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NPR's Favorite Books Of 2020: The Book Concierge Is Back With 380+ Great Reads

December 1, 2020 • Find eight years of recommendations all in one place: Here are nearly 2,500 titles, hand-picked by NPR staff and trusted critics — with handy filters to help you find the perfect book!

'Lost Letters' Lead To New Love — And Hard Choices — In This YA Romance

Razorbill

Review

'Lost Letters' Lead To New Love — And Hard Choices — In This YA Romance

June 14, 2021 • Hannah Reynolds new YA romance The Summer of Lost Letters follows teenaged Abby's quest to learn more about her grandmother's past — and a possible love affair captured in mysterious letters.

This Family Saga Finds Grace And Beauty In Ordinary Lives, Fully Lived

Night Came With Many Stars, by Simon van Booy David R. Godine, Publisher hide caption

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David R. Godine, Publisher

Review

This Family Saga Finds Grace And Beauty In Ordinary Lives, Fully Lived

June 10, 2021 • Simon Van Booy's new novel Night Came With Many Stars follows several generations of a Kentucky family, their crossroads and choices, their curses and hard memories, their luck and their chances.

'Mercury Rising' Explores Treacherous U.S. Attempts to Control Space

Mercury Rising, by Jeff Shesol WW Norton hide caption

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WW Norton

'Mercury Rising' Explores Treacherous U.S. Attempts to Control Space

Fresh Air

June 9, 2021 • In Mercury Rising, historian Jeff Shesol recalls the early days of the U.S. space program, when Cold War fears ruled and no one was sure John Glenn would survive America's first orbital flight.

'Mercury Rising' Explores Treacherous U.S. Attempts to Control Space

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'We Need New Stories' Asks: Why Are People Prone To Believing The Largest Of Lies?

We Need New Stories: The Myths that Subvert Freedom by Nesrine Malik W.W. Norton & Co. hide caption

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W.W. Norton & Co.

Review

'We Need New Stories' Asks: Why Are People Prone To Believing The Largest Of Lies?

June 9, 2021 • Author Nesrine Malik is reclaiming the terms of defense against ignorance and bigotry, ones that she says have become rote in the mouths of some and insults in the mouths of others.

Letters Reveal Author's Strength In A World Of Destructive Noise

Riverhead Books

Review

Letters Reveal Author's Strength In A World Of Destructive Noise

June 9, 2021 • Akwaeke Emezi's Dear Senthuran is a story of transcendence over violence that has marked their lived experience, told through letters to friends, lovers, and public figures — some they've never met.

Still Don't Want To Go Out? Here Are 3 Books For An Inner Journey

Hebe Uhart's drawing of a chimango bird, from Animals. Courtesy of Archipelago Books hide caption

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Courtesy of Archipelago Books

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Still Don't Want To Go Out? Here Are 3 Books For An Inner Journey

June 9, 2021 • Everyone's talking about getting out and about now that the pandemic has calmed — but what if you don't want to? Here are three books in translation that'll help you dig into your own life and mind.

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4 Books To Broaden Your Pride Month Reading List

June 8, 2021 • There are a lot of Pride Month reading lists out there — so we thought we'd get away from the classics everyone knows. We asked author Akwaeke Emezi to recommend some of their favorite reads.

4 Books To Broaden Your Pride Month Reading List

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Zakiya Dalila Harris And 'The Other Black Girl'

Zakiya Dalila Harris is the author of the book The Other Black Girl. Nicole Mondestin hide caption

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Nicole Mondestin

It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Zakiya Dalila Harris And 'The Other Black Girl'

June 8, 2021 • Zakiya Dalila Harris was working as an editorial assistant at a New York publisher when she ran into another Black woman for the first time on her office floor. That's when she got the idea for her book, The Other Black Girl. What's it like when you're used to being the only one, but now there's another one like you? And what if things get weird? Like, really weird. Sam and Zakiya talk about how her book subverts the office drama and what lessons it has for a still very white publishing industry.

Zakiya Dalila Harris And 'The Other Black Girl'

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The Supreme Court Justice Who Made History By Voting No on Racial Segregation

John Marshall Harlan, who was named for Chief Justice John Marshall, served on the Supreme Court from 1877 until his death in 1911. Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

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Corbis via Getty Images

Author Interviews

The Supreme Court Justice Who Made History By Voting No on Racial Segregation

June 7, 2021 • A new book explores the life of Justice John Marshall Harlan, who wrote the dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court case that upheld the principle of racial segregation.

The Supreme Court Justice Who Made History By Voting No on Racial Segregation

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These Stories Dance Deftly Between America And Cameroon

Graywolf

Review

Book Reviews

These Stories Dance Deftly Between America And Cameroon

June 7, 2021 • In her debut collection Walking On Cowrie Shells, Nana Nkweti bends language like a master, delivering keenly observed details and wicked humor no matter which side of the Atlantic she's on.

