NPR's Book of the Day
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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 –...
Recent Episodes
1081 episodes
'Interview with the Vampire' author Anne Rice takes NPR on a tour of her haunted home
Novelist Anne Rice was known for her supernatural tales about vampires, witches, and ghosts. In 1976, she gained notoriety for Interview with the Vamp...
Revisiting Anne Rice’s ‘Interview with the Vampire’
Do you ever get the feeling that you’re watching or reading… a lot about vampires? With the 20th anniversary of the Twilight book series upon us, plus...
'Paper Girl' and 'Joyride' are memoirs by journalists who get close to their subjects
Today’s episode features new memoirs by journalists who aren’t afraid to connect deeply with their subjects. First, in Paper Girl, Beth Macy travels b...
This Palestinian journalist kept a diary as Israeli forces invaded – now it’s a book
As Israeli forces invaded Gaza in 2023, Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad kept a diary. Her writing is a record of the 45 days she spent reporting...
A new James Baldwin biography asks how the writer’s lovers might’ve shaped him
The scholar Nicholas Boggs has a new perspective on James Baldwin. The new biography Baldwin: A Love Story considers how the writer and Civil Rights l...
Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir recounts abuse by Epstein, Maxwell and others
Today’s episode centers an important voice in the still-unfolding story of Jeffrey Epstein. Virginia Roberts Giuffre survived abuse at the hands of Ep...
Ken Liu’s latest novel ‘All That We See or Seem’ is speculative fiction about AI
Ken Liu is a big name in science fiction. His latest novel All That We See or Seem takes place in a world that’s not too different from ours. But in t...
Books We’ve Loved: Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, a blueprint to the modern romance
This year, readers around the world are celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th birthday. On the inaugural episode of Books We’ve Loved, hosts Andrew Limbong...
Cookbooks 'House of Nanking' and 'Boustany' honor rich family legacies through food
Today’s episode features two new cookbooks that solidify family legacies through food. First, NPR’s Ailsa Chang joins Peter and Kathy Fang for a meal...
'I Am You' fictionalizes the story of a Dutch Golden Age painter and her maid
Dutch Golden Age painter Maria van Oosterwijck and her assistant, Gerta Pieters, lived side by side in 17th century Amsterdam, Pieters having started...
'The Persian' is a spy thriller written by former CIA analyst David McCloskey
David McCloskey keeps writing spy thrillers – and the plots keep coming true. In the opening of his latest novel The Persian, Israel has just launched...
In her new memoir, Jeannie Vanasco gets 'A Silent Treatment' from her mom
Jeannie Vanasco’s memoir A Silent Treatment is about the period her mother spent living in the basement apartment of Vanasco’s home. Sometimes, Vanasc...
'Pick a Color' is a novel that takes place over a single day at a nail salon
Ning is the manager of a nail salon where all of the workers wear a nametag with the same name – Susan. Pick A Color takes place over a single day at...
Introducing: Books We've Loved
Welcome to Books We've Loved, a new limited series from Book of The Day. Every episode, we will dig into some of our favorite books, to make the case...
Introducing: Books We've Loved
Welcome to Books We've Loved, a new limited series from Book of The Day. Every episode, we will dig into some of our favorite books, to make the case...
These new mystery novels are 'whodunits' that might as well be called 'whydunits'
Today’s episode features two mystery novels with special twists. First, The Killer Question is a story told via emails, WhatsApp messages and texts. W...
In 'Dream School,' Jeff Selingo wants parents to rethink what makes a ‘good’ college
Over the past 20 years, the number of college applications filed to top schools has exploded. And while many American colleges accept most applicants,...
For her latest novel, Patricia Lockwood says she wanted to write about confusion
In Patricia Lockwood’s latest novel, the protagonist is an author named Patricia. Will There Ever Be Another You documents a four-year period of disor...
Mariana Enriquez’s new book connects her interest in cemeteries with Argentina’s past
Cemeteries are not everyone’s idea of fun, but they’re a source of fascination for author Mariana Enriquez. Her new nonfiction book Somebody Is Walkin...
'For the Sun After Long Nights' is a history of Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom Movement
Three years ago, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Mahsa Jina Amini was fatally beaten by Iran’s morality police. She’d been arrested for not followin...
