1. ‘Cities Are Resilient,’ Says Baltimore Crime Novelist Laura Lippman
Count Laura Lippman among those who take issue with President Trump’s recent tweets characterizing Baltimore as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” The crime novelist, who...View in High-Res

    ‘Cities Are Resilient,’ Says Baltimore Crime Novelist Laura Lippman

    Count Laura Lippman among those who take issue with President Trump’s recent tweets characterizing Baltimore as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” The crime novelist, who lives in Baltimore, says the president’s comments represent a “basic disrespect” for city residents.

    “Cities are resilient,” Lippman says. “The fact that we survive or thrive at all in the light of terrible problems isn’t to be criticized; it’s to be celebrated.”

    Lippman is the author of the Baltimore-based Tess Monaghan detective series. Her new stand-alone crime novel, Lady in the Lake, was inspired by two real-life Baltimore disappearances in the 1960s. Lippman’s story centers on Maddie Schwartz, who leaves her marriage, gets a job at a Baltimore newspaper, and begins investigating the mysterious death of a young black woman. For Lippman, setting her novel in the past was a deliberate choice, made in the wake of the 2016 election.

    “It was a time that was at once extremely frenetic and extremely static,” she says. “It felt as if everyone in my life — myself included — spent their time on almost this hamster wheel of social media, the news network of their choice, social media, the news network of their choice.”

    Situating her novel in the '60s allowed Lippman, a former journalist, to escape the news cycle, though many of the subjects she touches on in Lady in the Lake — sexism, racism, homophobia — are still front and center today.

  2. Laura Lippman

    crime novel

    books

    Baltimore

  1. Rooted In History, ‘The Nickel Boys’ Is A Great American Novel
Book critic Muareen Corrigan:
““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...View in High-Res

    Rooted In History, ‘The Nickel Boys’ Is A Great American Novel
    Book critic Muareen Corrigan:

    “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.”

    Also, hear an interview with Colson Whitehead about ‘The Nickel Boys.’

  2. Colson Whitehead

    Novel

    books

    Pulitzer Prize

    writing

    history

    interview

  1. ‘Lost And Wanted’ Grapples With Grief, Regret And The Existence Of God
Nell Freudenberger’s gorgeous new novel tells the story of a middle-aged woman who receives messages sent from her college friend’s cell phone — even after her friend has...View in High-Res

    ‘Lost And Wanted’ Grapples With Grief, Regret And The Existence Of God

    Nell Freudenberger’s gorgeous new novel tells the story of a middle-aged woman who receives messages sent from her college friend’s cell phone — even after her friend has died.

    Petra Mayer / NPR

  2. Books

    npr books

    novel

    Lost and Wanted

    nell freudenberger

  1. Random House Copy Chief: Stand Tall, Wordsmiths! (But Choose Your Battles)
Random House copy chief Benjamin Dreyer is not a fan of the word “very.”
“It’s not a dreadful word,” he allows, but “it’s one of my little pet words to do without if you can...View in High-Res

    Random House Copy Chief: Stand Tall, Wordsmiths! (But Choose Your Battles)

    Random House copy chief Benjamin Dreyer is not a fan of the word “very.”

    “It’s not a dreadful word,” he allows, but “it’s one of my little pet words to do without if you can possibly do without it.”

    “Very” and its cousins “rather” and “really” are “wan intensifiers,” Dreyer explains. In their place, he advises that writers look for a strong adjective that “just sits very nicely by itself” on the page. For example, “very smart” people can be “brilliant” and “very hungry” people can be “ravenous.”

    Dreyer gets the final say over questions related to grammar, style and clarity at Random House. Now he’s sharing his writing advice in the new book Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style.

    “Words are my business, and the meaning of words is my business,” he says. “To watch language twisted and distorted — that gets under my skin and makes me unhappy.”

  2. Grammar

    Copy Edit

    Books

    Writing

    Style

    Random House

    Benjamin Dreyer

    Interview

    English

  1. In ‘Maid,’ A Single Mother Finds 'No Way’ To Make It On Minimum Wage
While raising her young daughter as a single mother, Stephanie Land cleaned houses through an agency to scrape by. It was back-aching work and the pay — $8.55 an hour to start;...View in High-Res

    In ‘Maid,’ A Single Mother Finds 'No Way’ To Make It On Minimum Wage

    While raising her young daughter as a single mother, Stephanie Land cleaned houses through an agency to scrape by. It was back-aching work and the pay — $8.55 an hour to start; $9.25 an hour two years in — just wasn’t enough.

    Land, who had left an abusive relationship, lived for a time in a homeless shelter with her daughter. She supplemented her housecleaning income with government assistance, at one point, accruing seven different types of aid simultaneously, including housing and utility assistance, food stamps, childcare grants and medicaid.

    Looking back, she says, “There’s no way that you can work full time [at] minimum wage and have a family. It’s impossible.”

    Eventually, Land decided to revive her dream of going to college, where she pursued a degree in creative writing. Her new memoir, Maid, details her experiences cleaning houses — as well as the hurdles she’s faced as a single mother living on public assistance.

  2. Maid

    Poverty

    books

    minimum wage

    Stephanie Land

  1. ‘The Friend’ Novelist Grapples With Suicide, Grief And Student-Teacher Relationships

    Sigrid Nunez’s National Book Award-winning novel is narrated by a woman grieving the suicide of her longtime friend and former writing professor, whom she slept with once. In the novel, the friendship endures, but Nunez says when a mentor or professor has an affair with a student, it can be damaging not just to the woman, but to her work. She says when flirtatious teachers praised her work she thought, “Did those guys really think that my work was so great? Or are they just trying to sleep with me?“ After the friend’s death, the narrator inherits his dog, who, like her, is grieving.  

