NPR Columns: You Must Read This http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5432412&ft=1&f=5432412 Each week "You Must Read This" presents conversations with writers about the books they love to read and recommend. Copyright 2009 NPR - For Personal Use Only NPR API RSS Generator 0.93 Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:09:00 -0500 http://media.npr.org/images/npr_news_123x20.gif You Must Read This http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5432412&ft=1&f=5432412 A Cape Cod Connection In 'The Outermost House' When she needs inspiration for writing about the natural world, author Lucinda Fleeson opens Henry Beston's 1929 classic: <em>The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod</em>. Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:09:00 -0500 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120743098&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120743098&ft=1&f=5432412 When she needs inspiration for writing about the natural world, author Lucinda Fleeson opens Henry Beston's 1929 classic: The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod.

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]]> Damned 'From Here To Eternity' Author James Ellroy was 12 when <em>From Here To Eternity</em> showed him a new, damned world: Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, in the months before the Pearl Harbor attack. Ellroy had already come to see the world as a harsh place, but the book gave him characters at the outset of America's most perilous moment and ultimate ascent. He says you must read it. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:43:00 -0500 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112212197&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112212197&ft=1&f=5432412 Author James Ellroy was 12 when From Here To Eternity showed him a new, damned world: Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, in the months before the Pearl Harbor attack. Ellroy had already come to see the world as a harsh place, but the book gave him characters at the outset of America's most perilous moment and ultimate ascent. He says you must read it.

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]]> A Wild, 'Burning' Journey Back To Old Mexico Author Oscar Casares never used to be a reader &mdash; until the excitement of <em>The Burning Plain and Other Stories</em> showed him what he had been missing. Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:29:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113832491&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113832491&ft=1&f=5432412 Author Oscar Casares never used to be a reader — until the excitement of The Burning Plain and Other Stories showed him what he had been missing.

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]]> Loving This Book 'Warps The Mind A Little' Author Julia Glass fell for John Dufresne's "funny-sad novel," <em> Love Warps the Mind a Little,</em> despite herself. Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:59:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111839957&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111839957&ft=1&f=5432412 Author Julia Glass fell for John Dufresne's "funny-sad novel," Love Warps the Mind a Little, despite herself.

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]]> 'Sargasso' Re-Imagines The Madwoman Of 'Jane Eyre' Jean Rhys' 1966 novel <em>Wide Sargasso Sea</em> endeavors to create a back story to Charlotte Bronte's <em>Jane Eyre.</em> Though author Sara Paretsky usually resists such "vampire novels," she fell hard for Rhys' heart-chokingly urgent tale of Rochester's Madwoman. Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:33:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112644399&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112644399&ft=1&f=5432412 Jean Rhys' 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea endeavors to create a back story to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Though author Sara Paretsky usually resists such "vampire novels," she fell hard for Rhys' heart-chokingly urgent tale of Rochester's Madwoman.

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]]> When It Comes To Food, You Can't 'Beat This' Book According to author Elizabeth Berg, <em>Beat This!</em> is more than just a cookbook &mdash; it's a humor book, a self-help book and a kind of bible. Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:01:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104869075&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104869075&ft=1&f=5432412 According to author Elizabeth Berg, Beat This! is more than just a cookbook — it's a humor book, a self-help book and a kind of bible.

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]]> Bradbury's Fiction Reignites An Author's Faith Author Alice Hoffman says the world rendered in Ray Bradbury's <em>Fahrenheit 451</em> "is a place of great heart and wisdom, a universe of huge imagination where nothing is off-limits." Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:01:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104429516&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104429516&ft=1&f=5432412 Author Alice Hoffman says the world rendered in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 "is a place of great heart and wisdom, a universe of huge imagination where nothing is off-limits."

