706 episodes
NPR's Book of the Day NPR's Book of the Day
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In need of a good read? Or just want to keep up with the books everyone's talking about? NPR's Book of the Day gives you today's very best writing in a snackable, skimmable, pocket-sized podcast. Whether you're looking to engage with the big questions of our times – or temporarily escape from them – we've got an author who will speak to you, all genres, mood and writing styles included. Catch today's great books in 15 minutes or less.
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Claire Messud's new novel is a sweeping tale of history, family and social change
Across seven decades, Claire Messud's novel This Strange Eventful History follows generations of a family from a colonized Algeria to far stretches of the world after the country's independence, always grappling with the idea of identity and belonging and political upheaval. In today's episode, Messud speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about how she took inspiration from her own grandparents' story, and how looking back at their past sparked a desire in her to chronicle the world she grew up in for her own kids.
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Author Kazuo Ishiguro and singer Stacey Kent collaborate on new songbook
When Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro went on the BBC program Desert Island Discs, he spoke about how much he loves the music of jazz singer Stacey Kent. In today's episode, Ishiguro and Kent tell NPR's Juana Summers how that mention led them to meet and embark on an artistic endeavor together – a new songbook called The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain, featuring lyrics by Ishiguro set to music composed by Kent's partner, Jim Tomlinson. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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In 'All Fours,' Miranda July tackles love, sex and reinvention in middle age
Writer and filmmaker Miranda July says the popular imagination sort of drops off once a woman gets married and has kids. Her new novel All Fours turns that on its head – it's a story about an artist in her 40s who departs from her husband and child on a road trip that takes her to some very unexpected places. In today's episode, July speaks to NPR's Brittany Luse about the interviews she conducted with women going through perimenopause and menopause for this book, and the whisper network with her friends that fueled her protagonist's deep desire for something new.
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Doris Kearns Goodwin's new book is part memoir, part history of the 1960s
When Dick Goodwin reached his 80s, he asked his wife – historian Doris Kearns Goodwin – to finally open and sift through the hundreds of boxes he'd kept from his time as a presidential aide and speechwriter to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson and as advisor to Robert Kennedy. What resulted is An Unfinished Love Story, a new book by Kearns Goodwin with a personal lens to the history of the 1960s. In today's episode, she speaks to NPR's Steve Inskeep about what she found in her husband's archives and what she learned revisiting that time period. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Selleck memoirs look back at their beginnings
Today's episode is about two massive stars: Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Selleck. First, Goldberg speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about her new memoir, Bits and Pieces, which touches on her relationship with her mother, the way she navigated beauty standards growing up, and what it means to grapple with grief over time. Then, Selleck joins NPR's Scott Simon to discuss You Never Know, his initial reluctance to take on his role in Magnum P.I. and his thoughts on being labeled a "mustachioed hunk." To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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'The SalviSoul Cookbook' celebrates Salvadoran food and the matriarchs who cook it
Years ago, Karla Tatiana Vasquez tried to search up a recipe for one of her favorite Salvadoran dishes, Salpicón Salvadoreño. The scarce results not only disappointed Vasquez, but created a new mission: to collect and preserve the recipes of the Salvadoran diaspora along with the stories of the women who've been passing them down for generations. In today's episode, NPR's A Martinez visits Vasquez's kitchen to discuss The SalviSoul Cookbook and the relationship between food, migration and trauma.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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