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

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Bitch Planet Triple Feature! 1

Return To 'B Planet' In this Timely New Anthology

December 19, 2017 • In Bitch Planet: Triple Feature, creators Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro turn a score of talented writers and artists loose in the world of their futuristic feminist dystopia comic.

No Time to Spare

The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books

Ursula K. Le Guin's Voice Rings Out In New Nonfiction Collection

December 17, 2017 • Ursula K. Le Guin's mastery of fiction has remained so consistent, it's easy to overlook her accomplishments in other forms — but her new nonfiction collection goes a long way towards fixing that.

Critic's 'Ghost List' Has Books, Music And A TV Show That Deserve A Second Look

The British TV series National Treasure (available on Hulu) features Robbie Coltrane as a beloved comedian who has been accused of sexual assault, and Julie Walters (right) and Andrea Riseborough as his wife and daughter. Joss Barratt/Hulu hide caption

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Arts & Life

Critic's 'Ghost List' Has Books, Music And A TV Show That Deserve A Second Look

Fresh Air

December 13, 2017 • Every year, critic John Powers is haunted by the things he wishes he'd reviewed. The themes his 2017 "Ghost List" range in spirit from cosmic surrealism to ripped-from-the-headlines immediacy.

Critic's 'Ghost List' Has Books, Music And A TV Show That Deserve A Second Look

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Maureen Corrigan Picks Books To Close Out A Chaotic 2017

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The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books

Maureen Corrigan Picks Books To Close Out A Chaotic 2017

Fresh Air

December 12, 2017 • Fresh Air's book critic says her 2017 list is chaotic in a good way. "These books zing off in all directions: They're fresh, unruly and dismissive of the canned and contrived."

Maureen Corrigan Picks Books To Close Out A Chaotic 2017

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No Other Duke Will Do

The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books

For December, Forget Wrapping Presents And Treat Yourself To These 3 Romances

December 12, 2017 • Escape from the holiday whirl with three tasty romances, featuring a duke with an epic library, a young girl finding herself in the big city and a proper lady finding love where she least expects it.

The Bughouse

Do Politics Matter In Poetry? New Biography Explores The Case Of Ezra Pound

Fresh Air

December 4, 2017 • A central figure in 20th century poetry, Pound was also an outspoken fascist. In The Bughouse, Daniel Swift investigates whether or not the poet's politics and madness matter to his work.

Do Politics Matter In Poetry? New Biography Explores The Case Of Ezra Pound

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Mrs. Caliban

Girl Meets Frog Monster In 'Mrs. Caliban'

December 3, 2017 • This season's secret weapon in literary banter will be Mrs. Caliban, a peculiar, wonderful, overlooked 1983 novella by Rachel Ingalls, about a housewife whose life is upended by a suave frog monster.

The Odyssey

Emily Wilson's 'Odyssey' Scrapes The Barnacles Off Homer's Hull

December 2, 2017 • Wilson — the first woman to translate The Odyssey — has created a fresh, authoritative and slyly humorous version of Homer's epic that scours away archaisms while preserving nuance and complexity.

Dawn of the New Everything

'Dawn Of The New Everything' Argues For Human-Centered Technology

December 2, 2017 • Virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier's book is part memoir, part history of the development of VR, and an unexpected but welcome comparison of the promises of VR with those of artificial intelligence.

I am not okay with this

Teen Angst Has A Body Count In 'I Am Not Okay With This'

November 30, 2017 • Sydney, the teenage protagonist of Charles Forsman's new graphic novel, has all the usual problems of her age, plus one: She's telekinetic. And it quickly becomes clear that her story is a grim one.

1917

Two Towering Figures Collide On The World Stage In '1917'

November 29, 2017 • Arthur Herman's new book zooms in on Vladimir Lenin, Woodrow Wilson, and the vast, conflicting historical forces they embodied — and which came to a head in the fateful year of 1917.

