Books & Literature

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reads the first book of essays by New York Times opinion writer Margaret Renkl.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan recommends two mystery novels : 'Lady in the Lake' by Laura Lippman and 'The Turn of the Key' by Ruth Ware. The titles of both books evoke classic suspense novels by two men.

The Nobel laureate died Monday at 88. Terry Gross talked with Morrison in 1987 after she wrote Beloved, in 1992 after she authored Jazz and in 2015 when she published God Help the Child.

Baltimore is the setting for Laura Lippman's noir novels, including her popular Tess Monaghan series, and her new stand-alone novel 'Lady in the Lake.' Her new novel is set in the mid 60s but deals with issues that are still with us like racism, sexism, and homophobia.

Mark Stryker covered jazz and its people for the Detroit Free Press for decades. He uses his reporter's eye and critic's ear to chronicle the musicians from the city who made their mark on the world.

It's pretty rare for a writer to produce a novel that wins the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and, then, a scant three years later, bring out another novel that's even more extraordinary. But, that's what Colson Whitehead has done in following up his 2016 novel, The Underground Railroad, with The Nickel Boys. It's a masterpiece squared, rooted in history and American mythology and, yet, painfully topical in its visions of justice and mercy erratically denied.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new novel 'Copperhead' by Alexi Zentner which was informed by a violent confrontation with racial hatred -- the firebombing of his parent's office when Zentner was 18 years old.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new book by Mary Beth Keane, an under-the-radar novelist who's been awarded a Guggenheim, and a few years ago was named one of the National Book Foundation's "5 under 35" novelists to look out for.

Amber Scorah has written a new memoir about being a 3rd generation Jehovah's Witness, leaving her faith, and then dealing with a tragedy without her faith to turn to.

From Nazis and narcos to mistresses and mysterious ship wrecks, Ellroy's This Storm and Mina's Conviction offer plot twists and zig-zags that take readers on a wild ride.

Jill Ciment is one of those just-under-the-radar writers. Probably her biggest moment of popular recognition came a few years ago, when her novel, Heroic Measures, was made into a film called 5 Flights Up; it starred Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman as a married couple living in New York City who struggle to get their elderly dog to the vet in the midst of a terror alert. They wind up carrying the dog on a cutting board through the panicked city.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the debut novel by Vietnamese American Ocean Vuong.

Environmental journalist Amanda Little says the sustainable food revolution will include meat cultured in a lab, 3-D printer food, aquaculture and indoor vertical farming.

Horwitz, who died Monday, spoke to Fresh Air in '98 about Confederates in the Attic, his book about the legacy of the Civil War. Plus, Maureen Corrigan reviews his latest book, Spying on the South.

In her foreword to America Is in the Heart — Carlos Bulosan's classic 1946 novel about Filipinx and Mexican migrant workers on the West Coast — the Filipina American novelist Elaine Castillo asks readers, "Do you remember how old you were when you first read a book that had a character who looked and lived like you in it?"

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new book by Pulitzer-winning reporter Tony Horwitz who has covered wars and conflicts abroad but turned his attention to the conflicts in the U.S.

John Waters reflects on his morbid fascinations as a boy, and what it's like to be an aging rebel. He has a new memoir.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reads a poem about his late mother, who had Alzheimer's Disease. Schwartz's latest collection is Little Kisses.