Books

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A Dark And Stormy Night: Why We Love The Gothic

7:03am October 24, 2015

by Genevieve Valentine

Inspired by the new film Crimson Peak, critic Genevieve Valentine digs into our enduring love for stormy nights, eerie castles, romantically exotic monsters, swooning maidens and all things Gothic.

Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully, who co-authored the NOPI cookbook, out this week.

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In 'NOPI,' An Ottolenghi Cooking Journey From Middle East To Far East

3:01pm October 23, 2015

by NPR Staff

Yotam Ottolenghi and his head chef Ramael Scully discuss NOPI, their latest cookbook. It's named for the popular London restaurant that Ottolenghi owns and where Scully is head chef.

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Why are blurbs still around — and still, at least among publishers, so popular?

Forget The Book, Have You Read This Irresistible Story On Blurbs?

2:05pm October 23, 2015

by Colin Dwyer

Those snippets of praise on book covers have been around for over 150 years (at least). But how do they get there — and why? The answers are more complicated, and compelling, than you might think.

Patti Smith Looks Back On Life Before She Became The Godmother Of Punk

1:29pm October 23, 2015

The singer joins Fresh Air for a conversation about her career and her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Smith's new memoir is M Train. Originally broadcast in 1996 and 2010.

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'The Mark And The Void' Is Good Fun — Until It Isn't

12:13pm October 22, 2015

by Jason Sheehan

Paul Murray's absurdist tale of banking, art theft and failed schemes might be the funniest book about the European financial crisis you'll read all year — but it's bloated by too many subplots.

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Arts

All Hail The Glow Cloud: 'Night Vale' Welcomes Readers

10:03am October 22, 2015

by Amal El-Mohtar

The creators of the popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale are now telling their tales of a strange desert town in novel form, in a new book reviewer Amal El-Mohtar calls "splendid, weird, moving."

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'Somewhat United' Brings Lafayette Down From His Pedestal

3:29pm October 21, 2015

by Colin Dwyer

Sarah Vowell's charming not-quite-a-history gives us a young, glory-hungry Marquis de Lafayette, and the Founding Fathers not as marble statues, but as real men who bicker, bumble and snore.

Books

Heavy Thinking: Digital Publisher Bill Kane

10:15am October 21, 2015

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Enlightenment Proves Elusive In 'Witches Of America'

7:03am October 21, 2015

by Genevieve Valentine

Alex Mar's half-memoir, half-cultural study of American occultism mixes research with her own search for meaning. Critic Genevieve Valentine says it's a difficult journey, for Mar and for readers.

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Arts

Don't Take 'Submission' Lying Down

3:14pm October 20, 2015

by Heller McAlpin

Michel Houellebecq's dark satire Submission caused a furore in his native France with its depiction of an Islamist takeover. But critic Heller McAlpin calls it "too distasteful to be amusing."