Book News & Features

Books
Arts

Fiction Explores The Push And Pull Of Arab-Israeli Identity

12:27pm July 30, 2014

by Molly Antopol

Sayed Kashua is an Arab who writes novels in Hebrew and a sitcom in Arabic. A contradiction? Maybe. But his newest book is a good look at an often-overlooked segment of the Israeli population.

Queue Listen Now

Surviving An Adult World In Fairy Tales, And Real Life

7:54pm July 18, 2014

by Kate Bernheimer

Since October thousands of children attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border have been taken into custody. Author Kate Bernheimer recommends a book to help reflect on the lives of these children.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

William T. Vollmann's Ghost Stories Are Frighteningly Self-Indulgent

8:40pm July 17, 2014

by Julia Keller

William T. Vollmann's 2005 novel Europe Central was a masterpiece. His latest work, a collection of ghost stories entitled "Last Stories and Other Stories" is flabby and cliched.

Queue Listen Now

In addition to her 15 novels, Nadine Gordimer authored several volumes of short stories and nonfiction.

Books
Arts

Writer Nadine Gordimer Captured Apartheid's Contradictions

8:32pm July 14, 2014

by Lynn Neary

The South African Nobel laureate was an associate of Nelson Mandela's, and while she was never imprisoned, several of her books were banned by the government. She died Sunday at the age of 90.

Queue Listen Now

In Aftermath Of Brazil's World Cup Defeat, A Poem To Numb The Pain

8:21pm July 11, 2014

by Kevin Roose

Germany thrashed Brazil 7-1 this week. Author Kevin Roose says Ernest Thayer's classic poem on failure, "Casey at the Bat," might cheer the Brazilian soccer team up.

Queue Listen Now

J.K. Rowling Posts New Harry Potter Short Story

9:45am July 09, 2014

Harry Potter is attending the Quidditch World Cup with his family, as well as Ron and Hermione. He is in his 30s, with "a couple of threads of silver" in his hair and a mysterious cut on his cheek.

Queue Listen Now

Was "I think I can" the great-grandmother of "lean in?" Some readers see the plucky locomotive as a parable about working women, but some versions of the story feature a male protagonist instead.

Books
Arts

In 'Little Engine That Could,' Some See An Early Feminist Hero

8:23pm July 08, 2014

by Elizabeth Blair

Was "I think I can" the grandmother of "lean in?" Some readers see the plucky locomotive as a parable about working women, but in some versions of the story the protagonist was male.

Queue Listen Now

Books

Award-Winning Children's Book Author Walter Dean Myers Dies

11:14am July 03, 2014

by Lynn Neary

Myers captured what it was like to be young and black while growing up in the city. As he often said, he wrote books he would have wanted to read as a kid. Myers died after a brief illness. He was 76.

Queue Listen Now

Books

A Writer Who Defied The System In 'The Zhivago Affair'

7:20pm July 02, 2014

by Ted Koppel

In their new book, Peter Finn and Petra Couvee explain the fraught history behind the Russian novel, Doctor Zhivago. And they tell the story of Boris Pasternak, the novel's brave author.

Queue Listen Now

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegates and supporters stage a demonstration on the boardwalk in front of the Atlantic City Convention Center in 1964.

Books
Arts

'Freedom Summer' And 'The Watsons': Powerful TV About A Civil Rights Journey

4:15pm June 30, 2014

by Eric Deggans

This story in the "Book Your Trip" series features NPR TV critic Eric Deggans on two books turned TV shows about civil rights: PBS's Freedom Summer and Hallmark Channel's The Watsons Go to Birmingham.

Queue Listen Now