NPR: Book Tour Podcast: Episodes
In <em>Sea of Poppies</em>, a British trading ship carrying an eclectic group of passengers sets sail on the eve of the First Opium War. The novel, the sixth from Amitav Ghosh, was shortlisted for the 2008 Booker Prize.
In a new memoir, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams chronicles his life and offers insights into his acclaimed –- and often controversial — operas and orchestral works.
The McCourt family gained fame through the books of brothers Frank and Malachy. In <em>A Long Stone's Throw</em>, the youngest brother, Alphie, shares a colorful account of his own life in Ireland and America.
In <em>Payback,</em> a timely collection of essays, novelist Margaret Atwood examines the ancient and central role that debt has played in our culture, literature and societies.
Carl Capotorto's family name translates as "twisted head," which, he says, "is no accident." In his new memoir, <em>The Sopranos</em> actor describes growing up Italian American and gay in the Bronx.
Drawing on tales from her grandmother's life, debut novelist Padma Viswanathan depicts the intense social and political changes of the past century in India in <em>The Toss of a Lemon.</em>
A novel about a notorious Florida outlaw and a history of Thomas Jefferson's hidden slave family were among the winners at the 59th annual awards.
A novel about a notorious Florida outlaw and a history of Thomas Jefferson's hidden slave family were among the winners at the 59th annual awards.
In <em>More Information Than You Require,</em> the follow-up to the best-selling <em>The Areas of My Expertise,</em> John Hodgman offers another compilation of false facts and trivia.
In <em>The Ayatollah Begs to Differ</em>, Hooman Majd, an Iranian-American writer and the grandson of an ayatollah, travels behind "Persian walls" to provide a revealing look at modern Iran.
More than 30 years after documenting a trip through Europe, the Middle East and Asia in <em>The Great Railway Bazaar</em>, Paul Theroux re-creates the voyage in <em>Ghost Train to the Eastern Star</em>.
Writer Toni Morrison reads the final part of an excerpt from her new novel, <em>A Mercy</em>, and discusses the book with NPR's Lynn Neary.
In the third of a four-part series, author Toni Morrison continues reading a pivotal episode of her new novel, <em>A Mercy</em>.
In the second of a four-part series, Nobel Laueate and Pulitzer Prize Winner Toni Morrison reads from her new novel, <em>A Mercy</em>.
In this special, four-part reading, Toni Morrison presents a pivotal episode from her new novel, <em>A Mercy</em>. The book explores the repercussions of an enslaved mother's desperate act: she casts off her daughter to save her.
Author Junot Diaz won a Pulitzer Prize this year for <em>The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,</em> the story of an overweight, lovesick "ghetto nerd."
Brad Meltzer's latest thriller, <em>The Book of Lies,</em> melds together two well-known tales of familial tragedy and redemption. Cain and Abel, meet Superman.
Nico, the 13-year-old narrator of Francine Prose's new novel, struggles to deal with the loss of her older sister. With her parents barely able to cope, Nico must navigate grief and growing up alone.
<em>American Wife</em> follows the life of a demure school librarian who becomes first lady of the United States. The novel, inspired by the life of Laura Bush, is the third from Curtis Sittenfeld.
Andrew Davidson's debut novel, <em>The Gargoyle</em>, tells the love story of a burn victim and a mysterious sculptress who claims they first met 700 years earlier.