Wendell Berry veers from gratitude to yearning in 'Another Day'
In his sequel to 'This Day,' Berry’s themes, including bringing alive the joys and sorrows of hard-working rural Kentuckians. are revisited in ways both familiar and fresh.
Three great fiction audiobooks
It's summer, and whether you're taking a trip – or simply staying out of the heat with the AC running – there's nothing like relaxing with a good audiobook. So in this encore episode, we are recommending three of our favorite fiction audiobooks.
Blindsided by 'The Most': This is a superb novel of a marriage at its breakpoint
The story takes place in Newark, over the course of a single day in 1957, which we experience from the two spouses' alternating points of view. Jessica Anthony's novel deserves to become a classic.
These dictators are different. 'Autocracy, Inc.' explains how
The dictators of today aren't united by ideology, writes Anne Applebaum: They operate like companies, focused on preserving their wealth, repressing their people and maintaining power at all costs.
(Image credit: Sam Yeh)
'Someone Like Us' is a fresh, idiosyncratic novel about immigrating to the U.S.
Dinaw Mengestu's ingenuity and eloquence as a writer are on display in this novel about an Ethiopian American man who returns home only to learn that his father has just died.
(Image credit: Penguin Random House)
'Liars' is an autopsy of a bitterly disappointing marriage
In her fierce second novel, Sarah Manguso writes a requiem for a failed relationship from the point of view of a survivor, the wife left behind.
A new French cookbook explores Marseille as a cultural melting pot
Taste the World in Marseille, on May 23.'/>
A new cookbook celebrates Marseille, France's second-largest city.
(Image credit: Emilienne Malfatto for NPR)
8 hot new love stories from a stellar lineup of Black authors
Some of the most fabulous romances by Black authors still fly under the radar. So we have recommendations for your summer reading enjoyment.
'This Great Hemisphere' tackles racism, classism, and political power struggles
Mateo Askaripour's sophomore novel is a sprawling speculative-fiction narrative that delivers a heartwarming story about a young woman learning to navigate the world.
This absorbing debut novel about writing takes its cue from 'Mrs. Dalloway'
Rosalind Brown's debut novel, Practice, centers on an undergraduate student trying to write an essay on Shakespeare. Along the way, we are treated to the fleeting insights of the the brain at work.
Simmering over summer books
We're at the peak of summer, which means sunny days on the grass with a good book! Best-selling authors Tia Williams and Jean Chen Ho join host Brittany Luse to give their recommendations for great summer reads. They also offer some armchair theories on why we love a gossipy summer novel.
Books mentioned in this episode:
The Guest by Emma Klein
Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City by Jane Wong
Hip-Hop Is History by Questlove with Ben Greenman
Devil is Fine by John Vercher
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
Want to be featured on IBAM? Record a voice memo responding to Brittany's question at the end of the episode and send it to ibam@npr.org.
'State of Paradise' effortlessly blends the commonplace and the extraordinary
With exquisite prose, smart lines on every page, a building sense of growing strangeness tinged with dread, and surprises all the way to the end, this might be Laura van den Berg's best novel so far.
In 'Timid,' there is bravery under the surface
Many assume that timidity -- or its close cousin, shyness -- is solely a negative trait. But longtime cartoonist Jonathan Todd shows this is not always the case in this semi-autobiographical tale.
(Image credit: Jonathan Todd)
'The Liquid Eye of a Moon' is a Nigerian coming-of-age story
In Uchenna Awoke’s debut novel, we come to understand that 15-year-old Dimpka’s choices are painfully constricted by the caste system into which he was born.
4 crime and suspense novels make for hot summer reading
There’s something about the shadowy moral recesses of crime and suspense fiction that makes those genres especially appealing as temperatures soar. Here are four novels that turn the heat up.
(Image credit: NPR)
'Cue the Sun!' is a riveting history of reality TV
Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker critic Emily Nussbaum's book is a near-definitive history of the genre that forever changed American entertainment.
In 'Parade,' Rachel Cusk once again flouts traditional narrative
In her latest work, Cusk probes questions about the connections between freedom, gender, domesticity, art, and suffering.
2 books offer just the right summer mix of humor and nostalgia
Sandwich'/>
Catherine Newman's novel Sandwich centers on a woman vacationing with her young adult children and her elderly parents. Julie Satow’s When Women Ran Fifth Avenue profiles three NYC department stores.
(Image credit: Harper Collins)
Here are the nonfiction books NPR staffers have loved so far this year
We asked around the newsroom to find favorite nonfiction from the first half of 2024. We've got biography and memoir, health and science, history, sports and much more.
(Image credit: Alicia Zheng)
NPR staffers pick their favorite fiction reads of 2024
At work: hardworking news journalists. At home: omnivorous fiction readers. We asked our colleagues what they've enjoyed most this year and here are the titles they shared.
(Image credit: Alicia Zheng)
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