Books & Literature

Abu-Jaber's first novel "Arabian Jazz" is now out. It explores the lives of two sisters in upstate New York, the children a Jordanian father and an American mother.

For many years Killen was the head of Tree International, Nashville's leading music publisher, writer and producer. Killen once played bass in Hank Williams' band for ten dollars a night; in 1989 he sold Tree to Sony for 50 million. He's worked with just about every star in the Country firmament: Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson; and many classics in the Country cannon: "King of the Road", "Okie from Muskogee" and the immortal "D-I-V-O-R-C-E". Killen's new autobiography is "By the Seat of My Pants."

Writer and single mom Anne Lamott explains to her son why he has no father.

Behind the scenes during the golden age of the Broadway musical: Susan Loesser, daughter of Frank Loesser, composer of the classic songs "Heart and Soul" and "Baby It's Cold Outside". He also wrote the score for "Guys and Dolls" which is now being revived on Broadway. Loesser's new memoir of her father is called "A Most Remarkable Fella."

Arnold Rampersad, professor of Literature at Princeton, biographer of Langston Hughes, is coauthor of tennis star Arthur Ashe's memoir, "Days of Grace." Ashe died this year at age 49 from AIDS he contracted during open heart surgery. He was the first African American tennis champion, winning the United States Open in 1968, and going on to capture three Grand Slam titles. He has remained a vital presence in the sport, and his autobiography features portraits of the great celebrities of tennis.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Andre Brink's new novel Cape of Storms. Brink is a white South African writer who imagines the first meeting between Europeans and native Africans.

For 45 years, Bowles has been writing novels, stories, essays, poetry and autobiography. He started out as a composer, studying with Aaron Copeland. Bowles was friends with Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, and later became a "resident guru" for several generations of American writers including Tennesee Williams and William Burroughs. Since 1947, he's lived in Tangier, Morocco. Best known for his novel "The Sheltering Sky," he has a new anthology, called "Too Far From Home."

Commentator Maureen Corrigan talks about some lesser-known mystery novels, most of which she stumbled on while browsing used bookstore shelves.

Richard is of cajun, creole and French descent. His award winning collection of short stories is called "Ice at the Bottom of the World". His new novel "Fishboy" is about a boy's sea journey, "replete with ghosts, sea creatures and violent shipmates". Richard's prose style has been singled out for praise, with one critic hailing the novel as "an eloquent fever dream".

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "Ordinary Time: Cycles in Faith, Marriage, and Renewal" the new autobiography by Nancy Mairs, who is dying of multiple sclerosis.

Business journalist Mark Pendergrast. His new book is "For God, Country, and Coca-Cola" shows how the soft drink became the world's most widely distributed product, and a symbol for the Western way of Life.

Journalist Stan Sesser is a reporter covering Southeast Asia for the New Yorker. He has collected some of those pieces in a new book "The Lands of Charm and Cruelty: Travels in Southeast Asia." He discusses the recent elections in Cambodia which featured violence, twenty political parties and massive voter turnout

Halberstam has a new book -- a social, political, economic, and cultural history of what he considers the most pivotal decade of the century -- called "The Fifties." His other books include, "The Best and the Brightest" and "The Powers That Be."

Journalist David Sheff gained unprecedented access to the toy wizards at the Nintendo Corporation. His new book "Game's Over" explores the Japanese domination of the video-game market.

Maureen Corrigan reviews "King of Card," which she says fares only slightly better than the recent, lackluster offerings in bookstores.

Spark has been said to "uphold the great tradition of the English Catholic novel." She's a prolific writer, having written 19 novels, including "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," and "Momento Mori." Spark has a new memoir about her first 39 years, called "Curriculum Vitae." It includes stories about school teacher Miss Christina Kay (the character of Jean Brodie was based on her), Spark's marriage at 19 to a man 13 years her senior, their life in Africa, and Spark's early literary career. She's now 74 years old.

Allende is one of the few women in the male-dominated literary world of Latin American. She's the niece of Chile's ousted President Salvador Allende, who was pushed out during a 1973 coup and assassinated. Isabel fled to Venezuela. She later moved to the U.S. after falling in love with an American, and now lives in California. Her new book, "The Infinite Plan," is her first about the United States.

Authors Seth Cagin and Philip Dray. Their new book is "Between Earth and Sky: How CFCs Changed Our World and Endangered the Ozone Layer." It's about how CFCs (or chlorofluorocarbons) went from being the "miracle compound" to the the biggest threat to the ozone layer. CFCs came into being in 1928 and made possible the mass use of refrigerators and air conditioners. By the 1950s they were used in aerosol sprays and in the manufacture of Sytrofoam. But by 1974, scientists began to see their deleterious environmental effects.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Drums Along the Congo," by travel writer Rory Nugent.

Lamott has written a new book about being a mother for the first time (and single, at that), called "Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year." One reviewer says the book is "an emotional roller coaster ride. Painfully honest, laced with humor and poetry and moments of profound insight." Lamott is also the author of the novels, "Hard Laughter," and "All New People."