Ben Markovits’s new book, The Rest of Our Lives, was released in the UK earlier this year and was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize.
It was just released here in the US. The novel follows a man who drops his daughter off at college, and then decides to keep driving… taking a road trip to sort out his feelings about an affair his wife had a decade or so ago. I recently spoke with Ben Markovits about this road trip and some of the real life connections he shares with his main character.
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits was published by Summit Books.
Book critic Suzanne Perez says 2026 is shaping up to be a great year for book-lovers. Here are the books mentioned by Suzanne.
- James by Percival Everett
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- The Slip by Lucas Schaefer
- Flesh by David Szalay
- The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine
- Vigil by George Saunders
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
- Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson
- Fear and Fury by Heather Ann Thompson
- Florida by Lauren Groff
- Brawler by Lauren Groff
- An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
- Kin by Tayari Jones
- Whistler by Ann Patchett
- Lidie by Jane Smiley
- Land by Maggie O’Farrell
- Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead
- Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
- London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
- Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
- Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
- Python’s Kiss by Louise Erdrich
- My Dear You by Rachel Khong
- The Typing Lady by Ruth Ozeki
- On Witness and Respair by Jesmyn Ward
- Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! by Liza Minnelli
- Transcendent by Laverne Cox
- Give Them Their Flowers by Octavia Spencer
- The Selfish Sister by David Sedaris
- Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel
- American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee
- Contrapposto by Dave Eggers
- American Fantasy by Emma Straub
- Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer
- The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
- Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Steve Iwanski, owner of Charter Books in Newport, Rhode Island, mentioned these books:
- Trip by Amie Barrodale
- Proto by Laura Spinney
- Enshittification by Cory Doctorow
- Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands
- The Rabbit Club by Christopher Yates
- We The People by Jill Lepore
- These Truths by Jill Lepore
- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
- John of John by Douglas Stuart
- What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
- The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes
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Editors: Lu Anne Stephens & Haley Crowson
Producer: Haley Crowson
Theme Music: Torin Andersen
Host: Beth Golay
