Summer Books 2012 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=153632828&ft=1&f=153632828 Summer is glorious and too short to waste on the wrong book. Let the NPR critics you know and trust help you find the year's best fiction, memoirs, mysteries, historical fiction, science fiction and more. en Copyright 2013 NPR - For Personal Use Only NPR API RSS Generator 0.94 Wed, 15 Aug 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://media.npr.org/images/npr_news_123x20.gif Summer Books 2012 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=153632828&ft=1&f=153632828 Lit, Illustrated: Five Fantastic Graphic Novels These panels are filled more with extraordinary storytelling than with standard-issue superheroes. Each book is created by a singular writer/artist, and offers a wholly unique point of view in both narrative and illustration. Wed, 15 Aug 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/08/15/154441182/lit-illustrated-five-fantastic-graphic-novels?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/08/15/154441182/lit-illustrated-five-fantastic-graphic-novels?ft=1&f=153632828 These panels are filled more with extraordinary storytelling than with standard-issue superheroes. Each book is created by a singular writer/artist, and offers a wholly unique point of view in both narrative and illustration.

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]]> Your Favorites: 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels More than 75,000 of you voted for your favorite young-adult fiction. Now, after all the nominating, sorting and counting, the final results are in. Here are the 100 best teen novels, chosen by the NPR audience. Tue, 07 Aug 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/08/07/157795366/your-favorites-100-best-ever-teen-novels?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/08/07/157795366/your-favorites-100-best-ever-teen-novels?ft=1&f=153632828 More than 75,000 of you voted for your favorite young-adult fiction. Now, after all the nominating, sorting and counting, the final results are in. Here are the 100 best teen novels, chosen by the NPR audience.

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]]> Monsters In Black Tie: A World Of Cliques And Class The five interconnected Patrick Melrose novels may first seem like vapid tales of the wildly rich, but to author Mark Saunders they're also harsh dramas about the excesses of the British upper crust. What's your favorite story of the upper class? Tell us in the comments. Mon, 06 Aug 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/08/06/157296602/monsters-in-black-tie-a-world-of-cliques-and-class?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/08/06/157296602/monsters-in-black-tie-a-world-of-cliques-and-class?ft=1&f=153632828 The five interconnected Patrick Melrose novels may first seem like vapid tales of the wildly rich, but to author Mark Saunders they're also harsh dramas about the excesses of the British upper crust. What's your favorite story of the upper class? Tell us in the comments.

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]]> A World On The Page: Five Great Travel Memoirs This summer, don't be a tourist — take a journey with these travel memoirs instead. Open these five books and meet a future First Lady, a one-booted hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail and a young Angela Davis. You'll encounter beauty, bravery, and chilling strangeness — without ever leaving the couch. Tue, 31 Jul 2012 08:14:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/07/05/156314475/a-world-on-the-page-five-great-travel-memoirs?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/07/05/156314475/a-world-on-the-page-five-great-travel-memoirs?ft=1&f=153632828 This summer, don't be a tourist — take a journey with these travel memoirs instead. Open these five books and meet a future First Lady, a one-booted hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail and a young Angela Davis. You'll encounter beauty, bravery, and chilling strangeness — without ever leaving the couch.

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]]> Best-Ever Teen Novels? Vote For Your Favorites To add a little drama to your summer, NPR is assembling a list of the best young adult novels ever written. Let the voting begin! Tue, 24 Jul 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/07/24/157072526/best-ever-teen-novels-vote-for-your-favorites?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/07/24/157072526/best-ever-teen-novels-vote-for-your-favorites?ft=1&f=153632828 To add a little drama to your summer, NPR is assembling a list of the best young adult novels ever written. Let the voting begin!

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]]> Laughing Matters: Five Funny Books With Substance Who says humor books can't be serious? Critic Heller McAlpin recommends some light but not weightless reads on mostly modern dilemmas: the pitfalls of class snobbery, what to do with those expensive higher degrees, the challenges of long marriages, and why otherwise rational women wear high heels. Tue, 17 Jul 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/07/17/155765881/laughing-matters-five-funny-books-with-substance?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/07/17/155765881/laughing-matters-five-funny-books-with-substance?ft=1&f=153632828 Who says humor books can't be serious? Critic Heller McAlpin recommends some light but not weightless reads on mostly modern dilemmas: the pitfalls of class snobbery, what to do with those expensive higher degrees, the challenges of long marriages, and why otherwise rational women wear high heels.

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]]> What's The Big Idea? 5 Books To Inspire Innovation Where do ideas come from and how can we have more of them? Science writer Jonah Lehrer recommends five books that explore the mysteries of the creative mind, and document the strange and beautiful world that our ideas have helped create. Tue, 10 Jul 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/07/10/152827852/whats-the-big-idea-5-books-to-inspire-innovation?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/07/10/152827852/whats-the-big-idea-5-books-to-inspire-innovation?ft=1&f=153632828 Where do ideas come from and how can we have more of them? Science writer Jonah Lehrer recommends five books that explore the mysteries of the creative mind, and document the strange and beautiful world that our ideas have helped create.

