'Tasty': How Flavor Helped Make Us Human
From an evolutionary standpoint, flavor has long helped define who we are as a species, journalist John McQuaid argues in his new book, an exploration of the art and science of taste.
Books
'Displacement' Floats Too Close To The Surface
Lucy Knisley's new Displacement is a buoyant memoir of a cruise with her elderly grandparents. Reviewer Etelka Lehoczky says the book is engaging and lovely, but snorkels when it should dive deep.
'Finn Fancy' Is Urban Fantasy With A Pop Culture Sweet Tooth
Randy Henderson's debut deals with sinister magic and family tragedy, but reviewer Jason Heller says it still has plenty of a rare commodity in current fantasy: laughs, laughs, and more laughs.
Ignoring The Rules, Kelly Link Traffics In Wonder, Irony And Teenage Longings
Writer Kelly Link has a lot of magic powers, but it's her confidence and storytelling chops that reviewer Meg Wolitzer finds most enchanting.
Funny If It Weren't So True: A Farce About 'The Importance Of Beauty'
Amanda Filipacchi's novel is about a costume designer who wears a fat suit after a suitor commits suicide. It's structured as a mashup of an old Friends episode, a fairy tale and a murder mystery.
David Axelrod Recounts His Years As Obama's Adviser And 'Believer'
In his new book, the veteran political consultant tells stories about his years at Obama's side. After one debate, Axelrod says, Obama "made clear how he felt about me at that moment, and he bolted."
Cozy 'Blue Thread' Is Unabashedly Domestic
Anne Tyler's 20th novel will feel comfortably familiar to her fans — A Spool of Blue Thread is the long-haul story of an ordinary Baltimore family thrown into disarray by illness and sudden tragedy.
How To Revive The Worn Out Cliche
Are cliches always tired? Not necessarily! NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with Orin Hargraves, author of It's Been Said Before: A Guide to the Use and Abuse of Cliches.
An Expansive View Of Vietnam In 'She Weeps Each Time You're Born'
Poet and author Quan Barry — born in Vietnam but raised in America — says she wants her new novel to help get rid of some of the preconceptions Americans have about Vietnam as a quagmire.
An Early Peek At Pratchett In 'Dragons At Crumbling Castle'
Before Terry Pratchett created the Discworld, he was a young reporter with a sideline in charming little comic stories about dragons and dust motes, now collected in Dragons at Crumbling Castle.