Books

The All-Consuming World, by Cassandra Khaw

Books
Arts

You Haven't Read A Heist Novel Like This Before

8:01am September 12, 2021

by Jessica P. Wick

Cassandra Khaw's new novel follows a rag-tag band of criminals who have to pull together for one last heist — but in their hands, what could be an ordinary tale becomes visionary sci-fi adventure.

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Arts

A Boy Aims To Save His Mom — And Himself — In 'The War For Gloria'

7:00am September 11, 2021

by Martha Anne Toll

Atticus Lish's book opens a disturbing window into a teenager's battle to save his mother, our broken healthcare system — and the power that humans have to inflict harm on one another.

Books

Nigella Lawson On How To Find Peace While Cooking

5:12pm September 10, 2021

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with cookbook writer Nigella Lawson about her latest book Cook, Eat, Repeat and how to stop viewing cooking as tedious and, instead, find peace in the kitchen.

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Arts

'Beautiful World' Is Sally Rooney's Toughest, Most Sweeping Novel To Date

1:55pm September 09, 2021

by Maureen Corrigan

Beautiful World, Where Are You is a cerebral novel that traces the relationships between four characters, and shifts between themes of sex, friendship and life's dark uncertainty.

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Books for middle-grade readers to help better understand what happened on 9/11.

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Arts

Books Can Help Kids Learn About What Happened On 9/11. Here Are Some Good Ones

12:08pm September 09, 2021

by Juanita Giles

On 9/11, it was impossible to connect the dots for adults, nevermind children. Here are some books that can help kids try to understand that fateful date 20 years later.

Books

Some Novels And Short Stories That Have Been Inspired By The 9/11 Attacks

6:11am September 09, 2021

NPR's Rachel Martin talks with author Marlon James about how novelists have approached writing about the Sept. 11 attacks. He also has some reading recommendations.

Books

Pakistani Novelist Mohsin Hamid Explains What 9/11 Meant For Pakistan

5:19am September 09, 2021

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid about the sprawling and tragic effects of the war in Afghanistan. Hamid's novels include: The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Exit West.

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Arts

In 'Civilizations,' Inca Emperor Atahualpa Conquers 16th-Century Spain

5:00am September 09, 2021

by Lily Meyer

Laurent Binet seems to genuinely want to know to what extent conquest and the cruelty it inevitably produces are reducible, redeemable, or escapable. He also plainly wants to play around.

These three books provide a detailed accounting of events that have largely defined the U.S. role in the world in the first part of the 21st century.

3 Books — And 3 Lessons — 20 Years After 9/11

2:39pm September 08, 2021

by Greg Myre

These books provide a detailed accounting of events that have defined the U.S. role in the world in the first part of the 21st century. None makes for cheery reading, but all offer sobering lessons.

On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint, by Maggie Nelson

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Arts

Writer Maggie Nelson Asks What It Means To Feel Free

11:58am September 08, 2021

by Annalisa Quinn

In On Freedom's allusive, blunt, funny essays, the author of The Argonauts and The Art of Cruelty tries to imagine freedom as it exists in the contemporary contexts of art, sex, drugs, and climate.