Accessibility links
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

Economic fact in literary fiction

Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Blackyoonicorn hide caption

toggle caption
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Blackyoonicorn

Planet Money

Economic fact in literary fiction

Some of the most influential and beloved novels of the last few years have been about money, finance, and the global economy. Some overtly so, others more subtly. It got to the point where we just had to call up the authors to find out more: What brought them into this world? What did they learn? How were they thinking about economics when they wrote these beautiful books?

Economic fact in literary fiction

Listen · 26:22
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954656/1213936823" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The story of a devastating wildfire that reads 'like a thriller' wins U.K. book prize

A wildfire burns south of Fort McMurray, Alberta, near Highway 63 on Saturday, May 7, 2016. A book about an inferno that ravaged a Canadian city and has been called a portent of climate chaos has won Britain's leading nonfiction book prize. Jonathan Hayward/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Jonathan Hayward/AP

Book News & Features

The story of a devastating wildfire that reads 'like a thriller' wins U.K. book prize

John Vaillant's Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World was awarded Britain's leading nonfiction book prize on Thursday in London.

Justin Torres wins at National Book Awards as authors call for cease-fire in Gaza

Justin Torres' novel Blackouts won the National Book Award for fiction on Wednesday night. Cindy Ord/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Justin Torres wins at National Book Awards as authors call for cease-fire in Gaza

At one of literature's most prestigious awards ceremonies, nominated authors made a collective call for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Justin Torres wins at National Book Awards as authors call for cease-fire in Gaza

Listen · 2:39
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1213350274/1213401073" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Healing the 'Invisible Ache' behind the suicide crisis among Black men and boys
Hachette

Shots - Health News

Healing the 'Invisible Ache' behind the suicide crisis among Black men and boys

Fresh Air

Rates of suicide among Black men and boys in the U.S. are increasing faster than among any other group. Actor Courtney B. Vance and Robin L. Smith (aka "Dr. Robin") address the crisis in a new book.

Healing the 'Invisible Ache' behind the suicide crisis among Black men and boys

Listen · 35:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1213089999/1213239475" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
In 'The Killer,' there's a method to his badness

Michael Fassbender in The Killer. Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In 'The Killer,' there's a method to his badness

The new Netflix movie The Killer is a stylish new thriller starring Michael Fassbender as a stoic and ruthlessly efficient international hitman. When a hit goes wrong, his very detached and methodical life begins to fall apart. The film from director David Fincher and also features Tilda Swinton.

In 'The Killer,' there's a method to his badness

Listen · 13:43
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197958232/1212907284" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Claire Keegan's 'stories of women and men' explore what goes wrong between them
Grove Atlantic

Review

Book Reviews

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

Fresh Air

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

Listen · 7:23
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1211203685/1212700936" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
What the Global South could teach rich countries about health care — if they'd listen

Dr. Matthew Harris visits the primary health-care center where he worked in Brazil 20 years ago. The author of Decolonizing Healthcare Innovation: Low-Cost Solutions from Low-Income Countries says: "I really think that if people had been more receptive to learning from Brazil 20 years ago, we could have had an army of community health workers in [the U.K.] by now." Courtesy Dr. Matthew Harris hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy Dr. Matthew Harris

Goats and Soda

What the Global South could teach rich countries about health care — if they'd listen

In his book Decolonizing Healthcare Innovation, Dr. Matthew Harris argues wealthy countries ought to pay attention to innovative programs around the world instead of believing that "the West is best."

'Fellow Travelers' is a queer love story with highs, lows, tops, and bottoms

Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer in Fellow Travelers. Ben Mark Holzberg/Showtime hide caption

toggle caption
Ben Mark Holzberg/Showtime

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Fellow Travelers' is a queer love story with highs, lows, tops, and bottoms

The sweeping new Showtime series Fellow Travelers chronicles a relationship between two gay men played by Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey. It spans the McCarthy Era of the 1950s through the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. One is perfectly content to stay in the closet and live a lie, and the other wants more out of their relationship. As the years pass the two men keep coming back together only to find the power dynamic between them shifting back and forth.

