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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.

NPR's Book of the Day

We meet the unnamed narrator of Mark Helprin's new novel Elegy In Blue when he’s 82-years-old. He was a man of wealth and standing but has wound up alone in a subsidized studio apartment in Brooklyn. Through war and violence, he’s lost his father, his son, and his wife. Now, the narrator says, “his allegiance is to ghosts.” In today’s episode, Helprin joins NPR’s Scott Simon for a conversation about the autobiographical nature of Elegy in Blue. They discuss how Helprin’s wife inspired a central character in the novel and why the narrator – and Helprin – chose to stay in New York.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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Mark Helprin’s 'Elegy in Blue' is a tragedy, love story and ghost story all in one

Journalist Jodi Kantor and Harvard happiness expert Arthur Brooks are both out with new books about identifying and cultivating meaning in one’s life. Brooks says he wanted to write The Meaning of Your Life after observing an explosion in depression and anxiety among young people beginning around 2008. In today’s episode, he chats with Here & Now’s Indira Lakshmanan about how neglecting right-brain activity has led us astray. Then, Kantor tells NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly about the daunting commencement speech invitation that led to her book How to Start, which focuses on cultivating one’s life work through ideas like “craft” and “need.”

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Journalist Jodi Kantor and happiness expert Arthur Brooks on how to find purpose

Lena Dunham shot the pilot for the HBO series Girls at age 24. Quickly, she was launched into the creative spotlight but the author says she was not prepared for “everything that came with it.” In her new memoir Famesick, Dunham recounts the “Wild West” of the 2010s, which included her rapid creative education, chronic health issues, and intense bonds with her Girls co-stars. In today’s episode, she tells Wild Card’s Rachel Martin about being welcomed into, and stung by, the cultural conversation of this time period and her creative partnership with castmate Adam Driver.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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Lena Dunham on her memoir 'Famesick' and the intense bond between 'Girls' co-stars

In Julia Langbein’s new novel, a woman named Jean is in turmoil over her past. She has rediscovered a diary from 1998, when she was 17-years-old, and spots a judgemental comment about Monica Lewinsky. Now 45 and remembering her own mistakes, Jean calls out to Lewinsky – and her prayers are answered. In today’s episode, Langbein joins NPR’s Elissa Nadworny for a discussion about Dear Monica Lewinsky that touches on adolescent desire, medieval iconography, and collective error and forgiveness.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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In 'Dear Monica Lewinsky,' a woman turns to an unusual saint for support

During the second week of the Covid lockdown, Belle Burden’s husband ended their 20-year marriage and became “someone [she] did not recognize.” Their divorce and the affair that prompted it came as a shock to Burden, who says she had been happily married, enjoying “cozy” time with their family in Martha’s Vineyard. She recounts her story in Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, which is now in its ninth printing and will be developed into a Netflix film starring Gwyneth Paltrow. In today’s episode, Burden speaks with NPR’s Juana Summers about the details of her divorce, the memoir’s smash success, and the importance of financial literacy for women, even those in happy relationships.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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Belle Burden on 'Strangers,' her divorce, and financial literacy for women

James Wolff is the pseudonym of a former British intelligence officer who now writes espionage novels. His latest, Spies and Other Gods, follows the Head of British Intelligence at the tail end of a long and successful career who feels that his mental acuity is beginning to slip away. In the midst of this brain fog, Sir William Rentoul must join forces with intelligence teams across Europe to track down an anonymous assassin. In today’s episode, Wolff joins NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly for a conversation about the personal cost of spying and Wolff’s cast of Iranian characters.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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'Spies and Other Gods' is an espionage novel by a former British intelligence officer

Two new novels center vital, but unusual connections across age. In The Take, an aspiring writer named Maggie agrees to an outlandish deal with Ingrid, an established Hollywood producer. Author Kelly Yang spoke with NPR’s Ailsa Chang about the medical procedure at the center of the novel, which accelerates Maggie’s aging while reversing Ingrid’s. Then, The Left and the Lucky tells the story of an 8-year-old boy and a man in his 40s who bond one night over a quesadilla. Author and musician Willy Vlautin told NPR’s Scott Simon about his commitment to stories with working-class characters.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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'The Take' and 'The Left and the Lucky' explore peculiar friendships across age

Wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East are reshaping global politics. In The Dark Side of the Earth, exiled Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar traces the origins of these conflicts to the end of the Cold War. The book is a history of Russia as seen from Moscow during different moments in the Soviet Empire. In today’s episode, the author talks with NPR’s Nick Spicer about how the Soviet Union’s 1991 collapse was only a temporary win for democracy – and why this theme might resonate with American readers today.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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Mikhail Zygar says the Soviet Union’s collapse was only a temporary win for democracy

Natalie Heller Mills is a tradwife influencer with 5 million followers. She drinks raw milk, eats farm fresh eggs, and is “perfect at being alive.” But when she wakes up in 1855, the very time period she’s fetishized, she feels afraid – and paranoid that she’s being filmed. In today’s episode, Caro Claire Burke joins NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe for a conversation about the author’s debut novel, Yesteryear. They discuss Natalie as an anti-hero, Burke’s interest in power hierarchies over religion, and how the author pushed the tradwife trend to “its final conclusion.”

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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In 'Yesteryear,' a tradwife influencer wakes up in the time period she’s fetishized

Demis Hassabis says when he set up an AI lab in 2010, “no one believed in it.” The Google DeepMind co-founder and Nobel Prize winner is the subject of Infinity Machine, a new biography by Sebastian Mallaby. The book is a portrait of Hassabis, who Mallaby characterizes as a rare competitor across both science and business. In today’s episode, Mallaby speaks with NPR’s Steve Inskeep about Hassabis’ origins as a young chess player, his Einstein-level ambition, and parallels between Hassabis and Robert Oppenheimer.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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'Infinity Machine' is a biography of an Oppenheimer-like figure in AI

The titular protagonist of Elizabeth Gonzalez James' new novel, The Bullet Swallower, is rooted in a story she once heard about her great-grandfather: He was a Mexican outlaw, shot by Texas police and left for dead, who lived to tell the tale. Inspired by that family lore, James uses magical realism, spirituality and some very bad characters to paint a nuanced picture of life on the U.S. Mexico border. In today's episode, she tells NPR's Ari Shapiro why she's so committed to untangling Texas in her writing, and what she thinks her great-grandfather might think of the story she based on him. 

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday 

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In 'The Bullet Swallower,' the wild, wild West meets magical realism

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