Books

Books
Arts

'Speak' Asks Hard Questions About Communication And Technology

10:03am July 08, 2015

by Michael Schaub

Louisa Hall's novel fits several wildly disparate storylines — a young Puritan girl, a disgraced inventor, a computer programmer — into an unforgettable meditation on what it means to be human.

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Arts

In 'The Love She Left Behind,' Mourning Is No Gimmick

7:03am July 08, 2015

by Jason Sheehan

Amanda Coe's new novel about adult siblings forced to come together at their absentee mother's funeral is surprisingly free of melodrama.

Books
Arts

'Aurora' Journeys In A New Direction

3:08pm July 07, 2015

by Alan Cheuse

Veteran sci-fi writer Kim Stanley Robinson returns with a tale of that classic genre trope, the generation ship. Critic Alan Cheuse says this story of spacefaring colonists goes to unexpected places.

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Arts

'Unnoticeables' Is A Raunchy Ride Through Punk, Horror And Pop Culture

1:29pm July 07, 2015

by Jason Heller

Robert Brockway's day job is helping to run Cracked.com, and he brings that site's irreverent wit to this lightweight but satisfying tale of a waitress and a punk rocker battling eldritch horrors.

The New Science Behind Our 'Unfair' Criminal Justice System

10:03am July 07, 2015

"Good people with the best of intentions ... can get things terribly, terribly wrong," says legal scholar Adam Benforado. His book, Unfair, explores the intrinsic flaws of the American justice system.

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'Vendetta' Recalls The Ruthless Rivalry Between Bobby Kennedy, Jimmy Hoffa

9:02pm July 06, 2015

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with James Neff about his new book Vendetta: Bobby Kennedy versus Jimmy Hoffa.

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Maureen Corrigan's summer thriller recommendations, 2015.

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Arts

Dead-Cinch Thrillers: 4 Books To Get Your Heart Pounding

6:37pm July 06, 2015

by Maureen Corrigan

Summer and suspense fiction go together like the Fourth of July and firecrackers. Book critic Maureen Corrigan recommends four books that are deadly accurate in their aim to entertain.

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Arts

From Blueprints To Betrayal: The Daring, And Downfall, Of A Cold War Spy

6:19pm July 06, 2015

by NPR Staff

Initially, the CIA was suspicious of Soviet aviation expert Adolf Tolkachev. But he earned the agency's trust — and provided blueprints, documents and plans that were crucial to the U.S.

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The Gods of Tango, by Carolina De Robertis.

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Arts

An Outsider In Buenos Aires Goes Incognito, For Love Of Tango

3:52pm July 06, 2015

by NPR Staff

Carolina De Robertis' novel Gods of Tango features a 17-year-old widow, recently arrived from Italy with little besides a violin. It's Argentina, 1913 — and a magical new music fills the barrios.

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Books

NPR Bestsellers: Week Of July 2, 2015

11:42am July 06, 2015

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