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John Williams' Stoner sold just 2,000 copies when it was originally published in 1965. It's now acknowledged as a classic work, is a best-seller across Europe and the No. 1 novel in the Netherlands.

Some novels you read to find out what happens next, and some you read to linger in the moment. In Tom Drury's Pacific, plot takes a back seat to sharp observation and deadpan wit. The book juxtaposes scenes of teenaged Micah as he moves to Hollywood, with stories set in Micah's heartland hometown.

Do big league hitters have naturally faster reflexes? Are African-Americans predisposed to be better athletes? In his new book, Sports Illustrated's David Epstein says science now has answers — or at least insights — to all these questions.

After the Civil War, pursuing butterflies was more than a pastime for many Americans — it was a passion. In his book, Butterfly People, William Leach chronicles the infatuation, from its European roots and natural-history tradition to its eventual fall.

James Astill, political editor of The Economist, has written a new book about a sport not often discussed in America. In The Great Tamasha: Cricket, Corruption and the Spectacular Rise of Modern Indian, he tells of the money, passion and peculiar forces behind Indian cricket's massive popularity.

Mark Kurlansky's book Ready for a Brand New Beat is a history of the song "Dancing in the Street." It was the soundtrack for the summer of 1964, when race riots and war protests spread across the United States.

The company behind iconic public service campaigns like Smokey Bear and McGruff the Crime Dog has been around since the 1940s. But how much is really known about the Ad Council? Guest host Celeste Headlee speaks to author Wendy Melillo about her book How McGruff and the Crying Indian Changed America.

Read an exclusive excerpt of Allen Salkin's new history of the Food Network, From Scratch. It's an affectionate but unsparing look at a scrappy little startup network that became a national broadcasting behemoth — and brought people like Emeril Lagasse and Rachael Ray into millions of homes.

Austrian writer Adalbert Stifter's 1845 novella Rock Crystal is the seemingly simple tale of two children who get lost in a snowfall on Christmas Eve. But author Susan Choi says the story perfectly captures humanity at its humblest and most resilient.

Jennifer Lin-Liu's On the Noodle Road takes readers on a journey along the former Silk Road, looking for the origins of the noodle. But reviewer T. Susan Chang says that the book gets tied into knots when the quest turns cold.