- NPR Best Books | Tales from Around the World | 2019-2022
- Literary critics give their takes on the best of books of 2022
- NPR Reading Challenge | Reading and Writing | #booktube
- Bono discusses his new memoir, Surrender, and the faith at U2s core | NPR
- Lovers of NPR, Unite! | “Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie” Book Review
- The best reads of 2021
- Yebba: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
NPR Best Books | Tales from Around the World | 2019-2022
hi and welcome to my channel my name is,amanda,and,i tried to do a reading vlog,of my npr books,and i got sick,so normally the way i do the reviews or,whatever is i come in at the beginning,and i tell you what im going to read,like i already did and then as im,reading the books i check in and tell,you what i thought about them and how,they all went,well on sunday,i kicked this thing off and i started,reading the first book which is called,patsy,and then i read that book all day monday,and i thought okay tuesday morning i was,done with patsy i had already started,the second book which was,swimming in the dark,and i was like okay im going to film,patsy sometime today and then ill read,keep reading swimming in the dark well,tuesday afternoon i started feeling,really bad,and,it got worse and worse and worse and i,did not sleep,very much at all tuesday night because i,was constantly in the bathroom,doing everything you could possibly do,in the bathroom,and,wednesday,i,just was absolutely i was still sick,wednesday and but also on top of it i,was so drained like i was just,physically,tired,so,wednesday,nothing could happen as far as filming,goes but wednesday afternoon i started,feeling a lot better,and so i was like okay i still dont,feel like filming anything and at this,point because i couldnt do anything but,just lay around ive still been reading,so i finished patsy i finished swimming,in the dark i finished what was the,third dang book called i finished noor,by nettie okorafor that was the last one,that i read,on wednesday,i finished it wednesday night and then,thursday i thought well ill sit down,and talk about those three books and,then ill only have one more book to,read and then i was like i still dont,really feel like being on camera,and i need to film like what im doing,with this bookshelf and stuff behind me,thats still not finished spoiler alert,but i thought let me just finish the,last book that i want to do for this,reading vlog and then ill just discuss,all the books so its not really,going to be like a vlog its really just,going to be me discussing i did want to,throw in here that my 15 year old son,has decided that he wants to do more,recipe cooking he knows how to cook like,basic things but he wanted to do more,recipe cooking and so he,found a recipe for a chicken spaghetti,its like a chicken spaghetti casserole,kind of thing its got like ricotta,cheese and that kind of stuff in it,anyway,so i made him take a picture with his,chicken spaghetti last night before we,ate it and thankfully i was feeling so,much better and so i ate with them and,it was really good and i did not get,sick so,i appear to be over the illness so im,going to talk about all the books all,together as if im just doing a wrap up,for my npr reads,i am now done with tales from around the,world i did,nine 2019 2020 2021 and 2022. so for,2019,i read pepsi a novel now this book is,set in both the united states and,jamaica,and it spans a long time period and,there are,years that pass just without us seeing,anything its like the next chapter,moves on and its been five years later,or its been,another year later or something like,that so,you have to get,used to that thats whats gonna happen,but at the beginning it doesnt do that,at the beginning we are following patsy,she has a five-year-old daughter named,true,thats not her full name but thats what,she calls her is true,and,her mom they all live together and patsy,has a friend,who was more than a friend like her,long-lost love i guess that is already,in the united states she kind of just,disappeared when they were in university,and so or when she went to university,patsy didnt,and we found out more information about,that and about their relationship but,shes been writing her from the united,states telling her,how she cant wait for her to come visit,and all this stuff so,patsy has been saving up money shes,trying to get a visa to get to the,united states the problem is,shes not taking her daughter,and,it goes back to a ton of like,issues or questions of,womens autonomy with their body in,certain locations like they dont have,as many choices,as far as like,whether or not theyre with people,whether they,they just dont have a lot of choices if,they want to be able to survive and eat,it is,just not,a lot of freedom in those choices so she,has ended up with a daughter,and the the father of the daughter is,married and has a family,and she finally goes to him and shes,like look im not asking for anything,shes five years old ive never asked,you anything youve never,met hung out with her or anything,like she knew who he was but they didnt,like spend time together and so,shes like i need you to take her,because i cant leave her with my mother,her mother is a an incredibly incredibly,religious fanatic who,wont go get a job she wont do anything,because she just says that jesus will,provide whatever they need or god will,take care of them,and,really what it means is that she,neglects her family so like we find out,all the things that happen when patsy,was a child because of her mothers,fanaticism and,just,that all comes out later on in the book,but anyway this is all at the very,beginning patsy drops her off or tells,her,dad like youre gonna have to take your,daughter im going to the states and,she tells her daughter like ill be back,but she tells everybody else like im,not coming back her visa is for like 90,days or however long six months maybe,but she has no intention of coming back,and so she gets to america,her friend picks her up from the airport,and shes like oh im finally gonna be,who i want to be and who i,you know have dreamed of being all these,years and then she just finds out that,things are not,the way her friend told her they were in,america that things are not,the way she thought they would be,and,she maybe starts regretting some of the,decisions that she made,and,like i said years just start passing and,we are getting patsys point of view and,were