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Creators on the Cusp: Meet Gina Gagliano, comics crusader

Some books Gina Gagliano worked on at Random House Graphic. Meghan Collins Sullivan/NPR hide caption

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Meghan Collins Sullivan/NPR

Creators on the Cusp: Meet Gina Gagliano, comics crusader

July 7, 2022 • At a time when comics and graphic novels were seldom released by mainstream publishers, Gina Gagliano worked tirelessly to put the genre on the radar. Now she's head of the Boston Book Festival.

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A pediatric neurosurgeon reflects on his intense job, and the post-Roe landscape

Fresh Air

July 6, 2022 • Jay Wellons has operated on children's brains and spinal cords. He knows the anguish of losing a patient and the exhilaration of saving a child's life. His memoir is All That Moves Us.

A pediatric neurosurgeon reflects on his intense job, and the post-Roe landscape

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'The Poet's House' is a droll coming-of-age story — and an absolute keeper of a novel

Workman Publishing

Review

'The Poet's House' is a droll coming-of-age story — and an absolute keeper of a novel

Fresh Air

July 5, 2022 • Jean Thompson's novel follows an insecure young woman as she's drawn into a clique of poets. The Poet's House is a story about the corrosive power of shame and the primal fear of sounding stupid.

'The Poet's House' is a droll coming-of-age story — and an absolute keeper of a novel

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Flying around the world — and back home again — in 'Imagine a City'

Knopf

Review

Flying around the world — and back home again — in 'Imagine a City'

July 5, 2022 • In a new book, pilot and author of Skyfaring Mark Vanhoenacker takes readers to far-flung cities he once dreamed about during his childhood in western Massachusetts.

A billion here, a billion there: A new book tells the story of J. Paul Getty

J. Paul Getty with his pet lion, Teresa Institutional Archives, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles hide caption

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Institutional Archives, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles

A billion here, a billion there: A new book tells the story of J. Paul Getty

July 5, 2022 • In his day, J. Paul Getty was known as "the richest man in America." James Reginato's biography, Growing Up Getty, is an exhaustive account of how the rich are different from most people.

A billion here, a billion there: A new book tells the story of J. Paul Getty

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'X' explores pleasure and pain in a dystopic world

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Elle Perez/Catapult

'X' explores pleasure and pain in a dystopic world

July 5, 2022 • How do freedom and rights intersect with sex, pleasure and the self? It's a question the U.S. is facing in the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — and a central theme in writer Davey Davis's new novel. In X, Davis relocates the conflict over these ideas from courts and abortion clinics to queer clubs and BDSM dungeons in a more dystopic version of our present.

'X' explores pleasure and pain in a dystopic world

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Here are the 14 books that NPR staff and critics are loving the most so far this year

Various/Emily Bogle for NPR

Review

Here are the 14 books that NPR staff and critics are loving the most so far this year

July 2, 2022 • Every year, we ask NPR staff and contributors to tell us about their favorite books. From a list of 167 books so far this year, here are the 14 that the most people chose as their top pick.

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend reading, listening and viewing

Samara Weaving as Olivia and Eugenio Derbez as Antonio in the new Hulu film The Valet. Dan McFadden/Hulu hide caption

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Dan McFadden/Hulu

What's Making Us Happy: Recommendations From 'Pop Culture Happy Hour'

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend reading, listening and viewing

July 1, 2022 • Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: The Valet on Hulu, watching wrestling, and a playlist crafted for the perfect summer vibe.

'Noir Alley' host celebrates cinema's double crosses and doomed characters

Fresh Air

July 1, 2022 • Eddie Muller's book, Dark City, chronicles film noir from the '40s and '50s. He says the genre draws on a "very dark vision of existence." Originally broadcast Oct. 21, 2022.

'Noir Alley' host celebrates cinema's double crosses and doomed characters

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8 books to enjoy at the beach this summer

NPR

Review

8 books to enjoy at the beach this summer

June 30, 2022 • From light romance and short fiction to thrillers, here's a list of books that are perfect companions as you retreat to the beach or pool to catch a break from the summer heat.

8 books to enjoy at the beach this summer

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Travel the world without leaving your home with these 10 books

Various/Emily Bogle for NPR

Review

Travel the world without leaving your home with these 10 books

June 30, 2022 • From Lahore's red-light district and the streets of Mexico to a fantastical underwater land of Korean fable, here are some picks that can immerse you in worlds wholly unlike your own.

Travel the world without leaving your home with these 10 books

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Here are the Books We Love: 160+ great 2022 reads recommended by NPR

NPR

Review

Here are the Books We Love: 160+ great 2022 reads recommended by NPR

June 30, 2022 • Books We Love is back early this year; for 2022, we're launching the first-ever summer edition, complete with 160+ recommendations from NPR staff and trusted critics.

