Books: Book Reviews, Book News, and Author Interviews : NPR

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Explore more than 260 standout titles picked by NPR staff and critics. Parallels 'It Was Torture': An Abu Ghraib Interrogator Acknowledges 'Horrible Mistakes' Fresh Air April 4, 2016 • The techniques Eric Fair used still weigh on his conscience. "There is no middle ground," he says. "Torture is an enhanced interrogation." His new memoir is Consequence. 'It Was Torture': An Abu Ghraib Interrogator Acknowledges 'Horrible Mistakes' Listen · 43:34 43:34 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472964974/473004679" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Recently Reviewed View More Penguin Books Shots - Health News Just Turned 40? An Architect Says It's Time To Design For Aging April 4, 2016 • An architect looked at communities that serve older adults, and didn't like what he saw. By changing habits earlier in life, he says, we can create vibrant communities that will sustain us. Author Interviews 'Music Was Always This Anchor': A Story Of Soul And Struggle April 3, 2016 • Rashod Ollison's memoir Soul Serenade is a coming-of-age story and playlist combined. He says he "could always tell" his mother's mood "by which Aretha Franklin song was on." 'Music Was Always This Anchor': A Story Of Soul And Struggle Listen · 6:59 6:59 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472697258/472891003" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript How A Woman's 'True Crime' Addiction Helped Her Work Through A Traumatic Past April 3, 2016 • Author Kathryn Harrison's new book of essays is about her own family. She talks to Rachel Martin about coming to terms with one of the worst crimes that happened to her, perpetrated by her own father. How A Woman's 'True Crime' Addiction Helped Her Work Through A Traumatic Past Listen · 8:41 8:41 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472859117/472859118" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt How To Get Kids Hooked On Books? 'Use Poetry. It Is A Surefire Way' April 3, 2016 • Newbery Medal-winning author Kwame Alexander's new effort is a novel about a 12-year-old boy named Nick, written in verse. He says poetry is one key to keeping kids invested in what they're reading. How To Get Kids Hooked On Books? 'Use Poetry. It Is A Surefire Way' Listen · 9:00 9:00 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472859082/472859083" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Book Reviews A Spanish Comic Book Exposes Franco's Orphanages April 3, 2016 • Carlos Giménez's graphic novel Paracuellos is an unflinching memoir of his time in the orphanages of Franco's Spain; it makes the experiences of a few boys in the 1950s inescapably universal. Author Interviews Jimmy V, Coach K And Dean Smith: The 3 Legends Of N.C. Basketball April 2, 2016 • Sports columnist John Feinstein talks about his new book, The Legends Club , which follows the rivalry and friendship between three of college basketball's biggest coaches in the '80s. Jimmy V, Coach K And Dean Smith: The 3 Legends Of N.C. Basketball Listen · 7:04 7:04 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472816828/472816829" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Book Reviews What Our Relationship To 'Junk' Says About America Through Generations April 2, 2016 • What to keep and what to throw away? Alison Stewart talks with NPR's Scott Simon about her new book "Junk: Digging Through America's Love Affair With Stuff." What Our Relationship To 'Junk' Says About America Through Generations Listen · 5:39 5:39 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472784727/472784748" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Book Your Trip View More News U.S. World Politics Business Technology Science Health Race & Culture Education Arts & Life Books Movies Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Photography Music First Listen Songs We Love Music Articles Tiny Desk Videos Programs All Things Considered Ask Me Another The Best Of Car Talk Bullseye The Diane Rehm Show Embedded Fresh Air Here & Now Hidden Brain Invisibilia Latino USA Morning Edition On Point StoryCorps TED Radio Hour Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday Youth Radio About NPR Overview NPR Finances People at NPR Support NPR Visit NPR Press Room NPR Extra Blog Careers at NPR Corrections NPR Ombudsman Permissions Help Contact Terms of Use Privacy Sponsorship Choices Text-Only Book Reviews Healing And Horror Sit Side By Side In 'Little Red Chairs' April 2, 2016 • Edna O'Brien's new book is set in a little Irish village disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious stranger, a war criminal in hiding whose murderous hands can heal as well as kill. Book Reviews Love, Sandwiches And Impulse Jewelry Purchases In 'Lust And Wonder' April 2, 2016 • Writer Augusten Burroughs has grown up on the page, in a series of unvarnished (and sometimes unhinged) memoirs. His latest is the story of a man trying to stay sober, stay in love and not blow it. Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley star in the film adaptation of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, a book that's been celebrated for its depiction of positive consent. James Bridges/20th Century Fox/AP Photo hide caption toggle caption James Bridges/20th Century Fox/AP Photo Book News & Features When Talking About Sexual Consent, YA Books Can Be A Parent's Best Friend April 1, 2016 • Today's young adult novels deal with consent, sexual assault and the pressures of sexting, among other things. For parents who aren't comfortable broaching those subjects, these books can help. When Talking About Sexual Consent, YA Books Can Be A Parent's Best Friend Listen · 5:45 5:45 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472584700/472716202" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Author Interviews 'Diver's Clothes' Is A Cautionary Tale (And A Fantasy) About Travel Fresh Air April 1, 2016 • Vendela Vida's The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty is a novel about the sense of dislocation that often comes with traveling to another country. Originally broadcast on June 30, 2015. 