Books

Books

Barbara Demick's 'Eat The Buddha' Profiles A Little-Known Tibetan Town

7:57am July 25, 2020

The Chinese have been trying to quash Tibetan independence for decades. NPR's Leila Fadel speaks to Barbara Demick about her new book, Eat the Buddha, which examines repression in one small town.

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist, by Adrian Tomine

Books
Arts

Cartoonist Adrian Tomine's Self-Deprecating, Self-Aware Humor Shines In Memoir

5:00am July 25, 2020

by Ilana Masad

In framing Tomine's life trajectory via professional and personal setbacks and moments of mortification, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist becomes mesmerizing, funny, and deeply honest.

Books

'Pew': Catherine Lacey's Fable About How A Nameless Character Changes A Small Town

4:36pm July 24, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with author Catherine Lacey about her new book. Pew is a novel about an unnamed character with no identifiable characteristics and the character's impact on a small town.

Donald Trump and father Fred Trump attend the opening of Wollman skating rink in New York City's Central Park in 1987.

Trump's Niece Describes A Toxic Family Dynamic Where Kindness Was Weakness

1:08pm July 23, 2020

by Terry Gross

Mary Trump was devastated when her uncle was elected president. Her book, Too Much and Never Enough, describes Donald Trump as a "belligerent" youth who hasn't changed since he was a teen.

Trouble the Saints, by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Books
Arts

Think Fantasy Is Kid Stuff? Try 'Trouble The Saints'

10:00am July 23, 2020

by Danny Lore

Alaya Dawn Johnson's new novel is set in New York on the eve of World War II, in a world where a few lucky (well, not that lucky) people are gifted with "saints' hands," that give them strange skills.

Books

Eddie Glaude Jr. On His New Book And What America Can Learn From James Baldwin

5:51am July 23, 2020

NPR's Noel King speaks with Eddie Glaude Jr. about his book Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own.

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One Direction didn't win The X Factor in 2010, but filled stadiums, broke records and our hearts.

One Direction's Big Bang

5:00am July 23, 2020

by Maria Sherman

Ten years ago today, July 23, One Direction created the universe. Read an excerpt from Maria Sherman's new book on boy bands, Larger Than Life, about 1D's formation and meteoric rise.

Books
Arts

Zadie Smith Hopscotches From The Personal To The Political In 'Intimations'

2:10pm July 22, 2020

by John Powers

Smith began Intimations: Six Essays at the onset of the pandemic and finished it shortly after George Floyd's killing. Although only 100 pages, there's something worth quoting on virtually every page.

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Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act, by Nicholson Baker

Exhausting Effect Of FOIA Requests Evident In 'Baseless'

9:33am July 22, 2020

by Tim Mak

Nicholson Baker's book misses the mark in an aim to take readers on a quest to discover if the U.S. used biological weapons developed in the '50s — and to examine the failings of public records law.

Books

Anne Applebaum's Latest Book: 'Twilight Of Democracy'

7:06am July 22, 2020

Anne Applebaum considers ways the world has changed over the last 20 years. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to the author about her book: Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism.

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