Advertise on podcast: NPR's Book of the Day

Two big names in fantasy are out with new, long-ish short stories. Madeline Miller made waves for her feminist portrayal of the Greek goddess Circe. Now, her novella “Mestra” takes on the shape-shifting daughter of the King of Thessaly. In today’s episode, Miller speaks with Here & Now’s Robin Young about writing with long Covid and how the author sees metamorphosis as a form of escapism. Then, Susanna Clarke talks with Weekend Edition’s Scott Simon about The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City, an illustrated story that takes place in the world of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

In Our Hearts Burned for Home: Uyghur Militants in Syria's Civil War, NPR’s Emily Feng traces the paths of Uyghur fighters’ from escaping the Chinese communist party to fighting the civil war in Syria against the Assad regime. At the heart of the book, and her reporting, Feng tries to answer how the Uyghur fighters became who they are and why they embraced this violent ideology. Here & Now's Scott Tong discussed the new book with Feng, who is an NPR White House reporter and former China correspondent. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Dame Judi Dench made her debut as Ophelia in Hamlet with the Old Vic Company in 1957, and she’s since won an Oscar, BAFTA Awards, Olivier Awards and Golden Globes. She played Queen Victoria in Shakespeare in Love and M in the James Bond franchise. Now, along with co-author Brendan O'Hea, she’s added a memoir to her repertoire: Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? Dench and O'Hea joined Weekend Edition’s Scott Simon to talk about her career, prankster reputation on set, and what makes theater so enduring. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Who? Weekly podcast hosts Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger assert in their new book I Want to Be Famous that classic celebrityhood – made up of A, B and C-listers – is over. In the wake of ever-changing definitions of fame, influencing and celebrity, they propose a who-versus-them binary, split into the people most of us have to ask “Who is that?” when they come up in conversation versus the ones where most people would say  “Oh, I know them.” Weekend Edition’s Ayesha Rascoe talks with Weber and Finger about modern-day fame, celebrity scandals and the money that drives it all. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Deesha Philyaw, who grew up going to church, says you can leave religion behind but “the pastor and your mama are still in your bedroom.” That premise informs her new novel The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman, which centers on Scharisse, a megachurch pastor’s wife who receives an invitation to compete in an exclusive pageant. But when a scandal breaks out, Schar’s carefully crafted image is challenged. In today’s episode, Philyaw joins All Things Considered’s Juana Summers for a conversation about womanhood, identity and freedom in the Black church. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

It’s been 15 years since Chad Harbach published The Art of Fielding, a book about a star college baseball player at a fictional Wisconsin liberal arts college. His new book The Brightness isn’t quite a sequel, but a follow-up that returns to that same world. The novel focuses on a group of young women who execute a controversial prank on campus. NPR’s Andrew Limbong spoke with Harbach about writing a campus novel that predates Covid, Trump’s presidency and TikTok, the author’s experience being “scooped by reality” and why he chose to focus this project on female friendship. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Lawrence Wright’s new book Redemption is a story about two groups of women who live surprisingly similar lives. One is on death row in Gatesville, Texas. The other group is a nearby Catholic order, the Sisters of Mary Morning Star. Redemption: Faith, Justice, and Sisterhood on Death Row is an account of their alliance. In today’s episode, Wright speaks with Morning Edition’s Steve Inskeep about the idea of second chances, the likeness betw Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

In Sophie, Standing There by Meg Mason, Sophie Pattison’s life is falling apart. On paper, there shouldn’t be an issue: She works her dream job mic’ing up authors at a local book festival – and she has a robust support system. So why, when it all comes crashing down, does she feel so alone? Sophie turns to books for solace and develops a crush on her favorite author. In today’s episode, All Things Considered’s Mary Louise Kelly talks with Mason about starting over, a desire for human connection, and books as a means of coping with loneliness. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Writer and The Office star B.J. Novak says that when his friends started having kids, he would connect with their children by reading books aloud. He began to pay attention to what would make kids laugh and eventually “printed and glue-sticked and paper-clipped” his own book that ended up being The Book with No Pictures. Now, Novak is out with a sequel for younger children called The Little Book with No Pictures. In today’s episode, he chats with Morning Edition’s Michel Martin about how the book turns words like “bonk” and “hug and squeeze" into symbols and art objects. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

It’s been almost one year since Heti, the main character of Laleh Khadivi’s Female Life on Planet Earth, lost her mother. But when details from her mother’s secret past resurface, Heti must grapple with what it means to know someone, womanhood and how to grieve parts of her mother she never knew existed. In an interview with NPR's Debbie Elliott, Khadivi talks about motherhood, how physics books became a surprising inspiration and why this is her most personal novel yet.  Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Today’s episode features memoirs by two men whose incarceration became international headlines. Evan Gershkovich is an American journalist who spent 16 months in a Russian prison. Two years after his release, his new memoir This Cursed Beautiful Land details the time he spent listening, observing and writing while detained. Gershkovich spoke with Morning Edition’s Leila Fadel about adjusting to life after his release. Then, Mahmoud Khalil describes his detention by ICE as a combined Palestine, First Amendment and immigration case. He spoke with Fadel about his new memoir No Land to Stand On. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

In American Pope: Leo XIV’s Road from the South Side of Chicago to Vatican City, NPR host Scott Detrow and religion editor Daniel Burke chronicle Pope Leo XIV’s path to leading the Catholic Church as the first American to take the position in its 2,000 year history. Reported across Peru, Chicago and Rome, the biography paints a picture of the pope, as told by his friends, confidants, family, classmates, fellow clergy and Vatican insiders. Detrow and Burke discuss the Pope’s upbringing and more in today’s episode with Weekend Edition’s Scott Simon. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Natalie Baszile’s new book, Friends and Family, follows the friendship of two mothers: Babs, a Black woman, and Nora, a white woman with an adopted Black son. When the police are called on their kids while they’re home alone, the two women are left to grapple with their tightly-held beliefs on race, identity and how to best protect their kids. In today’s episode, Baszile joins All Things Considered’s Juana Summers to talk about how the book’s questions of race, class and allyship strike personally for the author. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Over the past few months, some industry insiders have warned that rogue AI could escape its human creators, resulting in dangerous – and perhaps existential – consequences. But in his new book, Kevin Roose reminds readers that billionaire tech executives behind the technology have been fighting about this possibility for a decade or more. The AGI Chronicles follows the all-out sprint to create artificial general intelligence, despite its risks. In today’s episode, Kevin Roose, host of the new NPR podcast Machine Gods, speaks with Here & Now’s Peter O’Dowd about the quasi-religious pursuit of this technology. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Bonnie Garmus’ 2022 novel Lessons in Chemistry was a smash hit, selling more than 8 million copies worldwide. Her new novel Peck & Peck is set in the ‘80s and centers around Batter Gray, a young man who lands a job in the copy room of a prestigious poetry magazine. But soon, Batter becomes embroiled in personal and editorial conflicts. In today’s episode, Garmus joins NPR’s Elissa Nadworny for a conversation about poetry, reading aloud and why Peck & Peck is a novel about being misunderstood. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy