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Writer Arthur Brooks says strivers can end up unhappier later in life Feb 21, 2022

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Social science writer Arthur Brooks has figured out how you, yes you, can be happy later in life. He details it all in his new book, From Strength to Strength, but the gist of it is...maybe relax a little. Brooks argues that for people who work too hard to have it all it can be very upsetting when that part of their life is over. The good news is you can start working on your future happiness now. Brooks told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly you have to do the work when you're younger: You can't "leave your happiness up to chance."
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Two authors tell stories of the weird and wild in the classical music world Feb 18, 2022

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Both interviews today will transport you into the exciting world of classical music. No, really! The first is with Brendan Slocumb, whose new book, The Violin Conspiracy, is a mystery surrounding a musician trying to recover his stolen violin. It's also about how hard it is to be a Black classical musician, Slocumb told NPR's Asma Khalid. The second is Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman's conversation with NPR's Scott Simon. Hindman's memoir Sounds Like Titanic follows her experience touring with an orchestra that wasn't really performing for the audience.
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Author Maeve Higgins humorously reflects on her immigrant experience Feb 17, 2022

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Author Maeve Higgins starts her new book, Tell Everyone on This Train I Love Them, by saying she hopes the pandemic doesn't impart any lessons. This kind of dark humor persists throughout Higgins' book, which is a reflection on America and its many flaws. But, as an immigrant, she can see this country in a way others cannot — with a fresh pair of perhaps more forgiving eyes. Higgins told NPR's Tamara Keith that because she loves this country she wants it to be the best it can be.
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What does 'The Family Chao' have in common with Dostoyevsky? Murder and more. Feb 16, 2022

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Patriarch Leo Chao is murdered at his restaurant at the beginning of Lan Samantha Chang's new novel The Family Chao. Eventually family secrets and bitterness reveal themselves — much like a Dostoyevsky novel, from whom Chao took a lot of inspiration. But NPR's Scott Simon points out that even though this novel is about a murder, it's quite funny. Chang told Simon that she just enjoyed writing it so much that humor became part of it.
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Author Tara Westover says we need to consider how people have been 'Educated' Feb 15, 2022

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Author Tara Westover grew up in an extreme survivalist family in Idaho. She and her siblings had no formal education, but she taught herself algebra, aced the entrance exam for BYU and got in. It was the start of her way out from under an often abusive family situation. Westover wrote about her experiences and what it was like for her to totally change her worldview in her memoir, Educated. Westover told Here & Now's Robin Young that she thinks we need to stop judging people for their incorrect opinions if they don't have access to education.
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Happy Valentine's Day! We get sappy with 'Evvie Drake Starts Over' Feb 14, 2022

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In honor of Valentine's Day, we are revisiting a conversation with our very own romance expert, Linda Holmes. Her novel Evvie Drake Starts Over is about a woman who is getting ready to leave her husband when she gets a surprising call – he is dead. She finds herself alone until former major league pitcher Dean Tenney, who can't throw a baseball anymore, hides from the media stress in her guest bedroom. Hijinks ensue. Linda Holmes told NPR's Scott Simon that they both had to figure out a new path in life unexpectedly; something most of us can relate to.
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Isabel Wilkerson argues that 'Caste' not racism caused The Great Migration Feb 11, 2022

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As part of Black History Month, Book of the Day brings you an interview with author Isabel Wilkerson. She followed her book about The Great Migration, The Warmth of Other Suns, with another that looks at why it happened. Caste argues that caste and not racism is actually what Black people were fleeing when they left the Jim Crow South. Wilkerson told Throughline's Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah that the term racism is rooted in hate but caste is about "power and how those other groups manage and navigate and seek to survive in a society that's created with this ranked hierarchy."
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Octavia Butler imagines a world without racism Feb 10, 2022

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During Black History month, Book of the Day is bringing you some interviews from the archives, including this one with author Octavia Butler. Butler wrote many sci-fi classics, like the Parable series and Kindred, so she's accustomed to imagining different worlds. NPR's Scott Simon asked her back in 2001 to imagine a world without racism. Butler believed that in racism's place we would have to have absolute empathy. But she told Simon that this would most certainly present its own challenges – and we would probably just find something else to fight about.
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Alex Haley nearly lost it all writing 'Roots' Feb 09, 2022

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To recognize Black History Month, Book of the Day is digging into the archives to bring you some important interviews. In 1977, author Alex Haley told NPR he didn't want to put the main character of Roots, Kunta Kinte, on a slave ship. To prepare for writing that portion of the novel, Haley flew to Africa and caught a voyage home on a cargo ship — sneaking down into the hold after dinner. In the mornings, he would write notes about what he thought Kunta's experience would have been like. He told NPR's Marty Griffen that the experience weighed him down so much it nearly cost him his life.
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'The Color Purple' is about the bonding of women Feb 08, 2022

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As part of Black History Month, we are running interviews from our archives. The Color Purple is about the survival of Black women in a male-dominated world. Author Alice Walker said that she just wrote what happens in the real world. At its core, this is a story of women loving and helping other women. Walker told NPR's Faith Fancher that "one of the reasons I wanted to have strong, beautiful, wonderful women loving each other is because I think that people can deal with that. [...] I think that the people who are uptight and bigoted and afraid in their own lives will have difficulty."
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