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Anita Elberse's new book, Blockbusters, examines the strategy behind making and marketing megahits. She tells NPR's Renee Montagne that content companies — publishers, movie studios and the like — can create blockbusters by dedicating most of their budgets to a select few likely winners.

Charles Krauthammer once was a psychiatrist and a self-described "Great Society liberal." Now he's a Pulitzer Prize-winning, nationally syndicated conservative columnist. His new book, Things That Matter, presents a selection of his writings from three decades spent observing politics and culture.

Many independent health insurance brokers were supposed to be able to sell subsidized health care plans starting Oct. 1. But complications with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act have derailed the plan, and the federal government hasn't said when the problems will be fixed.

The women of Jezebel.com have released a new illustrated encyclopedia of "lady things" from Clueless to Clytemnestra. Reviewer Annalisa Quinn says that although The Book of Jezebel is positioned as lighthearted and unambitious, it has a serious aim — which it does not quite achieve.

Janet Hamlin was the only courtroom sketch artist allowed at the Guantanamo Bay military tribunals in 2006. Her work has been collected in a new book, Sketching Guantanamo — and she tells NPR's Renee Montagne that getting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nose right ended up being a challenge.

The author of The Secret History returns with a novel about art, love and loss that's drawn comparisons to Oliver Twist and the Harry Potter series. Reviewer Meg Wolitzer says The Goldfinch marks a departure from Tartt's previous work, but it's a rich, absorbing read — all 771 pages of it.

Wall Street Journal reporters Reed Albergotti and Vanessa O'Connell say that champion cyclist Lance Armstrong was at the center of "the greatest sports conspiracy ever." Their book chronicles everything from group blood transfusions on the team bus to extensive efforts to silence and intimidate those who might expose the abuse.

Bridget Jones hasn't aged well. At 51, she's the "geriatric mum" of two small children, and finds herself yearning to plunge back into dating. Critic Maureen Corrigan says if you're looking for jolly feminist cultural commentary, you'd be better off reading a witty "encyclopedia of lady things" from the creators of the website Jezebel.

At the White House on Monday, President Obama acknowledged widespread problems with his health care law's website while still defending the Affordable Care Act. NPR White House Correspondent Scott Horsley talks with Steve Inskeep about the president's remarks.

Police say a British man took Halloween decorating too far. He decorated his front yard to raise money for cancer research, but his display — inspired by the movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre — terrified neighborhood children. It included a mock dismembered corpse.