Books

Books
Arts

A Feisty Writer Spars With Her Young Protege

7:38pm September 23, 2014

by Heller McAlpin

Brian Morton's Florence Gordon is about the relationship between a tough, 75-year-old feminist icon and her granddaughter. It's self-aware, funny and full of characters that are entirely believable.

Books
Arts

After WWI, A Mother And Daughter Must Take In 'Paying Guests'

4:10pm September 23, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

Sarah Waters' spellbinding novel — about two women in 1920s London — is no simple period piece. Waters is a superb storyteller with a gift for capturing the layered nuances of character and mood.

Queue Listen Now

My Life as a Foreign Country book cover.

Books
Arts

A Poet Parses The Legacy Of War In 'My Life As A Foreign Country'

9:38am September 23, 2014

by NPR Staff

When award-winning poet Brian Turner served in the Army, he was following a long family tradition. His new memoir traces that history — and imagines the perspectives of the people shooting back.

Queue Listen Now

Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez appeared in public during a celebration marking his 87th birthday on March 6 in Mexico City. He died in April.

Books
Arts

Book News: Gabriel Garcia Marquez Books Go Digital

7:19am September 23, 2014

by Colin Dwyer

Nine of the late writer's works are coming out as e-books in English. Also: a survey shows (again) a lack of diversity in publishing, and Ray Bradbury's ode-worthy gardening tool gets an asking price.

Brian Turner is director of Sierra Nevada College's MFA program and has previously written two books of poetry, Here, Bullet and Phantom Noise.

Books
Arts

'My Life' Asks: How Do You Leave A War Behind?

7:03am September 23, 2014

by Tomas Hachard

Poet Brian Turner's My Life as a Foreign Country is a lyrical, haunting memoir of his military family, his service in Bosnia and Iraq, and the struggle he faced to adjust to life on the home front.

Books
Arts

Former BP CEO: 'Glass Closet' Still Holds Many Gay Workers Back

7:01am September 23, 2014

by NPR Staff

There's a presumption in the business world that everyone's straight, says John Browne, who hid his homosexuality for years. In his new book, he says it's time for a change in corporate culture.

Queue Listen Now

Charles Wright, a retired professor at the University of Virginia, has been named the nation's next poet laureate.

Books
Arts

New Poet Laureate: 'The Meaning Has Always Stayed The Same'

7:01am September 23, 2014

by NPR Staff

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Wright, who will serve as the next poet laureate, tells NPR's Melissa Block that his inspirations — landscape, language and God — have stayed constant for 50 years.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

An 'Epilogue' That Makes Sense Of The Chaos Of Memory

5:40pm September 22, 2014

by Ellah Allfrey

In his episodic memoir, Will Boast meets the siblings he never knew while navigating family deaths and secrets. Critic Ellah Allfrey finds Epilogue conceptually ambitious, but lacking in execution.

Queue Listen Now

Ron Perlman played Clay Morrow on FX's Sons of Anarchy.

Books
Arts

Ron Perlman On 'Sons Of Anarchy' And His Many On-Screen Transformations

3:47pm September 22, 2014

Perlman played the ruthless leader of a motorcycle gang on the FX series. In his new book, Easy Street (The Hard Way), he talks about having a face "that was not ugly but surely one of its kind."

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'Sally Heathcote' Rescues Women's Suffrage From The Doldrums

10:36am September 22, 2014

by Etelka Lehoczky

A working-class activist anchors this graphic novel portrayal of British suffrage. Sally Heathcote is a compelling mix of visual ingenuity and historical accuracy.