Love Rides The Q Train In This Supernaturally Sweet Romance

Griffin

Review

Book Reviews

Love Rides The Q Train In This Supernaturally Sweet Romance

June 6, 2021 • In Casey McQuiston's new One Last Stop, cynical August moves to New York, where she meets and falls for Jane, a mysterious punk who seems to have been trapped on the Q train ... since the 1970s.

This Retelling Of 'Gatsby' Has Demonic Flair To Spare

Tordotcom

Review

Book Reviews

This Retelling Of 'Gatsby' Has Demonic Flair To Spare

June 6, 2021 • Nghi Vo recasts the classic book with Jordan Baker at the center, a Gatsby who's literally sold his soul and a speakeasy crowd that's partial to a drop of demon's blood in their illicit cocktails.

A Wannabe Influencer Gets Sent To Digital Detox In 'Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous'

Sourcebooks Fire

Review

Book Reviews

A Wannabe Influencer Gets Sent To Digital Detox In 'Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous'

June 5, 2021 • Sunny — the protagonist of Suzanne Park's new young adult novel — is mortified when a PG-13 video accidentally goes viral, and even worse, her parents send her to a rural farm to get her off-line.

An Argentinean Novel Spins Countless Stories From A Bicycle Wheel

New Directions

Review

Book Reviews

An Argentinean Novel Spins Countless Stories From A Bicycle Wheel

June 5, 2021 • César Aira's The Divorce, a 2008 novel now out in English, centers around one charged moment at a Buenos Aires cafe, when water falling from an awning suddenly drenches a passing bicyclist.

The Alchemy Of Words And Music: Tayari Jones Talks With Lara Downes

NPR

Amplify With Lara Downes

The Alchemy Of Words And Music: Tayari Jones Talks With Lara Downes

KDFC and KUSC

June 5, 2021 • The best-selling novelist shares tips for good writing and the stories behind some of the most meaningful music in her life, from Rossini to the O'Jays.

An Office Rivalry Turns Strange — And Maybe Dangerous — In 'The Other Black Girl'

Atria Books

Review

Book Reviews

An Office Rivalry Turns Strange — And Maybe Dangerous — In 'The Other Black Girl'

June 4, 2021 • Zakiya Dalila Harris drew on her own experiences in publishing for her new thriller, about a young Black woman who hopes for a friend and ally when her lily-white office hires another Black woman.

Jack Ruby's Trial Moves From Side Stage To Center In 'Kennedy's Avenger'

Kennedy's Avenger: Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby, by Dan Abrams and David Fisher Hanover Square Press hide caption

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Hanover Square Press

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Book Reviews

Jack Ruby's Trial Moves From Side Stage To Center In 'Kennedy's Avenger'

June 4, 2021 • Dan Abrams and David Fisher tell a gripping tale that takes readers into the heart of Ruby's trial, picking up the moment he killed Oswald and then methodically unpacking what followed.

Yes, There Are Crimes — And Much More — In 'The Thousand Crimes Of Ming Tsu'

Little, Brown and Company

Review

Book Reviews

Yes, There Are Crimes — And Much More — In 'The Thousand Crimes Of Ming Tsu'

June 3, 2021 • Tom Lin's new novel promises — and delivers — lots of crimes in a cinematic Western starring a Chinese American gunslinger on a mission of revenge against the men who sent him to work the railroads.

Historian Uncovers The Racist Roots Of The 2nd Amendment

Civil rights activists are blocked by National Guard members brandishing bayonets while trying to stage a protest on Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968. Bettmann/Bettmann Archive hide caption

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Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

Race

Historian Uncovers The Racist Roots Of The 2nd Amendment

Fresh Air

June 2, 2021 • Carol Anderson says the Second Amendment was designed to ensure slave owners could quickly crush any rebellion or resistance from those they'd enslaved. Her new book is The Second.

Historian Uncovers The Racist Roots Of The 2nd Amendment

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'How The Word Is Passed' Teaches The Importance Of Reckoning With History

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, by Clint Smith Little Brown & Co. hide caption

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Little Brown & Co.

Review

'How The Word Is Passed' Teaches The Importance Of Reckoning With History

June 2, 2021 • Clint Smith seeks out troubling history, including white supremacy, white violence — and the erasure of the oppression of Black Americans — to understand what America tells itself about who we are.

'The Kissing Bug' Challenges Which Diseases Matter — And Why

The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly Disease, by Daisy Hernández Tin House Books hide caption

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Tin House Books

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Book Reviews

'The Kissing Bug' Challenges Which Diseases Matter — And Why

June 2, 2021 • Through the story of her aunt, who died of Chagas, Daisy Hernández raises damning questions about which diseases get attention — and whom we believe to be deserving of care.