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Author Interviews

'Dark Days': Retracing The Steps Of A Heavy Metal Tragedy

August 9, 2015 • When a stage diver died after a Lamb of God concert, singer D. Randall Blythe was arrested for manslaughter. In his memoir, Blythe unpacks the incident — and why he returned to Europe to stand trial.

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Book Reviews

Things Left Unspoken Haunt Hard-Hitting 'Dragonfish'

August 9, 2015 • There are a few confessional speeches in Vu Tran's noirish debut novel, but what people write is more important than what they say: Anguished notes, letters and secret diary all drive the action.

Recently Reviewed

Author Interviews

English Bachelorette Party Is The Perfect Setting For A Crime Novel

August 10, 2015 • David Greene talks to author Ruth Ware about some of the tricks of the crime novelist's trade. In Ware's new book — In a Dark, Dark Wood — she plays with some of the conventions of the genre.

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Author Interviews

'The Stuff Was Company': One Man Cleans Up His 'Mess'

August 9, 2015 • NPR's Rachel Martin talks about the plight of hoarders with Barry Yourgrau, author of a new memoir, Mess: One Man's Struggle to Clean Up His House and His Act.

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Lydia Thompson/NPR

Author Interviews

Novel Highlights The Shocks Facing First-Generation College Students

August 8, 2015 • Jennine Capó Crucet, author of Make Your Home Among Strangers, was inspired by her experiences as the daughter of Cuban immigrants and the first person in her family to attend college.

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Book Reviews

History Hijacks Life In 'All That Followed'

August 8, 2015 • Set in Spain's Basque Country, Gabriel Urza's new novel chronicles three lives in the aftermath of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Critic Michael Schaub calls it "unsparing and beautiful."

Book Reviews

Life Through The Lens Of A Falling 'Fishbowl'

August 8, 2015 • Bradley Somer's new novel follows (literally) Ian the goldfish, who's catching glimpses of life and love in the apartments he passes as his bowl plummets from a 27th-floor balcony.

Book News & Features

Beverly Jenkins Wraps Bitter History In Sweet Romance

August 8, 2015 • Beverly Jenkins writes historical romances — about free black towns, lawmen and cowboys and Civil War vets. She says her mission is to illuminate the parts of black history you don't learn in school.

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Can people tell a computer-generated story from a human-authored one? How about a poem, or a playlist? Three new contests hope to find out. ImageZoo/Corbis hide caption

itoggle caption ImageZoo/Corbis

All Tech Considered

Shall I Compare Thee To An Algorithm? Turing Test Gets A Creative Twist

August 7, 2015 • Can a computer program craft passable prose — something readers can't distinguish from human-authored stuff? How about poetry, or dance mixes? New contests pose those challenges.

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Book Your Trip

NPR Bestseller List

NPR Bestsellers: Week Of August 6, 2015

August 7, 2015 • The lists are compiled from weekly surveys of close to 500 independent bookstores nationwide.

NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Fiction, Week Of August 6, 2015

August 7, 2015 • In J. Ryan Stradal's Kitchens Of The Great Midwest, a single dad raises his daughter to be a star chef and lover of Midwestern cuisine. It debuts at No. 11.

NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Nonfiction, Week Of August 6, 2015

August 7, 2015 • Everything I Need To Know I Learned From A Disney Little Golden Book, a nostalgic collection for fans of Disney classics, debuts at No. 14.

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Disney Little Golden Book

by Diane Muldrow

The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up

by Marie Kondo

Between the World and Me

by Ta-nehisi Coates

The Wright Brothers

by David McCullough

Modern Romance

by Aziz Ansari

Being Mortal

by Atul Gawande

NPR Bestsellers: Paperback Fiction, Week Of August 6, 2015

August 7, 2015 • In Ernest Cline's Ready Player One, an unpopular high-schooler immerses himself in a virtual world of puzzles to escape an ugly reality. It appears at No. 14.

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline

Read an excerpt

The Martian

by Andy Weir

Euphoria

by Lily King

Station Eleven

by Emily St. John Mandel

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

The Goldfinch

by Donna Tartt

NPR Bestsellers: Paperback Nonfiction, Week Of August 6, 2015

August 7, 2015 • At No. 15, Agent Storm gives and inside look at a Danish national's decade as a jihadist — and his decision to become a double agent.

Agent Storm

by Morten Storm, Paul Cruickshank et al.

The Boys In The Boat

by Daniel James Brown

I Am Malala

by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai

The Mindfulness Coloring Book

by Emma Farrarons

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace

by Jeff Hobbs

David and Goliath

by Malcolm Gladwell

Author Interviews

'Blood Will Out' Reveals Secrets Of A Murderous Master Manipulator

August 7, 2015 • Author Walter Kirn thought he was befriending an eccentric Rockefeller, but his pal turned out to be an impostor wanted for murder. Originally broadcast March 10, 2014.

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Book Reviews

Identity Is At The Heart Of Brash, Essential 'Mulattos'

August 7, 2015 • Tom Williams' new collection digs into the experience of being multiracial, difficult to categorize in a society that likes to slap labels on people. Reviewer Michael Schaub calls it vital and gutsy.

Book Reviews

'Marriage Of Opposites' Paints Camille Pissarro's Colorful Family History

August 6, 2015 • Alice Hoffman's new novel is a fictionalized account of the painter's early life and family, including the eccentric mother who raised him on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas.

Book Reviews

'The Lufthansa Heist' Is No Score

August 6, 2015 • The famous 1978 Lufthansa robbery is a great crime story — it was even a plot point in GoodFellas. But a new book about the heist falls flat, hampered by purple prose and pointless details.

Book Reviews

'Two Across' Spells Out A Charming Love Story In Crosswords

August 5, 2015 • Jeff Bartsch's new novel is about a brainy couple who, after meeting at a 1960s spelling bee, conduct their troubled love affair through secret clues in the crosswords they compose for newspapers.

Book Reviews

Six Friends, A Pile of Cash And A Game With Deadly Consequences

August 5, 2015 • Black Chalk hinges on a plot twist that we won't give away. But we will say it's the summer thriller we've been waiting for: about a teenage game that turns dangerous as its players become adults.

Isabel Leonard and Nathan Gunn star as Ada and Inman in the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain at the Santa Fe Opera. Ken Howard/Courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera hide caption

itoggle caption Ken Howard/Courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera

Deceptive Cadence

'Cold Mountain' Takes Civil War Odyssey To The Opera Stage

August 5, 2015 • The best-selling novel and star-studded movie gets the operatic treatment from Pulitzer-winning composer Jennifer Higdon with a world premiere in Santa Fe.

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Author Interviews

The Bonds Of Friendship Stay Strong In 'Stranger'

August 4, 2015 • Newbery Medal-winning author Rebecca Stead says her latest, Goodbye Stranger, is about love and how it helps a trio of seventh-grade girls stay friends through the challenges of middle school.

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