Michel Houellebecq's dark satire Submission caused a furore in his native France with its depiction of an Islamist takeover. But critic Heller McAlpin calls it "too distasteful to be amusing."
Wildlife photographer Gerrit Vyn and essayist Scott Weidensaul share bird calls and discuss some of the remarkable abilities of birds. Both men contributed to a new book about North American birds.
Garth Risk Hallberg's 900-page debut novel is an intricately-plotted story set in chaotic 1970s New York. Critic Maureen Corrigan says City On Fire has much to admire, even if its ending falls flat.
The Nobel Prize laureate has written about his city before, but from the perspective of his affluent childhood. His new book captures Istanbul's growth and change through the eyes of a street peddler.
Rev. Jim Wallis leads the Sojourners, a Christian social justice group. He's known for mixing faith with public life, urging candidates to discuss moral issues in ways that transcends divisions.
In her third outing as crime novelist Robert Galbraith, J.K. Rowling hits her stride with a fluid, complex mystery. Reviewer Annalisa Quinn says she excels at depicting evil, ordinary or otherwise.
There are all kinds of therapies to cure what ails you. But a new and intriguing approach is bibliotherapy, which dispenses a prescription of literature specifically tailored to a patient's unique circumstances. NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with pioneering bibliotherapist Susan Elderkin.
Sonia Manzano has spent 44 years as one of the lucky residents of Sesame Street. In her memoir she describes how she sought comfort in TV during her own difficult childhood in the South Bronx.
The award-winning author of Holes has just published a new novel for young readers, called Fuzzy Mud. It mixes middle-school social puzzles with a more sinister mystery: a rogue biotech threat.