NPR: Book Reviews Summary judgment on books of note, from NPR personalities, independent booksellers and critics from across the public-radio spectrum.

Book Reviews

Monday November 20, 2023

Books

NPR's Books We Love 2023 launches today

November 20, 2023 • Books We Love 2023 launches Monday. Book of the Day host Andrew Limbong talks about our annual, interactive guide to the years' best books.

NPR's Books We Love 2023 launches today

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NPR

Books

Here are the Books We Love: 380+ great 2023 reads recommended by NPR

November 20, 2023 • Books We Love returns with 380+ new titles handpicked by NPR staff and trusted critics. Find 11 years of recommendations all in one place – that's more than 3,600 great reads.

Saturday November 18, 2023

Random House

'Day' is a sad story of middle-aged disillusionment

November 18, 2023 • Michael Cunningham's Day joins a new wave of pandemic novels, including Ann Patchett's Tom Lake, Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel's Dayswork, and Sigrid Nunez's The Vulnerables.

Wednesday November 15, 2023

Penguin Books

'Eyeliner' examines the cosmetic's history as a symbol of strength and protest

November 15, 2023 • Journalist Zahra Hankir draws a line connecting the cosmetic across civilizations, continents, and eras straight into today — as not only a beauty product but as a means of self expression and more.

Monday November 13, 2023

Grove Atlantic

Claire Keegan's 'stories of women and men' explore what goes wrong between them

Fresh Air

November 13, 2023 • Book critic Maureen Corrigan says her only frustration with Keegan's work is that she wants more of it. So she was happy to read her nuanced, three-story collection, So Late in the Day.

Claire Keegan's 'stories of women and men' explore what goes wrong between them

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Tuesday November 7, 2023

Barbra Streisand's memoir shows she wasn't born a leading lady — she made herself one

Barbra Streisand in March 1966. Terry Fincher/Express/Getty Images hide caption

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Terry Fincher/Express/Getty Images

Barbra Streisand's memoir shows she wasn't born a leading lady — she made herself one

November 7, 2023 • At nearly 1,000 pages long, My Name Is Barbra is the ultimate exercise in directorial control, and a celebration of women's authorship.

Monday November 6, 2023

Meghan Collins Sullivan/NPR

3 new poetry collections taking the pulse of the times

November 6, 2023 • Here are three of the first poetry collections to register the still-unfolding social and physical fallout of the pandemic and Trump-era politics.

Friday November 3, 2023

Meghan Collins Sullivan/NPR

3 books in translation for fall that are big — in different ways

November 3, 2023 • Vengeance Is Mine, Undiscovered, Pedro and Marques Take Stock come from one of France's most significant living writers, a major voice in Peru, and a new talent from Brazil, respectively.

Thursday November 2, 2023

Gallery/Saga Press

'The Reformatory' tells a story of ghosts, abuse, racism — and sibling love

November 2, 2023 • Tananarive Due's haunting, unflinching novel delves deep into the realities of the Jim Crow South and the very real horrors that took place at Florida reformatory schools in the 1950s.

Tuesday October 31, 2023

Riverhead Books

In 'White Holes,' Carlo Rovelli takes readers beyond the black hole horizon

October 31, 2023 • Physicist Carlo Rovelli is unique among modern scientists who write for popular audiences in his ability to capture the purest essence of his science with both precision and lyricism.

It's Been a Minute: Britney Spears tells her story

Britney Spears holds her awards for the 1999 MTV Europe Awards; The Woman in Me (2023) by Britney Spears JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images, Simon & Schuster, Inc. hide caption

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JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Pop Culture Happy Hour

It's Been a Minute: Britney Spears tells her story

October 31, 2023 • Britney Spears just released one of the most hotly anticipated celebrity memoirs of the year. The Woman In Me details her meteoric rise to fame, her family history, and her 13-year-long conservatorship. Today we're bringing you a special episode of It's Been a Minute, where host Brittany Luse and her guests discuss all the juicy, strange, and sad highlights from the new book.

It's Been a Minute: Britney Spears tells her story

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Monday October 30, 2023

MacMillan

Alice McDermott's 'Absolution' transports her signature characters to Vietnam

Fresh Air

October 30, 2023 • McDermott's latest novel, which centers on two American women who meet in Saigon in 1963, explores themes of religion, humility and insistent charitable intervention.

Alice McDermott's 'Absolution' transports her signature characters to Vietnam

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Saturday October 28, 2023

Meghan Collins Sullivan/NPR

Looking for ghost stories? Here are 5 new YA books that will haunt you

October 28, 2023 • Heading into Halloween, we have a few suggested new reads. Some are genuinely terrifying, some more benevolent — but all are guaranteed to provide an atmospheric glimpse through the veil.

Madonna and Britney Spears: It's them against the world

Britney Spears, left, joins Madonna for a guest appearance during one of Madonna's Los Angeles tour dates in 2008. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

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Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Culture

Madonna and Britney Spears: It's them against the world

October 28, 2023 • Two new books chronicle the lives of two pop idols, Madonna and Britney Spears. The way each came to stardom — and what happened to them after — illuminates why their paths have been so different.

Friday October 27, 2023

Britney Spears can finally tell her own story in 'The Woman in Me'

Britney Spears holds her awards for the 1999 MTV Europe Awards; The Woman in Me (2023) by Britney Spears JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images, Simon & Schuster, Inc. hide caption

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JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

It's Been a Minute

Britney Spears can finally tell her own story in 'The Woman in Me'

October 27, 2023 • Britney Spears just released one of the most hotly anticipated celebrity memoirs of the year, The Woman In Me. The book details her meteoric rise to fame, her family history, and her 13 year-long conservatorship. This week, host Britney Luse talks to the two best people to break it all down: Claire Parker and Ashley Hamilton, comedians and co-hosts of the Celebrity Memoir Book Club podcast. Together they look at what the princess of pop is trying to tell us, how she contextualizes her own story and how she doesn't seem to implicate the audience in her abuse.

Britney Spears can finally tell her own story in 'The Woman in Me'

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