This year's treasures include a heart-racing memoir, a fun first novel, a fascinating study of fraternal bonds, plus Toni Morrison's Home and Christopher Hitchens' last work. Critic Heller McAlpin has sifted through piles of new publications and panned for literary gold.
Condoleezza Rice remembers her time in the Bush administration, Michael Lewis and Thant Myint-U discuss the world's economies, Michael Moore recounts his journey toward becoming a filmmaker, and Toni Morrison collects essays about censorship and the power of literature.
by Alan Cheuse
Hang on tight. These five new works of fiction will take you on an exhilarating ride. Brace yourself for a noir he-said-she-said, an R-rated version of Marie Antoinette's life and death, a haunting tale from a back-to-nature commune and Toni Morrison's lush Home.
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.
Set in the 17th century, Toni Morrison's new novel A Mercy is the story of a slave girl whose mother gives her away to a stranger in a desperate attempt to secure her a better future. Maureen Corrigan hails the book as a prequel (of sorts) to Morrison's earlier novel Beloved.
by Neda Ulaby
In this special, four-part reading, Toni Morrison presents a pivotal episode from her new novel, A Mercy. The book explores the repercussions of an enslaved mother's desperate act: she casts off her daughter to save her.
Nobel laureate Toni Morrison says she wanted to "remove race from slavery" in her new novel. Set in 17th century America, A Mercy features black, white and Native American characters in different degrees of servitude.
Toni Morrison's 1987 work Beloved is the best American novel of the past quarter-century. That's according to a vote of writers and critics who were invited to weigh in with their choices by The New York Times Book Review.
Toni Morrison's life — like her writing — is populated by ghosts — some bad, some benign and others, pure inspiration. She talks about the "good" ghosts and childhood memories that have inspired her writing.
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