also getting trues point of view,and even a little bit of roy thats,trues dad a little bit of his point of,view and his wife with their kids,and then all of that,all of the extra stuff we just meet lots,of other people we get to know trues,friends as shes growing up she really,wants to play soccer,and thats not a thing that girls do,thats what boys do and so she just,really starts saying this is who i am,and this is what im going to do and i,want to play soccer and so,we see true kind of coming into who she,is and fighting the status quo where,patsy,didnt do that until she was,an adult an older adult and so the both,of them have kind of been finding,themselves away from each other and,it was it was really well done i thought,as far as the dual perspectives go and,the characters were so real i dont,usually like these contemporary books,although i keep having to read quite a,lot of them in the npr challenge i think,npr,editors really like these contemporary,books but,i just really liked that we got,the two points of view from patsy and,true and we got to see,what happens when somebody takes control,of their life at a younger age,than somebody who felt like they didnt,have the opportunity to take control and,all of the characters are flawed we,dont see anybody that makes all good,choices theyre all bad choices the,characterization in this book is,phenomenal so if you need something that,is like,dual perspective or anything to do with,family relationships or anything like,that this book is perfect for that it,takes place like i said half in jamaica,and half in the united states so,any of those kind of prompts like that,that you need that for something that,youre reading or something that you,just want to read it was really good,like i said for the characterization of,the writing maybe not the genre that i,would normally read or something i would,normally pick up but,really well done characters,then i read swimming in the dark oh i,forgot to say patsy,and swimming in the dark are bot
Literary critics give their takes on the best of books of 2022
Judy: The year in books.,We take a look at some of the,best writing of 2022.,Jeffrey brown leads the way for,our arts and culture series,,canvas.,Jeffrey: Its always one of our,favorite discussions of the,year, even if we can only get to,a handful of top books.,Well do our best.,Joined this year by Gilbert,Cruz, books editor of the new,York Times, and Maureen,Corrigan, book critic of NPR.,Nice to talk to both of you.,And Maureen Corrigan, book,critic of NPR.,Gilbert, lets start with,fiction.,How about two or three picks?,Gilbert: Sure.,I will mention two books that we,recently put on our top ten,books of the year list.,The first is trust by Hernan,Diaz.,This is a novel that tells the,rise of a financier in New York,City in the early 20th century.,But it tells it from four,different perspectives.,It is historical fiction, but,its also literary fiction.,Its something that I honestly,did not know anything about,going into it.,I picked it up off the shelf,this summer, and I think in the,first five or six pages I was,just totally taken by it.,This is one of my favorite books,of the year.,Jeffrey: Okay, how about a,second pick?,Gilbert: Sure.,Another of my favorite books of,the year is the candy house by,Jennifer Egan.,So Jennifer Egan wrote the,pulitzer prize winning novel a,visit from the goon squad.,This came out in 2010.,And the candy house is a sequel.,A follow up, I think she calls,it a sibling novel.,You find some of the same,characters but it sort of takes,them in a completely different,direction.,It presupposes that there is a,technology that has been,invented called own your,unconscious.,So its sort of a social novel,in that it is grappling with,what it means to be hooked into,technology and social media.,Its relevant.,Its endlessly inventive.,Its its fantastic.,Jeffrey: Im glad you picked,that one.,And I hope our viewers will,remember my talk with Jennifer,Egan earlier this year for that,book.,So Maureen Corrigan, two,fiction.,Maureen: Claire Keegans foster,,this is a novella.,It was originally published in,2010 in the new Yorker.,Its been out in great Britain,for years.,Its the first time its been,published in this country.,Jeffrey: Shes an Irish writer,,right?,Maureen: Shes an Irish writer.,Shes telling the story of a,young girl whos shipped off to,relatives she doesnt know to,live for a summer on a farm.,Keegan raises the question of,whether this is a kindness or,not to introduce a child who has,of living and different,relationships when shes going,to be shipped back to her,parents at the end of the,summer.,The other book that knocked me,out was a debut by Jonathan,escoffery called if I survive,you.,Its about a Jamaican American,family.,The parents come to Florida to,to escape political violence and,to try to give their two young,sons another kind of life.,They keep getting knocked down.,The 2008 recession.,Hurricane Andrew.,Racism.,Escoffery is a terrific writer.,Hes funny.,Hes witty.,Hes sharp.,His characters are more than,just sort of ideas.,Theyre fully realized human,beings.,And the “You” his characters are,trying to survive is America.,Jeffrey: All right.,Lets turn to nonfiction,,Gilbert, want to pick, give us a,couple?,Gilbert: I sure do.,The first is a book called stay,true by a gentleman called hua,Hsu, hua is a writer for the new,Yorker magazine.,And stay true is a memoir.,Its a memoir of growing up as a,child of Taiwanese immigrants in,California.,But its also the memoir of,going to Berkeley in the mid,1990s.,He becomes friends with the son,of Japanese American immigrants,,a boy named Ken, who he first,thinks is sort of this very,simple frat boy, but then grows,to learn its much more,complicated than he first,suspected.,Its a book about grief.,Its a book about youth and,nostalgia.,Theres so much that is packed,into such a small, such such a,small amount of pages.,Its quite wonderful.,The second is called an immense,world.,Ed Yong is a writer for the,atlantic magazine.,Some might know him for his,wonderful stories over the past,three years on coronavirus.,But this is a book about animals,and specifically about the ways,that animals perceive the world,and how those perceptions are,different from the way that,humans see the world.,And whether you like animals or,not, it was just endlessly,fascinating.,Jeffrey: Okay, Maureen,,nonfiction.,Maureen: Ada Calhoun, also a,poet.,Ada Calhoun is writing about