Everything is the worst in this 'Banal Nightmare'
Novelist Halle Butler understands our worst enemy is sometimes our own brain. Her dark, chaotic novel manages to be often hilarious yet relentlessly uncheerful.
'I Just Keep Talking' is a refreshing and wide-ranging essay collection
Scholar, historian, artist and raconteur Nell Irvin Painter is the author of The History of White People and Old in Art School. Her latest book is an insightful addition to her canon.
Here are the new books we're looking forward to this fall
Bad news: Summer's over. Good news: Fall books are here! We've got a list of 16 titles — fiction and nonfiction — you'll want to look out for.
(Image credit: Don Emmert)
This is genius: A new graphic novel imagines conversations between Einstein and Kafka
Einstein in Kafkaland, Ken Krimstein puts us in the room with two 20th century geniuses.'/>
Turns out Albert Einstein and Franz Kafka lived in Prague at the same time and had the same circle of friends. In a new graphic novel, Ken Krimstein puts us in the room with two 20th century geniuses.
(Image credit: Ken Krimstein)
'Interpretations of Love' is debut novel for 82-year-old author
Two years ago, Cat Brushing, a collection of provocative stories about older women still very much in touch with the sensual side of life, put Jane Campbell on the map.
Frazier's 'Paradise Bronx' makes you want to linger in NYC's 'drive-through borough'
Paradise Bronx'/>
Ian Frazier’s signature voice — droll, ruminative, generous — draws readers in. But his underlying subject here is even bigger than the Bronx: It’s the way the past “bleeds through” the present.
'A Wilder Shore' charts the course of a famous bohemian marriage
A Wilder Shore'/>
Camille Peri's lively and substantive dual biography of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson offers a glimpse of their unconventional marriage — and an inspiration for living fearlessly.
Wendell Berry veers from gratitude to yearning in 'Another Day'
In his sequel to 'This Day,' Berry’s themes, including bringing alive the joys and sorrows of hard-working rural Kentuckians. are revisited in ways both familiar and fresh.
Three great fiction audiobooks
It's summer, and whether you're taking a trip – or simply staying out of the heat with the AC running – there's nothing like relaxing with a good audiobook. So in this encore episode, we are recommending three of our favorite fiction audiobooks.
Blindsided by 'The Most': This is a superb novel of a marriage at its breakpoint
The story takes place in Newark, over the course of a single day in 1957, which we experience from the two spouses' alternating points of view. Jessica Anthony's novel deserves to become a classic.
These dictators are different. 'Autocracy, Inc.' explains how
The dictators of today aren't united by ideology, writes Anne Applebaum: They operate like companies, focused on preserving their wealth, repressing their people and maintaining power at all costs.
(Image credit: Sam Yeh)
'Someone Like Us' is a fresh, idiosyncratic novel about immigrating to the U.S.
Dinaw Mengestu's ingenuity and eloquence as a writer are on display in this novel about an Ethiopian American man who returns home only to learn that his father has just died.
(Image credit: Penguin Random House)
'Liars' is an autopsy of a bitterly disappointing marriage
In her fierce second novel, Sarah Manguso writes a requiem for a failed relationship from the point of view of a survivor, the wife left behind.
A new French cookbook explores Marseille as a cultural melting pot
Taste the World in Marseille, on May 23.'/>
A new cookbook celebrates Marseille, France's second-largest city.
(Image credit: Emilienne Malfatto for NPR)
8 hot new love stories from a stellar lineup of Black authors
Some of the most fabulous romances by Black authors still fly under the radar. So we have recommendations for your summer reading enjoyment.
'This Great Hemisphere' tackles racism, classism, and political power struggles
Mateo Askaripour's sophomore novel is a sprawling speculative-fiction narrative that delivers a heartwarming story about a young woman learning to navigate the world.
This absorbing debut novel about writing takes its cue from 'Mrs. Dalloway'
Rosalind Brown's debut novel, Practice, centers on an undergraduate student trying to write an essay on Shakespeare. Along the way, we are treated to the fleeting insights of the the brain at work.
Simmering over summer books
We're at the peak of summer, which means sunny days on the grass with a good book! Best-selling authors Tia Williams and Jean Chen Ho join host Brittany Luse to give their recommendations for great summer reads. They also offer some armchair theories on why we love a gossipy summer novel.
Books mentioned in this episode:
The Guest by Emma Klein
Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City by Jane Wong
Hip-Hop Is History by Questlove with Ben Greenman
Devil is Fine by John Vercher
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
Want to be featured on IBAM? Record a voice memo responding to Brittany's question at the end of the episode and send it to ibam@npr.org.
'State of Paradise' effortlessly blends the commonplace and the extraordinary
With exquisite prose, smart lines on every page, a building sense of growing strangeness tinged with dread, and surprises all the way to the end, this might be Laura van den Berg's best novel so far.
In 'Timid,' there is bravery under the surface
Many assume that timidity -- or its close cousin, shyness -- is solely a negative trait. But longtime cartoonist Jonathan Todd shows this is not always the case in this semi-autobiographical tale.
(Image credit: Jonathan Todd)
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