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NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Tom Gleisner, co-author of the travel guide Molvania: A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry. Gleisner describes the invented Eastern European country, including everything from historic nuclear reactors to the legacy of founding father Szlonko Busjbusj, also known as "Bu Bu."

M.G. Lord talks about her book Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science, which weaves a memoir of her relationship with her father with a Cold War history of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Having sacked his government and seized power, Nepal's King Gyanendra's next move remains to be seen. Observers are particularly concerned with how he will approach the Maoist insurgents who control much of the mountain kingdom.

Telephone and Internet connections are only intermittently available in the wake of King Gyanendra's move to sack his government and assume power himself. The king is attempting to stifle public opposition to what some of his critics are calling a royal coup.

When Scott Simon got in the back of Will Grozier's London taxi, the conversation was so lively that Simon still turns to him for reading suggestions. Grozier offers a list of what he's been reading lately.

Linda Robinson talks about her new book Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces. Robinson has analyzed the increased use of Special Forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and the war on terror. Hear Robinson and NPR's Steve Inskeep.

The U.S. steps up efforts to ensure the January elections for a transitional assembly are held on time, despite the intensifying insurgency in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

Author Marina Lewycka discusses her debut novel, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. The novel, about Ukraine's dark political past, has made the shortlist for the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction.

Commentator Karen Spears Zacharias is the daughter of an American soldier who was killed in Vietnam. She remembers how her mother held their family together after her father's death. Zacharias is the author of Hero Mama: A Daughter Remembers the Father She Lost in Vietnam — and the Mother Who Held Her Family Together.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Bush announce that their nations have reached agreement on a landmark nuclear deal. Under the accord, India has agreed to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs. Civilian nuclear plants in India will now be open to international inspection.