Books

Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Eisenberg are friends navigating middle age in Fleishman is in Trouble.

Books
Arts

Middle age 'is a force you cannot fight,' warns 'Fleishman Is in Trouble' author

1:26pm January 11, 2023

by Tonya Mosley

Taffy Brodesser-Akner says the start of middle age hit her "like a truck." As her friends got divorced and began dating again, she was inspired to write a novel — which she's adapted for the screen.

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Author George M. Johnson wrote All Boys Aren't Blue, which is on the American Library Association's list of most banned books.

Author George M. Johnson: We must ensure access to those who need these stories most

9:22am January 11, 2023

by George M. Johnson

All Boys Aren't Blue, a memoir for teens and young adults about growing up Black and queer, appeared on many "best books" lists when published in 2020. It's being challenged in some U.S. counties.

What's the #1 thing to change to be happier? A top happiness researcher weighs in

5:18pm January 10, 2023

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Dr. Robert Waldinger, one of the authors of The Good Life: Lessons from the world's longest scientific study of happiness.

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Kashana Cauley writes about the unexplored perspective of Black survivalists

4:56pm January 10, 2023

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with author Kashana Cauley about her debut novel The Survivalists and putting her comedy background to work in writing about the unexplored perspective of Black survivalism.

Lauren Fleshman's memoir, Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World, is a memoir and a critique of how the sports world treats female athletes.

The sports world is still built for men. This elite runner wants to change that

1:28pm January 10, 2023

by Terry Gross

Champion distance runner Lauren Fleshman says too many coaches assume — falsely — that what works for male athletes also benefits female athletes. Her memoir is Good for a Girl.

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Russell Banks' 1985 breakout novel, Continental Drift, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He's pictured above in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in December 2007.

Books
Arts

Novelist Russell Banks, dead at age 82, found the mythical in marginal lives

11:04am January 10, 2023

by Brian Mann

The novelist, activist and short story writer explored the lives of the marginalized and the powerless in American life. He was known for his books, Cloudsplitter, Affliction and Continental Drift.

Books

Prince Harry's much talked about memoir 'Spare' is on bookstore shelves

5:07am January 10, 2023

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Martin Pengelly of The Guardian, who obtained a copy of Spare before it was published. The book has created a major scandal involving the British royal family.

Pico Iyer's 'The Half Known Life' upends the conventional travel genre

5:00am January 10, 2023

by Thúy Đinh

After years of traversing the globe as the Dalai Lama's biographer and observing how people struggle in searching for meaning, Iyer wonders what kind of paradise can be found in our fractious world.

Author Aubrey Gordon wants to change the way you think — and talk — about fat people

4:34pm January 09, 2023

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Aubrey Gordon about her new book "You Just Need To Lose Weight and 19 Other Myths About Fat People."

Books
Arts

'If I Survive You' author grew up feeling judged — and confused — by race

1:40pm January 09, 2023

by Terry Gross

Jonathan Escoffery grew up in Miami, the son of Jamaican immigrants. In a world where identity was linked to race, he says it was often confusing to figure out where he fit in.

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