Home
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.
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.
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.
PG-13: Risky Reads
'Portnoy's Complaint': A Surprisingly Therapeutic Birthday Present
Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint taught author Lucas Mann to be less scared of life.
Beyond Teen Spirit: Learning From Kurt Cobain's Mistakes
Azerrad's Come as You Are: taught author Georges how to overcome her teenage angst and grow up.
These 'Great Tales Of Terror' Live Up To Their Promise
Book critic Michael Dirda found the anthology Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural revelatory.
Crime In The City
In Neville's Thrillers, Belfast's Violent Past Still Burns
The Troubles and their aftermath inspire Stuart Neville's novels, including The Ghosts of Belfast.
Michigan Author Dreams Up A Deadlier Ann Arbor
It's easy to see the real Ann Arbor in Harry Dolan's fiction, but that likeness ends with murder.
Robert Crais: L.A. Is 'Natural Canvas' For Nightmare
From murder to human trafficking, Los Angeles serves as the perfect setting for Crais' noir novels.
Book Reviews
A Family's Secrets And Sorrows Surface In 'Heatwave'
Maggie O'Farrell's new novel follows a troubled Irish Catholic family in London during a heat wave.
Reader Advisory: 'Shining Girls' Is Gruesome But Gripping
Lauren Beukes' latest, The Shining Girls, traces the gruesome path of a time-traveling killer.
You Must Read This
Evelyn Waugh's 'Scoop': Journalism Is A Duplicitous Business
Writer Alexander Nazaryan says the 1938 novel is an all-too-real parody of print journalism.
Donald Justice's 'Collected Poems' Offer Refuge From The Rain
Author Mary Szybist says there is something profoundly consoling about Justice's poetry.
100 Best Books
Your Favorites: 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels
More than 75,000 of you voted for your favorite young-adult novels. Here are the winners.
Your Picks: Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books
More than 60,000 ballots were cast in our annual summer readers' survey. Here are the results.
Three Books
Badger, Bunny And Black-Cat Blues: 3 Tales Of Animal Noir
Writer Jody Arlington picks three graphic novels. The twist? They star anthropomorphic animals.
What's Cooking? 3 Books That Are More Filling Than Food
Author Jessica Soffer recommends three books that deal with food but aren't in love with it.
My Guilty Pleasure
Appetite For Destruction: A Deadly, Delicious Rock Memoir
Duff McKagan's memoir shows the ugly underside of the legendary rock group Guns N' Roses.
Spy Vs. Spy: A Former MI5 Director On Loving James Bond
Former MI5 director Stella Rimington loves escaping into Ian Fleming's From Russia With Love.
Last Year's Summer Books
Indie Booksellers Target Summer's Best Reads
Three independent booksellers suggest summer books full of journeys, reunions and good food.
Three Critics Pick The Best Books For Summer
Critics Laura Miller, Ron Charles and Rigoberto Gonzalez recommend their favorite summer books.
