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Books: Book Reviews, Book News, and Author Interviews NPR's brings you news about books and authors along with our picks for great reads. Interviews, reviews, and much more.

Books

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

Christina Applegate on learning to live with joy and pain

Christina Applegate doesn't need anyone's pity or approval. That’s the takeaway from her new memoir, "You With the Sad Eyes." She looks back at some of the toughest moments in her life, from abusive relationships to her recent multiple sclerosis diagnosis. But she also shares with Rachel the joys in her life, like raising her 15 year old daughter and watching Bravo reality television.

Christina Applegate

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Now I Surrender, by Álvaro Enrigue
Penguin Random House

Review

Book Reviews

There's room for everyone in 'Now I Surrender,' an epic American Western

Mexican novelist Álvaro Enrigue re-imagines the story of the American West — and the Apache fight for survival — in an epic that's both defiantly challenging and, at times, magical.

FA: Book Review: Now I Surrender

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This historian dug up the hidden history of 'amateur' blackface in America
WW Norton

Race

This historian dug up the hidden history of 'amateur' blackface in America

In her new book, Darkology, historian Rhae Lynn Barnes writes about how blackface and minstrel shows became one of the most popular forms of entertainment in 19th- and 20th-century America.

FA: Rhae Lynn Barnes (Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment

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Clockwise from top left: The Seed of the Sacred Fig, For The Sun After Long Nights, Cutting Through Rocks, It Was Just an Accident, Martyr!, and Kayhan Kalhor.
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Understanding one of the world's oldest civilizations can't be achieved through a single film or book. But recent works of literature, journalism, music and film by Iranians are a powerful starting point. Clockwise from top left: The Seed of the Sacred Fig, For The Sun After Long Nights, Cutting Through Rocks, It Was Just an Accident, Martyr!, and Kayhan Kalhor. NEON; Pantheon; Gandom Films Production; NEON; Vintage; Julia Gunther for NPR hide caption

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NEON; Pantheon; Gandom Films Production; NEON; Vintage; Julia Gunther for NPR

Culture

A glimpse of Iran, through the eyes of its artists and journalists

Understanding one of the world's oldest civilizations can't be achieved through a single film or book. But recent works of literature, journalism, music and film by Iranians are a powerful starting point.

A glimpse of Iran, through the eyes of its artists and journalists

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This is Not About Us, by Allegra Goodman
Penguin Random House

Review

Book Reviews

This novel about family drama is so good you may want to re-read it immediately

Allegra Goodman's new novel is called This Is Not About Us, but critic Maureen Corrigan says that title is coy: Readers are bound to see aspects of themselves and their families in these pages.

FA: Book Review: This Is Not About Us

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Tayari Jones

Tayari Jones' new novel, Kin, follows two women growing up without their mothers in the 1950s. Julie Yarbrough/Knopf hide caption

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Julie Yarbrough/Knopf

Author Interviews

Years ago, novelist Tayari Jones snuck into a writing class. It changed her life

Jones' new novel, Kin, is set in 1950s Louisiana and Atlanta, and tells the story of two young women who grow up next door to each other without their mothers.

FA: Tayari Jones (Kin)

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The school district removed Junot Díaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao from the curriculum of a high-level English class at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., in response to a mental health crisis.

The school district removed Junot Díaz's novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao from the curriculum of a high-level English class at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., in response to a mental health crisis. Anastasia Tsioulcas/NPR hide caption

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Anastasia Tsioulcas/NPR

Facing a mental health crisis, an NJ school pulled a beloved novel from English class

Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao was removed from an English class at the public school. PEN America says it's part of a trend of scrubbing literature dealing with uncomfortable topics.

Michael Pollan is the author of A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness.

Michael Pollan is the author of A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness. Christopher Michel/Penguin Random House hide caption

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Christopher Michel/Penguin Random House

Author Interviews

Michael Pollan says AI may 'think' — but it will never be conscious

"Consciousness is under siege," says author Michael Pollan. His new book, A World Appears, explores consciousness on both a personal and technological level.

FA: Michael Pollan, A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness

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Charli xcx's original soundtrack serves as a kind of secondary narrator for Emerald Fennell's adaptation of Wuthering Heights. The film arrives in a landscape where the fan cultures of pop music and romance literature have already been intertwining in striking ways.

Charli xcx's original soundtrack serves as a kind of secondary narrator for Emerald Fennell's adaptation of Wuthering Heights. The film arrives in a landscape where the fan cultures of pop music and romance literature have already been intertwining in striking ways. Paul Kooiker hide caption

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Paul Kooiker

Music Features

Gothic romance reaches new 'Heights' as fan communities collide

Of course now was the moment for a Charli xcx-assisted Wuthering Heights: Pop fandoms and literary ones have rarely had more in common, especially when it comes to epic romance.

Gisèle Pelicot poses during a photo session in Paris on February 4, 2026.

Gisèle Pelicot poses during a photo session in Paris on February 4, 2026. Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption

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Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images/AFP

Author Interviews

Gisèle Pelicot tells her story in 'A Hymn to Life'

In her memoir A Hymn to Life, Gisèle Pelicot details her journey after discovering that her husband of nearly 50 years drugged and invited dozens of men to sexually abuse her for about a decade.

Gisèle Pelicot tells her story in 'A Hymn to Life'

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A 'Jane Doe' in the R. Kelly trials reclaims her identity (CT+)

Reshona Landfair Jei Storm hide caption

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Jei Storm

Bonus

Consider This from NPR

A 'Jane Doe' in the R. Kelly trials reclaims her identity (CT+)

A once-anonymous R. Kelly survivor, Reshona Landfair is now ready to tell her story. She spoke with NPR host Juana Summers about her new memoir “Who’s Watching Shorty: Reclaiming Myself from the Shame of R. Kelly’s Abuse.”This conversation centers around child sexual abuse.This episode was produced by Lauren Hodges. It was edited by Ashley Brown. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.To unlock this and other bonus content — and listen to every episode sponsor-free — sign up for NPR+ at plus.npr.org. Regular episodes haven't changed and remain available every weekday.Email us at [email protected].

A 'Jane Doe' in the R. Kelly trials reclaims her identity

Harrison Ford in Blade Runner.

Harrison Ford in Blade Runner. Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

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Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

What makes for a good book to film adaptation?

What’s your favorite movie that started life as a book? And what makes for a great book to film adaptation, anyway? We’ve got some examples of beloved books that made the transition to the big screen, and we’re prepared to discuss and debate why each of them works – and why we believe they’re the best of all time. We talk about: Blade Runner, Little Women, Nickel Boys, and Starship Troopers.

Best Book to Movie Adaptations

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The color photo on the left shows Dorothy Roberts. The black-and-white photo on the right shows her parents, who married in the 1950s. Her parents are standing behind a tiered wedding cake.

Dorothy Roberts (left) is the George A. Weiss university professor of law & sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her parents, Robert and Iris, married in the 1950s. Cris Crisman/Simon & Schuster; Dorothy Roberts hide caption

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Cris Crisman/Simon & Schuster; Dorothy Roberts

Author Interviews

A daughter reexamines her own family story in 'The Mixed Marriage Project'

Dorothy Roberts' parents, a white anthropologist and a Black woman from Jamaica, spent years interviewing interracial couples in Chicago. Her memoir draws from their records.

FA: Dorothy Roberts, Mixed Marriage

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