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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 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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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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January 20, 2013 Everyone has relationship problems, even God — at least, according to humorist Simon Rich. His funny, surreal new collection, The Last Girlfriend on Earth: And Other Love Stories, explores dating and relationships, but also magic talking goats and rocket ships.

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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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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 19, 2013 Almost the entire country has signed onto the Common Core Standards Initiative. The standards incorporate more nonfiction texts across all subjects to improve reading scores. But some fear the push for nonfiction reading could lead students away from passionate engagement with literature.

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January 19, 2013 Just nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Lisa Cohen's biography All We Know: Three Lives follows the stories of three women of the early 20th century. "I wanted to write a book that wasn't just about one great person," Cohen says, "but about a kind of collectivity."

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January 19, 2013 Poetry By Heart is a new program in which students memorize two of 130 poems and recite them in a contest. Poet Jean Sprackland, who helped compile the list, says memorizing a poem makes it "something that lives with you forever."

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January 19, 2013 MI6 may be the world's most legendary secret service, but fiction and film can't uncover its actual history. For that, you need BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera and his new book, The Art of Betrayal: The Secret History of MI6.

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January 19, 2013 Terry Francona led the Boston Red Sox to victory in the 2004 and 2007 World Series, but was let go after the team's late-season tailspin in 2011. Francona talks about the book he co-wrote with Dan Shaughnessy, Francona: The Red Sox Years.

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January 19, 2013 The Ireland native is best known as a filmmaker — he directed The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire and the Showtime series The Borgias — but he began his career as a writer. His 1980 novel, The Past, has been reissued in the United States.

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January 19, 2013 As poet Jean Sprackland told NPR's Scott Simon, a poem you learn by heart becomes a part of you. In that case, choosing what works to memorize is a big decision. We have 10 suggestions, based on the Poetry By Heart anthology; what would you recommend?

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