Arts & Life

Dave Grohl performs onstage during the taping of the 2021 "Vax Live" fundraising concert at the in Inglewood, Calif.

Dave Grohl retraces his life-affirming path from Nirvana to Foo Fighters

4:32pm November 24, 2021

by Terry Gross

After Nirvana ended, Grohl wasn't sure he wanted to continue making music. But, he says, "I realized that music was the one thing that had healed me my entire life." His memoir is The Storyteller.

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Books
Arts

Here are the Books We Love: 360+ great 2021 reads recommended by NPR

3:39pm November 24, 2021

Books We Love (formerly known as NPR's Book Concierge) is back with a new name and 360+ new books handpicked just for you by NPR staff and trusted critics.

Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang in Love Hard.

Arts

The 2021 holiday movie guide: 100+ new films to get you in the spirit

2:01pm November 24, 2021

by Linda Holmes

Every year, there are more and more holiday movies, many of which revisit the same beloved (?) tropes again and again. We take a thorough look at this year's crop.

Jon Batiste, shown performing at Global Citizen Live: New York earlier this year, was nominated for 11 Grammy Awards.

Jon Batiste, Justin Bieber and Billie Eilish headline 2022 Grammy nominations

6:29pm November 23, 2021

Pianist and composer Jon Batiste was nominated in 11 categories, including Album of the Year. Read the full list of 2022 nominees.

(L-R): Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) aim to please in Marvel's Hawkeye.

Arts

In 'Hawkeye,' an also-ran Avenger becomes a mentor — eventually

12:01pm November 23, 2021

by Glen Weldon

The series strains to find reasons for Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) to join forces with young Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), but once it does, they make a good pair.

Thanksgiving cookbooks to keep it simple.

Books
Arts

These 5 cookbooks help keep Thanksgiving simple — and focused on family

10:19am November 23, 2021

by T. Susan Chang

For many, Thanksgiving will be the first holiday where family gathers since the start of the pandemic. We offer some cookbooks that aim to keep meal prep easy, so there's more time for loved ones.

These Precious Days: Essays, by Ann Patchett

Books
Arts

Ann Patchett reflects on love and relationships in new essay collection

7:11am November 23, 2021

by Annalisa Quinn

Even when nominally about something else, the essays in These Precious Days are about the weight and grief of relationships. "I was asking what mattered most in this precarious and precious life."

Robert Bly won a National Book Award in 1968. He is pictured above in 2008.

Books
Arts

Poet Robert Bly, anti-war activist and 'men's movement' leader, dies at 94

5:20pm November 22, 2021

by Euan Kerr

Bly won a National Book Award and was a tireless advocate for poetry. But he knew he could rub people the wrong way. "I do remember people wanting to kill me," he said, "but that's not unusual."

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A clerk shows a customer an AR-15 style rifle at a gun show in Costa Mesa, Calif. in June 2021. Gun sales increased in the U.S, following COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

Former gun industry insider explains why he left to fight for the other side

1:20pm November 22, 2021

by Dave Davies

Gunfight author Ryan Busse was once a rising star in the gun industry. But he became disillusioned after Columbine when, he says, the NRA began to use "fear and conspiracy and hatred" to boost sales.

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The Sinner and the Saint, by Kevin Birmingham

Books
Arts

'The Sinner and the Saint' masterfully unpacks a Dostoevsky classic

10:45am November 22, 2021

by Maureen Corrigan

Kevin Birmingham's deeply researched biography details the radical political fervor that almost destroyed Dostoevsky's life — and the real-life murder that inspired Crime and Punishment.