MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
If you're looking to squeeze in one last good book before the end of the year or maybe you're racking your brain for a gift for someone on your list who is really hard to shop for, listen up. The 2024 edition of NPR's Books We Love is here, 350 titles recommended by critics and by NPR staff. Andrew Limbong is host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast, and he's here with some recommendations. Hey there.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.
KELLY: I love that we came up with 350 books that we like. Like, most places stop with 10, but we're going to lay it all on you.
LIMBONG: (Laughter).
KELLY: What have we got?
LIMBONG: Listen. Yeah, 350 is a lot because we're not saying, here's the 10 best books you got to read, right? It's our big stack of books guaranteeing something that you might love - right? - coming from editors, producers, like, our NPR engineers, our lawyers, pretty much anyone with the npr.org email (laughter), right? And I know that it seems like a big number, but there are little tabs that can help narrow down the search.
KELLY: Yeah. One of the popular tabs is always our staff picks. And I was just looking at that. If I do just staff picks, I'm still down to 194 books. So where...
LIMBONG: Yeah. You know, whatever.
KELLY: ...Should we start?
LIMBONG: I don't know. Do you want to do fiction or nonfiction?
KELLY: Oh, I get to choose.
LIMBONG: Yeah, the world is your oyster.
KELLY: OK, here we go - nonfiction. Let's go there.
LIMBONG: All right. On the nonfiction list is the Salman Rushdie book "Knife," which I think you read, right, Mary Louise?
KELLY: Oh, I did. Yeah.
LIMBONG: Yeah. For listeners who don't know, that's the memoir he wrote in the aftermath of being attacked onstage back in 2022. It's about, you know, big-picture stuff like freedom of speech and the power of writing. But, Mary Louise, I think the thing that surprised me about this book was how much there was, like, a romance at the heart of it all, right?
KELLY: Oh, totally. Yeah. I got to interview Salman Rushdie about it. And I remember asking him, you know, about the real hero of the book was his wife who plays a starring role. And it is a beautiful romance story. OK, what else? What else is on the list?
LIMBONG: All right. Let's pivot over to fiction. A book that I think I personally recommended was a book called "Liars" by Sarah Manguso. It's about a relationship that is breaking apart, and it's told only from the woman's point of view, right? And so it's this one-sided account that kind of makes you question everything. Like, sure, the husband does some, you know, pretty crummy things to her. But you also start, like - as the story keeps turning, you also start thinking about the reliability of the narrator, right? And I think Manguso is such a skilled and efficient writer. She makes this story both sad and funny and poignant in a way.
KELLY: I will advocate on behalf of all the parents at NPR - any books for kids that you would point us toward?
LIMBONG: OK. The one that I got to shout out is called "The Book That Almost Rhymed," by Omar Abed and illustrated by Hatem Aly. It's a picture book about a kid trying to tell a rhyming story. But the younger sibling is being, you know, annoying and obnoxious about it.
KELLY: As they are.
LIMBONG: You know?
KELLY: As they are.
LIMBONG: Yeah. Listen.
KELLY: I know.
LIMBONG: Listen. Listen.
KELLY: Yep.
LIMBONG: As an annoying younger sibling myself, I really appreciate the representation on the page. You know, you talk about seeing yourself a lot in literature, and I think I got to shout out this book for all the younger siblings out there.
KELLY: All right. On behalf of older siblings, I thank you.
LIMBONG: Oh (laughter).
KELLY: Andrew Limbong. He's host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast.
LIMBONG: Thanks so much, Mary Louise.
(SOUNDBITE OF AMIE BLU SONG, "EVERYTHING ABOUT HER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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