NPR Books

Writing On The Sly, Nathaniel Rich's Secret Debut

NPR Books - October 5, 2013 - 7:13am

It took over five years for Nathaniel Rich to finish his first novel — maybe because he was writing The Mayor's Tongue secretly, first as a college student, and then while writing film criticism during the day.

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A Race Against Time To Find WWI's Last 'Doughboys'

NPR Books - May 24, 2013 - 12:39pm

In 2003, Richard Rubin set out to talk to every American veteran of World War I he could find. With help from the French, he tracked down dozens of centenarian vets and recorded their stories in a new book called The Last of the Doughboys.

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NPR Bestsellers: Week Of May 23, 2013

NPR Books - May 24, 2013 - 8:00am

The lists are compiled from weekly surveys of close to 500 independent bookstores nationwide.

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NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Fiction, Week Of May 23, 2013

NPR Books - May 24, 2013 - 8:00am

Symbologist Robert Langdon faces a Dante-themed riddle in Dan Brown's Inferno. It debuts at No. 1.

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NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Nonfiction, Week Of May 23, 2013

NPR Books - May 24, 2013 - 8:00am

The Guns at Last Light concludes Rick Atkinson's World War II trilogy. It debuts at No. 4.

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NPR Bestsellers: Paperback Fiction, Week Of May 23, 2013

NPR Books - May 24, 2013 - 8:00am

At No. 13, a pilot fights to survive after a devastating pandemic in Peter Heller's The Dog Stars.

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NPR Bestsellers: Paperback Nonfiction, Week Of May 23, 2013

NPR Books - May 24, 2013 - 8:00am

An expanded edition of Wreck This Journal encourages creative destruction. It debuts at No. 14.

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Book News: Judge's Comments Bruising To Apple's Price-Fixing Case

NPR Books - May 24, 2013 - 3:29am

Also: Mary Karr on addiction and David Foster Wallace; Maria Semple calls Jonathan Franzen her "big daddy."

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'Lunch Lady' Author Helps Students Draw Their Own Heroes

NPR Books - May 23, 2013 - 12:33pm

Can you imagine your own superhero? That's the question author and illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka posed to kids on a recent afternoon at a school in Washington, D.C. Krosoczka also described how he overcame a difficult childhood to become the author of the beloved Lunch Lady series.

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June Kids' Book Club Pick: 'The One And Only Ivan'

NPR Books - May 23, 2013 - 11:19am

In June, NPR's Backseat Book Club will read Katherine Applegate's tale of Ivan, a gorilla who lives in a shopping mall. Ivan enjoys watching TV and painting, but a newcomer to the mall — a baby elephant — forces Ivan to face his own past.

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Book News: Lydia Davis Wins Man Booker International Prize

NPR Books - May 23, 2013 - 3:35am

Also: Amazon to begin publishing fan fiction; Paul Ryan and Elizabeth Warren are writing books; Keith Richards' exorbitant library fines.

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Heartbreaking Choice Sets Siblings On Separate, Unequal Paths

NPR Books - May 23, 2013 - 3:00am

A poor father sells his daughter to a wealthy, childless couple, dividing her from her beloved brother and setting a chain of stories in motion in Khaled Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed. Moving and morally complex, this is the most ambitious book yet from the author of The Kite Runner.

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Judge: Unredeemed Borders Gift Cards Are Worthless

NPR Books - May 22, 2013 - 3:57pm

A Manhattan judge upholds a lower court ruling that $210 million worth of unredeemed gift cards from the defunct book chain are no longer valid.

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Fictional 'Mothers' Reveal Facts Of A Painful Adoption Process

NPR Books - May 22, 2013 - 9:08am

After years trying to conceive, novelist Jennifer Gilmore and her husband decided to adopt. What they thought would be a relatively simple process was instead a long and painful one. In her latest novel, Gilmore channels these autobiographical experiences into fiction.

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Book News: Newly Found Pearl Buck Novel To Be Published This Fall

NPR Books - May 22, 2013 - 3:29am

Also: shameless book blurbs; new plays from Ayad Ahktar; and a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone draws a record price at auction.

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A Different Kind Of Immigrant Experience In 'Americanah'

NPR Books - May 22, 2013 - 3:00am

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's latest, Americanah, follows the trials and tribulations of Ifemelu, a middle-class Nigerian immigrant to America. Reviewer Jennifer Reese calls Americanah a "rich and gloriously detailed tapestry ... hung on the sturdy scaffolding of a sweet love story."

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