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Books: Book Reviews, Book News, and Author Interviews NPR's brings you news about books and authors along with our picks for great reads. Interviews, reviews, and much more.

Books

A review card of Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway, written by a Los Angeles Public Library staff member around the time of the book's publication.

A review card of Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway, written by a Los Angeles Public Library staff member around the time of the book's publication. James Sherman/Los Angeles Public Library hide caption

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James Sherman/Los Angeles Public Library

Book News & Features

Before the internet, how the LA Public Library helped readers pick their next novel

The Los Angeles Public Library stores thousands of index cards with staff reviews of books dating back to the 1920s. A librarian explains how they were used and what we can learn from them today.

Tina Fey

Tina Fey Mary Ellen Matthews hide caption

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Mary Ellen Matthews

Culture

'SNL' photographer reflects on iconic celebrity portraits

Mary Ellen Matthews has been SNL's photographer for 25 years. In a new book, The Art of the SNL Portrait, she shares her most iconic celebrity photos, like Pete Davidson eating pasta.

THE ART OF THE SNL PORTRAIT - Mary Ellen Matthews

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Harper Lee smiles before receiving the 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House on Nov. 5, 2007.

Pulitzer Prize winner and To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee smiles before receiving the 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House on Nov. 5, 2007. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Brief

A new collection of Harper Lee's writing is coming later this year

The beloved author of To Kill a Mockingbird famously only released two novels in her lifetime. Now, the world will get to read more of Lee's work with an upcoming release of short stories and essays.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the themes of her new novel, Dream Count: "I wanted to write about women's lives. And the reality of it is that for many women, the men in their lives in some ways, shape their lives."

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the themes of her new novel, Dream Count: "I wanted to write about women's lives. And the reality of it is that for many women, the men in their lives in some ways, shape their lives." Ulf Andersen/Getty Images hide caption

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Ulf Andersen/Getty Images

Author Interviews

Celebrated author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: 'I have always longed to be known'

Celebrated Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about her new book, "Dream Count."

Celebrated author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘I have always longed to be known’

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Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Linda Holmes, pop culture critic and author of 'Back After This'

Linda Holmes knows what goes into a good romantic comedy. Linda has written about pop culture for more than 20 years and is a huge fan of the genre. She's also written romantic comedy novels herself. Linda joins us on Bullseye to discuss her latest novel Back After This. She breaks down the clichés that make rom-coms great and the tropes that make them stink.

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Hanif Kureishi

Hanif Kureishi says his fall in 2022 didn't rob him of his ability to function or be creative: "In fact, I'm writing more now." Kier Kureishi/Harper Collins hide caption

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Kier Kureishi/Harper Collins

Author Interviews

A fall 'Shattered' Hanif Kureishi's life. Dictating his new book gave him purpose

Kureishi began his new memoir just days after a fall left him paralyzed. In it, he describes being completely dependent on others — and the sense of purpose he's gained from writing.

A fall 'Shattered' Hanif Kureishi's life. Dictating his new book gave him purpose

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Jordan Chiles of Team USA reacts after finishing her routine on the uneven bars during the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

Jordan Chiles of Team USA reacts after finishing her routine on the uneven bars during the Olympic Games in Paris 2024. Jamie Squire/Getty Images hide caption

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Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Interview highlights

'I was devastated': Jordan Chiles recounts 2024 Olympics in new memoir

Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles shares her up-and-down journey to the 2024 Paris Games and what happened afterward, in her new memoir, "I'm That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams."

'I was devastated': Jordan Chiles recounts 2024 Olympics in new memoir

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"I have a lot to think about the relationship between mourning, between grieving, and between pain, generally speaking, and bilingualism and living in a different language," says Pulitzer winner Cristina Rivera Garza about Death Takes Me, her newly translated novel.