her,father, Peter schjeldahl, who,was an art critic for the new,York Times.,Jeffrey: Yeah, very prominent.,Maureen: Very prominent, but,kind of an elusive, emotionally,elusive father.,Ada goes down to the basement of,the east village apartment house,where her parents lived for,decades.,She comes upon these cassette,tapes that her father made when,he was trying to write a,biography of the New York poet,frank OHara.,And she decides shes going to,use these tapes to try to,complete what he never,completed.,He never wrote this biography.,Also a poet is literary,criticism.,Its biography of both her,father and frank OHara.,And its also a daughters,memoir and a love letter to new,York City.,So its fabulous.,The other book I that has stayed,– the other book I — that has,stayed with me is by the medical,historian Lindsay fitzharris,,and its called the face maker.,Its about the pioneering,plastic surgery work of Harold,gillies, a doctor during world,War I, whos faced with this,catastrophe of all of these men,whove had their faces shattered,by the new technology of warfare,during World War I.,There are no textbooks, there,are no guides.,Hes trying to put these mens,faces back together again and to,give them their lives.,Jeffrey: Gilbert, you know, I,know in your position you get,lots and lots of books sent your,way.,Im just — Im wondering, do,you see any themes jumping out,at you or subject matter that,speaks to our moment, whether,its the pandemic, the politics,of our time?,Anything hitting you?,Gilbert: One book that came out,this year that was particularly,well-received, book called Lucy,by the sea, by the author,Elizabeth strout.,And this was a novel starring a,character that shes written,about several times before, Lucy,Barton.,And in this novel, Lucy,experiences the pandemic.,She is an older woman who has to,leave New York to go up to Maine,to join her husband in a cabin,so they can sort of get away,from what they imagine is is a,very dangerous place to be at,the moment.,Its a little too close for some,people at the moment.,I found it extremely readable,and I imagine were going to,continue to see books like that,over the course of the next many,years.,Jeffrey: Maureen, you get a lot,of books coming your way.,What do you see?,Maureen: I do.,The pandemic novel and,nonfiction.,I see the pandemic entering in,ways that I dont expect.,Something like Alexandra,Horowitzs the year of the,puppy.,Alexandra Horowitz is the head,of the canine cognition lab at,Barnard, and shes written a lot,of nonfiction about the way dogs,think.,Kind of connecting with what,Gilbert said about Ed Yongs,nonfiction book.,MC: She and her family adopted a,puppy during the pandemic.,And so its partly that personal,story.,So many people adopted dogs and,cats during the pandemic, but,also this attempt yes, to get,into the mind of a creature who,we love but who is not us.,So I think were going to keep,seeing those pandemic stories.,Jeffrey: All right.,Just some of the best books of,2022.,Maureen Corrigan, Gilbert Cruz,,thank you both very much.,Gilbert: Thank you.
More: taurus g3c review
NPR Reading Challenge | Reading and Writing | #booktube
hi and welcome to my channel my name is,amanda and were going to be talking,about my npr challenge books for this,month so normally i have three books,that i read each month but this time,because on my card draw i got an extra,npr book i read four and we are in the,category of eye-opening reads and,starting in 2014 i read the sixth,extinction,by elizabeth colbert this book was,really good i really liked how much,research she put into it like she,traveled to different locations to work,with paleontologists to really find out,what was happening in all of these,locations with all these different,things she tells you herself at the,beginning that this is,told in two halves the first half is the,history of,like the extinctions that came before,because its called the sixth extinction,because she is saying that we are in the,midst of the sixth one and so she talks,about the first five that came and all,of that in the first half and then the,second half of the book is about the,current extinction period that were in,and just hearing how,about things that i already knew but in,a more,well-researched way and not the just the,anecdotal thing that i knew about it but,as far as like especially the first guy,who said like um hey i think there was a,meteor that crashed into our planet,and like caused a massive mass,extinction quickly and everybody was,like,okay dude like no we dont we dont,think thats right its been a slow,extinction just like it has with every,everything thats gone extinct like,thanks for playing,and then they all had to come back and,be like um yeah were were sorry youre,right,anyway i just i liked knowing,things that like i said i already knew,about but i didnt know like the,background of how they were discovered,and how we found out about them so i,really enjoyed it for 2015 we had the,red web,im going to look over here to say their,names by andre solditols and irina,borgen okay,um they are this book is about the,internet in russia well kind of the,internet everywhere but how russia,responded and how they continue to,respond to the internet now so it kind,of goes all the way back to before the,internet was even a thing and talks,about how it was very closely monitored,at first then they were given a little,bit more freedom and then its back to,very closely monitored and so just kind,of how that went and,who was pushing to have it open and who,wasnt like who wanted it to be closed,and all of those things,it was really cool to see some of the,inside stuff theyre both journalists,and they live in moscow and so this was,just a really cool look,at the internet and there were parts of,it that i was like okay im kind of,bored but there were parts of it that i,just really enjoyed especially when it,was told more like a story then it was,just fact and effect and effect so,i i liked it i didnt love it but i,liked it and,im glad i read it i had to change the,camera angle because i felt like i was,looking up in the air the whole time,okay sorry the next one was in for 2016,eye-opening reads and it was terminal,lance by maximilian uriarty im pretty,sure i said his name right but im not,entirely certain,anyway this was also a graphic novel i,wish i had kept these because i had them,all in physical form from the library,and ive already taken them all back so,it was,this was my