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.
Episodes
June 20, 2025 • 20 mins
Carl Hiaasen and John Seabrook are out with new books that draw from their personal experiences in order to tell distinctly American stories. First, many of the scenarios in the novel Fever Beach were inspired by Hiaasen's experience living in Florida. The book satirizes the white nationalist movement, following a ragtag militia that forms when its leader is kicked out of the Proud Boys. In today's episode, Hiaasen speaks with Here...
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June 19, 2025 • 12 mins
Following Donald Trump's election in 2016, New Yorker reporter Evan Osnos wanted to understand what the president's wealth and status represented in the minds of his supporters – and in American culture at large. Osnos began reporting on the lives of the ultrawealthy, including the small but growing billionaire class. Now, Osnos has published a collection of essays The Haves and Have-Yachts, which explores the American relationship...
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June 18, 2025 • 8 mins
By the early 2000s, only a handful of queer female characters had ever been featured on television. Then, The L Word entered the scene in 2004, exploring lesbian identity, friendship and sex over six seasons and a 2019 reboot. Now, two of The L Word's stars – Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig – are out with a new memoir So Gay For You. In today's episode, the authors talk with NPR's Juana Summers about the way representation of queer ...
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June 17, 2025 • 9 mins
Joan Goodwin, an astronomer who has been in love with the stars since childhood, learns one day in 1980 that NASA is seeking the first women astronauts to join its space shuttle program. Taylor Jenkins Reid's new novel Atmosphere follows Joan as she becomes one of those astronauts, navigating new challenges, disaster, and a secret romance along the way. In today's episode, Reid speaks with NPR's Debbie Elliott about her research pr...
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June 16, 2025 • 9 mins
In 2017, Jacinda Ardern was sitting in a bathroom waiting to learn two things: whether she was going to be the prime minister of New Zealand – and whether she was pregnant. Ardern became only the second person in history to give birth while holding elected office at the top of government. And as prime minister, she had few people to turn to for advice on balancing the challenges of motherhood with leading a country. In today's epis...
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June 13, 2025 • 15 mins
Writer and professor Melissa Febos had been in a series of consecutive relationships for decades. Then, one particularly devastating experience led her to take stock of her dependency on sex and love. She says she was in "the right amount of pain" to make a change. For Febos, that period kicked off what would become a year of transformative celibacy. Her new book The Dry Season chronicles the way abstinence from sex and relationshi...
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June 12, 2025 • 7 mins
A 10-year-old girl, Louisa, and her father take a walk on breakwater in Japan, where her family is living. Louisa is later found on a beach – her father has disappeared. She and her mother are left on their own – but the tragedy doesn't bring them closer together, at least for a long time. Susan Choi's new novel Flashlight follows this family across generations and a vast historical expanse. In today's episode, Choi speaks with NPR...
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June 11, 2025 • 9 mins
The North American prairie is home to bison, elk, wolves and bald eagles – and it's disappearing at a rapid rate. In their new book Sea of Grass, writers Dave Hage and Josephine Marcotty chronicle the forces behind the loss of this ecosystem. In today's episode, they join Here & Now's Chris Bentley at a prairie outside of Chicago for a conversation about their research. They discuss the innovations in industrial agriculture that ha...
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June 10, 2025 • 7 mins
Yrsa Daley-Ward's new novel The Catch has a mind-bending premise. Clara and Dempsey are twin sisters raised separately after their mother's mysterious death. Then, on their 30th birthday, Clara swears she sees her mom on a city bus. But there's a catch: Her mom is the same age as the twins – 30. In today's episode, Daley-Ward speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about what happens when we desperately want something to be true. They disc...
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It took author Madeleine Thien nearly a decade to write her new novel The Book of Records. In the story, 7-year-old Lina and her father take refuge at an imagined place called the Sea. There, buildings serve as a waystation for people who are fleeing one place to make home in another. Thien says she wanted to set her novel in a location where centuries and histories might converge. In today's episode, Thien talks with NPR's Ari Sha...
