Books

Books

Dan Santat on his graphic memoir 'A First Time For Everything'

7:57am December 02, 2023

by Asma Khalid

A class trip to Europe helps an awkward boy through a challenging time. NPR's Eyder Peralta talks with Dan Santat about his graphic memior, "A First Time For Everything."

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chairwoman of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, participates in the panel's last public meeting on Dec. 19, 2022 in Washington, D.C.

Liz Cheney is back and unloading on the current leaders of her ancestral GOP

5:00am December 02, 2023

by Ron Elving

There is no good time for a book as critical of one's own party as Oath and Honor, but it is particularly uncomfortable for the GOP to be taking these punches right now.

Books

NPR's Books We Love includes titles that makes us laugh

5:09am December 01, 2023

NPR's Books We Love guide is available at NPR.org — it's an annual roundup of NPR staff and critics' favorite books of 2023. There are a number of funny books that made this year's list.

Books
Arts

A theater critic and a hotel maid are on the case in 2 captivating mystery novels

1:41pm November 30, 2023

by Maureen Corrigan

A critic becomes an amateur detective in order to avoid becoming a murder suspect in Alexis Soloski's Here in the Dark. In The Mystery Guest, by Nita Prose, a hotel's maid has to clean up a real mess.

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In Apple TV+'s Slow Horses, Gary Oldman plays Jackson Lamb, the slovenly, brilliant spy who's in charge of a group of failed British spies. The series is based on Mick Herron's Slough House novels. Herron says Lamb might not have "a heart of gold" but he does have "a moral code."

Arts
Books

Gary Oldman had 'free rein' in spy thriller 'Slow Horses' — now back for Season 3

5:05pm November 29, 2023

by Elizabeth Blair

Oldman plays the slovenly leader of failed British spies in the Apple TV+ drama, based on Mick Herron's Slough House novels. Herron is more interested in the character's failures than his virtues.

Books
Arts

Generations of mothers are at the center of 'A Grandmother Begins A Story'

2:07pm November 29, 2023

by Ilana Masad

Métis writer Michelle Porter has created beauty from the ugliness of colonization, loss, addiction, abandonment, and grief in her debut novel that finds motherhood at its heart.

How support for Trump is causing a rift in the evangelical church

1:57pm November 29, 2023

by Terry Gross

Atlantic writer Tim Alberta grew up in the evangelical church, the son of a pastor. His book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, examines why so many evangelicals are ardent Trump supporters.

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Jon Batiste unveiled his first symphonic composition, American Symphony, at New York's Carnegie Hall on September 22, 2022. An eponymous documentary by Matthew Heineman follows his life with his wife.

Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad share journey of 'two extremes' in American Symphony

8:08pm November 28, 2023

The same day musician Jon Batiste got 11 Grammy nominations, his partner, writer Suleika Jaouad, began chemotherapy. The new documentary American Symphony recounts their journey.

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Books
Arts

'If you have a face, you have a place in the conversation about AI,' expert says

2:25pm November 28, 2023

by Tonya Mosley

Computer scientist Joy Buolamwini warns that facial recognition technology is riddled with the biases of its creators. She is the author of Unmasking AI and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League.

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Parents Against Bad Books co-founder Carolyn Harrison (center) talks with people last month outside the public library in Idaho Falls, Idaho, about what she considers obscene books on the shelves.

In the battle over books, who gets to decide what's age-appropriate at libraries?

5:00am November 28, 2023

by Tovia Smith

There are efforts to change how decisions are made about which books libraries should stock and which section they belong in. Some advocate using a national rating system like the one used for movies.