favorite of the npr books,for this month i,really enjoy this so maximilian this,book first of all is a fiction,book because originally like its listed,in goodreads as fiction but its also,listed as a memoir and i was like hold,on so no it is,it is fiction,however the guy who wrote it has been,deployed multiple times to iraq and he,was in the marines so i guess its,semi-biographed,but its not its not about his story,its just in general the story of people,that he encountered and that he served,with and all that kind of stuff so,its not its not a non-fiction it is a,fiction work,but,it reads just like somebodys life story,and so thats kind of what hes telling,is why he joined the marines not he but,the main character why he joined the,marines and,and he doesnt really know like he just,like is like im looking for something,but he wasnt really sure what it was,that he was looking for and so this book,takes him through basic training and,through his pre-deployment training and,then on the deployment and then what,happens after he gets back from the,deployment so its like a full spectrum,and of course,as you would expect in any kind of book,like this it deals with ptsd it deals,with suicidal ideations and so any of,those things if there are triggers for,you maybe dont read it any kind of war,violence or anything like that if those,are triggers then be aware before you go,in,but,it ended in such a way that i think,would be hopeful for people and it was,it was just a really good book and i,really loved it and its a graphic novel,so especially if people like graphic,novels you would love this just really,good,and then my bonus book,for 2017 an eye-opening reads is,mozarts starling by lyanda lynn halt,now,if anybody who knows me in real life or,have been around me for very long knows,that i hate birds,i,hate birds they,i know what happened like you want to,trace this back in my childhood i can,tell you what happened,i went to disney world when i was in,high school i was so excited about this,trip like i lived in my little tiny town,in arkansas and we finally got to go to,disney world and i was so excited about,it and then we went to epcot,and i dont know if any of you have been,there and i really hope that its,changed over the last 30 years but we,sat outside at some of the like,restaurants around the world i dont,even know what its called because its,been a long time and im old but we sat,there and ate,and birds,swooped in on us the whole time like,they flew onto our table they flew like,okay so that thats where it started,i hate birds,so,i didnt know what i was getting into,with this book but i will tell you this,if anything has come close,to making me want to get a bird,it has been,this book,that i feel like half of this book was,about mozart and half of this book was,about her starling so lyanda to write,this book decided that she needed a,starling so theres a whole thing at the,beginning about starlight and if you,know about birds or bird watching or,whatever,people hate starlings like bird watchers,hate starlings its not like a,theyre theyre not a bird to go watch,theyre kind of like one of those,invasive species kind of things and,theyve taken over,certain sections and anyway,bird people hate starlings i didnt even,know what a starling looked like i had,to go google it because again a bird is,a bird to me and i dont like any of,them so lyanda got a starling,and decided to keep it and raise it so,she would know what mozart did and also,because the story goes that mozart was,walking in near his home one day and he,heard a bird whistling,a tune that he had just worked on,writing and he was like wait uh this,bird knows my writing so i must have,this bird,so he like adopted the bird and brought,it home and the bird lived with him and,he wrote a poem for it when it died and,they had a whole funeral thing where he,like,brought his friends in and like hired,people to like legitimately mourn the,spurt i think thats so cute but anyway,that whole thing was secondary to the,story of lyandas bird that shes,raising while shes writing this book so,anyway it ended up i loved it so much,like im in love with the slow bird also,it did it didnt make me want to get a,bird because theyre a lot of work and,she has to do a lot of crap for this,bird like sometimes literal crap,and also she was in the store one time,and her daughter was like uh you have,bird poop in your hair so,im gonna be im still gonna be a firm,no on the bird in our house however,i think that i can appreciate them more,now,after reading this book i absolutely,loved it and if you are a bird lover,anyway you would love this you will love,this i
More: last night in soho review
Bono discusses his new memoir, Surrender, and the faith at U2s core | NPR
RACHEL MARTIN (HOST): The book is called “Surrender: ,40 Songs, One Story.” I loved reading this. Im not just telling you that.,BONO (MUSICAL ARTIST): Oh, thank you.,MARTIN: I will say that when I heard you were writing a memoir, I thought for someone who has ,had the career that you have had, someone who has put themselves out to the world in all of ,these ways through your music and your performing, sidnt you want to keep something for yourself? ,Because I feel like you put it all in, in here. You give us everything. Or maybe ,you don’t. BONO: Actually, I have another book coming. I ,mean, actually, theres so many people and places and, and occasions that shaped me and my life that ,I havent in there, you know, I havent put in there. I found it really hard to leave out stuff.,MARTIN: Yeah. By way of shaping the rest of our conversation, ,Im going to ask a specific question thats not nearly probably as easy to answer. What was the ,most consequential decision youve ever made? BONO: When I asked Alison Stewart, ,as she was known then, I think asking her out was the most important thing. I would say ,that first surrender. My faith, that surrender. Kind of were the same. You know, I associate them. ,I suppose its, oh, God. Is it unconditional love, you know? I mean, ,Im 15 or 16. What do I know of unconditional love? But I — I may not know what it is, ,but I know what it isnt. Because Im in a house, 10 Cedarwood Road, in Dublin. My mothers passed ,away. The three males are shouting at each other. MARTIN: Your dad and your older brother, Norman?,BONO: Yes, and, and I know what it isnt. So when I find it, it connects me spiritually as ,well as personally. And that happens to be the