"Art can help me ask the difficult questions of myself," says Chelsea Bieker. In her debut novel, a devastating drought in a California town has led residents to put their faith in a cult leader.
Critic John Powers recommends three stories to break up the monotony of coronavirus lockdown: Unorthodox on Netflix; Baghdad Central on Hulu and a new translation of Magda Szabó's 1970 novel Abigail.
Nicholas Gurewitch scratched images into clay with a stylus for this tale of Death's visit to an analyst — who helps him come to terms with Death Jr.'s lack of interest in the family business.
Rebecca Dinerstein Knight's oddball new novel follows a newly unemployed scientist, lovesick for her former mentor — but convinced of her own worth and her need for a life full of beauty.
Trauma surgeon David Nott has volunteered in war zones and disaster areas around the world. Now he's treating COVID-19 patients in London. He calls the pandemic a "disaster zone for the whole world."
Fernanda Melchor's poetic, foul-mouthed new novel sits on the border between crime fiction and horror: A woman known as the Witch has been murdered, and her neighbors want to know who did it and why/
Authors explore questions of morality, evil, solidarity and survival in Albert Camus' The Plague, Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders and Karen Thompson Walker's The Dreamers.
"Dolly hopes this series of stories will provide comfort and reassurance to coping kids and families during the shelter-in-place mandates," the Imagination Library said.
Bart Ehrman says the ideas of eternal rewards and punishments aren't found in the Old Testament or in the teachings of Jesus. His new book is Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife.
The ABC White House correspondent avoids bravado and knows better than to let insiders use his book to sound off about their enemies. But the obviousness of his account reveals an alarming truth.
Our kids' books columnist Juanita Giles reports that, stuck at home with her family, she's turned to the I am series, by Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos, for stories about relatable heroes.
The author and illustrator — who, by his own reckoning, worked on more than 270 titles — died Monday at age 85. Among his classics is the Caldecott winner Strega Nona, a seemingly ancient folk tale.
Citing the coronavirus, the Internet Archive expanded its lending program for the digital copies of millions of books. But many writers and publishers say it is sharing their work without permission.
In The Splendid And The Vile, author Erik Larson details the British prime minister's first year in office, during which England endured a Nazi bombing campaign that killed more than 44,000 civilians.
The author of Station Eleven weaves together stories of a hotel worker and an ultra-wealthy con man in a novel that captures how precarious life is — in a way that feels particularly resonant now.
Nghi Vo's new novel is poised at the end of one empire and the beginning of another, as a cleric and their talking-bird assistant set about uncovering the dangerous secrets of a forgotten palace.
Parents have been circulating ideas for how to keep kids happy — or at least occupied — during this time of social isolation due to COVID-19. Our Arts Desk has some heart-felt suggestions to offer.
Benjamin Wittes says Trump has changed the presidency fundamentally — and we're seeing the impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is the author, with Susan Hennessey, of Unmaking the Presidency
With coronavirus concerns closing libraries around the world, the nonprofit Internet Archive has suspended its waitlists for the digital copies of more than a million books.
In Samantha Mabry's new novel, three prickly sisters are haunted, maybe literally, by their fourth, who's died in an accident. She has a message for them, but they may be too sunk in grief to hear it.
NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to ABC's White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl about his book: Front Row at the Trump Show. Karl was a cub reporter for the New York Post when he first met Donald Trump.
In uncertain times, we want stories that reassure us that everything will be okay. Here are some books, films, plays and TV shows that believe in Happily Ever After.
Three-time Hugo Award winner N.K. Jemisin turns her attention to our world in her new book — or at least, a version of our world in which cities can be born in human form to fight evil.
The World War Z novelist has done extensive research into real disaster preparedness. "There is no excuse not to mobilize the full forces of the federal government right now," he says.
