Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. So sometimes my wife will call me a robot,

half jokingly, but like half seriously too, because I'm not great at like accessing my feelings and

communicating them and doing all that stuff. You know, feels weird to even talk about it here,

but I'm trying to get better at it.

Anyway, today on the pod, we've got two books that mine that realm of figuring out your own feelings and the dangers of shielding yourself from them. In a bit, we'll hear about a novel

about a doctor written by an actual doctor that gets into what life is like when actual human suffering is just part of your

job every day. But first, back in 2019, NPR Scott Simon talked to the author Basi Iqbee about

her book, I'm telling the truth, but I'm lying. It's an essay collection about mental health

and her bipolar disorder, and they have this real touching and honest conversation about what

it's like to go to bed at night, thinking about how it'd be easier if you just didn't wake up in the

morning. But why it's important to, as she puts it, allow yourself mourning.

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

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On 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.

Bossie I'm telling the truth, but I'm lying, as phrases that can stop and start on you.

Here's just one.

My mother loves and hates and heals and hurts with the same hands. The noted spoken word artist has

written a book of essays that perform a memoir. Childhood moments in Nigeria, adolescence in

Oklahoma, abuse at home, what she calls the pain and fog of a bipolar disorder and her hard work to make a real life for herself.

...