Reservation Blues
Sherman Alexie
Mentioned 3 months ago
‘Eddie and the Cruisers’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan
Book Recommendations
The Rewatchables
The Rewatchables, a film podcast from the Ringer Podcast Network, features The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and a roundtable of movie lovers from the Ringer universe discussing movies they can’t seem to stop watching. Listen to the complete archives of over 300 movies, including Pulp Fiction, Silence of th...
Episodes
312
Books
239
Recently mentioned
Latest Recommendations
The Book of Basketball
Bill Simmons
Mentioned 5 months ago
‘Zodiac’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey
How to Find Zodiac
Jarett Kobek
Mentioned 5 months ago
‘Zodiac’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey
Zodiac Unmasked
Robert Graysmith
Mentioned 5 months ago
‘Zodiac’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey
Zodiac
Robert Graysmith
Mentioned 5 months ago
‘Zodiac’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey
The Films of Eddie Murphy
Mat Bradley-Tschirgi
Mentioned 5 months ago
‘Another 48 Hrs’ With Bill Simmons Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan
Star
Yukio Mishima
Mentioned 6 months ago
‘Just One of the Guys’ With Bill Simmons, Kyle Brandt, and Joanna Robinson
Presumed Guilty (Presumed Innocent, 3)
Scott Turow
Mentioned 6 months ago
'What Lies Beneath’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Mallory Rubin
Moneyball
Michael Lewis
Mentioned 6 months ago
‘F1’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan
The Big Short
Michael Lewis
Mentioned 6 months ago
‘F1’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
Mentioned 7 months ago
‘The Sure Thing’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan
Fever Pitch
Nick Hornby
Mentioned 7 months ago
‘High Fidelity’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Joanna Robinson, and Rob Mahoney
Most Recommended
The Book of John (The Smart Guide to the Bible Series)
The Bible was mentioned in the same quip about books on a bestseller shelf, underscoring its ubiquity alongside contemporary novels.
"
The Bible. Oh, that's in bestsellers right next to Twilight.
— Episode: ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobb...
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Episode: ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and S...
The Bible was mentioned in the same quip about books on a bestseller shelf, underscoring its ubiquity alongside contemporary novels.
"
The Bible. Oh, that's in bestsellers right next to Twilight.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Original Text
The hosts cited the novel while debating the movie's handling of race, noting it is a "messed up book" that is still taught in schools.
"
I think that this movie ... Huckleberry Finn is about Huck running away with Jim and it's a messed up book to begin with that has some academic value, you know, it's still taught.
— Episode: ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobb...
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Episode: ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and S...
The hosts cited the novel while debating the movie's handling of race, noting it is a "messed up book" that is still taught in schools.
"
I think that this movie ... Huckleberry Finn is about Huck running away with Jim and it's a messed up book to begin with that has some academic value, you know, it's still taught.
Liar's Poker
Rising Through the Wreckage of Wall Street
The hosts referenced the book as an example of the chaotic knowledge gap on Wall Street, noting its depiction of cluelessness during the crisis.
"
I think of that Liar's Poker effect from Michael Lewis where he writes this book about no one really knows what the hell's going on.
— Episode: ‘Margin Call’ With Bill Simmons, Ryen Ru...
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Episode: ‘Margin Call’ With Bill Simmons, Ryen Russillo, an...
The hosts referenced the book as an example of the chaotic knowledge gap on Wall Street, noting its depiction of cluelessness during the crisis.
"
I think of that Liar's Poker effect from Michael Lewis where he writes this book about no one really knows what the hell's going on.
The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso)
The hosts noted that a character was reading Dante, implying the classic work influenced the film's themes.
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you get the impression he's reading Dante, he's reading Chaucer, he's getting interested in those stories and that's driving a lot of this.
— Episode: ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennesse...
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Episode: ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chr...
The hosts noted that a character was reading Dante, implying the classic work influenced the film's themes.
"
you get the impression he's reading Dante, he's reading Chaucer, he's getting interested in those stories and that's driving a lot of this.
The Great Gatsby
The Original 1925 Edition (Booklover's Library Classics)
They said The Great Gatsby was 180 pages of perfection, using it as a benchmark for literary quality.
"
Great Gatsby is 180 pages of perfection.
— Episode: ‘The Naked Gun’ With Bill Simmons and Ky...
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Episode: ‘The Naked Gun’ With Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt
They said The Great Gatsby was 180 pages of perfection, using it as a benchmark for literary quality.
"
Great Gatsby is 180 pages of perfection.
The Stranger
The Original Unabridged and Complete Edition (Albert Camus Classics)
The panel mentioned that the movie draws heavily from Camus's existential novel "The Stranger."
