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Reviewer Susan Jane Gilman wasn't impressed by the title of Someone, but she says Alice McDermott's novel is nowhere near as generic as its name. Nothing extraordinary happens to the Irish-American protagonist, but with spare poetry and deep compassion, McDermott makes familiar territory seem new.

Dylan Dethier took a year off between high school and college for an unusual quest: He wanted to play a round of golf in each of the 48 contiguous states. His new book, 18 in America, chronicles that year, and he joins NPR's Scott Simon on the putt-putt course to talk about it.

Over the last 15 years, the South African writer Lauren Beukes has been a journalist, a screenwriter, a documentarian — and most recently, a novelist. Her new book is called The Shining Girls, a summer thriller about a time-traveling serial killer and the victim who escapes to hunt him down.

The Storied South is a new book by folklorist William Ferris, collecting 40 years worth of oral histories from Southern writers and artists. Ferris tells NPR's Celeste Headlee that the book was a way of getting everyone from Eudora Welty to Bobby Rush to a "common table of conversation."

From Tony Soprano to Don Draper, male characters drive this new — and yet old — form of storytelling. NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks with Brett Martin, author of Difficult Men: Behind the scenes of the Creative Revolution from The Sopranos and the Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad.

Oakland Raiders punter Chris Kluwe is known for his colorful opinions and his vocal support of gay marriage. His musings are now collected in a new book, Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies: On Myths, Morons, Free Speech, Football and Assorted Absurdities.

Justin Lee grew up in a Southern Baptist family. At age 18, he came out to his family and church, who had trouble accepting him as a gay man. Lee later started the Gay Christian Network to encourage a dialogue between gay Christians, their families and their churches. His new book is Torn.

Swedish writer Karin Tidbeck's debut story collection, Jagannath, is suffused with the myths of her homeland — and the American oddities she picked up as a student here. Reviewer Alan Cheuse says the stories are weird — but it's a good kind of weird.

Over the past generation, Belle Glade Central High School in Belle Glade, Fla., has sent 30 players to the NFL. The school is proud of that record, but it might have come at a cost. Bryan Mealer's Muck City spotlights the stories of players, their families, their coach and a town that struggles to win a spot on the field — and life.

When aspiring Broadway actress Catherine and World War II vet Harry first lock eyes on the Staten Island Ferry, everything changes — but their lives together won't be easy. Mark Helprin delivers an old-fashioned love story, and an ode to 1940s New York, in his novel In Sunlight and in Shadow.