NPR's Book of the Day

Noah Hawley is a world builder. He created the TV shows Fargo and Legion, so he is no stranger to getting an audience immersed in his worlds. His new novel Anthem is no different. But it doesn't take that much imagination, despite the fantasy creatures: This world is remarkably similar to ours. Hawley was interested in looking at the state of the world that is getting passed down to future generations. Hawley told NPR's Ayesha Rascoe his goal was to write "a fantasy novel about our real world or a realistic novel about the fantasy world that we're living in." Mission accomplished.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Author Marlon James is following up Black Leopard, Red Wolf with a new fantasy novel Moon Witch, Spider King. It tells the same story as Black Leopard, Red Wolf but this time it's from the perspective of the character Sogolon as she hunts for a missing child. James is inviting the reader to question his narratives by telling the story twice but from different points of view. He told NPR's Michel Martin that the novels are non-linear in the tradition of African folklore.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Social science writer Arthur Brooks has figured out how you, yes you, can be happy later in life. He details it all in his new book, From Strength to Strength, but the gist of it is...maybe relax a little. Brooks argues that for people who work too hard to have it all it can be very upsetting when that part of their life is over. The good news is you can start working on your future happiness now. Brooks told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly you have to do the work when you're younger: You can't "leave your happiness up to chance."See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Both interviews today will transport you into the exciting world of classical music. No, really! The first is with Brendan Slocumb, whose new book, The Violin Conspiracy, is a mystery surrounding a musician trying to recover his stolen violin. It's also about how hard it is to be a Black classical musician, Slocumb told NPR's Asma Khalid. The second is Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman's conversation with NPR's Scott Simon. Hindman's memoir Sounds Like Titanic follows her experience touring with an orchestra that wasn't really performing for the audience.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Author Maeve Higgins starts her new book, Tell Everyone on This Train I Love Them, by saying she hopes the pandemic doesn't impart any lessons. This kind of dark humor persists throughout Higgins' book, which is a reflection on America and its many flaws. But, as an immigrant, she can see this country in a way others cannot — with a fresh pair of perhaps more forgiving eyes. Higgins told NPR's Tamara Keith that because she loves this country she wants it to be the best it can be.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Patriarch Leo Chao is murdered at his restaurant at the beginning of Lan Samantha Chang's new novel The Family Chao. Eventually family secrets and bitterness reveal themselves — much like a Dostoyevsky novel, from whom Chao took a lot of inspiration. But NPR's Scott Simon points out that even though this novel is about a murder, it's quite funny. Chang told Simon that she just enjoyed writing it so much that humor became part of it.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Author Tara Westover grew up in an extreme survivalist family in Idaho. She and her siblings had no formal education, but she taught herself algebra, aced the entrance exam for BYU and got in. It was the start of her way out from under an often abusive family situation. Westover wrote about her experiences and what it was like for her to totally change her worldview in her memoir, Educated. Westover told Here & Now's Robin Young that she thinks we need to stop judging people for their incorrect opinions if they don't have access to education.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In honor of Valentine's Day, we are revisiting a conversation with our very own romance expert, Linda Holmes. Her novel Evvie Drake Starts Over is about a woman who is getting ready to leave her husband when she gets a surprising call – he is dead. She finds herself alone until former major league pitcher Dean Tenney, who can't throw a baseball anymore, hides from the media stress in her guest bedroom. Hijinks ensue. Linda Holmes told NPR's Scott Simon that they both had to figure out a new path in life unexpectedly; something most of us can relate to.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

As part of Black History Month, Book of the Day brings you an interview with author Isabel Wilkerson. She followed her book about The Great Migration, The Warmth of Other Suns, with another that looks at why it happened. Caste argues that caste and not racism is actually what Black people were fleeing when they left the Jim Crow South. Wilkerson told Throughline's Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah that the term racism is rooted in hate but caste is about "power and how those other groups manage and navigate and seek to survive in a society that's created with this ranked hierarchy."See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

During Black History month, Book of the Day is bringing you some interviews from the archives, including this one with author Octavia Butler. Butler wrote many sci-fi classics, like the Parable series and Kindred, so she's accustomed to imagining different worlds. NPR's Scott Simon asked her back in 2001 to imagine a world without racism. Butler believed that in racism's place we would have to have absolute empathy. But she told Simon that this would most certainly present its own challenges – and we would probably just find something else to fight about.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy