close
 

NPR thanks our sponsors

Become an NPR Sponsor

Author Elliott Holt Says: 'Go West, Young Woman'()  

Elliott Holt's short fiction has been published in the The Pushcart Prize XXXV, among other publications.

May 18, 2013 In this Q&A, author Elliott Holt discusses her six favorite novels about expatriates. She also talks about what it's like to be in your 20s, and the importance of travel and exploration.

Summary

Author Interviews

Dan Brown: 'Inferno' Is 'The Book That I Would Want To Read'()  

Cover of Inferno

May 18, 2013 Dan Brown, author of the blockbuster The Da Vinci Code, is back with his first novel in four years. Inferno follows academic hero Robert Langdon on a chase through Italy as he attempts to avert a biological catastrophe.

Transcript

On Weekend Edition SaturdayPlaylist

Author Interviews

'That's That': A Memoir Of Loving And Leaving Northern Ireland()  

Cover of That's That

May 18, 2013 Colin Broderick's new memoir, That's That, chronicles his childhood in Northern Ireland during the modern-day "Troubles." Broderick says growing up in what was essentially a war zone seemed normal to him at the time.

Transcript

On Weekend Edition SaturdayPlaylist

The Two-Way

Book News: Amazon May Be Called Before Parliament Over Taxes ()  

Amazon's U.K. unit racked up sales of $6.5 billion last year, but only paid $3.7 million in corporate taxes.

May 17, 2013 Also: AARP and The Nation join a growing list of ebook publishers; Hilary Mantel on Jane Austen; Anne Applebaum on Sheryl Sandberg.

Summary

Book Reviews

The Rich And Furious Inner Life Of 'The Woman Upstairs'()  

iStockphoto.com

May 16, 2013 Claire Messud's The Woman Upstairs is about a lonely third-grade teacher who falls in love with the family of one of her students. Reviewer Lionel Shriver says the book so bursts with rage and desire that it barely squeezes between hard covers.

Transcript

On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

The Two-Way

Book News: Amazon's Tiny Tax Payment Draws Fresh Scrutiny()  

An Amazon.co.uk parcel passes along a conveyor belt at a facility in Milton Keynes, England.

May 16, 2013 Also: Afaa Michael Weaver on being a black poet abroad; ebook sales jumped 44 percent last year; Cormac McCarthy's beach body.

Summary

Book Reviews

How To Put This 'Delicate'-ly ... Not Le Carre's Best Work()  

A Delicate Truth Cover

May 16, 2013 A dirty deed and official cover-up drive the plot in John le Carre's A Delicate Truth. The novel sets its sights on old-boy corruption and corporate criminality at the heart of the "Deep State," but critic Alan Cheuse finds this latest effort lacks the tension of le Carre's Cold War novels.

Summary

Book Reviews

Coming To 'Americanah': Two Tales Of Immigrant Experience()  

American Farm Poster

May 15, 2013 The new book from Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a knockout of a novel about immigration that transcends genre. It's everything from a coming-of-age novel to a romance to a comic novel of social manners to an up-to-the-minute meditation on race.

Transcript

On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

Author Interviews

Neil Gaiman Turns His Grad Speech Into 'Good Art'()  

Neil Gaiman is also the author of Coraline, American Gods, Anansi Boys,Stardust and M Is for Magic. He was born in Hampshire, England, and now lives near Minneapolis.

May 14, 2013 Neil Gaiman's new book is based on a speech he delivered to graduates of Philadelphia's University of the Arts. When life gets tough, he told them, "make good art." It's advice that served him well when he turned a failed '90s TV series into the "much-loved" novel Neverwhere.

Transcript

On Talk of the NationPlaylist

Book Reviews

West Meets Midwest In Tom Drury's Quirky 'Pacific' ()  

Pacific cover

May 15, 2013 Some novels you read to find out what happens next, and some you read to linger in the moment. In Tom Drury's Pacific, plot takes a back seat to sharp observation and deadpan wit. The book juxtaposes scenes of teenaged Micah as he moves to Hollywood, with stories set in Micah's heartland hometown.

Summary

The Two-Way

Book News: Justice Department Says Apple Led Price-Fixing Ring()  

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the 2011 Apple World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco. He died later that year.

May 15, 2013 Also: George Orwell's rules for making tea; what Antigone can teach us about the burial of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Summary

more Books >

Dead Ever After

Hardcover Fiction

Sookie Stackhouse has one last adventure in Charlaine Harris' Dead Ever After. It debuts at No. 4.

Pos. Title Author
1 A Delicate Truth John Le Carre
2 Life After Life Kate Atkinson
3 The Burgess Boys Elizabeth Strout
4 Dead Ever After Charlaine Harris
5 The Woman Upstairs Claire Messud

more

Bring Up the Bodies

Paperback Fiction

Bring Up The Bodies, Hilary Mantel's tale of Anne Boleyn, arrives on the paperback list at No. 9.

Pos. Title Author
1 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
2 Beautiful Ruins Jess Walter
3 Where'd You Go, Bernadette Maria Semple
4 The Orphan Master's Son Adam Johnson
5 The Light Between Oceans M.L. Stedman

more

Midnight in Peking

Paperback Nonfiction

Appearing at No. 12, Paul French explores a British schoolgirl's murder in Midnight In Peking.

Pos. Title Author
1 Wild Cheryl Strayed
2 Proof Of Heaven Eben Alexander, M.D.
3 Quiet Susan Cain
4 Lots Of Candles, Plenty Of Cake Anna Quindlen
5 Thinking, Fast And Slow Daniel Kahneman

more