"I have a lot to think about the relationship between mourning, between grieving, and between pain, generally speaking, and bilingualism and living in a different language," says Pulitzer winner Cristina Rivera Garza about Death Takes Me, her newly translated novel. Penguin Random House. hide caption

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Penguin Random House.

Author Interviews

Language as protagonist in Cristina Rivera Garza's newly translated novel

Pulitzer winner Cristina Rivera Garza offers new perspective on gender violence through a murder mystery and poetry.

Language as protagonist in Cristina Rivera Garza’s newly translated novel

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Last Seen, by Judith Giesberg
Simon & Schuster

Review

Book Reviews

'Last Seen': After slavery, family members placed ads looking for loved ones

Formerly enslaved people would placed ads in newspapers hoping to find lost children, parents, spouses and siblings. Historian Judith Giesberg tells the stories of some of those families in a new book.

'Last Seen': After slavery, family members placed ads looking for loved ones

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Live Fast
Harper Collins

Review

Book Reviews

After a tragic accident, a widow faces a lifetime of what-ifs

Live Fast won France's top literary prize in 2022. Brigitte Giraud's haunting book revisits the death of her husband in a motorcycle crash 20-odd years earlier.

After a tragic accident, a widow faces a lifetime of what-ifs

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Rare book collector Rebecca Romney holds The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, published in 1794. She is standing next to a bookshelf with old and rare books on it.

Rare book collector Rebecca Romney holds The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, published in 1794. The novel is among the archives that inspired Jane Austen's Bookshelf, Romney's new book on the women writers who influenced Austen. Valerie Plesch for NPR hide caption

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Valerie Plesch for NPR

Rare book dealer Rebecca Romney dedicates a book to the women Jane Austen read

"Jane Austen's Bookshelf" spotlights eight women writers, largely lost to history, who influenced the English novelist.

In 'Jane Austen's Bookshelf,' read about the women writers who shaped the novelist

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First known cookbook by a Black American woman gets new edition 160 years later
Shiraz Abdullahi Gallab/University of Michigan Press

First known cookbook by a Black American woman gets new edition 160 years later

Malinda Russell's A Domestic Cookbook was first published in 1866. It contains least a hundred recipes for sweets, plus recipes for shampoo and cologne – and remedies for toothaches.

First known cookbook by a Black American woman gets new edition 160 years later

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Author Eric Puchner's new novel, Dream State, is about a love triangle that tests the decades-long friendship of two college buddies.

Author Eric Puchner's new novel, Dream State, is about a love triangle that tests the decades-long friendship of two college friends. Justin T. Gellerson for NPR hide caption

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Justin T. Gellerson for NPR

Book News & Features

New novel asks: How much can a male friendship take?

Eric Puchner's new novel, Dream State, was just named the latest Oprah book club pick. It's about a love triangle that tests the decades-long friendship of two college friends.

A new novel asks: How much can a male friendship take?

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Memorial Days, by Geraldine Brooks

Memorial Days, by Geraldine Brooks Penguin Random House hide caption

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Penguin Random House

Review

Book Reviews

Tony Horwitz's widow Geraldine Brooks writes a beautiful memoir of grief

Horwitz died suddenly in 2019 while on a book tour. In Memorial Days, Geraldine Brooks grieves her husband — and also reflects on the life she might have lived had they not met.

Tony Horwitz's widow Geraldine Brooks writes a beautiful memoir of grief

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Salman Rushdie presented his book Knife at El Ateneo Library, in Madrid on May 20, 2024.

Salman Rushdie presented his book Knife at El Ateneo Library, in Madrid on May 20, 2024. Cesar Luis de Luca/Picture alliance/Getty Images hide caption

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Cesar Luis de Luca/Picture alliance/Getty Images

National

Salman Rushdie wrote about his attempted murder. Now he will face his attacker in court

Hadi Matar, who is on trial for the knife attack against the British author, has also been accused of supporting terrorism and attempting to carry out a fatwa calling for Rushdie's assassination.

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