Books & Literature

Smith's latest book, Swing Time, tells the story of two girls who dream of being dancers, but only one has the talent to do so

Lorraine Bracco's character on HBO's The Sopranos has the unenviable job of psychoanalyzing mob boss Tony Soprano. Bracco's career has plenty of mob connections: She received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. Now she has written a memoir, On the Couch.

"Donald and I go all the way back to when his hair was dark brown," Garry Trudeau jokes. His new book, Yuge!, is a collection of 30 years of comic strips featuring Trump as a character.

Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy offer a pessimistic view of human nature in Westworld, HBO's futuristic TV series about a theme park that allows tourists to act out their Wild West fantasies.

Though he's known for making quasi-horror films, director Park Chan-wook's latest movie is a melodrama set in 1930s Korea. Critic David Edelstein says The Handmaiden is fun and full of twists.

Journalist Neil MacFarquhar is a veteran Middle East foreign correspondent and was Cairo bureau chief for The New York Times. Next, he will cover Islam in North America for the Times. His new novel The Sand Cafe is set in Saudi Arabia and examines the day-to-day reporting life of foreign correspondents in the Middle East during the Gulf War.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews a new collection of essays by poet Mary Oliver who has received many honors including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Woodson won the National Book Award for young people's literature in 2014 for her memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, and is a finalist for another NBA this year. Originally broadcast Dec. 20, 2014.

In his new book Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods, Michael Wex explores the history and culture of Yiddish: its complaints, curses and codes.

Britt Bennett's debut novel centers on three African-American friends dealing with their community's expectations and their own mistakes. Critic Maureen Corrigan says it is full of "mini epiphanies."

Safran Foer's new novel, Here I Am, is told from the points of view of different members of a Jewish family. He says it's about things falling apart — but also about "people trying to mend things."

Albee made his debut as a Broadway playwright in 1962 with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which went on to win a Tony Award. He died Friday at the age of 88. Originally broadcast in 1984.

Teddy Wayne's new novel begins as a sharply observed novel of manners, but quickly mutates into a classic tale of obsession. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Loner a powerful suspense story.

A failing marriage and a catastrophic earthquake take center stage in Safran Foer's new novel. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Here I Am a profound work about the claims of history, identity and family.

The beloved children's book author Beatrix Potter wrote a book about a kitty in 1918; the manuscript was recently discovered and it's now been published for the first time.

A memoir by a pioneering woman who lived in the Mississippi Delta, helping her husband run logging camps. . . feeding as many as one hundred men a day, sewing clothes, skinning deer, fighting off snakes and panthers; and surviving epic floods and fires.

Historian Mary Beard says many of our popular notions about the empire are based on culture rather than fact. Her new book is called SPQR. Originally broadcast Nov. 30, 2015.

The National Book Award winner's new novel is based in part on her memories of growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s. Woodson describes the teen years as an "amazing and urgent moment" in life.

Megan Abbott's new book takes readers deep into the intense, vacuum-sealed universe of young female gymnasts and their parents. Critic Maureen Corrigan says You Will Know Me is worthy of a gold medal.