Book Reviews

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Arts

A Critic Tours 'Echo Spring,' Home Of Beloved Boozy Writers

4:19pm January 03, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

A new book by critic Olivia Laing explores the link between alcohol and writing through the commentaries of famous writers who were themselves alcoholics. Fresh Air's Maureen Corrigan calls Laing's readings "exquisite," and says she wisely avoids "any one-size-fits-all conclusions about the bond between the pen and the bottle."

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'Before I Burn' Uses Autobiography To Tell A Crime Story

7:14am January 03, 2014

by Rosecrans Baldwin

Scandinavian crime novels have become so popular that some publishers even have a name for the genre — "Scandi-crime." Many of these books keep readers right on the edge of their seats. But reviewer Rosecrans Baldwin says Before I Burn by Gaute Heivoll takes a more subtle approach.

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Books

Written In Secret Behind The Iron Curtain, 'Corpse' Is Revived

8:28pm December 25, 2013

by Alan Cheuse

An amazing book has surfaced from behind the Soviet-era Iron Curtain says our reviewer, Alan Cheuse. The book is Autobiography of a Corpse by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky.

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Browse more than 200 standout titles from 2013 selected by NPR staff and critics — including Maureen Corrigan.

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Arts

Need A Read? Here Are Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2013

4:10pm December 11, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

Fresh Air's book critic says it's just a fluke that 9 of the 11 titles she picked this year were written by female authors. Her favorites include a jumbo-sized Dickensian novel, a biography of Ben Franklin's sister, a comedy of manners, a stunning Scandinavian mystery and more.

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Arts

Frustrating Heroine Stars In Fresh, Feminist 'Nightingale'

3:33pm December 10, 2013

by John Powers

Nina Borg, the heroine of Death of a Nightingale, is a Red Cross nurse on a mission to save the dispossessed. But she neglects her own family as she rescues those in need in Agnete Friis and Lene Kaaberbol's elaborately plotted page-turner.

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Thanksgivukkah Stress Getting You Down? Here's A Literary Escape Plan

7:13pm November 26, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

For critic Maureen Corrigan, this year's hybrid family holiday may be best celebrated by escaping into a book. Her recommendations include a kids' book about Russian Jews who identify with the Pilgrims, and a novel that contemplates class divides during wartime through the lens of a football game.

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An Inside Look That Strips The Face Paint Off The NFL

8:44pm November 23, 2013

by Mike Pesca

Writer Nicholas Dawidoff spent a year living with the New York Jets and came away with a respect for players and coaches that not all fans will like. NPR's Mike Pesca says Dawidoff's new book, Collision Low Crossers: A Year Inside the Turbulent World of NFL Football, demystifies the game as it entrances.

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Lyndon B. Johnson delivers a speech 28 July 1965 in the White House in Washington, D.C.

Books
Arts

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Senate

7:21pm November 22, 2013

With the invocation of the so-called "nuclear option," Senate Democrats moved to limit the power of the filibuster and dramatically change the nature of the institution. Many — on both sides — point to the maneuver as a sign of the system's failure. Writers Drew Toal and Kate Tuttle suggest books that might offer hope for us yet.

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Arts

Introducing 'Miss Anne,' The White Women Of A Black Renaissance

12:16pm November 22, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

That's the collective nickname Harlem-ites used for them: white women who risked family exile and social ostracism to be part of the movement. They were philanthropists and thrill seekers,educators and artists, hostesses and lovers. Carla Kaplan tells their stories in Miss Anne in Harlem.

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At Home With Dickens And Louisa May Alcott

12:49pm November 18, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

Two new biographical studies that read like novels explore the familial relationships that shaped two of the 19th century's most beloved authors. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Great Expectations: The Sons And Daughters Of Charles Dickens "a Gothic nightmare" and Marmee & Louisa "a romance."

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