NPR: Book Reviews Summary judgment on books of note, from NPR personalities, independent booksellers and critics from across the public-radio spectrum.

Book Reviews

Thursday July 18, 2024

Dutton

'This Great Hemisphere' tackles racism, classism, and political power struggles

July 18, 2024 • 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.

Tuesday July 16, 2024

Practice, by Rosalind Brown/Macmillan

This absorbing debut novel about writing takes its cue from 'Mrs. Dalloway'

July 16, 2024 • 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.

This absorbing debut novel about writing takes its cue from 'Mrs. Dalloway'

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Monday July 15, 2024

Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute

Simmering over summer books

July 15, 2024 • We're at the peak of summer, which means sunny days on the grass with a good book! Bestselling 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.

Simmering over summer books

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Wednesday July 10, 2024

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

'State of Paradise' effortlessly blends the commonplace and the extraordinary

July 10, 2024 • 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.

Saturday June 29, 2024

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Jonathan Todd/Graphix

In 'Timid,' there is bravery under the surface

June 29, 2024 • 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.

Wednesday June 26, 2024

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Catapult

'The Liquid Eye of a Moon' is a Nigerian coming-of-age story

June 26, 2024 • In Uchenna Awoke’s debut novel, we come to understand that 15-year-old Dimkpa’s choices are painfully constricted by the caste system into which he was born.

Tuesday June 25, 2024

Maureen Corrigan picks four crime and suspense novels for the summer. NPR hide caption

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NPR

4 crime and suspense novels make for hot summer reading

June 25, 2024 • 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.

4 crime and suspense novels make for hot summer reading

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Random House

'Cue the Sun!' is a riveting history of reality TV

June 25, 2024 • Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker critic Emily Nussbaum's book is a near-definitive history of the genre that forever changed American entertainment.

Thursday June 20, 2024

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Farrar, Straus and Giroux

In 'Parade,' Rachel Cusk once again flouts traditional narrative

June 20, 2024 • In her latest work, Cusk probes questions about the connections between freedom, gender, domesticity, art, and suffering.

When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion, by Julie Satow

When Women Ran Fifth Avenue Doubleday
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Doubleday

2 books offer just the right summer mix of humor and nostalgia

June 20, 2024 • 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.

2 books offer just the right summer mix of humor and nostalgia

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Monday June 17, 2024

Illustration of a woman sitting in a rocking chair reading a book in front of a big window.

Alicia Zheng/NPR

Books We Love

Here are the nonfiction books NPR staffers have loved so far this year

June 17, 2024 • 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.

Summer BWL Nonfiction

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Illustration of people reading books in the grass.

Alicia Zheng/NPR

Books We Love

NPR staffers pick their favorite fiction reads of 2024

June 17, 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.

NPR staffers pick their favorite fiction reads of 2024

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Wednesday June 12, 2024

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William Morrow

'Horror Movie' questions the motivation behind evil acts

June 12, 2024 • Paul Tremblay's latest tale is dark, surprisingly violent, and incredibly multilayered — a superb addition to his already impressive oeuvre showing he can deliver for fans and also push the envelope.

Tuesday June 11, 2024

In the episode "From Virgin to Vixen,” Queenie is in peak fun mode, until her demons begin to catch up with her. Latoya Okuneye/Lionsgate hide caption

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Latoya Okuneye/Lionsgate

Queenie's second life on screen gives her more room to grow

June 11, 2024 • An irresistible new Hulu series follows the quarter-life growing pains of a lonely South Londoner. It's based on a 2019 novel by showrunner Candice Carty-Williams.

Monday June 10, 2024

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Pantheon

In 'Consent,' an author asks: 'Me too? Did I have the agency to consent?'

June 10, 2024 • Jill Ciment wrote about a relationship she had with a teacher when she was very young – that turned into a marriage – in Half a Life. Now, eight years after his death at 93, she reconsiders their relationship in light of the #MToo movement.