Arts
In Vargas Llosa's Latest, Dickens Meets Soap Opera
The Peruvian Nobel Prize-winning writer, Mario Vargas Llosa, has a new novel out, and he's not resting on his laurels. It's an ambitious and weighty novel that's worth the effort.
Behold! The Cosmos Created From The Contents Of A Kitchen
From spices, flour, milk, water and food coloring, a photographer creates startlingly realistic-looking images of space. These photos are convincing enough to impress an astrophysicist.
'Test Kitchen': How To Make Vegetarian Dishes Pop With A Little Umami
Cooking with plant foods naturally high in compounds called glutamates can stimulate the same taste receptors that meat does. America's Test Kitchen explains in The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook.
From Ancient Sumeria To Chipotle Tacos, Cumin Has Spiced Up The World
Cumin has been popular since the dawn of written history: It's the only English word that can be traced directly back to Sumerian. Since then it has insinuated itself into cuisines around the world.
Pop Culture Happy Hour: Cultural Anniversaries And Great Things For Kids
On this week's show, live from NPR HQ, we talk with Guy Raz about anniversaries and kid things, and we rattle off our favorite happy-making things.
Terry Pratchett, Prolific Fantasy Author, Dies At 66
The Discworld series author had for years struggled with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Pratchett amassed a devoted following over four decades of writing — and dozens of novels.
How We Deal With Loss In Different Ways In Two Beautifully Written Memoirs
In Abigail Thomas' What Comes Next and How to Like It, the aging process robs the 70-something of beauty and energy. In H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald trains a goshawk after her father dies.
The Ecstatic, Erotic Joy Of Reading 'Girl In The Dark'
Anna Lyndsey's pseudonymous memoir of her severe light sensitivity is full of rich, sensuous language, all grounded in the ever-present limits of a body that keeps her to the margins of normal life.