Accessibility links
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, and much more.

Books

This photo shows a white placard that says "Institute of Museum and Library Services" in black letters on it. It's attached to the front of a lectern.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the main source of federal funding for libraries. Shannon Finney/Institute of Museum and Library Services hide caption

toggle caption
Shannon Finney/Institute of Museum and Library Services

Politics

Entire staff at federal agency that funds libraries and museums put on leave

The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave Monday morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.

Author Interviews

Sigrid Nunez's 'The Friend' tells a story of friendship and despair

Nunez's 2018 novel won the National Book Award. It's now a film, starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, about a woman who inherits a dog after her friend's suicide. Originally broadcast in 2019.

Sigrid Nunez's 'The Friend' tells a story of friendship and despair

Listen · 37:45
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5341486/g-s1-57009" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Amanda Knox

Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in prison and eight years on trial for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher. In 2015, Italy's highest court acquitted her of murder. Lucien Knuteson/Hachette hide caption

toggle caption
Lucien Knuteson/Hachette

Author Interviews

Why Amanda Knox returns to Italy — and how she talks with her daughter about injustice

Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in an Italian prison for a murder she didn't commit. After her exoneration, she reached out to the man who prosecuted her case. Knox's new memoir is Free.

Why Amanda Knox returns to Italy — and how she talks with her daughter about injustice

Listen · 36:39
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5311607/g-s1-56244" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Photograph of Joan Didion in the Vogue Art Department, c. 1958

Photograph of Joan Didion in the Vogue Art Department, c. 1958 The archives of Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne/New York Public Library hide caption

toggle caption
The archives of Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne/New York Public Library

Culture

A glimpse into the newly opened archive of Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne

The New York Public Library's Joan Didion archive opens March 26. Here's what you'll find inside.

A glimpse into the newly opened archive of Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne

Listen · 2:42
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5324661/nx-s1-5387667-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
It's time to rewrite the "trauma plot"

It's time to rethink how we write our trauma narratives. Shendart/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Shendart/Getty Images

Analysis

It's Been a Minute

It's time to rewrite the "trauma plot"

There are a lot of big subjects that our culture has trouble talking about: wealth, death, addiction, religion. But one of the toughest has to be sexual assault and rape. For how common sexual violence is – it affects over half of women and almost one in three men – it can be extremely painful and even stigmatizing to discuss. But in Jamie Hood's new book Trauma Plot, which contextualizes rape in her own life and in our culture, Jamie looks for new ways to speak the "unspeakable." It tells her story in experimental fragments and finds a unique way to discuss one of the most common violences we face. Brittany sits down with Jamie to discuss Trauma Plot, the contours of rape narratives in our culture, and how we can move beyond them to tell stories about sexual violence in new ways.

It's time to rewrite the "trauma plot"

Listen · 21:05
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1263527065/1268428161" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The 118th body of Congress was elected in 2022 and served from 2023 until 2025.

The 118th body of Congress was elected in 2022 and served from 2023 until 2025. Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty hide caption

toggle caption
Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty

Politics

'Mad House' exposes Congressional dysfunction, from petty feuds to physical threats

The MAGA-controlled 118th House passed only 27 bills that became law — the lowest number since the Great Depression. Journalists Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater examine the chaos in a new book.

'Mad House' exposes Congressional disfunction, from petty feuds to physical threats

Listen · 35:07
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5338729/g-s1-55779" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
A young adult book tackles a tough topic: A teen coping with his dad's mental illness

Saadia Faruqi, a popular young adult author, says her new book, The Strongest Heart, is a book she wished she could have read when she was growing up and coping with her father's mental illness. Saadia Faruqi hide caption

toggle caption
Saadia Faruqi

Goats and Soda

A young adult book tackles a tough topic: A teen coping with his dad's mental illness

Saadia Faruqi, author of the popular Yasmin book series, has written a new book, The Strongest Heart, that mirrors her own life — growing up with a father who likely had undiagnosed schizophrenia.

The IMLS offers grant funding to museums and libraries across the country.

The IMLS offers grant funding to museums and libraries across the country. Shannon Finney/Institute of Museum and Library Services hide caption

toggle caption
Shannon Finney/Institute of Museum and Library Services

Federal agency responsible for library and museum funding gets a visit from DOGE

Keith E. Sonderling is the new acting head of The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the main source of federal funding for libraries and museums across the country. President Trump issued an executive order last week saying he aims to close the agency.

The Antidote, by Karen Russell
Knopf

Review

Book Reviews

Karen Russell's 'The Antidote' is an American epic — and well worth the wait

Russell has published excellent short story collections since her 2011 debut novel Swamplandia!, but this is her first novel in nearly 15 years. It follows a "Prairie Witch" in Dust Bowl-era Nebraska.

Karen Russell's 'The Antidote' is an American epic — and well worth the wait

Listen · 7:39
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5332088/g-s1-54700" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
cover of Theft
Penguin Random House

Book News & Features

'Everyday, ordinary' things drive Nobel Prize-winning author's new novel 'Theft'

Following his multi-generational, statement-making novel Afterlives, Abdulrazak Gurnah's new book Theft is a quieter, more intimate look at friendship and power.

Theft- Abdulrazak Gurnah

Listen · 4:00
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5135654/nx-s1-5389008-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Martha Stewart working the soil at her Turkey Hill garden in circa 1988 in Westport, Conn.

Martha Stewart working the soil at her Turkey Hill garden in circa 1988 in Westport, Conn. Elizabeth Zeschin/HarperCollins hide caption

toggle caption
Elizabeth Zeschin/HarperCollins

At 83, Martha Stewart celebrates gardening with her 101st book

Martha Stewart talks gardening, wanting to be "one of the girls" and her 101st book with NPR Morning Edition host Michel Martin.

At 83, Martha Stewart celebrates gardening with her 101st book

Listen · 7:01
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5272642/nx-s1-5380501-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
This Palestinian-American's debut novel may not be political — but her existence is

Author Betty Shamieh next to the cover of her new novel, Too Soon. Lisa Keating hide caption

toggle caption
Lisa Keating

Code Switch

This Palestinian-American's debut novel may not be political — but her existence is

To be a Palestinian-American writer right now can lead to a lot of expectation to focus on identity and devastation, but in her debut novel, Too Soon, Betty Shamieh shares the story of three generations of Palestinian women trying to find love, purpose and liberation.

This Palestinian-American's debut novel may not be political — but her existence is

Listen · 32:26
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1237991532/1267741731" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
"Gender is a negotiation" whether you realize it or not.

What does it even mean to be trans? Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Getty Images

Perspective

It's Been a Minute

"Gender is a negotiation" whether you realize it or not.

What does it even mean to be trans? That's the first question Torrey Peters asks readers in her new book, Stag Dance, and it's the question that everyone should be asking themselves right now.

"Gender is a negotiation" whether you realize it or not.

Listen · 23:41
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1263527057/1267761593" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org