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

Women, Seated by Zhang Yueran

Women, Seated by Zhang Yueran Riverhead Books hide caption

toggle caption
Riverhead Books

Chinese literature is tough to find in English. One editor hopes to change that

The novel Women Seated is a thriller about a nanny for a rich family and a kidnapping gone awry. It's the first in a new effort to redefine the types of Chinese literature get translated into English.

Journalist Han Zhang hopes to get more Chinese literature translated into English

Listen · 3:46
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5461446/nx-s1-9416200" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Author Interviews

Novelist Thomas Mallon looks back on the early years of the AIDS epidemic

In 2023, Mallon spoke about his novel, Up With the Sun, which is based on the life of a little-known actor who was gay and closeted. His new book is The Very Heart of it: New York Diaries, 1983-1994.

Novelist Thomas Mallon looks back on the early years of the AIDS epidemic

Listen · 23:36
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5502427/g-s1-82896" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
A dogged reporter takes on a mysterious cabal in 'The Diary of Lies'
NPR

Review

Book Reviews

A dogged reporter takes on a mysterious cabal in 'The Diary of Lies'

Philip Miller's sinister thriller is set in a Great Britain that's lost its bearings. But even when she's terrified, fictional journalist Shona Sandison will always risk everything to get the story.

A dogged reporter takes on a mysterious cabal in 'The Diary of Lies'

Listen · 6:47
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5500437/g-s1-82403" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Actor Jeff Hiller has a new book called Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success. He's pictured above in Savannah, Ga., in November 2024.

Actor Jeff Hiller's new memoir is Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success. He's pictured above in Savannah, Ga., in November 2024. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SCAD hide caption

toggle caption
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SCAD

Television

A big break after age 40 is possible. Just ask Jeff Hiller of 'Somebody Somewhere'

Hiller spent years scraping by in Hollywood by taking on various small roles. Then he landed the role of Joel on Somebody Somewhere and everything changed. His new memoir is Actress of a Certain Age.

A big break after age 40 is possible. Just ask Jeff Hiller of 'Somebody Somewhere'

Listen · 44:54
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5496253/g-s1-82259" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Book cover of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
NPR

Review

Book Reviews

These 'Blondes' are turning 100, and they're still a lot of fun

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is about two flappers on the prowl for sugar daddies. First published in 1925, Anita Loos' cheeky comic novel has now been reissued in paperback.

These 'Blondes' are turning 100, and they're still a lot of fun

Listen · 6:49
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5469836/g-s1-82039" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The stacks at Boston Public Library, one of the oldest and largest public library systems in the country

The stacks at Boston Public Library, one of the oldest and largest public library systems in the country. Aram Boghosian for Boston Public Library
 hide caption

toggle caption
Aram Boghosian for Boston Public Library

Culture

Boston Public Library aims to increase access to a vast historic archive using AI

The library is launching a project in collaboration with Harvard Law School and OpenAI this summer to digitize the materials and make them more fully searchable.

Boston Public Library aims to increase access to a vast historic archive using AI

Listen · 3:35
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5471614/nx-s1-9408405" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
During an 'Island Storm,' two kids on an adventure ask — 'Do we try for more?'

Picture This

During an 'Island Storm,' two kids on an adventure ask — 'Do we try for more?'

A storm is coming and two siblings pull on their boots and head to the sea. The waves crash and the rain starts to fall, but they go on in this quintessential summer adventure story.

PICTURE THIS: ISLAND STORM

Listen · 8:12
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5485308/nx-s1-9405857" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Bruce Springsteen, shown here in 1975, was on the verge of being dropped by his record label before the release of Born to Run.

Bruce Springsteen, shown here in 1975, was on the verge of being dropped by his record label before the release of Born to Run. Monty Fresco/Getty Images/Hulton Archive hide caption

toggle caption
Monty Fresco/Getty Images/Hulton Archive

Music

Springsteen's label was about to drop him. Then came 'Born to Run'

Biographer Peter Ames Carlin describes the making of Born to Run as an "existential moment" for Springsteen: "If this didn't work, he was done." Carlin's new book is Tonight in Jungleland.

Springsteen's label was about to drop him. Then came 'Born to Run'

Listen · 44:41
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5489677/g-s1-81521" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Hautamaki family (Shannon, left, Ian, Graham and Bret) poses outside the Pittsfield branch of the Ann Arbor District Library, where they collected points for The Summer Game.

The Hautamaki family (Shannon, left, Ian, Graham and Bret) poses outside the Pittsfield branch of the Ann Arbor District Library, where they collected points for The Summer Game. Neda Ulaby/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Neda Ulaby/NPR

How a public library's summer game took over a Michigan city

Summer in Ann Arbor, Mich., means thousands of people hunting for hidden codes around the city and reading books to earn points. It's part of a popular game organized by the public library.

How a public library's summer game took over a Michigan city

Listen · 3:46
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5477533/nx-s1-9397832" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Jane Austen Fans Celebrate the Beloved English Author's 250th Birthday
Beata Cosgrove/Jane Austen Festival

State of the World from NPR

Jane Austen Fans Celebrate the Beloved English Author's 250th Birthday

With anniversary of Jane Austen's birth approaching in December, her fans are donning gowns and tailcoats at costume balls across Britain.

Jane Austen Fans Celebrate the Beloved English Author's 250th Birthday

Listen · 4:36
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1256575150/1269732340" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
This photo collage shows a pair of hands in black-and-white holding an open journal. Handwritten cursive script is visible on the leaves of the open pages, and three red tissue paper flowers grow from the open book. Three butterflies hover around the flowers, and a pencil pointed downward hovers to the right of the open book.
Deagreez; Pravokrugulnik; paladin13; Israel Sebastian/Getty Images

Life Kit

The transformative power of keeping a daily journal

In a new book, writer Suleika Jaouad explains why journaling is a form of alchemy — and offers tips on how to reignite your practice if you're feeling stuck, bored or uninspired by your own writing.

How journaling can help you through hard times

Listen · 19:35
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5464815/g-s1-80301" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
A triptych of photos that shows David Nayfeld making pancakes with his daughter in their kitchen at a wooden island. The first photo shows them putting vanilla extract into a metal mixing bowl. The second photo shows David cutting pancakes on a plate. And the third photo shows his daughter feeding him a bite of pancake.

David Nayfeld, the chef behind the cookbook Dad, What's for Dinner?, makes a recipe called "stressed-out weekday pancakes" together with his daughter, Helena. Eric Wolfinger hide caption

toggle caption
Eric Wolfinger

Life Kit

How to embrace the mess and stress of cooking with your kids

Chef David Nayfeld has been cooking with his kid since she was 2. In a new book, Dad, What's for Dinner?, he shares easy ways to involve kids in meal prep, and a weeknight recipe for meatballs.

How to embrace the mess and teach your kids to cook

Listen · 18:50
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5442539/g-s1-79095" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org