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Lots of guys buy a midlife crisis sports car, but not British author Robert Penn. He set out to build the ultimate bike, one that he could ride every day and grow old with. His search cost him thousands of dollars and took him all over Europe and across the Atlantic.

Thousands of Palestinians and their supporters demonstrated Sunday at Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon, and in the West Bank and Gaza, in commemoration of what has been dubbed the "nakba," or catastrophe. The day recalls Israel's creation in 1948 and the subsequent displacement of Palestinians. The annual protest turned violent this year, with at least 16 people killed in clashes with Israeli forces.

Author Ben Thompson's new book collects the stories of characters whom you do not want to mess with. It pulls from both history and legend, telling stories from Jesus and Genghis Khan to Captain Kirk and Chuck Norris.

Bill James is best known for his contributions to baseball, but his latest book focuses on another, very different, favorite pastime: crime stories. Popular Crime looks at the effects infamous crimes have had on our culture.

Michael Greenburg's new book, The Mad Bomber of New York, tells the story of the hunt for a man who planted 33 homemade bombs in public places around New York City and managed to elude capture for more than 16 years.

The reconciliation agreement between Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas is already having an impact in the beleaguered Gaza Strip. After a childhood dominated by misery and war, Yusef Ali is finally daring to hope. The winds of change that came with the Arab spring have swept into the benighted pocket of coastal desert in which he's been trapped for his whole life. Ali's only 27, yet he's spent the last four years living like a pensioner. He's been paid — but he's banned from working, because he's a soldier in the Palestinian Presidential Guard. That security unit is part of the Palestinian Authority; he lives on land ruled by the Palestinian Authority's erstwhile rival Hamas. So he's spent his days getting depressed — and watching TV. Now the factions are reconciled, he hopes to be back in uniform soon. Residents of Gaza are delighted with the reconciliation agreement, believing it deepens Israel's isolation and strengthens their hand — particularly because of Egypt support. Yet, there's also a recognition too in this war-wearing place that setting up a government of national unity will not be at all easy after all the years of division and bloodshed.

His third novel, Super Sad True Love Story, is a black comedy set in a futuristic America — where books don't exist and where the economy has collapsed. Shteyngart explains why he decided to write a love story in this dystopic vision of the future — and why he thinks technology is changing the way we think.

Rex Ryan, the head coach of the New York Jets, has been called a lot of things: boastful, brash, profane and even fat. But one thing you can't call him is ineffective. In his new book, Play Like You Mean It, Ryan writes about his journey to the top.

Egypt's international allies have noticed signs that old agreements may no longer hold. While nothing is certain, Egypt's stance toward Israel and the Palestinians seems likely to shift most dramatically. There are indications "it won't be an easy ride for Israel anymore," an analyst says.

Dieter Schlesak's "documentary novel," translated from German, puts Auschwitz's pharmacist on trial. The book employs interviews with concentration camp survivors, letters and camp records, and testimony and evidence from the druggist's actual trial, which took place in the 1960s.