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NPR Books Summer Poll 2021: A Decade Of Great Sci-Fi And Fantasy

The Summer Reader Poll Returns: Tell Us Your Favorite New Sci-Fi And Fantasy Books

June 22, 2021 • Our famous Summer Reader Poll is back! It's been 10 years since our original sci-fi and fantasy poll, and the field has changed so much since then — so tell us about your favorite new reads!

For July, 3 Romances Packed With Pulse-Pounding Peril

Avon

Review

For July, 3 Romances Packed With Pulse-Pounding Peril

July 26, 2021 • This month, romance columnist Maya Rodale brings us three tales of danger and mystery, political intrigues, airship pirates, angry Scotsmen, and of course, the essential ingredient: passion.

New Graphic Novel 'Celestia' Wanders An Earth That's No Longer Home

Fantagraphics

Review

New Graphic Novel 'Celestia' Wanders An Earth That's No Longer Home

July 25, 2021 • Manuele Fior's latest, Celestia, is set on a far-future Earth, wracked by climate change — but the terrors of flood and fire stay under the surface of his dreamy, hazy, philosophical story.

'What Strange Paradise' Focuses On The Human Stories At The Heart Of A Crisis

Knopf

Review

'What Strange Paradise' Focuses On The Human Stories At The Heart Of A Crisis

July 25, 2021 • Omar El-Akkad's new novel is fully aware of the larger forces that lead people to migrate — but it leaves those aside, focusing instead on the smaller human stories at the core of the migrant crisis.

'The Council Of Animals' Holds Humanity's Fate In Its ... Paws

Henry Holt & Co.

Review

'The Council Of Animals' Holds Humanity's Fate In Its ... Paws

July 24, 2021 • In Nick McDonell's new novel, sentient animals control the fate of the few remaining humans — and must decide to do about the fear that humans will regroup and seize supremacy over the Earth again.

Comic-Con Is Online Only Again This Year. On The Bright Side, No Lines!

Like last year, the sidewalks around San Diego's convention center are empty and no one is lined up at the famed Hall H. Daniel Knighton/Getty Images hide caption

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Daniel Knighton/Getty Images

Comic-Con Is Online Only Again This Year. On The Bright Side, No Lines!

July 23, 2021 • No costumed crowds are thronging the streets of San Diego this weekend: For the second year in a row, Comic-Con is online only. But organizers are hoping for a small in-person show in November.

When Your Book Publishes In A Pandemic — Authors Talk About Terrible Timing

Author Sarah Ramey's first book was expected to be among 2020's bestsellers. But it was released the same week as the lockdown and got lost amid news of a global catastrophe. Julius Schlosburg hide caption

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Julius Schlosburg

Book News & Features

When Your Book Publishes In A Pandemic — Authors Talk About Terrible Timing

July 23, 2021 • A league of unfortunate writers had their books come out in the height of the coronavirus crisis — there are even several online support groups for authors who published mid-pandemic.

When Your Book Publishes In A Pandemic — Authors Talk About Terrible Timing

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Fascinating, Mysterious 'Intimacies' Doesn't Let Readers Get Close Enough

Riverhead Books

Review

Book Reviews

Fascinating, Mysterious 'Intimacies' Doesn't Let Readers Get Close Enough

July 22, 2021 • Katie Kitamura's new novel follows an unnamed woman working as a translator at The Hague who works with war criminals — but can readers really know a narrator who remains resolutely unknown?

NPR

Review

Code Switch

Words To Set You Free

July 21, 2021 • Some of the best books can make you feel free — free from your daily grind, free to imagine a new reality, free to explore different facets of your identity. This month, the Code Switch team is highlighting books that dig deep into what freedom really means.

Words To Set You Free

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In 'Notes From The Burning Age,' We're The Ones On Fire

Orbit Books

Review

Book Reviews

In 'Notes From The Burning Age,' We're The Ones On Fire

July 21, 2021 • Claire North's new Notes from the Burning Age is set far in the future — but the titular burning age is our own, an age of waste and exploitation from which only fragments of knowledge remain.

