NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Mary Beard, author of "Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old," about the modern world's continued fascination with ancient cultures.

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Mary Beard, author of "Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old," about the modern world's continued fascination with ancient cultures.

When his father died, Stanford University historian Thomas Mullaney scrambled to preserve the things he'd left behind in the exact order that he'd found them: the papers, photos and other detritus accumulated over decades of living.

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Lauren Okie, whose new book finds two childhood neighbors reunited to ghostwrite a love story for a withdrawn author at her Hampton's estate.

Celeste Ng's most recent novel, "Our Missing Hearts," takes place in a dystopian future where China and people of Asian descent are considered enemies of the United States.

Cátia Chien's illustrations for the picture book "Fireworks" have won her the Caldecott Medal. She's the first Asian American woman to do so.

Zayd Ayers Dohrn was the son of two leaders of the radical left group, the Weather Underground, and spent much of his childhood with his parents on the run from the law.

NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with author and filmmaker Jonathan Jakubowicz about his book The Adventures of Juan Planchard, now translated into English.

"Whistler" is Ann Patchett's 11th novel.

A biography of Hannibal Lecter. A meditation on trees. A memoir by a child prodigy violinist. A treatise on the way we poop. These are just a few of the nonfiction books our NPR colleagues are enjoying.