Books

Supervising sound editor Rob Nokes (left) and looper Lanei Chapman watch a silent scene to get a sense of what to say during a looping session for the television show Bones.

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Arts

Never Seen And Sometimes Barely Heard, Loopers Fill In Hollywood's Soundtrack

6:33pm February 19, 2015

by Susan Stamberg

In movies, crowd noise, hospital waiting room chatter and barroom brawl sounds are created by voice actors called loopers. "If it's done right, you shouldn't even notice it," one sound mixer says.

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In Scott McCloud's The Sculptor, a young artist discovers that having the ability to sculpt anything doesn't mean he has the vision or the drive to turn that ability into success.

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In These New Comics, Getting Your Wish Isn't Always Great

1:26pm February 19, 2015

by Tasha Robinson

Mainstream superhero comics have a streak of teenage wish-fulfillment: Great power and great responsibility. But a new wave of comics is exploring how complicated it can be when wishes are granted.

Kidnappings Inspire Photojournalist Lynsey Addario's Memoir

7:56am February 19, 2015

American photojournalist Lynsey Addario, who has survived kidnappings in Iraq and Libya, talks to Renee Montagne about her new book, It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War.

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Creepy, Brilliant 'Touch' Will Possess You

7:03am February 19, 2015

by Amal El-Mohtar

Claire North's new novel imagines a world where "ghosts" can leave their own bodies at death and jump to whoever's close enough to touch. Scary, but "reader, I loved it," says reviewer Amal El-Mohtar.

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A Writer Expresses His 'Discontent' With Civilization

10:03am February 18, 2015

by Michael Schaub

Mohsin Hamid's new collection plays on the title of Sigmund Freud's classic Civilization and Its Discontents, but critic Michael Schaub says these essays are both more personal and wider ranging.

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'Tales Of The Marvellous' Is Indeed Very Strange

9:01am February 18, 2015

by Genevieve Valentine

These are not your father's fairy tales, but reviewer Genevieve Valentine says readers prepared to devote some time will find rich rewards in this newly translated volume of 10th-century Arab stories.

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Exclusive First Read: Anna Lyndsey's 'Girl In The Dark'

3:03pm February 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

Anna Lyndsey — a pseudonym — was an ordinary civil servant when she developed a rare disorder: A severe sensitivity to light. She deftly chronicles her shadowy new normal in Girl in the Dark.

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In Richard Price's New Novel, Haunted Cops And Cases They Couldn't Close

2:28pm February 17, 2015

Price says that in every precinct there's one cop who just can't let go of a case. "They all reminded me of Ahab ... looking for their whales," he says. Price's latest is called The Whites.

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The 'Man Who Touched His Own Heart' Changed Medicine

1:25pm February 17, 2015

Melissa Block talks to Rob Dunn about his new book, The Man Who Touched His Own Heart, a history of science and medicine's efforts to understand the working of the human heart.

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King Charles I was sentenced to death on Jan. 27, 1649, and executed three days later.

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King, Tyrant, Beheaded Traitor: The Many Trials Of Charles I

10:10am February 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

The British monarch ruled at a time of civil war — and was blamed for much of the bloodshed. In Killers of the King, Charles Spencer tells the story of the men who signed the king's death warrant.

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