Pamela Paul Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Pamela Paul
Pamela Paul oversees books coverage at the New York Times and is the editor of The New York Times Book Review. She hosts a weekly podcast, Book Review.

Pamela’s been a contributor to The Economist and Time magazine and has been a columnist for Worth magazine and The New York Times Sunday Styles section. Her work’s also appeared in The Washington Post, Vogue, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications.

“The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony” was named one of the best books of 2002 by The Washington Post. The San Francisco Chronicle called “Pornified” one of the best books of 2005.

For Pamela, the best part of being a writer is that she gets to do the one thing she has always wanted to do other than read. If she wasn’t a writer, she would have wanted to be a cabaret singer or a cartoonist. She can’t really sing or draw though.

She has never had writer’s block. She has writer’s flow, instead. It pours out of her and she loses all track of time, and can’t quit writing. It’ll be eleven at night and she’ll need just one more sentence, but if she does she will be so very tired, yet if she doesn’t, she might forget. And then she wonders how it got to be two in the morning.

“The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony” is the first non-fiction book and was released in the year 2002. This is a look at first marriages that last only five years or less and end without any children. This should be a lesson to those that contemplate marriage and a comfort for anybody that falters.

What is it about marriage that makes today’s twenty- and thirtysomethings want it that badly? And why do so many of their marriages end with divorce, despite the high hopes and desires? No one goes into a starter marriage expecting to divorce and trade up to something a lot better. However, much like a starter home, a starter marriage can teach you a lot about what to avoid and what to look for, the next time around.

Pulling from extensive research and interviews with some starter-marriage veterans, Pamela explores why young people are jumping in and out of marriage, what lessons could be learned from their failures. She shows just how starter marriages can be avoided. She also explains why lifelong marriage is still an achievable and desirable option for the next marrying generation.

“Pornified” is the second non-fiction book and was released in the year 2005. Porn in America is everywhere. Not just Playboy and cybersex but also in advice columns, popular video games, and reality television shows, as well as on the bestseller lists. Even more striking, while porn’s become accessible, affordable, and anonymous, it’s also become more and more acceptable. And it’s a large part of the personal lives of many women and men.

In this critically acclaimed and controversial book, Pamela argues that while porn becomes more pervasive, it’s destroying our families and marriages. It also is distorting our kid’s ideas about sexuality and sex. Based on a nationally representative poll and over a hundred interviews the book exposes how porn’s infiltrated our lives. Whether it is the wife agonizing over the late-night time her husband spends on different porn sits to the parents shocked to find out that their twelve year old son has seen a hardcore porn film.

“Parenting, Inc.” is the third non-fiction book and was released in the year 2008. One leading social critic goes inside the billion-dollar baby business in order to expose the myths and the marketing, helping parents know what is worth their money. And what is just a waste.

Parenting coaches, music classes, ergonomic strollers, luxury diaper creams, a never-ending rotation of DVDs set to make the baby smarter, socially adept, and bilingual before it is three. Anxious and time-strapped parents that hope to provide the very best for their baby are the perfect marks for the “parenting” industry.

Pamela investigates the whirligig of peer pressure, marketing hype, and easy consumerism that spins parents into buying overpriced products and raising overstimulated, overprotected, and over-provided-for kids. She shows just how the parenting industry has persuaded these parents that they cannot trust their kid’s happiness, health, and success only to themselves. She gives the reader a behind the scenes glimpse at the baby business so that any parent is able to decode the claims, and find stunningly unuseful items and surprisingly effective services.

She also interviews psychologists, educators, and parents to expose why the best thing for any baby is to break the cycle of indulgence and self-recrimination that feeds into people’s overspending. It is a book that leads the way for each and every parent that wants to escape the spiral of guilt, fear, consumption, and competition that characterizes modern American adulthood.

“Rectangle Time” is a children’s picture book that was released in the year 2021. This self-assured and spunky cat’s always loved Rectangle Time, when the man and the boy that he lives with curl up with their rectangle and read out loud from it. The kitty knows just how helpful he is during Rectangle Time, obviously. His presence is most crucial to this ritual!

However wen the rectangle begins to get smaller, the stories begin getting quieter, and worst of all, the boy doesn’t need the kitty’s help any longer, the kitty has to find a way to reclaim his part in Rectangle Time. Even if it is a bit different from before.

This is a story about growing up and embracing change, as well as the ways that we can misread important social cues. The reader is shown the power stories have in bringing everybody together, there’s always room for everybody during story time.

This is a perfect book to read at story time, as it is a charming and funny tale about pets, books, and reading together that is sure to enchant readers of any age. The book is ultimately sweet and a ton of fun.