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NPR comics critic Glen Weldon has a new, comprehensive biography of the classic American hero: Superman. Reviewer Elizabeth Graham says Weldon's survey of the Man of Steel's many lives in Superman: The Unauthorized Biography is "reliable, witty and informative."

In her new memoir, Shocked, Volk examines the two women who had a lasting impact on her as she began to parse who she was as a woman: her beautiful, critical mother, Audrey Morgen Volk; and the famous — and unconventional — haute couture designer Elsa Schiaparelli.

Nicholson Baker's latest novel, Traveling Sprinkler, revolves around Paul Chowder, a lonely poet who's fascinated by drone warfare and Debussy. Chowder was the star of Baker's 2009 novel The Anthologist, and reviewer Heller McAlpin welcomes his reappearance — though not his political rants.

Former IT consultant Graeme Simsion's debut novel, The Rosie Project, is a scientific romp about a probably-Asperger's-affected genetics professor who falls in love with a free-spirited woman during a search for her biological father. Reviewer Heller McAlpin says it's an "utterly winning screwball comedy."

Alice McDermott's characters can often be described as average, and Marie, the heroine of her latest novel, is no exception. But critic Maureen Corrigan says the power of McDermott's writing is that she can make even Marie's run-of-the-mill life one for the record books.

Michael Gruber's new novel, The Return, is a tale of memory and revenge: hero Rick Marder, a New York literary type with a medical death sentence, heads south to settle old scores with the narcotraficantes who killed his in-laws. Reviewer Alan Cheuse calls Gruber a "master of the genre."

Lionel Shriver has never shied away from contentious topics. Her latest novel, Big Brother, tackles the hot-button issue of obesity as doll-maker Pandora deals with her brother — washed-up jazz pianist Edison — and his massive weight gain.

The latest book by former New Yorker editor Robert Gottlieb, Great Expectations: The Sons and Daughters of Charles Dickens, reads more like scintillating gossip about the famous writer and his family than literary scholarship. NPR's Heller McAlpin is fine with that.

In his new book, The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use "Plain English" to Rob You Blind, author David Cay Johnston examines the fees that companies have added over the years that have made bills incrementally larger. He tells Fresh Air that companies are misusing language to "confuse people."

Writers are set to vote on a new contract to end a nearly five-month strike against the studios. But many questions remain about the agreement and when TV shows and films might resume production.

If you want to know anything about America's greatest city, you've got to be willing to get grimy, says critic Maureen Corrigan. Two new books about New York — a novel and a narrative history — do more than put up with filth, they positively wallow in it.

Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore star in Todd Haynes' dark and disturbingly funny film about a teacher who was convicted of raping her sixth grade student — and later went on to marry him.

Workers at more than 200 U.S. Starbucks locations walked off the job Thursday in what organizers said was the largest strike yet in the two-year-old effort to unionize the company's stores.

NPR's A Martinez speaks with UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma about how the pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas is impacting the agency's work with Gaza residents.

Biographer Amanda Vaill's new book delves deeply into the lives of journalists like Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, whose documenting of the war helped shape public perception.

For an extra layer of online protection, author P.W. Singer advises making your security answers something counterintuitive, like pizza.

The leader of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka is dead. That's according to international news agency reports out of the island. It marks the final end of a war that's lasted more than a quarter if a century and claimed tens of thousands of lives.

A few weeks ago at a truck terminal in Peshawar, Pakistan, the Taliban torched dozens of trucks destined for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The terminal is a monument to the vulnerability of the U.S.-NATO supply route.

Rising sea levels are destroying the fields and livelihoods of people on Sagar Island in the Bay of Bengal. Refugees arrived from a nearby island after it was swallowed up by waves. Scientists say climate change is a factor. Residents of the island, which is a sacred place for Hindus, say God is responsible.

A senior police official in India says rebels have killed at least 75 paramilitary forces in attacks in the eastern part of the country. That's the most casualties against government forces since they launched an offensive against the rebels last year.

The new Martin Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of the Osage murders it depicts. But with input from the community, it also celebrates Osage culture.

The sea turtle nesting season that started just months after Ian hit ended up setting records for loggerhead turtles on Sanibel and Captiva island.

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Howard University professor Gloria Washington about a new project that will make it easier for Black people to be understood by automatic speech recognition technology.

Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are facing criticism for including a measure in the new state budget that gives broad investigative powers to a partisan oversight committee.

Carterland depicts the one-term presidency of Jimmy Carter as an expansive and largely successful exercise in problem-solving.