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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, and much more.

Books

Juneteenth falls on June 19 and celebrates the end of slavery in the United States.

Juneteenth falls on June 19 and celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

Interview highlights

'This is American history': 'Caste' author Isabel Wilkerson on the meaning of Juneteenth

Journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson reflects on this year's Juneteenth celebrations — and the push and pull of the Black experience in America.

Journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson reflects on this year's Juneteenth

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Book covers: El Dorado Drive; The House on Buzzards Bay; King of Ashes; Murder Takes a Vacation
Harper Collins; Penguin Random House; Flatiron Books;

Review

Book Reviews

Looking for summertime suspense? Turn up the heat with these 4 mystery novels

Maureen Corrigan recommends four great reads: El Dorado Drive, by Megan Abbott; The House on Buzzards Bay, by Dwyer Murphy; King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby; and Murder Takes a Vacation, by Laura Lippman.

Looking for summertime suspense? Turn up the heat with these 4 mystery novels

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Dan Rubinstein and a friend set out from Port Hope, Ontario, on September 15, 2023. The sun rises ahead of them, and their silhouettes glide over the calm water.

Dan Rubinstein and a friend set out from Port Hope, Ontario, on September 15, 2023. Dianne Shiels hide caption

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Dianne Shiels

Environment

What 1,200 miles on a paddleboard taught a writer about 'blue space'

Author Dan Rubinstein paddled from Ottawa to New York City and back to understand how being near water benefits people. His book is called "Water Borne."

Author Dan Rubinstein details his 1,200-mile paddleboard adventure in 'Water Borne'

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Sexy & Spiteful: the best books to read this summer

What are the best books to read this year? Aurelie and David Morgan de Lossy/Getty Images hide caption

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Aurelie and David Morgan de Lossy/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute

Sexy & Spiteful: the best books to read this summer

It's summer! Which means Brittany is going to be... 1) outside, 2) chilling, and 3) reading. So it's once again time for It's Been a Minute's annual summer books episode!

Sexy & Spiteful: the best books to read this summer

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Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC on June 2, 2025.

Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC on June 2, 2025. Catie Dull/NPR hide caption

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10 years after the deadly church shooting, a new history of 'Mother Emanuel'

Reporter Kevin Sack's new book is a history of Charleston's Emanuel AME Church, the oldest Black congregation in the South, where a white supremacist killed nine worshippers a decade ago.

Author Kevin Sack's new book reflects on Charleston's Emanuel AME Church

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I Wish I Made That: Mary Randolph Carter
Rizzoli

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

I Wish I Made That: Mary Randolph Carter

Mary Randolph Carter is an expert on all things junk. She's written many books on the topic including her latest called Live With the Things You Love: And You'll Live Happily Ever After. We asked Carter if there was ever one piece of junk she acquired over the years that stuck with her so much and lived inside her head rent free for so long that she wishes she made it. The object that came to mind was a very peculiar clock.

I Wish I Made That: Mary Randolph Carter

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Author Interviews

When is forgetting normal — and when is it worrisome? A neuroscientist weighs in

Do you have trouble remembering names or where you put your keys? Neurologist Charan Ranganath, author of Why We Remember, talks about the science of memory. Originally broadcast Feb. 24, 2024.

When is forgetting normal — and when is it worrisome? A neuroscientist weighs in

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Shira Perlmutter is suing President Trump over her abrupt firing as the head of the Copyright Office.

Shira Perlmutter is suing President Trump over her abrupt firing as the head of the Copyright Office. Mariam Zuhaib/AP hide caption

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Mariam Zuhaib/AP

Culture

The U.S. Copyright Office used to be fairly low-drama. Not anymore

President Trump fired the head of the U.S. Copyright Office just after the agency released a major report on AI. Copyright insiders say it's caused a shakeup in their normally drama-free neck of the woods.

The U.S. Copyright Office used to be fairly low-drama. Not anymore

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Ocean Vuong's previous books include Time is a Mother and Night Sky with Exit Wounds.

Ocean Vuong's previous books include Time is a Mother and Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Gioncarlo Valentine/Penguin Random House hide caption

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Gioncarlo Valentine/Penguin Random House

Author Interviews

After his mother's death, Ocean Vuong wrote his way through grief

Vuong's new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, is the first he's written, from start to finish, since his mother died in 2019. He says writing it was a way to honor her memory.

After his mother's death, Ocean Vuong wrote his way out of grief

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How New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern broke the political mold

Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern speaks during Cinema Cafe 2 during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival Awards. Maya Dehlin Spach/Getty Images hide caption

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Maya Dehlin Spach/Getty Images

Consider This from NPR

How New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern broke the political mold

Whether it was her history making win in 2017.

How New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern broke the political mold

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Edmund White at his home in 2019.

Edmund White at his home in 2019. Mary Altaffer/AP hide caption

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Mary Altaffer/AP

Obituaries

Edmund White, who broke ground in gay literature, has died at 85

Many of White's books chronicled his own experiences as a gay man, making an indelible impression on gay culture and how LGBTQ experiences were understood more broadly at the dawning of the AIDS health crisis.

Edmund White, who broke ground in gay literature, has died at 85

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