Sam Briger

Cookbook author Julia Turshen says cooking should be flexible: "[Recipes] are kind of sold to people as prescriptions, these really precise things, ... but I think there's very rarely a wrong answer.

The protagonist of Sebastian Barry's new novel is conscripted right off the boat as the price of American citizenship. Eventually he finds love and companionship with one of his fellow soldiers.

Maria Semple's new comic novel is about a stressed-out wife and mother who starts every day with a mantra. She tells Fresh Air's Sam Briger that the book was inspired by her own experiences as a mom.