'Diver's Clothes' Is A Cautionary Tale (And A Fantasy) About Travel Listen · 18:48 18:48 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472669687/472699975" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript "One of the things I've learned from being the curator of the most desolate gallery of food photography on the planet is that loneliness and an inability to cook is a truly global phenomenon." Courtesy of Dimly Lit Meals for One, John Blake Publishing Ltd. hide caption toggle caption Courtesy of Dimly Lit Meals for One, John Blake Publishing Ltd. The Salt Intentionally Awful Photos Of 'Dimly Lit Meals For One' April 1, 2016 • Instagram food photos often offer a curated image of an idealized existence. This book is not that: It pairs grainy photos of culinary monstrosities with fictional tales of the sad sacks eating them. British politician Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine, make a toast upon their arrival in Switzerland in August 1946. Stories of Churchill's special relationship with alcohol are legendary — and champagne was his truest passion. A new book reveals the extent to which that passion imperiled his already threadbare bank balance. Keystone/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Keystone/Getty Images The Salt Hitler Couldn't Defeat Churchill, But Champagne Nearly Did April 1, 2016 • During the 1930s, as Hitler was rising to power in Germany, the man who would turn out to be his most implacable foe was drowning — in debt and champagne. A new book recounts the unbelievable excess. Writer, director and journalist Nora Ephron died in 2012 of complications from leukemia. Courtesy of HBO hide caption toggle caption Courtesy of HBO Movie Interviews In 'Everything Is Copy,' Nora Ephron's Son Tries Her Philosophy Fresh Air March 31, 2016 • Jacob Bernstein named his documentary about his mother after an Ephron family saying — "everything is copy," meaning that anything and everything that happens to you is fair game to write about. In 'Everything Is Copy,' Nora Ephron's Son Tries Her Philosophy Listen · 24:48 24:48 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472534582/472559623" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Sports Injuries Increase As Pitchers Throw Harder, Faster And Younger March 31, 2016 • In The Arm , baseball columnist Jeff Passan explains how competitive pressure on young players is making them more vulnerable. Injuries Increase As Pitchers Throw Harder, Faster And Younger Listen · 20:05 20:05 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472541597/472559618" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Book Reviews 'Empire Of Things' Surveys How, What And Why We Consume March 31, 2016 • Frank Trentmann's sprawling new history looks at several centuries worth of consumerism. It's a huge, and hugely readable survey of all the ways we accumulate — and exhaust — material goods. Dietland and 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl Brandon Chew/NPR hide caption toggle caption Brandon Chew/NPR Author Interviews 'You Cannot Shame Me': 2 New Books Tear Down 'Fat Girl' Stereotypes March 31, 2016 • Authors Sarai Walker and Mona Awad were tired of the way fat characters were — and weren't — portrayed in fiction. Dietland and 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl attack a culture of stigmatization. 'You Cannot Shame Me': 2 New Books Tear Down 'Fat Girl' Stereotypes Listen · 6:20 6:20 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472132175/472501064" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Book Reviews Lurid And Ludicrous, 'Shock SuspenStories' Will Make Your Eyes Pop March 30, 2016 • A new collection reprints the first six issues of EC Comics' classic 1950s pulp horror series. Packed with gore and goofiness, these may, in fact, be the comics your mother warned you about. Natalie Wilson/Flickr State/Getty Images Shots - Health News 'Girls & Sex' And The Importance Of Talking To Young Women About Pleasure Fresh Air March 29, 2016 • Author Peggy Orenstein says that when it comes to sexuality, girls hear that "they're supposed to be sexy, they're supposed to perform sexually for boys, but ... their sexual pleasure is unspoken." 'Girls & Sex' And The Importance Of Talking To Young Women About Pleasure Listen · 37:52 37:52 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472211301/472298223" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Book Reviews Murder And Crows In 'Taxidermist's Daughter' March 29, 2016 • Kate Mosse's new gothic thriller uses the concept of taxidermy as a clever skeleton on which to hang its scares. It's a dark and tangled tale that's definitely not for the squeamish. Italian troops take part in a Nationalist victory parade in Madrid on May 19, 1939. Military aide from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini helped Gen. Francisco Franco win the Spanish Civil War. Len Putnam/Associated Press hide caption toggle caption Len Putnam/Associated Press Author Interviews In Many Ways, Author Says, Spanish Civil War Was 'The First Battle Of WWII' Fresh Air March 28, 2016 • According to Adam Hochschild, about 2,800 Americans fought in the Spanish Civil War, and some were bombed by Nazis years before the U.S. entered World War II. His new book is Spain in Our Hearts . In Many Ways, Author Says, Spanish Civil War Was 'The First Battle Of WWII' Listen · 38:57 38:57 Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/472135541/472178771" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript More NPR thanks our sponsors Become an NPR sponsor