same week as I joined U2.,MARTIN: We have to just say out loud for people who dont know, you are still married to Alison.,BONO: Yeah, yeah, Im still married. And if I wasnt with Ali, perhaps I wouldnt be with Edge, ,Adam and Larry, because I think having a partner, girlfriend, ,then wife, who kind of knows when you say something like, “Im going to kill him now.” ,“No, you cant. Take your hands…get that voodoo doll out of your hand. ,Thats a pin. Theres nothing funny about that. You love this man or these men.”,MARTIN: Yeah.,BONO: And “Go and go for a walk,” you know? So shes just been, really, a kind of spirit guide. ,But one of the things I discovered as I wrote this book was, I had — and maybe we all do — you ,know, sorry this is a big, “Hello! Be careful of making these kind of pronouncements” type moments. ,I wonder if sometimes we do have what we need around us thats there. I certainly felt, ,and have continually felt, that the people I need ,are right there. I just had to see them. And I feel very fortunate.,MARTIN: It also does require some wisdom to be able to see not just the good around you in these ,people, but then to work to keep them around you for so long. And not jeopardize the relationship.,BONO: Yeah. And if you dont have that wisdom, find people who have it.,MARTIN: Right.,BONO: So, I’ve, I’ve found — I would say Ali had more wisdom than I. I would say, you know, ,in the band theres collective wisdom there as well as individual. Another thing I found ,over the while was, I would meet people whom others would not have in the room. ,MARTIN: What do you mean? BONO: I mean, not personal hygiene. I just mean, I ,mean, unusual people. Abrasive characters, who others would go,” Oh, you know.” I dont, Ive ,always wanted to be around a really good argument. And, you know, I like when I think youre as good ,as the arguments you get. Really. And I just had a lot of really good ones around me.,MARTIN: Thats a great segue to your dad with whom I think you shared some arguments.,BONO: Yes.,MARTIN: Did he appreciate your musicality? ,Did he think you had a good voice? BONO: Yeah. In the end and medium term, ,Id say he was coming around. I was going to call the book, “The Baritone Who Thinks Hes a Tenor”. ,Because thats what my dad used to say: “You are a baritone who thinks hes a tenor.” And its ,very accurate of me as a personality, I think. MARTIN: What does that mean? That it captures ,something about your personality? BONO: I punch over my weight. Im only ,interested in punching over my weight. Im always picking fights with people I shouldnt, you know? ,You know, as a kid, that’s who I am, or ideas or whatever. I think my father would say was “above ,your station,” might be a little bit. Whenever somebody says that, I get all Irish on them.,MARTIN: Mm hmm.,BONO: You know, like, “Above my station, really?” And, you know, rock and roll, ,where I come from, is kind of rooted in defiance.,MARTIN: I loved that moment in the book ,where you talk about the moments right after he died. He suffered from cancer and…well, ,you tell it. Your voice changed after he died. BONO: This is a very unscientific theory I have, ,Rachel. Its, yeah, I just have its a kind of folksy idea, really, that ,when someone you love passes on, there might be a kind of gift in, you know, in their passing, like ,a living will and testament for you or something. And I, I think I might have become the tenor. ,My voice certainly changed. But that also had something to do with – ,and this is not a unique phenomenon – when a loved one is missing from your life, as you know, ,in a manifestation, as physical manifestation, their essence becomes kind of strong. And, and I, ,I had to put a few things right with my father. So, I had this moment where I apologized to him ,and I went to a little chapel and that I know. You know, it was a classic confession sort of ,moment. Over here in America, you would call that “visiting your shrink”. “And I will do that, ,too when I get time,” he said, displaying visible signs of needing that kind of thing. But ,and yeah. And my voice opens up and and theres a physiological reason for that, too, because if ,you are more relaxed as a person, right? Your voice does open up. Yeah. And Im, Im singing ,in a way that I in the last few years, Ive been singing ways I could never ,have imagined that I could sing because I never thought of myself as a singer, ,really, up until relatively recently. MARTIN: You also wrote that your dad ,said near the end of his life that the most interesting thing about you ,was your spirituality, was your religion. BONO: My faith. Yeah. He had always said to ,me things like, you know, this stuff, this God stuff, the two-way conversation thing.,MARTIN: The prayer thing. BONO: Yeah. He was like.,You know, I mean, I dont experience that, but you shouldnt give that up.,MARTIN: You write in the book, ,on your religion, as youre talking about your faith, “If I was in a cafe right now and someone ,said, stand up if youre ready to give your life to Jesus, Id be the first to my feet.”,BONO: Yeah.,MARTIN: How does that jibe with your spiritual nomadness of never finding ,a faith that felt like home to you?,BONO: I operate around, lets call it a Judeo-Christian sort of set of principles ,and I have a friend–a metaphysician, brilliant mind, academic, whos an atheist–who ,says to me when I have these conversations, “Look. If there is a force of love and logic ,as you think there is behind the universe, it’s some extraordinary poetic genius ,that it would express itself, that vast force, in the child born in shit and straw. That fragility ,at a particular place, at a particular time, to a particular people. And I, I dont…thats ,what I believe. But maybe thats all I believe. MARTIN: Did your band share your –, not religious fervor, religious seems like the wrong word – but your, your focus, your preoccupation with faith?,BONO: They still do. ,At first, Adam was just like, “oh, man.” You know, he’s like, he had just one thing in life – which ,is just “four strings are better than six.” He’s a bass player. He just wants to be
Lovers of NPR, Unite! | “Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie” Book Review