'Fellow Travelers' is a queer love story with highs, lows, tops, and bottoms

Listen · 14:38
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197956776/1212364186" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Could creativity transform medicine? These artists think so

Design strategist Anna Engstrom created this sketch of a futuristic hospital that appears in Artists Remaking Medicine. She writes that she envisions "a more colorful health care future." Anna Engstrom/Procedure Press hide caption

toggle caption
Anna Engstrom/Procedure Press

Shots - Health News

Could creativity transform medicine? These artists think so

A new book argues that the arts have a role to play in shaking up the status quo in the American health care system and creating 'desperately needed culture change.'

Barbra Streisand says she's not a diva - she's a director

Barbra Streisand on her life and legacy in My Name is Barbra. Terry Fincher/Express/Jeff Fusco/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Terry Fincher/Express/Jeff Fusco/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute

Barbra Streisand says she's not a diva - she's a director

The season of the celebrity memoir is upon us. In just the past few months Britney Spears, Jada Pinkett Smith, Kerry Washington, and more have showered us with bombshells and revelations about their origin stories and private lives. Despite those heavy hitters and the crowded field they occupy, the celebrity memoir our host Brittany Luse coveted most is that of the singular Ms. Barbra Streisand.

Barbra Streisand says she's not a diva - she's a director

Listen · 24:17
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954263/1212378606" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Author Interviews

A Marine veteran says the contradictions of war can make you feel insane

Fresh Air

Elliot Ackerman served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, during which time, he says, he witnessed the best and worst that human beings are capable of. Originally broadcast Nov. 11, 2021.

A Marine veteran says the contradictions of war can make you feel insane

Listen · 20:22
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1211788853/1212311542" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Author Interviews

'Half American' explores how Black WWII servicemen were treated better abroad

Fresh Air

Though more than one million Black Americans contributed to the war effort, historian Matthew Delmont says a military uniform offered no protection from racism. Originally broadcast Nov. 8, 2022.

'Half American' explores how Black WWII servicemen were treated better abroad

Listen · 17:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1211793420/1212311603" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Trailblazing computer scientist Fei-Fei Li on human-centered AI

The cover of Fei-Fei Li's new memoir, The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI. Fei-Fei Li hide caption

toggle caption
Fei-Fei Li

Short Wave

Trailblazing computer scientist Fei-Fei Li on human-centered AI

AI is popping up everywhere nowadays. From medicine to science to the Hollywood strikes. Today, with computer scientist and AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, we dig deeper into the history of the field, how machines really learn and how computer scientists take inspiration from the human brain in their work. Li's new memoir The Worlds I See traces the history of her move to the U.S. from China as a high school student and her coming-of-age with AI.

Trailblazing computer scientist Fei-Fei Li on human-centered AI

Listen · 11:03
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908536/1212007747" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Barbra Streisand shares her secret for keeping performances honest

Barbra Streisand, photographed in 1965. Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images

Music Interviews

Barbra Streisand shares her secret for keeping performances honest

Fresh Air

When she was starring in Funny Girl on Broadway, Streisand would alter the music slightly each night: "You can't just copy what you did from the night before." Her new memoir is My Name is Barbra.

Barbra Streisand shares her secret for keeping performances honest

Listen · 37:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1211217972/1211573865" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'We cannot fail so big as war': A writer's lesson from examining the Korean War

E.J. Koh's novel covers war and generations. Adam K. Glaser/Tin House hide caption

toggle caption
Adam K. Glaser/Tin House

Main Character of the Day

'We cannot fail so big as war': A writer's lesson from examining the Korean War

In just over 200 pages, E.J. Koh's debut novel spans decades to tell the individual stories of lives impacted by the Korean War.

'We cannot fail so big as war': A writer's lesson from examining the Korean War

Listen · 7:48
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1211295329/1211295496" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Music was there for me when I needed it,' The Roots co-founder Tariq Trotter says

Black Thought of The Roots performs during Philly Fights Cancer on May 20, 2023. Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Philly Fights C hide caption

toggle caption
Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Philly Fights C

Music Interviews

'Music was there for me when I needed it,' The Roots co-founder Tariq Trotter says

Fresh Air

Trotter, aka Black Thought, reflects on his childhood in Philly, his decades-long friendship with Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and his life as a musician. Trotter's new memoir is The Upcycled Self.

'Music was there for me when I needed it,' The Roots co-founder Tariq Trotter says

Listen · 36:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1211025998/1211227837" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org