Books

Jane Curtin, from left, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner and Laraine Newman in February 1978.

Books
Arts

From SNL To SpongeBob, Laraine Newman Chronicles 'Interesting Times'

5:59am March 11, 2021

by Elizabeth Blair

Newman was a founding member of the improv group The Groundlings and an original Saturday Night Live cast member. She's voiced dozens of animated characters and has just published a new audio memoir.

The Postscript Murders, by Elly Griffiths

Books
Arts

Books Hold The Key To 'The Postscript Murders'

5:45pm March 10, 2021

by Mary Louise Kelly

The woman who turns up dead at the start of Elly Griffiths' new novel billed herself as a "murder consultant" for writers. Griffiths says she was inspired by her aunt, who enjoys thinking up murders.

Books
Arts

In 'The Empathy Diaries,' Sherry Turkle Considers The Burden Of Family Secrets

1:45pm March 10, 2021

by Dave Davies

MIT professor Sherry Turkle was 27 when she learned that her estranged father had conducted psychological experiments on her when she was a child. She looks back on her childhood in a new memoir.

Queue Listen Now

Reality and Other Stories, by John Lanchester

Books
Arts

Story Collection Puts A Ghostly Spin On Digital 'Reality'

12:58pm March 10, 2021

by Maureen Corrigan

Cell phones, social media and smart houses feature prominently in John Lanchester's Reality and Other Stories. A year into the pandemic, the collection speaks eerily to our tech-dependent lives.

Books
Arts

The Weird World Of 'Cosmogony' Is Immensely Inviting

7:00am March 10, 2021

by Lily Meyer

In her first collection, Lucy Ives proves herself — and we mean this as a compliment — a real literary weirdo. Her stories are strange without ever performing strangeness, baffling yet precise.

Books
Arts

'The Ghost Variations': A Different Take On What It Means To Be Haunted

7:34pm March 09, 2021

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Kevin Brockmeier about The Ghost Variations, a collection of 100 ghost stories that ponders what haunts us in this life and might make us linger in the next.

Queue Listen Now

Katie Engelhart details the right-to-die movement in her new book, The Inevitable. She says that many patients in the U.S. are forced to act alone, without telling friends and family, because they fear their loved ones will be prosecuted after the fact.

Inside The Fight For The Right To Die: Logistical And Ethical Challenges

3:46pm March 09, 2021

by Terry Gross

Katie Engelhart explores the complexity of physician-assisted death in the book The Inevitable. She says patients seeking to end their own lives sometimes resort to veterinary drugs from overseas.

Queue Listen Now

"There is no such thing as a difficult word," said Norton Juster, author of The Phantom Tollbooth. "There are only words you don't know yet — the kind of liberating words that Milo encounters on his adventure."

Books
Arts

'Phantom Tollbooth' Author Norton Juster Dies At 91

1:12pm March 09, 2021

by Andrew Limbong

Norton Juster, author of the beloved children's book "The Phantom Tollbooth" died yesterday at 91, due to complications from a recent stroke.

Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York, by Elon Green

Books
Arts

The Victims, Rather Than The Killer, Are At The Center Of 'Last Call'

10:53am March 09, 2021

by Ilana Masad

The victims of the man dubbed the "Last Call Killer" were all gay men; Elon Green tries to shine a light onto their complicated lives, the messiness of who they were, and an era of queer life in NYC.

Books
Arts

A Small Village Takes On Big Oil In 'How Beautiful We Were'

7:00am March 09, 2021

by Tochi Onyebuchi

Imbolo Mbue's new novel is set in an unnamed country that could be any West African nation beset by international oil companies — and yet, it's a story of rebellion and rebirth, not calamity.