Book News: Author J. California Cooper, Whose Simple Prose Drew Acclaim, Dies
The playwright-turned-novelist had a conversational style that made even vast themes feel intimate.
Books
In 'Afterworlds,' A Teen Imagines Worlds Within Worlds
Scott Westerfeld's latest book is about a teen who writes her own YA novel. Westerfeld alternates chapters about her life with chapters of her novel. This book honors YA tropes as it subverts them.
A Feisty Writer Spars With Her Young Protege
Brian Morton's Florence Gordon is about the relationship between a tough, 75-year-old feminist icon and her granddaughter. It's self-aware, funny and full of characters that are entirely believable.
After WWI, A Mother And Daughter Must Take In 'Paying Guests'
Sarah Waters' spellbinding novel — about two women in 1920s London — is no simple period piece. Waters is a superb storyteller with a gift for capturing the layered nuances of character and mood.
A Poet Parses The Legacy Of War In 'My Life As A Foreign Country'
When award-winning poet Brian Turner served in the Army, he was following a long family tradition. His new memoir traces that history — and imagines the perspectives of the people shooting back.
Book News: Gabriel Garcia Marquez Books Go Digital
Nine of the late writer's works are coming out as e-books in English. Also: a survey shows (again) a lack of diversity in publishing, and Ray Bradbury's ode-worthy gardening tool gets an asking price.
'My Life' Asks: How Do You Leave A War Behind?
Poet Brian Turner's My Life as a Foreign Country is a lyrical, haunting memoir of his military family, his service in Bosnia and Iraq, and the struggle he faced to adjust to life on the home front.
Former BP CEO: 'Glass Closet' Still Holds Many Gay Workers Back
There's a presumption in the business world that everyone's straight, says John Browne, who hid his homosexuality for years. In his new book, he says it's time for a change in corporate culture.
New Poet Laureate: 'The Meaning Has Always Stayed The Same'
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Wright, who will serve as the next poet laureate, tells NPR's Melissa Block that his inspirations — landscape, language and God — have stayed constant for 50 years.
An 'Epilogue' That Makes Sense Of The Chaos Of Memory
In his episodic memoir, Will Boast meets the siblings he never knew while navigating family deaths and secrets. Critic Ellah Allfrey finds Epilogue conceptually ambitious, but lacking in execution.