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In 'Head On,' Killer Robots, Dogged Gumshoes ... And A Very Important Cat

April 22, 2018 • John Scalzi returns to the world of Lock In -- where people incapacitated by a strange disease can reenter the world through robot avatars — for a murder mystery that turns on a cat named Donut.

'How To Suppress Women's Writing:' 3 Decades Old And Still Sadly Relevant

April 21, 2018 • This collection of essays by novelist and scholar Joanna Russ was first published in 1983 — but it reads as if it might've come out last week. "Get angry; then get a reading list," says our critic.

'God Save Texas' Is Essential Reading For Everyone — Even Non-Texans

April 19, 2018 • Lawrence Wright is at his best in this new examination of his home state — a thoughtful, beautifully written book about a place that can be hard for outsiders to understand.

'How To Write,' Yes — But Alexander Chee's Latest Is More Mesmerizing Memoir

April 18, 2018 • Chee does include some writing tips in his new How To Write An Autobiographical Novel -- but this collection is less a writing lesson than a deeply considered and beautifully written memoir.

'And Now We Have Everything' Charts The Emotional Extremes Of An Ordinary Pregnancy

April 17, 2018 • Memoirs now tend toward the unique and superhuman, recounting experiences most of us will never have. But Meaghan O'Connell's wry new book is brutally honest about something commonplace: pregnancy.

Beautiful But Heartrending, 'The Only Story' Looks Back At Love Gone Wrong

April 17, 2018 • Julian Barnes' latest novel concerns the pained recollections of an aging Englishman's life-changing only love — the "only story" that really matters about him.

Have A Spring Fling With These 3 April Romances

April 14, 2018 • As we wait endlessly for spring to really spring, we're consoling ourselves with three new romances — from a designing duke to a spymaster to a straight-laced librarian who lets go for one night.

In 'A Higher Loyalty,' James Comey Describes An 'Unethical, And Untethered' President

April 13, 2018 • NPR's Ron Elving says the former FBI director's new memoir is unlikely to convert the committed partisans on either side. Instead, it may well cause further entrenchment.

Books

Jo Nesbo Gives 'Macbeth' A Gritty, Action-Packed Update

April 12, 2018 • The latest installment of the Hogarth Shakespeare series sees crime novelist Nesbo taking on the Scottish Play in an adaptation that comes alive the farther he strays from Shakespeare's original.

Meg Wolitzer Traces The Arc Of The Feminist Movement In 'The Female Persuasion'

Fresh Air

April 11, 2018 • Wolitzer's new novel centers on a legendary feminist and the young woman whose life she transforms. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls The Female Persuasion an absorbing and compelling work.

Meg Wolitzer Traces The Arc Of The Feminist Movement In 'The Female Persuasion'

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'Circe' Gives The Witch Of The Odyssey A New Life

April 11, 2018 • Madeleine Miller's lush, gold-lit new novel is told from the perspective of Circe, the sorceress whose brief appearance in the Odyssey becomes just one moment in a longer, more complex life.

Arts & Life

'Sharp' Is A Dinner Party You Want To Be At

April 10, 2018 • Michelle Dean's new compendium of outspoken women is as stimulating and insightful as its roster of guests — ten writers, from Dorothy Parker to Pauline Kael, who pulled no punches on the page.

Birds Open Bottles And Catfish Hunt Pigeons When 'Darwin Comes To Town'

April 8, 2018 • Evolutionary biologist Menno Schilthuizen's new book is a breezy (sometimes too breezy) account of the ways animals have adapted to city life, and the staggering impact humans have had on evolution.

Books

'The Recovering' Chronicles Addiction In Lush, Caressing Detail

April 7, 2018 • Author Leslie Jamison's new memoir of her years of alcoholism walks in the paths of drunken icons like Raymond Carver and John Cheever, describing the effects of intoxicants with gorgeous, exact care.

'The Chandelier' Is A Stop-Motion, Shaggy Dog Masterpiece

April 5, 2018 • Brazilian modernist Clarice Lispector's second novel, written when she was 26, is an essentially story-free story, fragmentary and obsessed with the nature of thought — but it will carry you away.

Suffering From Nature Deficit Disorder? Try Forest Bathing

Andrew Clark/Getty Images/EyeEm

13.7: Cosmos And Culture

Suffering From Nature Deficit Disorder? Try Forest Bathing

April 4, 2018 • Positive scientific results aside, the idea of shinrin-yoku shouldn't be surprising: Who hasn't felt an inner sense of well-being when walking along a forest trail? asks commentator Marcelo Gleiser.

Love (And Music And Glitter) Saves The Day In 'Space Opera'

April 4, 2018 • In Catherynne M. Valente's new novel, a washed-up glitter punk musician has to save all humanity by singing in an intergalactic version of the Eurovision Song Contest. (Also, there are murderhippos.)

'Two Sisters' Leave Home For Syria, Tearing A Family Apart

April 4, 2018 • Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad's new book is a heartbreaking but necessary account of two teenage sisters from a moderate Muslim family who fled to war-torn Syria after becoming radicalized.

50 Years Later, '2001: A Space Odyssey' Is Still A Cinematic Landmark

Keir Dullea played astronaut David Bowman in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Warner Bros./AP hide caption

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Movie Reviews

50 Years Later, '2001: A Space Odyssey' Is Still A Cinematic Landmark

Fresh Air

April 3, 2018 • Stanley Kubrick's science-fiction epic — which opened to mixed reviews in 1968 — unknowingly foreshadowed the future of effects-driven blockbusters.

50 Years Later, '2001: A Space Odyssey' Is Still A Cinematic Landmark

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Book Reviews

In 'Head On,' Killer Robots, Dogged Gumshoes ... And A Very Important Cat

'How To Suppress Women's Writing:' 3 Decades Old And Still Sadly Relevant

'God Save Texas' Is Essential Reading For Everyone — Even Non-Texans

'How To Write,' Yes — But Alexander Chee's Latest Is More Mesmerizing Memoir

'And Now We Have Everything' Charts The Emotional Extremes Of An Ordinary Pregnancy

Beautiful But Heartrending, 'The Only Story' Looks Back At Love Gone Wrong

Have A Spring Fling With These 3 April Romances

In 'A Higher Loyalty,' James Comey Describes An 'Unethical, And Untethered' President

Books

Jo Nesbo Gives 'Macbeth' A Gritty, Action-Packed Update

Meg Wolitzer Traces The Arc Of The Feminist Movement In 'The Female Persuasion'

Fresh Air

Meg Wolitzer Traces The Arc Of The Feminist Movement In 'The Female Persuasion'

'Circe' Gives The Witch Of The Odyssey A New Life

Arts & Life

'Sharp' Is A Dinner Party You Want To Be At

Birds Open Bottles And Catfish Hunt Pigeons When 'Darwin Comes To Town'

Books

'The Recovering' Chronicles Addiction In Lush, Caressing Detail

'The Chandelier' Is A Stop-Motion, Shaggy Dog Masterpiece

13.7: Cosmos And Culture

Suffering From Nature Deficit Disorder? Try Forest Bathing

Love (And Music And Glitter) Saves The Day In 'Space Opera'

'Two Sisters' Leave Home For Syria, Tearing A Family Apart

Movie Reviews

50 Years Later, '2001: A Space Odyssey' Is Still A Cinematic Landmark

Fresh Air

50 Years Later, '2001: A Space Odyssey' Is Still A Cinematic Landmark