Books

Books
Arts

'Vacuum In The Dark' Is Fun, Funny — But Never Frivolous

10:00am February 26, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Jen Beagin is a wonderfully funny writer with a knack for serious subjects. Her exuberant new novel follows a young house cleaner who grew up too fast and is trying to reinvent herself.

Books

In 'Say Nothing,' The Story Of A Murder In Northern Ireland

8:26am February 26, 2019

Host Mary Louise Kelly speaks to Patrick Radden Keefe about his new book, Say Nothing, which uses the mystery of a woman's disappearance to tell the story of conflict in Northern Ireland.

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Books
Arts

'The Raven Tower' Rises From Shakespearean Foundations

7:00am February 26, 2019

by Genevieve Valentine

Ann Leckie's new fantasy novel is packed with family intrigue, throne-room maneuvering and nods to Hamlet in its story of a son who comes home to find his father missing and his uncle in power.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Radden Keefe

'Say Nothing' Is A Timely Warning That Ireland's Old Wounds Are Easily Opened

2:12pm February 25, 2019

by Paddy Hirsch

New Yorker writer Patrick Radden Keefe excels at exposing the past as he tells the story of Jean McConville, a mother of 10 who disappeared after masked men abducted her during Ireland's Troubles.

Books

'American Spy' Is A Thrilling Debut With No Simple Answers

1:15pm February 25, 2019

by John Powers

Lauren Wilkinson's sharp debut novel about a black woman living a double life as a spy spans three decades and leapfrogs from New York to the Caribbean to West Africa.

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Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, And America's Journey From Slavery to Segregation, by Steve Luxenberg

'Separate' Is An Eye-Opening Journey Through Some Of America's Darkest Passages

12:18pm February 25, 2019

by Terence Samuel

Author Steve Luxenberg repeatedly manages to tell us stories around Plessy v. Ferguson that capture both the hope and the hopelessness that has been central to America's long argument about race.

Korean kimchi, made of salted and fermented vegetables, contains microbes that contribute to its distinctive taste.

'Cultured': A Look At How Foods Can Help The Microbes Inside Us Thrive

11:23am February 24, 2019

by Jonathan Lambert

The foods we put in our bodies affect the kinds of bacteria that live and flourish there. A new book explores this collaboration — and the cultures whose dishes maximize the relationship.

'Putin's World' Author On What Putin Wants

10:39am February 24, 2019

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Georgetown University professor Angela Stent about her book Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest.

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Author Bob Berman On 'Hazards To Life In Our Universe'

8:02am February 24, 2019

It's scary out there: violent supernovas, biological mayhem and nuclear meltdowns. Lulu Garcia-Navarro with author Bob Berman about hazards to life in the universe and his book, Earth-Shattering.

Books
Arts

'The White Book' Finds Beauty In Loss

7:00am February 24, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Han Kang's new novel isn't quite a novel — it's a gorgeous, hard-to-categorize series of reflections, themed around the color white, on grief, mourning and what it means to remember those we've lost.