Real life or satire? Novelist Mat Johnson says it can be hard to tell the difference

Mat Johnson is the Philip H. Knight Chair of Humanities at the University of Oregon. His previous books include Pym and Loving Day. Courtesy of University of Oregon hide caption

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Courtesy of University of Oregon

Real life or satire? Novelist Mat Johnson says it can be hard to tell the difference

Fresh Air

June 29, 2022 • Set in the future, Johnson's new satirical novel, Invisible Things, takes place on one of Jupiter's many moons, where humans have created an artificial ecosystem designed to replicate life on Earth.

Real life or satire? Novelist Mat Johnson says it can be hard to tell the difference

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'X' looks at a subculture that mainstream American art has frequently shied away from

Catapult

Review

'X' looks at a subculture that mainstream American art has frequently shied away from

June 28, 2022 • Davey Davis' book is far from an ordinary love story — it's a shocking and moving novel about what it means to be an outsider in a world that's crumbling around you.

A novelist's time in the MMA cage informed his book on memory loss and identity

John Vercher is the author of the novels Three-Fifths and After the Lights Go Out. Karen Maria Photography/Soho Press hide caption

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Karen Maria Photography/Soho Press

A novelist's time in the MMA cage informed his book on memory loss and identity

Fresh Air

June 28, 2022 • John Vercher trained in mixed martial arts as a young man. His novel, After the Lights Go Out, centers on a veteran MMA fighter who struggles to remember everyday things.

A novelist's time in the MMA cage informed his book on memory loss and identity

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The strange underground economy of tree poaching

Coastal Redwood Trees Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The strange underground economy of tree poaching

June 28, 2022 • A new book dives deep into the fascinating criminal world of tree theft and efforts to combat it.

Life in the Middle Ages is more gross than engrossing in this ruthless novel

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Penguin Random House

Review

Life in the Middle Ages is more gross than engrossing in this ruthless novel

Fresh Air

June 27, 2022 • Ottessa Moshfegh's Lapvona follows the life of Marek, a 13-year-old peasant boy who lives in a cruel world of sadism and stink, cannibalism and self-flagellation.

Life in the Middle Ages is more gross than engrossing in this ruthless novel

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'Rogues' showcases Patrick Radden Keefe's preternatural gift for reading people

Doubleday

Review

'Rogues' showcases Patrick Radden Keefe's preternatural gift for reading people

June 27, 2022 • Keefe recognizes that we're all unreliable narrators of our own lives, and writes about his subjects with a keen sense of understanding.

Authors are protesting Amazon's e-book policy that allows users to read and return

A kindle e-book reader is pictured at the Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2015. Daniel Roland/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Daniel Roland/AFP via Getty Images

Authors are protesting Amazon's e-book policy that allows users to read and return

June 27, 2022 • Authors say readers are exploiting Amazon's seven-day return policy by using Amazon like a library and returning books after reading them.

Fasten your seat belts, flight attendant-turned-novelist shares stories from the sky

Fresh Air

June 24, 2022 • T.J. Newman began writing the hijack thriller Falling while she was a flight attendant. She'd jot down ideas on paper napkins in the quiet moments on red-eye flights. Originally broadcast July 2021.

Fasten your seat belts, flight attendant-turned-novelist shares stories from the sky

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'Learning To Talk' focuses on growing up in mid-20th-century England

Learning to Talk Henry Holt & Co. hide caption

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Henry Holt & Co.

Review

'Learning To Talk' focuses on growing up in mid-20th-century England

June 24, 2022 • It's a testament to Hilary Mantel's brilliance as an author that even though the moments in these stories are subtle, the book somehow feels epic in its own way.

The human sensory experience is limited. Journey into the world that animals know

A dolphin's sense of echolocation allows it to coordinate efforts to hunt prey, see "through" other creatures and form three-dimensional shapes using sound. Raymond Roig/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Raymond Roig/AFP via Getty Images

Shots - Health News

The human sensory experience is limited. Journey into the world that animals know

Fresh Air

June 22, 2022 • In his new book, An Immense World, science writer Ed Yong explores the diversity of perception in the animal world — including echolocation, magnetic fields and ultraviolet vision.

The human sensory experience is limited. Journey into the world that animals know

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Raising kids is 'Essential Labor.' It's also lonely, exhausting and expensive

Fourth-grader Lucy Kramer (foreground) does schoolwork at her home, as her mother, Daisley, helps her younger sister, Meg, who is in kindergarten, in 2020 in San Anselmo, Calif. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images hide caption

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Shots - Health News

Raising kids is 'Essential Labor.' It's also lonely, exhausting and expensive

Fresh Air

June 21, 2022 • In her book, author Angela Garbes makes the case that the work of raising children has always been undervalued and undercompensated in the U.S. Then came the pandemic, and everything got harder.

Raising kids is 'Essential Labor.' It's also lonely, exhausting and expensive

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'An Immense World' dives deep into the umwelt of animals

Random House

Review

Book Reviews

'An Immense World' dives deep into the umwelt of animals

June 21, 2022 • Pulitzer prize-winning science journalist Ed Yong writes in a perfect balance of scientific rigor and personal awe as he invites readers to grasp something of how other animals experience the world.