Search results for

Southern Russia, the venue for the coming Winter Olympics, is a wild land known for its breathtaking beauty and centuries of conflict. It has long inspired Russian writers; here are three classic books on the region.

The long-held idea that cancer is a disease of the rich is slowly being undermined. The world now records about 14 million new cancer cases each year, a study found. The majority of these cases occur in developing countries, which aren't equipped to detect and treat the disease.

Not much happens in An Unnecessary Woman, Lebanese-American author Rabih Alameddine's novel about an elderly recluse who spends her time reading and translating. But what does happen shows a life in all its mundane, unconventional brilliance.

Kids can be magical and maddening. The title of Jennifer Senior's book — All Joy and No Fun — contrasts the strains of day-to-day parenting with the transcendent experience of raising a child.

The federal budget deficit is falling sharply, but you wouldn't know it from some of the rhetoric in Washington. But Republicans caution that the downward trend line will reverse itself soon enough.

In his new novel, Rabih Alameddine questions what the value is of an inwardly focused life.

American Muslim author Haroon Moghul was bound and determined to go to his high school prom — and he wrote about it for the new essay collection, Salaam, Love: American Muslim Men on Love, Sex and Intimacy. Moghul tells NPR's Rachel Martin that he thought the experience might help him understand himself better.

Wiley Cash's new novel follows two sisters whose errant father kidnaps them out of foster care after their mother dies. Cash tells NPR's Rachel Martin about his decision to set the story during Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's 1998 home run battle.

Still Life with Bread Crumbs follows a photographer who is no longer married, no longer needed as much by her grown son and no longer as successful as she used to be. When her funds start to dry up, she heads to a small, rural town for a fresh start.

Cooke recorded "A Change is Gonna Come" 50 years ago this week. The story of the song is as amazing, and unsettling, as the song itself.