Books

Eric "Bitty" Bittle takes to the ice in "Check Please," one of the most popular hockey webcomics (yes, that's a thing).

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Arts

With 'Check Please,' A Comics Creator Rewrites The Rules — And Scores

5:15pm May 11, 2017

by Neda Ulaby

Bitty Bittle is a gay college hockey star who loves making pies. He's the main character in the popular hockey webcomic "Check Please," created by Ngozi Ukazu — who incidentally cannot skate.

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'Tar Baby': A Folk Tale About Food Rights, Rooted In The Inequalities Of Slavery

4:46pm May 11, 2017

by Nina Martyris

Versions of the story of Bre'r Rabbit outwitting Bre'r Fox exist around the world. At heart, a new book argues, they're really about who controls access to food and subverting the powers that be.

Jackie and friends with Versace handbags at a private opening at the Versace store, Beverly Hills, California, 2007.

Don't Be Fooled: 'Generation Wealth' Is More About Wanting Than Having

10:34am May 11, 2017

by Kelly McEvers

Lauren Greenfield's 500-page photo collection shows toddlers in designer clothes and magnums of champagne. But it's also about how ostentatious displays of wealth have replaced real social mobility.

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Based on a True Story by Delphine de Vigan

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'Based On A True Story' May Not Be True — But It's Still Scary

10:00am May 11, 2017

by Bethanne Patrick

French novelist Delphine De Vigan follows up her tell-all 2012 memoir with a creepy tale of a blocked novelist — also named Delphine — who falls under the sway of an elegant, menacing ghostwriter.

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Arts

'Seeing People Off' Is A Short, Strange Trip

7:00am May 11, 2017

by Michael Schaub

Slovak author Jana Beňová's English language debut is a bizarre, oblique — but beautiful — series of vignettes about a couple who spend their time drinking and smoking in Bratislava coffee shops.

In 'Music Of The Ghosts,' A Khmer Rouge Survivor Faces 'The Reality Of Cambodia'

5:00am May 11, 2017

by Rachel Martin

Novelist Vaddey Ratner, herself a Khmer Rouge survivor, tells the story of a Cambodian-American woman looking for answers about her father's disappearance under the regime.

Cover art of No One Can Pronounce My Name, by Rakesh Satyal.

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'No One Can Pronounce My Name' Is A Charming Take On Loneliness And Connection

1:45pm May 10, 2017

by Maureen Corrigan

Set in an Indian-American community in suburban Cleveland, Rakesh Satyal's new novel uses intertwined plots to explore the comedy of everyday life. Critic Maureen Corrigan says readers will be amused.

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'House Of Names' Is A Violent Page-Turner, And A Surprising Departure

10:41am May 10, 2017

by Heller McAlpin

Colm Tóibín ventures far afield — in time and place — for this heart-stopping take on the tragedy of Clytemnestra and her family, reanimated with suffering the ancient Greeks never imagined.

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Arts

'Priestdaddy' Shimmers With Wonderful, Obscene Life

7:00am May 10, 2017

by Annalisa Quinn

Patricia Lockwood's scabrous memoir of growing up with a married Catholic priest for a father is a little overreliant on quirky family details, but scorching in its approach to the Catholic Church.

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Arts

'As We Get Older, We Become More Ourselves,' Says Author Mary Gaitskill

1:27pm May 09, 2017

Before she turned to writing, the National Book Award nominee ran away from home and worked as a stripper. Her new collection of personal essays is Somebody with a Little Hammer.

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