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 24, 2026 • 6 mins
Author Tessa Yang describes her The Jellyfish Problem protagonist as an "introverted, know-it-all dork." In the novel, Jo, a marine biologist, gets a call from her unrequited college crush, Nadia, who has a request. Nadia lives on a remote island, where they’re having a problem with a giant creature. Can Jo help? In today’s episode, Yang speaks with NPR’s Elissa Nadworny about similarities between Jo and the story...
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June 23, 2026 • 8 mins
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut believes there is a “spiritual rot” festering in the country – and he wants the left and right to come together to resolve it. His new book Crisis of the Common Good argues the United States worships profit over people. In it, he takes aim at corporations, billionaires and super PACs. In today’s episode, he speaks with Morning Edition’s Leila Fadel about addr...
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June 22, 2026 • 8 mins
Novelist Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The Circle) has a new novel out: Contrapposto. It’s a decade-spanning romance of sorts, between two devoted creatives whose careers in the art world bring them together and tear them apart — repeatedly. As Cricket and Olympia navigate their relationship, the age-old question remains: what is art, really? In today’s episode, Eggers joins NPR’s A...
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June 19, 2026 • 20 mins
In the new novel They All Fall in Love at the End, polyamory is the topic at hand — primarily what it offers the protagonist and how she navigates a world where open relationships are not the norm. The End of Romance tells a story quite the opposite: A woman becomes opposed to romance altogether after leaving an abusive marriage. Today’s episode features conversations with the authors of both books. First, Haili Blassin...
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June 18, 2026 • 8 mins
How does a nationwide revolution affect the individual lives of its citizens? In the midst of the latest conflict in Iran, journalists Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati set out to answer this question by charting Iran’s history since its 1979 revolution. The product is Stolen Revolution, a collection of accounts from six Iranians — each with their own perspective on Iran and its past, present, and future. In tod...
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June 17, 2026 • 9 mins
In 2022, journalist Carlos Barragán moved to Lagos, Nigeria to investigate a cybercrime network of text-based internet phishing, also known as “sweetheart scams." He found that a small band of young men known as the “Yahoo Boys” were creating fake avatars to lure American victims into online romances — a 21st-century iteration of the Yahoo email scams from the 1990s. Barragán, who wrote about his discoveries...
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June 16, 2026 • 9 mins
R.F. Kuang’s fantasy novel Katabasis, first published in 2025, is out in paperback. The book is about two rival doctoral students studying magic at Cambridge University. Together, they travel to hell to rescue their recently deceased thesis advisor. Last year, Kuang joined NPR’s Emiko Tamagawa for a conversation about the novel at a live event in Boston. They spoke about Kuang’s rigorous approach to the study of m...
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June 15, 2026 • 7 mins
A few years ago, Theo Baker – then a student at Stanford University – joined the school newspaper and broke a story that forced the university president to resign. Marc Tessier-Lavigne, he uncovered, had overseen several labs in which researchers had falsified results. His new book How to Rule the World documents power and corruption at Stanford, colored by mansion parties, slush funds, and tech executives in competitio...
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June 12, 2026 • 17 mins
Novelist Ann Patchett has written about things as wild as hostage takeovers, fairy tales, and betrayed magicians’ assistants. But her new novel Whistler turns down the stakes to focus on the quieter complexities of human relationships. Today’s episode features two conversations between Ann Patchett and NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly. First, Patchett talks about Whistler and how it embraces the act of aging among past and...
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June 11, 2026 • 8 mins
Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray have just published new historical fiction. Their novel A Pair of Aces is about two women in 1930s New York who face down the mob and try to take down the infamous gangster Lucky Luciano. One of the protagonists is Eunice Carter, based on the real first Black female prosecutor in New York. In today’s episode, the co-authors talk with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe about how they appro...
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June 10, 2026 • 8 mins
At the start of the Cuban Revolution, Adela Ferrer’s husband made an impossible decision. Her husband had fled Havana for New York, and she planned to take her two children and join him. But instead, she was forced to bring only her daughter, leaving her 9-year-old son behind. That daughter – Ada Ferrer – is out with a new memoir called Keeper of My Kin. In today’s episode, she speaks with NPR’s Adrian...
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What happened to those who remained in Ireland after the Great Famine of 1865? It’s a question that fascinated Maggie O’Farrell, author of Hamnet, as she began her newest novel Land. Drawing on fragments of Irish history from her great-great-grandfather, O’Farrell’s Land is about… land, but it’s also about the myths, stories, and spirits that persist across generations. In today’s episode,...
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June 8, 2026 • 8 mins
The first and only 2024 Biden-Trump presidential debate was not a night easily forgotten. Joe Biden’s stumbling performance and Kamala Harris’ resulting candidacy changed history — but questions remain. In former first lady Jill Biden’s new memoir View From the East Wing, she tries to answer them. Did President Biden have a medical episode on stage? Did the Biden campaign project false hope towards voters af...
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June 5, 2026 • 17 mins
Today on the show: Fictional and nonfictional takes on extraterrestrial life. Steven Rowley’s new novel Take Me With You is about a man whose husband is abducted by aliens. The author says the premise stemmed from one he often discusses with his own husband: If you had the chance to be taken by aliens, would you go? In today’s episode, Rowley speaks with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe about the novel’s “willing h...
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June 4, 2026 • 9 mins
Sportswriter Joe Posnanski and TV writer Michael Schur say their new book is for everyone who has risked their emotional health over a sports team. Big Fan took the co-authors across the United States and beyond as they investigated fans of football, chess, Taylor Swift and more. In today’s episode, they tell NPR’s Scott Simon about how a video from the Worlds Dart Championship led them on their international tour of de...
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June 3, 2026 • 9 mins
In his debut novel, the civil rights attorney Ben Crump imagines a horrific crime that feels all too real. In Worse Than a Lie, a Black ex-police officer is shot 10 times by white officers in Chicago. The book’s hero Attorney Beau Lee Cooper must find out what actually happened in order to seek justice. In today’s episode, Crump joins NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe for a conversation about writing a “legal thriller wra...
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June 2, 2026 • 9 mins
Acclaimed author Sara Nović lost her hearing at age 12. Since then, she’s learned ASL, written the best-selling novel True Biz, mothered two children, and even discovered a knack for playing the piano — something she feels, rather than hears. Nović’s new memoir, Mother Tongue, follows her journey from teenagehood through motherhood as she grapples with a tough but fascinating question: What is a primary language? ...
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Martha Raddatz has reported on the U.S. military for more than 30 years. Now she’s out with a new book: The Hero Next Door: Stories of Patriotism and Purpose. It’s a collection of veterans’ stories from her years covering war on the frontlines and from the Pentagon. It’s important, Raddatz tells NPR’s Steve Inskeep, “to know the people who are over there performing these duties for us.” In ...
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May 29, 2026 • 16 mins
Writing is hard. So is writing about writing. And, sometimes, reading about writing. But today, we have two books that attempt to break down the literary creative process into manageable pieces. Three Six Five is author Lucy Ives’ collection of individual writing prompts for each day of the year. She sits down with NPR’s Scott Simon to discuss the book, along with why she believes “the best time to write is when y...
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May 28, 2026 • 9 mins
In 1839, conjoined twins and famous showmen Chang and Eng Bunker — native to Thailand, then called Siam — took a break from touring, settled in North Carolina, bought a slave plantation, and married two American sisters. The interracial union caused a public scandal for more reasons than one, and their story is the inspiration for Christina Baker Kline’s novel The Foursome. In today’s episode, Baker Kline, w...
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