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I think it also draws heavily from The Stranger and the idea of like an existential sort of mindset.
— Episode: ‘The Gambler’ (2014) With Bill Simmons a...
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Episode: ‘The Gambler’ (2014) With Bill Simmons and Chris R...
The panel mentioned that the movie draws heavily from Camus's existential novel "The Stranger."
"
I think it also draws heavily from The Stranger and the idea of like an existential sort of mindset.
Life of Pi
The hosts briefly mentioned the novel, mispronouncing it as "Life of Pie," while recalling a conversation about the book with a friend.
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Life of Pie. I was at my friend Simon yesterday and we were talking about it and He is a high high caliber goat ...
— Episode: ‘Flight’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan,...
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Episode: ‘Flight’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van La...
The hosts briefly mentioned the novel, mispronouncing it as "Life of Pie," while recalling a conversation about the book with a friend.
"
Life of Pie. I was at my friend Simon yesterday and we were talking about it and He is a high high caliber goat ...
Carrie Soto Is Back
A Novel
The hosts pointed out that they had not yet covered the novel in their rewatch series, noting it as a title they still needed to address. They expressed interest in eventually discussing it.
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Episode: ‘Snake Eyes’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, an...
The hosts noted that they had not yet covered the novel in their rewatch series, mentioning it as a title they still need to address.
"
We haven't done Carrie? Oh, we haven't done Carrie.
The Devil Wears Prada
A Novel
The hosts referenced the novel when they joked about a fictitious "Devil Wears Prada award," using the book's title as a comedic comparison.
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Well, it speaks to, I know, like we have the, The Devil Wears Prada award, right?
— Episode: ‘Wayne’s World’ With Bill Simmons and Ky...
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Episode: ‘Wayne’s World’ With Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt
The hosts referenced the novel when they joked about a fictitious "Devil Wears Prada award," using the book's title as a comedic comparison.
"
Well, it speaks to, I know, like we have the, The Devil Wears Prada award, right?
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Illustrated First Edition)
100th Anniversary OZ Collection
The speakers compared E.T. to a reversed version of the story, saying it functioned as a bookend to the classic fantasy, highlighting how both create wonderlands.
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It's instead of taking an ordinary person, and putting them in an extraordinary place, take an extraordinary being and put him in a really ordinary place, you put him in the suburbs. And I didn't real...
— Episode: ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ With Bill S...
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Episode: ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ With Bill Simmons, Ch...
The speakers compared E.T. to a reversed version of the story, saying it functioned as a bookend to the classic fantasy, highlighting how both create wonderlands.
"
It's instead of taking an ordinary person, and putting them in an extraordinary place, take an extraordinary being and put him in a really ordinary place, you put him in the suburbs. And I didn't really think about that until this most recent watch of like, just how simple but perfect idea that is for a story and for a movie and how it kind of then functions as the bookend to Wizard of Oz, as far as like, you can have this you can have this wonderland, you can have Oz, you know, this, this fantasy world.
The Grapes of Wrath
In the episode, the hosts brought up the title while discussing a narrative that felt theatrical, noting that it shared a similar structure and focus on character dynamics. No explicit recommendation was made, and the mention was brief.
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The Perfect Storm
A True Story of Men Against the Sea
The hosts noted that the film was based on the Sebastian Younger book, indicating it drew from a published truestory account.
"
It's based on the Sebastian Younger book and I think it's worth noting that for as much ...
— Episode: ‘The Perfect Storm’ With Bill Simmons an...
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Episode: ‘The Perfect Storm’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ry...
The hosts noted that the film was based on the Sebastian Younger book, indicating it drew from a published truestory account.
"
It's based on the Sebastian Younger book and I think it's worth noting that for as much ...
Jaws
A Novel
The hosts said the novel had become a massive beachread that drove the movie's summer success and noted its striking shark cover, recalling how the paperback edition triggered book clubs.
"
It was already a property that was primed to own the summer because Peter Benchley's book had been this huge beach read. And if you read Carl Gottlieb's book about the making of Jaws,...
— Episode: 'Jaws,' With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, a...
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Episode: 'Jaws,' With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fe...
The hosts said the novel had become a massive beachread that drove the movie's summer success and noted its striking shark cover, recalling how the paperback edition triggered book clubs.
"
It was already a property that was primed to own the summer because Peter Benchley's book had been this huge beach read. And if you read Carl Gottlieb's book about the making of Jaws, he was a guy, he's, he's an actor in the movie and worked on the screenplay. And then he kept a diary of every day of working on Jaws pretty much from pre-production on.
