January 26, 2012 This month, NPR's Backseat Book Club will read two books that explore what it's like to try to create a new home while still missing the one you've left behind. Join us as we read Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai and The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes.

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January 26, 2012 This week, an up-close look at the lives of Manhattan chef Gabrielle Hamilton, rapper Ice-T, novelist J.D. Salinger, best-selling author Stieg Larsson and his partner Eva Gabrielsson, and the great philosophers.

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January 25, 2012 Howard A. Jones isn't just a geek — he's a fantasy geek, and his favorite book is packed with violence, romance and metafictional conceits. It's Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber series.

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January 24, 2012 Theodor Geisel's first book for kids was rejected 27 times before it was finally published in 1937. And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was inspired by a very ordinary street in Geisel's Massachusetts hometown.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

January 24, 2012 In his book Glock: The Rise of America's Gun, Paul Barrett traces how the sleek, high-capacity Austrian weapon found its way into Hollywood films and rap lyrics, not to mention two-thirds of all U.S. police departments.

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On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

January 23, 2012 A Ball for Daisy is a story of loss — a little dog loses her favorite red ball to a much larger dog — but now it's also a story about winning: On Monday, Chris Raschka's book won the American Library Association's Randolph Caldecott Medal for best illustrated story.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

January 23, 2012 A new survey indicates that 29 percent of American adults now own a tablet computer and/or an e-reader. That number went up 11 percent in just a few weeks, a sure sign that the gadgets were given as holiday gifts and have reached the point of mass acceptance.

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January 19, 2012 The company began selling electronic versions of a handful of standard high-school textbooks on Thursday. But it's far from clear that even a company with Apple's clout will be able to reform the textbook market.

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January 23, 2012 The Inquisition revolutionized record-keeping and surveillance techniques that are still used today, says Cullen Murphy. His new book God's Jury draws parallels between some of the interrogation techniques used in previous centuries with the ones used today.

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On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

January 23, 2012 Jack Gantos' Dead End in Norvelt — about the adventures of a boy who's "grounded for life" — has won the John Newbery Medal for the best children's book of 2011. Chris Raschka's A Ball for Daisy — the saga of a dog who wants her favorite toy back — won the Randolph Caldecott award for best illustrated story.

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