Sam Kean's funny, conversational new book reminds us not to take the air we breathe for granted — our atmosphere can tell stories about everything from dinosaurs and Julius Caesar to space flight.
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Max Brooks' latest novel is set in the world of the popular video game Minecraft — and once you get past that, it has a lot of valuable ideas for young readers, cleverly disguised with plenty of fun.
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These terrific comic novels — The Last Laugh by Lynn Freed and Who Is Rich? by Matthew Klam — will have you laughing at the many ways we all try to run away from the realities of life.
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Do you deserve your pets? Do you deserve the people in your life? In her new graphic memoir, Nicole Georges suggests the two questions are closely related — and you may not like the answers.
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Samantha Hunt's new story collection dissects the unique strangeness of women's lives, mixing eerie fantasy with solid literary sensibility and a knack for strange and lovely set pieces.
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Tamara Shopsin's quirky, lively memoir of her unconventional Greenwich Village childhood is packed with vivid details about the cast of characters who populated her parents' corner store-turned-diner.
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Kay Kenyon's new thriller is set in an alternate-history version of World War II, where the traumas of the previous war caused a bloom of psychic talents — talents the Nazis want to exploit.
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Two entitled young women vacationing on a chic Greek island get involved with a mysterious stranger in Lawrence Osborne's new novel. Critic John Powers calls it a "seductively menacing new thriller."
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The title of Owen Egerton's new novel refers — mostly — to the old fable that the earth is hollow. But there's nothing hollow about this suspenseful tale of a religion professor's fall and rise.
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So many romances explore what we'd do for love — but as summer heats up we're bringing you three heroines who'd do a lot for love, and even more to keep their business ventures going.
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Edgar Cantero's head-kick of a novel about damaged adults who used to be spunky kid detectives mixes bright, pulpy cartoon nostalgia with some seriously dark trauma-survivor subtext.
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The rural Virginia county of Accomack was plagued by arson in the winter of 2012. The arsonist was caught, and in American Fire, Monica Hesse tries to tease out the elusive truth of why he did it.
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Rachel Khong's first novel is a heartwarming account of family devotion and dementia — which sounds sickly, but her offbeat sensibility and flair for wordplay keep the story from becoming saccharine.
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In Armstrong's autobiography, the classically trained actor humorously makes peace with the fact that the first line of his obituary will reference his nose-picking character from an '80s sex comedy.
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Francis Spufford's historical novel is set in 1746 Lower Manhattan, a world of spies, thieves, card sharks and crooked bankers. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls it a "gorgeously crafted" work.
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Christopher Brown's new book plays out in a world where all our fears have become manifest — the nightly news, turned up to 11. And while there's a hint of hope at the end, this is not a happy book.
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Elaine M. Hayes' new book traces the ups and downs of the singer known as the Queen of Bebop, from her great Town Hall debut in 1947 to the cheesy but profitable novelty songs that marred her legacy.
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Sportswriter Steve Rushin's memoir of growing up in Minnesota in the 1970s is familiar territory, but Rushin mines it with irony and affection, working hard to capture the look and feel of the era.
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Alissa Nutting's new novel has a deviant instinct that makes it fascinating at first — but after a promising start, it falls back on shallow sex slapstick rather than authorial skill.
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Looking for books to feed your child's curiosity and ignite the social activist inside of them? Here's our list of children's books to keep your child occupied all summer long.
(Image credit: Elizabeth Graeber for NPR)
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