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

Subscribe to Books Newsletter

'X' explores pleasure and pain in a dystopic world

Davey Davis, the author of X. Elle Perez/Catapult hide caption

toggle caption

Elle Perez/Catapult

'X' explores pleasure and pain in a dystopic world

July 5, 2022 • How do freedom and rights intersect with sex, pleasure and the self? It's a question the U.S. is facing in the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — and a central theme in writer Davey Davis's new novel. In X, Davis relocates the conflict over these ideas from courts and abortion clinics to queer clubs and BDSM dungeons in a more dystopic version of our present.

'X' explores pleasure and pain in a dystopic world

Listen · 24:21 24:21

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1108557553/1109041652" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Here are the 14 books that NPR staff and critics are loving the most so far this year

Various/Emily Bogle for NPR

Review

Here are the 14 books that NPR staff and critics are loving the most so far this year

July 2, 2022 • Every year, we ask NPR staff and contributors to tell us about their favorite books. From a list of 167 books so far this year, here are the 14 that the most people chose as their top pick.

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend reading, listening and viewing

Samara Weaving as Olivia and Eugenio Derbez as Antonio in the new Hulu film The Valet. Dan McFadden/Hulu hide caption

toggle caption

Dan McFadden/Hulu

What's Making Us Happy: Recommendations From 'Pop Culture Happy Hour'

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend reading, listening and viewing

July 1, 2022 • Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: The Valet on Hulu, watching wrestling, and a playlist crafted for the perfect summer vibe.

'Noir Alley' host celebrates cinema's double crosses and doomed characters

Fresh Air

July 1, 2022 • Eddie Muller's book, Dark City, chronicles film noir from the '40s and '50s. He says the genre draws on a "very dark vision of existence." Originally broadcast Oct. 21, 2022.

'Noir Alley' host celebrates cinema's double crosses and doomed characters

Listen · 35:32 35:32

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1108929824/1109402693" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

8 books to enjoy at the beach this summer

NPR

Review

8 books to enjoy at the beach this summer

June 30, 2022 • From light romance and short fiction to thrillers, here's a list of books that are perfect companions as you retreat to the beach or pool to catch a break from the summer heat.

8 books to enjoy at the beach this summer

Listen · 3:49 3:49

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1108218027/1109051901" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Travel the world without leaving your home with these 10 books

Various/Emily Bogle for NPR

Review

Travel the world without leaving your home with these 10 books

June 30, 2022 • From Lahore's red-light district and the streets of Mexico to a fantastical underwater land of Korean fable, here are some picks that can immerse you in worlds wholly unlike your own.

Travel the world without leaving your home with these 10 books

Listen · 3:50 3:50

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1108366545/1108843865" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Here are the Books We Love: 160+ great 2022 reads recommended by NPR

NPR

Review

Here are the Books We Love: 160+ great 2022 reads recommended by NPR

June 30, 2022 • Books We Love is back early this year; for 2022, we're launching the first-ever summer edition, complete with 160+ recommendations from NPR staff and trusted critics.

Real life or satire? Novelist Mat Johnson says it can be hard to tell the difference

Mat Johnson is the Philip H. Knight Chair of Humanities at the University of Oregon. His previous books include Pym and Loving Day. Courtesy of University of Oregon hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of University of Oregon

Real life or satire? Novelist Mat Johnson says it can be hard to tell the difference

Fresh Air

June 29, 2022 • Set in the future, Johnson's new satirical novel, Invisible Things, takes place on one of Jupiter's many moons, where humans have created an artificial ecosystem designed to replicate life on Earth.

Real life or satire? Novelist Mat Johnson says it can be hard to tell the difference

Listen · 42:25 42:25

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1108235377/1108758977" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

'X' looks at a subculture that mainstream American art has frequently shied away from

Catapult

Review

'X' looks at a subculture that mainstream American art has frequently shied away from

June 28, 2022 • Davey Davis' book is far from an ordinary love story — it's a shocking and moving novel about what it means to be an outsider in a world that's crumbling around you.

A novelist's time in the MMA cage informed his book on memory loss and identity

John Vercher is the author of the novels Three-Fifths and After the Lights Go Out. Karen Maria Photography/Soho Press hide caption

toggle caption

Karen Maria Photography/Soho Press

A novelist's time in the MMA cage informed his book on memory loss and identity

Fresh Air

June 28, 2022 • John Vercher trained in mixed martial arts as a young man. His novel, After the Lights Go Out, centers on a veteran MMA fighter who struggles to remember everyday things.

A novelist's time in the MMA cage informed his book on memory loss and identity

Listen · 36:59 36:59

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1107959398/1108275631" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

The strange underground economy of tree poaching

Coastal Redwood Trees Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The strange underground economy of tree poaching

June 28, 2022 • A new book dives deep into the fascinating criminal world of tree theft and efforts to combat it.

Life in the Middle Ages is more gross than engrossing in this ruthless novel

Lapvona, by Ottessa Moshfegh Penguin Random House hide caption

toggle caption

Penguin Random House

Review

Life in the Middle Ages is more gross than engrossing in this ruthless novel

Fresh Air

June 27, 2022 • Ottessa Moshfegh's Lapvona follows the life of Marek, a 13-year-old peasant boy who lives in a cruel world of sadism and stink, cannibalism and self-flagellation.

Life in the Middle Ages is more gross than engrossing in this ruthless novel

Listen · 6:50 6:50

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1107360561/1107907272" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

'Rogues' showcases Patrick Radden Keefe's preternatural gift for reading people

Doubleday

Review

'Rogues' showcases Patrick Radden Keefe's preternatural gift for reading people

June 27, 2022 • Keefe recognizes that we're all unreliable narrators of our own lives, and writes about his subjects with a keen sense of understanding.

