Books

Books
Arts

Post-Ron Swanson, Nick Offerman Has The 'Gumption' To Be Himself

10:46am May 26, 2015

by NPR Staff

"I've never accused myself of being manly," Offerman says, noting his real-life persona is different from his Parks and Recreation character. His book is a set of essays about people who inspire him.

Queue Listen Now

Mat Johnson is the author of Pym, Drop, Hunting in Harlem and The Great Negro Plot as well as several graphic novels including Incognegro, Dark Rain and Right State.

Books
Arts

Novelist Mat Johnson Explores The 'Optical Illusion' Of Being Biracial

9:34am May 26, 2015

by NPR Staff

Johnson, the son of an African-American mother and an Irish-American father, has just written Loving Day, a funny, sometimes absurd look at what it means to grow up mixed heritage in the U.S.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

This Weekend, Navigate The Changing World Of 'Vikram Lall'

11:15am May 24, 2015

by NPR Staff

M.G. Vassanji's book, The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, wrestles with questions of identity in a story about a young Indian boy coming of age in 1950s Kenya, a time of great political unrest.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'Dietland': A 'Fight Club' For Women That Reclaims The Word 'Fat'

9:48pm May 23, 2015

by NPR Staff

Sarai Walker's new novel centers on Alicia "Plum" Kettle, a 20-something writer who's saving up for weight loss surgery when she joins an underground feminist collective.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'Mislaid' Punctures Notions Of Gender And Race

9:48pm May 23, 2015

In Nell Zink's new book, Mislaid, a young woman marries her male professor. It's 1965. She likes women; he likes men. What follows is a biting satire about gender, race and sexuality.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

What If The Drought Doesn't End? 'The Water Knife' Is One Possibility

9:48pm May 23, 2015

by NPR Staff

It's Chinatown meets Mad Max in writer Paolo Bacigalupi's new desert dystopia, filled with climate refugees, powerful state border patrols, and secret agents called water knives.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

How 'Gatsby' Went From A Moldering Flop To A Great American Novel

4:20pm May 22, 2015

In So We Read On, Maureen Corrigan looks at the story behind The Great Gatsby, from F. Scott Fitzgerald's life to the era in which it's set. Originally broadcast Sept. 8, 2014.

Queue Listen Now

Books

NPR Bestsellers: Week Of May 21, 2015

4:03pm May 22, 2015

The lists are compiled from weekly surveys of close to 500 independent bookstores nationwide.

Books

NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Fiction, Week Of May 21, 2015

4:03pm May 22, 2015

In Anne Enright's The Green Road, Rosaleen Madigan's four grown children find themselves reunited under their mother's roof after she announces she's selling their childhood home. It debuts at No. 14.

Books

NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Nonfiction, Week Of May 21, 2015

4:03pm May 22, 2015

Photographer Sally Mann tells her family's history through images and words in Hold Still. It debuts at No. 8.