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]]> Lesser-Known Lit: Seeking Summer's Hidden Gems Passing along a book that no one has heard of is like telling a really good secret. NPR's Barrie Hardymon recommends a hot Southern thriller, a scathing evisceration of the newspaper biz, a slightly ridiculous, totally gratifying romance, and one extra gem that's been hiding in plain sight. Tue, 03 Jul 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/07/03/156117424/lesser-known-lit-seeking-summers-hidden-gems?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/07/03/156117424/lesser-known-lit-seeking-summers-hidden-gems?ft=1&f=153632828 Passing along a book that no one has heard of is like telling a really good secret. NPR's Barrie Hardymon recommends a hot Southern thriller, a scathing evisceration of the newspaper biz, a slightly ridiculous, totally gratifying romance, and one extra gem that's been hiding in plain sight.

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]]> Reading Romance Between (And Under) The Covers Love knows no bounds, and in these five books, passion leaps from the page. You'll be swept off your feet by three novels and two memoirs that take up the mischievous matters of the heart. Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:32:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/26/155117222/reading-romance-between-and-under-the-covers?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/26/155117222/reading-romance-between-and-under-the-covers?ft=1&f=153632828 Love knows no bounds, and in these five books, passion leaps from the page. You'll be swept off your feet by three novels and two memoirs that take up the mischievous matters of the heart.

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]]> Rich Reads: Historical Fiction Fit For A Queen These five books will give you literary jet lag — a yearning to linger in the world of the author's imagination, and a reluctance to return to your own. The research is so deep it becomes invisible, and these writers are trusted guides, gently nudging and leading you through each tale. Sat, 23 Jun 2012 06:23:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/23/155275410/rich-reads-historical-fiction-fit-for-a-queen?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/23/155275410/rich-reads-historical-fiction-fit-for-a-queen?ft=1&f=153632828 These five books will give you literary jet lag — a yearning to linger in the world of the author's imagination, and a reluctance to return to your own. The research is so deep it becomes invisible, and these writers are trusted guides, gently nudging and leading you through each tale.

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]]> Sail Into Summer With Novel Picks From 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<em> Home.</em> Thu, 14 Jun 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/20/154786584/sail-into-summer-with-novel-picks-from-alan-cheuse?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/20/154786584/sail-into-summer-with-novel-picks-from-alan-cheuse?ft=1&f=153632828 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.

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]]> Summer's Best Sci-Fi: Planets, Politics, Apocalypse These five books will suck you into strange worlds, but leave you full of questions about our own. These page turners have pleasingly complicated political and social subtexts, morphing space battles into philosophical debates and zombie hordes into political satire. Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/19/155113890/summers-best-sci-fi-planets-politics-apocalypse?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/19/155113890/summers-best-sci-fi-planets-politics-apocalypse?ft=1&f=153632828 These five books will suck you into strange worlds, but leave you full of questions about our own. These page turners have pleasingly complicated political and social subtexts, morphing space battles into philosophical debates and zombie hordes into political satire.

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]]> The Best Young Adult Novels? You Tell Us To add a little drama to your summer, NPR Books is focusing our annual summer readers' poll on young adult fiction. Share your favorite YA titles: Your nominations will decide the books that make our top-100 list of the best YA fiction ever written. Mon, 18 Jun 2012 07:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/18/154796035/the-best-young-adult-novels-you-tell-us?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/18/154796035/the-best-young-adult-novels-you-tell-us?ft=1&f=153632828 To add a little drama to your summer, NPR Books is focusing our annual summer readers' poll on young adult fiction. Share your favorite YA titles: Your nominations will decide the books that make our top-100 list of the best YA fiction ever written.

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]]> Want A Winner? These Books Made The Critics' Cut Lynn Neary talks to three critics about the books you absolutely shouldn't miss this summer. Critic Laura Miller of Salon.com, says it's a particularly rich literary summer because in election years, publishers release their juiciest books before the fall. Sun, 17 Jun 2012 05:46:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/17/155042231/want-a-winner-these-books-made-the-critics-cut?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/17/155042231/want-a-winner-these-books-made-the-critics-cut?ft=1&f=153632828 Lynn Neary talks to three critics about the books you absolutely shouldn't miss this summer. Critic Laura Miller of Salon.com, says it's a particularly rich literary summer because in election years, publishers release their juiciest books before the fall.

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]]> Book Party For One: A Loner's Summer Survival Guide Summer is a trying time for introverts, what with the barbecues and the graduations and the picnics by the pool. If you'd always choose a good book over a good party, critic Maureen Corrigan has a list for you. Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:14:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/11/154750856/book-party-for-one-a-loners-summer-survival-guide?ft=1&f=153632828 http://www.npr.org/2012/06/11/154750856/book-party-for-one-a-loners-summer-survival-guide?ft=1&f=153632828 Summer is a trying time for introverts, what with the barbecues and the graduations and the picnics by the pool. If you'd always choose a good book over a good party, critic Maureen Corrigan has a list for you.

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