Everyone Heard About Jeffrey Epstein's Enablers. Few Listened To His Victims

A member of the protest group Hot Mess holds up a sign of Jeffrey Epstein in front of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City in July 2019. Epstein died by asphyxiation in his cell a month later. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images hide caption

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Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

Law

Everyone Heard About Jeffrey Epstein's Enablers. Few Listened To His Victims

Fresh Air

July 20, 2021 • After Palm Beach sex offender Jeffrey Epstein received a lenient sentence for his crimes, journalist Julie K. Brown identified 80 women who had survived his abuse. Her book is Perversion of Justice.

Everyone Heard About Jeffrey Epstein's Enablers. Few Listened To His Victims

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Michael Wolff's Third Strike At Trump White House Has Hits And Misses

Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency, Michael Wolff Henry Holt & Co. hide caption

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Henry Holt & Co.

Review

Book Reviews

Michael Wolff's Third Strike At Trump White House Has Hits And Misses

July 20, 2021 • The author has gifts as a writer: a novelistic eye for scene and detail, an ear for dramatic dialogue. His story keeps moving, free of constraints common to courtroom lawyers or newspaper reporters.

Echoes Across Centuries Are Reminders That The Next Quarantine Is A Matter Of When

Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine, by Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley MCD hide caption

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MCD

Review

Book Reviews

Echoes Across Centuries Are Reminders That The Next Quarantine Is A Matter Of When

July 20, 2021 • There's something that feels impossible about leaving behind the place in which we slunk our way through the last year plus. Until Proven Safe takes us to the places others lingered through time.

'Radha And Jai' Is A Toe-Tapping Dance Romance Treat

Radha & Jai's Recipe for Romance, by Nisha Sharma Crown Books for Young Readers hide caption

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Crown Books for Young Readers

Review

Book Reviews

'Radha And Jai' Is A Toe-Tapping Dance Romance Treat

July 19, 2021 • Nisha Sharma's new YA novel follows two Indian American teenagers who overcome differing backgrounds to find love while prepping for an important dance competition — a perfect teen movie setup.

A Monk And A Robot Meet In A Forest ... And Talk Philosophy In This New Novel

A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers Tordotcom hide caption

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Tordotcom

Review

Book Reviews

A Monk And A Robot Meet In A Forest ... And Talk Philosophy In This New Novel

July 18, 2021 • Becky Chambers comes down to earth for her new series, about a world where humans and robots diverged so long ago that now each group is just a myth to the other, and robots propagate themselves.

Why Crash Weight Loss Programs Don't Work: Clues From Hunter-Gatherer Societies

Intense physical activity may not be as helpful in losing weight as you may hope. Catherine Falls/Getty Images hide caption

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Catherine Falls/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Why Crash Weight Loss Programs Don't Work: Clues From Hunter-Gatherer Societies

July 16, 2021 • Evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer shares why some of the most physically active people in the world don't burn more calories than office workers. And what that means for your fitness goals.

'Women Of Brewster Place' Reissue Brims With Inventiveness — And Relevance

Penguin Classics

Review

Book Reviews

'Women Of Brewster Place' Reissue Brims With Inventiveness — And Relevance

Fresh Air

July 15, 2021 • Now newly reissued, Gloria Naylor's 1982 novel-in-stories painted a group portrait of seven Black women living on a dingy street in an unnamed city, and the systematic racism they faced.

'Women Of Brewster Place' Reissue Brims With Inventiveness — And Relevance

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Alice Coltrane, widow of jazz great John Coltrane, playing the piano in her California home, in front of a portrait of her late husband. Despite having practiced music since a very early age, Alice Coltrane's work only somewhat recently began to be recognized. J.Emilio Flores/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

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J.Emilio Flores/Corbis via Getty Images