Books

Books
Arts

In 'Tasha,' a son tries to make sense of his smart, difficult mother

10:18am April 27, 2022

by Maureen Corrigan

In this droll, emotionally wrenching and profound memoir, novelist Brian Morton attempts to see his mother as a whole person — not just in relation to him, or, God forbid, as an eccentric "character."

Queue Listen Now

Delegate Danica Roem applauds visitors during opening ceremonies at the start of the 2019 session of the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond. The Virginia lawmaker, the first openly transgender U.S. state legislator, has written a new memoir in which sh

Danica Roem did opposition research on herself. It's one way she reclaimed her story

7:22am April 27, 2022

The Virginia lawmaker is the first openly transgender U.S. state legislator. In her new memoir, she embraces the idea of using what was written about her to empower her to tell her story.

Queue Listen Now

Volume 58 is the latest in the Saga series that has been running for a decade now.

Books

Radical pacifism and violence collide in one family's epic sci-fi 'Saga'

5:00am April 27, 2022

by Mallory Yu

There's a frog playing drums, an alien on guitar and a humanoid with a TV for a head on vocals. If the cover of the Saga comic seems a bit confusing, you have some catching up to do.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'Nettle & Bone' creates a once-upon-a-time that is familiar, yet original

5:00am April 27, 2022

by Caitlyn Paxson

T. Kingfisher treats source material like a buffet; the result feels like a cozy but still perilous D&D adventure, full of found-family, second chances, and winks to the folklore that inspired it.

Danica Roem's new book shares her journey from 'closet-case trans girl' to legislator

4:58pm April 26, 2022

by Juana Summers

Danica Roem is a trailblazing figure as the first openly trans person elected to a state legislature in the U.S. Her new "memoir-meets-manifesto" explores her personal and political journey.

Among the books banned in Llano County, Texas, public libraries were: Robie H. Harris's It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health; Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents; and Maurice Sendak's In the Night

In a lawsuit, a group of Texas library patrons says a book ban amounts to censorship

4:11pm April 26, 2022

by Joe Hernandez

Llano County officials said they wanted to remove "pornographic" material from libraries but actually censored books based on political and religious grounds, the library patrons' lawsuit says.

Books
Arts

CNN anchor Zain Asher looks back on the tragedy that helped drive her success

1:27pm April 26, 2022

by Dave Davies

Asher's father died in a car crash in Nigeria when she was 5. Afterward, her mom raised four children on her own in a crime-ridden London neighborhood. Asher's memoir is Where the Children Take Us.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'Slaves for Peanuts' weaves a complex story crossing time and oceans

11:16am April 25, 2022

by Martha Anne Toll

Jori Lewis tells eye-opening stories of individuals despite scant historical record. At the outset she asks: "How do we tell the stories of people that history forgets and the present avoids?"

Books

What qualities make an audiobook good?

9:39am April 24, 2022

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks Book Riot contributing editor Kendra Winchester what makes a good audiobook good, and what memoirs are great to listen to.

Queue Listen Now

The pandemic inspired a cartoonist to explore their Wuhanese roots and queer identity

8:41am April 24, 2022

by Malaka Gharib

In the funny and heartfelt coming-of-age graphic memoir 'Messy Roots,' artist Laura Gao unpacks their relationship with their Asianness, queerness and their ever-changing home city of Wuhan.