Book News & Features

Cursed Child's duel scene between Harry and Draco relies on human-powered special effects.

Books
Arts

'Harry Potter And The Cursed Child' Makes Its Magic The Old-Fashioned Way

8:21am December 29, 2019

by Petra Mayer

The creators of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child designed their show so it wouldn't look like the world Potterheads knew from the movies. They've documented that process in a new book, The Journey.

Christian Book Club Morphs Into Opioid Support Group

4:21pm December 24, 2019

by Anna Boiko-Weyrauch

Some Christian women outside Seattle started a book club that transformed into a support group for parents of addicted children. Their approach ran contrary to their community's conventional wisdom.

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Seattle Man Plans To Memorize And Perform Joyce's 'Finnegans Wake'

7:40am December 24, 2019

Neal Kosaly-Meyer is memorizing and reciting a chapter a year of Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. He plans to finish by 2030. It took Joyce 17 years to write the book.

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Genie Milgrom, pictured in 2013, stands in the entryway of her Miami home wrapped in a long family tree, filled with the names of 22 generations of grandmothers. Raised Catholic, Milgrom traced her family's hidden Jewish roots with the help of a trove of

Trove Of Recipes Dating Back To Inquisition Reveals A Family's Secret Jewish Roots

7:48am December 22, 2019

by Greg Allen

Many Jews were forced to convert during the Inquisition, a history often lost to their descendants. Finding recipes adhering to Jewish food customs helped one woman unearth her family's hidden past.

Books
Arts

'Impeachment: A Handbook': How A Watergate-Era Essay Can Guide Us Today

5:43pm December 18, 2019

by Rose Friedman

Originally published in 1974, the barely 60-page essay by Charles L. Black Jr. is considered one of the reference works on the subject — and it's getting renewed attention.

Confessions of a Dork Lord, by Mike Johnston

Books
Arts

Don't Like Harry Potter? Come To The 'Dork' Side

7:00am November 26, 2019

by Juanita Giles

Our kids' books columnist Juanita Giles has a secret: Her kids don't care about Harry Potter. But they do like Mike Johnston's relatably hapless boy wizard Wick, star of Confessions of a Dork Lord.

Crime in Progress: Inside the Steele Dossier and the Fusion GPS Investigation of Donald Trump, by Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch

In 'Crime In Progress,' Fusion GPS Chiefs Tell The Inside Story Of The Steele Dossier

12:16pm November 22, 2019

by Philip Ewing

Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch reveal the hows and whys of the whirlwind they uncorked by commissioning Christopher Steele to investigate Donald Trump's activities in Russia.

Winners of this year's National Book Awards each receive $10,000 along with their prize.

Books
Arts

National Book Awards Handed To Susan Choi, Arthur Sze And More

10:04pm November 20, 2019

by Colin Dwyer

The novelist and poet joined Sarah M. Broom, László Krasznahorkai, Ottilie Mulzet, and Martin W. Sandler as winners Wednesday night — receiving $10,000 and a medallion for their front covers.

Music & Culture

Chef Samin Nosrat's Favorite Book And Album Of The Decade

7:19am November 18, 2019

As part of Morning Edition's "Best of the Decade" series, in which artists and writers talk about their favorite books, music and movies of the 2010s, we hear from chef Samin Nosrat.

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The Bromance Book Club, by Lyssa Kay Adams

Books
Arts

For November, Men Reading Romance — And More

7:00am November 18, 2019

by Maya Rodale

This month, cozy up to a bunch of pro ballplayers who end up solving their relationship hassles by reading romance, a gender-flipped classic rom-com and an intrepid Victorian lady ghostbuster.