The World Goes on

'The World Goes On,' With Tiny Moments Of Joy Amid The Uncertainty

November 28, 2017 • Susan Sontag once called author László Krasznahorkai the "contemporary Hungarian master of apocalypse," but his new book — while disturbing — isn't as hopeless as that might lead you to think.

The Green Hand and Other Stories

'The Green Hand' Captures The Colorful Essence Of The Uncanny

November 26, 2017 • Previously, American comics fans would've been lucky to discover French artist Nicole Claveloux in old issues of Heavy Metal magazine. Now, her delightfully weird work has been compiled in a new book.

Frankenstein

Brush Up Your Shelley With 'Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years'

November 25, 2017 • Christopher Frayling's new celebration of Frankenstein is half art book, half scholarly study, tracing the famous monster's path from page to stage to screen, just in time for his 200th birthday.

Creatures of Will and Temper

'Creatures Of Will And Temper' Is A Slow-Burn Slide Into Deviltry

November 22, 2017 • Molly Tanzer gives us a seductive, alternate version of Victorian England in her new novel — by turns smoky and smutty, wondrous and louche. And then, embedded carefully in that world, demons.

From 'Inky's Great Escape' To Singing Seahorses: Animal Books For The Holidays

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13.7: Cosmos And Culture

From 'Inky's Great Escape' To Singing Seahorses: Animal Books For The Holidays

November 22, 2017 • From real-life, seaweed-carrying dolphins to fictional singing seahorses, animals in these new books can excite the mind, says anthropologist Barbara J. King.

Why Bob Dylan Matters

A Classics Professor Explains 'Why Bob Dylan Matters'

November 21, 2017 • Harvard professor Richard F. Thomas teaches a popular class on the importance of Bob Dylan, and now he's turned it into a book, full of stories, personal history and the occasional comparison to Ovid.

The Dawn Watch

'Dawn Watch' Explores The Life And Legacy Of Joseph Conrad

Fresh Air

November 20, 2017 • Maya Jasanoff weaves together biography, history, literature and her own travels in a new book about the globe-trotting author. Reviewer John Powers says Jasanoff's portrait of Conrad is terrific.

'Dawn Watch' Explores The Life And Legacy Of Joseph Conrad

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Body Music

In 'Body Music,' Love Is Sweet, Sexy And A Touch Sentimental

November 19, 2017 • French graphic novelist Julie Maroh — author of Blue is the Warmest Color — is back with an earnestly sweet collection of vignettes about love, kept from being saccharine by her skill with faces.

Bunk

'Bunk' Is Encyclopedic, Fascinating — And Frustrating

November 18, 2017 • Kevin Young's new book puts forth an instantly convincing pairing of race and hoaxing — both a "fake thing pretending to be real." But he loses readers' trust with knotty, overly aphoristic writing.

Valiant Dust

The Troublesome Universe Of 'Valiant Dust'

November 16, 2017 • Richard Baker is an established voice in military science fiction; his latest, Valiant Dust, kicks off a new space adventure series. But it's hampered by shallow characters and cultural blindness.

Artemis

Andy Weir Aims To Duplicate His Martian Success With 'Artemis'

November 15, 2017 • Weir returns to a successful formula in his new book — action and adventure in space, with a snarky voice and plenty of reader-friendly science — though this time the story moves to a moon colony.

Future Home of the Living God

Louise Erdrich Delivers A Dystopian Feminist Thriller In 'Future Home'

Fresh Air

November 14, 2017 • In Erdrich's new novel, fetuses seem to be randomly devolving and a new religious government is rounding up pregnant women, forcing them to give birth in prison-like hospitals.

Louise Erdrich Delivers A Dystopian Feminist Thriller In 'Future Home'

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Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race

'Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race' Is A Call To Action

November 14, 2017 • In 2014, British journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote a blog post about how tired she was of engaging with oblivious white people about race. That post went viral, and it's now the basis for her new book.

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