Literature

American Voices On 'The Unwinding' Of America's Values

J.P. O'Malley — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:33:31 +0000

Halfway through The Unwinding, George Packer — author of the highly praised The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq (2005) — delineates how quickly political idealism can disappear when one becomes exposed to a world of easy money.

Jeff Connaughton, who served as a legal adviser in the Clinton White House and then cashed in, making millions as a Washington lobbyist, candidly describes how the professional classes changed in the 1980s: "When the benefits exploded on Wall Street and Washington, when it became possible to make millions of dollars in corporate booty ...

May 20, 2013 Shelf Discovery: Tall, Dark, and Deadly

Kristin Dreyer Kramer — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:00:00 +0000

On this week’s Shelf Discovery, Kristin investigates murder in the Everglades with Heather Graham’s Tall, Dark, and Deadly.

Title: Tall, Dark, and Deadly

Author: Heather Graham

Pages: 268

Publisher: Open Road

ISBN: 978-0451408471

And read Kristin’s full review on NightsAndWeekends.com.

Dan Brown: 'Inferno' Is 'The Book That I Would Want To Read'

NPR Staff — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:08:49 +0000

Robert Langdon is back. The Harvard art professor in custom tweeds — and an ever-present Mickey Mouse watch — wakes up in a hospital after getting grazed in the head by a bullet, wondering how he ended up in Florence. He's got a sinister artifact sewn into his coat and just a few hours to keep the world from a grim biological catastrophe.

Dan Brown, whose book The Da Vinci Code — and several Robert Langdon sequels — has sold more than 200 million copies around the world, has written his first new novel in four years.

'Waiting To Be Heard' No More, Amanda Knox Speaks Out

editor — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:41:00 +0000

When 20-year-old Amanda Knox left for Italy in August 2007, it was supposed to be a carefree year studying abroad.

No one could have foreseen it ending in her being accused, tried and convicted in the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.

The case, and Knox, became an international media sensation.

"I think that there was a lot of fantasy projected onto me," she tells weekends on All Things Considered host Jacki Lyden.

Book News: Amazon's Tiny Tax Payment Draws Fresh Scrutiny

editor — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:45:00 +0000

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Amazon's U.K. unit racked up sales of $6.5 billion last year, but only paid $3.7 million in corporate taxes (which is nearly as much as it received in government grants). Why does Amazon.co.uk pay so little?

Book News: Amazon Debuts Its Virtual Currency

Annalisa Quinn — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:59:00 +0000

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Amazon debuted a virtual currency called "Amazon Coins" on Monday. The coins can be used to buy apps in Amazon's Appstore and on Kindle Fire. A dollar will get you 100 of the new coins, though the Internet retailer will discount coins bought in bulk.

In Somalia, Surviving A Kidnapping Against 'Impossible Odds'

editor — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:28:00 +0000

In 2011, Jessica Buchanan was an aid worker in northern Somalia, helping to raise awareness about how to avoid land mines. The north was the relatively safe section of the country; that October, she traveled to the more dangerous southern region for a training. The night before she left, she texted her husband, Erik Landemalm, also an aid worker in Somalia. She asked him a question: "If I get kidnapped on this trip, will you come and get me?"

On the trip back from the training, Buchanan and a colleague found their convoy surrounded by armed Somalians.

'Guns At Last Light' Illuminates Final Months Of World War II

editor — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:26:00 +0000

In December 1944, the Nazis looked like a spent force: The U.S. and its allies had pushed Hitler's armies across France in the fight to liberate Europe from German occupation.

The Allies were so confident that the Forest of Ardennes, near the front lines in Belgium, became a rest and recreation area, complete with regular USO performances.

"There would be entertainers coming through, including Marlene Dietrich, who was frequently at the front lines," says Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson.

May 13, 2013 Shelf Discovery: Blood in the Water

Kristin Dreyer Kramer — Mon, 13 May 2013 23:00:00 +0000

On this week’s Shelf Discovery, Kristin explores the lifestyles of the rich and fabulous with Jane Haddam’s Blood in the Water.

Title: Blood in the Water

Author: Jane Haddam

Pages: 282

Publisher: Minotaur Books

ISBN: 0312644345

And read Kristin’s full review on NightsAndWeekends.com.

A 'Cooked Seed' Sprouts After All, In America

NPR Staff — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:22:45 +0000

Anchee Min's best-selling memoir Red Azalea told the story of her youth in China during the Cultural Revolution.

