Books

Books
Arts

'Wait Till You See Me Dance' Is A Marvelous Waltz Of Misdirection

10:00am March 26, 2017

by Annalisa Quinn

Deb Olin Unferth's story collection delights in going in unexpected directions, and her sensitively-drawn characters feel the full, real, often contradictory and uneasy layering of human emotion.

Books

Jay Chandrasekhar Of 'Super Troopers' On His Memoir 'Mustache Shenanigans'

8:14am March 26, 2017

Jay Chandrasekhar of Super Troopers fame talks to NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro about his new memoir about how he made it in Hollywood. The book is called Mustache Shenanigans.

Books

Actor, Director And Writer Andrew McCarthy Takes On Young Adult Fiction

8:14am March 26, 2017

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to actor and director Andrew McCarthy about his new young adult novel, Just Fly Away.

The Moluccan Cockatoo Feast, from the series The Fantastical Feasts, 2014

Books
Arts

How Do You Dream Up A Cockatoo Feast? An Artist Explains In 'Imaginarium'

8:14am March 26, 2017

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Looking at Claire Rosen's photographs can feel like walking into someone else's dreams. In her new book Imaginarium she provides inspiration and advice for curating a creative life.

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In 1957, Duncan Hines and his wife, Clara, cut a cake at the Duncan Hines test kitchen in Ithaca, N.Y.

Duncan Hines: The Original Road Warrior Who Shaped Restaurant History

7:00am March 26, 2017

by Nicole Jankowski

The name on that box of cake mix belonged to a real person. Hines was a traveling salesman who just wanted to find a decent meal on the road — and ended up being America's go-to restaurant expert.

Books
Arts

Tale As Old As Time: The Dark Appeal of 'Beauty And The Beast'

4:31am March 26, 2017

by Genevieve Valentine

Disney's new live-action extravaganza is just the latest retelling of this classic fairy tale. But why do Beauty and her Beast have such a hold on us? And why are there so many versions of their tale?

Atole de elote is a warm corn drink from Central America. Student Jose Rivas wrote an essay about a weekly tradition of enjoying atole with his late father in El Salvador, and how the drink helped him to feel more at home after he moved to the U.S.

Students Serve Up Stories Of Beloved Family Recipes In A Global Cookbook

2:03pm March 25, 2017

by Becky Harlan

Many students at D.C.'s Capital City Charter School are first-generation Americans. For a creative writing project, a literacy nonprofit picked a topic everyone could relate to: food from home.

Books

These 'Women In The Castle' Provide New Perspectives On Nazi Germany

7:45am March 25, 2017

by Scott Simon

Jessica Shattuck's novel follows three German women — all war widows, and all of very different political persuasions — who take refuge in a ruined Bavarian castle at the end of World War II.

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Books

Atoning For The Past In 'The Twelve Lives Of Samuel Hawley'

7:45am March 25, 2017

In Hannah Tinti's new novel, a daughter discovers her father's dark past by investigating the 12 bullet scars on his body. NPR's Scott Simon talks to Tinti about The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley.

Books
Arts

'Girl In Disguise' Is A Spunky Spy Saga

7:00am March 25, 2017

by Jean Zimmerman

Little is known about the real life of Kate Warne, the first female detective in America — but Greer Macallister's romp of a novel paints her as a live wire, an ace in a dangerous man's world.