Books

Muslim Feminists Rewrite Boundaries On The Street And At Home

1:59pm August 18, 2015

by Lynn Neary

Mona Eltahawy says as a female in Saudi Arabia you have two options: "To lose your mind or become a feminist." Rafia Zakaria says it's crucial to reclaim the identity of the modern Muslim woman.

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Arts

'Dark, Dark' Doings In A Slick Debut Thriller

11:21am August 18, 2015

by Jean Zimmerman

Ruth Ware's In A Dark, Dark Wood brings together a group of 20-something women in an isolated rural house for a bachelorette party — a perfect setting for buried secrets and terrible deeds.

Books
Arts

Social Satire, Spiked With Schadenfreude In 'Everybody Rise'

10:03am August 18, 2015

by Heller McAlpin

Stephanie Clifford's debut novel, about the desperate social strivings of a young woman in Manhattan, has its roots in the tragic, old-money fascinations of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth.

Jason Segel as David Foster Wallace in The End Of The Tour.

Books

Pop Culture Happy Hour Small Batch: The End Of The Tour

6:03am August 18, 2015

by Glen Weldon

Glen Weldon and Katie Presley discuss the new film, which is based on a series of interviews between David Lipsky and the late writer David Foster Wallace.

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Arts

In Life After Life, 'Incarnations' Spins A Sinuous Tale Of Soul Mates

6:11pm August 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

In Susan Barker's novel, a few strange letters bloom into a saga of two souls' reincarnations. Barker says her characters' many lives gave her an instrument to explore China — both past and present.

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Alison Bechdel is the author of the long-running syndicated comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For.

Books
Arts

Lesbian Cartoonist Alison Bechdel Countered Dad's Secrecy By Being Out And Open

5:18pm August 17, 2015

The musical and graphic novel Fun Home describe Bechdel's coming out, and her dad's closeted homosexuality. She says, "In many ways ... my professional career has been a reaction to my father's life."

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Take It From David Brooks: Career Success 'Doesn't Make You Happy'

4:38pm August 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

The New York Times columnist wrote The Road to Character after seeing the gratitude for life of people who tutor immigrants. He thought, "I've achieved career success ... but I haven't achieved that."

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Books
Arts

Farewell To The Legendary League Of The Pink Carnation

2:27pm August 17, 2015

by Bobbi Dumas

This week, we're setting the NPR Books Time Machine for the Napoleonic Wars, and Lauren Willig's swashbuckling Pink Carnation series, about florally themed spies battling it out across Europe.

Books

NPR Bestsellers: Week Of August 13, 2015

12:03pm August 17, 2015

The lists are compiled from weekly surveys of close to 500 independent bookstores nationwide.

Books

NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Fiction, Week Of August 13, 2015

12:03pm August 17, 2015

Alice Hoffman's The Marriage of Opposites is a fictional account of painter Camille Pissarro's early life and family. It debuts at No. 12.