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NPR's go-to librarian would like you to meet some friends of hers — from six novels and one work of history. As you read, these artfully developed characters will become more and more real. Pearl says that when the stories ended, she was left longing for the people she'd met between the pages.

Here's a little Christmas secret: Dusting desserts with powdered sugar makes them look more expensive. Chef Nigella Lawson talks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about her tricks for economical holiday hosting.

From perfect pie crusts to poached salmon, Christopher Kimball and Bridget Lancaster share cooking tips and secret shortcuts from America's Test Kitchen. The biggest challenge is getting home chefs to faithfully follow recipes, Kimball says: "They will substitute ingredients with great abandon."

These character-driven novels featuring fracturing families, intrepid scientists and one very plucky early American heroine will spark lively debate on everything from the unreliability of memory to scientific ethics.

In Eric Weiner's newest book, Man Seeks God, the former NPR foreign correspondent heads around the world on a humorous and thoughtful quest for spirituality.

In 1982 — long before she had her own TV show or magazine or brand — a young caterer named Martha Stewart wrote a book on entertaining in other people's homes. Now, nearly 30 years later, Stewart's 75th book invites readers into her own house.

Mountain ballads have been a part of American mountain culture since the earliest English and Scottish settlers moved there more than 200 years ago. They were passed down through the oral tradition, as they were in reporter Laurin Penland's family --but that tradition is close to extinct in the U.S.

The cache of documents sent to Congress lays bare the raw and sometimes cringe-worthy process by which the letter was drafted.

The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is at the center of controversy. Last week, NATO forces on the Afghan side fired across at what they thought were insurgents, and killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers. Officials are investigating.

The Senate has passed a defense policy bill that includes controversial provisions requiring terrorism suspects be held in military custoday rather than civilian custody. President Obama has threatened a veto.