okay guys i officially read,a non-fiction book that is not going to,fit,in my presidential reading challenge,and i was really really excited about it,and i was really really disappointed so,i want to talk to you about it so the,book that were talking about today,is susan linda nina and koki the,extraordinary story of the founding,mothers of npr,and i absolutely have notes on my phone,because just that alone is a really,really long title so if you saw my,politics and history podcast,recommendation video,then you know that i have been massively,obsessed with the npr politics podcast,and it has just been growing from there,ive been going to some of their live,tapings,over the pandemic and ive been,thinking about taking a trip to dc and,right now the npr office is still closed,and im just like depressed because i,just,im going to dc and what i want to see,is the npr flagship,station office so i have become a huge,nbr person,and so when i saw this book which is a,new release,as of april 13th 2021 i was really,really excited,one because the aforementioned nina in,that title is,nina totenberg who shows up on the npr,politics podcast,and is a queen and i love her but also i,had,no idea that there were women important,to the founding of npr,and so i realized i knew none of this,history was something i was really,interested in and i couldnt wait to,read this book,so this book has issues from go because,it is a group biography and im quoting,here from the blurbing,a group biography of four beloved women,who fought sexism,covered decades of american news and,whose voices defined npr,and the people in question are cokey,roberts,susan stanberg linda wertheimer and nina,totenberg,whats really interesting about this is,that at the start of the book,lisa napoli who is the author,has an authors note where she says that,this book was originally,presented to her as a biography on cokie,roberts and lisa napoli,was like well i could do that or i could,do this more,group biography and,she does it in 288,pages,are you starting to see where some of,these issues are coming in because,i knew all of these facts on their own,when i,started and i didnt put it together,until too late that it could maybe be um,an issue,i want to say straight up that this book,is not a bad book its about a,three-star book for me,but the thing is that it is trying to do,five things at once a four-women group,biography,and the founding of npr and so for,example,to understand how amazing the lives of,these four women,were and are you have to understand the,culture of women in news you have to,understand the culture of print,versus electronic media in the time when,npr is starting,and so you need this historical,background but then you also need to be,grounded,in the lives of these four women and,then it needs to chronicle,npr from its start to forward,now based on the subtitle i assumed,that all of these women were rather more,there from the start than they actually,were so thats,one thing this is where,this starts to get very tricky again i,assume from the title that these women,were a group who work together on some,things you find out later that,for example susan predates,a lot of these women and shes kind of,hanging out there for a while before,you know linda shows up and then nina,shows up and then cokey shows up,theres also a weird imbalance on whose,lives get,focused on now you do get a sense of how,all these four women grew up,what their basic career paths were,but at a certain point i think i was,actually reading it and i was like,what has linda been doing this entire,time and it,was so imbalanced that i just felt,sad and despite the fact that,lisa napoli made the conscious choice,not to make this,a biography specifically on cookie,roberts it,focuses a lot on cokie roberts once she,shows up in the end,again when she kind of shows up i feel,like the other three women kind of fade,into the background,and that was super frustrating,also the depiction of the founding of,npr,left me with a lot more questions and,answers i had no idea for example that,npr almost went bankrupt,but i also feel like this book had,prepped me for these four women to have,more of a role in saving it than i feel,like maybe they really,did but im not sure because that,part of the story takes maybe a chapter,when it could be its own book trying to,do,all of this in 288 pages,just kind of flabbergasts me but i,also dont know if this is a problem,with me or a problem with the book,i have become accustomed to reading 800,900 page incredibly detailed biographies,of presidents or political figures those,are the kind of things that ive been,into lately so i will say take my,complaining with a grain of salt,perhaps this is an incredibly,you know bare bones flowing biography,that covers,all four of these womens lives and the,founding of npr,in an adequate amount of detail but,since ive not read a non-fiction book,this short in quite some time,it just doesnt sit well with me i do,kind of feel legitimate though in my,complaint that if youre gonna do a,group biography,you need to give equal weight to all of,the people i understand that out of the,four of them,cokie roberts became an absolute,international,celebrity by the time she died and of,course her death is the most recent,and so it might be on peoples minds,more and maybe they did pick up this,book because they know the name cokey,roberts,more than maybe they know the names of,susan or linda or nina,i came to this book for nina and,i was very sad that again shes only,introduced about halfway through,and then you know she gets a chapter two,to herself,and then then cookie shows up and im,like,but me nah because she is one of my,personal,heroes and again still reporting for mpr,so again i accept that maybe,maybe i have some personal biases that,make this a little bit difficult,but im just saying if youre trying to,do five things in a single biography,maybe it needs more than 288 pages,to that flip side like i said i,absolutely respect that lisa napoli is,able to say okay,here is this gargantuan amount of,information she,clearly had access to and she was able,to distill it,into simple and quick chapters,that is an incredible writing talent,that not many people have and is,absolutely in this book for all that it,is so short it is,imminently readable and even though the,chapters do switch between these four,women,as they are introduced you never,feel like you are lost i always know,i mean it helps at the top of the,chapter it says linda or,susan but i always felt like the story,was moving itself along,and i never was like oh whats happening,now,it was very very good and written very,well,so i do want to give it props that it,deserves,what