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Julian Barnes' slim but powerful new novel chronicles the difficulties composer Dmitri Shostakovich suffered under repressive Soviet regimes, and mourns what is lost when tyrants try to control art.

To be human is to worry, but "you look at a goat," says Thomas Thwaites, "and it's just ... free." In GoatMan, Thwaites explains how he learned to walk, eat and think like the ruminant.

Young adult author Robin Wasserman's new novel is definitely just for grown-ups — it's a tangled, thrilling story of two friends gone very wrong; hard to put down, with a twist you won't see coming.

Huang and his brothers, Evan and Emery, headed to China to reconnect with their culture, to eat lots and lots of food — and to cook. He's documented his travels in his new book, Double Cup Love.

Dan Vyleta's new novel imagines an alternate Victorian England where ill deeds (and even ill thoughts) are made visible by vile black Smoke; it's a marker not just of personal worth but also class.

The Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Empire Falls says his characters are inspired by his parents' working-class World War II generation. Russo's new novel is set in a small town in upstate New York.

The latest installment in Alan Furst's Night Soldiers series opens on a grey spring day in occupied Paris. It follows Mathieu, a small-time Resistance leader and fundamentally good man.

Jill Lepore digs into the story of Joe Gould, a legendary Greenwich Village writer and eccentric — and discovers that his missing magnum opus, long thought imaginary, may actually have existed.

Betsy Lerner writes about joining her 83-year-old mother's weekly bridge club in her new book, which critic Maureen Corrigan calls a "smart and colorful memoir."

Wildlife photographer Gerrit Vyn and essayist Scott Weidensaul share bird calls and discuss some of the remarkable abilities of birds. Originally broadcast Oct. 20, 2015.