Books

Russian soldiers take their position near the village of Shatoy, Chechnya.

Books
Arts

Transcending Hardships By Saving Others In 'Constellation'

12:05pm May 26, 2013

by NPR Staff

In his debut novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Anthony Marra takes readers to the war-torn republic of Chechnya. People disappear, informers betray and those with humanity endure great hardships.

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Pearl Buck was born in West Virginia but spent much of her childhood in China, where her parents worked as missionaries.

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A Lost And Found 'Wonder': Pearl S. Buck's Final Novel

6:15pm May 25, 2013

by NPR Staff

Before her death in 1973, Pearl S. Buck wrote one final novel. But The Eternal Wonder languished in a Texas storage unit for decades until its discovery last fall.

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Three-Minute Fiction Readings: 'Geometry' And 'Snowflake'

5:39pm May 25, 2013

NPR's Bob Mondello and Susan Stamberg read excerpts of two of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. They read Snowflake by Winona Wendth of Lancaster, Mass., and Geometry by Eugenie Montague of Los Angeles.

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'Steal The Menu': A Chronicle Of A Career In Food Coverage

1:19pm May 25, 2013

When Raymond Sokolov began writing about food, it was considered a specialty portfolio. Today, celebrity chefs abound in the U.S. and Britain, with cookbooks, TV shows and groupies. Host Scott Simon speaks with Sokolov about his new book, Steal the Menu: A Memoir of Forty Years in Food.

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Arthur Fiala, shown here in 1918 and 2005, was a private in the 26th Company of the 20th Engineers Regiment during World War I.

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Arts

A Race Against Time To Find WWI's Last 'Doughboys'

6:27am May 25, 2013

by NPR Staff

In 2003, Richard Rubin set out to talk to every American veteran of World War I he could find. With help from the French, he tracked down dozens of centenarian vets and recorded their stories in a new book called The Last of the Doughboys.

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Patricia Volk is an essayist, novelist and memoirist. She grew up in a restaurant-owning family in New York City.

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Arts

Beauty Marks: Patricia Volk's Lessons In Womanhood

12:12pm May 23, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

In her new memoir, Shocked, Volk examines the two women who had a lasting impact on her as she began to parse who she was as a woman: her beautiful, critical mother, Audrey Morgen Volk; and the famous — and unconventional — haute couture designer Elsa Schiaparelli.

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Books
Arts

Fictional 'Mothers' Reveal Facts Of A Painful Adoption Process

4:38pm May 22, 2013

After years trying to conceive, novelist Jennifer Gilmore and her husband decided to adopt. What they thought would be a relatively simple process was instead a long and painful one. In her latest novel, Gilmore channels these autobiographical experiences into fiction.

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Climate Change Takes Flight in New Novel

3:11pm May 21, 2013

Writer Barbara Kingsolver is one of a handful of novelists with a science background, and she puts it to use in her new novel Flight Behavior. Kingsolver discusses the book and why she chose to look at the the issue of climate change in a fictional work set in rural Tennessee. This interview was originally broadcast on November 9, 2012.

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Oliver Sacks: Hallucinations

3:11pm May 21, 2013

In his latest book Hallucinations, neurologist Oliver Sacks collects stories of individuals who can see, hear and smell things that aren't really there--such as strange voices, or collages of unrecognizable faces--and explores the disorders and drugs that can produce such illusions. This interview was originally broadcast on November 9, 2012.

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Courtside Chemistry: How NBA's Phil Jackson Won 'Eleven Rings'

11:13am May 21, 2013

by NPR Staff

Jackson is famous for his philosophical take on basketball and for the many stars he led to championship triumphs. He taught his players yoga and gave them assigned reading — but also pushed them to intensely practice fundamental skills. His new book looks back on a legendary coaching career.

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