Cary Regional-NPR Readers Corner-Radio/Podcast

Explore the best in literature with NPR's Readers Corner. Discover new authors, dive into thought-provoking conversations, and find your next great read. From fiction to nonfiction, and everything in between, we've got you covered. Browse our curated selection of book reviews, author interviews, and reading recommendations to fuel your love of reading.

Showing 1 - 20 of 33  There are a total of 283 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Bibliophobia"
Star rating for Bibliophobia
Description:
"Have you ever read a book and felt so gutted by it that you knew you'd never recover? That it made you sit differently in your own skin? A book that complicated everything you believed in and changed the way you read the world around you forever? This is what Sarah Chihaya calls a "Life Ruiner". Sarah's Life Ruiner was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. When she read it in her high school English class, she could no longer pretend not to notice how...
Book cover for "Careless people"
Star rating for Careless people
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
An insider account charting one woman's career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.
Book cover for "Cloistered"
Star rating for Cloistered
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Catherine Coldstream's memoir of life inside the world of a traditional Carmelite monastery and the intense personal journey into and out of an enclosed life of poverty, chastity and obedience.
Book cover for "Desi Arnaz"
Star rating for Desi Arnaz
Description:
"An illuminating biography of Desi Arnaz, the visionary, trailblazing Cuban American who revolutionized television and brought laughter to millions as Lucille Ball's beloved husband on I Love Lucy, leaving a remarkable legacy that continues to influence American culture today. Desi Arnaz is a name that resonates with fans of classic television, but few understand the depth of his contributions to the entertainment industry. In Desi Arnaz, Todd S....
Book cover for "Easily slip into another world"
Star rating for Easily slip into another world
Description:
"An autobiography of one of the towering figures of contemporary American music and a powerful meditation on history, race, capitalism and art"--
Book cover for "Fahrenheit-182"
Star rating for Fahrenheit-182
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"This is the story of an angst-filled kid from the desert, navigating the chaos of his parents' bitter divorce and searching for his place in the world. Each move across the country was a chance to reinvent himself, switching identities from dork to goth to skate punk, and eventually meeting his best friend who just so happens to be his musical soulmate. With sharp humor and raw honesty, Fahrenheit-182 takes readers through Mark's formative years...
Book cover for "Fearless and free"
Star rating for Fearless and free
Notes:
Praised as a powerful and significant book
Description:
"Published in English for the first time, this is the memoir of the fabulous, rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker"--
Book cover for "Gandolfini"
Star rating for Gandolfini
Description:
"More than a decade after his sudden passing, James Gandolfini still exerts a powerful pull on television and film enthusiasts around the world. His charismatic portrayal of complex, flawed, but always human men illuminated the contradictions in all of us, as well as our potential for grace, and the power of love and family. ... Bailey traces his rise from bit parts to character roles he enlivened with menace and vulnerability, to Tony Soprano, the...
Book cover for "The girls who stepped out of line"
Star rating for The girls who stepped out of line
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
"[This work] takes you inside the lives and experiences of 15 unknown women heroes from the Greatest Generation, the women who served, fought, struggled, and made things happen during WWII--in and out of uniform, for theirs is a legacy destined to embolden generations of women to come. Liane B. Russell fled Austria with nothing and later became a renowned U.S. scientist whose research on the effects of radiation on embryos made a difference to thousands...
Book cover for "Grief is for people"
Star rating for Grief is for people
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"A memoir about the suicide of the author's closest friend and the ensuing grief process"--
Book cover for "How to sell out"
Star rating for How to sell out
Description:
"A timely, vulnerable, and cutting-edge exploration of the pressures and pitfalls of writing while Black in America in this urgently needed addition to the national conversation of race, money, and art"--
Book cover for "How to share an egg"
Star rating for How to share an egg
Average Rating:
5 stars
Book cover for "How to win an information war"
Star rating for How to win an information war
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"From one of our leading experts on disinformation, this inventive biography of the rogue WWII propagandist Thomas Sefton Delmer confronts hard questions about the nature of information war: what if you can't fight lies with truth? Can a propaganda war ever be won? In the summer of 1941, Hitler ruled Europe from the Atlantic to the Black Sea. Britain was struggling to combat his powerful propaganda machine, crowing victory and smearing his enemies...
Book cover for "It's only drowning"
Star rating for It's only drowning
Description:
"When a former speechwriter for President Obama starts surfing at the age of thirty-five--the rough equivalent of beginning guitar lessons on your deathbed--he is taken on an unexpected journey in which he has to learn from the only other surfer he knows: his brother-in-law Matt, a Joe Rogan superfan"--
Book cover for "The jailhouse lawyer"
Star rating for The jailhouse lawyer
Description:
"A searing and ultimately hopeful account of Calvin Duncan, 'the most extraordinary jailhouse lawyer of our time' (Sister Helen Prejean), and his thirty-year path through Angola after a wrongful murder conviction, his coming-of-age as a legal mind while imprisoned, and his continued advocacy for those on the inside Calvin Duncan was nineteen when he was incarcerated for a 1981 New Orleans murder he didn't commit. The victim of wildly incompetent public...
Book cover for "Kuleana"
Star rating for Kuleana
Description:
"From an early age, Sara Kehaulani Goo was enchanted by her family's land in Hawai'i. The vast area on the rugged shores of Maui's east side--given by King Kamehameha III in 1848--extends from mountain to sea, encompassing ninety acres of lush, undeveloped rainforest jungle along the rocky coastline and a massive sixteenth-century temple with a mysterious past. When a property tax bill arrives with a 500 percent increase, Sara and her family members...
Book cover for "Life after power"
Star rating for Life after power
Average Rating:
4 stars
Book cover for "Lorne"
Star rating for Lorne
Description:
"At the center of [Saturday Night Live], from the moment of its inception to the present day, is one man: producer Lorne Michaels. Over his 50 years running the show, [he's] become a revered, inimitable, and bewildering presence in the world of entertainment. He's a mogul, a kingmaker, a tastemaker, a grudge-holder, a mensch, a workaholic, a genius spotter of talent, a ruthless businessman, a name dropper, an obsessive step counter, the inspiration...
Book cover for "Make it ours"
Star rating for Make it ours
Description:
"Virgil Abloh's appointment as head of menswear for Louis Vuitton in 2018 shocked the fashion industry, as he became the first Black designer to serve as artistic director in the brand's 164-year history. But as Pulitzer Prize- winning culture critic Robin Givhan reveals, Abloh's story encompasses so much more than his own journey. Using Abloh's surprising path to the top of the luxury establishment, Givhan unfolds the larger story of how the cloistered,...
Book cover for "A man of two faces"
Star rating for A man of two faces
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"With insight, humor, formal invention, and lyricism, in A Man of Two Faces Viet Thanh Nguyen rewinds the film of his own life. He expands the genre of personal memoir by acknowledging larger stories of refugeehood, colonization, and ideas about Vietnam and America, writing with his trademark sardonic wit and incisive analysis, as well as a deep emotional openness about his life as a father and a son. At the age of four, Nguyen and his family are...