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In the latest installment of our library series, NPR's Bob Mondello visits some notable libraries in popular culture: Jorge Luis Borges' Library of Babel; Lucien's Library in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman; and the stacks in Buffy, Hogwarts, Doctor Who and Fahrenheit 451.

Stephen Colbert offered a lovely remembrance of his mother on Wednesday night's show.

The nominations for this year's Emmy awards were announced on Thursday. House of Cards, Netflix's venture into producing original content, was recognized with several nominations.

Hideous furniture and furballs and festive sweaters — homeliness is everywhere. Is ugly the new beautiful?

In addition to the shuttered federal agencies affected by the government shutdown, cultural institutions including the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo have been closed indefinitely, disappointing tourists and D.C. locals alike.

The prodigious output of the great Western artist Harry Jackson is kept and exhibited by his son Matt in Cody, Wyo. But funds are running low, and unless donations come soon, the collection of Jackson's work will have to be separated and sold piecemeal.

French philosopher Denis Diderot was the driving force behind one of the first compendiums of human knowledge, but his contributions have been largely lost to history. Now, the anniversary of his birth has prompted calls to reinter his remains in Paris' Pantheon, alongside the likes of Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

A far cry from the usual amped-up extreme-sports film, Lucy Walker's The Crash Reel follows snowboarder Kevin Pearce from devastating wipeout through debilitating brain injury and protracted recovery — fitting his struggle into a larger consideration of sports-related injury. (Recommended)

There's nothing the Internet hates more than a spoiler. (This story originally aired on All Things Considered on July 26, 2012.)

The 1970s were a tumultuous time in the city's history, but it was also a time of great change for the Latino community, then mostly Puerto Rican. Photojournalist-activist Bolivar Arellano made a point of documenting the "good." Those who have studied his work say he captured the nuance that outsiders often missed.

Irish poet Seamus Heaney has died in Dublin at the age of 74. He was one of the world's best-known poets. In 1995 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Finding the poetry in a presidential speech.

Food blogger Deb Perelman did not jump on the kale bandwagon. "I've often thought the world would be a better place if we could stop pretending that kale tastes good," she says. But one salad changed her mind.

For devoted readers of James Joyce, June 16 marks the annual celebration of his acclaimed novel Ulysses. Live readings of the famously complex tome can go on for 24 hours or more. Jacki Lyden looks into the history of these marathon performances.

Elaborately illustrated napkins. Famous paintings re-created using food. Depending on your viewpoint, these lunch projects are an expression of parental love or another salvo in the parenting wars.

A new movie tells the true story of Maria Altmann, who fought her way to the U.S. Supreme Court to force the Austrian government to return a painting of her aunt.

Susan Stamberg is an NPR "founding mother" and the first woman to anchor a national nightly news program. But her radio debut was not so glamorous: a fake weather report on a local radio station.

Jay Jackson plays the hilariously odd newscaster on NBC's Parks and Recreation. But before he was a fake anchor, Jackson spent 22 years as a real TV reporter — and he became an actor by accident.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is portrayed on stage in John Strand's new play, The Originalist. NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Strand and the actor who plays Scalia, Edward Gero.

The husband and wife team of Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil have created some of the most iconic African-American characters on television. This is their list of must-see shows and movies.

From corsets and codpieces to shapewear and Spanx, people have tried to change their silhouettes for centuries. From The Seams, Jacki Lyden takes us on a sartorial tour of shapewear.

Nicholas Herrera puts his own touch on the tradition of saint carving. The santero works out of his studio in a small New Mexico town — but his edgy work can be found in museums around the country.

The Bronx native grew up in a blue-collar household; a life in show business seemed far from reality. He spent time in the Air Force and as a cop before he finally gave his childhood dream a chance.

Stephanie Izard is the chef behind Chicago's award-winning Girl and the Goat restaurant — and the first woman to win on Bravo's Top Chef. But her food career began in the land of unlimited salad.

The actress is best known for her role as Dr. Quinn, the physician on the American frontier. But her big break came years before, when she played 007's tarot-reading love interest in Live and Let Die.