Books

Books

A new book traces the life of Fu Pei-mei, who brought Chinese food to the world

8:11am May 11, 2024

by Scott Simon

Michelle T. King's new book is about a pioneering cook who brought Chinese food to the world, Fu Pei-mei. NPR's Scott Simon talks with King about her and about the book, "Chop Fry Watch Learn."

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Arts

'Women and Children First' is a tale about how actions and choices affect others

8:00am May 11, 2024

by Kristen Martin

The puzzle of a girl's death propels Alina Grabowski's debut novel but, really, it's less about the mystery and more about how our actions impact each other, especially when we think we lack agency.

Author Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses 'The Sympathizer' and his escape from Vietnam

1:31pm May 10, 2024

by Terry Gross

Nguyen and his family fled their village in South Vietnam in 1975. Now his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has been adapted into a series on HBO and MAX. Originally broadcast in 2016.

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Arts

A 19th-century bookbinder struggles with race and identity in 'The Library Thief'

12:50pm May 10, 2024

by Keishel Williams

In her debut novel taking place in the Victorian era, Kuchenga Shenjé explores the expectations that arise when society demands that every group be neatly categorized.

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Arts

Silence and secrets permeate an immigrant enclave in Colm Tóibín's 'Long Island'

1:27pm May 09, 2024

by Maureen Corrigan

Tóibín's latest, a sequel to his 2009 novel, Brooklyn, is a devastating portrait of an Irish immigrant whose Italian American husband is expecting a baby with another woman.

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Rod Serling enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating high school. He trained to be a paratrooper and was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division's 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment

A WWII story by The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling is published for the first time

5:00am May 09, 2024

by Elizabeth Blair

Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling was a paratrooper during WWII. After the war, he wrote a short story inspired by the experience. It's now being published for the first time in The Strand.

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Juli Min begins with the future to understand the past in her novel 'Shanghailanders'

5:39pm May 08, 2024

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with author Juli Min about her new book Shanghailanders, which unspools the story of a family in reverse.

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From tweet to three-book deal, this author wants to transform the fantasy genre

5:28pm May 08, 2024

by Kathryn Fink

A new young adult novel called Blood at the Root follows a Black teen learning to harness his ancestral magic. Before it was a novel, it was a failed TV pilot. Before that, it was a tweet.

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Arts

Magic, secrets, and urban legend: 3 new YA fantasy novels to read this spring

2:37pm May 08, 2024

by Caitlyn Paxson

A heist with a social conscience, a father using magic for questionable work, an urban legend turned sleepover dare: These new releases explore protagonists embracing the magic within themselves.

Books

What's the cash value of being white? A white woman poses the question about herself

5:18am May 08, 2024

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with author Tracie McMillan, whose journalistic memoir — The White Bonus — examines the cash value of institutional racism in the United States.