Summer Reading: Fiction http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1085&ft=1&f=1085 Selections for great summer fiction. Book reviews, excerpts, and author interviews. Suscribe to the Summer Fiction RSS feed. en Copyright 2013 NPR - For Personal Use Only NPR API RSS Generator 0.94 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:07:00 -0400 http://media.npr.org/images/npr_news_123x20.gif Summer Reading: Fiction http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1085&ft=1&f=1085 Nominations: Best Beach Books Of All Time NPR is drawing up a list of the best beach books ever, and we need you to help by nominating your favorite summer reads. Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:07:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105607056&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105607056&ft=1&f=1085 NPR is drawing up a list of the best beach books ever, and we need you to help by nominating your favorite summer reads.

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]]> Excerpt: 'The Four Corners of the Sky' Prepare to be enchanted by a masterful writer who knows how to tell a story. Michael Malone's skills derive partly from his work writing for a popular daytime soap and partly from his affection for good literature. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:55:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104840824&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104840824&ft=1&f=1085 Prepare to be enchanted by a masterful writer who knows how to tell a story. Michael Malone's skills derive partly from his work writing for a popular daytime soap and partly from his affection for good literature.

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]]> Excerpt: 'Laura Rider's Masterpiece' Jane Hamilton's constantly entertaining novel centers around a Midwestern couple who become involved with a radio star. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:38:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105029468&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105029468&ft=1&f=1085 Jane Hamilton's constantly entertaining novel centers around a Midwestern couple who become involved with a radio star.

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]]> Excerpt: 'Stone's Fall' Iain Pears knows how to deliver a complex historical mystery. <em>Stone's Fall</em> is one of those gloriously long books that is never long enough. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:27:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104838486&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104838486&ft=1&f=1085 Iain Pears knows how to deliver a complex historical mystery. Stone's Fall is one of those gloriously long books that is never long enough.

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]]> Excerpt: 'The Housekeeper and the Professor' Yoko Ogawa's poignant new story reminds us that the heart remembers what the mind forgets, and people can find order and solace in unexpected places. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:27:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104829611&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104829611&ft=1&f=1085 Yoko Ogawa's poignant new story reminds us that the heart remembers what the mind forgets, and people can find order and solace in unexpected places.

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]]> Excerpt: 'The Stolen Child' Without an excess of sentimentality, this novel updates and explores the changeling myth. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:14:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104906547&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104906547&ft=1&f=1085 Without an excess of sentimentality, this novel updates and explores the changeling myth.

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]]> Excerpt: 'The School of Essential Ingredients' Whether you love to cook or not, you will be charmed by <em>The School of Essential Ingredients.</em> You need to be warned, though... you will want to eat your way through it. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:01:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105103136&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105103136&ft=1&f=1085 Whether you love to cook or not, you will be charmed by The School of Essential Ingredients. You need to be warned, though... you will want to eat your way through it.

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]]> Novelist Explores Book Groups, Hollywood-Style In Chandler Burr's <em>You or Someone Like You,</em> the wife of a powerful Hollywood executive unexpectedly finds herself at the helm of a popular book group. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls it a "smart novel" that offers "a very tough reflection on the idea of 'group-ness' itself" Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:50:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104866339&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104866339&ft=1&f=1085 In Chandler Burr's You or Someone Like You, the wife of a powerful Hollywood executive unexpectedly finds herself at the helm of a popular book group. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls it a "smart novel" that offers "a very tough reflection on the idea of 'group-ness' itself"

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]]> Excerpt: 'Out' Natsuo Kirino's <em>Out</em> focuses four plucky women who support each other during times of crisis. A formulaic premise? Sure, if these were Manhattanites pining over shoes rather than assembly-line workers dealing with death and dismemberment. Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:35:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92300937&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92300937&ft=1&f=1085 Natsuo Kirino's Out focuses four plucky women who support each other during times of crisis. A formulaic premise? Sure, if these were Manhattanites pining over shoes rather than assembly-line workers dealing with death and dismemberment.

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]]> Excerpt: 'The Last Embrace' <em>The Last Embrace</em> works as literary film noir: There are bombshell babes, unsavory gangsters, and — of course — a grisly murder. Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:52:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92297895&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92297895&ft=1&f=1085 The Last Embrace works as literary film noir: There are bombshell babes, unsavory gangsters, and — of course — a grisly murder.

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]]> A Preposterous Man Of Mystery In 'Hotel Crystal' Equal parts thriller, travelogue and literary puzzle, <em>Hotel Crystal</em> is <em>The Bourne Identity</em> by way of Borges. Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93397480&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93397480&ft=1&f=1085 Equal parts thriller, travelogue and literary puzzle, Hotel Crystal is The Bourne Identity by way of Borges.

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]]> Vignettes And Characters Shift In 'Chameleons' In <em>The Book of Chameleons,</em> a gecko narrator weaves fragmentary tales of invented pasts into a story of charming airiness. The prize-winning Portuguese novel is set in post-civil war Angola. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93282615&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93282615&ft=1&f=1085 In The Book of Chameleons, a gecko narrator weaves fragmentary tales of invented pasts into a story of charming airiness. The prize-winning Portuguese novel is set in post-civil war Angola.

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]]> Sex, Drugs And Sonnets: In 'Will,' All's Well Even the bard wasn't as bawdy or silly as drug-addled scholar "Willie" Shakespeare Greenberg, the fumbling protagonist of Jess Winfield's lovingly naughty academic picaresque, <em>My Name Is Will.</em> Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:01:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93063981&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93063981&ft=1&f=1085 Even the bard wasn't as bawdy or silly as drug-addled scholar "Willie" Shakespeare Greenberg, the fumbling protagonist of Jess Winfield's lovingly naughty academic picaresque, My Name Is Will.

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]]> Russian Immigrants Feast On 'Food And Love' For her new short-story collection, Lara Vapnyar revisits New York's Brighton Beach and finds the link between food, memory, love and dreams of the future. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:01:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93003401&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93003401&ft=1&f=1085 For her new short-story collection, Lara Vapnyar revisits New York's Brighton Beach and finds the link between food, memory, love and dreams of the future.

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]]> Americans Say Oui, Oui To Foreign Graphic Novels Americans don't buy a lot of foreign novels, but go to any neighborhood bookstore and you'll find whole shelves devoted to international comics. In fact, more than half of the graphic novels sold in the U.S. are foreign-language imports. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:01:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92647469&ft=1&f=1085 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92647469&ft=1&f=1085 Americans don't buy a lot of foreign novels, but go to any neighborhood bookstore and you'll find whole shelves devoted to international comics. In fact, more than half of the graphic novels sold in the U.S. are foreign-language imports.

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