Books

In Memoir, Linda Ronstadt Describes Her 'Simple Dreams'

10:37am October 30, 2013

Last month, Ronstadt revealed that she has Parkinson's disease and can no longer sing. Her new memoir, Simple Dreams, reflects on a long career. In this conversation with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, she offers frank insights on sex, drugs, and why "competition was for horse races."

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Johnny Cash: The Life delves more deeply into Cash's dark side than the 2005 film Walk the Line.

Biography Doesn't Hold Back On Darkest Years Of 'The Man In Black'

7:49am October 30, 2013

by NPR Staff

Through all the pain and redemption, "Johnny Cash was a good man," author Robert Hilburn tells NPR's David Greene. Hilburn's new biography of the late country singer is titled Johnny Cash: The Life.

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Books
Arts

Botched Investigation Fuels Kennedy Conspiracy Theories

3:11pm October 28, 2013

It's been 50 years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and polls show that a majority of Americans still believe Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy, not a lone assassin. Philip Shenon, author of A Cruel and Shocking Act, explores what keeps these conspiracy theories alive.

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Arts

One Way For An Indie Bookstore To Last? Put Women 'First'

5:59pm October 27, 2013

by Cheryl Corley

Women and Children First has weathered more than three decades of competition from chain stores and online booksellers to become one of the largest feminist bookstores in the U.S. Now, the Chicago store is among the few of its kind left standing — and it's on the hunt for new ownership.

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Arts

'We Walk In Circles,' Pursuing Dreams And Finding Creativity

5:59pm October 27, 2013

by NPR Staff

Daniel Alarcon's new novel is set in an unnamed, war-scarred Latin American country. The protagonist, Nelson, is an aspiring playwright — though he doesn't pursue his dreams with much diligence. Alarcon discusses his own views on working as an artist and his creative process.

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Arts

Drawing Rock 'N' Roll And Sympathy Into Frankenstein's World

8:01pm October 26, 2013

by NPR Staff

In his graphic novel adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein, illustrator Gris Grimly says he wants to make the story more accessible. "The first time I tried to read Frankenstein, I didn't get through it," he says.

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France's government has taken legal steps to protect the country's independent booksellers from behemoths like Amazon. It already prohibits discounts of more than 5 percent on books. Now it's considering a law that would not allow online retailers like Am

Little 'Libraires' That Could: French Law Would Keep Amazon At Bay

7:55pm October 25, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

A proposed law in France prevents online booksellers like Amazon from pricing books at deep discounts. It's the French government's latest effort to protect the country's many independent bookshops.

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Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire cover

Books
Arts

Lush, Urgent Poems On Protest And Pumpkins Set Language 'On Fire'

7:55pm October 25, 2013

by Tess Taylor

At first glance, poet Tess Taylor was skeptical of Brenda Hillman's 17-year, four-book series of poems on the elements. But Taylor fell for the strange and spiraling verses in Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire, which was longlisted for the National Book Award. "I commend you to this lively, defiant, blazing book," she says.

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Hong Kong director Tsui Hark's latest film, Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, just hit cinemas in Asia.

Before Sherlock: An Ancient Chinese Sleuth's Enduring Appeal

12:19pm October 25, 2013

by Anthony Kuhn

The sleuthing exploits of Judge Dee, a character based on a seventh-century Chinese official, are gripping new audiences as new generations of writers, movie directors and storytellers tell his tale and build on his legend. His stories continue to inform ordinary Chinese people's understanding of justice and law.

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J.D. Salinger wrote nine letters and postcards to aspiring Canadian writer Marjorie Sheard.

Books
Arts

Pen Pal Of Young 'Jerry' Salinger May Have Been First To Meet Holden

9:47am October 25, 2013

by Susan Stamberg

From 1941 to 1943, J.D. Salinger exchanged letters with a young, aspiring writer in Toronto named Marjorie Sheard. The letters predate Catcher in the Rye, but Sheard may have been one of the first people to learn about its eventual protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Sheard's letters from Salinger are on display at the Morgan Library in New York.

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