"A book is like a garden carried in the pocket."
—Chinese Proverb
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- Info
Fresh Air Remembers Comedian Robert Schimmel
Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:48:00 -0400
The 60-year-old comedian, who often joked about his own life in his raunchy stand-up routines, died Friday from injuries suffered in a car accident. Fresh Air remembers Schimmel with highlights from a 2008 interview in which he discusses his memoir Cancer On $5 A Day.
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'Skippy Dies' In Dublin: A Funny Flashback Follows
Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400
The titular event happens just a few pages into Paul Murray's novel; the rest of the story is an extended flashback, following the doomed Skippy, his geeky roommate and their cadre of bored, irreverent friends as they tease girls, dodge bullies and attend Catholic school in a rundown Dublin neighborhood.
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Modern Lessons From Hillel
Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400
Not much is known about the life of the rabbi and Talmudic scholar Hillel, who lived 2,000 years ago, but his teachings have shaped Judaism. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin's forthcoming book Hillel: If Not Now, When? argues that Hillel has as much to teach the 21 Century as he did his own.
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Investigating The Real Detective Charlie Chan
Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400
The fictional, aphorism-spouting Chinese detective is best known today as a stereotypical relic from a less sensitive time. Yunte Huang tells the story of the real man who inspired the caricature in Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History.
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Gary Shteyngart's Nerd Passion For 'Zardoz'
Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:00:00 -0400
Writer Gary Shteyngart may have no idea what Zardoz is about, but that doesn't stop him from knowing the science-fiction novel by heart. For a nerd like him, nothing compares to the post-apocalyptic world full of floating heads and immortal beings.
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The Joys Of Reading Many Books At Once
Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
Many people are serial readers -- they read a book cover-to-cover before putting it down. Chicago Tribune cultural critic Julia Keller, however, is a poly-reader -- juggling four or more books at a time. And in an age of rampant multi-tasking, Keller asks, why not?
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Jokes To Tell Your Parents For Rosh Hashana
Sun, 05 Sep 2010 07:53:00 -0400
When Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman's video of Hoffman's 60-something mother telling an off-color joke on YouTube went viral, they knew they had something special. The success of their subsequent website, OldJewsTellingJokes.com, and their upcoming book have proved them right.
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'Phantom Tollbooth' Creators Reunited By An 'Ogre'
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
In the early 1960s, writer Norton Juster and illustrator Jules Feiffer created The Phantom Tollbooth, which quickly became a kid-lit classic. Now, 50 years later, the two have finally collaborated once more -- this time, on a picture book called The Odious Ogre. They speak to NPR's Liane Hansen about their partnership and their new project.
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Victory At Marathon Saved A Lot More Than A Race
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:27:00 -0400
The story's a classic: An outnumbered band of Athenians pushes back the mighty Persian army. But the battle of Marathon, 2,500 years ago in ancient Greece, left a legacy that extends far beyond the name of a famous race. Historian Richard Billows explores the legendary battle in his new book, Marathon: How One Battle Changed Western Civilization.
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Next Week: Franzen Talks About 'Freedom'
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400
Jonathan Franzen's new novel, Freedom, is being called a "masterpiece of American fiction." He was recently on the cover of Time magazine -- the first living author on its cover in more than a decade. Next weekend, Franzen will join us to talk about Freedom, the story of a contemporary American family in St. Paul, Minn.
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Memories Of War And Reading Clubs
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:00:00 -0400
Patrick Hennessey was the youngest front-line captain in the British Army, served in Iraq and Afghanistan and earned a commendation for gallantry. Host Scott Simon speaks with Hennessey about his memoir, The Junior Officers' Reading Club.
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English Lives. Tell The Grammar Police.
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:00:00 -0400
Roy Peter Clark of the Poynter Institute says we ought to remind ourselves that language lives, breathes and learns more as it goes along. He advises professionals to write carefully, but not defensively and certainly not drably. Host Scott Simon speaks with Clark about his new book, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English.
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Eat Your Way Down I-95, And Other Stops To Make
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:19:00 -0400
In their seven-year love affair with Interstate 95, Stan Posner and Sandra Phillips-Posner have found the best Polish sausage, Berger cookies and a battleship you can spend the night on.
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A Funny, Fractured Field Guide To A 'Wild Kingdom'
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:42:00 -0400
Kevin Huizenga's alter-ego Glenn Ganges returns in his latest collection of spiky, intellectually adventurous stories -- drawn in friendly, stylized art. The Wild Kingdom is like entries from the Encyclopedia Britannica of an alternate, funnier universe.
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'666': A Tale Of The Tribulation So Bad, It's Good
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:00:00 -0400
When Rhoda Janzen was 9, her mother busted her for reading the thriller 666 during an incredibly dull sermon at their Mennonite church. To this day, Janzen revels in the terribly written prose about the Antichrist, cannibalism, global famine and apocalyptic doom.
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