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'Ride Around Shining' Reimagines Gatsby's Nouveau-Riche Excess

3:54pm July 29, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

Chris Leslie-Hynan's debut novel follows a white grad student who's a chauffeur to a black basketball player. It references The Great Gatsby often with fresh takes on race, manhood and meritocracy.

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In 'Blue Eyed Boy,' Author Reveals Long Recovery From Facial Burns

2:02pm July 29, 2014

Robert Timberg, who was disfigured by a land mine as a Marine in Vietnam, went on to become a successful journalist. His new memoir Blue Eyed Boy charts his struggle to recover from his wounds.

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'Panic In A Suitcase' Puts A Fresh Spin On A Coming-To-America Story

10:17am July 28, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

Yelena Akhtiorskaya's debut novel is about a family that emigrates from Odessa to the Russian enclave of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, N.Y. It's a funny tale full of insider knowledge and offbeat words.

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Tiphanie Yanique is also the author of the short story collection How To Escape From A Leper Colony and a picture book called I Am the Virgin Islands.

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'Love And Drowning' In The U.S. Virgin Islands

6:52pm July 27, 2014

by NPR Staff

In the Land of Love and Drowning, the islands are a magical setting for three generations of one family living through the modern history of the territory as it passes from Danish to American hands.

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'Back Channel' Turns Up White House Intrigue

1:32pm July 26, 2014

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Stephen L. Carter about his new novel, Back Channel. It's a political thriller set during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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Book Review: 'Angels Make Their Hope Here'

8:17pm July 22, 2014

by Alan Cheuse

Alan Cheuse reviews Angels Make Their Hope Here, by Breena Clarke.

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The Fantastic Laboratory of Dr. Weigl cover

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How Scientists Created A Typhus Vaccine In A 'Fantastic Laboratory'

5:23pm July 22, 2014

Arthur Allen's new book, The Fantastic Laboratory of Dr. Weigl, describes how a WWII scientist in Poland smuggled the typhus vaccine to Jews — while his team made a weakened version for the Nazis.

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On 'Tomlinson Hill,' Journalist Seeks Truth And Reconciliation

4:36pm July 21, 2014

Chris Tomlinson covered conflict, including apartheid in Africa, for 11 years. Then the great-great-grandson of Texas slaveholders realized he needed to write a book about his family's history.

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Surviving An Adult World In Fairy Tales, And Real Life

7:54pm July 18, 2014

by Kate Bernheimer

Since October thousands of children attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border have been taken into custody. Author Kate Bernheimer recommends a book to help reflect on the lives of these children.

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William T. Vollmann's Ghost Stories Are Frighteningly Self-Indulgent

8:40pm July 17, 2014

by Julia Keller

William T. Vollmann's 2005 novel Europe Central was a masterpiece. His latest work, a collection of ghost stories entitled "Last Stories and Other Stories" is flabby and cliched.

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