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June 6, 2025 • 13 mins
New novels by Sara Hamdan and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas follow women in the entertainment industry who must balance ambition with the pressures of family, friendship and love. First, in What Will People Think?, a Palestinian-American woman named Mia works as a fact checker by day and performs standup comedy by night. She hides her comedy career in order to protect her family until she discovers her grandmother has a secret too. In to...
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June 5, 2025 • 9 mins
Jeffrey Seller says he found his home on stage from an early age. He grew up in the suburbs of Detroit as an adopted, gay, Jewish kid in a low-income family – but he was also a theater kid. In his new memoir Theater Kid, Seller reflects on how he moved on from the challenges of his childhood to find incredible success on Broadway. In today's episode, he speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about what first drew him to projects like In the...
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June 4, 2025 • 11 mins
The year 1963 was a landmark one for the civil rights movement – and it's the subject of Peniel Joseph's new book Freedom Season. In the book, the University of Texas at Austin professor argues the events of 1963 ushered in what would become a 50-year consensus on racial justice, including the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act and transformations to public institutions. In today's episode, Joseph joins Here & Now's Scott Tong for...
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There's a statue of Dawn Staley in Columbia, South Carolina, where she's coached the University of South Carolina women's basketball team to three national championships. But she's from Philadelphia, where she grew up in the projects surrounded by both a nurturing environment and tough love. In her new memoir Uncommon Favor, Staley writes about the life lessons she's learned from the sport that's defined her career, her upbringing ...
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June 2, 2025 • 6 mins
In Adam Roberts' debut novel, a food writer named Isabella loses her job after fumbling a chocolate souffle demonstration on Instagram Live. But soon after, she is offered the opportunity to ghostwrite a cookbook for Molly Babcock, a famous actress whose career is in need of a reboot. Food Person follows this chaotic collaboration between Isabella, who lives and breathes food, and Molly, who doesn't care much for food at all. In to...
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May 30, 2025 • 16 mins
New books by Joy Harjo and Ruthie Ackerman focus on very different moments in the life cycle of motherhood. First, Harjo's new book Washing My Mother's Body is an illustrated version of a poem she wrote in order to process grief. Harjo, the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate and member of the Muscogee Nation, never got to carry out an important ritual after her mother's death – but returns in the poem to take care of things left undone. In to...
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May 29, 2025 • 7 mins
In 1911 Vienna, a man on his way home spots the figure of a woman at the edge of the river. She is still, beautiful and nude, framed by tendrils of yellow hair. The man is Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. So instead of calling for help, the artist takes out his sketchbook. In his new historical novel Anima Rising, Christopher Moore uses this strange encounter as the jumping off point for his story, which goes on to involve characters...
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May 28, 2025 • 6 mins
In the 1950s, horror comic books – featuring at times gory depictions of violence – were rising in popularity. But these comics triggered a moral panic, ultimately leading to the Comics Code Authority's decision to outlaw werewolves, vampires and even the word "horror." Now, journalist Michael Dean is out with an anthology of these long-forgotten Marvel comics: Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows, first published in 1969. In today...
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May 27, 2025 • 6 mins
In Honor Jones' new novel Sleep, the protagonist Margaret grows up in a verdant suburban world with her family and a best friend who follows her through life. But when something disorienting happens to her, Margaret isn't protected – and so she grows up learning to protect herself instead. As a mother, she becomes concerned with how to raise her children to be safe but unafraid. In today's episode, Jones joins NPR's Mary Louise Kel...
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May 26, 2025 • 12 mins
OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit meant to conduct artificial intelligence research that would benefit the general public. In the company's early days, reporter Karen Hao arranged to spend time in OpenAI's offices and noticed the culture there was incredibly secretive. That secrecy raised questions for Hao that ultimately resulted in her new book, Empire of AI. The book is an intimate look at the company behind ChatGPT, but also at...
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