Books

Dancing on the Escalator of Life (on the head of pin): The demon Crowley (David Tennant) and the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) conspire to stave off the end of the world in Good Omens.

Books
Arts

'Good Omens' Serves Up A Cozy, Strangely Heartwarming Apocalypse

4:11pm May 30, 2019

by Glen Weldon

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's 1990 novel about an angel and demon striving to prevent the end of the world becomes a charming, very British series that turns the apocalypse into a spot of bother.

Books

Black And White 'Bezimena' Is Colored By Trauma And Yearning

10:00am May 30, 2019

by Etelka Lehoczky

Nina Bunjevac's harrowing new graphic novel takes off from Greek mythology to tell a story about sexual violence, obsession, and all the things people can't admit that they want, even to themselves.

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Arts

These 'Words For Home' Are Poetic And Powerful

7:00am May 30, 2019

by Jessica P. Wick

Jasmine Warga's middle grade novel in verse follows a Syrian immigrant girl struggling to fit in with her relatives in unfamiliar Cincinnati. It's remarkably sensitive, and deceptively easy to read.

Books

Fans Worldwide Prepare To Honor Bicentennial Of Walt Whitman's Birth

6:29am May 30, 2019

by Tom Vitale

American poet Walt Whtman was born 200 years ago on May 31, 1819. His Leaves Of Grass has been called the most important book of American poetry ever. Yet in 1855, he could barely give it away.

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Books

Dagher Explains Brutal Syrian Regimes In 'Assad Or We Burn The Country'

6:05am May 30, 2019

NPR's Noel King talks to journalist Sam Dagher about his book Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family's Lust for Power Destroyed Syria.

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Arts

A 'Biloxi' Misanthrope 'Can't Help Himself' — But His Pet Dog Can

5:59pm May 29, 2019

by Ari Shapiro

Louis McDonald Jr. is 63, recently retired and "really unlikable," says novelist Mary Miller. But on a whim he takes home a dog named Layla, and the two of them "become a little team."

Books
Arts

'Fresh Air' Remembers Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer Tony Horwitz

5:00pm May 29, 2019

Horwitz, who died Monday, spoke to Fresh Air in '98 about Confederates in the Attic, his book about the legacy of the Civil War. Plus, Maureen Corrigan reviews his latest book, Spying on the South.

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Look It Up: The Dramatic History Of The Dictionary

3:29pm May 29, 2019

The story of how a new(ish) language shaped the new nation.

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Arts

'Sara Berman's Closet' Traces 1 Woman's Life, From Shtetl To Greenwich Village

1:41pm May 29, 2019

by Terry Gross

Berman was 60 when she moved to New York with just one suitcase to start a new life. Berman's daughter, Maira Kalman, and grandson, Alex Kalman, tell her story in a new book and museum show.

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Books
Arts

Breaking Down The Doors To The Past In 'The Dinner Guest'

10:00am May 29, 2019

by Lily Meyer

In her new autofictional novel, Spanish writer Gabriela Ybarra turns past tragedy — the murder of her grandfather by Basque separatists — into a seamless blend of art, politics and private life.