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Books

"I love cooking for people I love," Ina Garten says. "And the cooking is just the medium; the thing that I care about is the connection." Austin Hargrave/Penguin Random House hide caption

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Austin Hargrave/Penguin Random House

Food

Ina Garten shares her secret for a great dinner party: 6 people and a round table

"I like when everybody's knees are almost touching and it feels very intimate," the Barefoot Contessa host says. Garten's new memoir is Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

Ina

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Author Robert Caro on the history of power

Author Robert Caro with a copy of "The Power Broker" his book about urban planner Robert Moses at Authors Night 2024 with the East Hampton Library. Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for East Hampton Li hide caption

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Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for East Hampton Li

Consider This from NPR

Author Robert Caro on the history of power

Historian Robert Caro's book "The Power Broker" details how urban planner Robert Moses reshaped New York through the roads and bridges he built, and the lives of the communities he destroyed.

Author Robert Caro on the history of power

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An identity crisis at the heart of the election; plus, disrupting biracial fantasies

a statue of a farmer and his daughter depicted from Grant Wood's American Gothic painting on the fairgrounds of the Iowa State Fair on August 6, 2014 in Des Moines, Iowa Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption

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Scott Olson/Getty Images

Perspective

It's Been a Minute

An identity crisis at the heart of the election; plus, disrupting biracial fantasies

Following the false allegations against the Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, the city received over 30 bomb threats, saw school closures and even the cancellation of a celebration for diversity in arts and culture. Host Brittany Luse talks to NPR Immigration correspondent Jasmine Garsd about what she's learned from her reporting in the region and how all this could tie into a larger Midwest identity crisis.

An identity crisis at the heart of the election; plus, disrupting biracial fantasies

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Uzo Aduba arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Aduba dedicates her new memoir to her mother, Nonyem Aduba. "My self-talk, the way that I motivate myself into pursuing this business ... is built out of language that my mother had given me," Aduba says. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP hide caption

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Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Author Interviews

Uzo Aduba thanks her mom: 'I didn't know how many prayers she sent up to heaven for me'

The Orange Is the New Black actor grew up the daughter of Nigerian immigrants in a predominantly white Massachusetts suburb. She looks back on her mother's influence in the memoir, The Road Is Good.

Uzo Aduba

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Latinos are moving to the far right. Paola Ramos thinks she knows why

Author Paola Ramos poses next to the cover of her new book, Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right. Photo credit: Samantha Bloom hide caption

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Photo credit: Samantha Bloom

Code Switch

Latinos are moving to the far right. Paola Ramos thinks she knows why

As we close in on the election, it's Trump-supporting Latinos that some pollsters believe could decide this race. So how did we get here? In her new book, Defectors, Paola Ramos explains that part of the story of being Latino has always been this temptation to defect.

Latinos are moving to the far right. Paola Ramos thinks she knows why

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Death at the Sign of the Rook

Death at the Sign of the Rook Penguin Random House hide caption

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Penguin Random House

Review

Book Reviews

A light-hearted murder mystery weekend turns deadly in Kate Atkinson's cozy thriller

Death at the Sign of the Rook is an expansive novel that pokes fun of baroque, classic murder mysteries — but also delivers a fully satisfying, all-the-pieces-click-together ending.

A light-hearted murder mystery weekend turns deadly in Kate Atkinson's cozy thriller

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Is Diddy hip-hop's Weinstein? Plus, Brittany gets rejected

Sean "Diddy" Combs in 2018. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images hide caption

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Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute

Is Diddy hip-hop's Weinstein? Plus, Brittany gets rejected

On Monday, the embattled rap mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs was arrested and charged with sex trafficking and racketeering. He's been denied bail twice, and is facing a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Host Brittany Luse is joined by NPR Music editor Sidney Madden and legal affairs reporter Meghann Cuniff to understand what this indictment means for Combs and if this could be the beginning of a #MeToo movement in hip-hop.

Is Diddy hip-hop's Weinstein? Plus, Brittany gets rejected

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Entitlement

Entitlement Penguin Random House hide caption

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Penguin Random House

Review

Book Reviews

'Entitlement' disappoints — 'Leave the World Behind' was a tough act to follow

Rumaan Alam’s previous novel was an inspired swirl of suspense, social commentary and apocalyptic disaster. His latest is about a young Black woman working for a uber-rich white philanthropist.

'Entitlement' disappoints — 'Leave the World Behind' was a tough act to follow

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Connie Chung says watching a bad interview is painful:

Connie Chung, shown here in 2023, says watching a bad interview is painful: "I want to throw my shoe at [the television] if somebody isn't asking the question ... that I would ask." Hachette Book Group hide caption

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Hachette Book Group

Author Interviews

Connie Chung says booze and bawdy jokes helped her break into journalism's boys club

In a new memoir, Chung reflects on the decades she spent covering the news, her marriage to Maury Povich and the prominent figures who acted inappropriately with her — including President Carter.

