NPR Books
One Nightstand, Six Affairs: Novels Of Illicit Love
Hotels, pools, beaches, airplanes: all good places to ignite a summer fling -- or read about one. Here are six recent titles that will let you explore, from the safety of your deck chair, our human capacity for ecstasy and pain.
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In E-Publishing Revolution, Rights Battle Wears On
In the most recent battle of the publishing revolution, a major literary agency has announced its plans to bypass traditional publishers and start selling some prominent titles as e-books through Amazon. Needless to say, publishers are fighting back.
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'Advise And Consent': Scandal In The U.S. Senate
Thriller writer Richard North Patterson knows about engrossing political dramas -- he served as the SEC liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor. As his favorite thriller, he recommends Allen Drury's Pulitzer Prize-winning Advise and Consent, a political novel that still rings true after 50 years.
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A Fan's Notes: Being A Non-Spoilery Nonreview Of The 'Scott Pilgrim' Movie
In which our comics blogger, who worried about how the Scott Pilgrim books would translate to screen, breathes a sigh of relief.
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Summer Vacation Or Summer Digression?
For many school-aged children in America, summer means checking out of school for at least a couple months. But new research says long breaks from the classroom can set kids back. A group of moms -- Jolene Ivey, Dani Tucker, Loriene Roy -- join Ron Fairchild, CEO of the National Summer Learning Association, for a discussion about the pros and cons of summer break.
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Conflict Widens In E-Books Publishing
A top literary agency announced a deal with Amazon to publish electronic version of some of its authors' older titles without going through traditional publishing houses. That has publishers on the defensive.
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A Novel Approach: Free Books For Donations
The Concord Free Press has been publishing books and giving them away for the past two years. The Massachusetts-based publisher just asks readers to make a donation to a charity or a person in need and to chart the donation online. It also encourages readers to share the book with others.
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Paparazzi Take Center Stage In Hiaasen's 'Star Island'
Vacuous pop stars, a hygiene-challenged photographer and corrupt politicians all play a part in Carl Hiaasen's new satire of the industry that both makes and breaks celebrities.
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Futurist 40 Years Later: Possibilities, Not Predictions
Alvin Toffler's Future Shock was first published in July 1970. The book includes insights into the effects of rapidly changing technology and "information overload." People may not be as shocked by change as 81-year-old Toffler had imagined, but he says there's still value in envisioning possibilities.
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War Stories: A Reporter's Education In The Mideast
Megan Stack hadn't planned on becoming a war correspondent. But then Sept. 11 happened, and she found herself in the Middle East -- the beginning of a seven-year stint of wartime reporting. In Every Man in This Village Is a Liar, Stack reflects on the experience of reporting from war-torn countries.
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'Tis The Season For 'The Thousand Autumns'
Stories about sober, upstanding Dutch trading clerks on assignment in Tokugawa-era Japan aren't exactly trendy in the publishing industry ... but that didn't stop David Mitchell. Critic Michael Schaub finds Mitchell's latest novel so inventive and complex that he expects it to easily qualify as one of the best books of 2010.
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