Annalisa Quinn
Annalisa Quinn is a contributing writer, reporter, and literary critic for NPR. She created NPR's Book News column and covers literature and culture for NPR.
Quinn studied English and Classics at Georgetown University and holds an M.Phil in Classical Greek from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Cambridge Trust scholar.
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Dan Vyleta's new novel imagines a world where inner faults and sins are made visible by black smoke curling from bodies. He says his big, sprawling narratives were inspired by the works of Dickens. -
Author Maggie Nelson's aunt was murdered decades ago. Her new book chronicles the trial that ensues when the old, cold case is reopened. It's an uneasy masterpiece that avoids quick catharsis.
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Edna O'Brien's new book is set in a little Irish village disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious stranger, a war criminal in hiding whose murderous hands can heal as well as kill.
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The Tollivers have always believed in time travel and young Waldy is no different. Now, stuck permanently at 8:47 a.m., he passes time writing the history of his expansive (and entertaining) family.
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Gloria Norris' wrenching, darkly funny memoir of her abusive father has strong parallels to accounts of life in the Soviet Union. How do you respond to tyranny? What would it cost you to rebel?
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Rachel Cantor's new novel tries to draw out the connections between love and scholarship in a tale of a frustrated translator looking for a new life. But it's occasionally too clever for its own good.
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Bill Bryson follows up his classic travelogue Notes From A Small Island 20 years later — older, grayer, and definitely crankier. It's a charming trip, though marred by a little too much grumpiness.
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Elizabeth Strout's new novel, about an estranged mother and daughter reconnecting during the daughter's illness, is a marvel of quiet simplicity. Reviewer Annalisa Quinn calls it "a true novel."
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British writer Diana Athill is 98 — by her own account, a very old woman. In this slim but lovely volume, she recounts the moments that have lingered: heartbreak, yes, but also hills of bluebells.
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David Searcy's essay collection finds the marvelous in everything from classic cars to Scrooge McDuck. Though it lacks some leavening humor, it's a lovely argument for approaching the world with awe.
