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Three-Minute Fiction

Three-Minute Fiction: The First Table()  

A cup of coffee on a wooden table.

May 17, 2012 "She closed the book, placed it on the table, and finally, decided to walk through the door." This moment would now be frozen in time. Her head still swayed and her eyes still clouded with tears. Her mind swirled with a million thoughts as she shivered with the gravity of what had just occurred.

Summary

New In Paperback

A Way With Words, Money, Crime And Secrets()  

Cover detail from Silver Sparrow

May 17, 2012 Novelist Tayari Jones explores a father's deception of his family, while historian David McCullough looks at 19th-century Americans in Paris, Roy Blount Jr. revels in verbal curiosities, writer Bill James reflects on true-crime stories, and journalist Diana Henriques probes the Ponzi scheme of Bernie Madoff.

Summary

Monkey See

'Kickstart Shakespeare': Of Sonnets, Beer, And Online Fundraising()  

Recitations of Shakespearean love poems may come straight to you via mobile app in celebration of his 450th birthday.

May 16, 2012 "It was written for the masses," says the director of a New York organization raising money to bring Shakespeare's work to new audiences.

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Author Interviews

Just What's Inside Those Breasts?()  

Writer Florence Williams says "breasts are almost like sponges.

May 16, 2012 In her new book, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History, Florence Williams offers her take on why breasts are getting bigger and developing earlier, why tumors seem to gravitate toward the breast, and how toxins from the environment may be affecting hormones and breast development.

Transcript

On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

Author Interviews

At 96, Historian Lewis Reflects On 'A Century' ()  

Bernard Lewis is also the author of the best-selling What Went Wrong?

May 15, 2012 Over his long academic career, Bernard Lewis has arguably become the world's greatest historian of the Middle East. Now, at 96, Lewis turns his attention inward in Notes on a Century, a memoir that looks back on his life, work and legacy.

Transcript

On Talk of the NationPlaylist

Remembrances

In Writing, Fuentes Shed Light On Poverty, Inequality ()  

Mexican author Carlos Fuentes poses for a photo after a news conference in Mexico City on March 12. Fuentes died Tuesday at a hospital in Mexico City. He was 83.

May 16, 2012 Carlos Fuentes, one of the most influential Latin American writers, died Tuesday at a hospital in Mexico City at the age of 83. He was instrumental in bringing Latin American literature to an international audience, and he used his fiction to address what he saw as real-world injustices.

Transcript

On Morning EditionPlaylist

Book Reviews

'The Chemistry Of Tears' And The Art Of Healing()  

promo art

May 16, 2012 After a museum conservator's lover dies, she becomes consumed with reanimating a 19th-century silver swan automaton. Critic Heller McAlpin says that Peter Carey's new novel is part historical, part fanciful and completely wonderful.

Summary

Book Reviews

'Home': Toni Morrison's Taut, Triumphant New Novel()  

Toni Morrison - profile

May 15, 2012 Toni Morrison's latest novel revisits the story of the prodigal son, as a Korean War veteran returns to his hometown in the pre-civil rights era South. Critic Heller McAlpin says Home is as accessible and visceral as anything Morrison has written.

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The Two-Way

Carlos Fuentes, Legendary Mexican Writer, Dies()  

Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes takes part in a tribute to Mexican writer and anthropologist Fernando Benitez in December 2011.

May 15, 2012 Fuentes was one of the premiere and most prolific authors in the Spanish language. Along with contemporaries like Gabriel García Márquez, Fuentes shone a global spotlight on Latin American culture.

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Author Interviews

Teddy Roosevelt's 'Shocking' Dinner With Washington()  

Cover of 'Guest of Honor.'

May 14, 2012 In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dine with his family at the White House. News of the dinner became the subject of inflammatory articles and cartoons and shifted the national conversation around race at the time. Deborah Davis tells the story in Guest of Honor.

Transcript

On Talk of the NationPlaylist

You Must Read This

Mamma Mia! A Mother Tougher Than The Godfather()  

cover detail

May 14, 2012 Mario Puzo isn't known for his strong female characters — but if you've read his pre-Godfather work, The Fortunate Pilgrim, you might think otherwise. Author Zoe Ferraris recommends this book, which is based on Puzo's own mother. Do you have a favorite literary matriarch? Tell us in the comments.

Summary

more Books >

Bring Up the Bodies

Hardcover Fiction

Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel's sequel to the Tudor hit Wolf Hall, debuts on the list at No. 1.

Pos. Title Author
1 Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel
2 In One Person John Irving
3 Home Toni Morrison
4 Calico Joe John Grisham
5 Sacre Bleu Christopher Moore

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I Am a Pole (And So Can You!)

Hardcover Nonfiction

I Am a Pole (And So Can You!), Stephen Colbert's children book meant for adults, debuts at No. 5.

Pos. Title Author
1 The Passage Of Power Robert A. Caro
2 Lots Of Candles, Plenty Of Cake Anna Quindlen
3 Drift Rachel Maddow
4 Wild Cheryl Strayed
5 I Am a Pole (And So Can You!) Stephen Colbert

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In the Garden of Beasts

Paperback Nonfiction

Erik Larson tells the story of an American family in Hitler's Berlin in In the Garden Of Beasts.

Pos. Title Author
1 In the Garden Of Beasts Erik Larson
2 Bossypants Tina Fey
3 Unlikely Friendships Jennifer S. Holland
4 Turn Right at Machu Picchu Mark Adams
5 Then Again Diane Keaton

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