Connie Chung says booze and bawdy jokes helped her break into journalism's boys club

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A customer browses titles at JF Books on September 17, 2024.

A customer browses titles at JF Books on September 17, 2024. Maansi Srivastava for NPR hide caption

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Maansi Srivastava for NPR

Asia

A bookstore too controversial for China finds home in D.C.

This Shanghai bookstore, now in D.C., was revived by its owner, who hopes to create a space for open discussions in the diaspora community, where people can sit and read together.

Popular Shanghai bookstore

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Fighting back on book bans
Jackie Lay

Code Switch

Fighting back on book bans

B.A. Parker brings us around the country to see what access to books is looking like for students in Texas, librarians in Idaho and her own high school English teacher in Pennsylvania.

Fighting back on book bans

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Eve
John Russo

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Eve

Eve is an icon in hip-hop, a west Philly rapper whose flow, style and production helped define the genre in the early 2000s. She's released three incredible albums–all of which reached either gold or platinum–and stands out as the first lady of rap collective The Ruff Ryders. Eve covers it all in her new memoir, Who's that Girl?. It's about Eve's journey in hip-hop, acting, motherhood, and mental health. We talk all about it and so much more on Bullseye.

Listen to this Episode

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Richard B. Hays is the co-author of The Widening of God’s Mercy.

Richard B. Hays is the co-author of The Widening of God’s Mercy. Fuller Seminary hide caption

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Fuller Seminary

Religion

His work was used to exclude LGBTQ people from the church. Now he argues the opposite

Prominent Christian theologian Richard B. Hays' work was often cited as a reason for not allowing same-sex relationships in Christian churches. In a new book, The Widening of God's Mercy, co-written with his son Chris Hays, he reverses course, and cites Biblical support for allowing LGBTQ relationships in Christianity.

A theologian’s work was used to exclude LGBTQ people from church. In a new book, he and his son argue the exact opposite.

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Anne Lamott has some ideas on getting older in the United States

Anne Lamott reflects on aging. Sam Lamott/Sam Lamott hide caption

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Sam Lamott/Sam Lamott

Perspective

Consider This from NPR

Anne Lamott has some ideas on getting older in the United States

Getting older has been a punchline for as long as anyone can remember. And while there are plenty of jokes to be made about aging, it can also have some negative implications for how we see ourselves and others.

Anne Lamott has some ideas on getting older in the United States

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Hanif Abdurraqib is a 'genius.' His friends aren't impressed

Hanif Abdurraqib on Wild Card with Rachel Martin Megan Barnard/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Megan Barnard/Courtesy of the artist

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

Hanif Abdurraqib is a 'genius.' His friends aren't impressed

Hanif Abdurraqib's writing has earned him a MacArthur "genius" grant. His most recent book, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, landed a spot on Barack Obama's summer reading list. But those accolades don't matter to him as much as being a good friend and neighbor. Abdurraqib talks to Rachel about a youth spent unhoused and incarcerated, and the zen of making mixtapes.

Hanif Abdurraqib is a 'genius.' His friends aren't impressed

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(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on October 10, 2023, shows (L) SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk during his visit at the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, on June 16, 2023 and (R) the new Twitter logo rebranded as X, pictured on a screen in Paris on July 24, 2023.. The EU's digital chief Thierry Breton warned Elon Musk on October 10, 2023, that his platform X, formerly Twitter, is spreading

After buying Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk changed the company's name to X. Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images

Technology

What Musk's Twitter takeover could tell us about a possible government appointment

After buying Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk instituted sweeping changes — including rebranding the social media platform as "X." Authors Kate Conger and Ryan Mac recount the takeover in Character Limit.

What Musk's Twitter takeover could tell us about a possible government appointment

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The StraightForward Foundation helps Russian authors publish abroad. Here are the French and Russian edition covers of a book about the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, by Ilia Barabanov and Denis Korotkov.

The StraightForward Foundation helps Russian authors publish abroad. Here are the French and Russian edition covers of a book about the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, by Ilia Barabanov and Denis Korotkov. Edition Flammarion; Meduza.io hide caption

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Edition Flammarion; Meduza.io

World

In exile, Russian book publishers revive Soviet-era tactics to defy Kremlin censors

In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, writing about the war in Ukraine, the church or LGBTQ+ life could land you in jail. A new organization helps authors publish books in Russian they couldn't back home.

Russian publishers in exile release books the Kremlin would ban

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Crater Lake

Crater Lake Simon and Schuster hide caption

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Simon and Schuster

Review

Book Reviews

Rachel Kushner's new espionage thriller may be her coolest book yet

In Creation Lake, a hard-drinking American spy infiltrates a radical farming collective in a remote region of France. Kushner challenges readers to keep up with her and not to flinch.

Rachel Kushner's new espionage thriller may be her coolest book yet

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