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Page after page of terrible handwriting is reproduced in faithful facsimile — covering forthcoming gigs, favorite songs, prophecies of fame, janitorial wages and the firing of drummers.

Hollywood has always been a place where the glamorous and the grotesque go hand in paw. Paula Uruburu recommends books that strip away the sentiment to focus on the darker side of Hollywood's mass-produced fantasies.

While writer Stephen King was recovering from a near-fatal car accident, he finished a nonfiction book about the craft of writing. In a 2000 interview with Terry Gross, King talked about the demons that haunted him after the accident — and how writing helped his recovery process.

A new biography tells the story of Buck's Chinese childhood, as the daughter of zealous missionaries. In Pearl Buck in China, Hilary Spurling makes a compelling case for a reappraisal of Buck's fiction — transforming her from dreary "lady author" into woman warrior.

On Thursday, W.S. Merwin was named the 17th poet laureate of the United States. The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, known for his anti-war poetry and environmental activism, joined Fresh Air's Terry Gross in 2008 for a discussion about memory, mortality and his writing process.

Author and video game aficionado Tom Bissell is just one of millions of kids who grew up with console games and never abandoned the hobby. In his new book, Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, he describes the creative choices that go into creating the virtual worlds of mayhem and fantasy.

Alan Furst's latest World War II thriller is packed with convincing details and heart-pounding plot. Furst draws readers into the world of a Macedonian police detective seized by a conviction to undermine the coming Nazi rule by helping one Jewish fugitive at a time.

Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe follows Birdie Baker, an aging actress from an evangelical family, as she navigates the ups and downs of life in Hollywood. Birdie is either on the verge of great success or a complete breakdown, but Hollowell tells her story with compassion and humor in this beautifully executed debut novel.

In his long career as a sports columnist, Rick Reilly has covered the biggest games, including the Super Bowl and World Series. But for his new book, Sports from Hell, Reilly sought out the championships of decidedly less conventional sports, such as bull poker, chess boxing and jarts.

Bestsellerdom doesn't necessarily bring with it a promise of quality, so we've hand-selected five titles from the NPR Bestseller List: an acutely observed first novel with satiric punch, three works of fiction from established authors at the top of their game, and a startlingly powerful science thriller from a nonfiction newcomer.