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Works of art, in all their variety, afford us the opportunity for boredom — and they do so when everything in our lives mitigates against boredom, says Alva Noë. Maybe this is one of art's gifts.

Mark Z. Danielewski's epic saga (this is part two of a projected 27) is, on the surface, the story of a girl and her cat. But the typographical trickery and sheer weirdness make it much, much more.

A new book looks at how high school students' perceptions of race and injustice change based on how diverse their school is.

The novel is Chinese writer Cixin Liu's first in English since his "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy. And that series' radical creativity returns in this tale of scientific striving — eventually.

Patrick McGovern searches for and studies the residues of fermented drinks that can be thousands of years old — and then re-creates them. His new book explores these brews and their cultural value.

As an adult, the Colombian painter Emma Reyes lived in Paris and befriended Frida Kahlo. But in a series of autobiographical letters, she describes a childhood of grinding misery and poverty.

Wilson — the first woman to translate The Odyssey — has created a fresh, authoritative and slyly humorous version of Homer's epic that scours away archaisms while preserving nuance and complexity.

The Harlem Hellfighters broke barriers as the first African-American infantry unit to fight in World War I. Their story is retold in a new graphic novel written by Max Brooks, author of World War Z.

We look at the political wrangling over the bailout and examine how the scandal involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has revived a faint pulse in a flat-lining Republican party.

Officials have begun tracking the swine flu virus to find out why the virus is affecting more people and spreading more freely in Mexico. Dr. William Schaffner, chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, says it's unclear why the virus is so much worse in Mexico than it is in the United States.

More information has been coming out about the Bush administration's harsh interrogation program. The Justice Department released legal guidance that was given to the CIA. And a Senate committee released a report on the military's use of harsh interrogation methods. However, unanswered questions remain.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that U.S. businesses shed a bigger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 9.5 percent, the highest in nearly 26 years. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 200 points on the news.

How is the Petraeus-Crocker testimony, delivered Monday on Capitol Hill, playing in east Baghdad, where the Army's 82nd Airborne Division is deployed?

American Airlines had plenty of financial problems, even before this week. A slumping economy and soaring fuel costs cut into earnings. Now, lost revenue from thousands of grounded flights could be a major hit to the nation's largest airline.

The union representing Hollywood actors has agreed to mediation in its ongoing negotiations. This came a day before the contract is set to expire. A strike is possible if an agreement isn't reached.

Venezuelans go to the polls Sunday to vote on a hefty set of constitutional reforms that would give President Hugo Chavez greater power and also lift presidential term limits. But in the run-up to the vote, several key Chavez supporters have turned against him. Plus, a number of polls suggest that Chavez's proposed reforms may be defeated at the ballot box.

Because North Carolina didn't expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, many low-income people who could otherwise benefit from the law don't. But there are often ways to bump up their incomes just enough to help them qualify for subsidized coverage.

Two recent contributions to the horror genre, Drood and the Twilight saga, have breathed new life into old thrills and chills. Maureen Corrigan has a review.

John Scalzi returns to the world of Lock In — where people incapacitated by a strange disease can re-enter the world through robot avatars — for a murder mystery that turns on a cat named Donut.

Robin Sloan's latest is a beautiful, small, sweet, quiet book that takes a deep dive into the world of food, underground restaurants and markets, and the magic power of a good sourdough starter.

The new Fireside Grown-Up Guide series is a throwback to the brightly-colored life lessons of your childhood. They're dark and dry and surprisingly funny, a pleasant tonic for your grown-up cares.

Mitchell compares tweeting the story of his latest novel to escaping a straitjacket. "I like what I had to do to circumvent [Twitter's] restrictions," he says.

House Republicans started the week with a plan to vote on their own spending bill, but Speaker McCarthy spent much of the week battling a small group hardline members who were blocking the debate.

For Dr. Gavin Francis, Christmas Eve marked the start of a year-long stay in an icy research base 8,700 miles from home. In this "empire of ice and isolation," he says, food is essential to morale.

Mark Doten's debut novel has some beautiful writing in it, but critic Jason Sheehan says the book suffers from too much verbal and typographical trickery, and not enough actual story.