Books

Tracey Stewart poses with Tweed and Gidget at Farm Sanctuary's Watkins Glen, N.Y., location. Stewart is the founder of the online magazine, Moomah.

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Arts

For Tracey Stewart, Life After The 'Daily Show' Is All About The Animals

3:29pm November 03, 2015

When they ran out of room for rescue animals in their home, Tracey Stewart and her husband, former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, bought a farm. Her new book is Do Unto Animals.

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Cover image of Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise.

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'Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise' Educates But Doesn't Entertain Its Readers

1:55pm November 03, 2015

by Maureen Corrigan

Oscar Hijuelos' posthumously published novel chronicles the friendship between Mark Twain and explorer Henry Morton Stanley. Maureen Corrigan says the book lacks the magic of Hijuelos' best work.

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Author John Irving says his new book was inspired by photos of young circus performers in India and Mexico.

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John Irving Always Knows Where He's Going

12:43pm November 03, 2015

by Lynn Neary

Irving's latest novel is Avenue of Mysteries. He tells NPR's Lynn Neary that he thinks about each book for a long time — and he doesn't start writing until he knows what the ending will be.

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Stephen Park in Steppenwolf Theatre's production of East of Eden.

Stephen Park On Playing A Code-Switching Character In Steinbeck's 'East Of Eden'

10:47am November 03, 2015

by Amy Yee

Park plays Lee, a Chinese servant with an interesting approach to getting by in America, in a new theatrical adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic.

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Arts

'White Road' Maps The History Of Porcelain

10:03am November 03, 2015

by Jean Zimmerman

While readers may not share Edmund de Waal's obsession with the precious clay (at one point, he crafts an exhibition of 2,455 white-glazed porcelain vessels), his writing makes the subject seductive.

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Making Sense Of A Scandal-Fractured Family In 'Houses'

7:03am November 03, 2015

by Michael Schaub

Karen Olsson's novel follows a woman who returns home to care for her ailing father, but also in the hopes that she can get him to open up about how the Iran-Contra scandal ended his career.

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Actress Illeana Douglas Recounts A Life 'Lived In And Out Of The Movies'

1:34pm November 02, 2015

The actress, who appeared in Six Feet Under and Cape Fear, discusses growing up on a commune, working with (and dating) Scorsese and her various acting gigs. Douglas' memoir is I Blame Dennis Hopper.

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'My Father's Guitar' Plays On Perception And Memory

1:09pm November 02, 2015

by Heller McAlpin

Joseph Skibell's new collection of personal essays is full of offbeat life lessons, moving from whimsy to weight. And, as he puts it, though the stories are true, they're full of "imaginary things."

Books

J.K. Rowling On Her Nom De Plume Robert Galbraith

10:21am November 02, 2015

What's in a name? A lot it turns out, if you are J.K. Rowling and want to write anonymously. She tells David Greene why she took a pseudonym to write a series of crime novels.

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J.K. Rowling Explores Perils Of Fame In New Robert Galbraith Novel 'Career Of Evil'

9:58am November 02, 2015

by NPR Staff

J.K. Rowling has just published her third mystery under the pseudonym. This time, detective Cormoran Strike and his beautiful assistant are battling a serial killer — and their own dark pasts.

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