Search results for

In her newest novel, Lauren Groff uses a split narrative to tell the story of a long marriage. Critic Jason Sheehan says the device works thanks to Groff's stunning language.

The famous 1978 Lufthansa robbery is a great crime story — it was even a plot point in GoodFellas. But a new book about the heist falls flat, hampered by purple prose and pointless details.

Ursula Vernon (writing as T. Kingfisher) delivers a fleet, stripped-down fairy tale with echoes of Bluebeard and Peter Beagle. Critic Tasha Robinson praises Vernon's tough-minded, distinctive women

Aimee Bender's new story collection, The Color Master, is full of fractured fairy tales that flavor everyday lives and neuroses with a liberal dash of magic. Reviewer Alan Cheuse says Bender's work is "akin to the best of Italo Calvino in its matter-of-fact treatment of the fantastic."

While Dr. Seuss, David Rakoff was not, the author, it's clear, cared a whole awful lot. This book — his last — is a rhymed, pensive story: A triumph, says Heller McAlpin, in all its sly glory.

Alan Cheuse reviews a new collection of novellas by Jim Harrison, whom he calls "the reigning master of the form." Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall, is back with his sixth book of novellas, focusing on men in different stages of life.

Hayao Miyazaki's beguiling new fantasy combines the excitement of a boy's grand adventure and the weight of an older man's reflection. The hypnotic story is a partial self-portrait by an anime master.

Rivka Galchen's new story collection mashes up Heidegger and Will Ferrell in an off-kilter marriage that critic Alan Cheuse says practically defines the notion of eccentricity — but delightfully so.

While still at university, J.R.R. Tolkien became fascinated by Finnish mythology, abandoning his Classics degree to adapt the epic Story of Kullervo — work that led to the creation of Middle Earth.

Gloria Norris' wrenching, darkly funny memoir of her abusive father has strong parallels to accounts of life in the Soviet Union. How do you respond to tyranny? What would it cost you to rebel?

Marisa Silver's new novel imagines the meeting of a Depression-era photographer and her now-iconic subject. Giving the characters different names but similar stories to their real-life counterparts, Silver tackles big questions about the morality of art.

In her new story collection, This Close, Jessica Francis Kane depicts a group of women who are worn down, overwhelmed by love and loss, yet familiar as old friends. Reviewer Jane Ciabattari says they are "our family, our friends and neighbors. They are us, at our most vulnerable."

Iain Sinclair, the foremost modern practitioner of "psychogeographic" nonfiction, explores the modifications to the London landscape in preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympics. This "scam of scams," as he calls it, is an expression of British state egotism.

From the commercially and critically successful Marie NDiaye, Three Strong Women moves from Senegal to France and back. The rich prose, translated by John Fletcher, links the lives of the three titular women — Norah, Fanta and Khady — as they navigate their struggles.

On Philanthropy, the artist's 14th studio album, Volker Bertelmann, also known as Hauschka, returns to his signature prepared piano sound in music he hopes will strengthen connections between people.

For years, there were rumors that filmmaker Henry Jaglom had taped hours of his conversations with Orson Welles but that the tapes had been lost. They weren't. Now the transcripts have been released in a new book, edited and introduced by Peter Biskind.

Legendary former Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight has a new book out, explaining his philosophy on coaching and life in general. It's called The Power of Negative Thinking, and Knight says he wants people to get rid of their rose-colored glasses and start working for what they want rather than just hoping.

As accusations of sexism ricochet through the book industry, Nell Freudenberger continues to craft wonderful literary fiction, writes Maureen Corrigan. Freudenberger's latest novel, The Newlyweds, tells the story of an Internet-arranged, cross-continental marriage.

From sparking the imagination to helping with mental health, listen to poems read by NPR readers and see how poetry has affected their lives.

The bridge was built mere yards from where Francis Scott Key watched the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814, inspiring him to write the song that would become the U.S. national anthem.