NPR's Book of the Day

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

NPR's Book of the Day

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.

Emily Henry's 'Funny Story' centers a new character in rom-com tropes

Emily Henry's 'Funny Story' centers a new character in rom-com tropes

Two childhood best friends realize they're in love and break up with their significant others to be together – that's a classic romantic-comedy storyline. But in her book, Funny Story, author Emily Henry wonders about some of the other forgotten cast members: what happens to the people who got dumped along the way? In today's encore episode, NPR's Juana Summers asks Henry about writing male...

New books by Damon Young and Dennard Dayle take different routes to humor

New books by Damon Young and Dennard Dayle take different routes to humor

Today on the show, two new books take different routes to humor. First, writer Damon Young is out with an anthology of comedic essays called That's How They Get You. Young says he reached out to people who represent the expansiveness of Black humor and gave them one directive: Be funny. In today's episode, Young talks with NPR's Juana Summers about his essay on his relationship with Invisalign....

'The Pretender' centers on a real peasant who learns he is heir to England's throne

'The Pretender' centers on a real peasant who learns he is heir to England's throne

In 1483, a 10-year-old peasant named John Collan is visited by a stranger who shares a life-changing piece of information. John isn't the son of a farmer, but the Duke of Clarence – and it's time for him to reclaim his destiny as king of England. Jo Harkin's novel The Pretender expands on this footnote of history from the Tudor period. In today's episode, she joins NPR's Scott Simon for a...

In 'The Science of Revenge,' an expert explains why humans are hardwired for payback

In 'The Science of Revenge,' an expert explains why humans are hardwired for payback

In his new book, The Science of Revenge, James Kimmel Jr. argues that there is a human desire to get even – and it might even be an addiction. Kimmel Jr., a professor at the Yale School of Medicine, realized his own taste for retaliation as a teenager and later felt that he would benefit from a kind of "revenge rehab." In today's episode, the author tells NPR's Michel Martin that revenge lights...

'Great Black Hope' is a character study of a young, Black, queer man in high society

'Great Black Hope' is a character study of a young, Black, queer man in high society

Smith – the protagonist in Great Black Hope – is at a party in the Hamptons when he's arrested for cocaine possession. Smith is a young, Black, queer man of privilege who's floated through New York's largely white downtown social scene – but that changes when his roommate is found dead. In today's episode, author Rob Franklin joins NPR's Ayesha Rascoe to talk about his debut novel. They discuss...

'Fatherhood' traces a history of masculinity, from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud

'Fatherhood' traces a history of masculinity, from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud

Historian Augustine Sedgewick became a father in the summer of 2017. At the time, media events like the Bill Cosby trial were publicly challenging ideals of masculinity and fatherhood. Motivated by care for his son, Sedgewick began to research the history of masculinity and the figure of the dad. His new book Fatherhood approaches the topic through historical examples, from figures like Aristotle...

New books by Carl Hiaasen and John Seabrook tell distinctly American stories

New books by Carl Hiaasen and John Seabrook tell distinctly American stories

Carl Hiaasen and John Seabrook are out with new books that draw from their personal experiences in order to tell distinctly American stories. First, many of the scenarios in the novel Fever Beach were inspired by Hiaasen's experience living in Florida. The book satirizes the white nationalist movement, following a ragtag militia that forms when its leader is kicked out of the Proud Boys. In...

Evan Osnos' 'The Haves and Have-Yachts' is a book of essays about the new Gilded Age

Evan Osnos' 'The Haves and Have-Yachts' is a book of essays about the new Gilded Age

Following Donald Trump's election in 2016, New Yorker reporter Evan Osnos wanted to understand what the president's wealth and status represented in the minds of his supporters – and in American culture at large. Osnos began reporting on the lives of the ultrawealthy, including the small but growing billionaire class. Now, Osnos has published a collection of essays The Haves and Have-Yachts,...

Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig reflect on 'The L Word' in memoir 'So Gay For You'

Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig reflect on 'The L Word' in memoir 'So Gay For You'

By the early 2000s, only a handful of queer female characters had ever been featured on television. Then, The L Word entered the scene in 2004, exploring lesbian identity, friendship and sex over six seasons and a 2019 reboot. Now, two of The L Word's stars – Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig – are out with a new memoir So Gay For You. In today's episode, the authors talk with NPR's Juana Summers...

For a novel on the first women astronauts, Taylor Jenkins Reid studied old NASA PDFs

For a novel on the first women astronauts, Taylor Jenkins Reid studied old NASA PDFs

Joan Goodwin, an astronomer who has been in love with the stars since childhood, learns one day in 1980 that NASA is seeking the first women astronauts to join its space shuttle program. Taylor Jenkins Reid's new novel Atmosphere follows Joan as she becomes one of those astronauts, navigating new challenges, disaster, and a secret romance along the way. In today's episode, Reid speaks with NPR's...