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 189  There are a total of 283 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Accidentally engaged"
Star rating for Accidentally engaged
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Reena Manji doesn't love her career, her single status, and most of all, her family inserting themselves into every detail of her life. But when caring for her precious sourdough starters, Reena can drown it all out. At least until her father moves his newest employee across the hall--with hopes that Reena will marry him. But Nadim's not like the other Muslim bachelor-du-jours that her parents have dug up. If the Captain America body and the British...
Book cover for "Adam & Evie's matchmaking tour"
Star rating for Adam & Evie's matchmaking tour
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Description:
"Evie Lang's life is in shambles. On the heels of losing her beloved aunt, she's unceremoniously fired from her poetry professorship by her secret boyfriend. Lacking income and inspiration, she's stuck in Ohio with no idea how to move forward--until hope arrives in a surprising letter. Auntie Hao left Evie the deed to her San Francisco row house, a place full of Evie's happiest memories. The catch? To inherit, she must go on a pre-arranged matchmaking...
Book cover for "The adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi"
Star rating for The adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
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Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
The first book of "a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman's determined quest to seize a final chance at glory--and write her own legend ... Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean's most notorious pirates, she's survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands,...
Book cover for "All fours"
Star rating for All fours
Average Rating:
3.4 stars
Description:
"A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country from LA to NY. Twenty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey"--
Book cover for "All the other mothers hate me"
Star rating for All the other mothers hate me
Average Rating:
2.7 stars
Description:
"Luckiest Girl Alive meets A Simple Favor in this voice driven, stylish, and darkly comedic debut thriller about a pop star turned bad mom who will do anything to save her son after he becomes the prime suspect in his classmate's disappearance, from the winner of the Lucy Cavendish Prize for Fiction. Florence Grimes is a thirty-one-year-old party girl who always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her...
Book cover for "All we were promised"
Star rating for All we were promised
Average Rating:
3.4 stars
Description:
"The paths of three young Black women in pre-Civil War Philadelphia unexpectedly and dangerously collide in this dramatic debut novel inspired by the explosive history of a city at war with itself. ... Inspired by the untold history of Pennsylvania Hall, one of Philadelphia's landmarks lost to violence, [this book tells] the story of ... the rebel, the socialite, and the fugitive fighting for each other in an American city straining to live up to...
Book cover for "American spirits"
Star rating for American spirits
Description:
"Three interlocking stories focusing on the residents of a town called Sam Dent, the undercurrent of the Trump movement in America, and a series of local tragedies"--
Book cover for "Among friends"
Star rating for Among friends
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Description:
"What begins as a celebration takes a sudden turn when a shocking betrayal shatters the trust between families"--
Book cover for "Animal instinct"
Star rating for Animal instinct
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Description:
"A darkly humorous and tantalizing pandemic-ridden portrait of sex, divorce, and midlife, about a Brooklynite who Frankensteins the perfect lover"--
Book cover for "Anita de Monte laughs last"
Star rating for Anita de Monte laughs last
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Notes:
NPR categorizes this book as suspense/ thriller.
Description:
"Who gets to leave a legacy? 1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn't. By 1998 Anita's name has been all but forgotten - certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by progeny of film producers, C-Suite executives, and international art-dealers, most of whom float through...
Book cover for "The antidote"
Star rating for The antidote
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"A ... Dust Bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraska town"--
Book cover for "Audition"
Star rating for Audition
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"One woman, the performance of a lifetime. Or two. A mesmerizing Mobius strip of a novel that asks who we are to the people we love. Two people meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. She's an elegant and accomplished actress in rehearsals for an upcoming premiere. He's attractive, troubling, and young-young enough to be her son. Who is he to her - and who is she to him? In this compulsively readable, brilliantly constructed novel, two competing...
Book cover for "Baby X"
Star rating for Baby X
Description:
"In a world where any biological matter can be used to create life, stolen celebrity DNA sells to the highest bidder--or the craziest stalker"--
Book cover for "Bear"
Star rating for Bear
Average Rating:
2.6 stars
Description:
Trapped on a remote Washington island with their dreams out of reach, two sisters clash when a mysterious bear arrives swimming in the channel, forcing them to confront their conflicting desires for escape and connection.
Book cover for "The bewitching"
Star rating for The bewitching
Average Rating:
1 stars
Description:
"'Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches'. That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva--stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that's why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales. In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers...
Book cover for "Birding with benefits"
Star rating for Birding with benefits
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"Newly-divorced, almost-empty-nester Celeste is finally seeking adventure and putting herself first, cliches be damned. So when a friend asks Celeste to "partner" with his buddy John for an event, Celeste throws herself into the role of his temporary girlfriend. But quiet cinnamon roll John isn't looking for love, just birds-he needs a partner for Tucson's biggest bird-watching contest if he's ever going to launch his own guiding business. By the...
Book cover for "Black cake"
Star rating for Black cake
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking journey Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and...
Book cover for "Blood of the old kings"
Star rating for Blood of the old kings
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"From award-winning Korean author Sung-il Kim & translated by the world-renowned Anton Hur, Blood of the Old Kings begins an epic journey unlike any other There is no escaping the Empire. Even in death, you will serve. In an Empire run on necromancy, dead sorcerers are the lifeblood. Their corpses are wrapped in chains and drained of magic to feed the unquenchable hunger for imperial conquest. Born with magic, Arienne has become resigned to her dark...
Book cover for "The bog wife"
Star rating for The bog wife
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a "bog-wife." Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails--or refuses--to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys,...
Book cover for "The bone shard daughter"
Star rating for The bone shard daughter
Series:
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"The emperor's reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire's many islands. Lin is the emperor's daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden...