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Books
Arts

Martin Amis' 'Zone Of Interest' Is An Electrically Powerful Holocaust Novel

6:48pm September 17, 2014

by Alan Cheuse

Martin Amis' latest novel, which takes place in Auschwitz, has already stirred up controversy in Europe according to the New York Times. But reviewer Alan Cheuse calls it the triumph of Amis' career.

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The Kaypro II: An Early Computer With A Writer's Heart

6:45pm September 16, 2014

by Andrei Codrescu

Commentator Andrei Codrescu remembers the first word processor he had — the Kaypro II in the 1980s. Its inventor, Andrew Kay, died Aug. 28, at the age of 95.

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As President Jimmy Carter looks on, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (left) shakes hands with former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David on Sept. 6, 1978.

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13 Days Of High Emotion That Led To The Egypt-Israel Peace

6:13pm September 16, 2014

Lawrence Wright's new book examines the 1978 peace deal President Carter brokered between Egypt and Israel. During the tense summit, Carter had "never been angrier," Wright says.

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Futuristic 'Bone Clocks' Encompasses A Strange, Rich World Of Soul-Stealers

2:56pm September 16, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

David Mitchell's latest fantasy is an odyssey into the dark side, spanning from 1984 to 2043. It's about a teenager who runs away from her London home and becomes prey to a ghastly gang of mystics.

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Wendy Davis Tells Of Her Own Difficult Abortions In 'Forgetting'

1:21pm September 15, 2014

by NPR Staff

A champion of abortion rights, the Texas gubernatorial candidate reveals she terminated two of her pregnancies — once because her life was endangered.

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As Independence Vote Approaches, A Spirited Novel About The Scottish Experience

8:12pm September 12, 2014

by Marie Mutsuki Mockett

Next week the people of Scotland vote on whether to become independent from the U.K. Author Marie Mutsuki Mockett recommends a book that illuminates the Scottish psyche, Iain Banks' The Crow Road.

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Fact Meets Fiction In Tale Of A Slave, Explorer And Survivor

4:56pm September 12, 2014

by NPR Staff

A Moroccan slave named Estebanico was one of only four men to survive a 1528 expedition to America from Spain. The Moor's Account, a fictional memoir by Laila Lalami, tells the story through his eyes.

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'Father And Son' Is Part Homage, Part Indictment

12:29pm September 11, 2014

by Heller McAlpin

Marcos Giralt Torrente's memoir of his absentee father, the famed Spanish painter Juan Giralt, frequently resorts to lists and repetition to get across Torrente's exasperation, anger and love.

A first edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was displayed at the London International Antiquarian Book Fair in 2013. Book critic Maureen Corrigan — who calls the cover "striking" — says she likes to think that if it landed on her porch t

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How 'Gatsby' Went From A Moldering Flop To A Great American Novel

2:53pm September 09, 2014

In So We Read On, Maureen Corrigan looks at the story behind The Great Gatsby, from F. Scott Fitzgerald's life to the era in which it's set. She says it's her favorite novel, but it wasn't always.

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James Ellroy's 'Perfidia' Is A Brutal, Beautiful Police Procedural

7:32pm September 08, 2014

by Jason Sheehan

Perfidia is a sprawling novel that takes place in 1940s LA. There are Pearl Harbor, internment camps, schemes within schemes. Ellroy weaves an epic tale that evokes an ugly time and an awful place.

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