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Polish journalist Mariusz Szczygieł's compilation of short vignettes about Czechoslovakia centers on Prague's infamous Stalin monument, a giant edifice that lingers despite its destruction in 1962.

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with the irrepressible novelist about his latest book — a memoir this time, called Tibetan Peach Pie -- and why he hates being labeled as a counter-culture writer.

Author Emma Donoghue's new novel, Frog Music, imagines a new solution to the 1876 murder of a San Francisco frog-catcher — and fits in a lot of raw and raunchy popular songs along the way.

Deborah Harkness combines serious academic research with occult romance in her novels, the latest of which is Shadow of Night.

Not long after Chilean novelist Roberto Bolano died in 2003, his heirs found an unpublished manuscript written more than 20 years ago. The Third Reich chronicles a month in the life of Udo Berger, a young German war game prodigy — and explores the origins of the brutality that lurks within us all.

Vaddey Ratner's In the Shadow of the Banyan draws on her childhood experiences under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. It follows Raami, a young polio survivor, from her idyllic home to the depths of totalitarian exploitation.

In the mid-1800s, Britain was a global superpower with a big weakness for tea, all of which came from China. But a botanist with a talent for espionage helped Britain swipe the secrets of tea.

In The Great Tamasha journalist James Astill notes the parallels between India's control of the cricketing world and its dramatic economic rise. NPR's Krishnadev Calamur says Astill provides a glimpse into how India functions.

What makes a memorable character? It is the one who changes the most throughout the book? The one who makes a personal discovery? Or is it simply the most eccentric who we love? Actor Simon Pegg says that for his favorite literary protagonist, all three apply.

The referendum would enshrine in Australia's constitution an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. The Voice would advise on policies that impact the nation's most disadvantaged ethnic minority.