Books

Books
Arts

'Cloudbound' Is Stunning, But Doesn't Quite Soar

1:55pm September 28, 2016

by Annalisa Quinn

Fran Wilde built a glorious world of living bone towers and wing-gliding people in last year's Updraft. Her new Cloudbound has stunning skyscapes but lacks some of the first book's emotional heft.

Herschell Gordon Lewis, known as the Godfather of Gore, directed the 1963 film, Blood Feast.

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Arts

Pop Quiz, Hotshot: Herschell Gordon Lewis Film Or Children's Book?

9:00am September 28, 2016

by Glen Weldon

The movie titles of the late splatter-film director are evocative ... and wonderfully terrible. Can you tell them apart from the titles of some less-than-classic kids' books?

Book Review: 'Born To Run,' Bruce Springsteen

5:11pm September 27, 2016

by Will Hermes

Music critic Will Hermes reviews a new autobiography from Bruce Springsteen called Born To Run.

'Kingdom' Examines Afghanistan Through The Prism Of The Karzai Family

2:05pm September 27, 2016

Journalist Joshua Partlow was in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012, a time of corruption, government dysfunction and civilian hostility to U.S. military operations. His new book is A Kingdom of Their Own.

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Death's End by Cixin Liu (Raquel Zaldivar/NPR)

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'Death's End' Brings An Epic Trilogy To A Satisfying Close

7:00am September 27, 2016

by Jason Heller

Chinese author Cixin Liu caps his Hugo Award-winning Remembrance of Earth's Past series with an intricately structured, immensely complex tale of a rocket scientist caught in a human-alien conflict.

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Before 'Humans Of New York,' Terkel Showed Dignity In Everyday People In 'Working'

2:49pm September 26, 2016

by Radio Diaries

Iconic journalist Studs Terkel was creating a best-seller, when he interviewed people around the U.S. for his book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.

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Katherine Johnson sits at her desk with a globe, or "Celestial Training Device."

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'Hidden Figures': How Black Women Did The Math That Put Men On The Moon

1:16pm September 26, 2016

by NPR Staff

Back in the days of the space race, "computers" were people — often women — who performed vital calculations. Hidden Figures tells the stories of the women who got some of the first men to space.

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Studs Terkel talks on his Chicago radio show in the late 1970s.

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'Working' Then And Now: Studs Terkel's Book Interviews Resurface As Audio

10:39am September 25, 2016

by NPR Staff

All this week on NPR, you'll hear the voices of people Studs Terkel interviewed in his book, Working. Among the interviews you'll hear this week are a telephone operator and hotel piano player.

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Arts

Depicting Sexual Predators As Villains In Fiction Is Tricky

8:37am September 25, 2016

Humbert Humbert, the main character in Lolita, is one of the most famous "sympathetic" villains in history. Today, a story from the point of view of a sexual predator might not get told in literature.

Books
Arts

Lose Yourself In The Twisting, Turning Alleys Of 'Crooked Kingdom'

7:00am September 25, 2016

by Jason Sheehan

Leigh Bardugo's followup to her steampunky heist tale Six of Crows follows teenage criminal mastermind Kaz and his ragged crew as they take revenge for a betrayal and deal with a dangerous drug.