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Lee is acclaimed for his realistic and historical fiction, but he's made a foray into the futuristic sci-fi genre with a new novel called On Such a Full Sea. Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan says sometimes it's better for writers to stick closer to familiar shores.

Rachel Joyce's new novel offers two parallel narratives: the 1972 story of Byron, an anxious schoolboy, and the present-day account of Jim, a supermarket worker who has spent most of his life in institutional care. But critic Ellah Allfrey says that the novel is made up of two distinct and unequal parts.

Siri Hustvedt's latest uses fragmented documents to tell the story of an artist who chooses men to present her work. Reviewer Amal El-Mohtar calls the book complex, harrowing, playful and engrossing.

For 44 years, British author Penelope Lively has been publishing children's books, short stories and novels. Her latest book, Dancing Fish and Ammonites, is subtitled "A Memoir," but critic Ellah Allfrey says it is "more a collection of thoughts, a scattering of advice and a reading list to treasure."

Laphonza Butler, a Democratic adviser and labor leader, was sworn in as California's newest U.S. senator. Her appointment could disrupt a crowded primary race.

Lydia Davis' focus has shifted largely from issues of parenting and domestic relationships to aspects of aging — but the results are as penetrating as anything she's written.

Rupert and James Murdoch, together with Rebekah Brooks, the former head of their newspaper operation in Britain, gave evidence to a parliamentary committee in London Tuesday. They were questioned over the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World.

Parvez Henry Gill says the cross is intended as a "symbol of peace." But in a city where sectarian violence is common, the cross could become a target. Gill acknowledges that death threats are common.

NPR's Audie Cornish talks to Wesley Lowery, a Pulitzer Prize-winning national reporter for The Washington Post, about his newspaper's police-involved shooting database and why guilty verdicts for police officers are so rare.

Poet Kevin Young picks out his favorite poetry books from 2012, including works from the U.S. poet laureate to up-and-coming writers.