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The economy was still sluggish in 2013, but the housing and auto industries performed well. Guest host Celeste Headlee speaks with NPR reporter Sonari Glinton, and senior business editor Marilyn Geewax about those booming sectors.

The late bandleader, composer, arranger and trumpeter was famed for sophisticated musical ideas and dedicated to the infinite possibilities of jazz. Hear a 2006 session.

This week's Must Read, our topical book recommendation series, usually focuses on events in the news. But today, with an eye on the dropping thermometer, book critic Parul Sehgal suggests a seasonal text. Kenneth Grahame's classic children's novel offers a cozy, eccentric depiction of winter — perfect for curling up with as the snow comes down.

Miss Havisham is one of Charles Dickens' most enduring characters. She appears in Great Expectations as an eccentric recluse, jilted at the altar years ago, who still wears her wedding gown and presides over a rotting feast. In his new novel, Ronald Frame imagines the kind of life that would have created such a woman.

When author Chris Abani was a boy, he was miserable at Catholic seminary and he felt like an outsider in his own family. One summer break, at home in Afikpo, he discovered James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room. The tragic, taboo love story made young Abani feel that at last he'd found someone who understood how out of place he felt in his own life.

Is that a cross? A ship with a figurehead? It's only human to wonder what the future will hold, especially on the threshold of a new year. In one German tradition, fortune-seekers drop molten lead into cold water — then it's anyone's guess what the strange shapes portend.

In laid-back Key West, most people get around by bike. So NPR's Petra Mayer had to learn.

Stories that titillate, amuse or arouse flash-in-the-pan outrage may be more widely read and shared than solid information. Celebrity and scandals have always attracted media attention, but in the Internet age, the balance is shifting more toward entertainment.

Poet Federico Garcia Lorca's life was cut short during the Spanish Civil War, but he left behind a rich legacy of poetry and drama. Reviewer Juan Vidal says the best poetry in translation to come out this year is a new collection of Lorca's verse, translated by writers who were deeply influenced by him.

New Years' resolutions, whether they're about family, money or health, are often forgotten in a matter of weeks. Now a social entrepreneur is encouraging people to keep their promises all year long. Host Michel Martin speaks with Alex Sheen, the founder of the group, Because I Said I Would.