May 24, 2013 In 2003, Richard Rubin set out to talk to every American veteran of World War I he could find. With help from the French, he tracked down dozens of centenarian vets and recorded their stories in a new book called The Last of the Doughboys.

Transcript

On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

May 24, 2013 Also: Mary Karr on addiction and David Foster Wallace; Maria Semple calls Jonathan Franzen her "big daddy."

Summary

May 23, 2013 Can you imagine your own superhero? That's the question author and illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka posed to kids on a recent afternoon at a school in Washington, D.C. Krosoczka also described how he overcame a difficult childhood to become the author of the beloved Lunch Lady series.

Transcript

On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

May 23, 2013 A poor father sells his daughter to a wealthy, childless couple, dividing her from her beloved brother and setting a chain of stories in motion in Khaled Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed. Moving and morally complex, this is the most ambitious book yet from the author of The Kite Runner.

Summary

April 25, 2013 This week, Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini returns with And The Mountains Echoed — an ambitious story that spans decades and continents. And Dan Brown, author of the blockbuster The Da Vinci Code, is back with Inferno, his first novel in four years.

Summary

May 22, 2013 A Manhattan judge upholds a lower court ruling that $210 million worth of unredeemed gift cards from the defunct book chain are no longer valid.

Summary

May 23, 2013 Also: Amazon to begin publishing fan fiction; Paul Ryan and Elizabeth Warren are writing books; Keith Richards' exorbitant library fines.

Summary

May 22, 2013 After years trying to conceive, novelist Jennifer Gilmore and her husband decided to adopt. What they thought would be a relatively simple process was instead a long and painful one. In her latest novel, Gilmore channels these autobiographical experiences into fiction.

Transcript

On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

May 22, 2013 Also: shameless book blurbs; new plays from Ayad Ahktar; and a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone draws a record price at auction.

Summary

May 22, 2013 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's latest, Americanah, follows the trials and tribulations of Ifemelu, a middle-class Nigerian immigrant to America. Reviewer Jennifer Reese calls Americanah a "rich and gloriously detailed tapestry ... hung on the sturdy scaffolding of a sweet love story."

Summary

May 21, 2013 Read an exclusive excerpt of Lionel Shriver's latest, Big Brother. Shriver is no stranger to controversial topics, from school massacres to the American health care system. Big Brother is a comedic take on obesity and its effect on an Iowa family.

Summary

ListenPlaylist