Two new history books use the past to explain what’s important now
Two new history books make a strong case for why learning about the past is critical to understanding the world today. First, History Matters is a pos...
'F*** Approval, You Don’t Need It!' makes the case against ‘people pleasers’
In her new book, F*** Approval, You Don’t Need It!, therapist Lizzie Moult says people who seek the approval of others are doing a great disservice to...
Angela Flournoy’s 'The Wilderness' focuses on a Black, female ‘chosen family’
The group of friends at the center of Angela Flournoy’s new novel, The Wilderness, are figuring out how to navigate life as they enter middle age. NPR...
Former senator Joe Manchin makes the case for the middle in the memoir 'Dead Center'
Former West Virginia senator Joseph Manchin III was a gadfly in the ear of his own Democratic party for many years, and a sometime Republican ally. Ma...
Ian McEwan’s latest novel ‘What We Can Know’ is science fiction without the science
At 77, the Booker Prize-winning British novelist Ian McEwan shows no signs of slowing down. His new novel, What We Can Know, is set in Great Britain i...
‘Peacemaker’ and ‘Tomorrow Is Yesterday’ are personal histories of diplomacy
Two new books dive into the details of diplomacy. First, in the 1960s U Thant became the first non-Western secretary-general of the United Nations. No...
Ken Jaworowski’s new crime novel ‘What About the Bodies’ has a surprising tender side
Ken Jaworowski is out with a new crime novel with a surprising tender side. What About the Bodies is set in a fictional town past its glory days with...
‘Dark Renaissance’ historian on how Christopher Marlowe paved the way for Shakespeare
The Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe is known as Shakespeare’s greatest rival. But in his new book Dark Renaissance, historian Stephen Green...
‘Beyond Fast’ chronicles one coach’s unlikely revolution in high school cross-country
When Sean Brosnan started coaching the Newbury Park High School cross-country team, the school hadn't qualified for a state championship in 25 years....
In his new novel ‘The Secret of Secrets,’ Dan Brown takes on human consciousness
Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, is out with his sixth book starring fictional Harvard professor Robert Langdon. In The S...
‘Long Way Down’ and ‘The Hate U Give’ are modern classics about gun violence
The final episode in our Back to School series focuses on two contemporary books that tell stories about gun violence. First, Jason Reynolds’ 2017 nov...
What Toni Morrison learned from revisiting five of her most-read novels
Arguably, no high school reading list is complete without one of Toni Morrison’s books. In today’s episode, we look back at a 2004 conversation betwee...
Sandra Cisneros’ ‘The House on Mango Street’ was born from a feeling of displacement
Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street is a series of vignettes drawn from the experiences of a Mexican-American girl living in Chicago. Since its...
In her translation of ‘The Odyssey,’ Emily Wilson aimed for ‘a crystalline clarity’
In 2017, Emily Wilson became the first woman to translate Homer’s The Odyssey into English – more than three millennia after the epic’s inception. In...
Jhumpa Lahiri says the phrase ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ came to her in grad school
It’s Back to School week at NPR’s Book of the Day, which means we’re looking back at interviews with authors who may have shown up on your high school...
‘2024’ and ‘From the Clinics to the Capitol’ dissect opposing political movements
Today’s episode features two books that dissect very different case studies in politics: Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign and the anti-abortion mo...
In Meg Medina’s new young adult novel, a 13-year-old girl becomes a sea ghost
Meg Medina’s new young adult novel begins with a fall: Graciela, a 13-year-old-girl, is blown off a cliff and sucked into the bottom of the sea. A cen...
‘Misbehaving at the Crossroads’ is a lesson in the complexity of reconciliation
In her first nonfiction book Misbehaving at the Crossroads, Honoree Fanonne Jeffers weaves together history, political commentary and poetry that cent...
In Rabih Alameddine’s new novel, a mother and son share a tiny Beirut apartment
Raja teaches philosophy to high schoolers and shares an apartment with his 82-year-old mother, Zalfa. Rabih Alameddine explores their relationship – a...
Tamara Yajia’s memoir recounts a chaotic upbringing between the U.S. and Argentina
Tamara Yajia’s memoir Cry for Me, Argentina describes a chaotic upbringing between Argentine and American cultures. A big focus of the memoir is her “...