Books

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with author Ken Jaworowski about his new book "What About The Bodies," a thriller in which three characters' troubles converge in a small, Rust Belt town.

2025 has had some stellar non-fiction. NPR staffer recommend their picks from our Books We Love list - with subjects ranging from Desi Arnaz to women and war.

In 1885, royal Hawaiian brothers were studying at a military school in California. There, they introduced a sport known as "surfboard swimming." The Princes of Surf exhibit tells what happened next.

The annual event pits some of the trading card and video game's most seasoned players against each other — and it demonstrates how Pokémon has maintained its grip on pop culture.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested John Shin, who has played with the Utah Symphony and Ballet West. The Department of Homeland Security cited his 2019 DUI conviction as the reason.

Coach Sean Brosnan turned an obscure high school running team into national champions. NPR's Scott Simon talks to him about his memoir, "Beyond Fast," written with Chris Lear and Andrew Greif.

Raja has been exhausted by his loving mother for six decades. NPR's Scott Simon talks with Lebanese writer Rabih Alameddine about his book, "The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)."

The 1989 film The War of the Roses was a nihilistic story of a dissolving marriage. A new reimagining starring Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch plays like a standard studio comedy.

Academia is a very special kind of hell, and Kuang clearly understands it. In her innovative new novel, a magical professor dies in a lab accident and two students descend into hell to find him.

In The Roses, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch play a vicious couple spiraling toward divorce. A Little Prayer tells a more tender story about a relationship on the rocks.