Kim Johnson Talks Racism, Mass Incarceration In Debut Novel
NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Kim Johnson about her debut novel This Is My America. In it, a teenage girl works to get her father off of death row.
Books
For Summer, 3 Translated Novels To Transport You
You may not really be able to leave the house right now, but of course fiction can take you all over the world. Here are three novels that will help you escape — to Japan, to Portugal and to Spain.
In 'True Crimes,' Toobin Presents A Summation For The Jury In The Case Against Trump
There is a lot of detail amassed in the CNN analyst's book that even Trump investigation junkies won't have seen, much having to do with behind-the-scenes strategizing and negotiating by lawyers.
Yiyun Li Continues Her Conversations With The Dead In 'Must I Go'
Yiyun Li's new book — about a woman looking back on her life by annotating the diary of her late ex-lover — plays with both Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire and Li's own previous work.
American Christianity Must Reckon With Legacy Of White Supremacy, Author Says
White Too Long author Robert P. Jones says churches should be more in vocal on issues of social justice: "White Christians have been largely silent ... and have hardly begun these conversations."
True Crime Stories And The Obsession With Them Form 'Unspeakable Acts'
The search for answers in this nonfiction anthology edited by Sarah Weinman is one of many cohesive elements that make the collection land among the best true crime books of the year.
A Mean Ghost Story And A Souped-Up Crime Novel Will Wise You Up Fast
The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die, by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, centers on an Indian family haunted by a jealous ghost. And S. A. Cosby's Blacktop Wasteland is a noir thriller — with muscle cars.
In His New Book, Stephen Graham Jones Explores The Idea Of 'Good Indians'
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Stephen Graham Jones, an American author and a member of the Blackfeet tribe, about his new book, The Only Good Indians.
In 'Intimations,' Zadie Smith Reflects Back To Us The Early Days Of Now
Drafted soon after "the global humbling" of COVID began and completed in the days after George Floyd's murder, these personal essays capture the author's reflections during a time outside of time.
'Empire Of Wild' Tells A Small Story — But Not A Slight One
Cherie Dimaline's new novel seems small in scope — it's about a woman who loses her husband and is determined to bring him back, nothing more than that — but it's rich, tightly written and powerful.