The holidays are upon us, which means NPR has published, as it does each year, “Books We Love,” an interactive online book list (and gift guide!) of NPR staff favorites. For this mini episode of The Write Question, host Lauren Korn again speaks with NPR’s Andrew Limbong—about the NPR Books newsletter, reading trends, and what books top his year-end list, as well as something readers can anticipate next year, too!
About Andrew:
Andrew Limbong is a reporter for NPR’s Arts Desk, where he does pieces on anything remotely related to arts or culture, from streamers looking for mental health on Twitch to Britney Spears' fight over her conservatorship. He’s also covered the near collapse of the live music industry during the coronavirus pandemic. He started at NPR in 2011 as an intern for All Things Considered, and was a producer and director for Tell Me More. He is now the host of NPR’s Book of the Day podcast and a frequent host on Life Kit.
From the Books We Love list (and mentioned in this episode), Andrew Limbong recommends:
James by Percival Everett (Doubleday Books)
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami (Doubleday Books)
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie (Penguin Random House)
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World; Penguin Random House)
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib (Penguin Random House)
Liars by Sarah Manguso (Hogarth Press)
Mina’s Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa (Pantheon Books)
Victim by Andrew Boryga (Doubleday Books)
Andrew is looking forward to:
Tilt by Emma Pattee (Marysue Rucci Books; Simon & Schuster)
From the Books We Love list, Lauren Korn recommends:
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib (Penguin Random House); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Hanif here.
Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls (MCD; Farrar, Straus & Giroux); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Tessa here.
Carrie Carolyn Coco: My Friend, Her Murder, and an Obsession with the Unthinkable by Sarah Gerard (Zando Projects); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Sarah here.
Old King by Maxim Loskutoff about (W. W. Norton & Company); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Maxim here.
With My Back to the World by Victoria Chang (Farrar, Straus and Giroux); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Victoria here.
Bear by Julia Phillips (Hogarth Press); stay tuned to Montana Public Radio and The Write Question for a conversation with Julia coming soon!
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty (Tin House Books); stay tuned to Montana Public Radio and The Write Question for a conversation with Morgan coming soon!
Lauren is looking forward to:
The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex by Melissa Febos (Alfred A. Knopf)
In the Rhododendrons: A Memoir with Appearances by Virginia Woolf by Heather Christle (Algonquin Books)
The Antidote by Karen Russell (Alfred A. Knopf)
Red Dog Farm by Nathaniel Ian Miller (Little, Brown & Company)
I’m Always Looking Up and You’re Jumping by Hanif Abdurraqib (Penguin Random House)
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The Write Question team for this episode was Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss.
Funding for The Write Question comes from Humanities Montana; members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.
The Write Question and TWQ Mini episodes are productions of Montana Public Radio.