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For some, travel is a relaxing break, but not for writer Benjamin Percy. For our books series "My Guilty Pleasure," where authors talk about a book they are embarrassed to love, Percy discusses how he spends his vacations — armed with a travel guide, seeking out the spooky, the scary and the supernatural.

Rebecca Traister's incisive analysis of misogyny and gender roles in the 2008 election takes on Tina Fey's satire, "Iron My Shirt" T-shirts and Hillary Clinton's "Night of the Imaginary Tears."

Writer David Rakoff's glass is never half full. In Half Empty, his latest essay collection, Rakoff explains the powers of pessimistic thought as he analyzes topics such as a pornography trade fair, his neurotic childhood and his recent cancer diagnosis.

In her new book, Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins, and Other Nasties, Lesley M.M. Blume creates a world in which trolls use bones for money and dwarfs dig rubies out of the Lincoln Tunnel.

Rakoff doesn't often look on the bright side, and in his latest collection of essays, he explains why you shouldn't either. Thoroughly depressing subjects addressed in Half Empty include cancer, AIDS and Sept. 11.

General Motors' former leadership was "appalling" and the company had no idea how much cash it had on hand, the Obama administration's former "car czar" says. In his new book, Steven Rattner offers an insider's perspective on the government's ultimately successful efforts to rescue GM and Chrysler from failure.

In their new cookbook, The Geometry of Pasta, designer Caz Hildebrand and chef Jacob Kenedy set out to explain how certain sauces complement certain pasta shapes. From eliche to fusilli to strozzapreti, Kenedy says people simply have to tap into what he calls an enjoyable "mouth feel."

The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the recession, which began in December 2007, ended more than a year ago. But leading economists -- and the president -- said it doesn't mean the economy is now back on track.

For the past three years, sportswriter Jim Gorant has been following the pit bulls rescued from Michael Vick's compound. Gorant, along with an animal behaviorist and dog trainer, explains how the Vick dogs have been evaluated and rehabilitated.

In her new memoir, NPR's All Things Considered co-host uncovers some painful family secrets — the "things left unsaid" by her African-American relatives as they tried to shield the younger generation from memories that haunted the past.