Book Reviews

Madwoman in the Attic book cover detail.

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Arts

How A 'Madwoman' Upended A Literary Boys Club

1:05pm January 17, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

The National Book Critics Circle has announced that two feminist literary scholars, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, will receive a lifetime achievement award. Critic Maureen Corrigan says their groundbreaking 1979 book, The Madwoman in the Attic, changed the way we read.

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George Saunders' previous books include In Persuasion Nation and The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip. He won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006.

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George Saunders Lives Up To The Hype

1:15pm January 15, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

At the beginning of January, the cover story of The New York Times Magazine declared: "George Saunders Has Written The Best Book You'll Read This Year." The stories in the author's latest collection, The Tenth of December, prove that The Times may well be right.

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No Going Back: A Hard Look At Bipolar Disorder

6:11pm January 11, 2013

by Ellen Forney

Juliann Garey's novel, Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See, is a searing exploration of mental illness. Author Ellen Forney says it's a vivid and accurate depiction of bipolar disorder.

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'A Life In Friendships' Is A Life Well-Lived

6:31pm January 09, 2013

by Meg Wolitzer

Susanna Sonnenberg's life has been full of interesting women, and in a new memoir she tells their stories. Reviewer Meg Wolitzer says that She Matters: A Life in Friendships is a beautifully written book about the bonds, and the boundary issues, between women.

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'A Grain Of Truth' About Memory And Modern Poland

12:26pm January 04, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

A new mystery by novelist Zygmunt Miloszewski explores Poland's relationship to its anti-Semitic past. Teodor Szacki, the likably washed-up hero, must sprint all over town interrogating suspects, including so-called Polish "patriots" — extremists who bombard him with their anti-Semitic rants.

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Listen Up! Audiobooks For Every Taste

5:46am December 31, 2012

From a charming tale of the tooth fairy to the very grown-up fiction of Graham Greene, read by the very grown-up Colin Firth, Robin Whitten of AudioFile magazine picks some of 2012's best audiobooks for your holiday listening.

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Ben Fountain is the author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk and the short story collection Brief Encounters With Che Guevara.

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Author Ben Fountain's Book Picks For 2013

6:33pm December 30, 2012

by NPR Staff

Ben Fountain's first novel, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, was nominated for the 2012 National Book Award. He's well-read for 2013, so we thought we'd ask him what to look forward to in the book world.

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Short Stories To Savor On A Winter Weekend

5:38pm December 29, 2012

Author Hortense Calisher once called the short story "an apocalypse in a teacup." Critic Jane Ciabattari presents her favorite mini-apocalypses of 2012, from veteran authors like Sherman Alexie to newcomer Claire Vaye Watkins, who combines a unique voice and a shadowed family history in her debut collection.

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True Originals: Biographies That Defy Expectations

6:26pm December 28, 2012

by Michael Schaub

Our list of this year's best biographies focuses on books about individuals who lived their lives off the beaten path. From the story of a spy turned chef to the story of the real Count of Monte Cristo, these books chronicle subjects who refused to conform to the expectations of others.

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Books

'Fifty Shades' Is The One That Got Away. At Least From Me

5:06pm December 28, 2012

by Lynn Neary

Sometimes "the one that got away" is a book that actually was easy to overlook. And sometimes it's something you ignore until you just can't anymore. NPR's Lynn Neary finally comes to terms with the publishing sensation that is Fifty Shades of Grey.

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