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]]> A Delightfully Evil Tale Of Pirates And Children Finding a book that makes you feel like a kid again is no easy feat, but author Andrew Sean Greer says he found just that in Richard Hughes' <em>A High Wind in Jamaica</em>. Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103930835&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103930835&ft=1&f=5432412 Finding a book that makes you feel like a kid again is no easy feat, but author Andrew Sean Greer says he found just that in Richard Hughes' A High Wind in Jamaica.

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]]> Head In A Fog? Reach For 'Herzog' There's a little thing author Jeffrey Eugenides does when he can't write. When he's feeling sleepy, when his head is in a fog, he reaches across his desk, digs under the piles of unanswered mail, and unearths his copy of <em>Herzog</em> by Saul Bellow. Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103846270&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103846270&ft=1&f=5432412 There's a little thing author Jeffrey Eugenides does when he can't write. When he's feeling sleepy, when his head is in a fog, he reaches across his desk, digs under the piles of unanswered mail, and unearths his copy of Herzog by Saul Bellow.

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]]> In Praise Of Ondaatje's Gloriously Intoxicating 'Lion' Author Kamila Shamsie owns two copies of Michael Ondaatje's <em>In the Skin of a Lion</em> so that no matter where she is, she can always slip into the novel's vital, heart-stopping world. Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104013333&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104013333&ft=1&f=5432412 Author Kamila Shamsie owns two copies of Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion so that no matter where she is, she can always slip into the novel's vital, heart-stopping world.

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]]> Iceland's Stoic, Sardonic 'Independent People' The main character in Halldor Laxness' novel <em>Independent People</em> is querulous, contrary, hard-hearted and stubborn &mdash; but author Christina Sunley can't get enough of him. Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103524675&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103524675&ft=1&f=5432412 The main character in Halldor Laxness' novel Independent People is querulous, contrary, hard-hearted and stubborn — but author Christina Sunley can't get enough of him.

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]]> 'Unquiet Mind' Reveals Bipolar Disorder's Complexity Author Melody Moezzi says Kay Redfield Jamison's memoir, <em>An Unquiet Mind,</em> is the most brilliant and brutally honest book she's ever read about bipolar disorder. Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102691854&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102691854&ft=1&f=5432412 Author Melody Moezzi says Kay Redfield Jamison's memoir, An Unquiet Mind, is the most brilliant and brutally honest book she's ever read about bipolar disorder.

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]]> 'Go With Me': A Wry Journey Deep Into Vermont When a woman at a bookstore in Brattleboro, Vt., put Castle Freeman Jr.'s novel <em>Go With Me</em> into author Charles Bock's hand, he had no idea what a wry, primal, epic and impossible-to-put-down book he had just been given. Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102923853&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102923853&ft=1&f=5432412 When a woman at a bookstore in Brattleboro, Vt., put Castle Freeman Jr.'s novel Go With Me into author Charles Bock's hand, he had no idea what a wry, primal, epic and impossible-to-put-down book he had just been given.

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]]> Out Of Africa And 'West With The Night' Author Anne Cherian was 24 when she first read &mdash; and was enthralled by &mdash; Beryl Markham's autobiography <em>West With the Night,</em> a beautifully written retelling of the aviator's childhood in Africa and her daring solo flight across the Atlantic. Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102496707&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102496707&ft=1&f=5432412 Author Anne Cherian was 24 when she first read — and was enthralled by — Beryl Markham's autobiography West With the Night, a beautifully written retelling of the aviator's childhood in Africa and her daring solo flight across the Atlantic.

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]]> A Journey From The Ghetto To The Ivory Tower Ron Suskind's <em>A Hope in the Unseen</em> tracks a familiar story &mdash; an ambitious kid's escape from the inner city. Author Susan Jane Gilman says Suskind treats his subject with such care that this nonfiction tale has the impact of an epic novel. Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102327929&ft=1&f=5432412 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102327929&ft=1&f=5432412 Ron Suskind's A Hope in the Unseen tracks a familiar story — an ambitious kid's escape from the inner city. Author Susan Jane Gilman says Suskind treats his subject with such care that this nonfiction tale has the impact of an epic novel.

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