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Astronomer Mike Brown didn't mean to kill Pluto -- or so he claims. Brown says the ex-ninth planet was just collateral damage in his search for the 10th. He tells the story of that search -- and the demotion of Pluto that raised the ire of elementary school students everywhere -- in his new book, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming.

Heidi Durrow's debut novel, The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, explores biracial identity in young adulthood. The book has received critical acclaim as well as the Bellwether Prize for fiction that addresses issues of social justice.

Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will get a kick out of a graphic novel series that takes the magical-teens-battling-evil-monsters trope and transplants it to a lovingly rendered Tokyo.

Elizabeth Bear's new novel makes thoughtful use of steampunk elements in a lively tale of brothel inhabitants defending their house against a rival — and in the process uncovering a political plot.

It's been more than four decades since Burton Malkiel published A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Eleven editions later, Malkiel hasn't wavered in his mantra of patience and broad investing.

African-American philosopher Cornel West's new book laments the decline of "prophetic" black leadership, lifting up examples of people who were willing to risk their lives in the service of the truth.

In our Weekend Reads series, NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Meg Medina about Isabel Quintero's novel, Gabi, a Girl in Pieces. It's the story of a Mexican-American teenager struggling with her identity.

Paul Tremblay's new novel is, on the surface, a story about a book about a reality show about a real-life event, but reviewer Jason Heller says it becomes an "unsettling conversation about the truth."

Miranda July's new novel The First Bad Man defies neat summaries; reviewer Annalisa Quinn calls July "a master of the intimate weirdnesses of human thought," who treats dusty mental corners with care.

From a scapegoat for the "sapping" of the "white race," to a symbol of modern engineering, to a target of the counterculture movement: White bread's been a social lightning rod time and again.