Books

Can A Presidential Memoir Really Give An Honest Picture?

12:33pm February 11, 2020

by Steve Inskeep

Historian Craig Fehrman says yes; his book Author in Chief reveals little-known and unknown stories of presidents and their writing. Fehrman's pick for a good read: Calvin Coolidge's memoir.

Queue Listen Now

Books

Stormy 'Weather' Captures Our Anxious Age With Bracing Wit

7:00am February 11, 2020

by Heller McAlpin

Jenny Offill's darkly funny, urgent new novel follows a librarian who gets involved in doomsday prepping. It's a perfect portrait of our age of rising anxiety over climate change and

Today's stories about disease — like The Walking Dead with its zombies — tend to be rooted in political and social realities.

What Fictional Pandemics Can Teach Us About Real-World Survival

5:22pm February 10, 2020

by Neda Ulaby

People have been telling stories about pandemics for thousands of years — once, they were tales of divine retribution, but today they're often rooted in current events like the coronavirus outbreak.

Queue Listen Now

Michael Pollan gave up caffeine entirely for three months while working on his audiobook, Caffeine. "I recommend it," he says of his time without the drug. "I had some great sleeps." But he didn't realize that a temporary "loss of confidence" and lack of

Michael Pollan Explains Caffeine Cravings (And Why You Don't Have To Quit)

4:51pm February 10, 2020

by Terry Gross

When Pollan decided to write about caffeine, he gave it up — cold turkey. "I just couldn't focus," he says. "I was irritable. I lost confidence." Caffeine reshapes the brain in surprising ways.

Queue Listen Now

Books

Author Interview: 'Usual Cruelty'

10:52am February 10, 2020

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with attorney Alec Karakatsanis about his book, Usual Cruelty: The Complacency of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Ever Wonder About That 'Old Truck'? 2 Brothers Wrote Its Backstory

8:01am February 09, 2020

by Samantha Balaban

Jerome and Jarrett Pumphrey have worked together on creative projects since they were kids. Their new book — illustrated with 250+ stamps — is about family, farm life, determination and hard work.

Books
Arts

'Black Sunday' Will Destroy You — Let It

7:00am February 09, 2020

by Gabino Iglesias

Tola Rotimi Abraham's wrenching novel follows a four young children in Lagos, Nigeria, whose comfortable life is blown apart when their mother loses her job, and their father abandons them.

Books
Arts

Love Has A Ghost Of A Chance In 'The Regrets'

10:00am February 08, 2020

by Michael Schaub

Amy Bonaffons deftly avoids the trap of saccharine sweetness in her new novel about a ghost serving out a 90-day sentence on Earth — and the woman he falls in love with.

Books

For Woman At Heart Of 'Weather,' Storms Loom Over Every Horizon

8:03am February 08, 2020

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon asks Jenny Offill about her new novel, "Weather," which balances a woman's parochial concerns with her growing alarm about the state of the planet.

Queue Listen Now

Sports
Books

Batting Around The Edge Of The Bigs In 'The Cactus League'

8:03am February 08, 2020

by Scott Simon

Just in time for spring training, Emily Nemens, editor of the Paris Review, tells NPR's Scott Simon about her new novel. It's a look at preseason baseball's strivers and dreamers, on-field and off.

Queue Listen Now