Books

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Arts

Complex Stories Snap Together In 'This Must Be The Place'

7:00am July 19, 2016

by Heller McAlpin

Maggie O'Farrell's novel jumps between multiple storylines, points of view, times and places to tell the story of an American professor who meets a reclusive French actress on a lonely Irish road.

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Arts

Novelist Grapples With The Conflicted Feelings Of Caring For Aging Parents

1:54pm July 18, 2016

Author Cathleen Schine says that living far away from an elderly parent can create feelings of guilt as well as those of relief. Her darkly comic new novel is They May Not Mean To, But They Do.

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Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays.

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Why Does Cynthia Ozick Write? 'I Simply Must,' She Says

8:30am July 17, 2016

by NPR Staff

The versatile author says that, like queens, writers are born into their profession. In her new book, Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays, she examines current and past literature.

'Missing, Presumed' Chronicles Ups And Downs Of Dating ... And Detective Work

8:28am July 16, 2016

by NPR Staff

At the beginning of Susie Steiner's new thriller, a detective is on a date with a man whose name she can't remember. Not long after, a well-connected university student goes missing.

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'Stars' Is A Sequel That Goes A Bit Askew

8:00am July 16, 2016

by Jason Sheehan

In The Stars Askew, Rjurik Davidson returns to the world of Caeli-Amur, now trying to put itself back together after a revolution. But the story bogs down in plural narratives and political minutiae.

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Arts

Poets Take Cues From Journalism In Recent Collections

4:42pm July 15, 2016

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with our poetry reviewer Tess Taylor about three recent collections that take their cues from nonfiction, including Admit One by Martha Collins, Look by Solmaz Sharif and Olio by Tyehimba Jess.

Books
Arts

Like These Books? Here Are 60+ Things You Might Also Like ...

9:35am July 15, 2016

You know that feeling when you put down a great book and all you want is more? We took 27 recent books and paired them with movies, musicals, TV shows, comics and podcasts to keep your buzz going.

In 1964's The Best Man, presidential candidate and principled intellectual William Russell (Henry Fonda) competes with a TV-savvy opportunist at his (unspecified) party's convention.

What Do Contested Conventions Look Like? Ask Hollywood And Sinclair Lewis

6:53pm July 14, 2016

by Bob Mondello

Thanks to movies, novels and TV, Bob Mondello knows what a contested convention would be like: raucous crowd, oppressive din and (if movies are any guide) Angela Lansbury scheming in the corner.

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An Opera Percussionist Traces Her Path 'From Juilliard to the Orchestra Pit'

3:22pm July 14, 2016

Patti Niemi has been a percussionist for the San Francisco Opera Orchestra since 1992. She speaks with Fresh Air's Sam Briger about performance anxiety, muscle memory and her memoir, Sticking it Out.