Book News & Features

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The Life Of De Niro, From 'Mean Streets' To 'Meet The Parents'

11:57am October 25, 2014

by NPR Staff

Shawn Levy's brick-sized new biography of screen legend Robert De Niro was produced without cooperation from the actor — but Levy says that just forced him to do better research.

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Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is often celebrated as the most beautifully designed book of the Renaissance, despite its bewildering mix of languages, both real and invented.

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Book News: Lily King, Roz Chast And Kate Samworth Win Inaugural Kirkus Prize

11:02am October 24, 2014

by Colin Dwyer

Earning honors for fiction, nonfiction and young children's literature, respectively, the writers are the first to win the award. Also: The Bronx's bookstore returns, while the U.K. shows off doodles.

Joan Didion on Sept. 24, 2012, in New York City.

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Book News: Joan Didion's Life, As Seen On Kickstarter

9:48am October 23, 2014

by Colin Dwyer

The nephew of the iconic essayist and novelist hopes to produce a documentary on her life, and he's turned to crowd-funding to make it happen. Also: There's been much ado about the dictionary lately.

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Book News: Just Months In, A Publisher That Promised Innovation Ends Its Run

2:11pm October 22, 2014

by Colin Dwyer

Atavist Books launched with aims of upending the print-first publishing model. Now it's announcing its plans to close. Meanwhile, partnerships between public libraries and airports are taking off.

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Book News: Amazon Inks A Deal With A Publisher Not Named Hachette

8:31am October 22, 2014

by Colin Dwyer

The online retailer has reached a multiyear deal with Simon & Schuster, one of the "Big Five" U.S. publishers. Meanwhile, Amazon's pricing dispute with Hachette Book Group persists.

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Amazon Deal With Simon & Schuster Raises Questions For Other Publishers

7:01am October 22, 2014

by Lynn Neary

Amazon has received a fair amount of bad press lately over its long-running dispute with the Hachette publishing house. So Monday's announcement of a deal with Simon & Schuster took some industry watchers by surprise.

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Oscar Pistorius' Sentencing And The Classic True Crime Novel

3:21pm October 21, 2014

by Mandy Wiener

Oscar Pistorius, superstar athlete, was back in court this week for his sentencing hearing, after a culpable homicide conviction. Journalist Mandy Wiener says his case reminds her of a favorite book.

Books

'Lila' Sets The Stage For Marilynn Robinson's Earlier Works

6:03pm October 20, 2014

by Alan Cheuse

Alan Cheuse reviews Lila, a new novel from Marilynne Robinson that is a prequel to her earlier books and has been shortlisted for the National Book Award.

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A woman looks at an oil portrait of Toni Morrison at the National Portrait Gallery. A self-portrait of sorts, Morrison's life of fiction drawn in words will be permanently kept at Princeton.

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Book News: Toni Morrison's Collection Finds A Permanent Home At Princeton

10:31am October 20, 2014

by Colin Dwyer

The Nobel laureate taught at Princeton University for 17 years. Now, her papers — some 180 linear feet of them — are returning to be housed in the school's library. Also: a roundup of new releases.

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A Collection Of Poems That Offers An Unlikely Kind Of Hope

5:45am October 18, 2014

by Craig Morgan Teicher

In his second poetry collection, The New Testament, Jericho Brown weaves together strains of religious invocations with his uneasy identity as a southern, gay, black man into a beguiling self myth.