Books: Book Reviews, Book News, and Author Interviews : NPR

Books: Book Reviews, Book News, and Author Interviews NPR's brings you news about books and authors along with our picks for great reads. Interviews, reviews, the NPR Bestseller Lists, New in Paperback and much more.

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NPR

NPR's Book Concierge: Our Guide To 2018's Great Reads

November 27, 2018 • The Book Concierge is back! Explore more than 300 standout titles picked by NPR staff and critics.

Review

Book Reviews

'The Snow Leopard Project' Puts Spotlight On Afghanistan's Wildlife

January 23, 2019 • For many, Afghanistan does not at first conjure up images of black bears and musk deer. But that's just what Alex Dehgan found when his team went there in hope of establishing the first national park.

Recently Reviewed

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Columnist Russell Baker Dies At 93

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and humorist Baker has died at age 93. His son, Allen Baker, says his father died from complications after a fall. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption

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Alex Brandon/AP

Obituaries

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Columnist Russell Baker Dies At 93

January 23, 2019 • Baker made his name as a columnist for The New York Times, where he wrote thousands of columns over more than 30 years. He won one Pulitzer Prize for commentary, and another for his autobiography.

Middle East

Journalist Recounts The Absurdity And Torture Of 544 Days In Iran's Evin Prison

Fresh Air

January 22, 2019 • After being accused of spying, Jason Rezaian was held in Iran's notorious prison for a year and a half. Throughout it all, he never considered giving up writing and reporting.

Journalist Recounts The Absurdity And Torture Of 544 Days In Iran's Evin Prison

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Book Reviews

'Prisoner' Is An Intimate Portrait Of One Journalist's Captivity In Iran

January 22, 2019 • Writer Jason Rezaian is unsparingly personal throughout the telling of his arrest, imprisonment and trial, writing of his childhood, family, visits with his wife — and fears and insecurities.

In 'Team Of Vipers,' It's Mr. Sims Who Goes To Washington

North facade of the White House in Washington D.C. M. Borchi/De Agostini via Getty Images hide caption

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M. Borchi/De Agostini via Getty Images

Review

Book Reviews

In 'Team Of Vipers,' It's Mr. Sims Who Goes To Washington

January 22, 2019 • In the movies, "Mr. Smith" stands by his principles and prevails in the capital. In Cliff Sims's story, told in a new book, the hero descends into disillusionment — but not before enjoying the ride.

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

Author Interviews

'Field Guide To The North American Teenager' Taps Into The Raw Anxiety Of Adolescence

January 21, 2019 • Ben Philippe's debut novel follows a black French Canadian teenager grappling with his parents' divorce and the upheaval that comes with moving from Canada to Texas in the middle of the school year.

'Field Guide To The North American Teenager' Taps Into The Raw Anxiety Of Adolescence

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"I Reject Walls": A 2019 Poetry Preview

January 21, 2019 • This year, says critic Craig Morgan Teicher, America's poets are stepping up and expressing their faith in the capacity of words to overcome barriers, find compromise, and speak truth.

Once Centers Of Soviet Propaganda, Moscow's Libraries Are Having A 'Loud' Revival

Moscow's Fyodor Dostoevsky Library was renovated in 2013 and now sees some 500 visitors a day, up from just a dozen or so per day in earlier years. The library hosts language clubs, readings, lectures and concerts. Lucian Kim/NPR hide caption

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World

Once Centers Of Soviet Propaganda, Moscow's Libraries Are Having A 'Loud' Revival

January 21, 2019 • "A library can be a loud place," says a city official in charge of Moscow's 400-plus public libraries, which have begun attracting visitors with coffee shops, theater rehearsals and lectures.

Once Centers Of Soviet Propaganda, Moscow's Libraries Are Having A 'Loud' Revival

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Book Reviews

In 'The Birds, The Bees,' Teens Take On Sex Ed

January 21, 2019 • In Olivia Hinebaugh's new novel, a girl gets fed up with her school's abstinence-only classes and sets herself up as a sex ed expert, handing out condoms and advice with help from her mom, a nurse.

He Was 460 Pounds. What Confronting His Weight Taught Him About Obesity In America

"It feels like confessing a crime," Tommy Tomlinson says about revealing his weight in his new book, The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man's Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America. Courtesy of Simon & Schuster hide caption

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Courtesy of Simon & Schuster

Author Interviews

He Was 460 Pounds. What Confronting His Weight Taught Him About Obesity In America

January 20, 2019 • "Losing weight is figuring out something you can live with," says Tommy Tomlinson, author of the new memoir The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man's Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America.

He Was 460 Pounds. What Confronting His Weight Taught Him About Obesity In America

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Book Reviews

'The Gilded Wolves' Is A Rich, High-Speed Heist Tale

January 20, 2019 • Roshani Chokshi's new novel — set in an alternate Belle Époque Paris — features an unlikely team of thieves out to steal a magical artifact with connections to their colonized homelands.

There's No Rest For Anyone In 'The Dreamers'

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In 'Holy Lands,' A Tale Of Family Drama And Pig Farming In Israel

Bloomsbury Publishing

Author Interviews

In 'Holy Lands,' A Tale Of Family Drama And Pig Farming In Israel

January 19, 2019 • The epistolary novel from author Amanda Sthers, newly available in English and now adapted into a feature film, is a story of reconciliation (and raising swine among Jews).

In 'Holy Lands,' A Tale Of Family Drama And Pig Farming In Israel

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'Mala Vida' Never Quite Gets Up To Speed

January 19, 2019 • Marc Fernandez' noir has fascinating elements — a crusading journalist, a trans detective, and the tragic real-life snatching of thousands of babies in Franco-era Spain — but ultimately falls flat.

Review

Book Reviews

In 'Why We Fight,' One Man Searches For Self-Knowledge Through Mixed Martial Arts

January 17, 2019 • Josh Rosenblatt's personal meditation on fighting and selfhood is replete with engaging literary and historical excursions — giving the idea of fighting a dignity it might be harder to grant without.

Beloved Poet Mary Oliver, Who Believed Poetry 'Mustn't Be Fancy,' Dies At 83

Poet Mary Oliver speaks at the 2010 Women's Conference in California. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images hide caption

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Obituaries

Beloved Poet Mary Oliver, Who Believed Poetry 'Mustn't Be Fancy,' Dies At 83

January 17, 2019 • Oliver wasn't always appreciated by critics, but she was still one of the country's most popular poets. In 2012, she told NPR, "Poetry, to be understood, must be clear."

Beloved Poet Mary Oliver, Who Believed Poetry 'Mustn't Be Fancy,' Dies At 83

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Book Reviews

'You Know You Want This' Takes Risks On Every Level

January 17, 2019 • Kristin Roupenian went viral with her New Yorker short story "Cat Person." And that story is in her new collection, but she goes much further, with genre switches, shock endings, even a fairy tale.