We've got a podcast!

Also this week: The Literature Nobel, Fiona Hill, critics' picks and more [View this email online]( [NPR]( by Petra Mayer [NPR's Book of the Day]( NPR Hello all you out there in Book Land! We had a little unscheduled hiatus last week; apologies for that (I was out sick). So you might have already heard the exciting news, but just in case you haven't, let me introduce you to our brand-new podcast, [NPR's Book of the Day]( It's a short, searchable, snackable daily showcase of the best author interviews from our shows, available wherever you get your podcasts and designed to help you find something great to read. So please do check it out! --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- [Abdulrazak Gurnah]( Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images In perhaps slightly bigger news, this year's [Nobel Prize in Literature]( went to the Zanzibar-born novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah. The Swedish Academy cited Gurnah for his "uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents." Gurnah is the first Black writer to win the literature Nobel since Toni Morrison in 1993. Gurnah has written 10 novels, including 1994's Paradise, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It tells the story of a boy, Yusuf, who's been pawned off by his father to a merchant to settle old debts. As Yusuf is taken through different parts of Africa, Gurnah's writing pushes back against previous Western takes on the continent. As NPR's book critic Alan Cheuse noted at the time, "No Heart of Darkness in these pages. Gurnah gives us a more realistic mix of light and dark, of beautiful forests, dangerous vines and snakes, and a patchwork of warring fiefdoms and wily traders right out of the Middle Ages." [Fiona Hill]( Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Fiona Hill worked in the Trump White House as a top Russia expert -- then became a witness in the president's first impeachment trial, where she condemned the false narrative that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election. Hill has a new memoir out, called There Is Nothing For You Here -- inspired by her father's words as he encouraged her to leave England. But, as she writes, she has seen the U.S. take progressively darker turns since she arrived here. "The United States is teetering on the edge of violence here. We're already, I think, in a cold civil war," [she tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross](. "We've got a chance now to turn this around. But if we don't take it, we're heading down that autocratic path that we've seen in other countries." Reviewer Caitlyn Kim says the book "examines why it is difficult to get ahead, why opportunities are fleeting and how that is affecting the social and political fabric of the country," and you can [check out her full review here.]( If you haven't read musician Michelle Zauner's heartfelt memoir of her mother's death, Crying in H-Mart, you really should -- but either way, give a listen to Code Switch producer Alyssa Jeong Perry's interview with Zauner about exploring identity through food and cooking. "Like Zauner," she writes, "Korean food became a lens into my identity as part of the Korean diaspora. I didn't need language to understand that each dish I ate had a distinct story behind it." [Find that conversation here.]( [Crying in H-Mart, by Michelle Zauner]( [I'll Take Your Questions Now, by Stephanie Grisham]( Former press secretary Stephanie Grisham is the latest Trump White House employee to write a tell-all about her time with the president. But, as our [White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe writes]( "for someone who worked so closely with the Trumps, Grisham's account is striking in how distant it seems to be from its subjects. ... At times the book almost reads like a tale of a working-class woman grappling with over-the-top demands from a mercurial rich couple that employs her — not the story of a top government official who represented the leader of the free world." Finally this week -- author Miriam Toews has always taken inspiration from her own life, and her latest, Fight Night, is drawn from her mother's experiences. [Critic Kristen Martin says]( the women in Fight Night have battled their own demons and won, making it "an ardent, hilarious, and moving addition" to Toews' body of work. Claire Vaye Watkins' new I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness is a surreal odyssey about a woman with postpartum depression who abandons her family for a road trip through significant sites in her own life. [Critic Natalie Zutter says]( "it is unequivocally triumphant to witness Watkins writing for herself." And Amor Towles' new The Lincoln Highway is another kind of road trip; this time it's four rowdy kids in a beat-up Studebaker, looking for a better life in 1950s America. [Critic Heller McAlpin says]( you'll be "helpless against the inventive exuberance of Towles' storytelling." [Fight Night, by Miriam Toews]( [I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness, by Claire Vaye Watkins]( [The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles]( I hope books bring you what you need this week! (And, y'know, [check out our podcast!]( — Petra --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. --------------------------------------------------------------- What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [books@npr.org](mailto:books@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. Looking for more great content? [Check out all of our newsletter offerings]( — including Music, Pop Culture, Code Switch and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Books emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( [NPR logo]