Books

Allison Moorer's music has been nominated for an Oscar, a Grammy and an Academy of Country Music Award.

Years After Her Parents' Murder-Suicide, Musician Allison Moorer Finds Healing

4:27pm November 04, 2019

by Terry Gross

More than three decades after the death of her parents, Moorer has a new memoir and companion album, both called Blood, about her abusive father and the emotional scars of being orphaned at 14.

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The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness, by Susannah Cahalan

'The Great Pretender' Seeks The Truth About 'On Being Sane In Insane Places'

10:20am November 04, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Journalist and Brain on Fire author Susannah Cahalan writes in an urgent, personal book that the '70s study by David Rosenhan had an outsized effect on psychiatry — and may have been fatally flawed.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown, by Talia Hibbert

Books
Arts

In 'Get A Life, Chloe Brown,' Love Doesn't Cure All — But It Sure Is Fun

10:09am November 04, 2019

by Denny S. Bryce

Talia Hibbert's new novel stars Chloe, who's determined to get a life after years of coping with chronic pain, and Red, the mysterious and extremely annoying (at first) super at her new building.

Books

'Felon' Author Says, 'Everybody Has To Tell Their Kids Something'

5:41pm November 03, 2019

by Leila Fadel

Lawyer-poet Reginald Dwayne Betts for years hid the fact that he had served time in prison. Now, this time in his life is at the center of his new collection of poems.

In the Dream House: A Memoir, by Carmen Maria Machado

Books
Arts

In The 'Dream House,' Carmen Maria Machado Recounts Nightmares

3:39pm November 03, 2019

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Carmen Maria Machado's new memoir is a haunting account of an abusive relationship with a former girlfriend. One of the hardest things in the book, she says, was acknowledging the damage it did.

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Books
Arts

You'll Float Away On The Warm Waters Of 'The Starless Sea'

7:00am November 03, 2019

by Amal El-Mohtar

Erin Morgenstern's long-awaited followup to The Night Circus imagines a world of magical doors leading to a literal underground sea — surrounded by layers of pleasurable mystery and mythography.

Books

Book: 'Faith In American Public Life'

5:12pm November 02, 2019

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with author Melissa Rogers, who served as Special Assistant to President Obama and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Nesma (left) and Anys are Algerian siblings who came out to each other at a party. They live in Paris, and both identify as queer. "It now makes us stronger and committed together for the queer and Algerian causes," Anys says.

'Un-African'? Photos Challenge Notions Of LGBTQ Identity In The African Diaspora

12:55pm November 02, 2019

by Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

Mikael Owunna's new book captures the stories of LGBTQ African immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers reconciling their identity and their heritage.

Books

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton On 'The Revisioners'

7:57am November 02, 2019

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton tells NPR's Scott Simon about her book The Revisioners, which reached across a century to tell the story of generations of women in a family line.

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Books

'On Swift Horses,' Shannon Pufahl's Celebration Of Her Grandmother

7:57am November 02, 2019

NPR's Scott Simon talks with Shannon Pufahl about her debut novel, On Swift Horses, a celebration of her grandmother featuring gamblers, ponies, card sharks and unfinished highways of the West.