Books

Cover image of A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré.

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Novelist John Le Carré Reflects On His Own 'Legacy' Of Spying

4:18pm September 05, 2017

by Terry Gross

The 85-year-old novelist worked for MI5 and MI6 early in his career. "I felt I had to suppress my humanity," he says of those years. His new novel is called A Legacy of Spies.

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In 'A Legacy Of Spies,' John Le Carré Goes Back Out In 'The Cold'

12:10pm September 05, 2017

by Lynn Neary

Former CIA operative Valerie Plame says pop culture doesn't usually get espionage right — but le Carré comes close. His new novel is a kind of prequel to 1963's The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

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Blood, Sweat, and Pixels chronicles the development process of ten video games, including Halo Wars, Shovel Knight, Destiny and Uncharted 4.

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'Blood, Sweat, And Pixels': For Designers Of Video Games, It's Always Crunch Time

10:52am September 05, 2017

by Glen Weldon

Journalist Jason Schreier walks readers through the development of 10 recent games, finding marked similarities in the essential infrastructure of their design and production.

One of Twitty's projects is his "Southern Discomfort Tour" — a journey through the "forgotten little Africa" of the Old South. He picks cotton, chops wood, works in rice fields and cooks for audiences in plantation kitchens while dressed in slave clothi

A Black Food Historian Explores His Bittersweet Connection To Robert E. Lee

7:00am September 05, 2017

by Nina Martyris

Michael Twitty's enslaved ancestors witnessed the Confederate general's surrender, the significance of which weaves through his new memoir as he seeks 'culinary justice' for African Americans.

Poet John Ashbery, seen here in his New York apartment in 2008, is widely regarded as one of the 20th century's greatest poets. He died at the age of 90 on Sunday, at his home in Hudson, N.Y.

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John Ashbery, Celebrated And Experimental Poet Of The 20th Century, Dies At 90

11:10pm September 03, 2017

by Emma Bowman

Although his enigmatic poems confounded literary critics and peers who heaped praise on him, his abstract, modernist style reinvented literature for a generation of writers.

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In 'World Of Tomorrow,' A Novelist Found Echoes Of 1939, Today

10:34am September 03, 2017

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Brendan Mathews' debut novel is a sprawling story of three Irish brothers and their adventures in America on the cusp of World War II.

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A Conspiracy in Belgravia, by Sherry Thomas

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For September, 3 Twisty, Turny, Thrill-Packed Romances

10:00am September 03, 2017

by Maya Rodale

As the weather turns cooler and we start to emerge from summer's torpor, it's time for some faster-paced romances with plenty of exciting twists and turns on the way to the happily-ever-after.

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A Feminist Adaptation Of 'Snow White'

8:07am September 03, 2017

Melissa Bashardoust's new novel is a feminist adaptation of Snow White called Girls Made of Snow and Glass. She talks to Lulu Garcia-Navarro about the story of two women pitted against each other.

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Poems For Houston

8:07am September 03, 2017

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to Gwendolyn Zepeda, Houston's first poet laureate, about the spotlight on the city during Hurricane Harvey.

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'Sourdough' Rises Like A Good Loaf

4:42am September 03, 2017

by Jason Sheehan

Robin Sloan's latest is a beautiful, small, sweet, quiet book that takes a deep dive into the world of food, underground restaurants and markets, and the magic power of a good sourdough starter.