NPR's Book of the Day – Details, episodes & analysis
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NPR's Book of the Day
NPR
Arts
Frequency: 1 episode/1d. Total Eps: 1015
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.
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🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
01/08/2025#52🇺🇸 USA - books
01/08/2025#11🇺🇸 USA - arts
01/08/2025#37🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
31/07/2025#65🇺🇸 USA - books
31/07/2025#11🇺🇸 USA - arts
31/07/2025#38🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
30/07/2025#77🇺🇸 USA - books
30/07/2025#15🇺🇸 USA - arts
30/07/2025#46🇬🇧 Great Britain - books
29/07/2025#44
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Score global : 53%
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Episodes published by month in
'The 15-Minute City' and 'Rethinking Rescue' reimagine existing systems
vendredi 30 août 2024 • Duration 18:02
Today's episode features two books that advocate for new approaches to big problems: urban planning, poverty, and dog rescue. First, Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks with Carlos Moreno about The 15-Minute City, his proposal for interconnected communities where schools, grocery stores and offices are all a short walk or bike ride away from each other. Then, Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd speaks with Carol Mithers about Rethinking Rescue, which profiles Lori Weise, aka the Dog Lady, and examines her belief that animal welfare and efforts to help people going through economic instability should go hand in hand.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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'How to Leave the House' follows a quest for a missing package
jeudi 29 août 2024 • Duration 09:08
Natwest, 23, is about to finally leave for university. But a package he's waiting for has gone missing and – fearing humiliation if its contents are found out – he spends 24 hours looking for it all over town. That's the premise of Nathan Newman's comic novel, How to Leave the House. In today's episode, Newman speaks with NPR's David Folkenflik about some of the odd neighborhood characters Natwest bumps into along the way, and how their own concerns and their perceptions of Natwest completely challenge the notion of who he thinks he is as the protagonist of his own story.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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Two books revisit the cultural impacts of Tina Turner, Duke Ellington and more
vendredi 16 août 2024 • Duration 18:24
Today's episode highlights two books that revisit the cultural contributions of some pretty big names. First, Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes speaks with Deborah Paredez about American Diva, which reclaims the word 'diva' to celebrate the singularity of women like Serena Williams and Celia Cruz. Then, NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Larry Tye about The Jazzmen, which traces the role that Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie played in the civil rights movement.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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'All The World Beside' explores a queer relationship in a 1700s Puritan community
jeudi 11 avril 2024 • Duration 08:47
Garrard Conley's memoir Boy Erased chronicled his upbringing as a Baptist preacher's son and his experience being sent to conversion therapy. His new novel, All The World Beside, explores similar themes of faith, love and queer identity — but through the lens of a relationship between two men in Puritan New England. In today's episode, Conley speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about how fiction allowed him to actually provide even more autobiographical details than a memoir, and how writing this book grounded him in his relationship to Christianity.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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'Wild Kingdom' co-host Rae Wynn-Grant found nature on TV
mercredi 10 avril 2024 • Duration 07:55
Rae Wynn-Grant grew up in the Bay Area of California. But even if she was in the city, she was still fascinated by nature, eventually becoming one of those on-screen nature adventurers she spent her youth watching on TV. She speaks with NPR's Ayesha Roscoe about her new memoir Wild Life, and what she learned from other Black experts in the outdoors.
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Amor Towles revisits an old protagonist in 'Table for Two'
mardi 9 avril 2024 • Duration 09:34
In Amor Towles' story collection Table for Two, the writer revisits a character from his very first book – Rules of Civility. Towles talks to NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about checking into the Beverly Hills Hotel for research purposes, and why he avoids technology in his stories.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayc
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To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayc
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Hanif Abdurraqib's new book ponders LeBron James, growing up and going home
lundi 8 avril 2024 • Duration 14:32
Hanif Abdurraqib's new book, There's Always This Year, is difficult even for the author to summarize — it's part memoir, part basketball analysis, part poetry and essay collections. In today's episode, the MacArthur Fellow and writer speaks with NPR's Scott Detrow about how growing up in Columbus, Ohio, watching LeBron James' spectacular ascent, and understanding the passage of time all led to a meditation on mortality and success.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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Two picture books use vivid colors to convey messages of joy and unity
vendredi 5 avril 2024 • Duration 18:25
Today's episode features two books that use bright, colorful illustrations to convey larger messages about acceptance and community. First, Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes speaks with author-illustrator Steve Asbell about Flap Your Hands, which celebrates how stimming is an act of self-care for autistic children. Then, NPR's Samantha Balaban gathers actress Julie Andrews, her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton and illustrator Elly MacKay to describe how shadows operate in their new fairytale, The Enchanted Symphony, about how music revives the plants – and people – in a village.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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'Grief Is for People' is Sloane Crosley's memoir about losing a close friend
jeudi 4 avril 2024 • Duration 09:33
Editor's note: This episode contains a discussion of suicide.
Early in today's episode, writer Sloane Crosley tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe something that troubled her when paging through the self-help books she was gifted after a big loss. There was no chapter for how to grieve a close friend – partners, siblings, parents, sure. But while not everyone has those relationships, she says, friendships are universal. Her new memoir, Grief Is for People, chronicles how she's coped with losing one of the most important people in her life.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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Early in today's episode, writer Sloane Crosley tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe something that troubled her when paging through the self-help books she was gifted after a big loss. There was no chapter for how to grieve a close friend – partners, siblings, parents, sure. But while not everyone has those relationships, she says, friendships are universal. Her new memoir, Grief Is for People, chronicles how she's coped with losing one of the most important people in her life.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
'Wuhan' analyzes China's management and response to the COVID-19 pandemic
mercredi 3 avril 2024 • Duration 10:23
It's been four years since the world went into lockdown mode as COVID-19 rapidly spread across the globe. But a new book by political scientist Dali Yang dives into the information about, and mitigation of, the disease in its earliest days in China. In today's episode, Yang speaks with Here & Now's Scott Tong about the research that went into Wuhan, the way local governments and medical officials abstained from disclosing crucial intelligence in the early days, and the strict lockdown that followed.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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