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NPR's Book of the Day

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  • Summary

  • 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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Episodes
  • Two books trace the social and historical impacts of food

    Two books trace the social and historical impacts of food
    May 31 2024
    Today's episode is all about food – but not in the form of recipes. First, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Victor M. Valle speaks to Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about The Poetics of Fire, his new book analyzing the history of chiles in Mesoamerican and Indigenous cuisine as a lens to understand Mexican-American and Chicano culture. Then, NPR's Scott Simon asks Michelle T. King about Chop Fry Watch Learn, a part-memoir, part-reported analysis of Taiwanese chef Fu Pei-mei's life and impact on Chinese food around the world.

    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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    20 mins
  • Claire Messud's new novel is a sweeping tale of history, family and social change

    Claire Messud's new novel is a sweeping tale of history, family and social change
    May 30 2024
    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.

    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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    9 mins
  • Author Kazuo Ishiguro and singer Stacey Kent collaborate on new songbook

    Author Kazuo Ishiguro and singer Stacey Kent collaborate on new songbook
    May 29 2024
    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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    9 mins
Art Literary History & Criticism
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brilliant! beautifully written and narrated.
I was transported back to Italy in the exquisite descriptions of villages, pensions and characters.

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