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The Story Of 'Manhattan Beach' Lives In Its Details

1:08pm October 05, 2017

by Tasha Robinson

Jennifer Egan's new novel, set in New York in the 1930s and 1940s, is full of deeply researched period detail and rich, memorable characters — though their motivations don't always add up.

Kazuo Ishiguro, seen here in 2010, has won the 2017 Nobel Prize for literature.

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Kazuo Ishiguro Wins Nobel Prize In Literature

11:11am October 05, 2017

by Bill Chappell

Kazuo Ishiguro was 5 when his family moved from Japan to Britain; he has said that as a kid, he used TV Westerns — like Bonanza and Wagon Train -- to help him learn English.

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'Dunbar' Is A Moving, Brutal And Apt Update Of 'King Lear'

10:00am October 05, 2017

by Annalisa Quinn

For centuries, Shakespeare's tragedy was too painful for audiences; it was performed with an altered happy ending. But Edward St. Aubyn has never flinched at inflicting pain on his readers.

Books

British Writer Kazuo Ishiguro Wins Nobel Prize In Literature

9:48am October 05, 2017

by Lynn Neary

The Swedish Academy has chosen Kazuo Ishiguro as the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday morning. Ishiguro's most well-known work is likely The Remains of the Day, a 1989 novel.

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No Shortlist Of Nominees For The Nobel Prize In Literature

4:47pm October 04, 2017

by Lynn Neary

Every year, speculation spreads from the literati to the betting houses and every year many of the same names turn up on the list of potential winners.

Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City, by Julia Wertz

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'Tenements, Towers & Trash' Brings Clean Lines To The City Of Failure

2:46pm October 04, 2017

by Etelka Lehoczky

Julia Wertz's loving, obsessively detailed visual history of the less-distinguished corners of New York City celebrates charming flops, long-gone businesses and dusty corners where dreams go to die.

On May 27, 1963, Ali (known then as Cassius Clay) held up five fingers in a prediction of how many rounds it would take him to win against British boxer Henry Cooper. In June 1963, he fulfilled his prediction and was declared the bout winner after five ro

New Muhammad Ali Biography Reveals A Flawed Rebel Who Loved Attention

2:29pm October 04, 2017

by Dave Davies

"I don't think we do Ali any good by treating him as a saint," says biographer Jonathan Eig. "He was a human being, and he was deeply flawed, but ... he had the spirit of a rebel."

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'Greater Gotham: A History Of New York City From 1898 To 1919' by Mike Wallace

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'Greater Gotham' Is A Great Big Book For A Great Big City

2:27pm October 04, 2017

by Jean Zimmerman

The second volume in Mike Wallace's Pulitzer-winning history of New York City weighs in at over six pounds — and every ounce is packed with fascinating detail about the city that never sleeps.

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Arts

Here Are The Finalists For The 2017 National Book Awards

8:57am October 04, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

The National Book Foundation winnowed the list of contenders for its literary prize to just 20 — or five finalists each in four categories. Among them are Jesmyn Ward, Min Jin Lee and Frank Bidart.

Telling Time: Ta-Nehisi Coates On The History That Continues To Haunt America

1:12pm October 03, 2017

The writer discusses his journalism, comics, the transition from Presidents Obama to Trump and more.