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NPR's Book of the Day

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

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.

663 - 'Hard by a Great Forest' is a novel about returning home decades after fleeing war
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  • 663 - 'Hard by a Great Forest' is a novel about returning home decades after fleeing war

    The story of Saba, the protagonist of Leo Vardiashvili's novel Hard by a Great Forest, is much like the author's own. A young boy flees the Soviet Republic of Georgia with his father and brother as the country is ravaged by a war. Decades later, when his father goes back to their homeland and promptly disappears, Saba must face his family's past – and immense loss – in an effort to find him. In today's episode, Vardiashvili tells NPR's Scott Simon about being separated from his own family, and the feeling of time-travel he felt when he finally made his way back to Georgia.

    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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    Thu, 28 Mar 2024
  • 662 - Charles Spencer's memoir 'A Very Private School' opens up about boarding school abuse

    A new memoir by historian Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer and brother of Princess Diana, details a difficult childhood marked by alleged physical and sexual abuse at Britain's Maidwell Hall in the 1970s. In today's episode, Spencer tells NPR's Scott Simon how childhood naivete – thinking his parents were all-knowing authorities who must've known about the school's cruelty when they sent him there – prevented him and others from speaking up about what was happening, and why writingA Very Private Schoolfelt like an important reclamation of his boyhood.


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    Wed, 27 Mar 2024
  • 661 - 'Say Hello to My Little Friend' explores manhood, 'Scarface' and Miami stereotypes
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    Tue, 26 Mar 2024
  • 660 - In 'The Exvangelicals,' Sarah McCammon analyzes loving and leaving the church

    NPR's Sarah McCammon grew up in the white evangelical church — and though she left the tradition as an adult, she's continued to cover its ties to Trump's politics closely as a journalist. Her new book, The Exvangelicals, chronicles why so many people like herself have removed themselves from evangelicalism. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about the different breaking points she heard from other defectors — from COVID to racial justice — and why a decline in people who identify as evangelical might actually explain the group's rising political profile.

    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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    Mon, 25 Mar 2024
  • 659 - Percival Everett centers a new voice in 'James,' a retelling of 'Huckleberry Finn'

    Percival Everett is a prolific author – his 2001 bookErasure was recently adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction. But his latest book, James, expands on a story readers around the world already know: Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. In today's episode, Everett speaks with NPR's Andrew Limbong about why he wanted to reframe the classic novel from the perspective of the enslaved titular character, why he doesn't think of his new work as a direct response to Twain, and why he doesn't buy into the controversy surrounding the original.


    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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    Fri, 22 Mar 2024
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