Books

Leon Panetta says he and other top national security advisers to the president argued to keep some U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq after 2011.

Panetta: Fight Against Terrorism Will Be A Long, Sustained War

12:04pm October 07, 2014

In a new memoir, Leon Panetta says he and other presidential advisers argued to leave some U.S. forces in Iraq after 2011. That might have left Iraq in better position to fight ISIS, he tells NPR.

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'Ancillary Sword' Examines Life On The Fringes Of A Galactic Empire

11:23am October 07, 2014

by Genevieve Valentine

Ann Leckie's eagerly awaited sequel to last year's Ancillary Justice quickly wraps up dangling plot threads, and sends heroine Breq on a brand new adventure, this time at the helm of her own ship.

Security Lapses Trigger Questions About What Secret Service Agents Do

7:36am October 07, 2014

The lapses by the elite presidential detail shined a spotlight on the agency. What does an agent do in a day? To find out, Rachel Martin talks to ex-agent Dan Emmett, author of Within Arms Length.

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Agatha Christie, seen here in 1946, removes a book from the shelf at Greenway House, the home from which Jennifer Grant bought the trunk six decades later at an estate sale.

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Book News: Agatha Christie And The Secret Of The Lost Lockbox Jewels

7:28am October 07, 2014

by Colin Dwyer

Long hidden in a common trunk, Christie's family jewelry is now heading to auction. And the day's secrets don't end there: J.K. Rowling also stirred Twitter with a cryptic hint about her new book.

Marlon James' previous books include The Book of Night Women and John Crow's Devil.

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A 'Post-Post-Colonial' Take On The Violent Birth Of Modern Jamaica

2:22pm October 06, 2014

by NPR Staff

Marlon James' latest novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, is not brief, and it contains many more than seven deaths. It's a portrait of Jamaica in the '70s, when gang warfare and reggae reigned.

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Haruki Murakami's latest novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, was released in English in 2014.

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Book News: Murakami Drops A New Story, Just As Nobel Week Begins

7:13am October 06, 2014

by Colin Dwyer

In "Scheherazade," he tells the tale of a captive listener — in more ways than one. Also: A big week to come includes the Nobel Prize announcement, "Super Thursday" and several notable books.

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This 'Book Of Witches' Casts A Fascinating, Sobering Spell

9:33pm October 05, 2014

by Genevieve Valentine

A new Penguin compendium of documents relating to three centuries of witch trials lays the blame on fractured communities and cruel governments — and draws unsettling parallels to current events.

John Lanchester has previously written works of both fiction and nonfiction, including Capital and I.O.U.

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Deciphering The 'Priestly Mumbo-Jumbo' Of The Financial World

1:51pm October 05, 2014

by NPR Staff

If you're mystified by terms like "Libor," "stagflation" and "Grexit," you should pick up John Lanchester's new book, How To Speak Money, which aims to untangle the tortured language of finance.

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Jane Smiley's previous books includeÂ The Man Who Invented the Computer,Â Ten Days in the HillsÂ andÂ Private Life.

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For Her First Trilogy, Jane Smiley Returns To Iowa, 'Where The Roots Are'

1:51pm October 05, 2014

by Lynn Neary

Smiley used to live in Iowa and says something about the place still pulls on her imagination. Her new book, Some Luck, begins on a family farm in 1920.

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'Outpost': Stories Of Diplomacy In The World's Most Harrowing Places

1:51pm October 05, 2014

Former Ambassador Christopher Hill has written his memoir, Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks to Hill about his tenure as a diplomat in Iraq.

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