  2. Sigrid Nunez

    National Book Award

    Books

    npr books

    grief

    suicide

    writing

  1. ‘Let the People See’ is a timely book about the fragility of collective memory and about the courage and persistence of journalists — particularly black journalists — some of whom risked their lives in 1955 to get the facts of the Emmett Till story before the public. Most of all though, 'Let the People See’ is a vivid reminder of just how easy it is for people not to see things they’d rather not see.

    — Book critic Maureen Corrigan, reviewing Let The People See, about Emmett Till’s murder and legacy

  2. books

    npr books

    Emmett Till

    Racism

    Black Lives Matter

    history

    american history

    Jim Crow

  1. nprfreshair:
“ David Sedaris On The Mundane And Life-Altering Pages Of His Old Diaries
Sedaris’ latest book, Theft by Finding, was pulled from the pages of those diaries. In it, he revisits major turning points, like meeting his longtime boyfriend,...View in High-Res

    nprfreshair:

    David Sedaris On The Mundane And Life-Altering Pages Of His Old Diaries

    Sedaris’ latest book, Theft by Finding, was pulled from the pages of those diaries. In it, he revisits major turning points, like meeting his longtime boyfriend, and deciding to stop drinking: 

    “I had been wanting to quit for a long time. I was afraid to quit, afraid that I wouldn’t be able to write, because I started drinking shortly after I started writing. And then I kind of got it in my head that I needed to be drinking while I wrote. … I don’t know why I was so convinced of it, it’s like saying ‘I can’t sing unless I have a blue shirt on.’

    We’re rebroadcasting this interview today. Theft by Finding is now out in paperback.

  2. David Sedaris

    fresh air

    humor

    books

    diaries

  1. Nostalgia (And Norovirus) Make For A Novel ‘Last Cruise’
Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan says: This is an entertaining and elegantly written story about social class, self-delusion and the fragility of second chances. Its title makes it sound...View in High-Res

    Nostalgia (And Norovirus) Make For A Novel ‘Last Cruise’

    Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan says: This is an entertaining and elegantly written story about social class, self-delusion and the fragility of second chances. Its title makes it sound like a thriller or the series finale of The Love Boat, but The Last Cruise is no mere lightweight literary vessel.

    Photo: Samantha Clark / NPR 

  2. books

    npr books

    the last cruise

    novel

    cruise

    maureen corrigan

    book review

  1. 2 First-Rate Novels Celebrate The Humor And Heroism Of Unconventional Women

    Authors Dorthe Nors and Sayaka Murata use bracing good humor to subvert readers’ expectations about single women in their new novels, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal and Convenience Store Woman.

  2. books

    book review

  1. Pithy And Pointed ‘There There’ Puts Native American Voices Front And Center
Critic Maureen Corrigan says Tommy Orange’s novel, which centers on a cast of native and mixed-race characters whose lives intersect at a powwow, features “a literary...View in High-Res

    Pithy And Pointed ‘There There’ Puts Native American Voices Front And Center

    Critic Maureen Corrigan says Tommy Orange’s novel, which centers on a cast of native and mixed-race characters whose lives intersect at a powwow, features “a literary authority rare in a debut.”

    Samantha Clark/NPR

  2. Book review

    native american

    Tommy Orange

    There There

    Maureen Corrigan

    books

    npr books

  1. Southern Gothic ‘Florida’ Spins Tales Of Hurricanes, Humidity And Humanity
Lauren Groff sets her new story collection in what she calls the “sunniest and strangest of states.” Critic Maureen Corrigan says the tales are “brooding, inventive – and...View in High-Res

    Southern Gothic ‘Florida’ Spins Tales Of Hurricanes, Humidity And Humanity

    Lauren Groff sets her new story collection in what she calls the “sunniest and strangest of states.” Critic Maureen Corrigan says the tales are “brooding, inventive – and often moving.”

  2. Books

    npr books

    Maureen Corrigan

    Lauren Groff

    Florida

    book review

  1. Sexuality, Mortality, Failure — ‘My Ex-Life’ Has Fun Asking Big Questions
Stephen McCauley has written seven novels, some of them bestsellers and three of which have been made into movies. His last novel came out 8 years ago and our book critic...View in High-Res

    Sexuality, Mortality, Failure — ‘My Ex-Life’ Has Fun Asking Big Questions

    Stephen McCauley has written seven novels, some of them bestsellers and three of which have been made into movies. His last novel came out 8 years ago and our book critic Maureen Corrigan says that was too long to wait for his newest, called My Ex-Life

  2. Stephen McCauley

    novel

    book review

    maureen corrigan

    books

    npr books

  1. Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet Reflects On ‘Ambition And Manhood’ In America
Gregory Pardlo’s new memoir, Air Traffic, chronicles his complicated relationship with his father, a labor organizer who lost his job following the air traffic controllers’...View in High-Res

    Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet Reflects On ‘Ambition And Manhood’ In America

    Gregory Pardlo’s new memoir, Air Traffic, chronicles his complicated relationship with his father, a labor organizer who lost his job following the air traffic controllers’ 1981 strike.

  2. Gregory Pardlo

    Air Traffic

    books

    npr books

    memoir

  1. New Books Revive The Cold Cases Of Agatha Christie And The Golden State Killer

    Both of the books Maureen Corrigan recommends today are each, in their own way, about cold cases.

  2. Books

    book review

    npr book

    mystery

    agatha christie

    michelle mcnamara

    patton oswalt

    serial killer