NPR's Book of the Day Folgen

The new novel by Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors, is a project of historical fiction immersed in the culturally rich island of Penang in the 1920s. A once revered, now flailing British writer arrives to visit a friend and find inspiration for a new book. What he uncovers – secret affairs, a murder trial, and deeply complicated relationships – proves to be more than he expected. In today's episode, NPR's Ari Shapiro asks the author about using the real writer W. Somerset Maugham as his protagonist, and about what writing from the perspective of the Brits reveals about imperialism.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Since being named general secretary of China's ruling Communist Party, Xi Jinping has exerted his power to control historical narratives in China. But in his new book, Sparks, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ian Johnson profiles the people who've fought back to record – and report – the country's full history, including famines, virus outbreaks and ethnic conflicts. In today's episode, Johnson speaks with NPR's John Ruwitch about how the advancement of technologies like PDFs, digital cameras and VPNs have allowed journalists, filmmakers and artists to correct China's collective memory.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Roman Stories, the new collection of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri, captures the tensions of a rapidly-changing Rome, Italy. In today's episode, Lahiri speaks with NPR's Leila Fadel about how growing up as the daughter of immigrants in the U.S. and later moving to Italy as an adult has complicated ideas of home and belonging for her – and how ultimately, home might be of a mental state rather than a physical place.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy