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Khushbu Shah's cookbook 'Amrikan' honors the Indian American diaspora Jul 25, 2024

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Today's episode is packed with recipes from Khushbu Shah's new cookbook, Amrikan. But beyond that, it's also a conversation with the author and Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about how Indian cuisine has changed with new generations living in diaspora, and how that has led to the introduction of some unlikely ingredients – cream cheese, pickled jalapeños, shokupan — to shake up traditional dishes.
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A look back at Vice President Kamala Harris' memoir, 'The Truths We Hold' Jul 24, 2024

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On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced he was stepping down from his campaign for reelection this November. Soon after, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is poised to become the new Democratic nominee by next month's convention. Today on the podcast, we revisit a 2019 interview between NPR's Rachel Martin and then Sen. Harris about her memoir, The Truths We Hold, her analysis of Donald Trump's popularity and her decision to become a prosecutor.
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Joyce Maynard follows 'Count the Ways' with 'How the Light Gets In' Jul 23, 2024

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Joyce Maynard's new book, How the Light Gets In, is a sequel to her 2021 novel Count the Ways, both following a family grappling with a tragic accident, its aftermath and the expectations they have for one another. In today's episode, Maynard speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about some of the big questions behind both books – "What is a typical family? What is a good mother? Is there such a thing?" – and why she feels it's imperative for her characters to live fully in the world, which means bringing politics and current events into their stories.
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Griffin Dunne's memoir chronicles fame, art and tragedy in his Hollywood upbringing Jul 22, 2024

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Actor, producer and director Griffin Dunne grew up during a fascinating time in Hollywood history. In today's episode, he tells Here & Now's Emiko Tamagawa he remembers bowing goodnight to his parents' black-tie party guests, like his aunt Joan Didion and his father's friend, Billy Wilder. His new memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club, captures his family's story in a bygone era of the entertainment industry — including his sister Dominique Dunne's death at the hands of her boyfriend in 1982, and the way that tragedy changed her parents and siblings forever.
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Two summer mysteries unravel in 'The Cliffs' and 'The God of the Woods' Jul 19, 2024

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Today's episode focuses on two summer reads trying to piece together some pretty big questions. First, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with J. Courtney Sullivan about The Cliffs, which follows an archivist digging through the history of a seaside Victorian house in Maine — and the generations of women who lived there — at the owner's concern that it's haunted. Then, NPR's Scott Simon asks Liz Moore about The God of the Woods, which grapples with the disappearance of a wealthy family's daughter from a summer camp in the Adirondacks in 1975.
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'We Were Once a Family' examines how the foster care system failed the Hart siblings Jul 18, 2024

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In 2018, Jennifer and Sarah Hart drove off a cliff in California, killing themselves and their six adopted children. While much of the media attention focused on the two women, reporter Roxanna Asgarian set off to investigate what had happened to the children's birth families, and why they'd been removed from their care. In today's episode, Asgarian speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about her book, We Were Once a Family, and the ways the foster care and child welfare system in the United States pushed the Hart siblings into an abusive and ultimately fatal situation.
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Revisiting J.D. Vance's memoir, 'Hillbilly Elegy' Jul 17, 2024

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This week, former President Donald Trump announced that Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance will be his running mate in the 2024 election. Vance rose to prominence with his bestselling 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which captured his upbringing in Appalachia and his family's intergenerational struggle with poverty, substance abuse and trauma. In today's episode, we revisit a conversation between Vance and NPR's Steve Inskeep about the book, in which he says there are ways politicians misunderstand white, working-class Americans.
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'Ultraviolet' follows a young boy going through puberty and first love Jul 16, 2024

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Aida Salazar's new book, Ultraviolet, has a lot in common with Judy Blume's Forever, but from the point of view of an eighth grade boy; it's all about Elio Solis grappling with his changing body, his first girlfriend and his family life. In today's episode, Salazar tells Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes how watching her own son grow up inspired the events of the middle grade book, and they discuss how conversations of consent, masculinity and sex education are just as important for young men as they are for young women.
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In 'Beautiful Days,' Zach Williams ponders parenthood, reality and the uncanny Jul 15, 2024

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Zach Williams' collection of short stories, Beautiful Days, has earned high praise for the unsettling way it examines mundane, everyday life. In today's episode, Williams tells NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer how becoming a dad inspired the anxiety and wonder of parenthood that shows up throughout Beautiful Days, and the two get to talking about why he chose to focus on the "quickness and musicality" of short stories over writing a novel.
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Two books dive into the musical histories of The Police and Joni Mitchell Jul 12, 2024

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Today's episode is about two emblematic musicians who take us to very different parts of the globe, from the London punk scene to the Laurel Canyon utopia of the 1960s and 70s. First, Stewart Copeland speaks to NPR's Leila Fadel about his memoir, Stewart Copeland's Police Diaries, which chronicles his time as a drummer for the legendary band. Then, Here & Now's Robin Young is joined by NPR Music's Ann Powers, who's written a biography of Joni Mitchell's expansive career called Traveling.
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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