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Arts

'The Crooked House' Is Haunted, In A World That Denies Ghosts

7:00am January 17, 2016

by Carmen Maria Machado

Christobel Kent's literary thriller follows a young woman who reinvents herself — even taking a new name — after the mysterious murder of most of her family. But she can't escape the past forever.

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In 'Anything For You,' Raising A Last Glass To Blue Heron Vineyard

7:00am January 17, 2016

by Bobbi Dumas

This weekend, we're rewinding the NPR Books Time Machine to look at Kristan Higgins' beloved Blue Heron romance series, which wrapped up last month with book five, Anything For You.

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Family Bonds Are Never Bland In 'The Past'

10:30am January 16, 2016

by NPR Staff

In her latest novel, The Past, Tessa Hadley focuses on four siblings spending one last holiday at a soon-to-be-sold summer home. Tensions simmer, secrets break out of storage — but love remains.

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'Hunters' Is A Dark, Elegant Tale Of East And West

7:00am January 16, 2016

by Nishant Dahiya

Lawrence Osborne's well-structured new novel follows a group of Western expats in Cambodia, all hunting for something nebulous — money, happiness, or even just an edge up on everyone else.

Dawn Anahid MacKeen's grandfather, Stepan Miskjian (left), is pictured with friends around 1910, just a few years before the Armenian genocide.

Long After Armenian Genocide, Retracing A Grandfather's Steps To Survival

4:23pm January 15, 2016

by NPR Staff

For The Hundred-Year Walk, author Dawn Anahid MacKeen visited the sites of her grandfather's escape. Like him, she says she found a haven in Raqqa, Syria, a city currently controlled by ISIS.

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The Cedid atlas was "the first Muslim-published world atlas based on European geographic knowledge and cartographic methods," the Library of Congress writes. The National Library of Norway just discovered a previously unknown copy in their collection, aft

Norway's National Library Discovers Rare Atlas — With A Little Help From Reddit

4:19pm January 15, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

The Cedid was one of the first printed atlases from the Muslim world. There were 14 known copies in existence — until a Norwegian reference librarian with a fondness for /r/MapPorn noticed something.

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Herman Wouk Says He's A 'Happy Gent' At 100

5:09pm January 14, 2016

by Lynn Neary

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of beloved blockbusters like The Winds of War is celebrating his milestone with a new memoir, Sailor and Fiddler, that sums up his thoughts on what it means to write.

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The American South informed much of C.D. Wright's poetry.

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'Elegant And Cruel And True': The Life And Death Of Poet C.D. Wright

5:00pm January 14, 2016

by Craig Morgan Teicher

C.D. Wright was beloved not only for her poetry, but for her personality. Critic Craig Morgan Teicher has this remembrance of a writer who loomed large in his imagination and in his life.

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The Failed Coup That Led To Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'

4:33pm January 14, 2016

Adolf Hitler wrote his famous manifesto while serving time for an attempted coup that started in a German beer hall. Author Peter Ross Range says, "There was an obvious need to get his message out."

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Super Bowl Commercial Inspires Maraniss To Write About Detroit's Better Times

2:15pm January 14, 2016

David Greene talks to journalist David Maraniss about a key moment when Detroit seemed to rule the world. Maraniss has written a history of Detroit's commerce and culture called Once in a Great City.

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