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Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel in a decade follows an old couple on what might be their last journey: Hunting for memories of a son they think they had, in a land covered with memory-shrouding mists.

On TV and in the movies, it can sometimes seem like black people only existed during slavery or the civil rights era. K. Tempest Bradford recommends some books that bring hidden history to light.

Back in 1987, Nancy Cartwright made a risky, last-minute decision during an audition: Instead of trying out for the part of mild-mannered Lisa Simpson, she went for the role of rebellious Bart.

The game Charles Darrow sold in the 1930s bore a striking resemblance to a game Lizzie Magie patented in 1904. In The Monopolists, Mary Pilon tells Monopoly's origin story.

Thomas McGuane's new story collection gives us a large cast of Big Sky dreamers, schemers and down-and-outs. Reviewer Alan Cheuse says it's a fascinating portrait of the state — with bonus bears.

Writer Randall Munroe doesn't love math, but has made a career out of solving equations. By answering outlandish hypotheticals, he uses numbers as a playground for the imagination.

The ocean liner's sinking by a German U-boat led to the U.S. entering World War I. Erik Larson, author of Dead Wake, says British intelligence knew the ship was in danger and didn't tell anyone.

American political scientist Robert Putnam says we've lost sight of America as the land of opportunity. NPR's Scott Simon talks with him about his new book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis.

In The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolaño invented the "visceral realists," a group of wild writers who read anywhere and everywhere — causing critic Juan Vidal to ponder the weird places we read.

In his collection Barefoot Dogs, Antonio Ruiz-Camacho offers varying perspectives on the kidnapping of a Mexican patriarch. He asks: "How do you reach closure when someone you love has disappeared?"