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Poet Billy Collins says the central theme of poetry is death. He manages to ruminate on this in a manner both whimsical and poignant in his latest collection, The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems.

Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, builds on the success of her 2001 bestseller Nickel and Dimed. In it, she goes "undercover" by pretending to be a public relations professional looking for work.

Thomas P.M. Barnett has a new book out. Blueprint for Action follows Barnett's best-selling book The Pentagon's New Map. Both books offer Barnett's view on global security issues and strategies.

The wet spell in the Pacific Northwest is seen as an opportunity for Nancy Pearl, the Seattle librarian who regularly shares her recommended readings. She shares her list of books for a rainy day.

The new anthology Mexico, A Traveler's Literary Companion takes us deep inside the imagination of a country through its fiction. Many of the stories are translated to English for the first time. Editor and translator C.M. Mayo tells John Ydstie about the book.

Super Bowl Sunday is a time for hearty fare. The game has a Midwestern flavor (Chicago-Indy). But it's in Miami. So how about a Cuban counterpart to the Sloppy Joe?

Norman Mailer's first novel in 10 years, The Castle in the Forest, imagines the childhood of Adolf Hitler. Mailer says that, as a young Jewish boy from Brooklyn, he became obsessed with the early life of the reviled dictator.

In Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata, a science writer for The New York Times, examines trends in America's diet industry and some of the most basic assumptions about health, dieting and body weight.

Mike Pressler was dumped as Duke's lacrosse coach when rape charges were filed against three of his players. But the charges were dropped and the prosecutor in the case was disbarred. Now, Pressler is coaching again and has written a book.

What makes the perfect beach book if you're the kind of person who gravitates toward the literary? The answer is simple: Books literally about the beach, featuring miles of shoreline.

When West Berlin was cut off by Soviet troops 60 years ago, British and U.S. aircraft flew in food, diesel and coal to residents. On the anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, Andrei Cherny, author of The Candy Bombers, and pilot Hal Halvorsen talk about a secret mission: showering the children of Berlin with candy.

Shakespeare's works inspire strong emotions both on stage and off. Author Nigel Cliff talks about his book The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama and Death in 19th-Century America, which tells the story of an argument between two actors that led to a deadly riot.

The 2008 presidential race was many things to many people, but almost everyone agrees that it was long — epic even. So what better way to tell the story of the past political year than in an epic poem? That's where Calvin Trillin's Deciding the Next Decider comes in.

Sergio Vieira de Mello was the United Nations' envoy in Iraq when he was killed by a terrorist attack on the Canal Hotel in August 2003. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Samantha Power has written a book about Vieira de Mello's life.

Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl returns with another set of titles you should be reading but haven't (yet). The latest batch features the story of three royal cousins, tales of wild animal adventures and a pun-filled picture book for younger readers.

Some thrillers hit you over the head. But David Peace's latest post-war novel, Tokyo Year Zero, is more subtle. Peace has written half a dozen books that were well-received in England. His first American release is full of sound effects.

In 1940, Chicago-based author Richard Wright published Native Son, sparking a 20-year run of trailblazing for other African-American writers. Wright died of a heart attack in Paris in the autumn of 1960, leaving behind an unfinished novel, which his daughter is now publishing.

BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was abducted in the Gaza Strip earlier this year and held for nearly four months, writes a book about his ordeal. Kidnapped: And Other Dispatches describes his ordeal. He says a radio brought by guards offered a lifeline and psychological boost.

Authors Louise Mushikiwabo and Jack Kramer discuss their new book, Rwanda Means the Universe. They describe years of peaceful coexistence between the Bahutu and Batutsi in Rwanda, and events leading up to the massacre of the Tutsi people in 1994.

Shirin Ebadi, author of Iran Awakening and winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, discusses the standoff over Iran's nuclear program and the rhetoric of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. She also explains why she decided not to leave her homeland.

In 1957, French-Algerian writer Albert Camus won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and his short story collection Exile and the Kingdom was first published in French. The first English translations of the stories were not well received by critics. Fifty years later, Carol Cosman has newly translated the book.

For centuries, an evening of dinner and the opera has been a popular combination. Food historian Francine Segan celebrates this combination with a new book of recipes inspired by beloved arias, overtures and composers.

Charles Addams was the creator of the Addams Family — the warped and gruesome stars of magazine cartoons, a TV show and two movies. According to those who knew him, Addams was as strange as some of his characters.

Nicaraguan novelist and poet Giocanda Belli crafts the gripping story of the 16th-century Spanish queen Juana of Castile into a historical novel. The Scroll of Seduction was recently translated into English.

Cross an artichoke with celery, and you come close to getting a cardoon. For our food moment this week, food writer Peggy Knickerbocker talks about cardoons — a wonderfully weird vegetable with mediterranean "roots." Knickerbocker is the co-author of The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market Cookbook.