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From the moment Huckleberry Finn sat on his raft and decided, "All right, then, I'll go to hell," great American books have featured people setting off on their own, bound for the new. Washington, D.C., writer, teacher and musician Will Layman offers three books about rebellion.
Minister Thomas apologized to both Bullough, whom he named, and the actual winner, poet Dannie Abse.
This summer, nowhere is safe from superheroes — not even your local bookstore.Web Extra:Read Excerpts
July 3, 2008 · Centuries later, doubts persist that William Shakespeare penned the works that bear his name. Skeptics include not only scholars but also famous folks, ranging from Orson Welles to Mark Twain.
July 3, 2008 · Like most things that happen in the bedroom, the collection of essays found in Dirty Words is fun, naughty and totally inappropriate for the eyes of children.Web Extra: Read an Excerpt
July 2, 2008 · With plenty of nods to The Great Gatsby Joseph O'Neill's Netherland explores dreams and ambition in post-Sept. 11 New York City. Maureen Corrigan calls the novel "marvelous."Web Extra: Read an Excerpt
July 1, 2008 · In his new novel, The Garden of Last Days, Andre Dubus III imagines the stripper who danced for the terrorists before Sept. 11. The author is best known for House of Sand and Fog, a National Book Award finalist in 1999.Web Extra: Read an Excerpt
July 1, 2008 · Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren talks about your credit rating — how it's compiled, and how it may be used against you. Warren also discusses the errors that may lower your score and how to fix them.
July 1, 2008 · Jonathan Raban remembers his first encounter with the aging, aimless socialites of Evelyn Waugh's Put Out More Flags, a novel of cocktails, clandestine affairs and the looming threat of World War II.
July 1, 2008 · Six years ago, hedge fund manager David Einhorn launched a battle to expose accounting problems at Allied Capital, a financial company. In a new book, he says the experience revealed how the media and financial regulators can sometimes fail investors.
June 30, 2008 · Through photos and writings documenting poverty in New York City in the late 19th century, a Danish immigrant became a famous campaigner against slum housing. Two new books tell the story of Jacob Riis, a social reformer and natural showman.Web Extra: Photo Gallery, Book Excerpts
June 30, 2008 · For years, Betsy Block thought the only way to indulge in her favorite pleasure — food — was to eat it. Then she discovered food writing and found a way to have her cake without sneaking even one bite.
June 30, 2008 · Jennifer Weiner's Good in Bed heroine is all grown up. Now a 40-something mother, Cannie Shapiro struggles with anxiety, anger and her teenage daughter. Reviewer Lizzie Skurnick calls the character "equal parts zaftig and Zola."Web Extra: Read an Excerpt
July 2, 2008 · How did Napoleon's penis end up in New Jersey? Tony Perrottet, the author of the new book, Napoleon's Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped, outlines the route the emperor's organ took from the island of St. Helena in 1821 to a briefcase under the bed of a New Jersey urologist.Web Extra: Crowd source the double entendres
July 2, 2008 · Shakespeare's works inspire strong emotions both on stage and off. Author Nigel Cliff talks about his book The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama and Death in 19th-Century America, which tells the story of an argument between two actors that led to a deadly riot.
The characters in these three books fly free of convention and so does the wild language.
Take great writing, fold in luscious descriptions of anything edible, and voilà.
Suburban misfit Marc Acito relies on his fictional gal friends for comfort, laughs and inspiration.
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Your purchase helps support NPR Programming. How?
» Booksense.comFind a local independent bookstore near you.
Your purchase helps support NPR Programming. How?
