Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Before we get into today show,

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I've had this half-formed hypothesis kicking around my head lately that so many of today's authors

are drawn to writing historical fiction as a way of not having to deal with tech, you know,

cell phone, social media, etc. And today's interview is just evidence to back me up on that.

It's with the writer Amor Tolls, whose new story collection is titled Table for Two.

Most of the stories take place in the 90s or before, and he told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly that without the baggage of technology getting in the way of people, you can, quote, narrow it down to the more basic human interactions.

That's after the break.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

At the very end of Amortol's first novel, Rules of Civility, his character, Evelyn Ross,

is on a train. The year is 1938. She is pulling out of New York City, having just completely

blown up her life there, and she's heading home to Indiana, except she doesn't get off where

she's supposed to. All we're told is she has instead

...