i need though is more books on npr,because i,feel like this book is an appetizer,this book does such a good job,explaining why these women are important,why the founding of npr is an incredible,moment in,news in just about everything,but its a taste its tapas its an,appetizer,it is essentially telling me i need,another book or i need several other,books i dont know necessarily if im,interested in other biographies on these,women,but im really interested in more books,on npr so,i have to go and i have to find them,because this book 100 wedded my appetite,but i am not full i went to a very fancy,restaurant,and it was wonderful and fantastic but,the portion was too small,and now i need a hamburger or three,so i will be on the hunt for more books,on npr,if you are looking for a really good,fast,quick introduction to this topic you,cant go wrong with this book,absolutely not but,if you are interested you will need more,afterward so,if you have any suggestions for me leave,them down in the comments,otherwise you will 100 see what comes,out of my exploration at some point,i am sure so thank you so much for,taking this time to hear,about this book and listen to npr,support your local npr station and have,a,wonderful day may it not be raining for,a brief mo
The best reads of 2021
AMNA NAWAZ: Well, as we close the book on 2021, we wanted to share some good reads.,Jeffrey Brown talks to some “NewsHour” literary friends ,to get their best recommendations on what to curl up on the couch with or share with a friend.,Its part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.,JEFFREY BROWN: Im joined here in studio by Carlos Lozada, ,the nonfiction book critic of The Washington Post. He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2019. ,And, from Brooklyn, Jacqueline Woodson, author of novels for adults, ,as well as Newbery Honor-winning titles for young readers. She was the Library of ,Congress National Ambassador for young Peoples Literature and a MacArthur fellow last year.,And its really nice to see and talk to both of you.,I feel like I always start with fiction, so, for once, were going to start with nonfiction.,CARLOS LOZADA, The Washington Post: Thank you.,JEFFREY BROWN: Carlos, give us a couple of picks.,CARLOS LOZADA: I want to start with two books that I think get to ,some current major crises were facing, but do so in really novel ways.,First is “Under a White Sky” by Elizabeth Kolbert. Shes probably best known for her book “The Sixth ,Extinction,” which depicted the crushing of the planets biodiversity under the human ,footprint. This subsequent book is kind of a perfect sequel, because its a warning ,about how even very well-intentioned fixes to our environmental problems can be causing more damage.,Its kind of a pessimistic book, but I think a really important one.,JEFFREY BROWN: OK.,CARLOS LOZADA: The second one I want to highlight is called ,”Read Until You Understand” by Farah Griffin.,JEFFREY BROWN: Thats a good title.,CARLOS LOZADA: Its a great title…,JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.,CARLOS LOZADA: … in that the book actually suits it very well.,There have been so many books that try to get at this moment of wrestling ,with the challenges of racial justice, and Griffins does so in a way that mixes memoir ,and political analysis and kind of a literature seminar all at once.,What I like about this book so much is that it shows that reading ,is a vital part of engaged citizenship.,JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Jacqueline Woodson, so give us a couple, of ,well, novels, if you can. What have you got?,JACQUELINE WOODSON, Author, “Red at the Bone”: I can. And its so funny because ,Carlos and I are so much on the same page in terms of the energy of what were reading.,I want to start with Imbolo Mbue. But her book is called “How Beautiful We Were. And its a novel ,about an African village that is struggling against a big American ,oil company thats messing up their environment. So its a book about ,environmental justice. Its a book about family. Its a book about when big American businesses ,come into communities in other countries and destroy them or set out to destroy them.,And one thing I love about this book is, its so thoughtful, but its also ,funny. I mean, she can get at the humor in some of the hardest places.,Another book that I came by way of accident that just last night won Center for Fictions ,First Novel award is a book called “The Five Wounds” by a woman named Kirstin Valdez Quade.,Its a book about a family where the teenage girl Angel gets pregnant, and she shows up at her ,fathers house on the day that he is practicing to play the role of Jesus in the town ceremony.,But heres the thing that stood out for about that book for me. One thing that Kirstin does is, ,she uses Spanish, and its never italicized, which I love, because what shes saying in this book is, ,my language is not other, and this story is not other, and my people are not other.,This was a first novel that really blew me away.,JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Carlos, I mean, in terms of themes, I know you spent a lot ,of time looking at our politics and our divided politics. You have a couple from the past year?,CARLOS LOZADA: Yes, I have read a lot of Trump books, ,way too many Trump books in my day job at The Washington Post.,JEFFREY BROWN: Yes. Yes.,CARLOS LOZADA: And a lot of them ,are of the can you believe he did this or said that kind of school?,But in the latest that are coming out, you start seeing books that ,are more sort of thoughtful and thematic and develop an argument.,Two I want to highlight our first “Reign of Terror” by Spencer Ackerman. This book ,came out just a few months ago, around the 20th anniversary of 9/11. And it draws a very bright ,and clear line between the excesses of the 9/11 era and the excesses of the Trump presidency.,It looks at issues such as expanding presidential power, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim sentiment, ,weakening oversight, and just the open-ended nature of the war on terror, ,and shows how a lot of those things were kind of redirected and harnessed during the Trump years.,The other is a book by Fiona Hill called “There Is Nothing for You Here.” And Fiona Hill ,is a Russia expert who was an adviser in the Trump White House and became best ,known probably when she testified during the first Trump impeachment regarding Ukraine.,JEFFREY