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Wisdom Watch
Beloved YA Author Katherine Paterson Shares Wisdom
March 13, 2013 Katherine Paterson is the author of many young adult novels, including The Great Gilly Hopkins and Bridge to Terabithia. The American Library Association recently honored her with the Wilder Award for her work. Host Michel Martin talks to Paterson about how she's been able to tell so many authentic stories about young people.
Arts & Life
Muses And Metaphor 2013: Tweet Us Your Poetry!
March 13, 2013 Poetry and social media join forces in April, as Tell Me More celebrates National Poetry Month with the Muses and Metaphor series. We'll feature poems exchanged via Twitter by NPR fans — always in 140 characters or fewer. Tweet your poem using the hashtag: #TMMPoetry.
Author Interviews
A Young Man Gets 'Filthy Rich' Boiling, Bottling Tap Water
March 13, 2013 Mohsin Hamid's How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia explores life in the modern megalopolis and the growing scarcity of clean water. In search of his fortune, Hamid's protagonist lands on a scam to boil and sell tap water as bottled mineral water in a novel that takes inspiration from self-help books.
Book Reviews
Rewriting The Self In Gass' Dense, Difficult 'Middle C'
March 13, 2013 William H. Gass' fiction has been a secret handshake among brainy readers for years. Critics universally adored The Tunnel, his 1995 opus, even though it was nearly impossible to read. With Middle C, Gass has given us another dense, suffocating novel about language and the self.
The Two-Way
Book News: Michael Vick Cancels Book Tour Because Of Threats
March 13, 2013 Also: Maurice Sendak's watercolors; the longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction is announced; and complaints against Bob Woodward's book on John Belushi.
Book Reviews
Monsters, Myths And Poetic License In Anne Carson's 'Red Doc'
March 12, 2013 Anne Carson's Autobiography of Red, a novel in verse, was published more than a decade ago and has a loyal following. Reviewer Rosecrans Baldwin says those fans are sure to be delighted with Carson's new follow-up novel, Red Doc>.
Book Reviews
'Lean In': Not Much Of A Manifesto, But Still A Win For Women
March 12, 2013 Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has drawn a lot of attention with her "sort of a feminist manifesto" Lean In. Critic Maureen Corrigan finds that much of the book is bland, but toward the end, Sandberg's intellectual charisma breaks through.
The Two-Way
Book News: Hippies Were Dirty And Liked Music By Satanists, Louisiana Textbook Claims
March 12, 2013 Also: Sarah Palin is writing a book about Christmas; Rachel Aviv on the literary genius of Julian Jaynes; author Sarah Manguso on memoir.
Book Reviews
The Mundane World Illuminated In 'Hand-Drying In America'
March 12, 2013 Comics veteran Ben Katchor's new book, Hand-Drying in America, examines the spaces we live and work in, and the ways we build and navigate through them. Critic Glen Weldon says Katchor's panels "celebrate the mundane world around us by revealing it to be anything but."
Author Interviews
'One Nation Under Stress,' With To-Do Lists And Yoga For All
March 11, 2013 Author Dana Becker says that Americans are obsessed with curing stress, rather than identifying and addressing the forces that cause it. Becker explains the origins of the concept of stress, how "stress inflation" is affecting society, and why just eating more kale isn't enough.
Author Interviews
'Frankenstein's Cat': Bioengineering The Animals Of The Future
March 11, 2013 Science journalist Emily Anthes talks about how scientists are engineering mice with tumors and working to create pigs that can grow organs for human transplant and insects that could serve as drones for the military.
The Two-Way
Book News: Amazon Tries To Claim '.book' Domain; Publishers Fight Back
March 11, 2013 Also: the best books coming out this week; Mindy Kaling is writing another memoir; and Francine Prose explores dreams in literature.
New In Paperback
March 11-17: A Family Reunion, A Hunted Werewolf, A Military Standoff
March 11, 2013 In softcover nonfiction, Jeanette Winterson revisits her haunting past. In fiction, Mark Haddon's tale of an estranged family's gathering, Glen Duncan's werewolf sequel and Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya's modern-day Antigone arrive in paperback.
Author Interviews
'Lean In': Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg Explains What's Holding Women Back
March 11, 2013 "The blunt truth is men still run the world," says Silicon Valley executive Sheryl Sandberg — and the problem begins as early as the playground, where assertive boys are called leaders, and assertive girls are called bossy.