Books

Books

'Vegetables In Underwear' And Other Laugh Out Loud Book Ideas For Kids

4:33pm August 13, 2018

by Audie Cornish

Children's book author Jon Scieszka shares his kid-friendly reading recommendations. His list includes an irreverent baby book, two great series, and the "Funniest. Stories. Ever."

Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine by Kevin Wilson.

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Arts

With Wit And Sadness, 'Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine' Has Echoes Of Salinger

1:59pm August 13, 2018

by Maureen Corrigan

Critic Maureen Corrigan says Kevin Wilson's funny, raw, beautiful writing reminds her of J. D. Salinger. He starts with a goofy premise and then draws deep emotional truths.

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Sire Records Co-Founder Seymour Stein Reflects On Life In 'The Pursuit Of Music'

1:59pm August 13, 2018

by Terry Gross

In his autobiography, Siren Song, Stein writes about how he started out in the music business as a teen before going on to sign groundbreaking artists like Talking Heads, Madonna, Ice-T and k.d. lang.

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Night of the Living Dummy, by R.L. Stine

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Like 'Goosebumps?' Here's Another 30 Years' Worth Of Horror For Kids

10:00am August 12, 2018

by Grady Hendrix

From the late '60s to the rise of Harry Potter in the late '90s, horror fiction had a hold on young readers, and there was something to scare everyone, from realistic thrillers to possessed dummies.

Books

Twin Private Investigators In 'This Body's Not Big Enough For The Both Of Us'

8:13am August 12, 2018

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Edgar Cantero about his book This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us. It stars A.Z. Kimrean, a brother and a sister — twins — trapped in the same body.

cover image for The Line That Held Us by David Joy

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Arts

'The Line That Held Us': Noir In Appalachia

8:13am August 12, 2018

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Novelist David Joy, whose books chronicle the rural, working-class South of his own milieu, has penned a new book where a hunting accident triggers a thriller of violent vengeance.

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Arts

'Baghdad Noir' Presents A City Of Diverse Experiences

7:00am August 12, 2018

by Bethanne Patrick

Akashic Books' Noir series visits Baghdad for its latest installment, and the talented writers collected here manage to wrest compelling noir from a place that's plenty dark already.

V.S. Naipaul, seen here in 1968, once told NPR, "It's important to avoid the wallow. It repels the reader."

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Arts

V.S. Naipaul, Controversial Author And Nobel Laureate, Dies At 85

10:05pm August 11, 2018

by Lynn Neary

Naipaul was born in Trinidad, and his relationship to his birthplace was nothing if not complicated. He was often criticized for the way he depicted developing countries in his novels.

A scene from Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford by artist Hugh Thomson.

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Arts

'The Victorian And The Romantic' Attempts To Link Writers Through The Ages

10:17am August 11, 2018

by Annalisa Quinn

Nell Stevens's new memoir is an uneven but pleasant book that braids her story of doing a PhD amid an uneasy love affair with imaginary scenes from the life of her 19th century research subject.

Understanding Horizontal Gene Transfer In 'The Tangled Tree'

8:19am August 11, 2018

NPR's Scott Simon asks science writer David Quammen about horizontal gene transfer and how it changes how we think about humankind's place in the world. Quammen's new book is The Tangled Tree.