'Made To Kill' Is Pulp Pastiche That Hits The Target November 5, 2015 • Adam Christopher's sci-fi noir follows robotic hit man Raymond Electromatic through a vividly evoked 1960s Los Angeles. Critic Jason Heller says the book hits exactly the right tone and rhythm.
'Numero Zero' Doesn't Quite Add Up November 5, 2015 • Umberto Eco sends up the corrupt, pandering world of 1990's Italian journalism in his latest bovel — but critic Jason Sheehan says Numero Zero is a potboiler that never really boils.
Brief And Brisk, The Newly Translated 'Boxes' Is An Existential Pleasure Fresh Air November 4, 2015 • The French writer Pascal Garnier, who died in 2010, wrote more than 30 children's books, but he's best known for a series of acclaimed novels. Critic John Powers reviews the newly translated Boxes. Listen Loading… 6:21 Playlist Download Embed Embed Close embed overlay <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/454582577/454673625" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'City Of Clowns' Is A Dreamlike Tale Of Family And Tragedy November 4, 2015 • Author Daniel Alarcón's new graphic novel is adapted from a short story about a young Peruvian journalist who discovers strange links between his father and the impoverished street clowns of Lima.
Music Destroys And Music Heals In 'Modern Girl' November 4, 2015 • Riot grrrl legend Carrie Brownstein's excellent new memoir takes readers from her difficult childhood to the rise and fall (and rise again) of her band Sleater-Kinney, which she says saved her life.
'Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise' Educates But Doesn't Entertain Its Readers Fresh Air November 3, 2015 • Oscar Hijuelos' posthumously published novel chronicles the friendship between Mark Twain and explorer Henry Morton Stanley. Maureen Corrigan says the book lacks the magic of Hijuelos' best work. Listen Loading… 6:10 Playlist Download Embed Embed Close embed overlay <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/454236770/454318629" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'White Road' Maps The History Of Porcelain November 3, 2015 • While readers may not share Edmund de Waal's obsession with the precious clay (at one point, he crafts an exhibition of 2,455 white-glazed porcelain vessels), his writing makes the subject seductive.
Making Sense Of A Scandal-Fractured Family In 'Houses' November 3, 2015 • Karen Olsson's novel follows a woman who returns home to care for her ailing father, but also in the hopes that she can get him to open up about how the Iran-Contra scandal ended his career.
'My Father's Guitar' Plays On Perception And Memory November 2, 2015 • Joseph Skibell's new collection of personal essays is full of offbeat life lessons, moving from whimsy to weight. And, as he puts it, though the stories are true, they're full of "imaginary things."
'The Familiar Vol. 2' Is Better, Stronger ... Weirder November 1, 2015 • Mark Z. Danielewski's epic saga (this is part two of a projected 27) is, on the surface, the story of a girl and her cat. But the typographical trickery and sheer weirdness make it much, much more.
3 Horror Classics Rise From The Grave For Halloween October 31, 2015 • If you like ghosts, ghouls and witches, you won't find them in The Case Against Satan, Perchance to Dream, and Songs of a Dead Dreamer — their horrors are more familiar and far more frightening.
'The Other Paris' Goes Beyond The Banlieues October 29, 2015 • Luc Sante's cultural history focuses on the darker corners of the City of Lights, and the rougher and more disreputable citizens of the French capital who, he argues, have made Paris what it is today.
Rage And Humor Alternate In 'Arab Of The Future' October 29, 2015 • Cartoonist Riad Sattouf uses a loose-limbed comic style to tell the story of his harsh early childhood in Libya, Syria and France — but the cartoony look belies the book's anger and icy cynicism.
Spellbinding 'Witches' Offers A Fresh Take On A Familiar Story Fresh Air October 28, 2015 • In her new book, Stacy Schiff evokes the world of Salem, Mass., and the bitter winter of 1692 when 19 people were hanged for witchcraft. Reviewer Maureen Corrigan calls The Witches a "haunting" tale. Listen Loading… 7:10 Playlist Download Embed Embed Close embed overlay <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/452532347/452582290" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
A New Alcott Emerges From The 'Annotated Little Women' October 28, 2015 • Biographer John Matteson crams all his knowledge of Louisa May Alcott into a massive new annotated edition of her best-known book — in which the author herself emerges as a fascinating character.
It's Coming From Inside The House ... 'Slade House,' That Is October 28, 2015 • David Mitchell's new novel about a soul-devouring house embraces all the classic horror tropes. Critic Jason Sheehan says you may think it's contrived ... until you realize that you, too, are trapped.
'The Witches' Shows Salem Is In Our Blood October 27, 2015 • Stacy Schiff's masterful history of the Salem witch trials shines a light on a dark period in American history. Critic Jean Zimmerman says The Witches is engagingly thorough and thrillingly told.
Eileen Myles Offers A Double Shot Of Punk Rock Poetry October 25, 2015 • The veteran poet's beloved 1994 novel Chelsea Girls has been reissued alongside a new collection, I Must Be Living Twice. Myles' poems chronicle a life of art and sex in gritty 1970s New York City.
All Hail The Glow Cloud: 'Night Vale' Welcomes Readers October 22, 2015 • The creators of the popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale are now telling their tales of a strange desert town in novel form, in a new book reviewer Amal El-Mohtar calls "splendid, weird, moving."
'The Mark And The Void' Is Good Fun — Until It Isn't October 22, 2015 • Paul Murray's absurdist tale of banking, art theft and failed schemes might be the funniest book about the European financial crisis you'll read all year — but it's bloated by too many subplots.
'Somewhat United' Brings Lafayette Down From His Pedestal October 21, 2015 • Sarah Vowell's charming not-quite-a-history gives us a young, glory-hungry Marquis de Lafayette, and the Founding Fathers not as marble statues, but as real men who bicker, bumble and snore.
Enlightenment Proves Elusive In 'Witches Of America' October 21, 2015 • Alex Mar's half-memoir, half-cultural study of American occultism mixes research with her own search for meaning. Critic Genevieve Valentine says it's a difficult journey, for Mar and for readers.
Poetic And Expansive, 'City On Fire' Ultimately Falls Short Of Its Reach October 20, 2015 • Garth Risk Hallberg's 900-page debut novel is an intricately-plotted story set in chaotic 1970s New York. Critic Maureen Corrigan says City On Fire has much to admire, even if its ending falls flat. Listen Loading… 7:14 Playlist Download Embed Embed Close embed overlay <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/450240864/450293795" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Rowling's Magic Needs No Spells In 'Career Of Evil' October 20, 2015 • In her third outing as crime novelist Robert Galbraith, J.K. Rowling hits her stride with a fluid, complex mystery. Reviewer Annalisa Quinn says she excels at depicting evil, ordinary or otherwise.
