The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books

Amy Poehler plays Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation, which will air its final season next year. Poehler says, "It's a privilege in television to be able to have a proper goodbye." Colleen Hayes/NBC hide caption

W.H. Auden at the 92nd Street Y Poetry Center in 1966. Diane Dorr-Dorynek/Courtesy of the 92nd Street Y hide caption

James Ellroy's novels include The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere and, most recently, Perfidia. He lives in Los Angeles, the setting for much of his work. Christopher Polk/Getty Images for AFI hide caption

The family of Ibrahim Abid, who was killed when guards employed by security company Blackwater opened fire at Baghdad's Nisour Square in 2007, visits his grave on Dec. 9, 2008. Hadi Mizban/AP hide caption

Herbie Hancock's new memoir is titled Possibilities. Jessica Hancock/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Bryan Stevenson takes on cases to exonerate people wrongfully convicted. "One of the things that pains me is we have so tragically underestimated the trauma, the hardship we create in this country when we treat people unfairly, when we incarcerate them unfairly, when we condemn them unfairly," he says. Tracy King/iStockphoto hide caption

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Neil Patrick Harris has hosted the Tony Awards four times. Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images hide caption

Cary Elwes stars as Westley, a farm boy who falls in love with Buttercup (Robin Wright), in 1987's The Princess Bride. Courtesy of The Princess Bride, Ltd. hide caption