Culture : NPR

Courtesy of Faith in the Five Boroughs

A 'Witch Queen' Who Casts Her Spells Year-Round

October 31, 2012 • Lady Rhea is not the kind of witch you'll find in a pointy hat this Halloween. She is a real workaday Wiccan, grinding out a living selling magic products in the Bronx.

A 'Witch Queen' Who Casts Her Spells Year-Round

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'Jagannath' Stories Are Weird In A Good Way

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Review

Book Reviews

'Jagannath' Stories Are Weird In A Good Way

October 31, 2012 • Swedish writer Karin Tidbeck's debut story collection, Jagannath, is suffused with the myths of her homeland — and the American oddities she picked up as a student here. Reviewer Alan Cheuse says the stories are weird — but it's a good kind of weird.

'Jagannath' Stories Are Weird In A Good Way

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Possessed By 'The Exorcist': Are You Terrified Yet?

Review

PG-13: Risky Reads

Possessed By 'The Exorcist': Are You Terrified Yet?

October 31, 2012 • The classic horror novel The Exorcist inspired an even creepier movie, but author Mark Danielewski says after he saw the film, it changed the book in his mind forever. Has a movie ever overtaken its literary counterpart in your imagination? Tell us in the comments.

Katey Sagal, Holding Court On 'Sons Of Anarchy'

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Television

Katey Sagal, Holding Court On 'Sons Of Anarchy'

Fresh Air

October 31, 2012 • The actress plays Gemma, the fierce matriarch of the biker gang in the FX series. She's best-known for playing the acerbic Peg Bundy on the long-running show Married With Children.

Katey Sagal, Holding Court On 'Sons Of Anarchy'

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In 'Nobody Walks,' Lena Dunham's Lost 'Girls' Relocate To Heavier Drama

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

In 'Nobody Walks,' Lena Dunham's Lost 'Girls' Relocate To Heavier Drama

October 31, 2012 • Like her character in Girls, Lena Dunham might well wonder whether she's the voice of her generation. She co-wrote the screenplay for Nobody Walks, a dramatic film that demonstrates that taken out of their comedic context, her lost characters lose some of their resonance.

Opinion

NewsPoet: Writing The Day In Verse

October 31, 2012 • Each month, we bring in a poet to spend time in the newsroom — and at the end of the day, to compose a poem reflecting on the day's stories.

NewsPoet: Idra Novey Writes The Day In Verse

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Opinion

NewsPoet: Writing The Day In Verse

NewsPoet: Idra Novey Writes The Day In Verse

October 31, 2012 • Each month, NPR's All Things Considered invites a poet into the newsroom to see how the show comes together, and to write an original poem about the news. This month, our NewsPoet is Idra Novey.

NewsPoet: Idra Novey Writes The Day In Verse

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What Makes A Horror Game Go Bump in the Night?

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Trilobyte Games

Pop Culture Happy Hour

What Makes A Horror Game Go Bump in the Night?

October 31, 2012 • Harold Goldberg says that in horror-themed games, sometimes you're the frightener and sometimes you're the frightened. But manipulations of horror and terror can work on you either way.

First Reads

Exclusive First Read: Ian McEwan's 'Sweet Tooth'

October 31, 2012 • Author Ian McEwan's latest novel tells the story of a young woman who works for the British intelligence agency MI5 and an assignment she gets that changes her life.

Remembering Letitia Baldrige, The 'Doyenne Of Decorum'

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JFK Presidential Library and Museum

The Two-Way

Remembering Letitia Baldrige, The 'Doyenne Of Decorum'

October 31, 2012 • She was first lady Jacqueline Kennedy's social secretary and went on to be one of the nation's authorities on etiquette. Baldrige died this week. She was 86.

Twenty Stories That Will Absolutely Run The Week 'Star Wars: Episode VII' Is Released

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

Twenty Stories That Will Absolutely Run The Week 'Star Wars: Episode VII' Is Released

October 31, 2012 • Yesterday, Disney announced that it was purchasing Lucasfilm for four billion dollars and would be putting out new Star Wars films. The good news is that we already know what some of the headlines of 2015 will look like.

Spooky Puppets, Slow Pacing In 'Catechism'

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Review

Book Reviews

Spooky Puppets, Slow Pacing In 'Catechism'

October 31, 2012 • Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and collaborator Christopher Golden have written a spooky novella about a priest using puppets to convey the word of God to war-scarred children in 1940s Sicily. Reviewer Glen Weldon says the exhaustively researched plot is let down by bad pacing.

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Kitchen Window

The Hard-Boiled Truth About Egg Soups

October 31, 2012 • When T. Susan Chang was young, her mother would make egg soup for her when she got sick. Now, the food writer poaches a few eggs from her chickens' nests to make these soups when her kids get the sniffles.

Oregon State's New Cheese Plant Aims To Break The Rind

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The Salt

Oregon State's New Cheese Plant Aims To Break The Rind

October 30, 2012 • Lots of big state colleges have popular campus creameries, and many focus on ice cream because it sells. But with its new cheese plant, Oregon State University hopes to produce some fancy sought-after cheeses to go with the state's famous Pinot Noirs.

Reading 125 Titles A Year? That's 'One For The Books'

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Author Interviews

Reading 125 Titles A Year? That's 'One For The Books'

October 30, 2012 • Joe Queenan reads so many books, it's amazing that he can also find time to write them. Queenan estimates he's read between 6,000 and 7,000 books total, at a rate of about 125 books a year. His latest work, One for the Books, is all about what he reads and why.

Reading 125 Titles A Year? That's 'One For The Books'

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Wednesday October 31, 2012

A 'Witch Queen' Who Casts Her Spells Year-Round

Review

'Jagannath' Stories Are Weird In A Good Way

Review

Fresh Air

Katey Sagal, Holding Court On 'Sons Of Anarchy'

NewsPoet: Idra Novey Writes The Day In Verse

Review

Tuesday October 30, 2012

Reading 125 Titles A Year? That's 'One For The Books'