Books

Alice McDermott's new novel is about a young girl who witnesses a teenage love affair develop in her neighborhood. McDermott joins Fresh Air to discuss writing, memory, and growing up in the suburbs.

Husband-and-wife writing team John and Marina Bear have a new book called How to Repair Food, which instructs home cooks on how to salvage failed recipes.

Book critic John Leonard says that all of Gunter Grass's work can be seen as a sometimes fanciful examination of his country's brutal history. Case in point: Grass's new book, The Rat, is a science fiction-inspired novel about the end of the world.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone reviews a new biography called The Dr. Ruth Phenomenon, about the popular sex therapist Ruth Westheimer. Westheimer is a Holocaust survivor and was wounded while fighting for Israeli independence. Stone says Westheimer's history of struggle and survival informs her sometimes fragmented career choices and sanitized public persona; while an imperfect spokesperson for the sexual revolution, Dr. Ruth deserves the fame she enjoys.

Howard Mohr wrote for the popular radio show A Prairie Home Companion. Steeped in the world of Midwestern humor, he has written a new book called "How to Talk Minnesotan."

Book critic John Leonard says many of the conclusions about indigenous culture in Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines are wishful thinking. But that doesn't mean the book isn't a great read.

Former diplomat and journalist William Attwood has a new book about the Cold War, called The Twilight Struggle. Reflecting on the history of McCarthyism, relations with communist countries, and undercover operations, he believes the Cold War's end is in sight.

Book critic John Leonard recommends Wilfrid Sheed's new novel The Boys of Winter. Set in the Hamptons, in questions the nature of authorship, narrative, and creativity.

Art photographer Tony Mendoza describes his newest book, Stories, as a photographic autobiography.

The San Francisco Chronicle columnist's new book explores womanhood and gentrification, among other things. The humorist is credited with coining the term "yuppy."