Earthy 'Lotus' Is A Fascinating Flower
Lijia Zhang's debut novel — about a young woman in China who fights her way out of the sex trade to become a teacher — is sensitively drawn, full of folk wisdom and concise, touching imagery.
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'I Was Trying' Is Sneaky, Enigmatic, Obscure — And That's A Good Thing
Noy Holland's new collection brings together several decades worth of difficult-to-describe stories — some only a few paragraphs long, and all of them hallucinatory and maddening in the best way.
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Betty Fussell Doesn't Mince Words In The Frank, Funny 'Eat, Live, Love, Die'
A new collection of some of Fussell's most celebrated essays showcases the food and travel writer's tough-girl philosophy. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Eat, Live, Love, Die an inspiring work.
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Cricket And Difficult Choices In 'Selection Day'
Aravind Adiga's new novel centers on Manju, a boy from Mumbai, and his tyrannical father, who wants just one thing: To raise the world's best cricketers. But what does Manju want for himself?
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Psychic Soldiers Populate 'Throwaways' — With Style
Caitlin Kittredge's comic series about psychic soldiers on the run from government experiments is brisk, colorful fun, complemented by Steve Sanders' stylish character designs and deft illustrations.
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Returning To A Beloved Series In 'The Heart Of What Was Lost'
It's been 23 years since Tad Williams wrapped up his epic Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series. Now, he returns to the land of Osten Ard in a brief gem of a story that sets up a fresh epic to follow.
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'The Strays' Invites You To A Disturbing, Magical World
Emily Bitto's new novel is set in the overheated avant-garde art scene of Depression-era Melbourne, where two girls — conventional Lily and sharp-tongued, exotic Eva — form a complicated bond.
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Beautiful, Icy 'History Of Wolves' Transcends Genre
Emily Fridlund's electrifying debut novel History of Wolves is a contemporary coming-of-age story about a young woman — but it avoids the familiar story arc so common to other novels in that genre.
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Women Who Count: 3 Smart STEM Romances
A new wave of romance novels features brainy heroines in science, technology, engineering and math — and the prejudices and obstacles they face on their way to a satisfying happy-ever-after.
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Get A Global Perpective With 5 Of The Year's Best Books In Translation
Small publishers and big indie powerhouses alike showcased international voices this year — we pick out a few of our favorites, from a bitter marriage drama to the memoirs of a polar bear family.
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Get A Global Perspective With 5 Of The Year's Best Books In Translation
Small publishers and big indie powerhouses alike showcased international voices this year — we pick out a few of our favorites, from a bitter marriage drama to the memoirs of a polar bear family.
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NPR's Book Concierge To The Rescue With Last-Minute Gift Ideas
Books make great last minute gift ideas. Here are a few tips for book shoppers with voids still to fill, helped by NPR's Book Concierge.
Review: 'House Of Lords And Commons,' Ishion Hutchinson
Poetry critic Tess Taylor reviews House of Lords and Commons by Ishion Hutchinson.
They Told Us So: Fantagraphics Turns 40
Fantagraphics is the publisher that brought literary respectability to comics. Their mammoth 40th anniversary volume, We Told You So, tends towards self-congratulation — but deservedly so.
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A Critic's Year-End 'Ghost File': Books, Movies And TV Shows He Didn't Review
Every year, Fresh Air critic John Powers is haunted by all the terrific things he didn't get a chance to talk about on air. As 2016 winds down, he "un-haunts" himself with these six recommendations.
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The U.S. And China: Two Centuries Of Infatuation And Disappointment
In a new book, journalist and author John Pomfret tackles a relationship that stretches back to America's earliest years and is now more important — and challenging — than ever.
'Iraq + 100' Is Painful, But Don't Look Away
This new anthology of science fiction and fantasy, edited by Hassan Blasim, imagines Iraq 100 years after the invasion of 2003. Harrowing, necessary, often beautiful, it resists comfort and catharsis.
The 10 Best Books Of 2016 Faced Tough Topics Head On
Book critic Maureen Corrigan says that if there's one word that characterizes her list this year, it's "serious." These books certainly aren't grim or dull, but they take on big, difficult subjects.
Women Astronomers Shine In 'The Glass Universe'
Dava Sobel's new book is a history of the unheralded women — called computers, rather than astronomers — who worked at the Harvard College Observatory, studying, cataloging and classifying stars.
2 New Works Confront The Refugee Crisis With Empathy And Humanity
Critic John Powers discusses the Italian documentary, Fire at Sea, and the novel, These Are the Names. The works take very different — but nonetheless poignant — approaches to the refugee situation.
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