Books

'Don't Be Afraid Of The Bullets' A Memoir Of Reporting In Yemen

9:42pm February 26, 2015

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks to journalist Laura Kasinof about her memoir on her experience reporting in Yemen during the Arab Spring called, Don't Be Afraid of the Bullets.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Remembering Bertrice Small, One Of The Original 'Avon Ladies'

8:09pm February 26, 2015

by Bobbi Dumas

Small, who died this week at 77, was one of a group of authors who helped transform romance in the 1970s from a relatively tame, demure genre to the bold, bawdy books that sell by the millions today.

Books
Arts

Please Fill In This Form In Triplicate Before You Read 'Utopia Of Rules'

3:52pm February 26, 2015

by Tomas Hachard

In The Utopia of Rules, David Graeber argues that we live in an "age of total bureaucratization." Reviewer Tomas Hachard says in places the book is almost as serpentine as modern bureaucracy.

Books
Arts

It's All Charm and Wolves In 'The Turnip Princess'

7:03am February 26, 2015

by Genevieve Valentine

Once upon a time, a historian went hunting for fairy tales. He found hundreds, but his collection was long thought lost. But now they've been found, and several are reprinted in The Turnip Princess.

Books
Arts

'Darker Shade' Paints A Fantasy World Rich In Depth And Color

10:03am February 25, 2015

by Tasha Robinson

V.E. Schwab devotes a chunk of her new novel to developing a compelling vision of an alternate, magical London. But reviewer Tasha Robinson says it's the multilayered characters that make the book.

Books
Arts

The 1970s, Warts (And More Warts) In 'Inner City Romance'

7:03am February 25, 2015

by Etelka Lehoczky

Underground cartoonist Guy Colwell's dyspeptic chronicle of the 1970s captures a decade when idealism was out of style. Reviewer Etelka Lehoczky says Colwell's style is uneven but at times beautiful.

Philip Connors' first book Fire Season was about how he spent a few months every year for eight years as a fire lookout, living in a cabin and scanning the horizon with binoculars atop a 45-foot tower in a remote region of New Mexico.

Books
Arts

After His Brother's Suicide, Writer Seeks Comfort In 'All The Wrong Places'

8:35pm February 24, 2015

In his new memoir, Philip Connors writes about "living in the shadow of a suicide." Wracked by guilt and haunted by what-ifs, Connors investigated his brother's death and learned a terrible secret.

Queue Listen Now

Writer Edwidge Danticat at around 10 years-old with her brother Bob and cousin Nick in Haiti. She joined her parents in the U.S. a couple of years later. She describes it as a tough landing.

Becoming American: Immigrants Tweet Their Stories

4:51pm February 24, 2015

by Michel Martin

Entrepreneurs and engineers, performers and professors are among those who are sharing their stories about becoming American on Twitter.

Books
Arts

Family Secrets — And Mango Chutney — In 'Don't Let Him Know'

2:56pm February 24, 2015

by NPR Staff

Longtime Morning Edition commentator Sandip Roy has written a new novel, propelled by family secrets, which crisscrosses back and forth between the two "Cals" in his life: California and Calcutta.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'Lucky Alan' Thumbs Its Nose At Convention

7:03am February 24, 2015

by Michael Schaub

Jonathan Lethem's darkly comic sensibilities are on full display in his slim new story collection, Lucky Alan. Reviewer Michael Schaub says it isn't Lethem's best — but it's still a solid read.