Books

Inside 'The World's Most Beautiful Bookstore' In Argentina

6:57pm January 12, 2019

by Bob Mondello

National Geographic has named El Ateneo Grand Splendid the top shop in the world. But that's only where the history of the 100-year-old Buenos Aires building, once a palatial theater, begins.

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Arts

'Untouchable' Delivers Twisty Turny Romantic Thrills

10:00am January 12, 2019

by Denny S. Bryce

Romantic suspense stalwart Jayne Ann Krentz's latest — it's part of a series, but works as a standalone — will keep you flipping pages with its complex bad guy and tangled but propulsive plot.

Books

'Bluff City' Captures Photographer Ernest Withers During Civil Rights Movement

8:13am January 12, 2019

NPR's Scott Simon asks Bluff City author Preston Lauterbach about the undisclosed life of Ernest Withers, a celebrated civil rights photographer and FBI informant.

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Detail from the cover of The Day the Sun Died by Yan Lianke

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Arts

A Celebrated Chinese Novelist Dreams Up A Nightmare Sci-Fi Allegory

8:13am January 12, 2019

by Scott Simon

Yan Lianke's newest book The Day the Sun Died is now available in English in the United States. "Certainly it's a very sharp critique of contemporary society," he says.

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For January, 3 Romances That Understand It's Complicated

7:00am January 12, 2019

by Maya Rodale

Yes, a romance novel has to have a happy ending — but that doesn't mean the stories take place in a fantasy land. This month, we're showcasing three books that draw on the challenges of real life.

Moscow's Libraries Are Experiencing An Unexpected Revival

8:52pm January 10, 2019

by Lucian Kim

Moscow's neighborhood libraries are having a moment as they've turned from shabby houses of Soviet learning to well-designed work spaces for MacBook-toting hipsters.

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Surveying The Public Domain

3:19pm January 10, 2019

Yes, we have no copyright.

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Arts

'Hollywood's Eve' Feeds Renewed Interest In L.A. 'It' Girl Turned Writer

11:59am January 10, 2019

by Bradley Babendir

Eve Babitz had long been forgotten, when a profile by Lili Anolik triggered a reissuing of the former Hollywood glamour girl's literary works. In a new book, Anolik fills some, but not all, the gaps.

Books
Arts

Existential Dread Is Deceptively Simple In 'Mouthful Of Birds'

10:00am January 10, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Samanta Schweblin has a gift for treating the otherworldly with a matter-of-fact attitude; her new story collection proves that she's a master of elegant, uncanny fiction.

October 1789: American Gen. George Washington declining to accept terms, after the siege of Yorktown, from British Gen. Charles Cornwallis (left), whose subsequent surrender practically ended the American War of Independence.

'The First Conspiracy' Details Foiled Hickey Plot To Assassinate George Washington

11:55am January 09, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Thriller author Brad Meltzer and documentary producer Josh Mensch offer an intriguing look at a true-life, foiled plan that, had it succeeded, may have killed the American dream before it even began.