Book News: Mich. School System Won't Ban Anne Frank's 'Pornographic' Diary

Annalisa Quinn — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:43:00 +0000

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Last week, the mother of a seventh-grader in Northville, Mich., filed a complaint seeking to keep an unexpurgated version of Anne Frank's Diary off of middle school shelves because she felt a passage describing the female genitalia was "pornographic." But a review committee has decided to keep the book in the curriculum.

Why You Should Give A $*%! About Words That Offend

editor — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:22:00 +0000

If you said the "s" word in the ninth century, you probably wouldn't have shocked or offended anyone. Back then, the "s" word was just the everyday word that was used to refer to excrement. That's one of many surprising, foul-mouthed facts Melissa Mohr reveals in her new book, Holy S- - -: A Brief History of Swearing.

Though the curse words themselves change over time, the category remains constant — we always have a set of words that are off-limits. "We need some category of swear words," Mohr says.

With Gorgeous Dorms But Little Cash, Colleges Must Adapt

editor — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:24:29 +0000

Many high school seniors who are heading to college this fall have just paid their tuition deposits — the first real taste of what the college experience is going to cost them. These students are heading to school at a time that some consider a transformative moment for American colleges and universities.

May 6, 2013 Shelf Discovery: One Step Too Far

Kristin Dreyer Kramer — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:00:00 +0000

On this week’s Shelf Discovery, Kristin walks away from it all with One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis.

Title: One Step Too Far

Author: Tina Seskis

Pages: 185

Publisher: Kirk Parolles

ISBN: 978-0957544321

And read Kristin’s full review on NightsAndWeekends.com.

Book News: Harper Lee Says Literary Agent Exploited Her Health

Annalisa Quinn — Mon, 06 May 2013 11:24:00 +0000

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Harper Lee is suing to recover royalties from her former literary agent, Samuel Pinkus, who she claims tricked her into signing over the copyright to her novel To Kill A Mockingbird while she was recovering from a stroke in an assisted-living facility. The 87-year-old author regained the rights in 2012, but says Pinkus has still been collecting royalties.

A Cartoon Tribute To Cats, And The Poets Who Loved Them

Francesco Marciuliano — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:26:45 +0000

Tuesday marks the close of National Poetry Month, a 30-day celebration of all things versified and all people versifying. And in tangentially related news, for more than eight months, a book of cat-themed poetry — I Could Pee On This — has perched on the NPR best-seller lists. There it sits, insouciantly swishing its tail amid self-help books and memoirs, the poetry world's sole representative on the list.

Gazing at this collection of "poems by cats" week after week, I wondered: What is it about cats and poetry?

April 29, 2013 Shelf Discovery: Expiration Date

Kristin Dreyer Kramer — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:00:00 +0000

On this week’s Shelf Discovery, Kristin travels through time with Duane Swierczynski’s Expiration Date.

Title: Expiration Date

Author: Duane Swierczynski

Pages: 241

Publisher: Minotaur Books

ISBN: 0312363400

And read Kristin’s full review on NightsAndWeekends.com.

Dilruba Ahmed: An Outsider Turns To Poetry

NPR Staff — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:00:23 +0000

April is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate, Weekend Edition is talking with younger poets about why they chose to write poetry and why it's still important in our everyday lives. This week, we spoke to Bangladeshi-American poet Dilruba Ahmed.

Ahmed says it's a little difficult to tease out exactly why she started writing poetry. "I can only guess that it was sort of two major factors," she says. "One was that I grew up in a literature-loving household. ... My parents are from Bangladesh, which is a country where poetry is very much a part of the cultural fabric.

April 22, 2013 Shelf Discovery: Deader Homes and Gardens

Kristin Dreyer Kramer — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:00:00 +0000

On this week’s Shelf Discovery, Kristin joins the deadly house hunt with Deader Homes and Gardens by Joan Hess.

Title: Deader Homes and Gardens

Author: Joan Hess

Pages: 310

Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks

ISBN: 978-1250019493

And read Kristin’s full review on NightsAndWeekends.com.

April 15, 2013 Shelf Discovery: My Ex from Hell

Kristin Dreyer Kramer — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 23:00:00 +0000

On this week’s Shelf Discovery, Kristin battles the gods with a bunch of kids in Tellulah Darling’s My Ex from Hell.

Title: My Ex from Hell

Author: Tellulah Darling

Pages: 170

Publisher: Te Da Media

ISBN: 978-0988054035

And read Kristin’s full review on NightsAndWeekends.com.