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NPR's Book of the Day In need of a good read? Or just want to keep up with the books everyone's talking about? NPR's Book of the Day gives you today's very best writing in a snackable, skimmable, pocket-sized podcast. Whether you're looking to engage with the big questions of our times – or temporarily escape from them – we've got an author who will speak to you, all genres, mood and writing styles included. Catch today's great books in 15 minutes or less.
NPR's Book of the Day

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NPR's Book of the Day

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In need of a good read? Or just want to keep up with the books everyone's talking about? NPR's Book of the Day gives you today's very best writing in a snackable, skimmable, pocket-sized podcast. Whether you're looking to engage with the big questions of our times – or temporarily escape from them – we've got an author who will speak to you, all genres, mood and writing styles included. Catch today's great books in 15 minutes or less.

Most Recent Episodes

Brittney Griner's memoir recounts her detention in Russia and finally 'Coming Home'
Knopf

Brittney Griner's memoir recounts her detention in Russia and finally 'Coming Home'

In 2022, WNBA star Brittney Griner was detained by Russian authorities, convicted of drug charges and given a nine-year prison sentence. Her new memoir, Coming Home, details the conditions she was held in and her eventual return to the U.S. following a swap deal. In today's episode, NPR's Juana Summers asks Griner about the mental and physical toll she's still grappling with, reuniting with her wife and trying to forgive herself for what happened.

Brittney Griner's memoir recounts her detention in Russia and finally 'Coming Home'

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'Lessons for Survival' thinks about parenting through social and environmental crises
Henry Holt and Co.

'Lessons for Survival' thinks about parenting through social and environmental crises

As a parent, how do you navigate – and feel hope – raising kids through a pandemic, a climate crisis and with police brutality in the news? That's the question at the center of Emily Raboteau's new book, Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against 'The Apocalypse.' In today's episode, Raboteau tells Here & Now's Celeste Headlee what she learned about radical care, resilience and interdependence through the people she met in her community and in her travels, and how she thinks about parenting through personal and global hardships.

'Lessons for Survival' thinks about parenting through social and environmental crises

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Colm Tóibín's long-anticipated sequel to 'Brooklyn' is 'Long Island'
Scribner

Colm Tóibín's long-anticipated sequel to 'Brooklyn' is 'Long Island'

The writer Colm Tóibín says he never meant to write a sequel to his 2009 novel Brooklyn. But an image came to him years later, of his protagonist from that book suddenly finding out her husband has had an affair that resulted in a pregnancy — and so he followed the story in Long Island. In today's episode, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Tóibín about revisiting Eilis Lacey in her 40s and upending her domestic life.

Colm Tóibín's long-anticipated sequel to 'Brooklyn' is 'Long Island'

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Chanel Miller's new children's book follows lost socks in New York City
Philomel Books

Chanel Miller's new children's book follows lost socks in New York City

Chanel Miller's first book was a critically acclaimed memoir about her sexual assault and the following trial. But she always wanted to write and illustrate books for kids. In today's episode, Miller tells NPR's Andrew Limbong how moving to New York City and ingraining herself into her community inspired Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All, a new book about a young girl and her BFF traversing their neighborhood to return socks that were left behind at the laundromat to their owners.

Chanel Miller's new children's book follows lost socks in New York City

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Rachel Khong's new novel explores who gets to be 'Real Americans'
Knopf

Rachel Khong's new novel explores who gets to be 'Real Americans'

Real Americans, the new novel by Rachel Khong, spans generations and decades within a family to understand the ongoing struggle to make sense of race, class and identity in the United States. Like with any family story, there are secrets and confrontations and difficult conversations, too; that desire to fill in the gaps about where we come from and how it has shaped our lineage is at the center of today's interview with Khong and NPR's Juana Summers.

Rachel Khong's new novel explores who gets to be 'Real Americans'

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For Mother's Day, two books that tackle motherhood
Workman Publishing Company/Penguin Books

For Mother's Day, two books that tackle motherhood

This weekend is Mother's Day, a good occasion to reflect on the art of parenting. First, comedian Glenn Boozan speaks to Celeste Headlee on Here and Now about her book There Are Moms Way Worse Than You, a joke-book that uses examples of bad parenting from the animal kingdom to soothe those who might be worried about their own child-raising skills.Then, an interview from our archives: a 1989 chat with Amy Tan on All Things Considered about her novel The Joy Luck Club, the story of four Chinese American families living in San Francisco inspired by Tan's experience as a child of immigrants.

For Mother's Day, two books that tackle motherhood

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In 'Soil,' Camille Dungy weaves together gardening, race and motherhood
Simon & Schuster

In 'Soil,' Camille Dungy weaves together gardening, race and motherhood

For poet Camille Dungy, environmental justice, community interdependence and political engagement go hand in hand. She explores those relationships in her book, Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden. In it, she details how her experience trying to diversify the species growing in her yard, in a predominantly white town in Colorado, reflects larger themes of how we talk about land and race in the U.S. In today's episode, she tells NPR's Melissa Block about the journey that gardening put her on, and what it's revealed about who gets to write about the environment.

In 'Soil,' Camille Dungy weaves together gardening, race and motherhood

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Two mothers clash over integration in 'What's Mine & Yours'
Grand Central Publishing

Two mothers clash over integration in 'What's Mine & Yours'

At the center of author Naima Coster's novel What's Mine & Yours are two struggling mothers. Jade is a Black single mother who is trying to provide a better life for her son, and Lacey May is a white mother who is trying to give her daughters the life she never had. Their stories will intertwine over decades, starting with when Lacey May opposes the integration of her daughters' school – the same school Jade is trying to get her son into. Coster told NPR's Audie Cornish that fiction gives us a window into other people's lives but that does not mean we have to condone their actions.

Two mothers clash over integration in 'What's Mine & Yours'

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Poet Ocean Vuong shares his grief in 'Time Is A Mother'
Penguin Books

Poet Ocean Vuong shares his grief in 'Time Is A Mother'

Poet Ocean Vuong's collection,Time Is A Mother, is about his grief after losing family members. Vuong told NPR's Rachel Martin that time is different now that he has lost his mother: "when I look at my life since she died in 2019, I only see two days: Today when she's not here, and the big, big yesterday when I had her."

Poet Ocean Vuong shares his grief in 'Time Is A Mother'

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'The Three Mothers' who paved the way for three extraordinary men
Flatiron Books

'The Three Mothers' who paved the way for three extraordinary men

It's almost Mother's Day – so today, we learn about the women who raised some of history's most important men in The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped A Nation. Author Anna Malaika Tubbs told 1A's Jenn White that history is often told by and about men, but knowing these women's stories - "taking their lives from the margins and putting them in the center" - is just as important. As Tubbs notes, "If they'd never had these famous sons, they still were worthy of being seen."

'The Three Mothers' who paved the way for three extraordinary men

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