Books

Books

Author Explores Preacher Father's Silence On Racial Injustice In 1960s Alabama

5:17pm March 06, 2021

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist John Archibald about his book, Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution.

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Imbolo Mbue Tells A Tale Of Corporate Greed And Environmental Destruction In New Book

3:54pm March 06, 2021

NPR's Scott Simon asks author Imbolo Mbue about her new novel, How Beautiful We Were.

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Jo Owens Gives Voice To Stroke Survivor In Debut Novel 'A Funny Side Of Paradise'

11:11am March 06, 2021

The book A Funny Kind of Paradise is told from the point of view of a stroke survivor living in a long-term care facility. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with debut novelist Jo Owens.

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Reclaiming Family And Memory In 'Sparks Like Stars'

7:00am March 06, 2021

by Marcela Davison Avilés

Nadia Hashmi's new novel follows an Afghan woman who escaped the murder of her family during a coup; her comfortable life in New York City is turned upside down when a figure from the past reappears.

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Author Kazuo Ishiguro Explores Love, Loneliness And Connection In 'Klara And The Sun'

4:56pm March 05, 2021

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Kazuo Ishiguro about his new novel, Klara and the Sun, a story about a small AI girl robot created to keep teens from becoming lonely.

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James McBride's Advice For New Writers: 'A Simple Story Is The Best Story'

1:43pm March 05, 2021

by Terry Gross

McBride's most recent novel, Deacon King Kong, is set in a Brooklyn housing project in 1969. "Time and place is really crucial to good storytelling," he says. Originally broadcast Feb. 29, 2020.

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'The Committed' Remains Uncommitted — And That's Its Strength

10:00am March 04, 2021

by Thúy Đinh

Viet Thanh Nguyen's sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer finds our hero a refugee again, this time in Paris, and disillusioned with communism but not ready to embrace capitalism.

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'Home Is Not A Country' Imagines The Lives We Could Have Led

7:00am March 04, 2021

by Nayantara Dutta

Safia Elhillo's novel follows a first-generation Muslim American girl who, bullied at school, longs for the homeland she's never really known and the alter ego who represents a more confident self.

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'Klara And The Sun' Is A Masterpiece About Life, Love And Mortality

9:41am March 03, 2021

by Maureen Corrigan

Narrated by a robotic "artificial friend," Kazuo Ishiguro's latest novel offers readers a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.

Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions, by Michael Moss

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There Are So Many Flavors Of Potato Chips; 'Hooked' Looks At Why

7:55am March 03, 2021

by Barbara J. King

Investigative reporter Michael Moss explores how some food companies tweak their products to take advantage of evolved biology, creating room for novelty that triggers the brain to make us want more.