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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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It's Aliiiiiive! This Year, Our Summer Reader Poll Is All About Horror

Our famous Summer Reader Poll lurches to life, dripping grave-dirt and bits of glowing green, ready to hear all about your favorite horror novels and stories. What sends a shiver down your spine? Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption

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Angela Hsieh/NPR

Summer Reader Poll 2018: Horror

It's Aliiiiiive! This Year, Our Summer Reader Poll Is All About Horror

June 12, 2018 • Our famous Summer Reader Poll lurches to life, dripping grave-dirt and bits of glowing green, ready to hear all about your favorite horror novels and stories. What sends a shiver down your spine?

It's Aliiiiiive! This Year, Our Summer Reader Poll Is All About Horror

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NPR's Book Concierge: Our Guide To 2017's Great Reads

NPR

The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books

NPR's Book Concierge: Our Guide To 2017's Great Reads

December 5, 2017 • The Book Concierge is back and bigger than ever! Explore more than 350 standout titles picked by NPR staff and critics.

'Born Trump' Examines The 'Emotional Hold' The President Has On His Family

President Donald Trump reaches out to embrace his family at his inauguration Jan. 20, 2017. (From left: First lady Melania Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump.) Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption

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Politics

'Born Trump' Examines The 'Emotional Hold' The President Has On His Family

Fresh Air

June 21, 2018 • Journalist Emily Jane Fox focused on Trump's three marriages and five children when writing her new book. "His presence is overwhelming," she says of the president's role in the family.

'Born Trump' Examines The 'Emotional Hold' The President Has On His Family

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Recently Reviewed

Don't Make Me Pull Over!

Review

Book Reviews

2 Books Find Fuel In The American Landscape

Fresh Air

June 21, 2018 • Critic Maureen Corrigan recommends two books to expand your horizons: One is a cultural history of the great American road trip; the other an early 20th-century classic of Midwestern rural life.

2 Books Find Fuel In The American Landscape

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Summer Horror Poll: Meet Our Expert Panelists!

Ruthanna Emrys Jamie Anfenson-Comeau hide caption

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Jamie Anfenson-Comeau

Summer Reader Poll 2018: Horror

Summer Horror Poll: Meet Our Expert Panelists!

June 21, 2018 • We asked you to tell us about your favorite horror novels and short stories, and you gave us more than 6,500 titles. Now, meet the expert judges who'll take those parts and create a beautiful monster.

Tell the Machine Goodnight

Review

Book Reviews

'Tell The Machine' Is A Lucid Dream Of Sci-Fi Perfection

June 21, 2018 • Katie Williams' debut novel follows a woman who works for a company that can tell you infallibly how to become happy — and a drifting group of characters who aren't really looking for happiness.

A Rising Man

Mozart's Starling

Two Girls Down

Review

Book Reviews

Librarian Nancy Pearl Picks 7 Books For Summer Reading

June 21, 2018 • Pearl's under-the-radar recommendations include a children's fantasy, a murder mystery set in 1919 Kolkata and an entire book dedicated to the events of 1947.

Librarian Nancy Pearl Picks 7 Books For Summer Reading

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MIT Clears Junot Díaz Of Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Writer Junot Díaz, pictured in 2015, was cleared by MIT of sexual misconduct allegations and will return to teach there in the fall. Mark Wilson/Getty Images hide caption

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Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Arts & Life

MIT Clears Junot Díaz Of Sexual Misconduct Allegations

June 20, 2018 • After a month-long investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and verbal abuse, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Díaz has been cleared by MIT to continue teaching there next year.

Author Interviews

Novelist Stephen McCauley Embraces Life On A 'Small, Everyday Scale'

Fresh Air

June 20, 2018 • McCauley's novel, My Ex-Life, is a comedy about a couple whose marriage ended years ago when the husband came out as gay. "All relationships evolve — even for people who stay together," he says.

Novelist Stephen McCauley Embraces Life On A 'Small, Everyday Scale'

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Convenience Store Woman

Review

Book Reviews

2 First-Rate Novels Celebrate The Humor And Heroism Of Unconventional Women

Fresh Air

June 20, 2018 • Authors Dorthe Nors and Sayaka Murata use bracing good humor to subvert readers' expectations about single women in their new novels, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal and Convenience Store Woman.

2 First-Rate Novels Celebrate The Humor And Heroism Of Unconventional Women

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The Boyfriend Bracket

Review

Book Reviews

'The Boyfriend Bracket' Isn't What You Expect — But It's A Winner

June 20, 2018 • Kate Evangelista's new book is called The Boyfriend Bracket, but it's done with the titular bracket in just a few chapters, becoming a sweet story about a high-school senior and her childhood crush.

The Perfect Weapon

National Security

Journalist Warns Cyber Attacks Present A 'Perfect Weapon' Against Global Order

Fresh Air

June 19, 2018 • New York Times national security correspondent David Sanger says U.S. officials worry that foreign powers have planted malware that could knock out critical infrastructure, including electric power.

Journalist Warns Cyber Attacks Present A 'Perfect Weapon' Against Global Order

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The Melody

Review

Book Reviews

'The Melody' Will Draw You In, Then Take You Somewhere Unexpected

June 19, 2018 • Jim Crace's superb new novel is a trickster — it seems to be a bittersweet tale of late-life love, but then it becomes a meditation on gentrification and the toll poverty can take on human beings.

There There

Review

Book Reviews

Pithy And Pointed 'There There' Puts Native American Voices Front And Center

Fresh Air

June 18, 2018 • Critic Maureen Corrigan says Tommy Orange's novel, which centers on a cast of native and mixed-race characters whose lives intersect at a powwow, features "a literary authority rare in a debut."

Pithy And Pointed 'There There' Puts Native American Voices Front And Center

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Frankenstein

Summer Reader Poll 2018: Horror

It'll Take More Than A Few Angry Villagers To Kill Off 'Frankenstein'

June 18, 2018 • Mary Shelley's timeless novel gave us not only an enduring trope — the misunderstood monster — but an equally enduring way to talk about what happens when human knowledge outpaces responsibility.

Have We Reached Peak Funny?

Buk buk. Rubber chicken keeled over on its side. nano/Getty Images hide caption

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Review

Monkey See

Have We Reached Peak Funny?

June 18, 2018 • In his new book Planet Funny: How Comedy Took Over Our Culture, Ken Jennings takes humor seriously, tracing how comedy infiltrated every aspect of our lives — and what it's doing to us.

Author Interviews

The Expansive Program To Recruit Africa's Young Soccer Talent

June 17, 2018 • NPR's Michel Martin speak with author Sebastian Abbot about his book, The Away Game, The Epic Search for Soccer's Next Superstars.

The Expansive Program To Recruit Africa's Young Soccer Talent

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Movies

David Lynch On 'Room To Dream'

June 17, 2018 • NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro asks David Lynch about Room to Dream, the director's new memoir.

David Lynch On 'Room To Dream'

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We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories

Review

Summer Reader Poll 2018: Horror

'Where The Nightmares Go' Maps The Territory Of Fear

June 17, 2018 • C. Robert Cargill's new story collection covers the globe and genres of horror from classic to modern, with ghost stories, thrillers, gore and puzzles that would be right at home on premium cable.

The Secret Life of Cows

Review

Book Reviews

'The Secret Life of Cows' Aims To Show Animals As Thinking, Feeling Beings

June 17, 2018 • Farmer Rosamund Young's book will charm people who want to lap up more evidence that animals have personalities, but may not warm hearts of animal lovers who don't eat meat.

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