NPR Book Notes
Book Reviews
'Home': Toni Morrison's Taut, Triumphant New Novel()
May 15, 2012 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.
Author Interviews
Just What's Inside Those Breasts?()
May 16, 2012 In her new book, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History, Florence Williams offers her take on why breasts are getting bigger and developing earlier, why tumors seem to gravitate toward the breast, and how toxins from the environment may be affecting hormones and breast development.
Books
Exclusive First Read: 'Gone Girl' By Gillian Flynn()
May 14, 2012 Darkly funny, suspenseful and cunningly plotted, Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl will be published June 5. In this exclusive selection from the book's opening, we meet Nick and Amy, the seemingly perfect couple whose alternating chapters soon reveal them to be unreliable narrators — and spouses.
Monkey See
'Kickstart Shakespeare': Of Sonnets, Beer, And Online Fundraising()
May 16, 2012 "It was written for the masses," says the director of a New York organization raising money to bring Shakespeare's work to new audiences.
Book Reviews
China Mieville's 'Railsea': 'Moby-Dick' Remixed()
May 10, 2012 The new novel reimagines Moby-Dick in a future where the oceans have become barren wastelands teeming with fantastical carnivores, and crisscrossed by a network of railroads.
Author Interviews
'In One Person': A Tangled Gender-Bender()
May 12, 2012 Desire can have a profound effect on young adults during their formative years. Novelist John Irving turns 70 this year, and his latest novel is a coming-of-age story about loss, identity and AIDS — told by a bisexual narrator named Billy Abbott.
Book Reviews
'The Chemistry Of Tears' And The Art Of Healing()
May 16, 2012 After a museum conservator's lover dies, she becomes consumed with reanimating a 19th-century silver swan automaton. Critic Heller McAlpin says that Peter Carey's new novel is part historical, part fanciful and completely wonderful.
Author Interviews
How A 'Daily Show' Writer Grew Up Funny()
May 12, 2012 Lizz Winstead has always looked at life a little differently. She's written a book of essays that takes readers through the different chapters of her life: growing up, becoming a comic and helping to create The Daily Show.
Author Interviews
Bill Bradley: 'Do Better' To Reverse Country's Course()
May 10, 2012 The former New Jersey senator, basketball player and presidential candidate sees an America enduring a "slow-motion crisis." But he also sees unlimited potential to improve the U.S. In We Can All Do Better, Bradley argues that political change can come about remarkably fast, but only if people get involved.
Author Interviews
History, Heartbreak And 'The Chemistry Of Tears'()
May 13, 2012 The hero and the heroine of Peter Carey's new novel are separated by 150 years — and are brought together by an enormous, 19th-century, mechanical duck. The Chemistry of Tears is the 12th novel by the Australian-born, two-time Booker Prize-winning author.
