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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.

'The Last Sweet Bite' is a cookbook that documents the way conflict changes cuisine

7 mins; July 15, 2025

In Ann Patchett's latest, a mother tells her daughters about a seminal summer

9 mins; July 14, 2025

New books ask how we can protect threatened land in the Amazon rainforest and Hawaii

17 mins; July 11, 2025

With novel 'Among Friends,' Hal Ebbott says he wanted to take friendship seriously

10 mins; July 10, 2025

David Litt's new memoir is about finding common ground through surfing

9 mins; July 09, 2025

In the new speculative novel 'Weepers,' mourning is outsourced to professionals

8 mins; July 08, 2025

Ten years later, Ta-Nehisi Coates says 'Between the World and Me' is no longer his

8 mins; July 07, 2025

Kevin Kwan explores race and identity in 'Sex and Vanity' and 'Lies and Weddings'

19 mins; July 04, 2025

In Emma Straub's novel 'All Adults Here,' family is messy

7 mins; July 03, 2025

In 'Lessons in Chemistry' a chemist is the star of... a cooking show?

8 mins; July 02, 2025

'The Rachel Incident' looks back on early-20s friendships, love and mistakes

9 mins; July 01, 2025

Emily Henry's 'Funny Story' centers a new character in rom-com tropes

8 mins; June 30, 2025

New books by Damon Young and Dennard Dayle take different routes to humor

18 mins; June 27, 2025

'The Pretender' centers on a real peasant who learns he is heir to England's throne

8 mins; June 26, 2025

In 'The Science of Revenge,' an expert explains why humans are hardwired for payback

7 mins; June 25, 2025

'Great Black Hope' is a character study of a young, Black, queer man in high society

9 mins; June 24, 2025

'Fatherhood' traces a history of masculinity, from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud

7 mins; June 23, 2025

New books by Carl Hiaasen and John Seabrook tell distinctly American stories

20 mins; June 20, 2025

Evan Osnos' 'The Haves and Have-Yachts' is a book of essays about the new Gilded Age

12 mins; June 19, 2025

Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig reflect on 'The L Word' in memoir 'So Gay For You'

8 mins; June 18, 2025

For a novel on the first women astronauts, Taylor Jenkins Reid studied old NASA PDFs

9 mins; June 17, 2025

As prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern juggled leadership and motherhood

9 mins; June 16, 2025

In 'The Dry Season,' Melissa Febos chronicles a transformative year of celibacy

15 mins; June 13, 2025

Susan Choi's 'Flashlight' is about an alternate-universe version of her own family

7 mins; June 12, 2025

'Sea of Grass' chronicles the disappearance of the North American prairie

9 mins; June 11, 2025

In 'The Catch,' estranged sisters confront a mystery surrounding their mother's death

7 mins; June 10, 2025

Madeleine Thien's new novel 'The Book of Records' is a story that traverses centuries

5 mins; June 09, 2025

'What Will People Think?' and 'Climbing in Heels' star women trying to make it big

13 mins; June 06, 2025

'Theater Kid' is a memoir from the producer of 'Rent,' 'Avenue Q,' and 'Hamilton'

9 mins; June 05, 2025

'Freedom Season' argues the events of 1963 transformed the civil rights movement

11 mins; June 04, 2025

In new memoir, women's college basketball coach Dawn Staley says she's a 'sore loser'

8 mins; June 03, 2025

In debut novel 'Food Person,' a food writer ghostwrites a celebrity cookbook

6 mins; June 02, 2025

Two authors consider how being a daughter shaped their relationship to motherhood

16 mins; May 30, 2025

In 'Anima Rising,' Gustav Klimt encounters a young woman under strange circumstances

7 mins; May 29, 2025

'Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows' restores a lost chapter of comic book history

6 mins; May 28, 2025

Honor Jones' 'Sleep' explores how our childhoods influence who we are as parents

6 mins; May 27, 2025

Karen Hao's new book is a skeptical look at Sam Altman and Elon Musk's AI empire

12 mins; May 26, 2025

With new novel, Ocean Vuong says he wants to reframe America as a place of salvage

14 mins; May 23, 2025

'Little Bosses Everywhere' looks into the Wild West of multilevel marketing

8 mins; May 22, 2025

A new biography of Rafael Nadal focuses on the tennis star's domination on clay

10 mins; May 21, 2025

'Original Sin' argues Biden aides enabled his reelection bid, despite mental decline

12 mins; May 20, 2025

In 'Class Clown,' humorist Dave Barry embraces both the funny and hard parts of life

9 mins; May 19, 2025

'The Golden Road' and 'The Lucky Ones' examine India's ancient and recent history

17 mins; May 16, 2025

A new biography tells the twin stories of James Gandolfini and Tony Soprano

9 mins; May 15, 2025

'The Lost and the Found' takes an intimate look at homelessness in San Francisco

10 mins; May 14, 2025

In 'Julie Chan Is Dead,' former influencer Liann Zhang takes a swipe at the industry

7 mins; May 13, 2025

Isabel Allende's latest historical novel draws from her time at a women's magazine

10 mins; May 12, 2025

In 'Romantic Friction,' 'The Fact Checker' the publishing world is fodder for fiction

18 mins; May 09, 2025

'Personhood' argues fetal rights are the next frontier of the anti-abortion movement

11 mins; May 08, 2025

The new novel 'Fair Play' is a self-aware take on the golden age of detective fiction

