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January 22, 2013 Writer and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips explores the paradox of dissatisfaction: Although not getting what we want may cause us pain, Phillips concedes, we should think of frustration as a natural part of existence, and one that can provide us pleasure if we let it.

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January 22, 2013 The Newsweek editor returns with a list of new reads about people with surprising lives — a CIA investigator, a successful businesswoman who started life as a child soldier, and a private-equity pioneer whose domineering personality drove his loved ones away.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

January 21, 2013 The inaugural ball is sort of a strange event — it's not really fancy, but everyone treats it like it is. People are determined to have the experience be special, even if the surroundings aren't.

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January 21, 2013 The actor stars in a new Fox series about a former FBI agent asked to help apprehend a serial killer he once put behind bars. The series is well done, but the violence in it is alarming — especially for network television.

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On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

January 21, 2013 In his new book, The Double V, Rawn James Jr. argues that to understand race in America one must understand the history of African-Americans in the military. While the turning point came between the world wars, the struggle began with the American Revolution.

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On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

January 21, 2013 In softcover fiction and nonfiction, Richard Ford tracks the fallout of two unlikely criminals robbing a bank, while Chris Pavone tells the story of a woman's transition from assassin to stay-at-home mom and Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts explores Harlem's mythic and modern sides.

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January 21, 2013 Marco Polo sits in the garden of Kublai Khan and weaves tales of spider cities, gold cities and dream cities. Author Eric Weiner explains why the best travel book he has ever read isn't about a real place. What's your favorite book about an imaginary journey? Tell us in the comments.

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January 21, 2013 When Detroit milliner Luke Song made Aretha Franklin's now-iconic 2009 inaugural hat — you know, the one with the big bow? — he had no idea he'd be making thousands more.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

January 20, 2013 George Saunders has long been praised in literary circles for his short stories that deftly combine the absurd with the mundane. But now the author has caught mainstream attention with his newest collection, Tenth of December.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

January 20, 2013 Modern society has become adversarial in its relationship to nature, Yale scholar Stephen Kellert argues, having greatly undervalued the natural world beyond its narrow utilty. In his new book Birthright: People and Nature in the Modern World, he tells stories of the environment's effect on us, and ours on it.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

January 20, 2013 In Words From the White House, linguist Paul Dickson looks at the ways presidents have used the office to create and shape American language. Presidents, Dickson says, must be eloquent and spontaneous, but they also need to communicate in a way that gives listeners something to latch onto.

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On Weekend Edition SundayPlaylist

January 20, 2013 Leonard Michaels' Sylvia, an account of a violent and tumultuous love affair, began as an autobiographical essay and then grew into a novel. Author Sarah Manguso writes that despite all of its particularities, the story could really be about anyone. What are some novels that you can relate to?

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January 20, 2013 Michelle Obama's bangs recently caused a stir, and so did Kate Middleton's. But surprisingly enough, some of the conflicting, complex expectations of first ladies aren't all that different from those of modern royalty.

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