Search results for

Anthony Heilbut's essay collection, The Fan Who Knew Too Much, features reflections on the Queen of Soul, soap operas and Jewish immigrants. The highlight of this sometimes harsh collection, says Michael Schaub, is a history of LGBT contributions to gospel.

The famous Beatle was known for writing notes that often contained funny drawings and self portraits. Now, Hunter Davies has gathered those letters into a collection that tells the story of Lennon's life, from a note written to his aunt at 10, to one written minutes before his murder.

To Kill a Mockingbird and Valley of the Dolls have more in common than you think. In his new book Hit Lit, mystery writer James Hall argues that best-sellers from the past century share 12 features.

Author Kevin Maher laughed off the Dubliners as a 12-year old, yet one line stayed with him. It was that line that convinced him to go back to the stories, discovering a love of James Joyce in the process.

When Twinkies hit the stores again on July 15, their shelf life will be nearly twice as long as it used to be: 45 days. (We were surprised it wasn't longer.) There's a whole lot of food science employed to help the creme-filled cake defy the laws of baked-good longevity.

Congressman John Lewis has co-authored a new graphic novel about the 1963 March on Washington, which he helped plan. Reviewer Jody Arlington says March: Book One is a "fresh and sometimes shocking work," with a message of reconciliation and hope that still resonates.

Ali Smith's new book, Artful, began as a series of lectures on comparative literature, given at Oxford last year. The lectures have been given a fictional shell, the story of an unnamed narrator finding a cache of essays in the study of her dead lover. Reviewer John Wilwol calls Artful "superb."

Author Marc Kaufman recommends this tale of an explorer on the hunt for a rare animal — and something more. The Snow Leopard shows that while we can't always find what we're looking for, we still get what we need.

Have you had a chance to poke around the new NPR Books yet? We've given it a heck of an overhaul. Here's the how, what and why — and an invitation to explore.

The White House says the program will provide paid training to 20,000 Americans in its first year. It's much smaller than its New Deal predecessor, but targets a more diverse group of young people.