Books

Books
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Plan 'B': How A Feminist Comic Book Found Devoted Fans Through Absurdity

10:03am October 08, 2015

by NPR Staff

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with writer Kelly Sue DeConnick about her comic, Bitch Planet, about a dystopian future where being "noncompliant" in almost any way can land women on a prison planet.

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These Three 'Judges' Are On The Hunt For Justice

10:03am October 08, 2015

by Juan Vidal

Three novellas by some of Italy's best crime writers make up Judges. Andrea Camilleri, Carlo Lucarelli and Giancarlo De Cataldo weave tales of idealistic judges fighting crime and corruption.

Books

Belarusian Journalist Wins Literature Nobel

9:18am October 08, 2015

by Lynn Neary

Journalist Svetlana Alexievich is known for her in-depth exposes of the former Soviet Union, letting eyewitness accounts shed an unsettling light on tragedies such as Chernobyl nuclear meltdown.

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'Daydreams Of Angels' Tells Stories Within Stories

7:03am October 08, 2015

by Carmen Machado

Many of the pieces in Heather O'Neill's new collection involve characters telling stories, fables and fairy tales that wander far beyond the boundaries of their original genres to forge a new reality.

Patti Smith's memoir, <em>Just Kids,</em> won the National Book Award in 2010. Book critic Maureen Corrigan says her just-published new memoir, <em>M Train</em>, is a worthy — though altogether different — successor.

Books

Patti Smith Reveals Her Solitary Soul In The 'M Train'

4:43pm October 07, 2015

by Maureen Corrigan

Smith follows up to her National Book Award-winning memoir, Just Kids, with another memoir, M Train. Critic Maureen Corrigan says it is a haunting story about weathering life's storms.

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Michael Solomonov describes Israeli-style hummus as "a marriage of chickpeas and tehina."

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Arts

For Israeli-Born Chef, Hummus And 'Tehina' Are A Bridge To Home

3:57pm October 07, 2015

Chef Michael Solomonov sees his mission as connecting people to the food of his homeland. "That, to me, is my life's work," he says. Solomonov's new cookbook is Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking.

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Robot Birds Teach Kids To Program In 'Secret Coders'

3:26pm October 07, 2015

by Etelka Lehoczky

The first installment in Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes' new graphic novel series uses goofy art — and four-eyed robotic birds — to get kids excited about learning to code.

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Arts

Life With A Comedian Isn't Always Funny

1:38pm October 07, 2015

Kelly Carlin, George Carlin's daughter, released a new memoir called A Carlin Home Companion, about growing up as the only daughter of one of the greatest comedians of all time.

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For Prolific Author Percival Everett, The Wilderness Is A Place Of Clarity

1:38pm October 07, 2015

by NPR Staff

Everett praises Wyoming, where many of his new stories are set, for being "so sparsely populated." And he says the outdoors aren't dangerous — human voices in the wilderness are far scarier.

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Books

Culture Talks To Culture In 'Slaughterhouse 90210'

11:39am October 07, 2015

by Linda Holmes

Maris Kreizman's clever, slyly provocative book suggests that what we think of as art and what we think of as entertainment have much to say to each other.