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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

Author Interviews

Novelist Emma Straub asks life's big questions in 'This Time Tomorrow'

Fresh Air

Straub's new novel is a time-travel fantasy about a 40-year-old woman who's tending to her ailing father — until, that is, the day she's transported to her childhood home on her 16th birthday.

Novelist Emma Straub asks life's big questions in 'This Time Tomorrow'

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A kids' story unfolds without words in 'A Day For Sandcastles'

A Day For Sandcastles Illustrations copyright © 2022 by Qin Leng hide caption

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Illustrations copyright © 2022 by Qin Leng

Picture This

A kids' story unfolds without words in 'A Day For Sandcastles'

Three siblings spend a summer day at the beach building sandcastles and watching them get demolished in a wordless picture book written by JonArno Lawson and illustrated by Qin Leng.

A kids' story unfolds without words in 'A Day For Sandcastles'

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Author Interviews

LSD, vodka and burner phones fuel the shadowy world of Dan Chaon's novel 'Sleepwalk'

Scott Simon speaks with author Dan Chaon about his new novel, "Sleepwalk," about an eccentric character who finds those indebted to a shadowy corporation.

LSD, vodka and burner phones fuel the shadowy world of Dan Chaon's novel 'Sleepwalk'

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These 4 novels will get your summer off to a terrific start
Fatemeh Saberi/EyeEm/Getty Images

Review

Book Reviews

These 4 novels will get your summer off to a terrific start

Fresh Air

Book critic Maureen Corrigan has been diving into lighter literary novels and mysteries, searching for books suited for the beginning of summer. Here are some of her picks.

These 4 novels will get your summer off to a terrific start

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'Mirror Made of Rain' looks at how patterns of self-destruction are inherited
Naheed Phiroze Patel

Author Interviews

'Mirror Made of Rain' looks at how patterns of self-destruction are inherited

Naheed Phiroze Patel's debut novel Mirror Made of Rain is out in the U.S. this week.

'Mirror Made of Rain' looks at how patterns of self-destruction are inherited

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Race

Biography examines how systemic racism shaped the troubled life of George Floyd

Fresh Air

Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis in 2020. Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa reconstruct the course of his life in His Name is George Floyd.

Biography examines how systemic racism shaped the troubled life of George Floyd

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Many know how George Floyd died. A new biography reveals how he lived

A mural of George Floyd at the intersection where he was murdered in Minneapolis, Minn. Brandon Bell/Getty Images hide caption

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Race

Many know how George Floyd died. A new biography reveals how he lived

NPR's Adrian Florido talks with Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa about their new book, His Name is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice.

Many know how George Floyd died. A new biography reveals how he lived

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On Aging

After a stroke blinded one eye, Frank Bruni focused on the future

Fresh Air

The New York Times columnist says the stroke forced him to choose: He could focus on what had been lost, or on what remained. His memoir is The Beauty of Dusk. Originally broadcast March 22, 2022.

After a stroke blinded one eye, Frank Bruni focused on the future

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Author Interviews

Emma Straub on using time travel to escape the pandemic in 'This Time Tomorrow'

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Emma Straub about her new novel, This Time Tomorrow, in which the central character is turning 40 — but wakes up and is age 16 again.

Emma Straub on using time travel to escape the pandemic in 'This Time Tomorrow'

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This forgotten women's prison helped cement Greenwich Village's queer identity

Angela Davis is escorted by two FBI agents after her arrest in New York on Oct. 13, 1970. She was taken from FBI headquarters to the Women's House of Detention. David Pickoff/AP hide caption

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David Pickoff/AP

Author Interviews

This forgotten women's prison helped cement Greenwich Village's queer identity

Fresh Air

In his book The Women's House of Detention, Hugh Ryan writes about the New York City prison and the role it played in the gay rights movement of the '60s, including the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.

This forgotten women's prison helped cement Greenwich Village's queer identity

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