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With 'Arrangements' And 'The Rest,' Two Debut Novelists Arrive

3:41pm July 30, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

Maggie Shipstead mocks the pretensions of New England WASPs, while Jessica Lott executes unexpected riffs on the student-professor relationship plot. Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews two stellar fiction newcomers.

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Michael Paterniti is also the author of Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain.

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A Touching, 'Telling' Book About Cheese

6:24pm July 28, 2013

by Rosecrans Baldwin

Colonel Mustard, in the ballroom, with the ... Gouda? You may not expect a wheel of cheese to be at the center of a devious plot, but Michael Paterniti's The Telling Room manages to do just that.

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In 'The Panopticon,' They're Always Watching

5:25pm July 27, 2013

by NPR Staff

Jenni Fagan's debut novel, The Panopticon, is a creepy and troubled portrait of a girl lost in the system. The plot is loosely based on Fagan's experience growing up in foster care.

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Philanthropic and business leaders have come together to revive the core of Detroit, which recently filed for federal bankruptcy protection.

A Metro 'Revolution': Cities, Suburbs Do What Washington Can't

3:47pm July 25, 2013

Even as Detroit files for bankruptcy protection, Bruce Katz says many American cities are showing promising signs of renewal. In The Metropolitan Revolution, he writes that, together, cities and suburbs have the power to take on the challenges Washington won't.

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Producer, writer and director Orson Welles.

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'My Lunches With Orson' Puts You At The Table With Welles

2:53pm July 24, 2013

by John Powers

For years, there were rumors that filmmaker Henry Jaglom had taped hours of his conversations with Orson Welles but that the tapes had been lost. They weren't. Now the transcripts have been released in a new book, edited and introduced by Peter Biskind.

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Popes, Politics And Power: The Story Of The Borgia Family

6:16pm July 23, 2013

by Lizzie Skurnick

The Borgias are more than just a TV show. Reviewer Lizzie Skurnick says Blood & Beauty by Sarah Dunant shows readers the authentic people behind the pomp and circumstance.

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A Reclusive Novelist Reckons With His Legacy '& Sons'

2:56pm July 23, 2013

In a new novel, David Gilbert tells the story of a famous, aging writer whose children do not feel as warmly toward him as his readers do. Gilbert wrote the book as his own father was getting older and his son was approaching his teen years.

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In Full Upright and Locked Position aviation consultant Mark Gerchick looks at post-Sept. 11 air travel.

Flying High And Low In 'Full Upright And Locked Position'

8:26am July 21, 2013

by NPR Staff

In a new book, aviation consultant Mark Gerchick writes that "the magic of air travel has morphed into an uncomfortable, crowded and utterly soulless ordeal." He talks about how it's gotten so bad, why there are so many hidden fees and if there actually is less leg room than there used to be.

In Turkey, bits of meat are wrapped in squares of pasta to make manti.

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From Ramen To Rotini: Following The Noodles Of The Silk Road

7:22pm July 20, 2013

by Anna Haensch

Is it possible that pasta originated in China and traveled west to Italy? Author Jen Lin-Liu travels the historic Silk Road from Beijing to Rome, tracing the evolution of pasta and sampling the offerings along the way.

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Cover of Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations

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You'll Want To Hang Up On These 'Secret Conversations'

5:34pm July 20, 2013

by Bob Mondello

Movie star Ava Gardner agreed to write her memoirs with British journalist Peter Evans in 1988. Now, after the deaths of both Gardner and Evans, the results of their abortive collaboration are being published. Reviewer Bob Mondello says the book is dead on arrival.

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