Books

Detail from cover of Ross Macdonald: Four Novels of the 1950s

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Revisiting A Suburbia-Gone-Sour In Ross Macdonald's Crime Fiction

4:54pm April 21, 2015

by Maureen Corrigan

A reissue of four of the detective writer's 1950s novels excavates the dark depths of California's suburban decay. Maureen Corrigan praises Macdonald's "psychological depth" and "penetrating vision."

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Attica Locke's other books include Black Water Rising and The Cutting Season.

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No Demons, No Angels: Attica Locke Aims For Black Characters Who Are Human

2:40pm April 21, 2015

by NPR Staff

In her new novel, Pleasantville, and on TV's Empire, Locke does her best to avoid simple stories. "You do some good stuff and you do some bad stuff," she says. "We exist in the middle."

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'One Of Us' Is A Difficult, Unforgettable Look At Tragedy

12:29pm April 21, 2015

by Michael Schaub

Journalist Åsne Seierstad's new book retells the story of Norway's Anders Breivik, from his troubled, violent childhood to his 2011 killing spree. Critic Michael Schaub calls it a painful masterpiece.

Small South Carolina Newspaper Takes Home Top Pulitzer Prize

6:01am April 21, 2015

by Neda Ulaby

The winners of this year's Pulitzer Prizes in journalism, fiction, poetry, drama, music, biography, history and nonfiction were announced Monday at Columbia University in New York.

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'Spinster' Celebrates The Single Ladies

7:02pm April 20, 2015

by NPR Staff

Writer Kate Bolick says that, growing up, she just assumed she'd get married some day — but it hasn't happened. Her new book looks at five women who upend traditional assumptions about women's lives.

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In Debate Over Hugo Awards, Science Fiction Community Engages With Issues Of Bias

12:18am April 20, 2015

NPR's Arun Rath talks to author Monica Byrne about how controversy surrounding this year's Hugo Awards highlights a difference in how speculative and literary fiction approach diversity.

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Unsettling Tales Of Strange Suburbia Echo Through 'The Night'

8:16pm April 19, 2015

by NPR Staff

What do Rapunzel, the Buddha and small-town America have in common? Deceptively safe spaces, says Steven Millhauser. The Pulitzer Prize winner's new short story collection is Voices in the Night.

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Memoir Chronicles The Joy And Loss Of 'The Light Of The World'

11:00am April 19, 2015

by NPR Staff

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks to author Elizabeth Alexander about her new memoir, The Light of the World.

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A religious volume from the early 1300s includes this image of a monk who resembles the Jedi Master Yoda of the Star Wars films.

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Yoda? Is It Thou? Figure In 14th-Century Manuscript Looks Familiar

3:26pm April 18, 2015

by Bill Chappell

A long time ago, in a place far away, a manuscript was created with an enigmatic figure who looks a great deal like a certain little — and yet powerful — green guy from the Star Wars films.

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'Orhan's Inheritance' Is The Weight Of History

10:59am April 18, 2015

by Lynn Neary

Aline Ohanesian's debut novel attempts to make sense of the events of 100 years ago, when the Ottoman Empire began forcing Armenians out of their homes in Turkey, leaving more than a million dead.

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