Books

Books

'Freezing Order' is the true story of money laundering, murder and Putin's wrath

8:06am April 16, 2022

by Scott Simon

Scott Simon talks with investor Bill Browder about his book, "Freezing Order: A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath."

Visitors look at a globe in the map division at the main branch of the New York Public Library in New York. The library announced an effort this week to make commonly banned books available through their app.

New York Public Library makes banned books available for free

5:27pm April 15, 2022

by Deepa Shivaram

Anyone 13 and older can access some of the commonly banned books through the library's app. The Brooklyn Public Library has also launched a similar initiative.

Margo Jefferson's new memoir is like a kaleidoscope into someone's life

4:29pm April 15, 2022

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Margo Jefferson about her new memoir called Constructing A Nervous System.

Delia Ephron, wearing a white collared shirt

Books

Delia Ephron on surviving cancer and the defiance of falling in love in your 70s

3:46pm April 13, 2022

by Terry Gross

In her new memoir Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life, Delia Ephron writes about losing her first husband, finding new love, and how surviving cancer has changed her outlook on life.

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Encore: Maine couple revives sea shanties thought lost to time

5:03am April 13, 2022

by Keith Shortall

After a decade of research, a couple from Maine has published a book of seafaring folk songs rarely heard in the last 80 years. (This story originally aired on All Things Considered on Feb. 16, 2022.)

Books

A library system announces a program to challenge the tide of book bannings

5:03am April 13, 2022

by Andrew Limbong

As more and more school districts ban books from their classrooms and libraries, the Brooklyn Public Library is sharing its resources with teens around the country to fight encroaching censorship.

'Pandemic, Inc.' author says financial predators made more than $1 billion off COVID

12:59pm April 12, 2022

by Dave Davies

In his new book, ProPublica reporter J. David McSwane says a shocking number of companies that received funds at the beginning of the pandemic to distribute protective gear had no experience doing so.

Books

Ben Franklin's effort to define America — hundreds of years after his death

7:11am April 12, 2022

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Michael Meyer, whose latest book, Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet, follows a bequest Franklin left in his will to two cities.

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The Velveteen Rabbit: 100th Anniversary Edition

Books
Arts

As 'The Velveteen Rabbit' turns 100, its message continues to resonate

5:14am April 12, 2022

by Elizabeth Blair

"To engage children's interest in anything you have to be keenly interested in that thing yourself," Margery Williams Bianco wrote in 1925. Her story endures because it connects to so many people.

Molly Shannon, shown here in 2021, co-stars I Love That for You, a Showtime comedy series about shopping channel hosts.

Books
Arts

How 'SNL' alum Molly Shannon found profound healing after childhood tragedy

1:45pm April 11, 2022

by Terry Gross

Shannon's new memoir, Hello, Molly! opens with the car crash that killed her mother and sister when Shannon was 4. She says, for a long time, she was motivated by a desire to make her mom proud.

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