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Maureen Corrigan

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08:38

Rebecca Makkai's smart, prep school murder novel is self-aware about the 'ick' factor

Maureen Corrigan reviews I Have Some Questions for You which she says "is both a thickly-plotted, character-driven mystery and a stylishly self-aware novel of ideas."

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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
07:30

Want to be a writer? This bleak but buoyant guide says to get used to rejection

"On Writing And Failure" is the title of a new pamphlet-length book by Canadian novelist and essayist Stephen Marche. Book critic Maureen Corrigan says that while failure may be no laughing matter, Marche's little book is a witty delight to read.

Review
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
08:47

A showbiz striver gets one more moment in the spotlight in 'Up With the Sun'

Mallon's Up With the Sun is a novel about showbiz strivers and a certain slice of gay life in mid-to-late 20th-century America.

Review
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
09:10

Classic LA noir meets the #MeToo era in the suspense novel 'Everybody Knows'

Book critic Maureen Corrigan says Jordan Harper's new suspense novel is L-A noir at its sleazy, suspensful best.

Review
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
05:58

Racism tears a Maine fishing community apart in 'This Other Eden'

Paul Harding's stunning new novel, This Other Eden, is inspired by the real-life consequences of eugenics on Malaga Island, Maine, which, from roughly the Civil War era to 1912, was home to an interracial fishing community.

Review
Exclusively on
Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
06:30

'Sam,' the latest novel from Allegra Goodman, is small, but not simple

Allegra Goodman says that her new novel, called "Sam," was inspired by her daughter, who, when she was little, was constantly in motion. Goodman wondered what happens to that reckless energy in girls as they grow up. Our book critic, Maureen Corrigan, has a review of "Sam."

Review
Exclusively on
Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
08:49

Looking for a twist on the whodunit? Two mysteries veer into uncharted territory

Jane Smiley's latest novel, A Dangerous Business, is a mash-up of a Western, a serial killer mystery and a feminist erotic romp. Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures, stars a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus.

Review
Exclusively on
Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
08:48

Maureen Corrigan's favorite books of the year: 10 disparate reads for a hectic 2022

Some years, my best books list falls into a pattern: like a year that's dominated by dystopian fiction or stand-out memoirs. But, as perhaps befits this hectic year, the best books I read in 2022 sprawl all over the place in subject and form. Here are 10 superb titles from 2022:

Review
Exclusively on
Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
08:45

Small in scope, Claire Keegan's 'Foster' packs an emotional wallop

Keegan is a writer who revels in the suspense of the unspoken, the held breath. Her new novella centers on a nameless young girl whose parents leave her in the care of relatives for the summer.

Review
Exclusively on
Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
08:34

Author reminds Americans that Samuel Adams was a revolutionary before he was a beer

The Revolutionary is not merely a dutiful exhumation of a poorly remembered Founding Father, it's a thrilling, timely account of how the American Revolution happened.

Review

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