Books: Book Reviews, Book News, and Author Interviews : NPR

Review

'This America' Pits Rise In Nationalism Against Championing Of Liberal Democracy

May 31, 2019 • Jill Lepore, author of These Truths, argues that supporters of free and fair liberal government can't just hold their noses and wait for voters to realize that democracy is better than autocracy.

Review

In 'What Could Be Saved,' Harmony Comes From Human Ties

May 31, 2019 • Gregory Spatz is both a creative writing professor and a fiddler, which gives depth to these stories about high-end stringed instruments and the people who play, love and sometimes steal them.

Review

Black And White 'Bezimena' Is Colored By Trauma And Yearning

May 30, 2019 • Nina Bunjevac's harrowing new graphic novel takes off from Greek mythology to tell a story about sexual violence, obsession, and all the things people can't admit that they want, even to themselves.

Review

These 'Words For Home' Are Poetic And Powerful

May 30, 2019 • Jasmine Warga's middle grade novel in verse follows a Syrian immigrant girl struggling to fit in with her relatives in unfamiliar Cincinnati. It's remarkably sensitive, and deceptively easy to read.

'Good Omens' Serves Up A Cozy, Strangely Heartwarming Apocalypse

Dancing on the Escalator of Life (on the head of pin): The demon Crowley (David Tennant) and the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) conspire to stave off the end of the world in Good Omens. Amazon Prime hide caption

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Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Good Omens' Serves Up A Cozy, Strangely Heartwarming Apocalypse

May 30, 2019 • Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's 1990 novel about an angel and demon striving to prevent the end of the world becomes a charming, very British series that turns the apocalypse into a spot of bother.

Fans Worldwide Prepare To Honor Bicentennial Of Walt Whitman's Birth

May 30, 2019 • American poet Walt Whitman was born 200 years ago on May 31, 1819. His Leaves Of Grass has been called the most important book of American poetry ever. Yet in 1855, he could barely give it away.

Fans Worldwide Prepare To Honor Bicentennial Of Walt Whitman's Birth

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Author Interviews

Dagher Explains Brutal Syrian Regimes In 'Assad Or We Burn The Country'

May 30, 2019 • NPR's Noel King talks to journalist Sam Dagher about his book Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family's Lust for Power Destroyed Syria.

Dagher Explains Brutal Syrian Regimes In 'Assad Or We Burn The Country'

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A 'Biloxi' Misanthrope 'Can't Help Himself' — But His Pet Dog Can

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Author Interviews

A 'Biloxi' Misanthrope 'Can't Help Himself' — But His Pet Dog Can

May 29, 2019 • Louis McDonald Jr. is 63, recently retired and "really unlikable," says novelist Mary Miller. But on a whim he takes home a dog named Layla, and the two of them "become a little team."

A 'Biloxi' Misanthrope 'Can't Help Himself' — But His Pet Dog Can

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Author Interviews

'Fresh Air' Remembers Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer Tony Horwitz

Fresh Air

May 29, 2019 • Horwitz, who died Monday, spoke to Fresh Air in '98 about Confederates in the Attic, his book about the legacy of the Civil War. Plus, Maureen Corrigan reviews his latest book, Spying on the South.

'Fresh Air' Remembers Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer Tony Horwitz

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Author Interviews

'Sara Berman's Closet' Traces 1 Woman's Life, From Shtetl To Greenwich Village

Fresh Air

May 29, 2019 • Berman was 60 when she moved to New York with just one suitcase to start a new life. Berman's daughter, Maira Kalman, and grandson, Alex Kalman, tell her story in a new book and museum show.

'Sara Berman's Closet' Traces 1 Woman's Life, From Shtetl To Greenwich Village

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Review

Book Reviews

Breaking Down The Doors To The Past In 'The Dinner Guest'

May 29, 2019 • In her new autofictional novel, Spanish writer Gabriela Ybarra turns past tragedy — the murder of her grandfather by Basque separatists — into a seamless blend of art, politics and private life.

Review

Book Reviews

Michael Wolff's New Trump Tell-All 'Siege,' Stars Steve Bannon And A Cast Of No-Names

May 29, 2019 • The Fire and Fury author offers surprising stories about the president. But there may never have been a more polarizing president, nor an author less likely to be read as a neutral recorder of facts.

Review

The Fizz Has Flattened Some In 'The Rosie Result'

May 29, 2019 • The final volume in Graeme Simsion's Rosie trilogy — about an adorably dorky, autistic scientist and his wife and family — will enlighten readers about life on the spectrum, but may not charm them.

Author Interviews

This Is The 92nd Year For The Scripps National Spelling Bee

May 29, 2019 • NPR's Noel King talks to Shalini Shankar, author of Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal About Generation Z's New Path to Success, about the competitors at this year's spelling bee.

This Is The 92nd Year For The Scripps National Spelling Bee

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