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A year into the siege of Leningrad, a haggard group of musicians defiantly — and improbably — performed Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, which was dedicated to the suffering city.

Somali author Nuruddin Farah's new novel follows a glamorous photographer who takes in her brother's children after he dies in a terrorist bombing. Reviewer Alan Cheuse calls it complex yet uplifting.

"He's blamed for urban renewal ... urban freeways, even countless suburban office parks," says Anthony Flint, author of the new Le Corbusier biography Modern Man.

Ha Jin's new spy novel resembles the story of the real-life Chinese agent Larry Chin — and echoes the expat author's own experiences. But, he notes, a writer's life is less political than a spy's.

John Cleese of Monty Python fame has written a memoir, So, Anyway ... , which brings him from boyhood in a quiet British town called Weston to the footlights of London and screens all over the world.

During his four years as a prisoner, professor Ajmal Khan came across boys in remote Waziristan who were hungry to learn. He taught them math and science, but his captivity became a lesson, too.

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.

This week, the Federal Reserve ended the quantitative easing program. Author John Lanchester says Anthony Trollope's 19th century novel The Way We Live Now clarifies the current financial situation.

Just shy of 25, Swift's been in the music industry nearly half her life. In an extended interview with NPR's Melissa Block, she addresses what's changed in music, media, feminism and her own career.

There's nothing like a good ghost story on Halloween — and some of the best tales were told by the late storyteller and NPR commentator Kathryn Tucker Windham.