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August Book-Ahead: What We're Excited To Read Next Month

5:00am July 28, 2021

by Petra Mayer

August can sometimes be a stretch of the doldrums when it comes to publishing — but this month there are so many fascinating books on the horizon, we added an extra to our usual list of five.

Dr. Leana Wen is in favor of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. "I don't think that people should have the choice to infect others with a potentially fatal and extremely contagious virus," she says. Wen is pictured above in the emergency department at Brigham and

Think Of Your COVID-19 Vaccine Like A Very Good Raincoat, Says Dr. Leana Wen

2:34pm July 27, 2021

by Terry Gross

It protects from drizzles and thunderstorms but not a hurricane. In other words, if you are exposed again and again to infected people, there's some risk you could get sick.

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One Woman Takes A 'Wayward' Approach To Menopause In This Smart New Novel

2:24pm July 27, 2021

by Maureen Corrigan

Messy and floundering in late midlife, Dana Spiotta's heroine is roiling — along with the rest of the country — amid the 2016 election and the rise of the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements.

Books

How Sandra Cisneros Found Space To Be 'Barefoot' And 'Rude'

7:30am July 27, 2021

by Natalie Escobar

On the latest episode of Code Switch, Cisneros talks about why she became obsessed with houses, what it was like to finally buy one, and—spoiler alert—what it felt like to fall out of love with it.

Books

The Rage And Wonder Of A Mother Unleashed (Literally)

5:02pm July 26, 2021

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Rachel Yoder about her new novel, Night*****: a surrealistic exploration of the exhilaration and rage of motherhood, with a mom who just might be turning into a dog.

Books

Author Talks About The History Of Black Equestrian Erasure

5:02pm July 26, 2021

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Katherine Mooney, author of the book Race Horse Men: How Slavery and Freedom Were Made at the Racetrack, about the erasure of African-Americans in the equestrian world.

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Arts

For July, 3 Romances Packed With Pulse-Pounding Peril

5:00am July 26, 2021

by Maya Rodale

This month, romance columnist Maya Rodale brings us three tales of danger and mystery, political intrigues, airship pirates, angry Scotsmen, and of course, the essential ingredient: passion.

Books

Author Takes Readers Back To The Golden Age Of The Circus

6:15pm July 25, 2021

NPR's Michel Martin speak with writer Les Standiford about his new book, Battle for the Big Top: P.T. Barnum, James Bailey, John Ringling, and the Death-Defying Saga of the American Circus.

Censorship Scholar On Book Bans And Critical Race Theory

5:20pm July 25, 2021

NPR's Michel Martin talks with Richard Price, author of the Adventures In Censorship blog, about trends in censorship and book banning.

Celestia, by Manuele Fior, translated by Jamie Richards

Books
Arts

New Graphic Novel 'Celestia' Wanders An Earth That's No Longer Home

6:00am July 25, 2021

by Etelka Lehoczky

Manuele Fior's latest, Celestia, is set on a far-future Earth, wracked by climate change — but the terrors of flood and fire stay under the surface of his dreamy, hazy, philosophical story.