Burt Bacharach: 'Never Be Afraid Of Something That You Can Whistle'
The award-winning songwriter speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the value of melody, and writing a song about rain for a movie scene that had none.
Books
'Shocked': Patricia Volk's Memoir About Beauty And Its Beholders
Even as a child, Patricia Volk knew she would never measure up to her strikingly beautiful mother. But after reading the memoir of fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, Volk found a new understanding of beauty that had more to do with personality than a pretty face.
Through Art And Industry, Chicago Shaped America
Blues, jazz and gospel; a civil rights movement that began with the Emmett Till case; modern glass and steel buildings that dared the sky. In Third Coast, Thomas Dyja writes that "the most profound aspects of American Modernity grew up out of the flat, prairie land next to Lake Michigan."
From A Debut Writer, A Polished, Passionate, Must-Read Book
Anthony Marra's debut novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, takes place in war-torn Chechnya — a world of perpetual violence, fear and exploding land mines. But reviewer Meg Wolitzer says the characters are so vivid and the language so brilliant you want to stay there.
Vibrant 'Club' Links Two Countries In Award-Winning Book
Benjamin Alire Saenz won this year's PEN/Faulkner award for his latest collection of short stories, Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club. The real-life Kentucky Club is just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, and Saenz joined a reporter there to talk about life in two countries.
'Wonderful Words' In Willa Cather's No-Longer-Secret Letters
Willa Cather's will forbade the publication of her private letters, but that will has now expired. The Selected Letters of Willa Cather contains more than 500 missives — including one that details the real-life story behind Cather's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, One of Ours.
Godwin's 'Flora': A Tale Of Remorse That Creeps Under Your Skin
The latest novel from three-time National Book Award finalist Gail Godwin takes inspiration from Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. Both stories take place in isolated old houses, and both revolve around mental contests between a governess character and her young charge.
A Tale From The Delta, Born Of The Blues
Bill Cheng's debut novel, Southern Cross the Dog, is full of mythical characters who feel like they rose right out of the Mississippi Swamp, and narratives that churn and swirl like the river itself. Cheng calls the novel "a love note to those old blues players."
A 'Decadent And Depraved' Derby With Hunter S. Thompson
Illustrator Ralph Steadman had never heard of Hunter S. Thompson before he flew to Churchill Downs on assignment to cover the Kentucky Derby. But after an unforgettable, booze-ridden weekend with the writer, Steadman's life was never the same.
Advice For New Dads From A Veteran Father Of Four
Novelist Clyde Edgerton has four kids; one is an adult, and the other three are all younger than 10. His new book, Papadaddy's Book for New Fathers, is a guide for dads that's written from his perspective as an older father. Pay heed, expectant fathers: Install that car seat now.