717 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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'Dear Sister,' 'A Fatal Inheritance' examine difficult family histories
Today's episode highlights two books that grapple with hardships – and perseverance — within a family. First, Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with Michelle Horton about Dear Sister, a memoir chronicling how Horton's sister was arrested for killing her husband, the abuse she'd been suffering at his hands for years, and the family's fight to reduce her prison sentence. Then, NPR's Scott Simon speaks with journalist Lawrence Ingrassia about A Fatal Inheritance, which tracks generations of cancer in Ingrassia's family alongside research and developments in the medical field.
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Chelsea Devantez's memoir finds the humor in dark situations
Comedian, TV writer and podcast host Chelsea Devantez moved around a lot as a kid. She jokes in today's episode that her mom "loved to get divorced" — but that also led to what she describes as a pretty great co-parenting situation between her mom and godmother for a while. It's one of the many stories in Devantez's new memoir, I Shouldn't Be Telling You This (But I'm Going to Anyway). She spoke to NPR's Elizabeth Blair about the book, her journey as a domestic violence survivor and the experience of being the product, in part, of a sperm donor
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Stephen King finishes a story 45 years in the making in 'You Like It Darker'
You Like It Darker is a new collection of short stories by Stephen King — and as the author tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, one of those stories spent decades tucked away in a desk drawer before he gave it an ending. In today's episode,the two discuss the bigger questions of destiny and morality in that story and in much of King's work, and why the writer thought several of his best-selling novels would never see the light of day.
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The autobiography of John Swanson Jacobs offers a new look at slavery and migration
Harriet Jacobs is one of the best-known female abolitionists and authors who wrote about their experiences of enslavement in the South. But while searching for information about Jacobs' children, literary historian Jonathan Schroeder discovered something else: The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots, the long-lost autobiography of Jacobs' brother, John Swanson Jacobs. In today's episode, Schroeder speaks with NPR's Juana Summers about the life of the author, his escape to freedom and the blistering critique of the United States that he wrote in 1855 while living in Australia.
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'The Mango Tree' is a memoir about growing up mixed-race Filipina in south Florida
The Mango Tree kicks off with a phone call: Journalist Annabelle Tometich is informed her mom has been arrested for shooting a man, with a BB gun, who was trying to take mangoes from her yard. What follows is a memoir about a rich but turbulent upbringing in a half-white, half-Filipino family in Fort Myers, Florida. In today's episode, NPR's Scott Simon asks Tometich about the moment she realized the violence in her household wasn't normal, and what that mango tree represented for her immigrant mother. 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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Ada Limón talks forgiveness, ghosts and fertility on 'Wild Card'
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón recently edited and introduced You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, a collection of poems by writers like Joy Harjo and Jericho Brown that pays homage to landscapes across the United States. In today's episode, Limón joins NPR's Rachel Martin to play a game for the new podcast Wild Card. They discuss some pivotal moments in Limón's life marked by natural scenery, like a creek she played in growing up and a big realization she had about her fertility while swimming in the Chesapeake Bay — and go beyond that into conversations about grandparents, memory and mortality.
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