7 mins; May 07, 2025

Loryn Brantz's 'Poems of Parenting' gives parents permission to laugh out loud

11 mins; May 06, 2025

In her new memoir, Tina Knowles, mother of Beyoncé and Solange, tells her own story

7 mins; May 05, 2025

New cookbooks from Sarah Ahn and Roy Choi take different approaches to Korean cuisine

19 mins; May 02, 2025

With 'Rabbit Moon,' Jennifer Haigh chooses Shanghai as the backdrop to family tragedy

10 mins; May 01, 2025

In 'Putin's Revenge,' Lucian Kim traces the lead-up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine

11 mins; April 30, 2025

Katie Kitamura's 'Audition' is a puzzle, but she says it's not meant to be solved

9 mins; April 29, 2025

Emily Henry's latest novel 'Great Big Beautiful Life' explores love beyond romance

9 mins; April 28, 2025

Zadie Smith looks back at her debut novel 'White Teeth' 25 years after its release

14 mins; April 25, 2025

'Happy Land' was inspired by a real-life kingdom of formerly enslaved people

7 mins; April 24, 2025

'Paper Doll' documents trans TikTok creator Dylan Mulvaney's journey through girlhood

8 mins; April 23, 2025

An early biography paints Pope Francis as 'The Great Reformer' of the Catholic Church

6 mins; April 22, 2025

Aided by new sources, Clay Risen's 'Red Scare' brings McCarthyism back to life

7 mins; April 21, 2025

Two new children's books view the natural world as a site of personal growth

15 mins; April 18, 2025

A new cookbook by Darjeeling Express chef Asma Khan was inspired by seasonal cooking

9 mins; April 17, 2025

Rex Ogle's 'When We Ride' is a novel-in-verse about a best friendship under pressure

9 mins; April 16, 2025

'Adventures in the Louvre' will teach you how to fall in love with the famous museum

8 mins; April 15, 2025

An obituary writer makes a grave error in John Kenney's 'I See You've Called in Dead'

8 mins; April 14, 2025

Two new novels explore a world where technology has even greater access to our minds

19 mins; April 11, 2025

A new oral history of Lollapalooza recalls the alt-rock music festival's wildest days

8 mins; April 10, 2025

Emma Pattee's 'Tilt' imagines the aftermath of a life-changing earthquake

8 mins; April 09, 2025

In the wake of a sexual assault, astronaut Amanda Nguyen turned to activism

8 mins; April 08, 2025

In 'Everything Is Tuberculosis,' John Green turns his attention to a deadly disease

12 mins; April 07, 2025

Authors of two new novels draw inspiration from history in wildly different ways

17 mins; April 04, 2025

To confront radical change, 'Slate' writer Scaachi Koul wrote a new book of essays

7 mins; April 03, 2025

A new book from Emily Feng asks what it means to be Chinese in Xi Jinping's China

8 mins; April 02, 2025

In 'Long Island,' one woman returns to Ireland after discovering her husband's affair

8 mins; April 01, 2025

Christine Wenc's 'Funny Because It's True' calls 'The Onion' "the original fake news"

7 mins; March 31, 2025

John Himmelman, Reginald Dwayne Betts take a populist approach to poetry in new books

15 mins; March 28, 2025

In 'Beartooth,' brothers embark on an illicit journey into Yellowstone National Park

10 mins; March 27, 2025

Chuck Schumer's 'Antisemitism in America' warns of a resurgence in antisemitic views

11 mins; March 26, 2025

Allison Epstein's 'Fagin the Thief' gives a Charles Dickens character a second chance

9 mins; March 25, 2025

A former Meta executive characterizes company leadership as "careless" in new memoir

7 mins; March 24, 2025

In two noir novels, crime lurks beneath small town life in Norway and New England

17 mins; March 21, 2025

A new biography tells the story of a South Asian Hollywood star who passed as white

10 mins; March 20, 2025

'I'm That Girl' follows gymnast Jordan Chiles' road to the Olympics

9 mins; March 19, 2025

The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins was inspired by Greek myths and reality TV

7 mins; March 18, 2025

A new novel from Karen Russell is a sprawling story set during the Dust Bowl

7 mins; March 17, 2025

Books by critic Kenneth Turan and actor Rupert Everett show two sides of Hollywood

15 mins; March 14, 2025

Jennifer Finney Boylan's latest memoir 'Cleavage' is a reflection on transgender life

11 mins; March 13, 2025

In 'Death Takes Me,' men are the victims of violence usually inflicted on women

7 mins; March 12, 2025

Alexander Vindman's 'The Folly of Realism' suggests a long-term approach to Ukraine

8 mins; March 11, 2025

'Dream Count' is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's first novel in more than a decade

7 mins; March 10, 2025

Picture book biographies introduce children to Toni Morrison and Ruby Bridges

16 mins; March 07, 2025

'Harlem Rhapsody' is a novel about an affair at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance

9 mins; March 06, 2025

In 'Back After This,' a podcast host tries to find love

10 mins; March 05, 2025

'You Didn't Hear This From Me' is Kelsey McKinney's gossip bible

8 mins; March 04, 2025

In 'Stone Yard Devotional,' a woman abandons modern life for a religious community

8 mins; March 03, 2025

Two James Baldwin experts break down his early fiction and political writing

11 mins; February 28, 2025

The authors of 'Pseudoscience' explore and debunk your favorite conspiracy theories

6 mins; February 27, 2025

Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama writes and reads poetry that speaks to the human condition

8 mins; February 26, 2025

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