Bernie Madoff's investment scandal inspired financial analyst Christina Alger to write a novel based on the personal and financial turmoil created by the collapse. It's called The Darlings, and Alan Cheuse — writing professor at George Mason University — has a review.

Stories about life on Native American reservations often focus on alcoholism, drugs, violence and poverty. In Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life, Ojibwe writer David Treuer strives to capture stories about the beauty of life on Indian reservations.

Through his many New Yorker covers, Barry Blitt has become one of the preeminent satirical cartoonists of America's recent presidents. Now Blitt has trained his eye and pen upon our first president; he's illustrated a new children's book called George Washington's Birthday.

Five of the nominees for the best-picture Oscar this year were based on books. But for author Tessa Harris, that number isn't high enough. She points to three books that should be on the big screen — and you can recommend others in the comments section.

There's a new, towering tribute to the 16th president in the nation's capitol: A three-story sculpture of 7,000 books written about the 16th president. The sculpture represents less than half of the 15,000 some books written about Lincoln, says Paul Tetreault, director of Ford's Theatre.

You'll never suffer from writer's block as long as you've got a copy of Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots. Prolific pulp novelist William Wallace Cook turned his fiction production methods into a wacky manual for aspiring writers. Originally published in 1928, it has just been reissued.

In her new book, Peggielene Bartels describes going from secretary at the U.S. Embassy to king of a fishing village in Ghana. Dividing her time between Otuam and Washington, D.C., she straddles two cultures — and says she loves every bit of it.