BROWN: Yes. “NewsHour” viewers will remember that well.,CARLOS LOZADA: She looks at three places that she knows well, her native England, ,where she grew up in a working class mining town, Russia, which she studied as an academic, and the ,United States, where shes lived for many years and is a U.S. citizen, and shows how very similar ,cultural and economic forces are propelling the rise of populism in all three places.,So shes uniquely positioned to tell the story, and its the rare ,Trump book that doesnt obsess about Trump.,JEFFREY BROWN: Jacqueline, put on your young readers hat here.,Give us a couple.,JACQUELINE WOODSON: Your legacy by Schele Williams, which is a book about ,enslaved African Americans before they were enslaved. So it takes us back to ,different parts of Africa and shows us the culture and the grandeur and the wealth and ,the civility that people had before they were brought to this country as enslaved people.,And I really love that book, because its not starting the narrative ,at enslavement. Its starting the narrative when people were people who were not enslaved.,So — and another quirky book that I really love is Mo Willems, the beloved Mo Willems, ,wrote a book called “Opposites Abstract,” which is about concepts, ,and its a really thoughtful way to talk about abstract images with very young people.,JEFFREY BROWN: I want to ask you both before we go.,I will start with you, Jacqueline Woodson, ,on this one. Just was there a book that you went back to this year or that — perhaps ,that you read for the first time, an older book that was particularly meaningful to you?,JACQUELINE WOODSON: Im so glad you asked that, Jeff, ,because I have been reading Ida B. Wells autobiography.,And its just the book I needed. I needed to think about someone who survived harder times ,and who was brave in them and who changed a lot of the world in the work that she did so. So, ,Ida B. Wells, for the win, was the book that got me through a lot this year.,JEFFREY BROWN: Carlos, what about for you?,CARLOS LOZADA: So, I have many unread books in my home, many yet-to-be-read books in my in my home.,JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.,CARLOS LOZADA: And one I picked up this year was “Night Draws ,Near” by Anthony Shadid, the late great foreign correspondent and war reporter.,JEFFREY BROWN: Absolutely.,CARLOS LOZADA: So many of the best known books ,of — about American warfare tend to be about the Americans, tend to be about how Americans go off, ,try to transform distant lands, and are transformed themselves by the experience.,Shadids this book is different. Shadid looks at how the Iraq War was lived through the eyes ,of ordinary Iraqi people, the depth of his reporting, the empathy of his spirit. ,And he was able to show, for instance, how Iraqis can both despise a domestic ,
Yebba: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
one,two,one two three four,[Music],need to try so long,dreaming of time on my head,changing the ways i fall,[Music],i want you,but i dont want your reasons why,why,you cant even look me in my eyes i told,you,so dont you make me say it one more,time one more time,like,when you went away,[Music],oh,[Music],stand,[Music],is,[Music],when you went away,[Music],and darkness,[Music],[Music],lost against,[Applause],[Music],the universe divided over,[Music],deep into my soul,oh,[Music],[Music],but baby we dont have to run so hard,youre nothing to with they see it,in the way we are,but they cant realign the stars no,get nothing to with lets see it in,the way we are,but we dont have to run so hard,[Music],listen baby we dont have to run so hard,[Music],so come on baby,[Music],make it through all the things,[Music],okay distance,[Music],take me back to the distance,[Music],oh yeah,late night cooking in the kitchen,dirty dancing in my,room,[Music],because of the time we shared,time we lost in love with one another,days we had,pay the cost of losing our desires so,so very soon,so very soon ill be sending my love all,over,you,[Music],oh i still get so lost in the feeling,and i cant imagine,ever losing you,baby,[Music],i wonder if i,would do,[Music],pay the cost of losing hearts desires,[Music],[Music],oh yeah,late night cooking in the kitchen,[Music],[Applause],[Music],my,[Music],ill be,[Music],sending my love all oh,[Music],[Applause],[Music],[Music],over,[Music],okay well that one was that one was,pretty good,i feel good about that im about,that sorry yall are panned to the right,so i naturally like turned this way,here we go all i ever wanted thumbs up,from cameras youre rolling,charles whenever youre ready,[Music],[Music],i walked across the wire,straight to the,razors edge for you,cut through my own desires,only to,what you,[Music],[Music],one more time,turn in my tears into diamonds that fall,through your sky,and after all that you promised,[Music],obligations all night,[Music],[Music],[Music],[Applause],[Music],one more time now baby turn in my tears,into diamonds that fall through your sky,and after all that you promised,[Music],[Music],[Music],i know,[Music],but baby,[Applause],[Music],all i ever wanted,[Music],all i ever wanted,all i ever wanted was,[Music],yes,[Music],um,this next song is just going to be me,james and bernies playing but it took,me jimmy and james like three years to,write,and this is probably i think the only,song,lyrically that i feel fully encompasses,my experience with grief in like the,holding on to my mom embodying you know,what was lost and then kind of returning,to my own perspective i guess um but,this is called how many years,oh,[Music],how many years will it take for these,tears to try,oh my lord please dont pass me by,where can i run when my running is out,of time,these are the moments that im with you,under the pressure ill see,you through,so live out the wonder,[Music],try not to miss you too desperately,live out the wonder way past the boat,[Music],it comes and it goes but its always in,control of me,how the hell on earth can i set me free,where can i run when the ground moves,beneath my feet,these are the moments that im with you,under the pressure ill see,through,so live out the wonder,way best aborted,[Music],trying not to miss you too desperately,the borderline,[Music],these are the moments that im with you,under the pressure ill see,you through,live out the wonder,[Music],[Applause],[Music],trying not to miss you to desperately,live out the,water,way past the,boat,[Music],you