Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Jennifer Egan's new novel, The Candy House, is finally out, and I am extremely hyped for it.

It's sort of a sequel to her 2011 Pulitzer Prize winning book, A Visit from the Goon Squad, which I remember reading and thinking about how she nailed the sort of sadness

that comes with aging and the passing of time.

A kind of ridiculous thought for me to have as a 20-something now that I think about it.

But anyway, this new book tackles the information overload that is our present day,

and our undying need to be seen as full and authentic people.

And Egan tells NPR's Lailafato about how our thirst for immediate gratification overrides any

thoughts about long-term consequences.

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

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.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.

If it were possible to relive your memories and the memories of others, would you? It's a

moral dilemma that the characters face in Jennifer Egan's latest book, The Candy House.

In the world that I've created, never trust a candy house is an expression that

people use. Meaning, be careful of things that at first appear inviting. And later, the phrase

comes up again in a more positive light, which is a kind of aging rocker who's hoping that his

remixing of old songs by this band that was really popular in the 90s will be a kind of

candy house to bring in a whole generation of younger listeners. The candy house follows some of

the same characters from Jennifer Egan's 2010 novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad. Their lives

overlap, but she told me their backstories stand alone.

When I was in one person's story, I didn't worry terribly about how they were connected to everyone else in that same way that our own sensibility, we are living our own lives and not necessarily thinking about the lattice work of connection around us.

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