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Too Much 'Word,' Not Enough 'Nerd' In This Scrabble Story

10:15am June 17, 2015

by Heller McAlpin

Professional Scrabble fan John D. Williams' new memoir is chock full of interesting tidbits (like lists of important words with Q, X and J) but gets bogged down in tedious biographical detail.

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'Modern Romance:' Love In The Age Of Demography

7:03am June 17, 2015

by Jason Sheehan

Aziz Ansari did a lot of demographic research — yes, you read that right — for his new book, and the result is an uneasy but occasionally entertaining hybrid of hard data and too-sparse comedy.

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Who's That Batgirl? 'Burnside' Charms Despite Stumbles

8:07pm June 16, 2015

by Etelka Lehoczky

Barbara Gordon gets a perky makeover in the new Batgirl Vol. 1. Critic Etelka Lehoczky says the series is a clever exploration of identity in the digital age, but suffers from occasional cluelessness.

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We're All Looking For A Home 'In The Country'

7:31pm June 16, 2015

by Michael Schaub

Many of the characters in Mia Alvar's debut story collection are outcasts looking for love and a home — but critic Michael Schaub says it's hard to condense this impressive book into just one theme.

In his new book One Man Against the World, Tim Weiner explores some of the questions surrounding the presidency of Richard Nixon, pictured above in the Oval Office on Feb. 19, 1970.

Fueled By Fear, How Richard Nixon Became 'One Man Against The World'

4:52pm June 16, 2015

In his new book, New York Times journalist Tim Weiner paints a portrait of a president overwhelmed by wars at home and abroad, whose self-destructive behavior resulted in "political suicide."

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Kate Atkinson says she never sees her characters at just one stage of their lives. Just as we are constantly thinking about the past, present and future in real life, she constructs her characters in the same way.

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Kate Atkinson Tells Book Club How She Crafts Characters At All Life Stages

4:24pm June 16, 2015

In A God in Ruins, Atkinson jumps forward and backward in time, telling the story of characters as children, parents and grandparents. "We don't just live in this moment," she says.

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Bloomsday enthusiasts get into the sartorial spirit of Ulysses in the novel's native town, Dublin.

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Merry Bloomsday! For Communion With Joyce, Raise A Sacramental Guinness

2:25pm June 16, 2015

by Colin Dwyer

To honor the day that James Joyce's character Leopold Bloom wandered the streets in Ulysses, fans the world over have found fitting ways to celebrate — boisterously, and often reverent with obscenity.

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'Modern Romance' And The Emerging Audiobook

11:18am June 16, 2015

by Linda Holmes

Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance is a good example of an audiobook that finds new ways to play with format and style in a way that builds a separate performance rather than just reading aloud.

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'You Couldn't Make This Stuff Up': Inside The Lives Of The 'China Rich'

1:06pm June 15, 2015

by NPR Staff

Kevin Kwan's novel China Rich Girlfriend is inspired by real, young Asian billionaires who live in the lap of luxury, spending fortunes on outfits and sports cars. "It's all ripe for parody," he says.

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book jacket art cropped detailPermission Line reads:"Pulpit Rock, Echo Cañon, Utah, 1900 by William Henry Jackson. Used by permission of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta."

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'Meteor' Is A Fiery Ride Through American History

7:03am June 14, 2015

by Alan Cheuse

Norman Lock's new novel takes readers on a breathlessly-paced tour of the Old West, from the point of view of a former Civil War bugle boy who tags along with some of the era's legendary characters.