Books

Books
Arts

In 'Red Pyramid,' Kid Heroes Take On Ancient Egypt

5:43pm December 19, 2012

by NPR Staff

Our latest pick for NPR's Backseat Book Club is The Red Pyramid, a tale of two kids who must rescue the world from Egyptian gods. Author Rick Riordan, a former schoolteacher, combined his obsession with books with his passion for mythology to write this book about ordinary kids doing heroic things.

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Books

Walking Through Life As 'The Pastor'

3:18pm December 17, 2012

Saturday on weekends on All Things Considered, host Guy Raz spoke with Pastor Eugene Peterson about his keeping faith in times of tragedy. Due to an overwhelming response from the audience following that conversation, the show is airing a rebroadcast of his initial interview with host Guy Raz from 2011. In that interview, Peterson talked about his memoir, The Pastor. (This piece initially aired March 6, 2011 on weekends on All Things Considered.)

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In a new memoir, jazz guitarist and son of jazz legend Bucky Pizzarelli tells stories from growing up in a musical household and making a name for himself as a musician.

'World On A String': John Pizzarelli Jazzes It Up

1:13pm December 14, 2012

In his new book, the guitarist, singer and songwriter shares stories from life growing up in a musical household and talks about collaborating and sharing the stage with the likes of Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra and Paul McCartney.

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10 Books To Help You Recover From A Tense 2012

2:48pm December 13, 2012

by Maureen Corrigan

2012 was a very jittery year — what with the presidential election, extreme weather events and the looming "fiscal cliff." Fresh Air critic Maureen Corrigan found that her favorite fiction and nonfiction this year directly confronted the atmospheric uncertainty of the age.

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Historian David Nasaw's new biography of Joseph P. Kennedy unpacks the patriarch's full story.

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Joseph Kennedy, 'Patriarch' Of An American Dynasty

4:03pm December 12, 2012

In a new book, biographer David Nasaw profiles the father of Robert, John and Teddy, and unpacks the elder Kennedy's influence on his children. "He told them over and over again, 'I'm making all this money so you don't have to make money, so that you can go into public service,' " Nasaw says.

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Oprah's Book Club Turns Over A New Page

5:58am December 12, 2012

by Lynn Neary

Oprah Winfrey says her Book Club grew out of a desire to talk to authors after finishing their books. While the original version of the club ended when Winfrey's television show went off the air in 2011, it has now been rebooted online and on the new Oprah Winfrey Network as Book Club 2.0.

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Thomas Ricks argues that the failures of today's military can be traced back to the Vietnam War.

Books

Tracing Military Failures, Holding 'The Generals' Accountable

4:26pm December 11, 2012

In The Generals, Thomas Ricks examines U.S. military leadership from World War Two to the present day. He concludes that the mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan can be traced to the Army's inability to come to terms with all the lessons of Vietnam.

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The Feds Can Tell Ernest Hemingway's Cats What To Do; Here's Why

11:06am December 11, 2012

by Mark Memmott

Cats descended from one given to the writer live at the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum in Key West. A visitor filed a complaint with the law. Now, judges have said the U.S. Department of Agriculture can regulate those felines. Yes, Hemingway's cats are a federal case. It's a long story.

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Ayana Mathis is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is her debut novel.

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Arts

Oprah's Second Pick: A First-Time Novelist

10:55am December 11, 2012

by Lynn Neary

Oprah Winfrey's second pick for her rebooted book club is The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, by first-time novelist Ayana Mathis. It's a chronicle of the Great Migration of African-Americans leaving the rural South, following a family matriarch who leaves Georgia to start a new life in Philadelphia.

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Lemony Snicket Dons A Trenchcoat

1:53pm December 10, 2012

In Who Could That Be at This Hour?, a prequel to A Series of Unfortunate Events, Daniel Handler satirizes pulp mysteries and uncovers the parallels between detective fiction and childhood. In both, he says, an outsider is trying to make his way in a mysteriously corrupt world.

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