Books

"The Boyfriend Bracket" by Kate Evangelista

Books
Arts

'The Boyfriend Bracket' Isn't What You Expect — But It's A Winner

7:00am June 20, 2018

by Alethea Kontis

Kate Evangelista's new book is called The Boyfriend Bracket, but it's done with the titular bracket in just a few chapters, becoming a sweet story about a high-school senior and her childhood crush.

Books
Arts

'The Melody' Will Draw You In, Then Take You Somewhere Unexpected

1:45pm June 19, 2018

by Bethanne Patrick

Jim Crace's superb new novel is a trickster — it seems to be a bittersweet tale of late-life love, but then it becomes a meditation on gentrification and the toll poverty can take on human beings.

Journalist Warns Cyber Attacks Present A 'Perfect Weapon' Against Global Order

1:39pm June 19, 2018

by Dave Davies

New York Times national security correspondent David Sanger says U.S. officials worry that foreign powers have planted malware that could knock out critical infrastructure, including electric power.

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Cover photo of There There, by Tommy Orange

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Arts

Pithy And Pointed 'There There' Puts Native American Voices Front And Center

1:28pm June 18, 2018

by Maureen Corrigan

Critic Maureen Corrigan says Tommy Orange's novel, which centers on a cast of native and mixed-race characters whose lives intersect at a powwow, features "a literary authority rare in a debut."

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Angry villagers — like these, from James Whale's classic 1931 film version of Frankenstein.

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Arts

It'll Take More Than A Few Angry Villagers To Kill Off 'Frankenstein'

7:00am June 18, 2018

by Genevieve Valentine

Mary Shelley's timeless novel gave us not only an enduring trope — the misunderstood monster — but an equally enduring way to talk about what happens when human knowledge outpaces responsibility.

Buk buk. Rubber chicken keeled over on its side.

Books
Arts

Have We Reached Peak Funny?

5:00am June 18, 2018

by Glen Weldon

In his new book Planet Funny: How Comedy Took Over Our Culture, Ken Jennings takes humor seriously, tracing how comedy infiltrated every aspect of our lives — and what it's doing to us.

Books

David Lynch On 'Room To Dream'

8:12am June 17, 2018

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro asks David Lynch about Room to Dream, the director's new memoir.

"We Are Where the Nightmares Go" by C. Robert Cargill

Books
Arts

'Where The Nightmares Go' Maps The Territory Of Fear

7:00am June 17, 2018

by Jason Sheehan

C. Robert Cargill's new story collection covers the globe and genres of horror from classic to modern, with ghost stories, thrillers, gore and puzzles that would be right at home on premium cable.

Books
Arts

'The Secret Life of Cows' Aims To Show Animals As Thinking, Feeling Beings

5:01am June 17, 2018

by Barbara J. King

Farmer Rosamund Young's book will charm people who want to lap up more evidence that animals have personalities, but may not warm hearts of animal lovers who don't eat meat.

Books
Arts

In June, Make Your Escape With These 3 Hot Reads

10:00am June 16, 2018

by Maya Rodale

Summer's getting hotter, so here are three romances guaranteed to raise your temperature and take you on an adventure, from London's West End to Barcelona to a Harvard University classroom.