Books

Books
Arts

'Winter' Balances Dark Days With Flashes Of Joy And Light

7:00am January 10, 2018

by Heller McAlpin

The second volume in Ali Smith's seasonal quartet takes place over a tense family Christmas in Cornwall that reunites two sisters whose lives have taken vastly diverging paths.

Lea Berman, White House social secretary for President George W. Bush, looks over flower arrangements in the State Dining Room before a state dinner for U.S. governors.

Books
Arts

Former White House Social Secretaries On The Value Of 'Treating People Well'

5:53pm January 09, 2018

by Ari Shapiro

Lea Berman worked for President George W. Bush; Jeremy Bernard for President Obama. They draw on their White House experiences for a book about the importance of civility in getting things done.

Queue Listen Now

Where Author Jacqueline Woodson Would Like To Take Young People's Literature In 2018

4:52pm January 09, 2018

by Lynn Neary

The National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Gene Luen Yang passed the baton to his successor Jacqueline Woodson on Tuesday. NPR takes a look at where young people's literature is now and where the new ambassador would like to take it in the coming year.

Author Denis Johnson, pictured here in 2013, died in May of 2017. The new posthumously published collection, The Largesse of the Sea Maiden, features five of Johnson's short stories.

Books
Arts

Posthumously Published 'Sea Maiden' Affirms Denis Johnson's Eternal Voice

2:54pm January 09, 2018

by Maureen Corrigan

A new collection features five stand-alone stories by Johnson, who died in 2017. Critic Maureen Corrigan says The Largesse of the Sea Maiden is "the kind of work every writer would like to go out on."

Queue Listen Now

Patrice Banks own the Girls Auto Clinic in Upper Darby, Pa.

Girls Auto Clinic Owner: 'I Couldn't Find A Female Mechanic, So I Had To Learn'

1:47pm January 09, 2018

by Terry Gross

There was a time when Patrice Banks avoided taking her car in for routine maintenance. Now, she's a trained mechanic, and the owner of a garage that caters to women.

Books
Arts

For 'The Immortalists' Knowledge Of Death Changes Lives

7:00am January 09, 2018

by Jean Zimmerman

In Chloe Benjamin's new book, four siblings growing up on the Lower East Side amid the upheavals of the 1960s gain forbidden, life-changing knowledge: The exact year and date of their deaths.

'Fire And Fury' Author Michael Wolff Discusses Bannon's Role In White House

10:35pm January 08, 2018

NPR's Kelly McEvers speaks with journalist and author Michael Wolff about his book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Wolff discusses Steve Bannon's role in the White House and his future relationship with the Republican party.

Queue Listen Now

Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer of the podcast, "By The Book," share self-help secrets from books they've lived.

Books
Arts

Want A New You For The New Year? These Books Might Actually Help

6:06pm January 08, 2018

by Ari Shapiro

Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer live by a new self-help book for each episode of their podcast By the Book, so they're experts on which ones might really help us keep our New Year's resolutions.

Queue Listen Now

Psychologist Tania Lombrozo takes a look at two books addressing women and power.

What History And Fiction Teach Us About Women And Power

9:49am January 08, 2018

by Tania Lombrozo

Psychologist Tania Lombrozo considers two books: In one, we learn what ancient Greece can tell us about Twitter trolls and, in the other, we're shown a world in which women have power over men.

'A Fabricator Extraordinaire': Trump's Campaign Manager Slams Wolff For 'Fire And Fury'

6:04pm January 07, 2018

In a Washington Post op-ed, President Trump's deputy campaign manager David Bossie called Michael Wolff's new book a "fake book that reads like the National Enquirer on steroids." NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Bossie about the book and the campaign.