Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Book Recommendations

Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com’s books column, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to console you, move you profoundly, or make you laugh, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series, who, like you (since you’re here), love books. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

<i>Long Island Compromise</i> by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

$30 at penguinrandomhouse.com $31 at Walmart

Taffy Brodesser-Akner is back, after her bestselling, adapted-for-Hulu first novel (2019’s Fleishman is in Trouble) with another family drama, Long Island Compromise (Random House), which she started writing before her debut. The staff writer for The New York Times Magazine is again adapting her work for streaming, this time for Apple.

The New York-born (in NYU faculty housing) and -based, Brooklyn-raised Brodesser-Akner was born Stephanie Akner but always called Taffy; was longlisted for the National Book Award and a finalist for the Women’s Prize; grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household after her mother became Orthodox when Brodesser-Akner was 12; spent a year at a university in Israel; went to film school and started her journalism career at a soap opera magazine; walked in with the groom to songs from "Star Wars" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" at their wedding; is a Proud AMC Stubs A-List member; was once branded Tom Hiddleston’s “mystery brunette”; has a golden doodle; bought Lizzy Caplan a Casio calculator watch like she has; has done an AMA; taught Hebrew school during college and a Dramatic Writing course at NYU, where she earned an MFA; and bought daily contact lenses when she first got TV money.

Likes: New York magazine covers from the late 1970s and early 1980s; traveling, particularly to France and Switzerland; watching TV in bed with her kids in the morning, which she did with her mom.

Fan of: “thirtysomething”; rewriting; jumpsuits and face oils; LivBreads bakery in Millburn, NJ; eating, especially with others; baked ziti; the Gap.

Not so much: Starfuckery; revising; getting dressed, removing makeup; heels; taking care of herself; wine; the back row.

Good at: Celebrity profiles (Nicki Minaj, her first full-length profile for GQ)once fell asleep during an interview; TV adaptations (FIIT was nominated for 7 Emmys, including Writing for a Limited Series); putting work aside; constantly pointing out what used to be somewhere in NYC; predicting whether couples will divorce; cleaning up after herself.

Bad at: Carry-ons (she always checks luggage). May we suggest one of her book picks for your next airplane read?

The book that…

…made me miss a train stop:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, like the rest of the people on the train that day.

…I recommend over and over again:

I will never get over Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, which is a perfect book with a perfect audiobook, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini.

...I read in one sitting, it was that good:

Here in the Dark by Alexis Soloski. I picked it up because Alexis is a colleague. I canceled plans later that day so I didn’t have to part from it.

…currently sits on my nightstand:

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann. I started reading it via a recommendation when I was stuck on my own family-centric novel. I put it down because it solved a problem immediately, and I went right back to work.

…made me laugh out loud:

I haven’t laughed out loud while reading since I read The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen, and then I read Big Swiss by Jen Beagin on my friend Reyhan’s recommendation. I am laughing just typing it.

…I’d like turned into a TV show:

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a crime thriller that covers the weirdest period in history and includes witch trial hangings, a multi-generational revenge plot, has every ingredient for appointment television.

...has the best title:

Tehrangeles by Porochista Khakpour is one I can’t stop thinking of lately (but her titles are always great. Read Brown Album)!

…broke my heart:

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. I knew there was a turn at the end coming because I read it while my older son was reading it in school, but nothing prepared me for the perfect, inevitable conclusion of that story that had me clutching my heart and thinking about it for weeks after.

…has a sex scene that will make you blush:

I have seen wilder sex scenes since, but I will never get over reading the dog-eared sections of Forever by Judy Blume in the camp bathroom while the rest of the bunk was asleep.

…helped me become a better writer:

American Pastoral by Philip Roth. I read it in my 20s, and it showed me that every book isn’t just about what it’s about but also represents something larger about the world. You just have to figure out what that story is. It was also the first book I remember not being able to put down.

...I brought on a recent vacation to Rome:

I finished the My Brilliant Friend series when I was there. I cannot recommend enough tearing through that last book in Elena Ferrante’s quartet while eating cacio e pepe near ancient ruins.

...I’ve re-read the most:

I’ve read The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen more regularly than I am willing to admit.

…I would have blurbed if I were allowed to:

Patrick Hoffman’s new book, Friends Helping Friends, which I am right now reading in a Word doc (he and I are friends). I cannot put it down. I don’t often mind the Times’ rule that I’m not allowed to blurb, but I would like to sign this one from the rooftops.

...makes me feel seen:

Better Living Through Criticism by A.O. Scott. I read it after I finish any tormenting writing project. It reminds me that creation isn’t just the result, it’s the effort, and that everything is perfect in its effort.

...features the coolest book jacket:

Cue The Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum has an excellent cover, a mix of vintage black- and-white image and vintage high-color typeface. I love it, because it so honestly belies the excellence and rigor and high readability of what’s inside it, which is an exploration of how my TV got this way.