J.K. Rowling reads to children at the 2010 White House Egg Roll. According to a new essay, her own experiences as a young student helped inform the Harry Potter character Dolores Umbridge. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption
Must Reads : The Two-Way Some stories are just too weird, too funny or too sad to ignore. They may not be "serious news," but are so fascinating you must read them. NPR correspondents are on the watch for such tales. We pass along the best, from NPR and other news outlets.
The Two-Way
Must Reads
Friday
Thursday
Poet Carolyn Forche stands with her friend and mentor Galway Kinnell (right) during a trip to Japan to attend the Asian Writers Congress in 1983. Courtesy of Carolyn Forche hide caption
Wednesday
It's partly because of bookshelves like these — and their digital equivalents — that publishers have had a positive open to 2014. Blackred/iStockphoto hide caption
Tuesday
Australia is no longer processing new visa applications from the three worst-hit countries in Africa's Ebola outbreak. Here, a jetliner prepares to land at Sydney's international airport. Jason Reed/Reuters/Landov hide caption
Karen Russell's novel Swamplandia! was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2012. Michael Lionstar hide caption
Monday
Members of a cleaning crew clear the New York apartment of Dr. Craig Spencer, who has been diagnosed with Ebola, on Friday. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters/Landov hide caption
A customer makes a purchase using Apple Pay on her iPhone 6 at a Walgreens store in Times Square last Monday. The mobile payment service has now been blocked by CVS and Rite Aid. John Minchillo/AP Images for MasterCard hide caption
Singer and songwriter Ronnie Milsap is a new inductee into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in Nashville, Tenn. Rick Diamond/Getty Images hide caption
Nurse Kaci Hickox will be allowed to leave the hospital where she's been in quarantine since Friday, New Jersey officials said Monday. Hickox is seen here in an undated photo. University of Texas at Arlington/AP hide caption
Sunday
![LeVar Burton Reads 'Go The [Expletive] To Sleep'](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/10/26/burton-go_wide-101f0b314fd1ef62c9bd5931002fa18704d2585d.jpg?s=300&c=85&f=jpeg)
Former Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton reads from the 2011 best-seller Go the [bleep] to Sleep. YouTube hide caption
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, (right) announced a new mandatory 21-day quarantine Friday, alongside New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Mark Lennihan/AP hide caption
A woman has her fingerprints checked with a new biometric identification machine before voting in Brasilia Sunday. More than 142 million Brazilians went to the polls, ending a dramatic campaign. Evaristo SA/AFP/Getty Images hide caption