Books & Literature

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the novels Pariah and The Dancing Face.

In 2023, Mallon spoke about his novel, Up With the Sun, which is based on the life of a little-known actor who was gay and closeted. His new book is The Very Heart of it: New York Diaries, 1983-1994.

John Powers reviews The Diary of Lies

Political strategist Stacey Abrams on her new book Coded Justice.

Maureen Corrigan review The Salt Stones by Helen Whybrow and A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

Danzy Senna was born a few years after Loving v. Virginia legalized interracial marriage. "Existing as a family was a radical statement at that time," she says. Originally broadcast Sept. 3, 2024.

Leila Mottley's latest novel, The Girls Who Grew Big, follows three women, ages 16, 18 and 20, as they navigate pregnancy and motherhood in a small town in the Florida panhandle. With the state's abortion laws in flux, Mottley says she had to keep adjusting her characters' experiences to fit the new reality.

Tamara Yajia grew up Jewish in Argentina, intent on becoming a child star. But just when her break was coming along, her family emigrated to California. Her new memoir is Cry for Me, Argentina.

Carter Sherman is a reproductive health and justice reporter at The Guardian, where she's covered the real-world results of abortion bans, access to health care for trans people and how technology is reshaping our view of our bodies and our choices. In her new book, "The Second Coming: Sex And The Next Generation's Fight Over Its Future," Sherman explores why Gen Z - that's people ages 13 to 28 - are having less sex than previous generations.

Growing up, White tried to "cure" his own homosexuality; he later drew upon that time for his 1982 bestseller, A Boy's Own Story. White died June 3. Originally broadcast in 1985, 1994, 1997 and 2006.

Maureen Corrigan reviews 4 mystery and suspense novels

Novelist and nonfiction writer Thomas Mallon has been keeping diaries for most of his life. They've just been acquired by the Library of Congress. A collection of his diary entries for the years 1983 to '94 has just been published under the title "The Very Heart Of It." Book critic Maureen Corrigan says if you're curious about why Thomas Mallon's diaries are a national treasure, just read this book.

In her new memoir, Jong-Fast writes that her mother, Erica Jong — who penned the 1973 feminist novel Fear of Flying — had become addicted to fame and couldn't bear losing it.

author and poet Ocean Vuong on his new novel, "The Emperor Of Gladness." Set in a fading Connecticut town, the book follows a suicidal young man whose life takes an unexpected turn when he becomes the caretaker of an elderly woman with dementia. Loosely inspired by Vuong's own experiences growing up in a working-class immigrant family in Glastonbury, Connecticut, the novel explores themes of chosen family, survival and the quiet resilience of everyday life.

Todd Purdum. He's the author of the new book, "Desi Arnez: The Man Who Invented Television."

In 1971, the year after The Beatles broke up, Lennon and Ono moved from London to New York, where they lived in a small Greenwich Village apartment for 18 months. A new film documents that period.

Patterson's books have sold over 400 million copies worldwide. He says he often gets ideas for them late at night. His latest, The #1 Dad Book, offers advice for fathers.

Journalist Amy Larocca says our society's obsession with optimization and self care has reached a fever pitch. She unpacks what it really means to take care of ourselves in How to Be Well.

Maureen Corrigan reviews Daniel Kehlmann's new novel The Director.

David Grann discusses his book about an 18th-century British warship that wrecked along the coast of Patagonia. Martin Scorsese is slated to direct the film adaptation. Originally broadcast in 2023.