b'\\u201cIf he got a thrill out of transforming these ill-gotten goods into legit merchandise, a zap-charge in his blood like he\\u2019d plugged into a socket, he was in control of it and not the other way around,\\u201d writes Colson Whitehead in his new novel, \\u201cHarlem Shuffle.\\u201d \\u201cDizzying and powerful as it was. Everyone had secret corners and alleys that no one else saw \\u2014 what mattered were your major streets and boulevards, the stuff that showed up on other people\\u2019s maps of you.\\u201d\\n\\nWhitehead is the author of \\u201cThe Underground Railroad,\\u201d which won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and \\u201cThe Nickel Boys,\\u201d which also won a Pulitzer, the first time two consecutive books by an author won. But he actually started \\u201cHarlem Shuffle\\u201d in between those two books. And now that he\\u2019s finished it, he can\\u2019t quite put it down. He\\u2019s working on a sequel, he told me. The first time he\\u2019s tried one.\\n\\n\\u201cHarlem Shuffle\\u201d is both a joyous and a troubled book. It\\u2019s built around Ray Carney, a furniture salesman and fence for stolen goods, and a series of capers around 1960s-era Harlem. But at its core it\\u2019s about patrimony, capitalism, ambition, race and the moral costs of striving in an unjust system.\\n\\nWe talk about all that, and more: how Marvel Comics made Whitehead want to be a writer, how parenthood changed him, why he hopes to distill it all down to a haiku, whether the writing world is a just or unjust system, the nature of zombies, the nonfiction of the late-Aughts internet, the legacy of 9/11, his favorite heist movies, what his wife thinks his characters know that he doesn\\u2019t \\u2014 and I could keep going.\\n\\nThis one\\u2019s a fun one.\\n\\nMentioned: \\n\\n"Wow, Fiction Works!" by Colson Whitehead\\n\\nHarlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead\\n\\nThe Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead\\n\\nThe Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead\\n\\nZone One by Colson Whitehead\\n\\nSag Harbor by Colson Whitehead\\n\\nThe Noble Hustle by Colson Whitehead\\n\\nBook recommendations: \\n\\nLove Goes to Buildings on Fire by Will Hermes\\n\\nThe Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka\\n\\nWhen the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka\\n\\nMad As Hell by Dave Itzkoff\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of "The Ezra Klein Show" at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\n\\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d is produced by Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rog\\xe9 Karma; fact-checking by Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld, audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Special thanks to Kristin Lin.'