doors...

Episode: 673: Daniel Coyle - Opening Yellow Doors, Masterin...

The book was identified as a nonfiction work by George Saunders that teaches writing and life lessons.

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It's called A Swim in the Pond in the Rain. He teaches a class on writing, but it's really kind of about life. It's nonfiction.

Big Take

Podcast

Big Take

The host referenced the title as George Saunders' guide to writing and reading, noting that its exercises could be used in group story practice. Akshay Rathi mentioned it while illustrating a story exercise during the episode.

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The host referenced the book as Saunders' writingandreading guide that he used to illustrate a storyexercise.

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You mentioned in A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, a book that you've written about writing and reading, that you could do some of these exercises that you do in the book with others.

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