The Weekly Reader
Wednesdays at 2:33 p.m.
For lovers of literary fiction and memoir, The Weekly Reader is a four-minute round-up of the best new books on the national scene. University of Baltimore professor, author, and longtime All Things Considered commentator Marion Winik joins WYPR’s producer Lisa Morgan, former co-host of The Signal, in studio to share two picks each week.
They curate the best of the buzzy books you're hearing about elsewhere, and keeping an eye out for those of special interest to Baltimoreans. When Winik, who reviews for People, Kirkus Review, and the Washington Post, brings her trademark humor, thoughtful insights, and refreshing honesty to book criticism, it’s like having a new best friend with very good taste to guide you on your literary adventures.
Latest Episodes
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Never trust the teller, trust the tale? Not when the "teller" is as compelling as the "tale!" -
The Weekly Reader's Marion Winik will be in conversation with four local writers who have been receiving raves for their new work in fiction and poetry. -
World War II and its aftermath left an indelible mark on the world and inspired countless artists to try to make sense of such a calamity. -
Joan Didion died in 2021, but interest in her life and work has only increased since then. -
Inheritance: "The Magnificent Ruins" by Nayantara Roy and "Like Mother, Like Mother" by Susan RiegerWe can inherit so many things from our ancestors – physical traits, like hair and eye color, a quick temper, musical talent, a bunch of money, maybe even a big old house! -
Joni Mitchell gets the biographical treatment in a pair of books as unconventional as the artist herself. -
We love short stories, and we're going to make you love them, too. -
Who hasn’t dreamed of running away, leaving it all behind, totally reinventing yourself? -
Great art is often created in the wake of terrible tragedy – think Guernica, The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, The Vietnam Memorial. -
Remember the 1980s? Remember college? Even if you weren’t alive, or never attended university, you’ll feel like you’ve gone back in time with this week's picks.
The Weekly Reader
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On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews three books, a novel and two poetry collections, that explore the complexity of… -
On this edition of The Weekly Reader, two new novels about the perils of trying to fit in: Marion Winik reviews Rufi Thorpe's The Knockout Queen, and… -
On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new books about two very different wars. Marion Winik on Paul Yoon's Run Me to Earth and Ariel… -
On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new, dystopian novels that imagine a world in the throws of a pandemic: Marion Winik on Lawrence… -
On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews two new great novels by two great writers: Anne Tyler's Redhead by the Side of… -
Reading is often considered a form of escapism, a break from the real world around us, which, sounds pretty good right now. On this edition of The Weekly… -
On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new memoirs that remind us how important a sense of humor can be to surviving both trauma and drama.… -
On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews Helen Fremont's acclaimed 1999 memoir After Long Silence and her newly released… -
On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews two new novels about lost loved ones and the pain of finding that we often… -
On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews two new books that add to the #metoo conversation: My Dark Vanessa by Kate…
