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Books We Love: No Biz Like Show Biz
Beck Harlan/NPR

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Books We Love: No Biz Like Show Biz

NPR's Books We Love is full of stories. The feature rounds up fiction and nonfiction of many different kinds, and it gives you lots of ways to find what you might love, too. Today we're recommending great books for people who love show business, including a fictional take on a popular gossip Instagram account, a love story, and a memoir.

Books We Love: No Biz Like Show Biz

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In defense of fan fiction, and ignoring the 'pretensions of polish'

An ode to the joy of fan fiction. askmenow/Getty Images hide caption

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Main Character of the Day

In defense of fan fiction, and ignoring the 'pretensions of polish'

Fan fiction may not command the same respect as other literary pursuits, but it's a rich mode of expression, says one author who mounts a passionate case for the style.

In defense of fan fiction, and ignoring the 'pretensions of polish'

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Plot twist: Activists skirt book bans with guerrilla giveaways and pop-up libraries

Florida teacher Adam Tritt and his group, Foundation 451, led the launch of a "Banned Book Nook" at a Ben & Jerry's ice cream store in Melbourne, Fla. Mikey Holland hide caption

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Mikey Holland

National

Plot twist: Activists skirt book bans with guerrilla giveaways and pop-up libraries

This year is expected to set a record for the number of book bans by public school libraries, so many people are finding creative ways to make banned books available to young readers outside schools.

Plot twist: Activists skirt book bans with guerrilla giveaways and pop-up libraries

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It's impossible to fit 'All Things' Ari Shapiro does into this headline

Ari Shapiro became a host on NPR's All Things Considered in 2015. In addition to working as a journalist, he sings with the band Pink Martini and performs in a cabaret act with actor Alan Cumming. Victor Jeffreys hide caption

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Victor Jeffreys

Author Interviews

It's impossible to fit 'All Things' Ari Shapiro does into this headline

Fresh Air

Shapiro co-hosts All Things Considered, co-stars in a cabaret act with Alan Cumming, and sings with the band Pink Martini. Now, he's written a book, a memoir called The Best Strangers in the World.

It's impossible to fit 'All Things' Ari Shapiro does into this headline

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'Like a living scrapbook': 'My Powerful Hair' is a celebration of Native culture

Carole Lindstrom's new book My Powerful Hair features illustrations by Steph Littlebird. Abrams Books hide caption

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Abrams Books

Book News & Features

'Like a living scrapbook': 'My Powerful Hair' is a celebration of Native culture

Author Carole Lindstrom follows Caldecott-winning We Are Water Protectors with another children's book featuring Native culture. She says she hopes it helps kids "see themselves in a positive way."

'Like a living scrapbook': 'My Powerful Hair' is a celebration of Native culture

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Private opulence, public squalor: How the U.S. helps the rich and hurts the poor

An unhoused individual sleeps under an American flag blanket in New York City on Sept. 10, 2013. In 2021, approximately 11% of Americans lived below the federal poverty line. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Private opulence, public squalor: How the U.S. helps the rich and hurts the poor

Fresh Air

Poverty, by America author Matthew Desmond says if the top 1% of Americans paid the taxes they owed, it would raise $175 billion each year: "That is just about enough to pull everyone out of poverty."

Private opulence, public squalor: How the U.S. helps the rich and hurts the poor

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If you want to up your yogurt game, this Iranian cookbook will show you the whey

Homa Dashtaki is the founder of The White Moustache yogurt company. (Her father's moustache inspired the name.) Her new book is called Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life. Mobolaji Adeolu/The White Moustache hide caption

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Mobolaji Adeolu/The White Moustache

Food

If you want to up your yogurt game, this Iranian cookbook will show you the whey

Just in time for the Persian New Year, Homa Dashtaki has published the Yogurt and Whey cookbook -- nearly 100 recipes, old and new, including some surprising ones, like whey cocktails and popsicles.

If you want to up your yogurt game, this Iranian cookbook will show you the whey

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The Sunday Story: America's first female president?

A portrait of former First Lady Edith Wilson hangs at the Wilson House in Washington, D.C. Keren Carrion/NPR hide caption

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Keren Carrion/NPR

Up First

The Sunday Story: America's first female president?

On October 2, 1919, then President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that left him blind in one eye, partially paralyzed and barely able to write his own name. He was in the midst of his second term. For the remainder of his presidency, some 17 months, his wife managed his duties, serving as a kind of de facto president. Today, as we celebrate Women's History Month, Steve Inskeep joins us to share his interview with Rebecca Boggs Roberts, author of Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson.

The Sunday Story: America's first female president?

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Paris Hilton was the center of it all. Now she's shedding the 'character' she created

Hilton says she has been misunderstood and underestimated. Cole Bennetts/Getty Images for Paris Hilton hide caption

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Cole Bennetts/Getty Images for Paris Hilton

Author Interviews

Paris Hilton was the center of it all. Now she's shedding the 'character' she created

Before the word "influencer" was a household term, before Instagram and TikTok allowed users to document every moment of their life in real time, Paris Hilton was the woman at the center of it all.

Paris Hilton was the center of it all. Now she's shedding the 'character' she created

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Silicon Valley Bank and the sordid history of 'Palo Alto'

Author photo courtesy of Malcolm Harris; photo illustration by Jesse Brown David Madison/Getty Images/Rebecca Noble/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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David Madison/Getty Images/Rebecca Noble/AFP via Getty Images

It's Been a Minute

Silicon Valley Bank and the sordid history of 'Palo Alto'

Even after Silicon Valley Bank crumbled and tech workers have been laid off in the thousands, Silicon Valley is still surrounded by a mythos of progress and futurity. Host Brittany Luse talks to author Malcolm Harris about his new book, Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World, to break down how that mythos was built, the dark underbelly underneath it, and why the tech industry is a microcosm of American capitalism.

Silicon Valley Bank and the sordid history of 'Palo Alto'

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2 novels to cure your winter blahs: Ephron's 'Heartburn' and 'Pineapple Street'
Penguin Random House

Review

Book Reviews

2 novels to cure your winter blahs: Ephron's 'Heartburn' and 'Pineapple Street'

Fresh Air

When it came out in 1983, Nora Ephron's comic novel became an instant bestseller. Now newly released, Heartburn pairs well with Jenny Jackson's smart comedy of manners, Pineapple Street.

2 novels to cure your winter blahs: Ephron's 'Heartburn' and 'Pineapple Street'

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This safety-net hospital doctor treats mostly uninsured and undocumented patients

Paramedics at Ben Taub General Hospital speed a patient with a gunshot wound to the trauma team for further care. Ben Taub is the largest safety-net hospital in Houston. Gregory Smith/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

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Gregory Smith/Corbis via Getty Images

Shots - Health News

This safety-net hospital doctor treats mostly uninsured and undocumented patients

Fresh Air

Many of Ricardo Nuila's patients at Houston's Ben Taub Hospital are dealing with serious illnesses as a result of not being able to access basic preventive care. His new book is The People's Hospital.

This safety-net hospital doctor treats mostly uninsured and undocumented patients

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