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The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books This week: Meg Wolitzer's latest, Charles Frazier returns to the Civil War, the pressures of being the only black person in the room, a new Macbeth, and marriage-saving tips from a divorce lawyer.
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The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books

This week: Meg Wolitzer, Charles Frazier, Jo Nesbo, Nafissa Thompson-Spires and James Sexton.
The First Lady Cultivates 'American Grown' Gardening

First lady Michelle Obama tends to the presidential garden during the third annual White House kitchen garden fall harvest in October 2011. The last vegetable garden planted at the White House was Eleanor Roosevelt's victory garden. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP hide caption

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Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

Author Interviews

The First Lady Cultivates 'American Grown' Gardening

One of the first things Michelle Obama did as first lady was to dig up part of the beautifully manicured South Lawn of the White House and plant a vegetable garden. In her new book she says America has a long, proud history of gardening and it's time to reconnect with it.

The First Lady Cultivates 'American Grown' Gardening

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A Portrait Of The Cartoonist And Her Mother
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Author Interviews

A Portrait Of The Cartoonist And Her Mother

Cartoonist Alison Bechdel follows her 2006 book about her father with a new memoir, Are You My Mother? It weaves together stories of her own life with the theories of British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott — with a cameo from Virginia Woolf.

A Portrait Of The Cartoonist And Her Mother

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'I Am The Cheese': A Nightmarish Nail-Biter

promo image Random House hide caption

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Random House

Review

PG-13: Risky Reads

'I Am The Cheese': A Nightmarish Nail-Biter

Something about Robert Cormier's I Am the Cheese, made author Ben Marcus worry. It was the first time he had encountered an unreliable narrator — and he found it disconcerting. Do you have a favorite narrator who doesn't quite tell the truth? Tell us who in the comments.

'I Am The Cheese': A Nightmarish Nail-Biter

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From 'App' To 'Tea': English Examined In '100 Words'

"Tea" (a social word from the 17th century) is one of the words David Crystal examines in his book The Story of English In 100 Words. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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iStockphoto.com

Author Interviews

From 'App' To 'Tea': English Examined In '100 Words'

Linguist David Crystal believes every word has a story to tell, even the ones as commonplace as "and." In The Story of English in 100 Words, he compiles a collection of words — classic words like "tea" and new words like "app" — that explain how the English language has evolved.

From 'App' To 'Tea': English Examined In '100 Words'

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Just What's Inside Those Breasts?

Breasts are getting bigger and arriving earlier. They're also attracting chemicals and environmental toxins, which are getting passed along in breast milk. Photographer: B-D-S/iStockphoto.com hide caption

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Photographer: B-D-S/iStockphoto.com

Author Interviews

Just What's Inside Those Breasts?

Fresh Air

In her new book, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History, Florence Williams offers her take on why breasts are getting bigger and developing earlier, why tumors seem to gravitate toward the breast, and how toxins from the environment may be affecting hormones and breast development.

Just What's Inside Those Breasts?

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In Writing, Fuentes Shed Light On Poverty, Inequality

Mexican author Carlos Fuentes poses for a photo after a news conference in Mexico City on March 12. Fuentes died Tuesday at a hospital in Mexico City. He was 83. Alexandre Meneghini/AP hide caption

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Alexandre Meneghini/AP

Obituaries

In Writing, Fuentes Shed Light On Poverty, Inequality

Carlos Fuentes, one of the most influential Latin American writers, died Tuesday at a hospital in Mexico City at the age of 83. He was instrumental in bringing Latin American literature to an international audience, and he used his fiction to address what he saw as real-world injustices.

In Writing, Fuentes Shed Light On Poverty, Inequality

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At 96, Historian Lewis Reflects On 'A Century'

Bernard Lewis is also the author of the best-selling What Went Wrong? Alan Kolc/ hide caption

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Alan Kolc/

Author Interviews

At 96, Historian Lewis Reflects On 'A Century'

Over his long academic career, Bernard Lewis has arguably become the world's greatest historian of the Middle East. Now, at 96, Lewis turns his attention inward in Notes on a Century, a memoir that looks back on his life, work and legacy.

At 96, Historian Lewis Reflects On 'A Century'

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