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"I'm not a fan of mysteries," says Isabel Allende. Strange words indeed from a woman whose mystery novel Ripper hits bookshelves this month. The renowned Chilean author talks about taking on a new genre and making it her own.

"The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are as much every U.S. citizen's wars as they are the veterans' wars," says Phil Klay, who served in Iraq. His debut story collection is called Redeployment.

Yiyun Li's latest novel is a coming of age novel set in the Tiananmen Square era in Beijing. Li spoke with NPR's Rachel Martin about lonely youth and China's post-Tiananmen generation.

Turn Me Loose captures the life and death of civil rights leader Medgar Evers through poetry. The collection of poems is told in the imagined voices of the people in Evers' life, including his killer. Author Frank X Walker shares how he tried to connect readers to one of America's most volatile times.

Thrity Umrigar's new novel is about two women with "a mystical connection." Lakshmi is stuck in a loveless marriage. Dr. Maggie Bose decides Lakshmi doesn't need a shrink — she needs an escape.

Veteran cartoonist Jules Feiffer has just written his first graphic novel, the noirish Kill My Mother. Reviewer Alan Cheuse is discovering graphic novels equally late, but still finds it a good read.

Bret Anthony Johnston's novel starts with a boy being found years after he was kidnapped. Johnston wanted to explore the question, "How do you relate to each other after the worst has happened?"

Amy Bloom's new novel follows two half-sisters from a disastrous stint in 1920s Hollywood, to happiness with an unexpected, impromptu family group in the disruptive years around World War II.

Anjan Sundaram's new memoir Stringer chronicles his adventures as a budding journalist in one of the world's most chaotic spots: the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Reviewer and veteran journalist Ted Koppel says Stringer "is a book about a young journalist's coming of age, and a wonderful book it is, too."

Cold weather means "Mum's Rice Paprikash" for Merelyn Chalmers, a member of The Monday Morning Cooking Club. The club is dedicated to preserving recipes from Sydney's Jewish community. For our Found Recipes series, Chalmers shares the dish that she considers the ultimate comfort food.