Books

Philip Pullman's beloved fantasy series traces the adventures of brave young Lyra Belacqua (and her daemon, Pantalaimon), through an alternate universe that occasionally spills over into our own.

Food writer Ruth Reichl has a new cookbook called My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life. It describes how she found her voice after Conde Nast shut down the magazine where she was editor.

Singer Patti Smith's latest book is a poetic, free-flowing memoir. In 2010, her memoir Just Kids — about her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe — won a National Book Award.

David J. Peterson has crafted languages for TV shows and films — even a whole language for a single giant, in Game of Thrones. For him, every language is a balance of the technical and the artistic.

Anthony Marra's new book, The Tsar of Love and Techno, is a collection of stories playing out over nearly a century of change in Russia. He tells NPR he wants the book to function like a mixtape.

The author's new memoir collects three decades worth of her journeys in search of a sense of home. "I guess I didn't realize I was gonna be crossing borders my whole life," she says.

As he approaches his 90th birthday, the energetic, award-winning actor shares his tips on how to enjoy aging — and has a new book to prove it. It's all about attitude and staying active, he says.