AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Have you spent too much time with yourself this summer? looking to escape into someone else's life? Well, there's a book for that - several, actually. Books We Love, NPR's list of best reads, has a lot of recommendations for you, but we'll cherry pick a few nonfiction favorites from 2025 from our colleagues. First up, Felix Contreras. He's host of the Alt.Latino podcast and producer for Tiny Desk concerts, and he recommends "Waiting On The Moon" by musician Peter Wolf.
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PETER WOLF: (Singing) Out there in the world, can't you feel the changing times?
FELIX CONTRERAS, BYLINE: I've been listening to vocalist Peter Wolf since the mid-1970s when he was the front man of The J. Geils Band, and I'm still listening to his work as a solo artist.
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WOLF: (Singing) You and me.
CONTRERAS: Now, like so many of his peers, Peter Wolf seems to be using age as a muse to continue his craft of songwriting and, in his case, using life experience to produce a memoir that's truly a great read.
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WOLF: (Singing) Now, when I was a young man, I believed in everything.
CONTRERAS: And it makes sense that his book would read like a favorite album, with each chapter playing like one great storytelling track after another. Although his stories challenge the usual rock star narrative to include experiences with art because he's also a painter - philosophy, books, a short marriage to a Hollywood star and even a brief NPR mention. But don't worry, there are some way cool and funny musician stories, including the most intimate and loving portrayals of blues musicians John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters that I have ever read.
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WOLF: (Singing) Still, I can't say I want to tear it all apart, throw it all away. All I try to find is just a little peace of mind.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hi, I'm Eric Deggans, TV critic and media analyst for NPR.
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DESI ARNAZ: (As Ricky Ricardo) Lucy. Hi, honey
DEGGANS: And I want to talk about the book "Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television" by Todd S. Purdum. Now, even casual TV fans may know that Desi Arnaz was married to Lucille Ball, and together, they created the classic 1950s era sitcom "I Love Lucy."
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LUCILLE BALL: (As Lucy McGillicuddy Ricardo) The act's just fine, honey. We don't want to get over-rehearsed.
ARNAZ: (As Ricky Ricardo) Well, I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. Now, come on. I haven't got much time. It's either now or never.
BALL: (As Lucy McGillicuddy Ricardo) Well, then make it never.
DEGGANS: But Desi Arnaz has an amazing, rich life story that Todd Purdum really digs into. He does some amazing reporting and some wonderful writing to bring you into this story of the son of a prominent Cuban family who comes to America, doesn't have much, has to rebuild his life and career and then eventually joins forces with Lucille Ball to create this TV show that's not only popular with audiences, but pioneers all kinds of things in television.
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ARNAZ: (As Ricky Ricardo) Come on. Come on. Come on, honey.
DEGGANS: They film it live with multiple cameras in front of an audience, which hadn't really been done before. They record it on film, which allows them to preserve the episodes and rerun them in the future. And they also create a studio that winds up creating other classic TV shows like "Mission Impossible" and "Star Trek."
So whether you're interested in the stories of old Hollywood or you're interested in a classic immigrant story, if you're interested in the star-crossed romance of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball and you want to hear about how much they loved each other and tried to stay together and tried to build a business together - no matter what your interests are, you can find them in this book.
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BALL: (As Lucy McGillicuddy Ricardo) That's enough, honey.
ARNAZ: (As Ricky Ricardo) Come on, I want to do the finish.
BALL: (As Lucy McGillicuddy Ricardo) The finish?
ARNAZ: (As Ricky Ricardo) Yeah.
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CLARE LOMBARDO, BYLINE: Hi, my name is Clare Lombardo. I'm an editor here at NPR in our Culture Desk, and one of the best books I've read so far this year is called "No Fault: A Memoir Of Romance And Divorce," and the writer is Haley Mlotek. You can probably tell just by that title, a lot of this book is about Mlotek's own marriage and her divorce.
And the chapters of the book are really vignettes, not just about Mlotek's life but also about the history of marriage and of divorce and how those topics have been portrayed in books and movies and pop culture. So it's really not a linear story at all, and Mlotek really resists any clear narrative or answers or blame that might make the story of her divorce more digestible.
And when she is reflecting on her life, she seems to be working out on the page all the ways that she might tell a story, and it becomes really clear that there's never really only one way to tell it. And I found that really moving because you're left with the idea that what's most important is actually that life goes on. And for her, that's led to a really great book.
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JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Hello, I am Joanna Kakissis. I am NPR's Ukraine correspondent, and the book I love, the book I want everyone to read, is called "Looking At Women, Looking At War." It's by Victoria Amelina, an acclaimed Ukrainian novelist and poet, and the book is her only work of nonfiction.
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KAKISSIS: It follows women resisting Russia's war on Ukraine. They include a human rights activist, a soldier, a librarian and Victoria Amelina herself.
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KAKISSIS: When we last talked back in May 2023, she was still writing this book.
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VICTORIA AMELINA: It's more like a diary, but it's not only my diary but a diary of lives of these women, too, because we all feel like this is one long, horrible day.
KAKISSIS: Just a few weeks later, a Russian airstrike killed Victoria in the eastern city of Kramatorsk.
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KAKISSIS: Her book was only about halfway finished. Her grieving friends and husband teamed up to finish it. The final result includes gripping narratives, diary-style entries, character studies and raw testimonies. Her notes are incorporated into the second half of the book, which at first seems jarring, but then serves as an intimate reminder of her terrible death. Her voice, however, is so clear throughout this book. I can hear it in every word.
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RASCOE: Those recommendations again - "Looking At Women, Looking At War," "No Fault," "Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television" and "Waiting On The Moon." For the full list of books we've loved so far this year, visit npr.org/summerbooks.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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