If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. The selections include the latest works from a literary power couple — Percival Everett’s “James” and Danzy Senna’s “Colored Television” — as well as offerings from first-time novelists. — Bethanne Patrick “Great Expectations” by Vinson Cunningham “Great Expectations” By …
12 novels that NPR critics and staff were excited to share with you in 2024 NPR Have you ever wondered what your co-workers are reading in their spare time? — Wailin Wong, host, The Indicator from Planet Money Purchase BookAll Fours by Miranda July close overlay Buy Featured Book Your purchase helps support NPR programming. — Lori Lizarraga, host, Code …
Poet Kaveh Akbar’s new novel on loss, displacement, identity and nationhood is an experiment in narrative style. Vuong’s exploration of the mother-son relationship finds a parallel in Akbar’s lonely Iranian-American son searching for an answers about his mother’s untimely death. Akbar presents a rounded character who is easy to understand but difficult to reach, much like Karen Jennings’s 53-year old …
searches for meaning in this wry debut novel Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! is very much its own creation, but you might think of it as an Iranian American spin on John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces — wedded to Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. Because he's a poet, Cyrus's search for meaning involves writing a book of poems about martyrs, figures …
Kaveh Akbar on his debut novel 'Martyr!' SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Cyrus Shams is both the son of the Middle East and the American Middle West, who's been instilled with tragedy. AKBAR: The way the Iranian government yoked itself to cultural and religious ideas around martyrdom and harness those towards its own sort of propagandistic ends is a story that I …