Authors are protesting Amazon's e-book policy that allows users to read and return

A kindle e-book reader is pictured at the Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2015. Daniel Roland/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Daniel Roland/AFP via Getty Images

Authors are protesting Amazon's e-book policy that allows users to read and return

June 27, 2022 • Authors say readers are exploiting Amazon's seven-day return policy by using Amazon like a library and returning books after reading them.

Fasten your seat belts, flight attendant-turned-novelist shares stories from the sky

Fresh Air

June 24, 2022 • T.J. Newman began writing the hijack thriller Falling while she was a flight attendant. She'd jot down ideas on paper napkins in the quiet moments on red-eye flights. Originally broadcast July 2021.

Fasten your seat belts, flight attendant-turned-novelist shares stories from the sky

Listen · 37:58 37:58

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1107277958/1107441802" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

'Learning To Talk' focuses on growing up in mid-20th-century England

Learning to Talk Henry Holt & Co. hide caption

toggle caption

Henry Holt & Co.

Review

'Learning To Talk' focuses on growing up in mid-20th-century England

June 24, 2022 • It's a testament to Hilary Mantel's brilliance as an author that even though the moments in these stories are subtle, the book somehow feels epic in its own way.

The human sensory experience is limited. Journey into the world that animals know

A dolphin's sense of echolocation allows it to coordinate efforts to hunt prey, see "through" other creatures and form three-dimensional shapes using sound. Raymond Roig/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Raymond Roig/AFP via Getty Images

Shots - Health News

The human sensory experience is limited. Journey into the world that animals know

Fresh Air

June 22, 2022 • In his new book, An Immense World, science writer Ed Yong explores the diversity of perception in the animal world — including echolocation, magnetic fields and ultraviolet vision.

The human sensory experience is limited. Journey into the world that animals know

Listen · 43:42 43:42

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1105849864/1106767380" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Raising kids is 'Essential Labor.' It's also lonely, exhausting and expensive

Fourth-grader Lucy Kramer (foreground) does schoolwork at her home, as her mother, Daisley, helps her younger sister, Meg, who is in kindergarten, in 2020 in San Anselmo, Calif. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Raising kids is 'Essential Labor.' It's also lonely, exhausting and expensive

Fresh Air

June 21, 2022 • In her book, author Angela Garbes makes the case that the work of raising children has always been undervalued and undercompensated in the U.S. Then came the pandemic, and everything got harder.

Raising kids is 'Essential Labor.' It's also lonely, exhausting and expensive

Listen · 43:36 43:36

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1105849291/1106404054" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

'An Immense World' dives deep into the umwelt of animals

Random House

Review

Book Reviews

'An Immense World' dives deep into the umwelt of animals

June 21, 2022 • Pulitzer prize-winning science journalist Ed Yong writes in a perfect balance of scientific rigor and personal awe as he invites readers to grasp something of how other animals experience the world.

Some states are changing the laws that govern community libraries

Attempts to ban books in school districts around the country have increased in recent years. Now, some states are working on enacting laws to give politicians more power over public libraries. Rick Bowmer/AP hide caption

toggle caption

Rick Bowmer/AP

Book News & Features

Some states are changing the laws that govern community libraries

June 21, 2022 • At a time of concern about book banning, states are passing laws to tighten control over public libraries. The laws address how libraries are managed and some laws may open librarians to legal action.

Some states are changing the laws that govern community libraries

Listen · 3:41 3:41

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1106320865/1106320866" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Fangirls rule the internet in 'Everything I Need, I Get From You'

Kaitlyn Tiffany, author of Everything I Need, I Get From You: How Fangirls Shaped the Internet as We Know It. Amelia Holowaty Krales/FSG Books hide caption

toggle caption

Amelia Holowaty Krales/FSG Books

It's Been a Minute

Fangirls rule the internet in 'Everything I Need, I Get From You'

June 21, 2022 • Fangirls often don't get taken seriously in pop culture. But in her new book, Everything I Need, I Get From You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It, culture reporter Kaitlyn Tiffany explores just how much fangirls have shaped online life. She talks with guest host B.A. Parker about how fans used Tumblr to transform internet culture, how being a One Direction fan enriched her own life and why fandom is more complicated than we might think.

Fangirls rule the internet in 'Everything I Need, I Get From You'

Listen · 27:35 27:35

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1105191708/1105831395" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Oh, what a beautiful archive: Oscar Hammerstein's letters reveal his many sides

Julie Andrews sang "The hills are alive" in the film version of The Sound of Music, but Hammerstein's letters reveal that a much bigger Hollywood star had lobbied hard to play Maria. Alamy Stock Photo hide caption

toggle caption

Alamy Stock Photo

Oh, what a beautiful archive: Oscar Hammerstein's letters reveal his many sides

June 20, 2022 • A thousand pages of correspondence by Oscar Hammerstein II, the lyricist for such musicals as Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Carousel and The Sound of Music are available to a wide public for the first time.

Oh, what a beautiful archive: Oscar Hammerstein's letters reveal his many sides

Listen · 8:06 8:06

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1105343623/1106256101" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

History

'On Juneteenth' historian examines the hope and hostility toward emancipation

Fresh Air

June 17, 2022 • Juneteenth celebrates the day slavery ended in Texas, June 19, 1865. Historian Annette Gordon-Reed studies the early American republic and the legacy of slavery. Originally broadcast May 25, 2021.

'On Juneteenth' historian examines the hope and hostility toward emancipation

Listen · 24:59 24:59

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1105477075/1105897114" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Various

7 books to help you understand Jan. 6

June 17, 2022 • To help guide you as findings from the Jan. 6 hearings emerge over the next few weeks, NPR has rounded up a list of books about the assault on the U.S. Capitol and the people and groups involved.