Books

Jason Segel plays writer David Foster Wallace in the new film The End of the Tour.

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'End Of The Tour': An Unauthorized 'Anti-Biopic' Of David Foster Wallace

1:20pm July 31, 2015

by Joel Rose

Instead of telling the author's life story, the film (which the Wallace estate does not approve of) focuses on five days in 1996 during the publicity tour for Infinite Jest.

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'Barbara' Is Imperfect, Defiant And Wonderfully Human

7:45pm July 30, 2015

by Michael Schaub

The characters in Lauren Holmes' debut story collection are more than words on a page, says reviewer Michael Schaub. They're fully, exasperatingly real, portrayed with charm but without pretension.

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'Baby' Is A Pretty Feat Of Misdirection

1:34pm July 30, 2015

by Bethanne Patrick

Mary Kubica's new thriller follows a woman who takes in a runaway and her baby daughter. Reviewer Bethanne Patrick says it's a perfect setup — but the twists you expect aren't the ones that arrive.

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Women's Comics Are Surfing The Crowd

12:04pm July 30, 2015

by Etelka Lehoczky

It's no secret that women are getting more prominent in the world of comics. But some women are tired of waiting for mainstream attention: They're turning to crowdfunding to get their projects done.

Anil Ananthaswamy is a consultant for New Scientist Magazine.

A Sense Of Self: What Happens When Your Brain Says You Don't Exist

8:49am July 30, 2015

In his new book, The Man Who Wasn't There, Anil Ananthaswamy examines the ways people think of themselves — and how those perceptions can be distorted by certain brain conditions.

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The Man Booker Prize announced its longlist of 13 nominees Wednesday.

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'Booker Dozen' Stirs In A Hefty Batch Of American Authors

4:04pm July 29, 2015

by Colin Dwyer

Thirteen novels are in the hunt for the Man Booker Prize, the U.K.'s biggest literary award. The Booker is open to Americans for only the second year, and this year's list pits rookies against titans.

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Peace, Love And Realness In A Hip-Hop History

1:03pm July 29, 2015

by Etelka Lehoczky

Cartoonist Ed Piskor has just put out the new book in his award-winning Hip Hop Family Tree series. It's an exhaustive, good-natured look at the birth of hip-hop that avoids the pitfall of voyeurism.

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An Airborne Adventurer's Journey In 'Circling The Sun'

2:47pm July 28, 2015

by Jean Zimmerman

The author of The Paris Wife is back with another novelized memoir, this time of pioneering aviator (and all-around adventurer) Beryl Markham, the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean east to west.

Searching For The Golden Snitch At First European Quidditch Games

11:04am July 28, 2015

NPR's Melissa Block talks to tournament director Karen Kumaki about the inaugural Quidditch European Games, taking place this weekend in Sarteano, Italy.

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'Crooked' Nixon Knew: There Are Worse Things Than Nukes

7:03am July 28, 2015

by Jason Heller

Austin Grossman's new novel is half Lovecraftian horror, half thoughtful character study of a President Nixon who's in charge of an alternate America built not on democracy, but on dark magic.