Books & Literature

On the acknowledgments page of her new short story collection, Florida, Lauren Groff thanks Florida, where she lives and which she calls the "sunniest and strangest of states."

I didn't know how much I needed a laugh until I began reading Stephen McCauley's new novel, My Ex-Life. This is the kind of witty, sparkling, sharp novel for which the verb "chortle" was invented.

From intestinal distress to family dysfunction, writer David Sedaris has spent decades sharing some of the most intimate aspects of his life. Still, there are some topics that make him uncomfortable.

Philip Roth died Tuesday, May 22, 2018, we listen back to his interviews about his books 'Goodbye Columbus' and 'Portnoy's Complaint.'

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author writes about his relationship with his father, as well as his own experiences as the parent of four, in Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces

Before Zora Neale Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God and the other books that would make her reputation, she was studying anthropology. In 1927, Hurston's deep interest in black history and culture led her into what became one of the most remarkable conversations of her life. The book that resulted from that conversation has just been published for the first time.

Rachel Kushner's new novel centers on a young mother serving two consecutive life sentences for murdering a man who'd been stalking her. Critic John Powers calls The Mars Room "searingly intelligent."

This is one weird-but-true story. It's a story that leads readers from 19th century scientific expeditions into the jungles of Malaysia to the "feather fever" of the turn of the last century, when women's hats were be-plumed with ostriches and egrets. And it's a story that focuses on the feather-dependent Victorian art of salmon fly-tying and its present-day practitioners, many of whom lurk online in something called "The Feather Underground."

Dorough, who died Monday, spoke with Terry Gross in 1982 and 1996. He told her his career was launched when an advertising executive asked him to put the multiplication tables to music.

Gregory Pardlo's new memoir, Air Traffic, chronicles his complicated relationship with his father, a labor organizer who lost his job following the air traffic controllers' 1981 strike.

Patricia Hampl's new book is in part memoir and in part travelogue. It's titled The Art of the Wasted Day.

Book critic MAUREEN CORRIGAN reviews Meg Wolitzer's new novel about a young feminist who meets a feminist icon, and confronts their generational differences.

Sara Saedi was two when her parents fled Iran to California. Her new memoir describes her 18-year-long path to citizenship, and the lingering anxiety of being undocumented.

Book critic MAUREEN CORRIGAN reviews the new book by Jan Morris about the powerful Japanese battleship that became "the noblest of kamikaze weapons" by hurled itself against the invading American forces in 1945.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews two new books involving mysteries: one a biography of crime writer Agatha Christie; the other about The Golden State Killer.

Hollinghurst's new domestic epic leapfrogs across seven decades to examine how the laws of social propriety shape the destinies of a father and son. Critic John Powers says the novel is fascinating.

Growing up with a Mexican father and an American mother, author Luis Alberto Urrea often felt like there was a border wall running through his family's San Diego apartment.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Matt Young's debut memoir, about being a young Marine in Iraq.

Essayist and cartoonist Timothy Kreider reflects on the relationships in his life, from past girlfriends to his beloved cat.