May 23, 2012 These cookbooks take fruits and vegetables fresh from the field and the farm stand to delectable extremes. Writer T. Susan Chang has gleaned 10 top cookbooks that will make even the most devoted carnivore slip into accidental vegetarianism.

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May 23, 2012 This week, there's fresh fiction from Pulitzer finalist Denis Johnson, novelist Tom Perrotta and newspaperman Pete Hamill; plus, travel editor Mark Adams explores Machu Picchu; Melissa Coleman reminisces about growing up off the grid; and Howard Means looks at the life of Johnny Appleseed.

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May 22, 2012 For years, the Tea Party has held individualism up as the great American value. But columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. says that Americans historically have prized communitarianism just as much. In Our Divided Political Heart, Dionne argues that America is at its best when it balances the two.

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May 23, 2012 The second novel in Hilary Mantel's trilogy positions Thomas Cromwell as Henry VIII's trusted consigliere and a specialist at getting unwanted wives out of the way. But if the machinations in Bring Up the Bodies are of the cruelest kind, Mantel's language couldn't be more sublime.

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May 22, 2012 If you're looking for advice on leadership, it's good to start with a four-star general. In his new memoir, former Secretary of State Colin Powell offers advice and anecdotes drawn from his childhood in the Bronx and his military career — and reflects candidly about the lead-up to the Iraq war.

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May 22, 2012 In The Right-Hand Shore, Christopher Tilghman returns to the racially charged landscape and the crumbling plantations of his book Mason's Retreat. Fresh Air critic Maureen Corrigan calls the prequel "the real deal."

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May 21, 2012 For Nancy Pearl, beach reading doesn't mean light reading. NPR's go-to librarian has dug up a diverse mix of titles old and new — a selection of mystery, memoir and more — that will leave you with some substantial summer reading.

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May 21, 2012 An April spent in an Italian castle? Yes, please. The four women of Elizabeth von Arnim's The Enchanted April are lucky to have a grand adventure. But author Madeline Miller recommends the book even if you're stuck at home. Do you have a favorite book about exotic travel? Tell us in the comments.

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May 20, 2012 The end of Round 8 of our Three-Minute Fiction contest has finally arrived. We've read through more than 6,000 stories, and now our judge for this round, novelist Luis Alberto Urrea, has picked his favorite.

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• The Winning Story: 'Rainy Wedding'

May 19, 2012 In his new book, journalist Jack Hitt says America's amateur spirit goes back to the nation's origins — and it's nothing to be ashamed of. The Europeans viewed the Americans as an "unfinished people," Hitt says. "We were amateur everything." And it's only made the nation better.

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May 19, 2012 Patricia McCormick's new young adult novel tells the story of Arn Chorn-Pond, a real-life survivor of the Cambodian genocide whose musical skills kept him alive.

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