Literature

On this week’s Shelf Discovery, Kristin explores the lifestyles of the rich and fabulous with Jane Haddam’s Blood in the Water.

Title: Blood in the Water

Author: Jane Haddam

Pages: 282

Publisher: Minotaur Books

ISBN: 0312644345

And read Kristin’s full review on NightsAndWeekends.com.

Anchee Min's best-selling memoir Red Azalea told the story of her youth in China during the Cultural Revolution. Her followup, The Cooked Seed, picks up nearly 20 years later as she arrives in America with $500 in her pocket, no English and a plan to study art in Chicago.

Min tells NPR's Rachel Martin that her life in China ended because of her relationship with Madame Mao, a former actress and the wife of Chairman Mao Zedong.

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

If you said the "s" word in the ninth century, you probably wouldn't have shocked or offended anyone. Back then, the "s" word was just the everyday word that was used to refer to excrement. That's one of many surprising, foul-mouthed facts Melissa Mohr reveals in her new book, Holy S- - -: A Brief History of Swearing.

Many high school seniors who are heading to college this fall have just paid their tuition deposits — the first real taste of what the college experience is going to cost them. These students are heading to school at a time that some consider a transformative moment for American colleges and universities. Costs are skyrocketing, and there are some real questions about what value college students are getting for their money.

On this week’s Shelf Discovery, Kristin walks away from it all with One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis.

Title: One Step Too Far

Author: Tina Seskis

Pages: 185

Publisher: Kirk Parolles

ISBN: 978-0957544321

And read Kristin’s full review on NightsAndWeekends.com.

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Tuesday marks the close of National Poetry Month, a 30-day celebration of all things versified and all people versifying. And in tangentially related news, for more than eight months, a book of cat-themed poetry — I Could Pee On This — has perched on the NPR best-seller lists. There it sits, insouciantly swishing its tail amid self-help books and memoirs, the poetry world's sole representative on the list.

On this week’s Shelf Discovery, Kristin travels through time with Duane Swierczynski’s Expiration Date.

Title: Expiration Date

Author: Duane Swierczynski

Pages: 241

Publisher: Minotaur Books

ISBN: 0312363400

And read Kristin’s full review on NightsAndWeekends.com.

April is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate, Weekend Edition is talking with younger poets about why they chose to write poetry and why it's still important in our everyday lives. This week, we spoke to Bangladeshi-American poet Dilruba Ahmed.