And by the way, I remember being scared of the book. The shark was on the cover. Remember even holding the book as a sixyearold and being like, ah, the book is very different. I don't know if you've read the book. The book is very different.
Paradise Lost
The conversation referenced John Milton's classic work Paradise Lost while discussing themes in the movie.
"
John Milton's Paradise Lost.
— Episode: ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ With Bill Simmons...
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Episode: ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ry...
The conversation referenced John Milton's classic work Paradise Lost while discussing themes in the movie.
"
John Milton's Paradise Lost.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Series)
The book was referenced as a "lousy novel" that was adapted into a thriller, with the hosts debating its merit and noting its status among Fincher fans.
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That's the most underrated, which is Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. That's the movie that I think-- Oh, my bad. The hardcore Fincher heads are like, is this one actually really great too? And here's why,...
— Episode: ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Osc...
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Episode: ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap)...
The book was referenced as a "lousy novel" that was adapted into a thriller, with the hosts debating its merit and noting its status among Fincher fans.
"
That's the most underrated, which is Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. That's the movie that I think-- Oh, my bad. The hardcore Fincher heads are like, is this one actually really great too? And here's why, like the first time they saw it, they were like, why did he adapt this kind of lousy novel into a thriller?
The Catcher in the Rye
The novel was referenced as a cultural touchstone for themes about adulthood and disappointment.
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It's the whole basis for Catcher in the Rye, the idea of these phonies.
— Episode: ‘Stand By Me’ With Bill Simmons and Chri...
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Episode: ‘Stand By Me’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan
The novel was referenced as a cultural touchstone for themes about adulthood and disappointment.
"
It's the whole basis for Catcher in the Rye, the idea of these phonies.
A Beautiful Mind
A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr.
The conversation listed it among Ron Howard's later works, noting that after Ransom and other titles, Howard directed the adaptation of A Beautiful Mind.
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He does Ransom. He does Ed TV, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and then A Beautiful Mind.
— Episode: ‘Ransom’ With Bill Simmons and Van Latha...
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Episode: ‘Ransom’ With Bill Simmons and Van Lathan
The conversation listed it among Ron Howard's later works, noting that after Ransom and other titles, Howard directed the adaptation of A Beautiful Mind.
"
He does Ransom. He does Ed TV, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and then A Beautiful Mind.
Beloved (Everyman's Library)
The hosts said that Beloved, a Toni Morrison novel, had a screenplay written by white writers, which created symbolism problems and resulted in a CGIheavy, problematic film adaptation.
"
the Toni Morrison book that was written by - the screenplay was written by white people.
— Episode: ‘Rachel Getting Married’ With Bill Simmo...
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Episode: ‘Rachel Getting Married’ With Bill Simmons, Amanda...
The hosts said that Beloved, a Toni Morrison novel, had a screenplay written by white writers, which created symbolism problems and resulted in a CGIheavy, problematic film adaptation.
"
the Toni Morrison book that was written by - the screenplay was written by white people.
no matter how great Thandie Newton is in the movie, you do have a symbolism problem, right? Because you don't want to make an effects movie because you've got these great actors. But really, I mean, Beloved is, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but like Beloved is kind of, if you're going to make a movie, it's CGI.
the idea that you would have to make a CGIheavy version of Beloved showed how difficult it was to translate the novel's physical human connection to film.
The Scarlet Letter
The Original 1850 Edition (Nathaniel Hawthorne Classics)
The book was referenced as another "messed up" classic that the movie alludes to when discussing problematic literature.
"
I think that this movie ... it's a messed up book ... The Scarlet Letter.
— Episode: ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobb...
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Episode: ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and S...
The book was referenced as another "messed up" classic that the movie alludes to when discussing problematic literature.
"
I think that this movie ... it's a messed up book ... The Scarlet Letter.
Legally Blonde
The hosts noted that the film was based on a 2001 novel written by Amanda Brown about her experiences as a blonde at Stanford Law School.
"
This movie, the history of it, it was a 2001 novel written by Amanda Brown, who wrote about her experiences as a blonde attending Stanford Law School, being obsessed with fashion and beauty.
— Episode: ‘Legally Blonde’ With Bill Simmons, Juli...
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Episode: ‘Legally Blonde’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman,...
The hosts noted that the film was based on a 2001 novel written by Amanda Brown about her experiences as a blonde at Stanford Law School.
"
This movie, the history of it, it was a 2001 novel written by Amanda Brown, who wrote about her experiences as a blonde attending Stanford Law School, being obsessed with fashion and beauty.
Note: The book recommendations on this page are discovered automatically from podcast transcripts, and may be incorrect or incomplete.