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  • For years, scarce copies of Laura London's 1984 romance The Windflower were treasured by readers. Reviewer Sarah Wendell hails its reissue and explains the concept of "Good Book Noise."
  • Kate Mosse's new gothic thriller uses the concept of taxidermy as a clever skeleton on which to hang its scares. It's a dark and tangled tale that's definitely not for the squeamish.
  • J.C. Hallman's audacious account of his engagement with the erotic writing of Nicholson Baker makes a splash, but critic Heller McAlpin says the book sometimes runs aground in self-indulgence.
  • An American candy heiress butts heads with a snooty French chocolatier in Laura Florand's romantic new novel The Chocolate Thief. They fight, he throws her out of his candy store — of course they're going to fall in love. Read on for a sweet treat to while away a summer afternoon.
  • Jonathan Evison's heartbreaking, maddening new novel, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, follows the budding friendship of professional caregiver Ben and his paralyzed teenage patient, Trevor. While the writing can be lovely, the book will test readers' tolerance of puerile sex talk.
  • In Blackouts, Justin Torres plays with fact and fiction, and calls into question whose story gets told.
  • In 2014, Donna Salemink was solo parenting her two teenagers and often struggled to make ends meet. She came to StoryCorps with her daughter Melissa to remember the moment that changed their lives.
  • Financial officials will be taking a close look at Ireland's broken banking system. A big part of their mission is to restore confidence in the bond market and stop Ireland's malaise from spreading to other eurozone nations.
  • The 50-year-old heavy rock group performs the final concert of its "End of the Road" tour Saturday in New York. But it's said farewell before.
  • Large numbers of tourists are visiting Mt. Fuji again, causing problems with local municipalities and worry over the environment of the World Heritage site.
  • The Carter Center said she is at home with former President Jimmy Carter, now 99. The Carter family said through the statement that they are "grateful for the outpouring of love and support."
  • Sometimes, when walking Brooklyn's streets, it doesn't feel as if its literary past is haunting. Rather, its literary soul is still alive and pulsating. Brooklyn is a world unto itself and a writer's enclave. Journalist and critic Evan Hughes has written a literary biography of the leafy borough.
  • The famous Beatle was known for writing notes that often contained funny drawings and self portraits. Now, Hunter Davies has gathered those letters into a collection that tells the story of Lennon's life, from a note written to his aunt at 10, to one written minutes before his murder.
  • The Care and Keeping of You from American Girl eased the adolescent anxieties of the millennial and Gen Z girls who read it. Now the book is marking its 25th anniversary.
  • Norman Rush's newest novel takes a geographic hiatus from Botswana, his usual literary location. Instead, reviewer Drew Toal says the book is instead full of irritating intellectuals, postmortem scandal, and a group of collegiate clowns who come together after the death of an old friend.
  • Maps do more than help us get around, Simon Garfield makes evident in his tour through the history and science of map-making. They can unlock vast wealth, solve mysteries of science, project political power — even trace the outlines of the divine.
  • The Time Traveler's Almanac is a gigantic new compilation of — you guessed it — stories about time travel. Reviewer Jason Sheehan says the selection of stories and authors is very nearly perfect.
  • Fantômas — even his name is mysterious! The French criminal mastermind starred in a series of 19 deliciously pulpy novels beginning in 1911. Author Rachel Cantor says the series is "part police procedural, part gothic horror story, part courtroom drama, part Sherlockian mystery, part existential potboiler."
  • In her new book of essays, I See You Made an Effort, comedian Annabelle Gurwitch muses on middle-aged life. Critic Heller McAlpin says that the book, infused throughout with "sharp wit," is hilarious.
  • Connoisseurs of the rarified sport of cricket still speak in whispers of the scandal, 34 years ago, when an Englishman was accused of rubbing Vaseline into the ball to make it swerve more. That affair pales by comparison with the uproar in Australia this week when Pakistan's captain was caught on camera biting a cricket ball like an apple. Ball-tampering is considered the worst form of skullduggery in the so-called Gentleman's Sport. The loudest protests have come from Pakistan's arch-rival, India.
  • Nearly a year after President Bush declared the Taliban had been ousted from power, Afghanistan has seen its bloodiest year yet since the American occupation. NPR's Philip Reeves, in Kabul, discusses the Taliban's recent resurgence.
  • Britain is set to change its financial laws. Officials say it's an attempt to prevent taxpayers from ever again having to spend tens of billions of dollars to save banks from collapse. Among other things, banks would be required to set aside more money as a cushion against possible losses.
  • It's a rich week for fiction, with new novels from Ann Patchett and Jennifer Weiner, and a debut by Chad Harbach that marries a literary sensibility with a love of baseball — plus Jorie Graham's new poetry collection. In nonfiction, Erik Larson is back with the story of an American ambassador in Germany in 1933.
  • A year after the fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, experts and others are still concerned about toxins and their aftereffects.
  • The HBO miniseries starring Frances McDormand is based on a collection of stories about residents in a small town in Maine. It's about family, friends and the tenuous relationships that make up life.
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